SeaWaves Today in History July 29, 2009 1588 - The English soundly defeated the Spanish Armada in the Battle of Gravelines 1610 - Vasily Shuysky was stripped from his tsar powers and forcefully sent to a monastery as a monk. It was done by Zakhar Lyapunov, dukes Zasekins, Tyufyakin and Merin-Volkonsky. The great church patriarch did not recognize the new monk because Shuysky was made one against his own will. But the ex-tsar was still sent to Chudov Monastery despite the patriarch protests. Also, Shuysky’s wife was made a nun and his brothers were put in jail 1696 - The second Azov War of Peter the Great ended with success. Moscow troops besieged the Crimean city Azov from the land and the newly built Russian navy blockaded Azov from the sea. Azov threw a white flag. The success was greatly appreciated by the Russian people who saw that the young tsar was not only able to play military games but also do real heroic deeds. This victory made Peter the Great think about building a large navy and consolidating forces with European powers to throw the Turks out of Europe 1793 - John Graves Simcoe sails into Toronto Bay by the western gap and decides that the site will be a good place for a fort and a settlement 1817 - Maritime Painter Ivan (Ovanes) Aivazovsky, son of small Armenian merchant from Crimea, born. He was able to become rich from the sales of 6,000 works. For the proceeds he built a sea port in his native Feodosia as well as a railroad. He was elected member of five Academies of Fine Arts: St-Petersburg, Rome, Florence, Stuttgart and Amsterdam 1846 - Sailors and Marines from US sloop Cyane capture San Diego CA 1899 - The First peace Conference finished in Haag. The initiator of the Conference was Russian Foreign Minister Count Mikhail MURAVIEV, who issued a note to the world powers asking them to join efforts in arms reduction. The Conference gathered 26 countries. And despite the fact that the main goals were not reached, the Conference adopted several important documents such as: Agreements about peaceful resolutions of international arguments, the law of conducting wars and usage of Geneva Convention from 1864 in the naval warfare. Besides, the members approved three declarations banning some poisonous gases, fragmenting bullets, and the dropping of artillery shells and explosives from the hot-air balloons. However, these declarations were almost never followed by the participants 1912 - Captain Joseph-Elzear Bernier 1852-1934 leaves Quebec for a private Arctic trading expedition on the Minnie Maid 1914 - Torpedo boat HNLMS G-16 commissioned 1915 - US marines land in Haiti, stay until 1924 1918 - Destroyer USS Tillman laid down 1918 - Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt visits Queenstown, Ireland 1919 - Destroyer USS Sturtevant launched 1920 - Destroyer USS Edsall launched 1923 - Head Designer of Soviet and Russian nuclear submarines (Design Bureau "Rubin") Igor Baranov born 1929 - Destroyer HMS Blanche laid down 1929 - Sloops HMS Hastings & Penzance laid down 1936 - U-37, U-38, U-39 and U-40 ordered 1936 - U-22 launched 1937 - Destroyer HMS Intrepid commissioned 1938 - Ivar Haglund opens Seattle's first aquarium on Pier 3 (now 54) 1940 - At 0215, the unescorted Clan Menzies was torpedoed & sunk by U-99 about 150 miles west of Loop Head, Co. Clare. Six crewmembers were lost. The master and 87 crewmembers landed at Enniscrone, Co. Sligo 1940 - Corvette HMS Clover laid down 1940 - Destroyer HMS Tetcott laid down 1940 - Corvette HMS (ex-FS) La Malouine commissioned 1940 - Destroyer HMS Delight is bombed and sunk escorting a channel convoy off Portland. Destroyer HMS Delight is set on fire by the German air strike. She manages to make it back to port, but sinks in Portland the next morning 1940 - The German Navy reports that landings on the British coast cannot take place until mid-September 1940 - In the US, John Sigmund of St. Louis completes a 292-mile swim down the Mississippi River. It took him 89 hours, 48 minutes to swim from St Louis to Caruthersville MO 1940 - Corvette HMCS Chambly launched Montreal PQ 1941 - ASW trawler HMS Buster launched 1941 - Submarine HMS Ultimatum commissioned 1941 - Japanese occupy southern French Indochina with the permission of the French 1941 - The US Secretary of the Navy approves the installation of a Radar Plot aboard aircraft carriers as "the brain of the organization" protecting the fleet from air attack. The first installation is planned for the island structure of USS Wasp 1942 - U-271 launched 1942 - U-268 commissioned 1942 - At 2000, the Bill was torpedoed by U-155. The Brazilian mess boy was killed and the ship sank within four minutes. The master was ordered to come on board U-155, which took off after the crew in the lifeboats had been given the course for Barbados. He was later taken to a hospital in Rennes where he died of heart trouble on 27 Nov 1942. The three lifeboats were separated but all reached land near Trinidad on the 2, 10 and 15 August 1942 - At 1019, the unescorted Prescodoc was torpedoed and sunk by U-160 NW of Georgetown, British Guinea. 15 crewmembers were lost. The master and five crewmembers were picked up by Predsednik Kopajtic and landed at Port of Spain, Trinidad 1942 - Frigate HMS Itchen launched 1942 - Rescue tug HMS Horsa launched 1942 - Minesweeper HMS Hound launched 1942 - Submarines HMS Sea Nymph & Tactician launched 1942 - Minesweeper HMAS Broome commissioned 1942 - Destroyer HMS Cowdray commissioned 1942 - Light cruiser USS Columbia commissioned 1942 - Minesweeper USS Sage laid down 1942 - In the Solomons, PBY-5 Catalinas of the USN's Patrol Squadron Twenty Three based at Naval Operating Base Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides Islands, bomb Japanese installations on Tulagi and Gavutu Islands 1943 - Italian submarine Pietro Micca was torpedoed and sunk at the entrance to Adriatic, in the Strait of Otranto by the British submarine HMS Trooper 1943 - U-866 launched 1943 - U-991 commissioned 1943 - At 0600, the Cornish City in Convoy DN-53 was torpedoed and sunk by U-177 SE of Madagascar. The master, 31 crewmembers and five gunners were lost. Five crewmembers and one gunner were picked up by destroyer HMAS Nizam and landed at Port Louis, Mauritius 1943 - Destroyer HMS Boreas had steamed over 250,000 miles since the war began. In 439 days, she traveled 183,244 miles with the same crew and never lost a ship in convoy 1943 - Escort carrier HMS Pretoria Castle commissioned 1943 - Destroyer escorts USS Deede & Douglas L Howard commissioned 1943 - Destroyer USS Hoel commissioned 1943 - Submarine USS Blueback laid down 1943 - Destroyer escorts USS O'Reilly, Riddle, Wesson laid down 1943 - Light cruiser HMCS Ontario (ex-HMS Minotaur) launched 1943 - Minesweeper HMCS Winnipeg commissioned 1943 - Armed yacht HMCS Beaver arrived Digby NS for training DEMS gunners 1943 - Aircraft carrier HMS Magnificent (later HMCS Magnificent) laid down Harland & Wolff Belfast 1943 - U-614 (Type VIIC) is sunk NW of Cape Finisterre, at position 46.42N, 11.03W, by depth charges from a British Wellington aircraft (Sqn 172/G). 49 dead (all crew lost) 1944 - U-3509 laid down 1944 - ASW trawler HMS Lord Wakelfield sunk by German aircraft off Normandy 1944 - U-2327 launched 1944 - U-1064, U-3501 commissioned 1944 - HMS Prince Leopold was hit by a Gnat from U-621 off Normandy. The ship was hit on the portside amidships, capsized and sank 1944 - U-618 shot down an RAF 172 Sqn Wellington 1944 - During an air raid on Bremen, U-873 was damaged and 4 men were wounded. One of them (Matrosenhauptgefreiter Fritz Grusa) died in December 1944 - During Mission 504 (USAAF) U-872 (Type IX D2) is badly damaged at Bremen with 1 dead. Taken out of service 10 Aug, 1944 and later broken up 1944 - In the US, the first successful test of the Pelican guided missile is conducted 44 miles offshore from NAS New York, New York; 2 of the 4 missiles hit the target ship 1944 - The US heavy cruiser USS Baltimore with President Franklin D Roosevelt aboard, departs Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, for Adak, Aleutian Islands 1944 - HMC ML 128 commissioned 1944 - HMS LST 3536 & 3537 ordered from Canadian Vickers Ltd, Montreal. HMS LST 3540 ordered from Davie Shipbuilding & Repair Co Lauzon PQ. HMS LST 3544 & 3545 ordered from Marine Industries Ltd Sorel PQ. HMS LST 3548, 3549, 3550, 3551 & 3552 ordered from United Shipyards Ltd. Montreal PQ. HMS LST 3553 & 3554 ordered from Yarrows Ltd Esquimalt BC 1944 - Destroyer USS Gregory commissioned 1944 - Destroyer escort USS Parle commissioned 1944 - Minesweepers USS Pledge & Skurry commissioned 1945 - Heavy Cruiser USS Indianapolis sunk after being torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-58 in the Philippine Sea 1945 - American and British carrier-based aircraft attack airfields and naval targets in the Inland Sea sinking a destroyer and 12 merchant vessels. USN Task Group 34.8.1 consisting of 3 battleships, 4 heavy cruisers and 10 destroyers bombards facilities on Honshu. The British battleship HMS King George V and 3 destroyers join in the bombardment 1945 - 24 B-29s mine Shimonoseki Strait and the waters at Fukuoka, Karatsu, and Najin; 2 others mine alternate targets 1945 - Minesweeper HMCS Nanoose (ex HMCS Nootka) paid off 1945 - Destroyer USS William W Wood launched 1956 - Jacques Cousteau's Calypso anchors in 7,500 m of water (record) 1966 - USS Coral Sea commenced Vietnam deployment 1967 - Fire swept the USS Forrestal in the Gulf of Tonkin, killing 134 servicemen; $100 million in damage 1972 - USS Ticonderoga completed her final Vietnam deployment 1972 - Destroyer HMCS Iroquois commissioned 1973 - USS Coral Sea port call Subic Bay 1993 - Frigate HMCS Toronto commissioned Toronto ON 1997 - Minamata Bay in Japan - once a worldwide symbol of industrial pollution - was declared free of mercury 40 years after contaminated food fish were blamed for deaths and birth defects 2003 - Destroyer USS Ingersoll sunk as a target near Hawaii 2005 - 415 (MP) Squadron Formal Consolidation Ceremonies at CFB Greenwood. The squadron merged with 405(MP) Squadron. Colors will be retired and presented to 14 Wing Military Aviation Museum. Wing Parade Reviewing Officer was Chief of the Air Staff LGen Steve Lucas 2005 - Lt. Cmdr. Andrew Raiha will succeed Cmdr. Hal Pitts as commanding officer of the Coast Guard Cutter Fir in a ceremony to be held at the Fairhaven Shipyard in Bellingham WA. Raiha has served as the Commanding Officer on the Coast Guard Cutter Penobscot Bay, stationed in Bayonne NJ, and as the deck watch officer on the Coast Guard Cutter Yocona, formerly stationed in Kodiak AK. He also served as the Executive Officer of Coast Guard Cutter Ironwood, stationed in Kodiak. He has served the last three years at the Seventeenth Coast Guard District in Juneau. Raiha, who is a native of Sandpoint ID, is married to the former Barbara Babnew of Alaska. Raiha's top military awards include the Coast Guard Commendation Medal and the Coast Guard Achievement Medal 2005 - Geoff Regan, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, announced today federal funding of close to six million dollars for major improvements at the Havre-Aubert harbor in the Magdalen Islands 2005 - At 0530 Aberdeen Coastguard were alerted by the Schiehallion FPSO (Floating, Production, Storage and offloading Vessel) of a fire in the machinery area. Aberdeen Coastguard Maritime Rescue Coordination Center immediately scrambled a coastguard helicopter Rescue 'Oscar Charlie' and requested a second helicopter from ARCC (Aeronautical Rescue Coordination Center). They scrambled R137 and also scrambled an RAF Nimrod to provide top cover for the helicopters. There are 91 persons on the platform which is owned by British Petroleum. The fire has now been extinguished by fire fighting teams on the platform. The Coastguard helicopter is evacuating 30 non essential personnel from the Sciehallion to other platforms in the area as a precaution. The platform is in a position 150 miles west of Shetland 2005 - Navy and Coast Guard ships off the Goa coast are on high alert following reports that a North Korean ship allegedly carrying arms and ammunition was cruising the seas off the coast, but naval sources said this was not based on any concrete intelligence 2005 - The drilling of a prospecting borehole has begun within the framework of the Sakhalin-5 oil and gas project on the shelf of the Sea of Okhotsk. The well is being drilled at the Kaigan-Vasyukan deposit of hydrocarbons. The drill rig Legend of the British Transocean Company is doing the work. The company was founded by the Rosneft JSC and British Petroleum and is an operator of the Sakhalin-5 project. The target well depth is 2,285 meters, preliminary results of the drilling will be known this autumn. Three-dimensional seismic survey for hydrocarbon detection will also be conducted at an area of 3,000 square kilometers on the Okhotsk Sea shelf. This operation will be conducted by the Western Trident ship equipped with modern geophysical equipment. It is to examine the huge part of the shelf in three months 2005 - Cruiser USS Sterett and destroyers USS Dahlgren and Barney scrapping contracts let 2005 - Rear Adm. David Architzel assumed command of the Program Executive Office (PEO), Aircraft Carriers, relieving Rear Adm. Dennis M. Dwyer in a ceremony held at the Washington Navy Yard. A native of Ogdensburg, N.Y., and raised in Merrick, Long Island, Architzel graduated from the US Naval Academy in June 1973 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mathematics. He also earned a Master’s of Science Degree in Aeronautical Systems from the University of West Florida. A graduate of the Navy’s Test Pilot School, Architzel was designated as a Naval Aviator in 1975 and served three years as a Test Pilot 2005 - A MEDEVAC to Antofagasta for a Philippino crewmember of MV Alianca Pacific who was injured in a fall. The ship was in transit from Valparaiso to Ilo in Peru at the time 2006 - USCG Station Green Bay rescued five adults and one 2 year-old child at 0030 in Brown County in the lower section of Green Bay. Operator of the pleasure was intoxicated 2006 - Patrol craft HMAS Pirie commissioned at Port Pirie, South Australia 2006 - Capt. J. Christopher Sinnett assumed command of USCGC Eagle at Newport RI, relieving Eric J. Shaw, who assumed command in August 2003. Capt. Shaw will be retiring from the Coast Guard August 1, and his retirement ceremony will follow the change of command 2006 - Clyde Coastguard deal with two walkers from the Manchester area on the Isle of Arran, near Dippin Head, suffering from exhaustion and trapped at the bottom of a cliff with the sea just 6 feet away 2006 - A suspected to be an oceangoing tanker fled the scene after hitting a local fishing boat in waters near northern Hai Phong city, leaving nine fishermen stranded. The scene where the accident took place was reportedly 70 nautical miles from Cat Ba town, Do Son district, Hai Phong. The boat sank, with two of the nine critically injured 2007 - Change of command ceremony of the A958 Zenobe Gramme occurred in Genova (Italy). Commander Dirk Demedts was appointed as the new commander of the sailing ship. He succeeds commander Dirk Rossel 2007 - An Israeli Navy noncommissioned officer was seriously hurt Sunday in an explosion during maintenance work on a vessel docked in Haifa 2008 - Sri Lankan Navy rescued trawler “Hiruni II” which left Trincomalee July 4 with a fishing crew of five 2008 - President Arroyo has named Rear Admiral Ferdinand Golez, younger brother of Deputy Minority Leader Roilo Golez, as the new Flag Officer-in-Command of the Philippine Navy 2008 Exercise RIMPAC 2008 ends with 35 ships entering Pearl Harbor. Four ships were sunk in the war games off Kaua'i including destroyers Fletcher, David R. Ray and Cushing; and the cruiser Horne 2008 - Two environmental groups have filed a lawsuit claiming that US Navy explosives disposal is endangering marine life in Puget Sound 2009 - Japan's Self-Defense Forces begin antipiracy operations off Somalia under a new law that took effect Friday to authorize them to escort commercial ships of any nationality, regardless of their connection to Japan. With the law coming into force, the legal basis for Maritime Self-Defense Force operations will be switched from the maritime police action provision of the SDF Law to the new antipiracy law enacted June 19 Copyright 2009 Shirlaw News Group ISSN 1710-6966 Today in History Archives This information is licensed to the recipient only. Images may be subject to copyright. Ask before you right-click. Royal Navy photos are Courtesy of www.oldships.org.uk unless otherwise indicated. To contact us: 418-145 West Keith Rd North Vancouver BC V7M 1L3 Canada Phone: 778-968-7447