SeaWaves Today in History November 23, 2008 Japan - Labor Thanksgiving Day. Visiting warships Dress Ship overall Edward Jordan hanged, and his tarred and chained corpse is hung on a gibbet at the entrance to Halifax. Convicted in Canada's first piracy trial; seized a vessel that was previously his property 1812 - A mixed force of 20 British regulars and 70 Canadian militiamen attack American outpost at French Mills NY (east of Cornwall ON.) They capture 44 men, 4 boats, and 57 stand of arms 1852 - Frederick N. Gisborne 1824-1892 finishes laying North America's first cable from Cape Tormentine to Carleton Head, PEI 1877 - Halifax Fisheries Commission awards Canada $5.5 million from US, for San Juan Island, fishing rights, and free navigation of the St. Lawrence River in perpetuity 1898 - Rodion Malinovsky Marshal of the Soviet Union, Hero of the Soviet Union, Minister of Defense (1957 – 1967) born 1914 - Submarine HMS V1 launched 1914 - Lt Cdr Jameson was washed overboard from HMS D2 and drowned 1916 - Submarines H-6, H-7 & H-8 ordered from Canadian Vickers Montreal PQ for Italian Navy 1918 - Destroyer USS Sturtevant laid down 1919 - Soviet destroyer Zarkij (ex-HMS Brighton, ex-USS Cowell) launched 1920 - Minelayer HNLMS Van Meerland launched 1920 - Destroyer USS Abel P Upshur commissioned 1936 - Destroyer HMS Ashanti laid down 1938 - Minesweeper HMCS Comox commissioned 1938 - Destroyers HMS Loyal & Lookout laid down 1938 - Minesweeper HMS Speedy launched 1939 - U-33 torpedoed SS Borkum. Total loss 1939 - AMC HMS Esperance Bay commissioned 1939 - The German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau attempted to break out into the Atlantic to raid convoys. In the Iceland-Faeroes Gap, they encountered the armed merchant cruiser, HMS Rawalpindi. Commanded by Captain Kennedy, she was a P&O merchant ship converted for patrol duties. Although only armed with 6" guns, she nevertheless attacked the Scharnhorst. Although inevitably sunk, Rawalpindi inflicted some damage on the battlecruiser. The arrival of the light cruisers Newcastle and Delhi, known to be scouting forces for the Home Fleet, was the reason Marshall had to suspend operations. It was well that he did. The battleship Warspite and battlecruisers Repulse and Renown supported by the carrier Furious, were only a couple of hours steaming away and converging quickly. The Germans escaped by a very narrow margin, with the aid of bad weather and falling darkness. German radar was, at this point, superior to and in wider use than British radar. It was key to the partial success they enjoyed on this occasion and was even more important during Operation Berlin, when Scharnhorst and Gneisenau did break out into the Atlantic 1939 - The magnetic mine dropped at Shoeburyness arrives at HMS Vernon. This marks a vital step in the battle against these particular mines, which are causing heavy losses and long delays. In November alone 27 ships of 121,000 tons are sunk and for a time the Thames is virtually closed to shipping 1940 - U-100 sank SS Bradfyne, Bussum, Justina, Leise Maersk, Ootmarsum & damaged beyond repair SS Bruse in Convoy SC-11 1940 - Minesweeper HMCS Burlington launched Toronto ON 1940 - Corvette HMCS Barrie launched Collingwood ON 1940 - Submarine HNLMS O-26 launched 1940 - Destroyers USS Ericsson & Edison launched 1940 - U-77 launched 1940 - U-70 commissioned 1940 - The merchant vessel Salonica, in convoy SC-11 bound for Newcastle was torpedoed by U100 position 55 16N 12 14W. 2 crew killed in the engine room, one lifeboat overturned putting 16 men into the very rough sea. 7 men were rescued by sloop HMS Enchantress. Several more by destroyer HMCS Skeena 1940 - U-123 sank SS Anten, King Idwal, Oakcrest & Tymeric in Convoy OB-22. After attacking convoy OB-244, U-123 had an underwater collision with a piece of the wreckage and suffered heavy damage 1940 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt appoints Admiral William D. Leahy as US Ambassador to Vichy France to try to prevent the French fleet and naval bases from falling into German hands 1941 - Minesweeper HMCS Goderich commissioned 1941 - During stormy weather, a lookout was badly injured on U-372 1941 - Minesweeper HMCS Gananoque arrived Halifax from builder Toronto ON 1941 - Corvette HMCS Morden departed St John's to join the 45-ship convoy SC-56 from Sydney which arrived intact at Liverpool 10 Dec 41 1941 - U-847 laid down 1941 - The Malta based Force "K" attacks an Axis convoy from Greece to Benghazi, sinking 2 transports 1942 - Stone frigate HMCS Bytown commissioned Ottawa ON 1942 - Destroyer USS Hale laid down 1942 - Minesweeper USS Saunter laid down 1942 - Frigates HMS Berry & Blackwood launched 1942 - Destroyer HMS Stevenstone launched 1942 - Submarine HMS Vandal launched 1942 - Destroyer HMAS Warramunga commissioned 1942 - U-172 sank SS Benlomond 1942 - U-518 sank SS Caddo 1942 - U-601 sank SS Kusnec Lesov in Convoy QP-15 1942 - U-625 sank SS Goolistan in Convoy QP-15 1942 - U-552 encountered an enemy submarine that fired a torpedo at her without success 1942 - Secretary of State Hull announced that a satisfactory agreement had been reached between the American negotiators and local authorities in Martinique. He stated that it would be unnecessary for American troops to occupy Martinique or other French possessions in the West Indies, and that the new agreement covered all French Caribbean possessions and French Guyana 1942 - Admiral Darlan announces that French West Africa now accepts his authority 1943 - USS PT-322 grounded in enemy waters and destroyed to prevent capture near Hardenberg Point New Guinea 1943 - The Battle on Tarawa ends at noon. Makin Island is also captured today. Escort carrier Liscombe Bay is sunk supporting these operations in the Gilberts with a loss of 600 sailors 1943 - Corvette HMCS Merrittonia (ex-HMCS Pointe Claire) laid down Quebec City PQ 1943 - HMC ML 114 commissioned 1943 - Tug HMCS Glenada commissioned & assigned to Liverpool NS 1943 - Trawler HMS Ironbound arrived Halifax as escort for Quebec-Sydney NS convoys 1943 - Beach Commando, the largest Commando Operation of WWII was Neptune, the naval portion of Operation Overlord. Beach Commando groups (F, J, L, P, Q, R, S, T, W.) were formed & trained, 'W' was mostly Canadians. The Commando's went in the first waves in order to judge whether landing craft of subsequent waves could land at the same point or had to go elsewhere. Heavy casualties at Normandy, were incurred 1943 - Escort carrier USS Sitkoh Bay laid down 1943 - Destroyer escorts USS Lloyd & De Long launched 1943 - Frigate HMS Dakins commissioned 1943 - Submarine HNLMS Zwaardvis commissioned 1943 - Submarine USS Capelin sunk by the Japanese off Kaoe Bay, Halmahera 1943 - U-300, U-1171 launched 1943 - U-516 sank SS Elizabeth Kellogg 1943 - U-648 sunk NE of the Azores, in position 42.40N, 20.37W, by depth charges from frigates HMS Bazely, Blackwood, and Drury. 50 dead (all hands lost) 1944 - U-3519, U-3520 launched 1944 - Submarine HMS Sidon commissioned 1944 - Minesweeper USS Eager commissioned 1944 - Destroyers USS Alfred A Cunningham & Gainard commissioned 1944 - Submarine HMS L-27 paid off 1944 - U-978 torpedoed SS William D Burnham in Convoy TMC-44. Total loss 1944 - Coast Guard-manned Army FS-405 was commissioned at San Francisco with ENS F. D. Statts, USCGR, as her first commanding officer. He was succeeded on 12 September 1945, by LTJG David Mitter, USCGR. She was assigned to and operated in the Southwest Pacific area 1945 - Patrol vessel HMCS Cougar paid off Esquimalt BC 1949 - Submarine HMS Tally Ho departs Halifax following ASW training 1951 - 11 mines explodes at the Mine Workshop at Naval Base Copenhagen, caused by a fire. 16 persons lost their lives, mainly firemen from the Copenhagen Fire Department and Falck's Rescue Services. Almost every building belonging to the Naval Mine Warfare Department in the area were flattened 1953 - Frigate HMCS La Hulloise paid off for modernization 1956 - Tug CNAV Saint John completed Saint John NB 1963 - RCN VU 33 Sqn T-33 #21465 crashed into Black Mountain BC. Both pilots killed 1965 - USS Midway completed Vietnam deployment 1967 - USS Kitty Hawk port call Pearl Harbor 1970 - Simas I. Kudirka, a Soviet fisherman, attempted to defect from his Soviet fishing vessel to the cutter Vigilant, during a meeting between the Soviets and the US on fishing rights. The cutter's commanding officer allowed other Soviets to board the cutter and forcibly remove Mr. Kudirka 1973 - USS Kitty Hawk commenced Vietnam deployment 1975 - USS Kitty Hawk port call Subic Bay 1993 - HMCS Preserver & Gatineau arrived Halifax from Operation Forward Action off Haiti 2004 - Around eight in the morning, the Panamanian registered tanker, Centaurus, operated by the Lavinia Corporation of Greece and carrying a cargo of some 2000 tonnes of diesel oil for Stanley, touched bottom, while attempting to dock at the Falklands Interim Port and Storage Facility (FIPASS). The ship became fast some 200 yards to the East of the floating dock 2004 - HMS Gloucester deploys to South Atlantic for six months 2004 - Turkish firefighters extinguished a fire onboard the Liberian-flagged tanker Genmar Prokres after it cleared Dardanelles and entered the Aegean Sea. The Master of the Genmar Progress received clearance from the Turkish Authorities to resume passage and the vessel was underway at 1730 hrs local time. The vessel is proceeding to Savona, Italy, for discharge 2004 - Canada announced the signing of two contracts with Sikorsky International Operations Inc. for the Maritime Helicopter Project. The first contract, worth $1.8 billion, covers the acquisition of 28 fully integrated, certified and qualified helicopters with their mission systems installed. The second contract, valued at $3.2 billion, is for the 20-year in-service support for the helicopters, and includes the construction of a training facility, as well as a simulation and training suite 2004 - Eletson Corporation has signed a comprehensive, consolidated contract with Lloyd’s Register EMEA for the provision of a range of classification, certification and technical consultancy services for its entire fleet of 26 double-hull tankers 2005 - Canadian Hydrographic Service Chart Sales and Distribution office located in Sidney, BC will no longer offer a retail sales service 2005 - Three frigates, two corvettes and one supply ships of the Force of Reacção Imediata (FRI) of the Portuguese Armed Forces (FA's) left the Naval base of Lisbon for the Algarve for Exercise Lusíada 052 2005 - A $1,575,585 competitive contract has been awarded to B & R Enterprises Limited of Springdale, Newfoundland and Labrador, to construct a new breakwater wharf in the province, Port Saunders. Awarded on behalf of the Small Craft Harbors (SCH) program of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, this contract will be completed by the end of August 2006 2005 - New projects to enhance security at Canadian ports and marine facilities under the second round of funding from the Marine Security Contribution Program were announced by Transport Minister Jean-C. Lapierre. The three-year, $115-million program, which was announced in May 2004, is helping Canada’s ports and marine facilities to modernize and strengthen their security systems and programs. This contribution program is part of the National Security Policy announced on April 27, 2004, which sets out a six-point plan to strengthen marine security across Canada. This round of funding will provide up to $29.1 million to 101 ports and marine facilities across the country. The funds go towards security enhancements such as surveillance equipment, dockside and perimeter security, command, control and communications equipment, and training. The Marine Security Contribution Program is application-based and provides funding to recipients on a cost-sharing basis for a number of clearly identified eligible expenses. Ports and marine facilities will be able to apply for a third round of funding starting in January 2006 2005 - The bodies of four people were spotted by robotic camera in the wreckage of the small plane that crashed November 19 off the Orange County coast. The Cessna 210 -- which is in 218 feet of water -- is expected to be raised Wednesday, said Jim Amormino of the Orange County Sheriff's Department. The plane went down about three miles off Dana Point 2005 - Liberian tanker Sperchios grounded about 1.5 miles south from the Port of Guayanilla in the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The reasons for the grounding of the vessel are currently under investigation. The USCG, as the primary responder in this case, has been coordinating the initial response to this incident with federal and local authorities and the representatives of the Sperchios. The US Coast Guard has activated a Unified Command Post at the Port of Guayanilla, and together with the agencies responding to this incident, they are developing an operational plan to free the Sperchios from being grounded in the Guayanilla Bay. Sperchios is carrying an estimated amount of 320,000 barrels of crude oil and there is no indication that any type of oil spill has taken place 2005 - Spurred on by last December's deadly Indian Ocean tsunami, a United Nations-backed meeting of experts from 23 Mediterranean and Northeast Atlantic countries has laid the foundations for a regional early warning system to mitigate disasters like the one which killed 85,000 people in Italy 100 years ago. Although less frequent than in the Pacific and Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean and Northeast Atlantic region has a record of tsunamis associated with earthquakes such as the 1908 calamity in the Sicilian port of Messina and the 1755 quake and tsunami that destroyed Lisbon, killing thousands. There are also records of local events along the coasts from Norway to the Marmara and the Black Seas 2005 - The Pentagon will order an initial eight highly-automated DD(X) destroyers being developed by Northrop Grumman Corp. and General Dynamics as the centerpiece of the US Navy's 21st century fleet. Ending speculation the ship might be killed, the Defense Department cleared a plan to let both Los Angeles-based Northrop-Grumman and General Dynamics of Falls Church VA each go ahead with detailed design work, the Pentagon said 2005 - USS Virginia returns to Groton from first deployment 2005 - A rare volcanic eruption is expanding the size of Montagu Island in the uninhabited British Overseas Territory South Sandwich Islands chain in remote southern Atlantic Ocean, reported Wednesday scientists from the British Antarctic Survey, BAS. Spectacular new satellite images show that Montagu Island, an erupting volcano in the South Sandwich Islands, has grown by 50 acres equivalent to 40 football pitches in the last month. Researchers from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology (HIGP) were alerted to satellite data showing a large and fast flowing lava flow that is pouring into the sea like a huge waterfall 2005 - An SH-3D of Maristaeli Catania rescued a British couple from the 17-meter sailing yacht Angel 35 miles southeast of Sicily in Sea State Five conditions 2006 - NATO Secretary General, Mr. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, in The Hague to meet with Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ben Bot and Minister of Defense Henk Kamp 2006 - Mr. Vuk Draskovic, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, will visit NATO Headquarters today and meet with the NATO Secretary General, Mr. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer 2006 - Statoil and Aker Kværner has signed the contract worth approximately NOK 8 billion for the semisubmersible platform to be located at the Gjøa field offshore Norway 2006 - Ontario Teacher Pension Plan tied up to a major infrastructure investment late yesterday with a $2.4-billion (US) purchase of four marine terminals from Orient Overseas (International) Ltd. Teachers is buying terminals in Vancouver and Delta BC, the main New York container operation on Staten Island and a facility in New Jersey. These ports move containers between trucks, trains and ships. Combined annual sales of the four operations totals $500-million 2007 - Russian Navy announced Vice Admiral Konstantin Sidenko will be appointed commander of the Pacific Fleet and Vice Admiral Viktor Mardusin will become commander of the Baltic Fleet Copyright 2008 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: 778-338-4073 Fax: 778-338-4074 Read our Maritime Mishap Blog Manage your subscription