SeaWaves Today in History September 30, 2008 1585 - Dartmouth England - John Davis c1543-1605 returns to England from his Arctic explorations 1731 - Building of first warship in New France, at Terrebonne 1800 - US concludes treaty of peace with France, ending Quasi War with France 1822 - HMS Eliza on anti-slavery patrol, captured the slave ship Firme Union off Cuba 1899 - First Navy wireless message sent via Lighthouse Service Station at Highlands of Navesink, New Jersey 1899 - Henry Larsen 1899-1964 RCMP officer, navigator, was born on this day at Fredrickstad, Norway in 1899; dies in Vancouver Oct. 29, 1964. From 1940-42, Sergeant Larsen sailed the Royal Canadian Mounted Police patrol ship, the St Roch, through the NW Passage from west to east, repeating the 1903-06 feat of Norwegian Roald Amundsen; in 1944 returned to Vancouver by a more northerly route through the Arctic Archipelago in only 86 days, becoming the first vessel to travel the passage in both directions; in 1950 Larsen sailed her through the Panama Canal to Halifax, making her the first vessel to circumnavigate North America 1913 - Battleship FS Lorraine launched 1918 - Destroyer USS Babbitt launched 1920 - Destroyers USS Hunt & McFarland commissioned 1924 - Heavy cruiser HMS Suffolk laid down 1930 - Heavy cruiser HMS Dorsetshire commissioned 1931 - Destroyer HMS Comet & Crusader launched 1931 - Submarine FS Rubis launched 1935 - U-12 commissioned 1936 - Submarine HMS Sunfish launched 1937 - Light cruiser USS Brooklyn commissioned 1937 - Aircraft carrier USS Yorktown commissioned 1937 - Italy agreed to join the Mediterranean "anti-piracy" patrol 1938 - On his return from Munich, the Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, told a crowd at Heston Airport, London - "I believe it is peace in our time," and waved the agreement he had signed with Hitler 1939 - Germany notified Britain her armed merchantmen would be sunk without warning. "Several German submarines have been attacked by British merchant ships in the past few days. Hitherto German submarines have observed international law by always warning merchant ships before attacking them. Now, however, Germany will have to retaliate by regarding every vessel of the British merchant navy as a warship" 1939 - U-3 sank SS Gun & SS Bendia 1939 - At 2255 in the North Sea, U-3 sighted a British submarine and fired a torpedo at it, but missed 1939 - US freighters SS Ethan Allen & Ipswich, held by the British for 10 days, are released. However, the cargo carried by SS Ipswich bound for Hamburg, Germany is seized 1939 - Berlin warns Britain that armed ships may be sunk without warning 1939 - British cargo ship SS Clement was sunk this afternoon by German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee off Pernambuco, Brazil. Captain F Harris, spotted the Graf Spee at 1.00 a.m. She sent a seaplane, which without warning machine-gunned the bridge. The chief officer was slightly hurt, but the 50 strong crew took to the boats before the Graf Spee's shells sank the Clement 1940 - Corvette HMCS Battleford laid down 1940 - U-37 sank SS Heminge & SS Samala in Convoy OB-220 1940 - U-408 laid down 1940 - U-73 commissioned 1940 - Destroyer HMS Quail laid down 1940 - Destroyers HMS Farndale & Brocklesby launched 1940 - Corvette HMS Cyclamen commissioned 1940 - Light cruiser HMS Dido commissioned 1940 - Submarine ORP Sokol (ex-HMS Urchin) launched 1940 - Italian submarine Gondar approaches Alexandria with human torpedoes for an attack on the base. She is located by an RAF Sunderland of No 230 Squadron and sunk by Australian destroyer HMAS Stuart 1940 - Early in the month the first wolf pack attacks are directed by Adm Donitz against the convoy SC-2. Five of the 53 ships are sunk. A similar operation is mounted two weeks later against the 40 ships of HX-72. The U-boats present include those commanded by the aces Kretschmer, Prien and Schepke. Eleven ships are lost, seven to Schepke's U100 in one night. The German B-Service is instrumental in directing U-boats to many convoys, where they hold the advantage as they maneuver on the surface between the merchantmen and escorts 1941 - HMS Seaborn renamed HMCS Sambro & became depot ship Halifax NS for destroyers & auxiliaries. HMS Seaborn was formerly the US yacht Seaborn and had been acquired by Northumberland Ferries Ltd. in 1939 and renamed the Charles A. Dunning. But she was almost immediately taken over for naval service and given her old name. On 7 December 1939 she was commissioned HMS Seaborn, flagship of the Rear Admiral with the 3rd Battle Squadron. When the 3rd Battle Squadron was withdrawn to the United Kingdom she was renamed HMCS Sambro, depot ship for destroyers and auxiliaries. On 6 March 1943 she was renamed HMCS Venture II, depot ship for fairmiles. To avoid confusion, the schooner Venture was re-designated Harbour Craft 190 and continued her duties as before. At the same time the depot ship dropped her Roman suffix and became the third Canadian Venture. She remained HMCS Venture until paid off on 14 January 1946. Sold for commercial purposes, she still existed in 1953 under the Panamanian flag 1941 - Minesweeper HMCS Burlington arrived Halifax from builder Toronto ON 1941 - Destroyers HMS Legion & Gurkha sank the Italian submarine Adua off the Algerian coast 1941 - Submarine HMS Taurus laid down 1941 - U-801 laid down 1941 - U-205 suffered a blow when one of its men, Fähnrich zur See Fritz Säger, took his own life 1941 - Turkey embargoes chrome exports to Germany 1942 - Corvette HMCS Lindsay laid down 1942 - U-596 was attacked by an aircraft in the North Atlantic and suffered heavy damage. She managed to reach base at St. Nazaire on 3 October 1942 - Submarine USS Flasher laid down 1942 - Destroyer escort USS J Richard Ward laid down 1942 - Minesweeper USS Oracle launched 1942 - Escort carrier HMS Attacker commissioned 1942 - U-529 commissioned 1942 - U-242 laid down 1942 - U-307 launched 1942 - U-649 launched 1942 - U-125 sank SS Empire Avocet & Kumsang. Captured master & a machinist from Empire Avocet captured 1942 - U-506 sank SS Siam II 1942 - U-516 sank SS Alipore 1942 - Admiral Chester W. Nimitz USN travels from Noumea to Guadalcanal via B-17 bomber to (1) to determine if the island can be held and (2) to award decorations. The plane becomes lost, and Commander Ralph Ofstie navigates to Henderson Field using a map from National Geographic. Nimitz views the mud of Henderson Field, since it has been raining. He tours Edson's (Bloody) Ridge and the perimeter with General Vandegrift and leaves the next day 1942 - The Japanese Navy changes their entire communications system. Many useful tools are lost, to the US, in the radio intelligence war 1942 - German surface Raider "Thor" is destroyed by fire in Yokohama. From January through October 1942 Thor sank 10 merchant ships for 56,000 tons 1942 - At 9 -40 PM the Japanese steam past Savo Island headed for their supply drop on Guadalcanal. These 8 destroyers are loaded with supplies in drums lashed to their decks their torpedo reloads are left behind. At the same time US naval TF 67 enters the eastern end of Lengo Channel. At 2308 the US radar shows 7 - 8 ships. The Japanese spot the US ships, without radar, at 2312. The US destroyers fire torpedoes at 2320 and their cruisers open fire at 2321. Japanese torpedoes are fired at 2323. At 2327 the Japanese torpedoes begin to strike. The losses in this battle are one Japanese destroyer, Takanami. US losses are severe damage to 3 cruisers, and the loss of the USS Northampton. Japanese Admiral Tanaka received much of the credit for the Japanese success in the Battle of Tassafaronga. It should be noted that Captain Sato Torojiro was in command of the Japanese destroyer division that many credit with launching the successful torpedoes. Capt Sato finds himself mentioned in 1990's US fiction (Tom Clancy, A Debt of Honor, Chapter 13). As a final note to the Battle of Tassafaronga, the last of the 13 US "treaty cruisers" has been sunk or damaged around Guadalcanal. These ships will not participate in any further night battles in the Solomon Islands HM MTB-314 (PT-56 USN BPT-8) sunk by British aircraft 1943 - USCGC E.M. Wilcox foundered off Nags Head NC. There was 1 lost 1943 - U-960 sank SS Arkhangelsk in Convoy VA-18 1943 - Frigates HMS Aylmer & Shiel commissioned 1943 - Patrol Boat USCGC Wilcox foundered heavy seas off Cape Hatteras North Carolina 1943 - Minesweeper USS Buoyant commissioned 1943 - Destroyers USS The Sullivans, Remey, Hopewell & Hailey commissioned 1943 - Destroyer escort USS Joyce commissioned 1943 - Destroyer USS Samuel N Moore laid down 1943 - Aircraft carrier HMS Colossus launched 1943 - Sloop INS Hind launched 1943 - Submarine HMS Sturdy launched 1943 - Destroyers USS Cushing & Rowe launched 1943 - U-858 commissioned 1943 - U-1197 & U-1198 launched 1943 - U-711 suffered a man lost during landing in Narvik. [Maschinengefreiter Heinz Schiefelbein] 1943 - U-309 lost a crewmember in the North Atlantic while working out on the deck. [Mechanikergefreiter Erich Jungmann] 1943 - 9,000 engineers are out at Vickers Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness. They have been on strike for two weeks in protest at an arbitration award of rates of pay. At a mass meeting today they voted to stay out, despite the urgings of their union, the Amalgamated Engineering Union (AEU). The local strike leaders, critical of AEU officials, demand direct negotiation with Ernest Bevin, the minister of labor, who has refused to intervene. He insists that the honor of the trade union movement is at stake 1943 - In a bold and hazardous night operation, Danish fishermen are smuggling almost all of Denmark's over 7,000 Jews across the stormy Oresund Strait to the safety of Sweden. The voyage costs £100 for each person; the price of failure is death. Among the refugees are the Nobel prize-winning atomic scientist Niels Bohr and his wife. About 6,000 Jews and 1,400 half-Jews are at risk, and nearly 700 people married to Jews are expected to leave as well. The roundup of Danish Jews for deportation began a week ago with Gestapo agents calling on Jewish homes at night and taking whole families, including the old, the sick and children. All Jewish private fortunes are being seized. The telephone system in Copenhagen was switched off to prevent Jews from warning one another of the Gestapo's coming. Bohr came ashore from a Danish fishing boat at Helsingborg; he went straight to Stockholm to beg the Swedish government to help his fellow Jews. The Swedes promised asylum to all who reached their shores and sent a protest note to Germany. Swedish opinion is outraged by the latest persecutions. Even the explorer Sven Hedin, known for his German sympathies, has called them "deplorable". Pastoral letters from bishops condemning the Germans have been read out in Danish churches Minesweeper Kuha 3 is lost in German mines off Suursaari. First troop transport to Tornio begins 1944 - USS Nautilus lands supplies and evacuates some people from Panay, Philippine Islands 1944 - Minesweeper HMCS Rockcliffe commissioned 1944 - Frigate HMCS Ettrick arrived Bermuda for workups 1944 - Corvette HMCS Fredericton departed Londonderry escort for convoy ON-256 1944 - Corvette HMCS Whitby arrived St. John's to join EG C-4 1944 - Escort carrier HMS Nabob paid off Rosyth as a constructive total loss. Post war became German merchant ship Nabob 1944 - Minesweeper HMCS Wasaga departed Devonport for refit Charlottetown PEI 1944 - Frigate HMCS Cap de la Madeleine commissioned 1944 - Destroyer minelayers USS Gwin & Shea commissioned 1944 - Escort carrier USS Saidor laid down 1944 - Minesweeper USS Strength commissioned 1944 - Destroyers USS Douglas H Fox & John W Thomason launched 1944 - U-2336 commissioned 1944 - U-1026 intercepted by an escort carrier group in the central Atlantic on 30 September where the destroyer escort USS Fessenden sank her with depth charges. 55 dead (all hands lost). 1944 - In the North Atlantic a Catalina aircraft attacked U-245. The gunners on the U-boat managed to keep it at bay 1944 - Submarine USS Nautilus lands supplies on Panay Island and takes out 7 servicemen, 10 women, 5 civilian men and 25 children 1944 - Submarine USS Stingray lands supplies on Mindanao 1944 - Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-347 was commissioned at Kewaunee WI with LT F. N. Blake, USCG, as commanding officer. She was assigned to and operated in the Southwest Pacific area during the war 1944 - Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-201 was commissioned at New Orleans with LT R. P. Champney, Jr., USCGR, as commanding officer. She was assigned to and operated in the Southwest Pacific area 1946 - Destroyer HMS Sluys commissioned 1946 - US Government announces that US Navy units would be permanently stationed in the Mediterranean to carry out American policy and diplomacy 1947 - Minesweeper HMCS Portage paid off 1949 - Destroyer HMCS Iroquois paid off The USCG rank of Commodore, established in 1943 as a wartime measure, was terminated by the President under the provisions of an Act of Congress approved 24 July 1941 Minesweepers HMCS Chaleur & Kentville paid off Commissioning at Groton, CT, of USS Nautilus, the world's first nuclear-powered ship 1958 - Marines leave Lebanon 1959 - Last flight of airships assigned to the Naval Air Reserve at Lakehurst, NJ takes place 1968 - USS Hornet commenced Vietnam deployment 1968 - USS Intrepid port call Subic Bay 1968 - Battleship New Jersey arrives off Vietnam 1968 - U-2367 (Hecht) is stricken from the German Navy 1972 - Destroyer HMCS Athabaskan commissioned 1972 - USS Oriskany port call Subic Bay 1974 - USS Enterprise port call Pearl Harbor 1988 - Soviet Foreign Minister Andrey Andreevich Gromyko resigns 1994 - Frigate HMCS Regina commissioned Esquimalt BC 1997 - Omega Navigation Station Hawaii ceases operation, coinciding with the end of worldwide Omega transmissions 2002 - UK announces their new aircraft carriers will be equipped with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter STOVL variant 2002 - USS Ohio completes 65th and final deterrent patrol. Will return to service as a cruise missile and special operations submarine in 2007 2003 - Amphibious ship USS Anchorage decommissioned at San Diego 2003 - Aircraft carrier USS Midway departed Bremerton under tow of tug Lauren Foss. After stops in Astoria and Oakland, will become a museum ship in San Diego 2003 - USNS Lewis and Clark laid down San Diego 2004 - Tug USNS Powhatan stricken from NVR 2004 - Cruiser USS Ticonderoga decommissioned 2004 - Destroyers USS Spruance & O’Bannon decommissioned 2004 - Landing ship USS Ogden decommissioned San Diego 2004 - USN VAQ-128 Fighting Phoenix decommissioned at NAS Whidbey Island 2005 - Frigate USS Samuel B Roberts transferred to Naval Reserve Force 2005 - Submarine SPS Tonina decommissioned at Cartagena 2005 - Five-day workweek introduced to sailors of South Korean merchant ships and paid leave will have to be granted to fishermen working continuously at sea for at least one year starting. Currently, the five-day workweek is applied to just office workers of shipping companies. Licensed marine officers will have to be boarded on angling boats, leisure boats and ferries being operated in the sea even they have a loading capacity of less than 5 tons from 2008, to ensure safety of ships. The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF) announced March 23 that it will promulgate the revised Seafarers Act and Ship Personnel Act with these contents on March 30. The revised laws aim at upgrading the quality of life of seafarers, a ministry official said. The new law obligates ship owners to subscribe to insurance so that sailors are guaranteed to get overtime pay and retirement allowance in case of their bankruptcies. More sailors will also receive benefits thanks to the reduction of the tonnage of ships subject to the Seafarers Act from 25 tons to 20 tons 2005 - China and Japan hold the third round of consultation on the East China Sea in Tokyo 2005 - The Coast Guard located a large debris field from a downed Airlift Northwest helicopter near Brown's Bay, Wash., about 0100. A 41-foot utility boat from Coast Guard Station Seattle located the debris field a half-mile from Brown's Bay. An HH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Port Angeles, Wash., joined the search for the helicopter and its crew along with an Airlift Northwest helicopter and a Bainbridge Police Department boat. The Coast Guard Cutter Orcas, homeported in Coos Bay, Ore., and an HH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Port Angeles are continuing to search 2005 - USN fighter squadron VF-101 deactivated 2005 - VFA-82 will be deactivated Friday 30 Sep 2005. The deactivation ceremony will be held the same day at MCAS Beaufort SC 2005 - USS Tempest decommissioned and transferred to USCG as USCGC Tempest for homeland defense duties 2005 - Sea Control Wing Pacific disestablished. Pacific Fleet VS squadrons reassigned to Sea Control Wing Atlantic 2005 - Allan Snowie, Canada’s last Landing Signal Officer (LSO) of aircraft carrier HMCS Bonaventure retired from Air Canada. Snowie authored the books “The Bonnie” and “Collishaw and Company” 2005 - Vice Admiral Sureeesh Mehta PVSM AVSM, Indian Deputy Chief of Naval Staff will take over as Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command from Vice Admiral O P Bansal PVSM AVSM VSM, when he retires. Vice Admiral JS Bedi UYSM AVSM, VSM, the Controller of Warship Production and Acquisition will be the new Deputy Chief of Naval Staff 2005 - A nuclear-powered submarine of Russia’s Pacific Fleet has carried out a test launch of an inter-continental ballistic missile. “The missile was launched form the Sea of Okhotsk at 1222 Moscow time,” the Defense Ministry told Itar-Tass 2005 - US ship operators will gain greater access to Brazil's government cargo business while Brazil's carriers seeking access to US markets will be assured equal treatment, under an agreement signed by US Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta and Brazilian Ambassador Roberto Abdenur in Washington, D.C. "Free trade helps everyone - shippers, carriers and most of all consumers," Secretary Mineta said. "This agreement will provide for greater competition in shipping that will benefit both the United States and Brazil." The new agreement requires both sides to provide equal treatment for the other's carriers in maritime-related services and facilities, including shipping taxes. It also provides unlimited access for US-flag carriers to government-controlled cargoes whose shipments are arranged by the Brazilian government, which historically has been a significant portion of that country's commercial cargo. The agreement was reached after more than three years of negotiations. Brazil's Congress must ratify the agreement before it can be brought into force. No US ratification is needed. The United States and Brazil signed a similar agreement in 1999, but it was not ratified by Brazil and expired in October 20 2005 - China has sent warships to the disputed East China Sea, ahead of talks with Japan today over competing territorial claims in the gas-rich waters 2005 - Netherlands-based Multraship Salvage, working under LOF2000 with co-contractors URS Salvage and Maritime Contracting, has moved the c.c. Fowairet to the Verbrugge Terminal at the port of Flushing after the 2,757 TEU vessel grounded in the River Scheldt last week with a cargo of almost 2,000 containers, 127 of which contained hazardous cargo. Multraship reports that the vessel sustained hogging damage and flooding in No 5 hold after grounding in the early morning of Sep 20 on the ebb tide near Perkpolder, between Terneuzen and Antwerp. There was some oil leakage from a cracked fuel tank, which was contained by anti-pollution craft with sweepers. The vessel was initially held in Flushing Sloe awaiting inspection and assessment of salvage options. Using three floating cranes, the joint salvors then offloaded the vessel's deck cargo of approximately 600 containers into barges in order to reduce the vessel's draft sufficiently to enable it to be shifted and moored at a terminal in the port. This operation was completed on the evening of Sep 27, and the vessel was successfully moored at the Verbrugge Terminal on the morning of Sep 28. The salvors then started pumping out the fuel oil from the vessel's damaged and leaking tanks into a lightering tanker, attended by salvage craft, oil booms and onsite anti-pollution craft. Work began on Sep 29 to discharge the remaining 1,300 containers from the vessel at the Verbrugge Terminal 2005 - FGS Seeadler and Geier decommissioned & transferred to Tunisia as Hannibal & Himilcon 2006 - Sea Control Squadron VS 41 decommissioned 2006 - The Georgia Foreign Ministry said that Russia’s planned navy maneuvers will have negative consequences on Georgia’s “trade-economic interests” and called on Russia to refrain from a “show of force” 2006 - Russian ships have started a mission in the Black Sea in line with a Turkey-led international operation designed to combat terrorism and prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons 2006 - MV Alatna was transferred to the National Defense Reserve Force 2006 - MV Chattahoochee was transferred to the National Defense Reserve Fleet 2006 - MV Nodaway was transferred to the National Defense Reserve Fleet 2006 - Huangpu Shipyard launched the PLAN's third Type 054 Jiangkai-class frigate, a modified 'Russianized' version of the class known as the Type 054A 2007 - One of the longest demonstrations against Britain's nuclear arms policy comes to an end tomorrow, amid divided opinion over its success. Faslane 365 was intended to disrupt the nuclear submarine fleet by blockading the Faslane naval base, on the river Clyde, every day for a year 2007 - HC-4 deactivated. Cremony in Norfolk 28 Sept 2007. The squadron's MH-53Es have been transferred to HM-14 and HM-15 2008 - VS-32 deactivated 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