Naval/Maritime History - 24th of April - Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History (2024)

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

14th of April

some of the events you will find here,
please use the following link where you will find more details and all other events of this day .....

1655 - Action of 14 April 1655 - English under Robert Blake destroy Barbary ships at Porto Farina, northern Tunisia
The Action of 14 April 1655 took place at Porto Farina (now Ghar el-Melh) in northern Tunisia, when an English fleet under Robert Blake destroyed the vessels of several Barbary corsairs. It achieved little direct effect, although it was the first time that ships alone defeated shore fortifications.

1743 – Launch of HMS Captain, a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built according to the 1733 proposals of the 1719 Establishment at Woolwich Dockyard,
HMS Captain was a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built according to the 1733 proposals of the 1719 Establishment at Woolwich Dockyard, and launched on 14 April 1743.
In 1760, Captain was reduced to a 64-gun ship. Then in 1777 she was converted to serve as a storeship and renamed Buffalo.
Although a storeship, Buffalo shared, with Thetis, and Alarm, in the proceeds from Southampton's capture of the 12-gun French privateer Comte de Maurepas, on 3 August 1780.

The Battle of Dogger Bank, by Thomas Luny. NMM

1759 - Launch of HMS Sandwich, a 90-gun Sandwich-class second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 14 April 1759 at Chatham.

1781 – Capture of USS Confederacy, a 36-gun sailing frigate of the Continental Navy in the American Revolutionary War by the British Royal Navy
USS Confederacy was a 36-gun sailing frigate of the Continental Navy in the American Revolutionary War. The British Royal Navy captured her in April 1781, took her into service for about half-a-year as HMS Confederate, and broke her up in 1782

A Revolutionary War painting depicting the Continental Navy frigate Confederacy is displayed at the Navy Art Gallery at the Washington Navy Yard.

Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, stern board with decoration detail, sheer lines with inboard detail and figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for Confederate (captured 1781), a captured American Fifth Rate.

1782 – Recapture of HMS Ardent, a 64-gun Ardent-class third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy.
HMS Ardent was a 64-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was built by contract by Hugh Blaydes at Hull according to a design by Sir Thomas Slade, and launched on 13 August 1764 as the first ship of the Ardent-class. She had a somewhat turbulent career, being captured by the French in 1779, and then re-captured by Britain in 1782.

1793 - HMS Phaeton (38) captured French privateer General Dumourier (22) to the west of Cape Finisterre.
San-Iago, a large Spanish galleon prize, also struck to Phaeton but was taken possession of by HMS Ganges (74)
Service in the Channel
In December 1792 Phaeton was commissioned under Sir Andrew Snape Douglas. In March 1793.
Then on 14 April Phaeton sighted the French privateer Général Dumourier (or Général Du Mourier), of twenty-two 6-pounder guns and 196 men, and her Spanish prize, the St Jago, 140 leagues to the west of Cape Finisterre. Phaeton was part of Admiral John Gell's squadron and the entire squadron set off in pursuit, but it was Phaeton that made the actual capture.
St Jago had been sailing from Lima to Spain when General Dumourier captured her on 11 April. In trying to fend off General Dumourier, St Jago fought for five hours, losing 10 men killed and 37 wounded, before she struck. She also suffered extensive damage to her upper works. St Jago's cargo, which had taken two years to collect, was the richest ever trusted on board a single ship. Early estimates put the value of the cargo as some ₤1.2 and £1.3 million. The most valuable portion of the cargo was a large number of gold bars that had a thin covering of pewter and that were listed on the manifest as "fine pewter". General Dumourier had taken on board 680 cases, each containing 3000 dollars, plus several packages worth two to three thousand pounds.
The ships that conveyed St Jago to Portsmouth were St George, Egmont, Edgar, Ganges and Phaeton. The money came over London Bridge in 21 wagons, escorted by a party of light dragoons, and lodged in the Tower of London.

1809 - Troude's expedition to the Caribbean
Start of 4 day engagement in which HMS Pompee (80), HMS Neptune (98), HMS Castor (32) and HMS Recruit (18), took French D'Hautpoult (74) off Cuba
Troude's expedition to the Caribbean was a naval operation by a French force under Commodore Amable-Gilles Troude during the Napoleonic Wars. The French squadron departed from Lorient in February 1809 in an attempt to reach and resupply the island colony of Martinique in the Caribbean Sea, then under invasion from a British expeditionary force. The force arrived much too late to affect the outcome of the successful invasion and took shelter from a British squadron in the Îles des Saintes, where they were blockaded by part of the British invasion fleet, led by Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane. Two weeks after the French ships arrived, British troops invaded and captured the Saintes, constructing mortar batteries to bombard the French squadron. With his position unsustainable, Commodore Troude decided to break out.

1869 – Launch of The SS Silesia, a late 19th-century Hamburg America Line passenger and cargo ship that ran between the European ports of Hamburg, Germany and Le Havre, France to Castle Garden and later Ellis Island
The SS Silesia was a late 19th-century Hamburg America Line passenger and cargo ship that ran between the European ports of Hamburg, Germany and Le Havre, France to Castle Garden and later Ellis Island, New York transporting European immigrants, primarily Russian, Prussian, Hungarian, German, Austrian, Italian, and Danish individuals and families. Most passengers on this route were manual laborers, including stonecutters, locksmiths, farmers, millers, upholsterers, confectioners, and tailors, though physicians and other professionals also bought passage on her.

1887 – Launch of SMS Kronprinzessin Erzherzogin Stephanie, an ironclad warship built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the 1880s, the last vessel of that type to be built for Austria-Hungary.
SMS Kronprinzessin Erzherzogin Stephanie was an ironclad warship built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the 1880s, the last vessel of that type to be built for Austria-Hungary. The ship, named for Archduch*ess Stephanie, Crown Princess of Austria, was laid down in November 1884, was launched in April 1887 and completed in July 1889. She was armed with a pair of 30.5-centimeter (12.0 in) guns in open barbettes and had a top speed of 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph). Her service was limited, in large part due to the rapid pace of naval development in the 1890s, which quickly rendered her obsolescent. As a result, her career was generally limited to routine training and the occasional visit to foreign countries. In 1897, she took part in an international naval demonstration to force a compromise over Greek and Ottoman claims to the island of Crete. Kronprinzessin Erzherzogin Stephaniewas decommissioned in 1905, hulked in 1910, and converted into a barracks ship in 1914. After Austria-Hungary's defeat in World War I, the ship was transferred to Italy as a war prize and was eventually broken up for scrap in 1926.

1896 – Launch of Esmeralda, developed as a custom design by naval architect Philip Watts for the Chilean Navy

1/48th scale model of Esmeralda, on display at the Swiss Museum of Transport.

1912 - The British passenger liner RMS Titanic hits an iceberg in the North Atlantic at 23:40 (sinks morning of April 15th)
RMS Titanic – A passenger ocean liner and, at the time, the world's largest ship. On 14 April 1912, on her maiden voyage, she struck an iceberg, buckling part of her hull and causing her to sink in the early hours of 15 April.
706 of her 2,224 passengers and crew survived.
Her loss was the catalyst for major reforms in shipping safety and is arguably the most famous maritime disaster, being the subject of numerous media portrayals

Animation showing the sequence of Titanic's sinking, from 23:50 April 14 to 02:20 April 15

1930 – Launch of Shamrock V, the first British yacht to be built to the new J-Class rule.
Shamrock V was the first British yacht to be built to the new J-Class rule. She was commissioned by Sir Thomas Lipton for his fifth America's Cup challenge. Although refitted several times, Shamrock is the only J-class never to have fallen into dereliction.

SAILING YACHT BRITANNIA (K1), ASTRA (K2), SHAMROCK V (K3), CANDIDA (K8) & VELSHEDA (K7), AUGUST 1934

1944 – Bombay explosion: A massive explosion in Bombay harbor kills 800 to 1.300 people and causes economic damage valued then at 20 million pounds.
The Bombay explosion (or Bombay docks explosion) occurred on 14 April 1944, in the Victoria Dock of Bombay (now Mumbai) when the freighter SS Fort Stikine, carrying a mixed cargo of cotton bales, gold, and ammunition including around 1,400 tons of explosives, caught fire and was destroyed in two giant blasts, scattering debris, sinking surrounding ships and setting fire to the area, killing around 800 to 1,300 people. Some 80,000 people were made homeless and 71 firemen lost their lives in the aftermath.

Smoke billowing out of harbour

1945 - german submarine U-1206 lost and sunk caused by a failure in the toilet
German submarine U-1206 was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. She was laid down on 12 June 1943 at F. Schichau GmbH in Danzig and went into service on 16 March 1944 before sinking a year later, in April 1945. The boat's emblem was a white stork on a black shield with green beak and legs.
On 14 April 1945, 24 days before the end of World War II in Europe, while U-1206 was cruising at a depth of 200 feet (61 m), 8 nautical miles (15 km; 9.2 mi) off Peterhead, Scotland, misuse of the new toilet caused large amounts of water to flood the boat. According to the Commander's official report, while in the engine room helping to repair one of the diesel engines, he was informed that a malfunction involving the toilet caused a leak in the forward section. The leak flooded the submarine's batteries (located beneath the toilet) causing them to release chlorine gas, leaving him with no alternative but to surface. Once surfaced, U-1206 was discovered and bombed by British patrols, forcing Schlitt to scuttle the submarine. One man died in the attack, three men drowned in the heavy seas after abandoning the vessel and 46 were captured. Schlitt recorded the location as 57°24′N 01°37′W but the wreck would not be located until the 1970s.
During survey work for the BP Forties Field oil pipeline to Cruden Bay in the mid 1970s, the remains of U-1206 were found at 57°21′N 01°39′W in approximately 70 m (230 ft) of water. The site survey performed by RCAHMS suggests that the leak that forced U-1206 to surface may have occurred after running into a pre-existing wreck located at the same site.
A large number of sources incorrectly attribute this incident to U-120.