Naval/Maritime History - 16th of February - Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History (2024)

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
20th of April

please use the following link and you will find the details and all events of this day .....

1453 - Fall of Constantinople - Turks fail to prevent Genoese supply ships reaching Constantinople
Three Genoese galleys and a Byzantine blockade runner fight their way through an Ottoman blockading fleet a few weeks before the fall of Constantinople.
The Fall of Constantinople (Greek: Ἅλωσις τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, translit. Halōsis tēs Kōnstantinoupoleōs; Turkish: İstanbul'un Fethi, lit. 'Conquest of Istanbul') was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire by an invading Ottoman army on 29 May 1453. The attackers were commanded by the 21-year-old Sultan Mehmed II, who defeated an army commanded by Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos and took control of the imperial capital, ending a 53-day siege that began on 6 April 1453. After conquering the city, Sultan Mehmed transferred the capital of the Ottoman State from Edirne to Constantinople and established his court there.

The Ottoman Turks transport their fleet overland into the Golden Horn.

1657 - Santa Cruz de Teneriffe - British fleet under Robert Blake totally destroyed a Spanish silver fleet of 16 ships at Santa Cruz Bay, Tenerife.
The Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife was a military operation in the Anglo-Spanish War (1654–60) in which an English fleet under Admiral Robert Blakeattacked a Spanish treasure fleet at Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Spanish Canary Islands. Most of the Spanish merchantmen were scuttled and the remainder were burnt by the English, though the treasure, which had already been landed, was saved.

1768 – Launch of HMS Trident, a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, at Portsmouth.
From April until June 1778 she was under the command of John Inglis.
For some of the period between 1793 and 1796, she was under the command of Captain Theophilus Jones.
Trident was sold out of the navy in 1816.

1776 – Launch of HMS Camilla, a Royal Navy 20-gun Sphinx-class post ship.
Camilla was built in Chatham Dockyard to a design by John Williams
HMS Camilla was a Royal Navy 20-gun Sphinx-class post ship. Camilla was built in Chatham Dockyard to a design by John Williams and was launched in 1776. She served in the American Revolution, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the Napoleonic Wars, before being sold in 1831.

The Penobscot Expedition naval battle, by Dominic Serres

1781 - HMS Resource (28), an Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate, Cptn. Bartholomew Rowley, took Licorne, former Unicorn, (28) off Cape Blaize.

To Captain Sir Thomas Williams, This Print representing The Capture of the French Frigate La Tribune by His Majesty's Ship The Unicorn on the 8th June 1796 (PAH7894)

1782 - Third Battle of Ushant
or the Action of 20–21 April 1782 was a naval battle fought during the American Revolutionary War, between a French naval fleet of three ships of the line protecting a convoy and two British Royal naval ships of the line off Ushant, a French island at the mouth of the English Channel off the north-westernmost point of France.
The Third Battle of Ushant or the Action of 20–21 April 1782 was a naval battle fought during the American Revolutionary War, between a French naval fleet of three ships of the line protecting a convoy and two British Royal naval ships of the line off Ushant, a French island at the mouth of the English Channel off the north-westernmost point of France. This was the third battle that occurred in this region during the course of the war.

HMS Foudroyant towing the Pégase entering Portsmouth Harbour, 30 April 1782 by Dominic Serres

1787 – Launch of french brig Alerte
The French brig Alerte was launched in April 1787. The Royal Navy captured her at Toulon in August 1793, and renamed her HMS Vigilante. The British set her on fire when they evacuated Toulon in December of that year. After the French rebuilt her as Alerte, she served at the Battle of Aboukir Bay. The British recaptured her in June 1799 and took her into service as HMS Minorca. Minorca was sold in 1802.

1796 - HMS Indefatigable (44), Sir Edward Pellew, captured French frigate Virginie (40), Cptn. Jacques Bergeret, off the Lizard
On the morning of 20 April 1796, Indefatigable sighted the French 44-gun frigate Virginie off the Lizard. Indefatigable, Amazon, and Concorde chased Virginie, with Indefatigable catching her just after midnight on 21 April after a chase of 15 hours and 168 miles. After an hour and three quarters of fighting, she still had not struck and had somewhat outmaneuvered Indefatigable when Concorde arrived. Seeing that she was outnumbered, Virginie struck.
Virginie carried 44 guns, 18 and 9-pounders, and had a crew of 340 men under the command of Citizen Bergeret, Capitaine de Vaisseau. She had 14 or 15 men killed, 17 badly wounded, and 10 slightly. She also had four feet of water in her hold from shot holes. Indefatigable had no casualties. Pellew sent Virginie into Plymouth under the escort of Concorde, and followed the next day with Amazon, which had sustained some damage. The Royal Navy took Virginie into service as Virginie.

This coloured engraving shows the naval action between the British Indefatigable and the French La Virginie which took place in April 1791. Indefatigable, shown from the starboard stern quarter, on the right of the picture, is on a starboard tack, passing Virginie which is on a port tack. Cannon smoke swirls between the two ships. Both have multiple holes in their sails. Eventually, the captain of Virginie surrenders to Captain SIr Edward Pellew of the Indefatigable

1796 - HMS Inconstant (36) captured Unite (36) in the Mediterranean.
The Unite was taken into the Royal Navy as HMS Surprise made famous by the Patrick O'Brian series about Jack Aubrey.
HMS Surprise was the name the Royal Navy gave to the French Navy's corvette Unité after her capture in 1796. Launched on 16 February 1794, the ship gained fame in 1799 for the recapture of HMS Hermione, and in 1802 was sold out of the service.
Historical fiction author Patrick O'Brian set many of his Aubrey–Maturin series aboard HMS Surprise, including the 2003 film.

Contemporary plans of HMS Surprise

1809 - HMS Alcmene (32), W. Henry Tremlett, wrecked on a shoal at the mouth of the Loire.
or 29th April (dates different in some sources)
HMS Alcmene was a 32-gun Alcmene-class fifth rate of the Royal Navy. This frigate served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars under the command of several notable officers. Alcmene was active in several theatres of the war, spending most of her time cruising in search of enemy vessels or privateers, and escorting convoys. She fought at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801 and served in the blockade of the French coasts during the later Napoleonic Wars until she was wrecked on the French coast in 1809.

1829 – Launch of HMS President, a large frigate in the British Royal Navy (RN).
HMS President was a large frigate in the British Royal Navy (RN). She was built to replace the previous HMS President, redesignated from the heavy frigate USS President built in 1800 as the last of the original six frigates of the United States Navy under the Naval Act of 1794 and which had been the active flagship of the U.S. Navy until captured while trying to escape the Royal Navy blockade around New York in 1815 at the end of the War of 1812, and which served in the RN until broken up in 1818. The new British President was built using her American predecessor's exact lines for reference, as a reminder to the United States of the capture of their flagship – a fact driven home by President being assigned as the flagship of the North America and West Indies Station in the western Atlantic Ocean under the command of Admiral Sir George co*ckburn (1772–1853), who had directed raids throughout the Chesapeake Bay in 1813–1814, culminating in the burning of the American capital Washington, D.C. in 1814.

HMS President in South West India Dock, London, ca. 1880

1861 - Union forces burn several ships and Gosport Shipyard, Portsmouth, Va., to prevent Yard facilities and ships from falling into Confederate hands during the Civil War.
The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, often called the Norfolk Navy Yard and abbreviated as NNSY, is a U.S. Navy facility in Portsmouth, Virginia, for building, remodeling, and repairing the Navy's ships. It is the oldest and largest industrial facility that belongs to the U.S. Navy as well as the most multifaceted. Located on the Elizabeth River, the yard is just a short distance upriver from its mouth at Hampton Roads.
It was established as Gosport Shipyard in 1767. Destroyed during the American Revolutionary War, it was rebuilt and became home to the first operational drydock in the United States in the 1820s. Changing hands during the American Civil War, it served the Confederate States Navy until it was again destroyed in 1862, when it was given its current name. The shipyard was again rebuilt, and has continued operation through the present day.

1893 – Launch of His Majesty's Yacht Britannia, a racing yacht built in 1893 for RYS Commodore Albert Edward, Prince of Wales.
She served both himself and his son King George V, with a long racing career.
His Majesty's Yacht Britannia was a racing yacht built in 1893 for RYS Commodore Albert Edward, Prince of Wales. She served both himself and his son King George V, with a long racing career.

1909 – Launch of French Condorcet, one of the six Danton-class semi-dreadnought battleships built for the French Navy in the early 1900s
Condorcet was one of the six Danton-class semi-dreadnought battleships built for the French Navy in the early 1900s. When World War I began in August 1914, she unsuccessfully searched for the German battlecruiser SMS Goeben and the light cruiser SMS Breslau in the Western and Central Mediterranean. Later that month, the ship participated in the Battle of Antivari in the Adriatic Sea and helped to sink an Austro-Hungarian protected cruiser. Condorcet spent most of the rest of the war blockading the Straits of Otranto and the Dardanelles to keep German, Austro-Hungarian and Turkish warships bottled up.
After the war, she was modernized in 1923–25 and subsequently became a training ship. In 1931, the ship was converted into an accommodation hulk. Condorcet was captured intact when the Germans occupied Vichy France in November 1942 and was used by them to house sailors of their navy (Kriegsmarine). She was badly damaged by Allied bombing in 1944, but was later raised and scrapped by 1949.

1913 – Launch of Provence, one of three Bretagne-class battleships built for the French Navy in the 1910s, named in honor of the French region of Provence; she had two sister ships, Bretagne and Lorraine.
Provence was one of three Bretagne-class battleships built for the French Navy in the 1910s, named in honor of the French region of Provence; she had two sister ships, Bretagne and Lorraine. Provence entered service in March 1916, after the outbreak of World War I. She was armed with a main battery of ten 340 mm (13.4 in) guns and had a top speed of 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph).

1916 – Launch of HMS Glorious, the second of the three Courageous-class battlecruisers built for the Royal Navy during the First World War.
HMS Glorious was the second of the three Courageous-class battlecruisers built for the Royal Navy during the First World War. Designed to support the Baltic Project championed by the First Sea Lord, Lord Fisher, they were relatively lightly armed and armoured. Glorious was completed in late 1916 and spent the war patrolling the North Sea. She participated in the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight in November 1917 and was present when the German High Seas Fleet surrendered a year later.

1917 - The Second Battle of Dover Strait was a naval battle of the First World War, fought in the Dover Strait in April 1917 and should not be confused with the major Battle of Dover Strait in 1916.
Two Royal Navy destroyers defeated a superior force of German Kaiserliche Marine torpedo boats
Two German torpedo boats were sunk; the British suffered damage to both destroyers.
The Second Battle of Dover Strait was a naval battle of the First World War, fought in the Dover Strait in April 1917 and should not be confused with the major Battle of Dover Strait in 1916. Two Royal Navy destroyers defeated a superior force of German Kaiserliche Marine torpedo boats[1] (Two German torpedo boats were sunk; the British suffered damage to both destroyers.)

1944 - Paul Hamilton – was a Liberty ship serving as a troopship.
On the evening of 20 April 1944 German bombers attacked her off Cape Bengut near Algiers.
One aerial torpedo struck her and detonated her cargo of high explosives and bombs; the ship and all aboard disappeared within 30 seconds.
The crew and passengers, who included 154 officers and men of the 831st Bombardment Squadron, were all lost. Of the 580 men aboard only one body was recovered.
The SS Paul Hamilton (Hull Number 227) was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Paul Hamilton, the third United States Secretary of the Navy.

On her fifth voyage the SS Paul Hamilton left Hampton Roads, Virginia on 2 April 1944 as part of convoy UGS 38, carrying supplies and the ground personnel of the 485th Bombardment Group of the United States Army Air Forces to Italy. On the evening of 20 April it was attacked 30 miles (48 km) off the coast of Cape Bengut near Algiers in the Mediterranean Sea by 23 German Ju 88 bombers of III./Kampfgeschwader 26, I. and III./Kampfgeschwader 77. One aerial torpedo struck the Paul Hamilton and detonated the cargo of high explosives and bombs, and the ship and crew disappeared within 30 seconds. The crew and passengers, who included 154 officers and men of the 831st Bombardment Squadron and 317 officers and men of the 32nd Photo Reconnaissance Squadron, were all lost. Of the 580 men aboard only one body was recovered.

The explosion of SS Paul Hamilton on 20 April 1944

1944 - Dutch steam trawler Voorbode, loaded with 124,000 kg of explosives, exploded at the quay in the center of Bergen. 160 people were killed and 5,000 wounded, mostly civilians
The Dutch steam trawler Voorbode was a fishing vessel, until it was confiscated by the Germans during World War II and used for military transport. In April 1944, it was on its way from Oslo to Kirkenes when it faced mechanical problems, forcing it to seek repair in Bergen, Norway. Due to lack of control, the ship was allowed entrance to Bergen harbour loaded with 124,000 kg (273,000 lb) of explosives, even though the ship did not satisfy security regulations and should not have been allowed into major cities with this cargo.

Resulting damage
On April 20 at 8:39, the ship exploded at the quay in the center of Bergen. The force of the explosion caused a water column that was hundreds of metres high, spreading heavy debris. Several ships were thrown on land and Voorbode's anchor was later found on the 417-metre-high (1,368 ft) mountain Sandviksfjellet at 60.41756°N 5.34043°E. The air pressure from the explosion and the tsunami that followed flattened whole neighbourhoods near the harbour; then fires broke out and further destroyed the wooden houses, leaving 5,000 people homeless; 160 people were killed and 5,000 wounded, mostly civilians. The Nykirken was among the buildings which were severely damaged.