SeaWaves Today in History September 3, 2008 September 3 1535 - Jacques Cartier and his crew sight white beluga whales in the St. Lawrence 1702 - Samuel de Champlain leaves for Quebec with Louis Hebert. 1782 - As a token of gratitude for French aid during American Revolution, the US gives America (first ship-of-the-line built by US) to France to replace a French ship lost in Boston 1782 - Sir Edward Hughes fought his fourth battle against the great French commander Pierre-Andre de Suffren de Saint-Tropez off Cuddalore; the British fleet numbered twelve, Suffren's fifteen. Suffren attacked, but the British ships managed to concentrate upon the French center, demasting Suffren's flagship and another ship of the line. Suffren withdrew to Trincomalee, but lost a ship, wrecked on entering the harbor 1783 - Signing of Treaty of Paris ends American Revolution 1814 - Corps of Colonial Marines (recruited by the British from American slaves) joined by companies of Royal Marines to make the 3rd Battalion Royal and Colonial Marines 1826 - USS Vincennes leaves NY to become first US warship to circumnavigate globe 1885 - First classes at US Naval War College begin Submarine HMS A5 & A6 launched 1907 - Submarine HMS C11 completed 1917 - Destroyer HMS Vendetta launched 1919 - Destroyers USS Dickerson & Gillis commissioned 1919 - Submarine HMS L56 completed 1925 - Battleship HMS Nelson launched 1925 - Crash of rigid airship Shenandoah near Byesville OH. Commanded by Capt. Zachary Lansdowne USN, the story of this great naval airship and its tragic crash is told at length in "Shenandoah Saga" by Thom Hook, a veteran pilot himself, a research specialist in lighter-than-air, and until his death a few months ago, a regular at national aircraft meets (and a good friend who contributed to my local paper, The Publick Enterprise, for many years). Gone through at least three printings, the book, loaded with photos and personal reminiscences of family and survivors, was first put out in 1973 by Airsho Publishers, 3834 Hickory Ave., Baltimore, MD 21211; Library of Congress card no. 73-84973, ISBN 0-9601506-1-7 1931 - Destroyer HMS Duncan laid down 1931 - Heavy cruiser USS Tuscaloosa laid down 1933 - Soviet submarine SC-202 laid down 1933 - Argentine submarine service formed 1934 - Soviet submarine SC-211 laid down 1935 - Soviet submarine SC-202 commissioned 1936 - Destroyer USS Bagley launched 1936 - Soviet submarine SC-211 launched 1937 - Destroyers HMS Eskimo & Mashona launched 1938 - U-56 & U-57 launched 1939 - The Royal Navy deploys to its war stations, the Home Fleet has returned to Scapa Flow in the Orkneys and elements are preparing to escort the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) across to France 1939 - The US freighter SS Saccarappa, with a cargo of phosphates and cotton, is detained by British authorities. The ship is released on 8 September after British authorities seize cargo and unload them 1939 - Dutch submarine O-27 laid down 1939 - President Roosevelt forecast "official" neutrality for the United States. Britain declared state of war existed with Germany. India declared war on Germany. New Zealand declared war on Germany. Belgium declared its neutrality 1939 - German Stuka divebombers sink Polish minelayer Gryf, destroyer Wicher and several other small craft at Hela 1939 - Submarine ORP Rys set a mine barrier (20 mines) 10 miles east from the tip of Hel Peninsula 1939 - U-30 sank the first ship in the war when she sank the 13,581-ton passenger ship Athenia by mistake (taking her to be an Armed Merchant Cruiser, AMC) 1939 - U-14 probably attacked the first warship in World War Two when she attacked the Polish submarine Sep (Cdr. Wladyslaw Salamon) at 2022hrs. The torpedo exploded prematurely about 200m from the Polish sub. The German commander (Kptlt. Horst Wellner) found wreckage (from the torpedo) and some oil from Sep's damaged oil tank. Believing he had sunk the boat, he radioed his claim in 1939 - Newfoundland enters World War II by virtue of Britain's declaration of war. The Newfoundland Constabulary seizes the SS Christopher V. Doornum, a German freighter anchored at Botwood, as a prize of war 1939 - HMS Ajax intercepts German freighter SS Olinda, outward bound from Montevideo, off the River Plate. Not having a prize crew available to seize the enemy merchantman, HMS Ajax shells and sinks her 1940 - Hitler postpones the invasion of Britain, scheduled for 15 September, to 21 September, but issues Operational orders While escorting a convoy, destroyer ORP Blyscawica observed a periscope and attacked a U-boat with depth charges. Two hours later, in fog, she encountered a U-boat on the surface at a distance of 700 meter and attacked it with guns and depth charges 1940 - Minesweeper HMCS Wasaga laid down 1940 - Destroyer USS Macomb laid down 1940 - Corvettes HMS Dianella & Snapdragon launched 1940 - Submarine HMS Upright commissioned 1940 - U-455 & U-456 laid down 1940 - U-57 sank after an accidental collision with the Norwegian steamer SS Rona, taking 6 of its crew with her. She was raised shortly afterwards and put into commission as a training boat. Scuttled on 3 May 1945 at Kiel 1940 - U-60 sank SS Ulva 1940 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt announces the "destroyers-for-bases" agreement. The President tells Congress that he acted on his own authority in trading the 50 overage destroyers for bases in British colonial territory in the Western Hemisphere Heavy cruiser USS Canberra (ex Pittsburgh) laid down U-225 laid down 1941 - U-593 & U-594 launched 1941 - U-702 commissioned 1941 - U-567 sank SS Fort Richepanse 1941 - U-109 sank SS Ocean Might in Convoy OS-37 1941 - U-107 sank SS Hollinside & SS Penrose U-162 sunk in the Caribbean Sea near Trinidad, in position 12.21N, 59.29W, by depth charges from destroyers HMS Vimy, HMS Pathfinder and HMS Quentin. 2 dead and 49 survivors 1942 - U-705 sunk in the Bay of Biscay west of Brest, France, in position 46.42N, 11.07W, by depth charges from an RAF Whitley aircraft (Sqn. 77/P). 45 dead (all hands lost) 1942 - U-678 & U-679 laid down 1942 - U-645 & U-646 launched 1942 - U-638 commissioned 1942 - Submarine HMS Viking laid down 1942 - Destroyer HMS Obdurate commissioned 1942 - Agreements for Reciprocal Lend-Lease Aid to the United States and its Armed Forces 1942 - U-375 sank Palestinian vessels Miriram & Arnon 1942 - USS Wakefield (ex SS Manhattan) departed the Clyde estuary as part of Convoy TA-18, bound for New York City. During this evening, fire breaks out deep within the bowels of the ship and spreads rapidly. In the port column of the formation, Wakefield swings to port to run before the wind while fire fighting begins immediately. Ready-use ammunition is thrown overboard to prevent detonation, code room publications are secured, and sick bay and brig inmates are released. The destroyer USS Mayo and light cruiser USS Brooklyn close to windward to take off passengers, a badly burned officer, and members of the crew not needed to man pumps and hoses. Other survivors were disembarked by boat and raft, to be picked up by the screening ships. At 2100 hours, USS Brooklyn again comes alongside to remove the remainder of the crew, while a special salvage detail boards the ship. On 5 September, towing operations commenced, and the transport nosed aground at McNab's Cove, near Halifax, Nova Scotia, at 1740 hours on the 8th. When fire-fighting details arrived alongside to board and commence the mammoth operation, fires still burned in three holds and in the crew's quarters on two deck levels. The last flames were extinguished 4 days later, and the ship was re floated on the 14th. While USS Wakefield was undergoing partial repairs in Halifax harbor, a torrential rainstorm threatened to fill the damaged ship with water and capsize her at her berth. Torrents of rain, at times in cloudburst proportions, poured into the ship and caused her to list heavily. Salvage crews, meanwhile, cut holes in the ship's sides above the waterline, draining away the water to permit the ship to regain an even keel. For the next 10 days, the salvagers engaged in extensive initial repair work-cleaning up the ship, pumping out debris, patching up holes, and preparing the vessel for her voyage to the Boston, Massachusetts Navy Yard for complete rebuilding. Temporarily decommissioned, the charred liner proceeded to Boston with a four-tug tow, and was declared a "constructive total loss." The Government purchased the hulk from the United States Lines and stripped the vessel to the waterline. The repairs and alterations began in the fall of 1942, and lasted through 1943. On 10 February 1944, USS Wakefield was recommissioned at Boston 1942 - British commandos captured seven German soldiers and seized code books during a raid on a lighthouse in the Channel Islands Submarine USS Pompano missing east of Honshu Japan 1943 - Destroyer USS Ellet sinks Japanese submarine HIJMS I-25 150 miles NE of Espiritu Santo Island, New Hebrides Islands 1943 - Submarine USS Pollack sinks a transport off Mikura Jima south of Tokyo 1943 - Submarine USS Pompano sinks a merchant cargo ship east of Honshu, Japan 1943 - US forces take Arundel Island and consolidate their position on Vella Lavella 1943 - Allied forces invaded Italy across Straits of Messina 1943 - American landings on Lae and Salamaua 1943 - The British 8th Army landed on mainland Italy at Reggio di Calabria, having crossed the Straits of Messina from Sicily. The British 5th and Canadian 1st Divisions were the first ashore under the cover of a heavy naval bombardment, including the veteran battleships Warspite and Valiant 1943 - Destroyer escort USS Raby launched 1943 - Frigate HMS Domett commissioned 1943 - Destroyer USS Healy commissioned 1943 - Destroyer escort USS Marts commissioned In England, Lieutenant Ralph Spalding, USN, and a radio operator of the Special Air Unit, Fleet Air Wing Seven (FAW-7), takes off in a TORPEX laden PB4Y-1 Liberator from Fersfield, Norfolk, sets the radio controls and then parachutes to the ground. Ensign James M. Simpson, USNR, in a PV-1 Ventura, takes control and flies the PB4Y to attack German submarine pens on Helgoland Island. Unfortunately, the PV-1 crew loses sight of the Liberator in a rainstorm and it crashes into a barracks and industrial area on Dune Island. A second attempt is later made with Lieutenant Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., USNR, at the controls of a PB4Y-1 but the aircraft explodes before Kennedy and the radio operator can bail out and Project APHRODITE is then cancelled 1944 - U-541 sank SS Livingston 1944 - U-482 sank SS Fjordheim 1944 - U-370 helped evacuate a German radio station from Finland 1944 - Destroyer USS Drexler launched 1944 - Anti-aircraft cruiser USS Tucson launched 1944 - On Wake Island, the USN's Task Group 12.5 (Rear Admiral Allen E. Smith), comprising the light aircraft carrier USS Monterey, three heavy cruisers, and three destroyers, pound Japanese installations Off the Bonin Islands, Lieutenant General Yoshio Tachibana, the local commander, signs the surrender documents on board the destroyer USS Dunlap off Chichi Jima. General Tachibana is later convicted and executed for a particularly gruesome series of war crimes perpetuated against US airmen who had been captured in the area during 1944-45 1945 - Japanese surrender Wake Island in ceremony on board destroyer escort USS Levy 1945 - Japanese forces in the Philippines surrender to Allies 1945 - Sloop HMS Modeste commissioned 1945 - The Soviets sever all communications between Japan and the Kuriles and Sakhalin 1986 - Submarine HMS Vanguard laid down 1986 - Mrs Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister, officially opened Devonshire Dock Hall 1990 - Operation Sharp Edge continues as 63 more people are evacuated. This brings the total number of people evacuated from Liberia to 1,858, including 147 Americans 1990 - USS Dwight D Eisenhower and Ticonderoga transit Strait of Gibraltar enroute East Coast homeports 2003 - Destroyer USS John Young returned to USN for use as target 2005 - The Red Ensign will fly over the headquarters of the Department for Transport to mark the UK's sixth Merchant Navy Day 2005 - At 1730a 999 call was received from a lady at Beer, East Devon reporting two teenage boys waving for assistance at the Seaton end of Beer beach. The lads were cut off by the tide and the tide was rising. Portland Coastguard called out the Beer Coastguard rescue team, and requested the launch of the Lyme Regis RNLI lifeboat. When the Coastguards arrived on scene, it was quickly established that due to the inaccessibility of the location, neither the Coastguard rescue team or the lifeboat would be able to effect a rescue. The Coastguard Rescue Helicopter 'Whiskey Bravo' was scrambled and arrived on scene very quickly and winched two men in their early twenties to safety, in what has been described as a very exact and delicate operation. The men were landed onto the cliff top and were uninjured. The two men aged 20 and 23 both come from Chard, Somer 2005 - With the chartering of the cruise ship Holiday to the Military Sealift Command (MSC) on behalf of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as part of Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, Carnival Cruise Lines has announced that the vessel's four- and five-day voyages from Mobile, Ala., will be cancelled for the next six months, beginning with the Thursday, Sept. 8 departure. Initial plans are for the vessel to remain docked at the Alabama Cruise Terminal in Mobile as temporary housing for the hurricane relief effort. In addition to the Holiday, Carnival is chartering the Sensation and Ecstasy to the federal government to aid in the relief effort. Initial plans are for those vessels to be docked at the Port of Galveston 2005 - Aircraft and aircrews from Newfoundland and Quebec, Canada, as well as from Detroit are scheduled to arrive at Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod, Cape Cod, Mass., today and Sunday to provide search and rescue support during the continued deployment of Air Station Cape Cod personnel and assets to the Gulf Coast region. The following squadrons, aircraft and aircrews will support Air Station Cape Cod: Canada's 444 Combat Support Squadron, Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador - one CH-146 'Griffon' helicopter with five aircrew personnel and additional maintenance personnel Canada's 439 Combat Support Squadron, Bagotville, Quebec- one CH-146 'Griffon' helicopter with five aircrew personnel Coast Guard Air Station Detroit, Detroit, Michigan - one HH-65A Dolphin helicopter with eight aircrew personnel The aircrews and aircraft will tentatively arrive at Air Station Cape Cod at the following times: Canadian aircraft, aircrews- Sunday, 12 p.m. HH-65A aircrew of four personnel- today, 6 p.m. HH-65A aircraft and aircrew of four personnel, today, 10 p.m. The Griffon helicopter has the capability to conduct: airlift of equipment and personnel, command and liaison flights, surveillance and reconnaissance, casualty evacuation, logistic transport, search and rescue, and domestic relief operations. Visiting aircraft and aircrews are scheduled to support Air Station Cape Cod for approximately one week 2005 - The Murmansk region (northwestern Russia), Lapland (Finland) and four Norwegian provinces signed an agreement on cooperation in the Barents Sea region 2005 - Christopher Allen Duggan, 31, of Prospect NS died at a beach near Lawrencetown. Lawrencetown is about 25 kilometers east of Halifax. A 12-year-old boy and an eight-year-old girl were spotted in the water and screaming for help at Little Lawrencetown Beach. Duggan managed to push the girl to safety, but he wasn't able to save himself. Duggan was a friend of the children's family. A parasailor who was at the beach managed to bring the boy to safety. The children were at the beach with their mother. The Lawrencetown beach is known for strong currents. Signs posted along the shore caution against swimming 2006 - A new archeological museum will open in the area of Kissamos. The museum will exhibit artifacts that have been unearthed during archaeological digs in the area, which is part of the Hania prefecture. Most of the exhibits are from the Roman era. The construction of the museum cost 586,000 Euros 2006 - The Dover based Coastguard tug Anglian Monarch has been in action this afternoon after the tug Cumbrae towing an unmanned barge got into difficulties off Ramsgate 2007 - At least 38 African migrants have been rescued after their boat capsized in the Atlantic Ocean when a journalist travelling with them phoned for help. A passing Russian ship heard the emergency satellite phone call and saved those on board. The migrants had set off from Mauritania and were trying to reach the Canary Islands 2007 - An archaeological dig has started in Dumfries and Galloway in an attempt to find out more about the Scot viewed as the founder of the United States Navy. A US team is carrying out the investigation at the cottage where John Paul Jones was born in 1747 2007 - Swedish navy's largest ship, HMS Carlskrona, to be mothballed due to a lack of officers. A decision on whether to refit, sell or scrap the minelayer will be made later in the autumn 2007 - At a ceremony in the Museum of the Royal Danish Navy in Copenhagen, Vice Admiral Paul Boissier, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Fleet, formally returned the bell of the 80-gun warship King Christian VII to the head of the Royal Danish Navy, Rear Admiral Nils Wang. Among those attending the ceremony were HRH Prince Joachim of Denmark and the British Ambassador, His Excellency Mr David Frost. During the Napoleonic Wars, Nelson's victory at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801 was followed six years later by a naval action designed to maintain Britain's national survival and naval supremacy - the capture of the Danish fleet 2007 - The Indonesian government is to bring in the navy to relieve a two-week long congestion crisis at Indonesia’s terminals. Ships from civilian ferry companies are also being requisitioned to head off the emergency, which has been caused by a shortage of ro-ro vessels linking Java and Sumatra 2007 - 400 sunken navy ships with a scrap value of one billion dollars hamper Russian navigation 2007 - SAS Manthatisi has become the first naval submarine in the world to be brought into a new class by the International Classification Society, Germanischer Lloyd 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. 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