SeaWaves Today in History February 20, 2008 ********************************************************************* February 20 ? 1472 - Orkney and Shetland were annexed to the crown of Scotland as security for the dowry of Princess Margaret, daughter of Christian I, King of Norway and Denmark, and wife of James III of Scotland ? 1653 - The second day of The Three Day Battle between the Dutch Admiral Marten Tromp and General-at-Sea Robert Blake ? 1764 - Seafarer, 1st rank captain and explorer of the Arctic 64 Khariton Prokofyeivich Lapten ? (born 1700) died ? 1815 - USS Constitution, under Captain Charles Stewart, captures HMS Cyane and sloop-of-war Levant ? 1845 - President Tyler vetoes bill providing that no cutter be built nor purchased unless appropriation first made by law, on grounds that sanctity of contract of those already contracted for should not be overridden by Congress. Congress overrides veto March 3, 1845 ? 1857 - North German Lloyd (Norddeutscher Lloyd - NDL) was founded by the H.H. Meier ? 1907 - The huge Prince of Wales Basin was opened at Devonport by its Royal namesake, after ten years work turning the 114 acre site into a thoroughly modern fitting-out yard to support the large and technically advanced new ships entering service ? 1909 - Submarine HMS C26 launched ? 1918 - Destroyer USS Talbot launched ? 1918 - Destroyer HMS Vesper commissioned ? 1929 - Destroyers HNLMS Van Galen & Witte de With commissioned ? 1931 - Destroyer HMS Boreas commissioned ? 1940 - North Sea shipping is again attacked by the Luftwaffe. One trawler is sunk and another is damaged ? 1936 - Destroyer USS Smith launched ? 1938 - Anthony Eden resigns as British Foreign Secretary, being unable to support Prime Minister Chamberlain's appeasement policy ? 1940 - ASW trawler HMS Fifeshire bombed & sunk by German aircraft east of Copinsay, Scotland ? 1940 - U-111 laid down ? 1940 - U-54 believed sunk by mine in North Sea. No survivors ? 1940 - Corvettes HMCS Chambly, HMS Trillium & Mayflower laid down Montreal PQ ? 1941 - U-128, U-565, U-566 launched ? 1941 - U-558 commissioned ? 1941 - HMC Gate Vessels GV 1 & GV 2 ordered Concrete Foundation Maritime Ltd, Montreal, PO ? 1941 - Corvettes HMCS Calgary, Regina, Malbaie & Fredericton (ex-Fort William) ordered ? 1941 - Minesweeping trawler HMS Ouse mined & sunk off Tobruk ? 1941 - The freighter SS Chirikof arrives at Seward with 20 crated P-36 Hawks in its hold. These are the first fighter aircraft to be based in the territory ? 1942 - Destroyer HNLMS Van Galen commissioned ? 1942 - Escort carrier HMS Searcher laid down ? 1942 - Destroyers USS Hudson & Charrette laid down ? 1942 - Destroyers USS Guest, Duncan, Hutchins & Lansdowne launched ? 1942 - U-618 launched ? 1942 - U-534, U-956 laid down ? 1942 - Corvette HMCS Moose Jaw arrived St John's for temporary repairs ? 1942 - Japanese troops landed in Portuguese Timor. A small force of Australian troops, only one company strong, supported by Timorese natives, began a long and bitter guerilla campaign ? 1942 - At 0359, SS Nordvangen was hit in the stern by one torpedo from U-129 & sank within one minute. 19 Norwegian, four Dutch and one Danish crewmember were lost. The ship had been reported missing, but on 6 March, a marked lifeboat and some debris was washed ashore at Trinidad ? 1942 - U-869 sunk due to unknown causes. The most probable cause is that one of its own homing torpedoes locked in on the boat itself after being fired on some unknown target. 56 dead (all hands lost). Several divers found a German U-boat off the coast of New Jersey, USA on 2 Sept 1991. On 31 August 1997 these same divers reported evidence that the boat they found is the U-869 (knife inscribed with a U-869 crewmember's name, UZO torpedo aiming device, machinery-numbers from the engine room). This location is at 39.33N, 73.20W in about 230 feet of water ? 1942 - At 1131, the unescorted SS Delplata was hit by a single torpedo from U-156 about 60 miles west of Martinique. The torpedo struck on the starboard side aft of the #2 hold and damaged the superstructure, the wheelhouse, the chart room and the quarter of the master. The freighter took an immediate list to starboard, while the whistle cord become fouled and let the whistle blow continuously. Most of the ten officers, 30 men and 13 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in, four .50cal and four .30cal guns) abandoned ship in the four lifeboats and the three rafts. The master, seven crewmen and seven armed guards remained on board. One hour after the first hit, the U-boat fired a second torpedo, which struck on the starboard side and five minutes later another on the port side at the #2 hold. The gun crew fired twelve shot in the direction of the U-boat, but they had to left the ship as her heavy list to port increased. The next day, all men were picked up by seaplane tender USS Lapwing. Some of the crew returned to consider salvage possibilities and to recover belongings. The seaplane tender then sank the wreck by gunfire after it was determined that she could not be salvaged ? 1942 - The unescorted MS Lake Osweya followed three miles behind the Empire Seal, while they approached Halifax. When the British ship was sunk by U-96 at 2329 hours, the Lake Osweya tried to escape by changing course & zigzagging. But at 0453 on 20 February, the vessel was struck amidships by one torpedo fired by U-96 from a distance of 500 yards, broke in two & sank quickly by the bow. Lehmann-Willenbrock reported that three lifeboats were launched, but none of the eight officers, 22 crewmen and nine armed guards (the ship was armed with two 3in guns) were ever found ? 1942 - USN Task Force 11 built around USS Lexington with Carrier Air Group Three aboard, is attacked by Japanese Navy land-based aircraft as it approaches Rabaul on New Britain Island. Because of these attacks, the proposed mission against Rabaul is canceled and TF11 begins withdrawing. Fighting Squadron Three, equipped with Grumman F4F Wildcats, has a busy day - Between 1112 and 1202, pilots shoot down two four-engined patrol bombers. At approximately 1700 hours, VF-3 pilots intercept nine Mitsubishi G4M Navy Type 1 Attack Bombers, Allied Code Name Betty, approaching the Lexington and shoot down four of them. The remaining five miss the carrier and flee. As the F4Fs chase the Bettys, another nine-plane element attacks the Lexington. Airborne at this time is Lt (jg) Edward H. "Butch" O'Hare and he proceeds to shoot down five of the Bettys, and possibly a sixth, over Bougainville Island in the Solomons between 1705 and 1730 hours becoming the US's first ace-in-a-day. O'Hare is subsequently awarded the Medal of Honor for this action and later has the Chicago Airport renamed in his honor. Other "Bettys" also attack and VF-3 pilots and the rear gunner in a Scouting Squadron Two Douglas SBD Dauntless shoot down eight of nine. US casualties are two F4Fs and one pilot. Although the US raid on Rabaul is canceled, the loss of so many Japanese aircraft forces them to postpone the seizure of several positions in New Guinea ? 1942 - U-156 puts into the French island of Martinique in the Caribbean to put ashore one of the men wounded by the premature barrel explosion on 16 February ? 1942 - German warships Admiral Scheer & Prinz Eugen leave Brünsbuttel for Norway ? 1942 - Submarine USS Swordfish embarks Philippine President Manuel Quezon, his wife & two children, Vice President Sergio Osmeña, and other Philippine government officials off Mariveles. Quezon was carried to Mindanao and attempted to remain in the Philippines. MacArthur quietly arranged for him to be kept under close escort, as he did not trust Quezon not to try to cut a deal for neutralization of the Philippines with the Japanese. Quezon and Osmeña were eventually carried to Australia and thence to the US. Quezon died in the US but Osmeña went ashore at Leyte and resumed his duties as Philippine President as the US cleared the Archipelago. Quezon's reluctance in 1942 to leave the Philippines might have resulted from the knowledge that he was dying from tuberculosis and that he would have preferred to die in the Philippines ? 1943 - Escort carrier HMS Speaker launched ? 1943 - Minesweepers USS Saunter & Jubilant launched ? 1943 - Escort carrier USS Barnes commissioned ? 1943 - Escort carrier HMS Fencer commissioned ? 1943 - Destroyer HMS Rapid commissioned ? 1943 - Submarines HMS Stubborn & Vandal commissioned ? 1943 - Minesweeper HMAS Ararat launched ? 1943 - Frigate HMAS Gascoyne launched ? 1943 - A Japanese army cargo ship sinks as the result of damage inflicted by gunfire from USN surface vessels ? 1943 - In the Pacific, a Japanese destroyer & transport are sunk by two USN submarines ? 1943 - USN Carrier Air Group Five is temporarily based on Guadalcanal to cover the upcoming invasion of the Russell Islands ? 1943 - Minesweepers USS Ardent & Lucid laid down ? 1943 - U-717 launched ? 1943 - U-238, U-738, U-848 commissioned ? 1943 - At 0508, SS Radhurst, a straggler from Convoy ONS-165, was hit by one of two fired torpedoes from U-525 NW of St John's. The torpedo struck amidships & caused the ship to sink within three minutes. The master and 37 crewmembers were lost ? 1944 - Submarine USS Icefish launched ? 1944 - USS LST-348 sunk by German submarine U-410 off Anzio 1944 - Minesweeper USS Garland launched ? 1944 - Destroyer HMS Warwick sunk by U-413 ? 1944 - U-822 launched ? 1944 - Minesweepers HMCS Fort William, Milltown, Blairmore & Minas departed Halifax for Devonport via Azores ? 1944 - At 1755, U-230 fired one Gnat at landing ships off Anzio and heard a detonation after 13 minutes, 25 seconds. The Gnat probably detonated at the end of its run. At 1851 hours, another torpedo was fired, which sank HMS LST-305 ? 1944 - At 0157, USS LST-348 was torpedoed by U-410 & was sunk at 0221 by a coup de grâce about 40 miles south of Naples. The vessel was participating in the landings in Anzio-Nettuno, Operation Shingle ? 1944 - U-683 reported missing in the North Atlantic SW of Ireland ? 1944 - Norwegian resistance successfully sinks the passenger and vehicle ferry Hydro crossing Lake Tinnsjø. The ferry was carrying heavy water from Ryukan, Norway bound for Germany. Heavy water is necessary for continued experiments by the German nuclear program. The heavy water was being transported in railway freight cars on board. London had ordered one Milorg resistance group to blow up the ferry, and without advising this first group had also ordered another group to blow up the train that would be carrying the freight cars south. In addition the RAF had orders to bomb the ship carrying the heavy water from Norway to Germany. The Norwegians of the first group realized that destruction of the cross-lake ferry would cause a loss of civilian lives, and queried London if the mission was necessary. Confirmation was given, so the ferry shipment was scheduled for a Sunday morning, when civilian passengers would be at a minimum. 19 pounds of explosive were planted on Hydro by the 2 Milorg saboteurs who then split up and made their way, one to Sweden the other back to his contact point. The charges blew at 1045, when the ferry was over the deepest part of the lake, and as the ferry tilted down by the bow, the freight cars wrenched free from their tethering lines and sank into 1300 feet of water. Passengers and crew abandoned ship frantically, but 26 passengers, crew and children went down with the ferry; 27 others, including the Hydro's Captain Sorensen and four German servicemen were rescued ? 1944 - Soviet Black Sea Flee submarine TS-2 (ex-S2 Marsuinul) sunk due to torpedo explosion at Poti. Raised Feb 28 & later returned to service ? 1944 - Twelve Fifth Air Force B-24s hit shipping off Kavieng, New Ireland Island ? 1944 - In the Marshall Islands, aircraft from USS Enterprise, part of Task Group 58.1 bomb Japanese installations on Jaluit Atoll ? 1944 - USAAF P-40s from Makin Island in the Gilberts strafe and bomb runways and small vessels at Mille Atoll ? 1944 - In the Pacific, two Japanese ships are sunk by the submarine USS Pogy ? 1944 - Thirteenth Air Force P-39s attack barge traffic, which has greatly increased off southeastern and northwestern Bougainville Island, claiming 20 of the craft sunk ? 1945 - Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-397 was commissioned at Decatur, AL. Her first commanding officer was LTJG E. Roswell, USCG, who was succeeded on 9 September 1945, by LTJG Arthur N. Froedman, USCGR. She was assigned to and operated in the Southwest Pacific and Western Pacific areas. On 14 February 1946, as the FS-397 was departing Manila for the Phoenix Group, it had been recommended she be ordered to Honolulu for refrigerator repairs and it was so directed. She departed Manila on 6 February 1946, for Pearl Harbor, via Okinawa to conduct a survey of LORAN equipment and to salvage if possible, the equipment abandoned by Unit 211 when it departed Okinawa. On 1 February 1946 she was assigned to the Phoenix LORAN Group and assigned to DOGO, 114th ND, for operational and administrative control. On the same date she was released from control Coast Guard AF WESPAC and transferred to Administrative Commander, Coast Guard Activities SWPA, Philippine Sea Frontier. She departed Okinawa February 28, 1946, for Guam, expecting to arrive 6 March 1946. She departed Guam on 16 March 1946, expecting to arrive at Eniwetok on 20 March for fuel and water en route to Honolulu. She departed Eniwetok on 27 March 1946, for Honolulu, expecting to arrive on 5 April 1946. ? 1945 - Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-409 was commissioned. She was assigned to and operated in the Pacific Ocean and Western Pacific area including Tinian, Saipan, Eniwetok, etc ? 1945 - Destroyer HMS Carysfort commissioned ? 1945 - Corvette HMS Vervain sunk by U-1276. Later that day, U-1276 sunk south of Waterford in position 51.48N, 07.07W by depth charges from sloop HMS Amethyst. 49 dead (all hands lost) ? 1945 - U-4707 commissioned ? 1945 - In the Pacific, a Japanese destroyer and a merchant cargo ship are sunk by USN submarines. Mines sink two other Japanese merchant vessels ? 1946 - Lord Louis Mountbatten is appointed the last Viceroy of India - the same day that the Government announces the British will leave India by June 1948 ? 1956 - Minesweeper HMCS Chaleur laid down Sorel PQ. As of 2003, reported as a diveboat in Sydney, Australia ? 1962 - LCOL John Glenn USMC becomes first American to orbit Earth. His flight in Friendship 7 (Mercury 6) consisted of 3 orbits in 88 minutes at a velocity of 17,544 mph with the highest altitude of 162.2 statute miles. Recovery was by USS Noa ? 1962 - USS Dixie rescues lone crewman aboard a sailing yawl adrift for four days ? 1964 - USS Bennington commences Vietnam deployment with CVSG-59 ? 1964 - USS Kitty Hawk port call Hong Kong ? 1969 - USS Ticonderoga port call Yokosuka ? 1974 - S-3A Viking ASW aircraft (carrier jet) introduced officially, given to VS-41 ? 1991 - Naval forces conduct air strikes and continue mine counter measures, maritime intercepts, and naval gunfire assignments ? 1991 - USS America’s Air Anti-Submarine Squadron 32 becomes first S-3 squadron ever to engage and destroy a hostile vessel, an Iraqi gunboat hit by three 500-pound bombs. USS Valley Forge vectored S-3 to target ? 1995 - Destroyer HMCS Nipigon departed Halifax for NATO Exercise Strong Resolve off Norway ? 1997 - MCDV HMCS Shawinigan commissioned ? 2003 - Tidewater announced it had entered into an agreement with ENSCO International Incorporated to acquire ENSCO's 27-vessel Gulf of Mexico based marine fleet ? 2004 - Tugs ASD Kaimana Hila, Akaka and Mink christened at Pearl Harbor. Owned & operated by P&R Water Taxi to provide berthing services for naval vessels under a five-year contract. The tugboats were designed and built at the Kewalo Shipyard, which is owned by P&R Water Taxi, and make up a new class of high-performance tug designed by naval architect Donald Stoddard, of Stoddard Marine Design of Hilo. When Pires assumed control of the Pearl Harbor tugboat operations in October, it was the first time in 14 years that a small business in Hawaii was able to win the contract ? 2005 - Two fishermen have been rescued and one fisherman remains missing after their 44-foot commercial fishing vessel caught fire five miles north east of Scituate Harbor about 1620 today. The Lady Lorraine, registered in Scuituate, Mass. reportedly had three passengers on board. The extent of injuries is unknown at this time. The crew of fishing vessel Night Moves, which witnessed the fire, rescued two fishermen from a life raft and transferred the Lady Lorraine crewmembers to Scituate Harbor, where they were transferred to Emergency Medical Services Personnel. One male was transported by EMS to South Shore Hospital. The other male was flown by Med Flight to Massachusetts General Hospital. Coast Guard Station Point Allerton dispatched 41-foot and two 47-foot rescue boats to the scene and Air Station Cape Cod launched an HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter. Coast Guard assets are still five miles north east of Scuituate Harbor. The Coast Guard Cutter Tybee is en route to assist in the search and rescue operation. Crewmembers from Station Point Allerton extinguished the fire and the fishing vessel has reportedly sunk ? 2006 - Aker Yards has signed a contract with Island Offshore VIII KS, a company within the Island Offshore Group in Ulsteinvik, Norway, to deliver a UT 755 LN platform supply vessel. The value of the contract is approximately NOK 150 million ? 2006 - Russian tanker Rabiks-4 has been allowed to return to Russia after paying Georgia a fine of 50,000 lari, nearly $24,000, for violating navigation regulations in Georgia's territorial waters, a source in the Georgian state border guard department told Interfax. Three Russian vessels have been detained in Georgia's territorial waters for violating navigation rules over the past three years ? 2006 - The Coast Guard suspends search for a possible missing boater near Ponce Inlet, FL after local authorities found an overturned canoe on the south side of the Ponce Inlet jetties yesterday morning. Rescue coordinators made the decision to suspend the search at about 0900 after thoroughly searching the areas where Volusia County Beach Patrol found the boat and making contact with boat's owner. A couple in New Smyrna Beach contacted the Coast Guard after seeing reports of the search efforts and pictures of their canoe on Central Florida News 13 and in the Daytona Beach News-Journal. The couple reported that the boat had been stolen weeks earlier from their home in New Smyrna Beach ? 2006 - Coast Guard conducted a medical evacuation of a 76-year-old man suffering a heart attack off of a charter fishing boat 30 miles southeast of Port Aransas, Texas ? 2006 - Northrop Grumman Corporation has announced that its Sperry Marine North American Support Center in New Orleans has completed its recovery from Hurricane Katrina damage and is now operating at 100 percent capacity ? 2006 - Aberdeen Coastguard are currently coordinating the search for a missing 40 year old Brechin sea angler in the Nigg Bay area. A call was received late this morning to the Coastguard reporting that a man was still missing after entering a sea angling competition at Portlethen yesterday. He was last seen at the registration point for the competition at 08.00 hrs yesterday morning, after which he went to an unknown location along the coast. His car has now also been located at the Findon Quarry car park. He was due to return at 1530 yesterday afternoon. The 5 ft 7" missing man was wearing a green thermal suit and had entered such competitions before. The Police are conducting their own inquiries locally. The Portlethen and Aberdeen Coastguard Rescue Teams have now been sent to the area to begin searching the shoreline whilst a rescue helicopter has been scrambled. Two lifeboats are now combing the sea area as there is no indication of the location from where the missing man began to cast his lines ? 2007 - Prime Minister Helen Clark is not contemplating offering a safe berth to a stricken Japanese whaling ship should its owners want it to be towed to New Zealand ? 2007 - State Senator Verger introduced a bill (SB 432) to allow shipbreaking in Oregon only in a graving dock or a floating drydock. If enacted, the measure would prohibit shipbreaking at a pier or slip or in any other manner that allows hazardous materials, fouling communities, or fouling organisms to enter Oregon's territorial seas ? 2007 - The Royal Navy is aiming to reduce the cost of running the Clyde naval base at Faslane by £30m a year in the run-up to a radical review of fleet support ? 2007 - Salvage experts in charge of the recovery of the MSC Napoli, grounded off Lyme Bay in Devon, are planning to remove the ship from the coast. The 62,000-tonne cargo ship was grounded off Branscombe Beach after starting to break up in stormy weather ? 2007 - The maritime unions said the Scottish Executive's handling of the current tendering process was a waste of an estimated £17m of taxpayers money. Caledonian MacBrayne is the only bidder left, but the unions warned that the firm was not guaranteed the contract. The maritime unions have called for a meeting with ministers and drawn up a motion for the STUC conference ? 2007 - The US Board on Geographic Names has unanimously voted to name the area off the southwest coast of Alaska at 49N, 159 W, the “United States Coast and Geodetic Survey Seamount Province.” This is in recognition of the 200-year legacy of science and service that the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, which dates from a February 10, 1807 executive order by President Thomas Jefferson, has provided. The name is the first to recognize a US agency ? 2007 - Navy Hospital Corpsman First Class Gilbert Minjares Jr. was buried at Fort Bliss National Cemetery with a rifle salute and graveside services by the Catholic Church, the Masonic Lodge and the Eagle Claw Warrior Society. Minjares was killed earlier this month when his helicopter crashed in Al Anbar Province, Iraq, during a casualty evacuation mission. Monsignor Francis J. Smith, pastor and vicar general for St. Raphael Parish in east El Paso, presided over the funeral ? 2007 - British government has given its approval for another large offshore wind farm in the outer Thames Estuary that will see another 140 turbines deployed over the next three years ? 2007 - The Defense Minister of Poland, Mr. Aleksander Szczyglo, visited NATO HQ ============================================================= 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.