SeaWaves Today in History September 18, 2008 1759 - The French formally surrendered Quebec to the British 1793 - President Washington laid the cornerstone of the US Capitol in Masonic regalia 1810 - Chile declared its independence from Spain 1917 - Destroyers USS Lea & Dorsey laid down 1919 - Destroyer HMS Wanderer commissioned 1926 - Destroyer FS Basque laid down 1926 - Navy brings relief aid to Miami, FL, after a severe hurricane 1932 - Colonial sloop FS Rigault de Genouilly launched 1933 - Submarine HMS Snapper laid down 1935 - Destroyer HMS Grafton launched 1936 - Destroyer USS Fanning launched 1936 - Destroyers USS Mahan, Perkins & Shaw commissioned 1936 - Squadron 40-T, based in the Mediterranean, established to protect US interests and citizens around Iberian peninsula throughout the Spanish Civil War 1939 - Light cruiser USS Helena commissioned 1939 - U-32 sank SS Kensington Court 1939 - U-35 sank SS Arlita & SS Lord Minto 1939 - Former Gov't service vessels commissioned into RCN service - HMCS Adversus, Alachasse, Cartier, French & Nitinat 1939 - President Roosevelt directs enlistment of 2,000 new Coast Guardsmen and opens two new training stations 1939 - US freighter SS Eglantine is stopped by a German submarine. She is ordered not to use her radio and after sending the ship's papers to the U-boat, she is allowed to sail with the warning not to use the radio for 3 hours 1939 - US freighter SS Warrior which has been detained by the British for 11 days is allowed to sail after her cargo of phosphates is confiscated 1939 - US freighter SS Shickshinny seized 2 days previously, is allowed to sail from Glasgow, Scotland to Mersey, England where her cargo, deemed contraband by British authorities, will be unloaded 1940 - Corvette HMS Begonia launched 1940 - Light cruiser HMS Sirius launched 1940 - Corvette USS Impulse launched 1940 - Destroyer HMS Cleveland commissioned 1940 - Destroyer USS Mayo commissioned 1940 - U-143 commissioned 1940 - U-48 sank SS City of Benares & SS Marina in Convoy OB-213 and SS Magdalena in Convoy SC-3 1940 - Heavy cruiser HMS Sussex settles on the bottom after being severely damaged in a bombing raid. She did not return to service until August 1942 1940 - The second group of "overage" USN destroyers to be transferred to the RN in exchange for bases in the Western Hemisphere arrive at Halifax, Nova Scotia 1940 - After being stung by false claims of damaging HMS Ark Royal, the Reich Press Chief orders great caution in dealing with reports on Ark Royal 1941 - U-269 laid down 1941 - U-214 launched 1941 - U-456 & U-588 commissioned 1941 - Minesweeper HMCS Sarnia laid down 1941 - Submarine HMS Usurper laid down 1941 - Corvette HMCS Port Arthur launched 1941 - The remnant of convoy SC-42 arrived in Liverpool. The cargo lost from SC42 amounted to 15,050 tons of wheat, 14,400 tons of iron ore, 11,200 tons of steel, 9,300 tons of gas oil, 7,000 tons of other grains, 5,500 tons of sulfur, 4,275 tons of phosphates, 2,400 tons of pig iron, 2,100 general cargo, 525 tons of oats, and a large but unspecified tonnage of lumber. Two hundred and thirty-seven merchant sailors lost their lives in this battle. The battle for convoy SC-42 is considered to be one of the greatest convoy battles of the Second World War 1941 - Four Royal Navy U class submarines attacked a heavily escorted Italian convoy off the North African coast, sinking two large transports and damaging the third 1941 - US Navy ships escort eastbound British Trans-Atlantic convoy for first time (Convoy HX-150). Although the US Navy ships joined HX-150, which left port escorted by British ships on 16th, on night of 17 September, the official escort duty began on 18th 1941 - For the first time, 5 US destroyers escort an eastbound British convoy. The 5 destroyers pick up the convoy about 150 miles south of Newfoundland 1941 - Submarine HMS Upholder sinks the Italian troop ships Neptunia and Oceania; 384 people are drowned 1941 - Great Britain says it will reveal the secrets of radar to the USSR 1941 - Roosevelt requests an additional $5.985 Billion from Congress for Lend-Lease 1941 - US Navy Department approves Hart’s proposal to confine Asiatic Fleet to Philippine waters 1942 - Minesweeper HMCS Milltown commissioned 1942 - Submarines USS Gurnard & Scamp commissioned 1942 - Destroyer HMS Musketeer commissioned 1942 - Destroyers USS Edwards & Gillespie commissioned 1942 - U-985 & U-986 laid down 1942 - The Canada Steamship Lines bulk laker Norfolk (1,901 GRT), Captain Thomas Edge, Master, was sunk by two torpedoes from U-175, KptLt. Heinrich Bruns, CO, off Guyana, in position 08.36N, 059.20W. Norfolk was proceeding from Paramaribo, Surinam, to Trinidad with a load of bauxite. She sank in about one minute. The captain and five crewmembers were lost. Fourteen survivors were rescued the next day from life rafts by the Spanish merchantman Indauchu. U-175 was a long-range Type XIC submarine built by Deutsche Schiff und Maschinenbau, AG Weser, at Bremen. She was commissioned on 05 Dec 41. U-175 conducted three patrols and compiled a record of ten ships sunk for a total of 40,603 tons. U-174 was sunk on 17 Apr 43, south-west of Ireland, in position 47.53N, 022.04W, by depth charges and gunfire from the US Coast Guard Secretary-class 327-foot cutter John C. Spencer. There were 41 survivors from her crew of 52 men. KptLt. Bruns was her only commander and was among those killed during the surface gun battle. During the engagement, a 5-inch shell fired by one of the ships in the convoy (HX-233) hit Spencer, killing one coastguardsman and wounding seven others. Heinrich Bruns was born in 1912, at Castrop-Rauxel. He joined the navy in 1931. His first operational duty was from Aug to Sep 39 in the battlecruiser Scharnhorst. Next, he was promoted to KptLt. on 01 Oct 39 and served until Jan 40 as a Division Leader in the 1st Torpedo-Boat Flotilla. He commanded the torpedo boat T3 from Feb to Sep 40, when he was wounded and hospitalized until the end of the year. His next assignment was as the Navigating Officer in the pre-Dreadnought training battleship Schleswig-Holstein. He transferred to the U-boat force in Mar 41 and, after conversion training, served from Jul to Sep 41 as a supernumerary Watch Officer in the Type VIIB boat U-75, Kptlt. Helmuth Ringelman, CO. He underwent his U-boat Commander's Course from Oct to Dec 41. KptLt. Bruns was appointed to commission U-175 on 05 Dec 41, at the age of 29. He was lost when U-175 was sunk SW of Iceland on 17 Apr 43. Heinrich Bruns was promoted to KKpt. posthumously with seniority dated 01 Apr 43. He sank ten ships for a total of 40,603 tons 1942 - U-380 sank SS Olaf Fostenes 1942 - Vichy French sloop Dumon D'Urville takes off 42 survivors of the sunken British passenger ship from the Italian submarine Capellini 1942 - Convoy PQ-18 reached the safety of the White Sea with 27 of its original 40 ships intact. Despite the losses, it was the biggest convoy yet to reach Russia. It sailed for Russia on 2 September, after a month in which convoys to the USSR were halted. Following the disastrous July convoy PQ-17, when only 11 out of 36 merchantmen arrived in Russia, Churchill wrote to Stalin suggesting that convoys should be suspended until the longer nights of autumn. Reluctantly, the Soviet leader agreed. PQ-18 was the most heavily protected convoy so far, with around 50 naval vessels deployed in either the escort or covering forces, including 20 destroyers and the escort carrier HMS Avenger. The German Navy had difficulty getting close to the convoy, and air attacks account for most of the 13 convoy ships lost. The worst day was 13 September. Forty German torpedo-bombers sank eight ships in as many minutes in a stunning assault. The day before, U-boats sank two of the ships in the starboard column. Five torpedo-bombers were shot down and the destroyer HMS Faulknor sank U-88 with a blitz of depth charges. In all, the Germans lost 20 aircraft and two U-boats. The escort will return with surviving ships of earlier convoys, including PQ-17 1942 - U-455 lays mines off Charleston, South Carolina 1943 - U-678, U-679 & U-1227 launched 1943 - Destroyer escorts USS Brough & Fleming commissioned 1943 - Frigates HMS Avon & Gould commissioned 1943 - Destroyer USS David W Taylor commissioned 1943 - Frigate USS Muskogee laid down 1943 - Destroyer HMCS Micmac launched 1943 - Frigates HMCS Toronto & Orkney launched 1943 - Corvette HMCS Whitby launched 1943 - Frigates HMS Curzon & Dakins launched 1943 - Minesweepers USS Gavia & Ransom launched 1943 - Destroyer USS Ross launched 1943 - Tug HMCS Glenora launched Owen Sound ON 1943 - Minesweeper HMS Regulus (ex-HMCS Long Branch) launched Toronto ON 1943 - Aircraft from the US carriers Lexington, Princeton & Belleau Wood under Admiral Pownall, strike Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands 1944 - Minesweepers HMCS Maple Lake & Oak Lake cancelled 1944 - After being damaged by a Liberator (Sqn 224/R) U-1228 suffered Schnorchel damage which resulted in a CO2 poisoning of its crew. One man died. [Matrosenobergefreiter Matthias Mittler] 1944 - U-925 listed as missing in the North Atlantic or Arctic Sea north of Britain after 24 August 1944. No explanation exists for its loss. 51 dead (all hands lost) 1944 - U-2338 launched 1944 - U-3018 laid down 1944 - On 18 September 1944 on 7pm, a lookout on destroyer ORP Garland spotted an enemy U-boat. The U-boat was promptly attacked, but without any result. Later four British destroyers, HMS Troubridge, Terpsichore, Brecon and Zetland, joined the Polish destroyer and started the hunting which lasted for 10 hours. On 6am the following day the U-boat surfaced and was spotted again by the Polish destroyer, this time the attack, 10 depth charges, was deadly. The German U-boat U-407 was sunk. The survivors were picked up by Garland as war prisoners 1944 - Light cruiser USS Duluth commissioned 1944 - Destroyer escort USS Pratt commissioned 1944 - Minesweeper USS Invade commissioned 1944 - Destroyer USS Goodrich laid down 1944 - Frigate HMCS Eastview and corvettes HMCS Peterborough, Tillsonburg, St Lambert & Hawkesbury departed St John’s to join the escort for the 59-ship New York City to Liverpool convoy HX-308. HX-308 arrived safely in Liverpool on 28 Sep 44 1944 - 4 USAAF B-24s over the Formosa Strait claim 1 freighter sunk 1944 - Destroyer USS Case rendezvoused with submarine USS Sealion and transfers a medical officer and medical supplies to treat the 73 British and 54 Australian POWs who survived the sinking of the Japanese transport Rakuyo Maru 3 days ago 1944 - In the Indian Ocean west of Sumatra, Netherlands East Indies, submarine HMS Tradewind torpedoes and sinks the Japanese cargo ship SS Junyo Maru at position 02.52S, 101.12E. The 5,065 ton ship was en route from Java to Sumatra carrying 2,300 Dutch, British, Australian and American POWs and 4,200 Javanese slave laborers (romushas). They were all bound for work on the 220 km (136.7 mile) long Sumatra Railway Line between Pakan Baru and Muaro. Contrary to the Geneva Convention, the ship was not traveling under a Red Cross flag. At about 1730 hours local, two torpedoes, one forward and one struck the ship aft. The Japanese crew manned the lifeboats and the escort vessels picked up Japanese survivors. In the morning, a Japanese ship arrived and began picking up survivors. Of the 6,500 men aboard the ship before the attack, only 680 POWs and 200 romushas were saved. They were taken to Sumatra and put to work on the railway where many more died 1944 - Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-199 was commissioned at New Orleans. Her first commanding officer was LTJG L. E. Parsons, USCG. She was assigned to and operated in the Southwest Pacific area. 1944 - Coast Guard manned Army vessel FS-267 was commissioned at New York; her first commanding officer being Lt. E. W. Stachle, USCGR. After a trip to Davisville, RI she departed New York on 10 October 1944, for the Southwest Pacific. During July 1945 she was transferred to the Navy Department in the Pacific area. 1947 - The National Security Act, which unified the Army, Navy and newly formed Air Force into a National Military Establishment, went into effect United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold was killed in a plane crash in northern Rhodesia 1969 - Aircraft carrier HMCS Bonaventure lost Tracker a/c #1594. After landing slipped over the side, but held by arrestor wires. Pilot & crew recovered safely 1969 - USS Oriskany port call Sasebo 1969 - USS Ticonderoga returned from Vietnam deployment 1989 - Hurricane Hugo hits Puerto Rico and eventually makes landfall at Charleston SC on the 21st. Coast Guard units conducted search and rescue as well as relief operations 1995 - President Clinton began a five-day re-election campaign fund-raising tour that got off to a rocky start after a deal to convert the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard to civilian use collapsed at the last minute 2003 - Hurricane Isabel lashes the coast of North Carolina & Virginia 2004 - Traffic roundabout in Brest renamed in honor of HMCS Athabaskan, sunk in 1944 2004 - International Air Day at RNAS Yeovilton celebrates the evolution of maritime aviation 2004 - Destroyer USS Chung-Hoon commissioned at Pearl Harbor 2005 - Just after 1830 Aberdeen Coastguard were alerted to two missing canoeists at Dunbeath. The Wick Police informed the Coastguard that they had not returned to their vehicles which were parked near Dunbeath and were last seen at about 1100. The canoes they were using are yellow in color and it was established that they had launched earlier in the day on the south side of the river mouth. The Coastguard Rescue Teams from Wick and Helmsdale were sent to the scene to begin a shoreline search, which included the harbors and headlands, whilst the Coastguard at Aberdeen began relaying an emergency message on VHF channel 16 to all passing vessels in the area to keep a watchful eye for the two canoeists. The Wick all weather lifeboat was also asked to launch and asked to search about a mile offshore. At 1935 concern was mounting enough for a rescue helicopter to be called in from Lossiemouth to begin an air search along the coastline from Dornoch heading up to Duncansby Head, including Loch Fleet. By 2000 however the two missing canoeists had been found by a search team nearly 7 miles away up the coastline at Lybster, when they were discovered with a tent and their canoes, and they confirmed it was their vehicle at Dunbeath. All the rescue units were stood down with grateful thanks and the emergency broadcasts were cancelled. Various vessels who had also responded were informed of the discovery 2005 - The Coast Guard and the Washington State Department of Ecology responded to a minor oil sheen in the Washington Ship Canal today near the Ballard Bridge. At approximately 2000 Coast Guard Sector Seattle received a report of a minor oil sheen in the Lake Washington Ship Canal from an observant citizen. Investigators from Coast Guard Sector Seattle responded to the sheen at first light this morning. The size of the sheen was estimated to be about 100-feet to 300-feet in length, but dissipated quickly. Coast Guard investigators estimated that approximately 5 gallons of waste oil was the source of the sheen. A small amount of oil-coated rocks and debris was removed to prevent any further release of oil to the water. The cause of the spill is under investigation 2006 - Coast Guard Cutter Boutwell and HITRON interdicted another "go-fast" vessel approximately 460-miles northeast of the Galapagos Islands and seized 1,250 pounds of cocaine and three suspected smugglers 2006 - Following a series of tests carried out over the past four months that revealed metallurgical failure in components of the subsea system, BP announced today that it plans to retrieve and rebuild all the sea-bed production equipment from its Thunder Horse field in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico 2006 - Diana Shipping Inc. assumed shipbuilding contracts from two unaffiliated parties for the construction of two Capesize dry bulk carriers of approximately 175,000 dwt each for a price of $60.4 million each. The vessels will be constructed by Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. and Diana Shipping Inc. expects delivery of the vessels during the second quarter of 2010 2007 - Mr Andrew Gurr has been appointed Governor of St Helena in succession to Mr Michael Clancy. Mr Gurr will take up his new appointment in November 2007 2007 - Due to Typhoon Wipha, Shanghai Port closed at 1900 & Ningbo Port closed at 1400 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