SeaWaves Today in History September 5, 2008 September 5 1534 - Jacques Cartier returns to St. Malo with Iroquois youths Domagaya and Taignoagny; after harrowing 137 day voyage, his first to Canada 1604 - Samuel de Champlain sets out to explore coast of Norumbega, passes Grand Manan, Mount Desert, and Isle Haulte; stops at George's Island near Kennebec River 1606 - Samuel de Champlain and Poutrincourt explore south as far as Martha's Vineyard 1697 - Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville 1661-1706, on the Pelican, attacks and defeats 3 Hudson's Bay Company ships, sinking 2, in pitched naval battle near York Factory in Hudson Bay; Pierre, the third son of Pierre Le Moyne, had been attacking HBC posts for a decade 1774 - The first Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia 1775 - Adoption of first uniforms for US Navy officers 1781 - The Royal Navy suffered a rare defeat at the hands of the French, at the battle of the Capes of the Chesapeake, which helped seal the American victory during the War of the Revolution. Rear Admiral Thomas Graves, commanding 19 ships of the line, faced the talented Comte de Grasse du Bar with 24 ships. De Grasse was landing French troops at the Chesapeake to link up with General Washington's advance on Yorktown. Graves failed to seize an opportunity to fall upon the French fleet whilst it headed for the open sea, and several of his own ships suffered heavily, one subsequently having to be scuttled. With a British relief force unable to reach him by land or sea, General Cornwallis at Yorktown had to surrender to Washington on 20 October 1793 - Reign of Terror began during the French Revolution as the National Convention instituted harsh measures to repress counterrevolutionary activities 1800 - Malta surrendered to British forces 1813 - USS Enterprise captures HM brig Boxer off Portland ME 1836 - Sam Houston was elected president of the Republic of Texas 1862 - Lee crosses the Potomac & enters Maryland A peace treaty between Russia and Japan was signed in Portsmouth (USA). Under the treaty Russia ceded to Japan the lease of Port Arthur, Dalny and the adjacent territories, the South-Manchurian railway line from Port Arthur to Chanchung, and the southern part of Sakhalin with several islands near it. Japan's interests and influence in Korea were recognized by Russia. President Theodor Roosevelt of the United States was the mediator of the peace talks for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize next year. The Russian delegation was headed by Count Sergey Vitte who did everything possible to minimize the humiliating conditions of the treaty 1911 - King County voters create Port of Seattle 1914 - HMS Pathfinder was sunk by U-21, the first Royal Navy warship lost to submarine attack 1918 - USS Mount Vernon torpedoed by German submarine off France 1918 - Destroyers USS Barney, Clemson & Tattnall launched 1919 - Submarine USS R-11 commissioned 1919 - Destroyer USS Chandler commissioned 1919 - Destroyers USS Breck & Toucey launched 1923 - US Asiatic Fleet arrives at Yokohama, Japan, to provide medical assistance and supplies after Kondo Plain earthquake 1928 - Submarine HMS Poseidon laid down 1929 - Heavy cruiser USS Northampton launched 1934 - Destroyer HMS Gipsy laid down 1939 - RCMP vessels Captor, Chaleur, Invader & Acadian transferred to RCN Examination service and recommissioned as HMCS Captor, Chaleur I, Invader & Interceptor respectively 1939 - U-47 sank SS Bosnia 1939 - U-48 sank SS Royal Sceptre 1939 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaims the neutrality of the United States in the war between Germany and France, Poland, the UK, India, Australia and New Zealand, and orders the USN to form a Neutrality Patrol. As a result, Chief of Naval Operations (Admiral Harold R. Stark) directs Commander Atlantic Squadron (Rear Admiral Alfred W. Johnson) to maintain an offshore patrol to report "in confidential system" the movements of all foreign men-of-war approaching or leaving the east coast of the United States and approaching and entering or leaving the Caribbean. USN ships are to avoid making a report of foreign men-of-war or suspicious craft, however, on making contact or when in their vicinity to avoid the performance of unneutral service "or creating the impression that an unneutral service is being performed." The patrol is to extend about 300 miles (483 km) off the eastern coastline of the United States and along the eastern boundary of the Caribbean. Furthermore, US naval vessels are to report the presence of foreign warships sighted at sea to the district commandant concerned 1939 - US Maritime Commission issues Hydrographic Office Special Warning No. 9 directing that all US merchant ships en route to or from Europe are not to steer a zigzag course, are not to black out at night, and are to paint the US flag on each side of the hull, on hatches fore and aft, and on sun decks of passenger vessels, and to illuminate the colors flying from the flagstaff at night. In Hydrographic Office Special Warning No. 12 (promulgated the same day), US merchant vessels engaged in domestic, "near-by foreign" or transpacific trade are not required to paint the flag on hull, hatches and decks, but otherwise are to follow the other instructions contained in Special Warning No. 9 1939 - In New York City, the US steamship SS President Roosevelt off-loads the British Scott-Paine-type motor torpedo boat PT-9 at New York; PT 9 will be the prototype for the motor torpedo boats constructed by the Electric Boat Company 1939 - A number of US registered ships are ordered inspected by the RN. (1) US freighter SS Black Osprey, bound for Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and Antwerp, Belgium, is stopped by British warship off Lizard Head and ordered into the port of Weymouth, one of the five "contraband control bases" (the others are Ramsgate, Kirkwall, Gibraltar and Haifa) established by the British government. (2) The British detain freighter SS Lehigh bound for Hamburg, Germany. (3) Philippine motorship MS Don Isidro, on her maiden voyage en route from her builders' yard at Kiel, Germany, to Manila, clears the Suez Canal; US government immediately protests British authorities having removed, at Port Said, two German engineers (on board "to guarantee construction and demonstrate proper manning" of the new vessel) from SS Don Isidro (which is under the American flag) as illegal and a violation of the neutral rights of the United States 1940 - Destroyer HMS Cottesmore launched 1940 - Minelayer HMS Manxman launched 1940 - Corvette HMCS Kenogami launched Port Arthur ON 1940 - Minesweeper HMCS Malpeque launched North Vancouver BC 1940 - Corvettes HMS Larkspur & Aubretia launched 1940 - Corvette USS Fury launched 1940 - U-47 lost a man (MtrOGfr Heinrich Mantyk) overboard during use of the deck gun 1940 - Destroyer USS Charles F Hughes commissioned 1940 - The United States Government transferred 50 elderly destroyers to the Royal Navy under the Lend Lease agreement. Despite their age, the ships provided a desperately needed reinforcement, particularly for escorting convoys. The most famous was undoubtedly HMS Campbeltown, the former USS Buchanan, expended on 28 March 1942 when, packed with five tons of explosives, she rammed the dock gates at St Nazaire during the famous raid to deny the use of the facilities by the Tirpitz 1941 - Destroyer HMS Bicester launched 1941 - Escort carrier HMS Fencer laid down 1941 - Submarine HMS Universal laid down 1941 - U-387 & U-631 laid down 1941 - Soviet submarine SC-136 commissioned 1941 - U-141 sank steam trawler Anders 1941 - U-501 sank SS Einvik in Convoy SC-41 1941 - Minesweeper HMCS Ungava commissioned 1941 - Minesweeper HMCS Nipigon arrived Halifax from builder Toronto ON 1941 - Corvettes HMCS Arvida, Barrie & Dauphin departed Sydney NS as escort Convoy SC-43 1941 - Corvettes HMCS Chambly & Moose Jaw departed St John's for exercises 1942 - Japanese forces are again reinforced during the night. IJN light cruiser Sendai and 11 destroyers brought 1000 men of the 2nd Btn 4th Infantry and remaining troops from Col. Ichiki's 28th Regiment to Taivu Point. Destroyers Yadachi, Hatsuyuki and Murakumo were detailed to bombard Henderson Field. High speed transports Little and Gregory are spotted due to light from flares dropped by PBY crew attempting to assist Marine gunners on Guadalcanal. Little and Gregory attempt to engage; but with 3 4-inchers apiece they are no match for the more modern Japanese ships. Both sink within minutes 1942 - U-475 laid down 1942 - U-733 & U-847 launched 1942 - U-195 & U-270 commissioned 1942 - U-513 sank SS Lord Strathcona & SS Saganaga 1942 - U-506 sank SS Myrmidon 1942 - SS Lord Strathcona (7,335 GRT) Canadian bulk ore carrier was torpedoed & sunk while at anchor in Conception Bay, Nfld., in position 47.35N, 052.59W, by U-513, KKpt. Rolf Rüggeberg, CO. U-513 had just sunk the British ore carrier Saganaga, with the loss of 28 lives, when the Third Mate gave the order to abandon Lord Strathcona. The crew got away just as the ship was hit. The Canadian ore carrier ROSE CASTLE was alongside the loading pier & was the target of U-513's third attack. But, the torpedoes went wide & hit the pier, badly damaging it. U-513 was a long-range Type IXC U-boat built by Deutsche Werft AG, at Hamburg. She was commissioned on 10 Jan 42. U-513 conducted four patrols & compiled a record of six ships sunk for a total of 29,940 tons & damaged two ships for a further 13,177 tons. She was sunk on 19 Jul 43, while under the command of KptLt. Friedrich Guggenberger, Knights Cross, Knights Cross with Oak Leaves, in the South Atlantic off the coast of Brazil, in position 27.17S, 047.32W, by depth charges from a USN 'Mariner' patrol a/c from VP-74 Sqn. KptLt Guggenberger, who was renowned for sinking the British a/c carrier HMS Ark Royal, was among the 7 survivors, although he was seriously wounded. 46 crewmembers were lost. Rolf Rüggeberg was born in Barcelona, Spain, in 1907. He joined the navy in 1926 & was on exchange duties at the Spanish Naval Academy in Cadiz when the war began. In Jul 40 he was appointed as the Assistant to the Naval Attaché in Madrid & in Nov 40 was made the Acting Naval Attaché in Lisbon. Rüggeberg entered the U-boat force in Apr 41. After conversion training, due to his seniority, he entered directly in a U-boat commander's at-sea training program in the long-range Type IXB boat U-107, commanded by the 'ace' KKpt. Günter Hessler, Knight's Cross. He was appointed to command U-513 on 10 Jan 42, & completed his tour of duty on 14 May 43, after three successful patrols. He was appointed as the Commander of the 13th U-boat Flotilla in Jun 43 & remained in that position until the end of the war. He was promoted to FKpt on 01 Nov 44. Rolf Rüggeberg was detained after the war & was freed in Oct 45. Rüggeberg, like many other U-boat commanders, demonstrated great ability as a wartime commander, despite his lack of experience in U-boats or, indeed, his lack of operational experience of any kind. His attack at Conception Bay was especially daring considering the size of the long-range Type IX boat & the confines of the harbor 1942 - President Castillo reaffirmed Argentina's intention to abide by its neutrality policy 1942 - Submarine USS Seal sinks a Japanese merchant passenger-cargo ship SE of Cam Ranh Bay, French Indochina 1942 - Soviet minesweeper Piksha mined in Leningrad Sea Channel 1942 - German troops lay siege to the Black Sea naval base of Novorossiysk 1943 - Submarine HMS Viking launched 1943 - Submarine HMS Spiteful launched 1943 - Soviet submarine K-1 lost for unknown reasons on her 16th patrol to Novaya Zemlia. All hands lost 1943 - U-296 launched 1943 - Patrol Vessel District YP-279 foundered in heavy weather off Townsville Australia 1943 - Destroyer escorts USS Herzog, McAnn & Whitehurst launched 1943 - Minesweeper USS Staunch laid down 1943 - Destroyer escort USS William C Cole laid down 1943 - Submarine USS Swordfish sinks a Japanese Army transport north of New Guinea 1944 - U-1108 launched 1944 - U-362 sunk in the Kara Sea near Krakovka in position 75.51N, 89.27E by depth charges from the Soviet minesweeper T-116. 51 dead (all hands lost) 1944 - Destroyer escort USS Lewis commissioned 1944 - U-861 sank SS Ioannis Fafalios 1944 - HMS LST 3546 & 3547 ordered 1944 - Russia declared war on Bulgaria 1944 - Submarine USS Albacore sinks a merchant cargo ship north of Muroto Saki, Japan 1944 - Submarine HMS Tantivy sinks a merchant cargo ship off Sumatra 1944 - Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-198 was commissioned at New Orleans with her first commanding officer being Lt. J. J. Grant, USCGR. He was succeeded 3 October 1945, by LTJG Charles W. Shannon, USCG. She was assigned to and operated in the Southwest Pacific area including Leyte, etc. 1945 - Escort carrier USS Tinian launched 1945 - Iva Toguri D'Aquino, a Japanese-American suspected of being wartime broadcaster Tokyo Rose, was arrested in Yokohama. (D'Aquino was later convicted of treason, stripped of her US citizenship and sent to serve 10 years in prison, but ended up serving six; she was pardoned in 1977 by President Ford) 1945 - Aircraft carrier USS Philippine Sea launched 1945 - HMC ML 072 & ML 122 paid off 1945 - The Japanese surrender Yap Atoll in a ceremony on board the destroyer USS Tillman 1945 - Igor Gouzenko, a cypher clerk at the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa, defects with evidence of a Soviet spy ring operating in Canada 1946 - Corvette HMCS Arnprior sold to Uruguay and became ROU Montevideo 1946 - Corvettes HMCS Bowmanville & Orangeville sold to China and became Ta Shun & Hsi Lin respectively 1946 - Corvette HMCS Kincardine sold to French buyer 1946 - USS Franklin D Roosevelt and 4 escorts visit Greece to underscore US support for the Greek Government which faced a Communist insurgency RCN Firefly aircraft T-1, #MB433 crashed after engine failure. It was a Firefly T.1 and it served with the Operational Flying Training School (OFTS) 1952 - The US Navy used robot bombers for the first time in warfare on a bombing mission. An unspecified number of obsolete Hellcats, each carrying a one-ton bomb, were flown 150 miles into North Korea from the carrier Boxer to crash-dive onto a power plant, bridge and tunnel entrance. The mission was described as successful. The aircraft were controlled by secret electronics in the aircraft and at the control stations. In the air, a controller in a "mother" ship, an A2D Skyraider, took over and piloted the planes to their targets. TV cameras in the Hellcats enabled the controller to broadcast pictures back to the Boxer. The official report quoted a sailor saying that the robot aircraft were ideal to fly into areas heavily defended by antiaircraft weapons and fighters. On Sept. 18 a Navy spokesman says the Hellcats are only makeshift robots; new and better remote-controlled planes are being built. He admits that the signals between controllers and aircraft can be jammed 1964 - USS Kearsarge port call Subic Bay 1965 - USS Midway port call Hong Kong 1966 - USS Kearsarge port call Subic Bay 1967 - USS Kearsarge returned from Vietnam deployment 1970 - USS Oriskany port call Subic Bay 1973 - USS Coral Sea port call Subic Bay 1975 - USS Hancock port call Manila 1975 - President Ford escaped an attempt on his life by Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a disciple of Charles Manson, in Sacramento 1990 - The Navy lifts the firing suspension for USS Wisconsin's 16 inch guns 1990 - USS Acadia departs San Diego with crew of 1,260, including 360 women. This is the first wartime test of the combined male-female fighting force 1995 - Submarine SC-307 conning tower installed at the Memorial of Victory at Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow 1995 - France ended its three-year moratorium on nuclear tests, setting off an underground blast on a South Pacific atoll 1997 - MCDV HMCS Saskatoon laid down Halifax NS 2003 - USCG Station Port Angeles opens 2004 - Hurricane Frances struck Florida's central-eastern coast with heavy rain 2005 - Submarine USS Philadelphia collided with a Turkish cargo ship in the Persian Gulf. Nobody was injured and both ships suffered only superficial damage, according to a navy spokesman. It was the US Navy's second collision with a civilian vessel in the Gulf in 14 months 2005 - Global Oceanic Carriers Limited announced that it has secured a short term charter for its vessel GO Faith for a duration of approximately 50 days, at the significant rate of US $20,000 per day. The delivery of the vessel shall take place immediately following its redelivery from the present charter at the port of Diler Ok (Marmara Sea). Thereafter GO Faith will proceed to Odessa to load Iron Ore for China, where the vessel shall be redelivered and where there is continued high demand for raw materials 2005 - At least 57 people are dead, and 100 missing, after smugglers forced immigrants at gunpoint into the Red Sea 16 km from shore. The two boats were making an illegal crossing from Somalia to Yemen when the 18 smugglers - armed with guns, daggers and clubs - turned on their passengers. Thousands of Somalis and Ethiopians try to escape poverty in their countries by crossing the Gulf of Aden each year, many hoping to reach Europe. An estimated 200 Somalis and Ethiopians, including children, left Somalia's Puntland region Wednesday 2005 - The flight recorders of the Su-33 fighter that crashed into the sea have been found and brought to the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier, Russian Navy Commander Admiral Vladimir Masorin stated. "Su-33 fighters have survival systems for pilots, as well as flight recorders that rise to the surface, so we didn't have to get them from a depth of 1,100 meters," Masorin said. Northern Fleet command and experts are probing the incident. The pilot was recovered safely 2005 - The recent orders of classification services for six liquefied natural gas (LNG) ships have resulted in an important milestone for Lloyd’s Register: over 100 LNG ships now exist or are being built to Lloyd’s Register class, confirming the organization’s market leadership in the classification of LNG ships. This milestone is also significant because the new ships, two for Teekay Shipping and four for BP Shipping at Hyundai Heavy Industries, will feature dual-fuel engines, a recent innovation in LNG ship propulsion 2005 - Remains of a wooden boat believed to be the oldest watercraft ever discovered on the Korean Peninsula were unearthed in Changnyeong County of South Gyeongsang Province, said the Gimhae National Museum. Im Hack-jong, the museum's chief curator, said that the uncovering of a substantial fragment of the vessel is significant as it is the first boat from the Neolithic era ever found in South Korea. It dates back to 8,000 years ago and measures 60 centimeters wide, 310 centimeters long and 20 centimeters deep 2005 - Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) detained the 'Berkan B' at Ipswich Port The Georgian flagged, 3988 GT, general cargo ship was detained following an inspection by the MCA. Surveyors were alerted to the vessel by the pilot who was told by the master that the crew had not been paid for 3 months and were living off bread and olives. The attending Inspector found the following detainable items: - Difficulty launching starboard lifeboat - Engineroom fire dampers seized open - GMDSS radio equipment reserve power deficient. In general major safety items were poorly maintained. The accommodation was in a bad condition and deficiencies included: deep freeze not working; insufficient food on board; no laundry facilities; domestic fridges in poor condition and floor coverings missing. In response to one of the recommendations of Lord Donaldson's Inquiry into the prevention of pollution from merchant shipping and in compliance with the EU Directive on Port State Control (95/21/EC as amended), the Maritime and Coastguard agency (MCA) publishes full details of the foreign flagged vessels detained in UK ports each month. Inspections of foreign flagged ships in UK ports are undertaken by surveyors from the MCA. Where a ship is found to be deficient or lacks the required documentation, MCA surveyors can take a range of actions leading to detention in serious cases. The UK is part of a regional agreement on port state control known as the Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control (Paris MOU) and information on all ships that are inspected is held centrally in an electronic database known as SIReNaC. This allows the ships of flags with poor detention records to be targeted for future inspection. Detained ships have to satisfy MCA surveyors that remedial work has been carried out before they are allowed to leave port 2006 - George Da Pont, currently Acting Commissioner of the Canadian Coast Guard, becomes Commissioner of the Canadian Coast Guard 2006 - HNLMS Van Galen ran aground near Frederikshavn 2006 - Trico Marine Services, Inc. reached an agreement, effective September 1, 2006, to build two GPA 640, 210' offshore supply vessels for a total cost of approximately $35 million. The vessels will have diesel electric propulsion and class 2 dynamic positioning systems. Bender Shipbuilding & Repair Co., Inc. will build the vessels at its shipyard in Mobile, Alabama, with an expected delivery date for the first vessel in March 2008 and the second vessel in July 2008 2006 - The 50-ton Misairutei San Gou (Missile Ship No. 3), a missile-armed hydrofoil docked at MSDF Ominato Regional District Headquarters, accidentally fired 10 20-mm rounds of live machine gun ammo toward land at around 1920, hitting trees. No injuries were reported 2007 - Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, Mr. Vuk Jeremic, visited NATO Headquarters 2007 - Representatives of the National Armed Forces (NAF) Naval Force (NF) will take possession of the ALKMAAR-Class minehunter vessel M05 Viesturs (ex-HNLMS Scheveningen) from the Dutch Navy at Den Helder 2007 - Swedish Defence Minister Mikael Odenberg resigned in protest at defense cuts 2007 - Outgoing Cmdr. Bruce A. Derenski, salutes incoming Cmdr. Mike Stevens as he turns over command of the PCU New Hampshire SSN 778 during a change of command ceremony at Electric Boat in Groton 2007 - The charter of a Russian icebreaker to replace Argentina’s navy “Almirante Irizar” severely damaged by fire, for the coming Antarctic season remains undecided according to Foreign Affairs ministry sources quoted in the Buenos Aires press 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. 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