SeaWaves Today in History February 14, 2008 ********************************************************************* February 14 ? 1778 - John Paul Jones in Ranger receives first official salute to US Stars and Strips flag by European country, at Quiberon, France ? 1779 - Captain James Cook, British explorer, is murdered by natives in Owyhee (Hawaii) during his third voyage of exploration ? 1797 - The Battle of Cape St. Vincent. By the end of 1796, the growing naval strength of Spain and France had forced the RN to abandon the Mediterranean, where Admiral Sir John Jervis' fleet was outnumbered 38 to 13 ships of the line. However, the French and Spanish fleets were separated and did not combine forces to exploit their advantage over Jervis. On 01 Feb, Admiral Don Jose de Cordova left Cartagena for Cadiz with 27 ships of the line. Jervis, whose fleet had been reduced to just ten ships of the line, was reinforced by Rear-Admiral William Parker with five more ships of the line. Together, they endeavored to intercept the Spanish Fleet before it could join the French fleet. They encountered the Spanish fleet, now numbering 28 major warships, off Cape St. Vincent. Upon sighting the British force, the Spanish fleet fled towards Cadiz. Jervis, flying his flag in HMS Victory, took advantage of the scattered disposition of the Spanish fleet and attempted to break through their formation, cutting part of their fleet off from their destination. Jervis ordered his ships to tack in succession and move into a major gap that had opened between two halves of the Spanish formation. Commodore Nelson, whose ship HMS Captain was third last in the line, saw that this maneuver would not be completed quickly enough to close the avenue of escape. He turned his ship, effectively turning together with the flagship, and, for a time, engaged single-handedly as many as seven Spanish ships. Among the Spanish ships engaged by Captain was SANTISSIMA TRINIDAD, the largest warship in the world at that time, and two others, SAN NICOLAS and SAN JOSEF. Nelson personally led boarding parties onto both and captured them. In total, four Spanish ships were taken and ten others were so heavily damaged as to be ineffective for further action. Admiral Jervis sent Captain Calder of Victory in the brig LIVELY to London with dispatches for their Lordships of the Admiralty. The news of the great Victory reached London in early March, almost three weeks after the battle. Parliament immediately voted their thanks to Admiral Sir John Jervis, who became Earl St. Vincent, and to his fleet. Admiral Jervis praised Commodore Nelson, who received a knighthood for his exemplary bravery. Nelson was also promoted to Rear Admiral, although the promotion had been approved beforehand but word of it did not reach Nelson until after the Battle of Cape St. Vincent. The British Victory was decisive in that it made an invasion of England less likely. In the popular view, it confirmed that no Spaniard was a match for an Englishman at sea. Above all, it restored the confidence of the nation, which had been reeling after the British retreat from the Mediterranean ? 1804 - LT Stephen Decatur, with volunteers from frigate Constitution and schooner Enterprise enter Tripoli Harbor by night in ketch Intrepid to destroy the captured frigate Philadelphia. Decatur succeeds without American losses. England's Lord Nelson calls this "the most daring act of the age" ? 1813 - Essex becomes first US warship to round Cape Horn and enter the Pacific Ocean ? 1814 - USS Constitution captures British Lovely Ann and Pictou ? 1826 - Lt. Colonel John By 1781-1836 of the Royal Engineers arrives in Hull to plan construction of the Rideau Canal from Ottawa River to Lake Ontario ? 1840 - Officers from USS Vincennes make first landing in Antarctica on floating ice ? 1903 - An Act of Congress (31 Stat. L., 826, 827) that created the Department of Commerce and Labor provided for the transfer of the Lighthouse Service from the Treasury Department. This allowed the Secretary of Commerce and Labor to succeed to the authority vested in the Secretary of the Treasury under the existing legislation ? 1908 - Submarine HMS C26 laid down 1910 - Submarines HMS D7 & D8 laid down ? 1911 - Submarine HMS D7 launched ? 1911 - Submarine HMS E1 & E2 laid down ? 1917 - Submarine USS O-7 laid down ? 1918 - Destroyer HMS Westcott launched ? 1918 - Destroyer USS Kennison laid down ? 1920 - Submarine USS S-13 laid down ? 1920 - Destroyers USS Abel P Upshur & Hunt launched ? 1920 - Submarine HMS M2 completed ? 1930 - Light cruiser FS Jeanne d'Arc launched ? 1930 - Destroyer HMS Anthony commissioned ? 1931 - Destroyer HMS Blanche commissioned ? 1935 - Patrol vessel HMS Kingfisher launched ? 1936 - U-25 launched ? 1938 - Britain opened Singapore naval base. Began in 1925 for Eastern Empire defense ? 1938 - Destroyer USS Maury launched ? 1939 - The German 35,000 ton battleship KM Bismarck is launched ? 1940 - Flower-class corvettes HMCS Wetaskiwin (ex-Banff), Agassiz, Chilliwack, Trail, Kamloops, Dawson, Alberni, Nanaimo, Edmunston ordered ? 1940 - Submarine USS Grampus laid down ? 1940 - Destroyer HMS Garth launched ? 1940 - At 0800, the Langleeford, a straggler from convoy HX-18, was torpedoed by U-26 about 70 miles northwest of Fastnet, Ireland and sank after 13 minutes. Four crewmembers were lost. The master and 29 crewmembers were landed at Ross, Co Clare ? 1940 - SS Sultan Star sunk by U-48 at 48.54N, 10.03W ? 1940 - SS Martin Goldschmidt sunk by U-53 at 55.53N, 12.37W ? 1940 - At 0135, the Gretafield, a straggler from convoy HX-18, was torpedoed and set on fire by U-57 southeast of Noss Head. Ten crewmembers were lost. The master and 30 crewmembers were picked up by armed trawlers HMS Peggy Nutten & Strathalladale and landed at Wick. The burning Gretafield drifted ashore at Dunbeath, Caithnesshire at 58°14´15N 03°25´45W. On 19 March, the tanker broke in two and was declared a total loss ? 1940 - Corvette USS Saucy (ex-HMS Arabis) launched ? 1940 - U-513, U-514, U-515, U-516, U-517, U-518, U-519, U-520, U-521, U-522, U-523, U-524 ordered ? 1940 - The RCAF's No.110 (Army Co-Operation) Squadron sails from Halifax, Nova Scotia, for Britain. This is the first RCAF squadron to be sent to Europe ? 1940 - The US passenger liner SS Manhattan is detained at Gibraltar for several hours by British authorities but allowed to proceed; not as fortunate is freighter SS Exermont, which is also detained there ? 1940 - Britain orders the arming of Merchant Shipping ? 1941 - British forces captured the important port of Kismayu in Italian Somaliland ? 1941 - At 2257, the Holystone, a straggler from convoy OB-284, was torpedoed and sunk by U-101 west of Ireland. The master, 35 crewmembers, two gunners and two passengers were lost ? 1941 - Destroyer USS Woolsey launched ? 1941 - MS trawler HMS Ronaldsay launched ? 1941 - Destroyer USS Grayson commissioned ? 1941 - The heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper ends a 14 day cruise in which she sank eight ships, one of which was sailing independently and seven of which were in unescorted convoy SLS64 ? 1941 - Admiral Darlan is appointed Vichy Interior Minister; he keeps his other posts ? 1941 - Fleet Landing Exercise (FLEX) No. 7, which had begun on 4 February, concludes in the Culebra-Vieques area ? 1942 - As it became clear that Singapore was likely to fall, ships attempted to evacuate as many non-essential personnel as possible, running a gauntlet of Japanese air and naval attack. The merchant ship Vyner Brooke, carrying 65 Australian nurses, was sunk. The survivors made their way to Banka Island, whereupon the nurses were murdered by Japanese troops; only Sister Vivian Bullwinkel survived. Also at sea, HMS Li Wo, a tiny auxiliary patrol vessel armed only with one 4" gun, encountered a Japanese invasion fleet. Undeterred, her commanding officer, Lieutenant Wilkinson RNR, attacked. Massively outgunned, Li Wo managed to close the enemy and rammed a transport ship before going down in action with a heavy cruiser. There were only ten survivors. Wilkinson was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross ? 1942 - Minesweeper HMCS Stratford launched Toronto ON ? 1942 - U-737 laid down ? 1942 - At 0337, the Empire Spring, dispersed from convoy ON-63 (convoy commodore), was torpedoed and sunk by U-576 southeast of Sable Island. The master, the commodore, 41 crewmembers, five gunners and five naval staff members were lost ? 1942 - U-178, U-336 commissioned ? 1942 - U-617 launched ? 1942 - Submarine USS Sailfish ended her 2nd war patrol at Tjilatjap ? 1942 - The Japanese invade Sumatra. At 0800 Japanese bombers attack Palembang I airdrome followed by fighters which strafe the airfield and provide cover for by 34 Kawasaki Ki-56, Army Type 1 Freight Transports (export version of the Lockheed Model 14 later given the Allied Code Name "Thalia") carrying paratroopers. The first drop of 260 paratroopers was over the airdrome and the second drop of 100 paratroopers was over an oil refinery nearby. The airfield was defended by about 150 British AA troops, 110 Dutch soldiers and 60 RAF ground crew. The Japanese attack the airdrome all day, suffering 80 percent casualties, but are unable to capture it. The Japanese capture the refinery but it is later taken by Dutch troops from Palembang II airdrome which the Japanese did not know existed. The Allied troops attempt to destroy the oil refinery but only the oil storage tanks are set ablaze. During ensuing Allied air attacks on the Japanese invasion convoy, RAF Blenheims bomb and sink a merchant ship off Palembang ? 1942 - On Java, Vice Admiral Conrad E. L. Helfrich of the Royal Netherlands Navy succeeds Admiral Thomas C. Hart USN as commander of the American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Combined Naval Striking Force ? 1942 - ABDAFloat orders a task force (Rear Admiral Karel Doorman, RNN) to proceed and attack the Japanese Palembang-bound expeditionary force. As Doorman's ships, heavy cruiser HMS Exeter, light cruisers HMAS Hobart, HNMS De Ruyter, HNMS Java and HNMS Tromp and ten destroyers heads toward its objective, destroyer HNMS Van Ghent runs aground on a reef north of Banka Island; irreparably damaged, she is scuttled and sister ship HNMS Banckert takes off the crew ? 1942 - The small vessel SS Vyner Brooke, carrying about 300 civilians escaping from Singapore, is bombed and sunk off Banka Island. Passengers include 65 nurses of the 2/13th Australian General Hospital; 22 of them survive as a group and reached Radjik Beach in a boat ? 1942 - Submarine HIJMS I-23 is last reported south of Oahu, Territory of Hawaii. She is not heard from again, and her fate is unknown ? 1942 - On Mindanao, submarine USS Sargo delivers one million rounds of 30-caliber (7.62-mm) ammunition to Polloc Harbor and evacuates 24 USAAF ground crewmen of the 14th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) ? 1942 - USS Swordfish torpedoes and sinks a Japanese transport off Davao ? 1942 - Tugs HMS Pengawal, St Breock & St Just sunk by Japanese aircraft near Singapore ? 1942 - Submarine USS Seal arrives at Tjilatjap ? 1942 - Fleet tug USS Sioux laid down ? 1942 - Anti-aircraft cruiser USS Juneau commissioned at Berth 16, alongside Pier 2, Brooklyn Navy Yard, New York. First and only commanding officer was Captain Lyman Knute Swenson, USN (born 23 October 1892, Pleasant Grove, Iowa). The first and only Executive Officer was Commander Walter Ellery Moore, USN (born 9 April 1900, California) ? 1942 - Fleet tug USS Menominee launched ? 1942 - Minesweeper USS Reliable launched ? 1942 - Seaplane tender USS Rockaway launched ? 1942 - Submarine USS Wahoo launched ? 1942 - Submarine HMS Vigorous laid down ? 1943 - SS Duchess of York Canadian-owned, British-registered CPR passenger liner was heavily damaged off Cape Finisterre when she was bombed by Luftwaffe a/c. She was sunk later in 1943 in another air attack in the same general area ? 1943 - USS PC-1237 laid down ? 1943 - USS PC-1201 launched ? 1943 - Fleet tug USS Chippewa commissioned ? 1943 - Submarine USS Thresher attacks submarine I-162 off the Lesser Sundas in position 06.05S, 105.47E. Thresher fires two torpedoes, unfortunately one is a dud and the other misses ? 1943 - Submarine USS Trout torpedoes and damages the Japanese auxiliary gunboat Hirotama Maru at south entrance to Makassar Strait in position 04.11S, 117.45E. Trout surfaces to sink the ship with gunfire but 7 of her crew were wounded by gunfire from the Japanese ship. Trout then finished off the Japanese ship with a torpedo ? 1944 - Corvette HMCS Mayflower completed refit & forecastle extension Norfolk VA ? 1944 - RAF 10 Sqn Liberator attacked U-845 with 8 depth charges. One man died & another wounded ? 1944 - U-738 sunk near Gotenhafen, in position 54.31N, 18.33E, after collision with SS Erna. 22 dead and 24 survivors ? 1944 - Corvette HMCS Vancouver & Dawson departed Esquimalt for Halifax ? 1944 - Destroyer escort USS Mack laid down ? 1944 - Destroyer USS Wallace L Lind laid down ? 1944 - Destroyer USS Jarvis launched ? 1944 - Seaplane tender USS St George launched ? 1944 - Submarine USS Shark commissioned ? 1944 - Submarine HMS Scythian launched ? 1944 - USS PCE-877 commissioned ? 1944 - While operating off Cape Santiago, Luzon, USS Flasher torpedoes and sinks army cargo ship Minryo Maru (2224 BRT) in position 13.43N, 120.39E and the Japanese tanker Hokuan Maru (3712 BRT) in position 13.44N, 120.29E ? 1944 - Submarine USS Snook torpedoes and sinks the Japanese merchant cargo ship Nittoku Maru (3591 BRT) SW of Tsushima, Japan in position 33.48N, 128.50E ? 1944 - Salvage vessel HMS Salviking torpedoed and sunk by U-168 SW of Ceylon at 03.30N, 76.30E ? 1944 - German submarine UIT-23 sunk in the Straits of Malacca, in position 04.27N, 100.11E, by torpedoes from submarine HMS Tally-Ho ? 1944 - Destroyer USS Irwin & Monssen commissioned ? 1945 - USS YMS-48 sunk shore batteries in Manila Bay 1945 - Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-225 was built at Higgins Industries, Inc. and commissioned at New Orleans with LT F. A Maier, USCG, as her first commanding officer. He was succeeded on 2 March 945 by LT G. W. Pruitt, USCG. She was assigned to and operated in the Southwest Pacific area. ? 1945 - HMC MTB 459, 461, 462, 465, 466 destroyed by fire at Ostend, Belgium ? 1945 - Destroyer HMCS Assiniboine damaged in a collision with the merchantman SS Empire Bond in the English Channel. She was under repair in Sheerness until early March ? 1945 - Destroyer HMCS Restigouche returned to Halifax for local duties ? 1945 - Oiler USS Mispillion laid down ? 1945 - U-989 sunk off Faeroe Islands at 61.36N, 01.35W by depth charges from frigates HMS Bayntun, Braithwaite, Loch Eck & Loch Dunvegan ? 1945 - USS YMS-48 sunk by USS Fletcher north of Corregidor at 14.24N, 120.33E, after being damaged by Japanese shore batteries ? 1945 - Rescue tug HMS Expert launched ? 1945 - Frigate HMAS Lachlan commissioned ? 1945 - Submarine USS Conger commissioned ? 1945 - Frigate USS Bayonne commissioned ? 1945 - U-3039 launched ? 1945 - Between 1247 & 1304, U-968 fired torpedoes at the convoy BK-3 off Kola Inlet and reported one Liberty probably damaged, one Liberty probably sunk, a tanker identified as Norness sunk and a Liberty damaged. However, the only ships hit at this time were Norfjell and the Horace Gray. This attack was probably misinterpreted by U-992, which herself attacked the convoy and claimed one tanker sunk. The Horace Gray in station #13 was hit by one torpedo on the port side at the bulkhead between the #4 and #5 holds; only minutes after the tanker ahead of her had been hit. The explosion blew the hatch covers off and opened a hole 20 feet by 60 feet in the port side and another 20 feet by 20 feet on the starboard side. The ship settled rapidly by the stern until water reached the after deck. 20 minutes after the hit the eight officers, 33 crewmen and 28 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 5in, one 3in and eight 20mm guns) abandoned ship in the four lifeboats and were picked up by two Soviet escort vessels. One hour after being hit, the master and some crewmen returned to the ship and after raising steam, a small Soviet tug towed her to Kola Inlet. While under tow a crack appeared on the starboard side and the vessel began to sink. Eight hours after being hit, the ship was beached at Tyuva Bay in 69°11.7N/33°36.5E and two days later declared a total loss after all holds were completely flooded. The Horace Gray had arrived Molotovsk on 19 January in convoy JW-64 from New York via Swansea, Wales. In 1959, the bow of the wreck of Horace Gray was fitted to Tbilisi, which had been badly damaged by U-956 (Mohs) on 30 Dec 1944. The Norfjell was hit by one torpedo in the engine room, killing two men on watch below and opening a hole of about 14 to 5 meters. The tanker remained afloat was taken in tow by the escort and beached near Tree Roochia in the Kola Inlet. The damage was temporarily repaired at Murmansk and she left in tow on 20 Oct, 1945 to Stavanger for permanent repairs, arriving on 15 November. The Norfjell with 41 crewmembers and eight gunners had arrived North Russia in convoy JW-63 and was on the outbound voyage in convoy BK-3 in order to join convoy RA-64 ? 1945 - U-2364, U-3030 commissioned ? 1945 - Uruguay declares was against Germany ? 1946 - Earthquake hits Puget Sound ? 1946 - Submarine HMS Unsparing scrapped at Inverkeithing ? 1952 - Destroyer HMCS Sioux departed Korean War zone ? 1952 - HSL 208, HSL 232 & HSL 233 commissioned at HMCS Shearwater for ASR duties ? 1964 - Oceanographic research vessel Hudson commissioned at Halifax ? 1964 - Minesweeper HMCS Resolute paid off ? 1966 - Evi (Greek Flag, ex-HMCS Baddeck foundered off Jeddah ? 1978 - Submarine HMS Sceptre completed ? 1991 - USN A-6s attacked and sank an Iraqi Osa patrol boat in Kuwait City Bay ? 1991 - Naval forces continue mine countermeasures and maritime interception operations ? 1991 - USS America Carrier Battle Group arrives in Arabian Gulf ? 1995 - Submarine HMS Vigilant launched ? 2003 - Rear Adm. Steven Kunkle, commander of the Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier battle group, removed from command because he had an "improper relationship" with a female naval officer ? 2004 - Assault carrier USS Makin Island laid down Pascagoula MS ? 2005 - RV Triton leaves Portsmouth for final time ? 2005 - Russian Project 1144.2-class cruiser Admiral Nakhimov being modernized at Sevmash in Severodvinsk ? 2005 - The vessel Sea Ray under the flag of St. Vincent and the Grenadines with a crew of ten Ukrainian sailors on board has sunk off the Crete Island coast, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Markian Lubkivski told Interfax on Monday. A report available 1830 suggests that the ship Inka Dede rescued eight sailors, currently en route to Souda Bay, where Ukraine's consul is waiting for them ? 2005 - A cruise liner damaged by a storm near Majorca will now sail to Sardinia after the crew restored power to two of its four engines, the ship's owners say. A statement from V Ships of Monaco said some passengers had minor injuries and were being treated on board. The Voyager is carrying 776 people. ? Most of the 480 passengers are Spanish. The ship was sailing from Tunis to Barcelona when the storm struck. A giant wave smashed a bridge window, knocking out the control systems ? 2005 - A section of Mombassa traders, politicians and religious leaders have vowed to prevent vessels carrying imported sugar from docking at the port. They said they would mobilize the masses to block the vessels, including one being purchased from Spain by the Kenya Navy ? 2005 - Jack Granatstein stepped down as Chair for the Council for Canadian Security in the 21st Century. Successor as Chair will be Dr Roger Sarty, Professor of History at Wilfrid Laurier University. Roger was the senior historian at National Defense Headquarters, and worked at the Canadian War Museum. Dr Roger Sarty is one of the foremost historians of Canadian defense policy and Canada's maritime forces. A native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, he studied at the University of Toronto and Duke University, and joined the Directorate of History at National Defense Headquarters in 1981. He worked as a specialist in maritime air operations on the official history of the Royal Canadian Air Force, and then helped to establish the navy official history team. From 1991 he was Senior Historian at the Directorate, with responsibility for all English-language publications, and in 1998 moved to the Canadian War Museum. As Deputy Director, in 2000-2003 he headed exhibition and public programming development for the war museum's new building on LeBreton Flats in Ottawa. In 2004 Dr. Sarty became a professor of military and Canadian history at Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario. He is also Research Director: Naval and Military History at the Laurier Center for Military, Strategic and Disarmament Studies. Dr. Sarty has written or co-authored eight books, including The Maritime Defense of Canada (1996) and (with W.A.B. Douglas and Michael Whitby) No Higher Purpose: The Official Operational History of the Royal Canadian Navy in the Second World War, 1939-1943, Volume II, Part I (2003) ? 2005 - The Coast Guard and Washington State Department of Ecology responded to a reported oil sheen near Bremerton, Wash., that is now dissipating. The Coast Guard first received a report about the oil sheen in Port of Washington Narrows at about 1600. Investigators from Coast Guard Marine Safety Office Puget Sound left Seattle about 1635 to investigate the spill. Coast Guard Station Seattle launched a 47-foot motor lifeboat to assist. Department of Ecology spill responders also went to investigate the spill. Investigators arrived about 2015 and found about ten gallons of an unknown petroleum product in the water. They were unable to locate the source ? 2005 - Nova Scotia provincial court judge has ordered the Fishing Vessel (FV) Hime Maru No. 38 to pay a $60,000 penalty for violations of the Canada Shipping Act associated with the unlawful discharge of an oily substance into Canadian waters. This sentence sets an important precedent as it marks the first time in Canada that a member of a ship’s crew has been convicted of Oil Record Book violations. On January 6, 2004, the vessel’s agent reported an oil slick around the FV Hime Maru No. 38, which was berthed at Pier 24 in the Port of Halifax. A subsequent investigation by Transport Canada determined that the slick, containing an undetermined amount of oil, originated from the FV Hime Maru No. 38. On March 2, 2004, the Regional Operations Center of the Canadian Coast Guard received a report from Imperial Oil that the FV Hime Maru No. 38 had discharged oil overboard while refueling at the Imperial Oil dock in Dartmouth. Transport Canada investigators confirmed that the spill, containing 567.5 liters of oil, originated from the FV Hime Maru No. 38. As a result of these two incidents, the vessel, master and company faced a number of charges and the vessel and master were subsequently found guilty of several offences under the Canada Shipping Act. The vessel was found guilty of two counts of illegal discharge of a pollutant and fined $40,000. The master of the vessel was also found guilty of one count of misreporting information in the Oil Record Book and one count of not reporting a pollution incident, and was fined a total of $20,000. The court also ordered that $25,000 of the $60,000 monetary penalty is to be paid to the Environmental Damages Fund ? 2005 - The USN in Japan announced it will replace a cruiser and a destroyer at its base in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, with two Aegis destroyers later this year. The two guided-missile destroyers — the 8,422-ton Stethem and the 9,217-ton Lassen - will arrive in Yokosuka in June and September, respectively. Both are currently based in San Diego, California. The ships being replaced are cruiser Vincennes and destroyer Cushing that will decommission in July and October respectively ? 2005 - The First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Alan West and the French Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Jean Louis Battet, co-signed a report to the Secretary of State (SofS) detailing the level of co-operation achieved between the two navies during the last year and key activities planned for the forthcoming year. In the year of T200, the report detailed the strands of co-operation to be developed between the two Navies in aircraft carrier operation. Work is also in progress to scope the potential for co-operation in carrier procurement through joint industrial activity and sharing of information with the aim of maximizing the benefits to both programs ? 2006 - Maintenance dredging will commence in RNSA Dolphin Pool, Haslar Lake, Gosport which is expected to last for two weeks weather dependent. The vessel conducting this task will be the Witton II which will be loading spoil into two Split Hopper barges and loading will take place twice daily as the tide permits ? 2006 - USS Ronald Reagan will be teaming up with the INS Viraat off the coast of Sri Lanka ? 2006 - MarineMax, Inc., announced that it has expanded its service capabilities on Florida's West Coast with the acquisition of a large boat and yacht service facility. This facility is adjacent to a large marina, which was simultaneously purchased by Brunswick Corporation. The service facility and marina, known as Great American Marine, is conveniently located just off the Intracoastal Waterway on Boca Ciega Bay near St. Petersburg, Florida. MarineMax will own and operate the service portion of the property while Brunswick will own the marina ? 2006 - Seaspan Corporation announced that it has agreed to purchase two new building vessels from affiliates of Conti Holding GmbH & Co. KG ("Conti") of Germany. This acquisition is incremental to Seaspan's original contracted fleet, and will increase the company's total fleet to 25 vessels. Seaspan will acquire the two 3,500 TEU vessels upon their delivery in February and July 2007 respectively from Zhejiang Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. in China. Delivered cost is expected to be approximately $50 million per vessel, subject to certain pre-delivery expenses remaining at budgeted levels. Seaspan also announced that it has arranged simultaneous twelve-year charter agreements for these vessels with Cosco Container Lines Co., Ltd. at $19,000 per day ? 2006 - Matson officially launched its new Matson-dedicated Guam and Micronesia service with the arrival of the MV Manulani. The new service succeeds the former 10-year Matson/APL Alliance arrangement in which Matson and APL shared vessel deployments. With the new service, Guam will be served by Matson's five most modern, fuel-efficient vessels, including four new ships built in the past four years. In addition, Guam operations on the West Coast will be supported by Matson-dedicated facilities in Long Beach, Oakland and Seattle. First Lady Joann Camacho is joining Matson for the celebration, welcoming the ship she christened in Philadelphia in May 2005. The deployment is part of a new Matson Guam -- China service and represents a $365 million investment in vessel, container and terminal assets; the new port rotation is Long Beach, Honolulu, Guam, Ningbo, Shanghai, Long Beach. The China component, the China -- Long Beach Express, will be launched next week ? 2006 - Crowley Maritime Corporation announced that Nelly Yunta has been promoted to general manager Dominican Republic/Haiti for the company’s liner services group. In her new position, Yunta will be responsible for the coordination of sales, marketing, and operations activities for the Dominican Republic and Haiti; overseeing development of policies and procedures; reviewing operating results; establishing annual revenue and capital and budgets; coordinating and negotiating contractor and service provider agreements and developing business relations. She will remain domiciled in the company’s Miami office and will report to John Hourihan, senior vice president and general manager, Latin America services ? 2006 - Crowley Maritime Corporation announced that Maureen Cunningham has been promoted to vice president of operations for the company’s Puerto Rico liner services group. In her new role, she is responsible for all aspects of Crowley’s land operation in Jacksonville, FL and Petty Island, NJ including inland operations, trucking, cargo terminal and related operations, stevedoring, gate operations, safety and security. Additionally, Cunningham will maintain relationships with union officials, stewards, and employees through administration of company policies and agreements ? 2006 - The guided-missile destroyer USS Oscar Austin located and assisted a distressed fishing vessel while operating 140 nautical miles off the coast of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea ? 2007 - The veterans group that had been lobbying to bring a decommissioned aircraft carrier to Baltimore is giving up. The group fought for ten years to bring the former USS Forrestal to Baltimore as a floating museum. Forrestal was the nation's first supercarrier, commissioned in 1955 at Norfolk Naval Shipyard ? 2007 - China donated to Indonesia's newly established Sea Security Coordinating Agency to help it set up digital library. The technical aid worth 15,000 US dollars and consist of 10 computers, laptops and printers. Chinese Ambassador to Indonesia Lan Lijun said that he hoped that the equipment provided by the Chinese government would be useful for the agency to maintain security on Indonesian waters ? 2007 - Reuters reported that the ship, OCT Challenger, had been intercepted off the south coast of Spain and forced to dock at the port of Almeria with four tonnes of cocaine ? 2007 - A commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guards claimed a commando unit has engraved the military organization's emblem into the side panel of an American warship stationed in the Persian Gulf. Nur Ali Shushkari, the head of the Revolutionary Guards ground forces, told Iranian pro-government news agencies that the symbol was etched onto the ship by the crew of a submarine that had managed to reach the US vessel without detection by radar ? 2007 - A New Forth crossing, which will cost £1 billion and is expected to take at least ten years to design and construct, was given the go-ahead by the Scottish cabinet ? 2007 - A gas leak in an ROK fishing vessel killed five crewmen, including one Vietnamese, and intoxicated 24 others. According to the report, there were eight Vietnamese crewmembers being poisoned in the accident that happened when the “101 Sea World” ship anchored in Montevideo ? 2008 - Coast Guard Commandant, Admiral Thad W. Allen will deliver the annual State of the Coast Guard Address at the National Press Club in Washington ============================================================= Sources: Colton Shipping Report, NOAA, MARAD, Marine Digest, Leo Pettipas, Kommersant, Samuel Loring Morison, Frank Pierce Young, Navy Times, Naval Institute Proceedings, www.uboat.net, Andrew Etherington, John Nicholas, US Naval Historical Center, Ministry of Defense, US Coast Guard, Thomas N. Carlson, Jack Arrowsmith, Allan Snowie, Ken Hansen, Andy Barber, John Weiss, Jack McKillop, Bernard de Neumann, Sympatico Today in History, Washington History Link, Lloyds List, Fairplay, New York Times, I-Newswire and other news sources in the public domain. Additions, submissions and corrections are always welcomed. ============================================================= Today in History Archives at: http://www.seawaves.com/newsletters/today_in_history_archive.htm Copyright 2008 Shirlaw News Group ISSN 1710-6966 Photos courtesy of US Naval Historical Center, US Coast Guard Historical Center, Wikipedia Encyclopedia or Naval Museum of Manitoba unless otherwise noted. Images may be subject to copyright. Ask before you right-click.