SeaWaves Today in History March 26, 2009 1616 - William Baffin c1584-1622 leaves on 5th voyage of Discovery; will sail past Greenland coast and north 1848 - The Danish corvette Naiade and paddle steamer Geyser, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Friederich Dirkinck-Holmfeld occupy Als 1870 - The frigate Tordenskjold, commanded by Commander Friedrich Lund, hoist the flag for a tour to East Asiatic waters for, transporting and laying out a telegraph cable for the Great Nordic Telegraph Company. (Back home January 2, 1872) 1917 - Destroyer HMS Walker laid down 1918 - Destroyers USS Barney, Blakeley & Schenck laid down 1918 - Destroyer HMAS Waterhen launched 1918 - Minesweeper HMS Pangbourne launched 1921 - Smith & Rhuland launch 40 m long schooner Bluenose, built at a cost of $35,000; designed by William J. Roue of Halifax, both for fishing and racing. In 1921, under Captain Angus Walters 1882-1968, she wins the Halifax Herald International Fisherman's Trophy, emblematic of the fastest ship in the North Atlantic fishing fleet; wins 5 times, never afterward defeated for this trophy; also returned from her first trip to the Grand Banks as highliner of the Lunenburg fleet, having caught more than any other ship. The government put her likeness on the ten-cent piece in 1937 but had already put on a 50c stamp back in 1928. She stopped racing in 1938. Bluenose was sold in 1942 to Havana interests; she was wrecked on a reef off Haiti in 1946 1934 - Torpedo boat FS La Flore laid down 1935 - Destroyers HMS Hunter & Hyperion laid down 1936 - Destroyer USS Jouett laid down 1936 - Liner Dunvegan Castle launched 1936 - Patrol vessel HMS Mallard 1936 - Destroyer USS Drayton launched 1936 - Italy demanded Djibouti, the Suez Canal, and Tunisia 1937 - Popeye the sailor-man becomes the first cartoon character to have his statue erected - in Crystal City, Texas 1940 - At 0220, the Cometa was hit amidships by one torpedo from U-38 and broke in two. The stern sank immediately and the forepart was sunk by a second torpedo at 0257 about 65 miles northwest of Noup Head. The illuminated Cometa had been spotted by the U-boat at 23.40 hours on 25 March and missed with a first torpedo. The vessel then stopped and the first mate was sent with the papers to the U-boat, but the task was difficult due to the high seas and the darkness. He told the commander that the ship had been ordered by the British to go to Kirkwall to be investigated. The 31 crewmembers and six Swedish passengers were ordered to abandon ship in one motorboat and two lifeboats before the U-boat sank the ship 1940 - Corvette USS Fury (ex-HMS Larkspur) laid down 1940 - Minesweeping trawler HMS Deodar launched 1940 - ASW trawler HMS Fandango launched 1940 - Aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable launched 1940 - Destroyer USS Mayo launched 1940 - Submarine HMS Trooper laid down 1941 - Minesweeper HMAS Toowoomba launched 1941 - Patrol vessel HMCS Otter sunk by accidental explosion & fire off Halifax Lightship. Submarine HMS Talisman & Polish tanker Wisla rescued survivors. 19 crewmembers lost. A strong gale was blowing at the time of Otter's, sinking which hampered the rescue effort. Those that perished were Lost from exposure, including one crewman from the Wisla that fell overboard during the rescue attempt. Also, among those lost was Otter's Chief Motor Mechanic Gillis, who, although he had been rescued, was lost when he plunged back into the sea in a vain attempt to rescue his crewmates. Talisman's First Lieutenant, Lt. K.M. Meyrick RN, was awarded the Royal Humane Society's Bronze Medal when he swam to a drifting raft to get a tow rope to the survivors, who were all rescued as a result of his actions 1941 - HMCS Otter sunk by accidental explosion & fire off Halifax Lightship. Submarine HMS Talisman rescued survivors, 19 crewmembers lost 1941 - Five Italian Navy M.T.M. (modified tourism motorboats) enter the harbor in Souda Bay to attack Royal Navy ships. These boats have an explosive charge in the bow and are crewed by one man who aims the boat at the target and then jumps overboard about 100 yards away before the boat hits the target. One of the M.T.M.s sinks a Norwegian freighter while a second severally damages the British heavy cruiser HMS York at 0516. The damage causes both boiler rooms and the forward engine room to fit is hit by three bombs, including two 1102-pound bombs, causing her finally to be abandoned on 22 May 1941. The wreck was scrapped in 1952 1941 - Two Italian supply ships sink on mines laid by HMS Rorqual 1941 - The Battle of Cape Matapan. Following the claims by the Luftwaffe to have sunk two of the British Mediterranean Fleet's battleships and with the promise of German air support and reconnaissance, Vice Admiral Angelo Iachino leads the Italian Fleet on a sortie into the Aegean Sea to disrupt the British convoys to Greece. He has the battleship Vittorio Veneto, the heavy cruisers Bolzano, Fiume, Pola, Trento, Trieste and Zara, the light cruiser Giuseppe Garibaldi and 17 destroyers. Both the Regia Aeronautica and the Luftwaffe promised them full aerial support but neither Air Force provided these ships with air cover 1942 - U-278 laid down 1942 - U-337, U-663 launched 1942 - U-615 commissioned 1942 - Destroyer HMS Jaguar hit by U-652. 53 men were rescued while 193 men went to the bottom 1942 - Destroyer HMS Legion bombed & sunk at Malta 1942 - Submarine HMS P-39 damaged beyond repair by bombs at Malta. Salvaged, towed to Kalkara & beached 1943. Broken up in 1954. 10th Flotilla. Many of the crew later lost on Olympus on the way home 1942 - Minesweeping trawler HMS Sir Lancelot commissioned 1942 - RFA Slavol sunk by U-205 at 32.01N, 25.55E 1942 - At 1459, the unescorted and unarmed Dixie Arrow was hit by two torpedoes from U-71 on the starboard side about 12 miles off the Diamond Shoals Lighted Buoy, when she was proceeding on a zigzag pattern with 45 tacks at 11 knots. The first hit amidships and destroyed the deckhouse, killing all deck officers, the radio operator and several other men. The second struck between the mast and the smokestack and broke the ship in two. The engine room was not damaged, but the forepart became enveloped in flames almost at once. The engines were stopped and the tanker was turned into the wind, to allow eight men on the forecastle to jump overboard. The helmsman Able Seaman Oscar G. Chappell stayed at his post until these men escaped, but died when the flames were blew back toward the bridge. The helmsman won the Merchant Marine Distinguished Service Medal. Two boats were destroyed by fire and a third boat swamped. The last boat got away with eight men. These men and 14 others in the water were picked up by destroyer USS Tarbell & taken to Morehead City, North Carolina. Four officers and seven men of eight officers and 25 men died in the attack. The Dixie Arrow sank about two hours later and her wreck lies in 34.53´30N/75.44´42W 1942 - President Roosevelt ordered removal of all barriers to shipment of supplies to Russia 1942 - Two ships are torpedoed and sunk by German submarines off the coast of the US - (1) U-71 sinks an unarmed US tanker about 45 miles south SW of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina; the ship breaks in half and sinks. (2) U-160 sinks a Panamanian freighter about 107 miles east SE of Norfolk, Virginia 1942 - A Japanese carrier force leaves the naval base at Kendari on Celebes Island, Netherlands East Indies, for the Indian Ocean 1942 - The St. Nazaire Raid. At 1500 hours, a small Royal Navy force consisting of three destroyers, a gunboat, and motorboats and motor torpedo boats carrying British Commandos departs Falmouth Bay, Cornwall, England, for the French port of St. Nazaire located at the mouth of the Loire estuary 1942 - Two of the freighters from the recent relief convoy that arrived from Alexandria, Egypt, are sunk in port by the Luftwaffe. These two ships were still almost fully loaded, as damage to the docks at Valletta has prevented their swift unloading. Of the 26,000 tons (23 587 metric tonnes) of supplies that had been sent from Egypt on this latest convoy, only 5,000 tons (4536 metric tonnes) are eventually unloaded 1942 - Admiral Ernest J. King relieves Admiral Harold R. Stark as Chief of Naval Operations and thus becomes Commander in Chief US Fleet and Chief of Naval Operations; Vice Admiral Frederick J. Horne (Vice Chief of Naval Operations) and Vice Admiral Russell Willson (COMINCH Chief of Staff) are his principal assistants 1942 - Rear Admiral John Wilcox commanding Task Force 39 with the battleship USS Washington, the aircraft carrier USS Wasp, the heavy cruisers USS Wichita & Tuscaloosa and six destroyers, sails from Portland, Maine, for Scapa Flow, the major British fleet base in the Orkney Islands. These ships will protect British home waters for the duration of Operation Ironclad -- the British invasion of Vichy French controlled Madagascar. This is a reflection of the heavy Allied losses in capital ships to Japanese action in the Pacific 1942 - Commander of the USN's Eastern Sea Frontier is given operational control of certain USAAF units for antisubmarine patrol duty in the Atlantic. Unity of command over Navy and USAAF units operating over water to protect shipping and conduct antisubmarine warfare is thus vested in the Navy 1943 - Destroyer escorts USS Mills & Ramsden laid down 1943 - Minesweeper HMAS Parkes laid down 1943 - Destroyer USS Watts laid down 1943 - Submarine HMS Sirdar launched 1943 - Minesweeper HMS Onyx commissioned 1943 - At 0042, U-431 fired three torpedoes in a one minute interval at Convoy MKS-10 NW of Oran and observed columns of smoke rising above the target after the first torpedo hit. Two further detonations were heard after 5 minutes 49 seconds and 6 minutes and observed more columns of smoke. However, only the City of Perth was hit. The vessel was taken in tow by armed trawler HMS Man O'War, beached south of Cape Figalo, Algeria and became a total loss. Two gunners were lost. The master, 78 crewmembers and 11 gunners were rescued by the armed trawler and landed at Gibraltar on 28 March 1943 - ASW trawler FS Sergeant Gouarne sunk by U-755 1943 - U-1013 laid down 1943 - U-718 launched 1943 - U-344 commissioned 1943 - Soviet Government renewed fisheries agreement with Japan 1943 - Battle of Komandorski Islands, prevents Japanese reinforcements from reaching Attu. IJN breaks off the fight after severe damage to 1 cruiser on each side in spite of Japanese superiority 1944 - Destroyer USS Lloyd Thomas laid down 1944 - HMC MTB 464 commissioned 1944 - Aircraft carrier HMS Perseus launched 1944 - Destroyer escort USS Curtis W Howard launched 1944 - Destroyers USS Ault, Putnam & Waldron launched 1944 - US Marines of the 1st Provisional Brigade land on Kili Island and Namorik Atoll, Marshall Islands 1944 - Submarine USS Tullibee is sunk by circular run of own torpedo off Peleliu Island. 79 men are lost and 1 survivor taken prisoner 1944 - HMS Unswerving fires four torpedoes against the German merchant Gertrud off Souda Bay, Crete, Greece. All torpedoes missed 1944 - HMS Uproar damages the German tanker Matera with gunfire inside the harbour of Oneglia, Liguria, Italy 1945 - LCT(6)-1090 sunk off Luzon 1945 - Destroyer USS Halligan mined & sunk off Okinawa. 162 of her crew lost. In 1958 the remains of the ship were donated to the Ryukyus Islands for scrap 1945 - Destroyer USS Noa laid down 1945 - Destroyer USS Rogers commissioned 1945 - U-399 sunk in the English Channel near Land's End, in position 49.56N, 05.22W, by depth charges from frigate HMS Duckworth. 46 dead & 1 survivor. Earlier in this action, U-399 sank MS Pacific 1945 - U-399 (German) at an unknown depth in the English Channel near Land's End, in position 49.56N, 05.22W, by depth charges from the British frigate HMS Duckworth. 1 self escape with Dräger gear, survives as a POW 1945 - The British Pacific Fleet, operating with the United States Navy as Task Force 57, mounted Operation Iceberg against Japanese airfields on the Sakishima Islands. The aircraft carriers Illustrious, Indefatigable, Indomitable and Victorious launched heavy air strikes, supported by the battleships King George V and Howe, plus numerous cruisers and escorts 1945 - Landings at Geruma Shima, Hokaji Shima, and Takashiki (Ryukyu Islands) 1946 - International Ice Patrol resumed after being suspended during World War II. 1964 - Paul Theodore Hellyer, Canadian Defense Minister announces plans to integrate army, navy, and air force into one service 1965 - Frigate HMCS Fort Erie paid off 1966 - USS Ranger port call Yokosuka 1967 - USS Bon Homme Richard port call Sasebo 1966 - Operation Jackstay in USN’s first amphibious assault in Vietnam's inland waters 1968 - Operation Bold Dragon III began in Mekong Delta 1971 - East Pakistan proclaimed its independence, taking the name Bangladesh 1973 - USS Coral Sea port call Subic Bay Atlantic Maritime Command Museum Halifax NS opened by RADM Douglas Seaman "Bugsy" Boyle 1974 - USS Oriskany port call Subic Bay 1991 - Naval forces continue counter air-defensive, combat air patrols, minesweeping, and maritime interceptions operations. To date, 8,379 merchantmen have been challenged, 1,055 boarded, and 53 diverted. The Navy has conducted 571 boardings. There are 48 Navy ships in the Arabian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, and Northern Arabian Sea, 8 Navy ships in the Red Sea, and 28 Navy ships in the Mediterranean 1991 - 393 Naval Reservists have been demobilized 2003 - RFA Sir Galahad arrives in Umm Qasr, Iraq to deliver humanitarian aid. HMAS Kanimbla near port as a command and control platform 2004 - MV Cape Edmont activated 2004 - River-class patrol vessel HMS Mersey commissioned at Liverpool 2005 - Authorities have discovered a submarine-like vessel still under construction by drug traffickers who planned to use it to smuggle cocaine, the head of Colombia's secret police said. Eduardo Fernandez said the fiberglass submarine was nearly complete when police found it near the Pacific Ocean, in Tumaco, 370 miles southwest of Bogota. He said the vessel would have been used to carry cocaine to speed boats offshore, which would then take the drugs to Central America or Mexico, for eventual delivery to the United States. The discovery came after authorities were tipped off to pieces of fiberglass and other construction material being transported to where the submarine was being built. Fernandez didn't provide details of its size. But Colombian authorities have caught drug traffickers using subs on a few occasions. They have been small, fiberglass vessels that travel just below the surface. But in 2000, police on a raid of a warehouse near Bogota were stunned to find a 100-foot-long steel submarine being built to transport up to 150 tons of cocaine 2006 - The Empress of the North was successfully re-floated today at about 1540. The vessel grounded Friday morning on the Columbia River, near Washougal, Wash. The vessel is currently underway to a dry-dock facility on Swan Island in Portland, Ore., in order to fully survey damage. Necessary repairs will be completed after a full damage assessment is done. A thorough inspection will be conducted by Coast Guard Sector Portland prior to the vessel's return to service. Coast Guard, Coast Guard Auxiliary and personnel from the salvage company will remain with the vessel to monitor its transit. A safety zone will remain in effect around the vessel during the transit. The removal of approximately 20,000 gallons of diesel fuel was completed late Saturday night. Remaining fuel onboard was transferred to port side tanks, away from the starboard side of the hull where the vessel was aground. The entire operation was overseen by a Unified Command comprised of Coast Guard Sector Portland, Washington Department of Ecology and American West Steamboat Co. There was no pollution discharge into the water 2006 - A cargo of heavy automotive production machinery was transferred from the Federal Manitou at the Port of Toronto onto a barge destined for Port Stanley, Ontario thereby initiating the 2006 short sea shipping season. Earlier that day, the Federal Manitou was honored on its arrival as the first ocean-going cargo ship of the shipping season into the Port of Toronto 2007 - Rolls-Royce has been selected to supply the US Navy's most advanced surface combatant ship with the world's most powerful marine gas turbine. Four MT30 gas turbine generator sets will be supplied for two DDG-1000 Zumwalt Class destroyers, with deliveries of the 36MW MT30 sets to begin in 2009 2007 - Royal Caribbean International announced plans to transfer Empress of the Seas to Pullmantur, the Madrid-based cruise and tour operator that parent company, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. purchased in November 2006 2007 - President General Pervez Musharraf conferred the award of Nishan-e-Imtiaz (Military) on Admiral Yener Karahanoglu, Commander Turkish Naval Forces here at the Aiwan-e-Sadar. The award of Nishan-e-Imtiaz (Military) has been conferred on him in recognition of his endeavors for strengthening cooperation between the naval forces of Pakistan and Turkey 2007 - Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates announced today that the President has made the following nominations: Navy Rear Adm. (lower half) Christine S. Hunter has been nominated for appointment to the rank of rear admiral. Hunter is currently serving as commander, Navy Medicine West, San Diego, Calif. Navy Rear Adm. (lower half) Michael J. Lyden has been nominated for appointment to the rank of rear admiral. Lyden is currently serving as director, logistics and security assistance, J4, US European Command, Vaihingen, Germany. Navy Rear Adm. (lower half) Adam M. Robinson Jr. has been nominated for appointment to the rank of rear admiral. Robinson is currently serving as commander, Navy Medicine Capital Area, Bethesda 2007 - Russian MV Grisha Podobedov, registered in Kamchatka, has been detained at the Chinese port of Dalian over debts to a shiprepair company. Chinese officials have handed a detention warrant to the captain of the Russian ship 2007 - South Korea's Hanjin Heavy Industries Co. has won its first orders to build oil tankers at its new shipyard in the Philippines 2007 - Defense Dept has confirmed a second attempt will be made to recover the country's only submarine rescue vessel, which sunk off the Western Australian coast late last year. The Remora sunk off Rottnest Island in December and is 130 meters underwater. The first attempt to bring the $10 million vessel to the surface failed due to equipment limitations. However a spokesman from the department has confirmed a second rescue mission will take place in mid April if weather conditions permit. The cost of the recovery has not been released 2007 - Frigate HMS Sutherland detached from Charles de Gaulle Battle Group for Indian Ocean 2008 - Japanese Self-Defense Forces police have sent papers on a ranking Air Self-Defense Force officer to prosecutors on suspicion of leaking confidential information about a Chinese submarine in 2005 to a Yomiuri Shimbun reporter 2008 - A Georgian delegation, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the State Minister for Euro-Atlantic Integration, visit NATO Headquarters 2008 - The Sepanggar Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) base, within the second maritime regional base comprising Sabah, Labuan and Sarawak, has become the first recipient of the ISO 9001:2000 certification 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. 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