SeaWaves Today in History January 8, 2007 ********************************************************************* January 8 1780 - Admiral Sir George Rodney captured a heavily escorted Spanish convoy off Cape Finisterre 1806 - The body of Lord Nelson was taken by barge down the Thames from the Royal Naval Hospital Greenwich to Whitehall, before his funeral the following day at St Paul's Cathedral 1815 - US forces led by Gen. Andrew Jackson defeated the British in the Battle of New Orleans - the closing engagement of the War of 1812 1838 - The Essex Militia lands at Bois Blanc Island (off Amherstburg, Ont.), to fend off an expected invasion by the Michigan wing of the "Patriot Army of the North-West" 1847 - Battle of San Gabriel (Navy, Marines, Army defeat Mexicans in CA) 1869 - First suspension bridge over the Niagara Gorge at Niagara Falls was opened to traffic 1904 - SS Clallam founders in the Strait of Juan de Fuca 1916 - Allied forces evacuated Cape Helles at the tip of the Gallipoli peninsula, the last remaining position held in the Dardanelles 1916 - Battlecruiser HMS Repulse launched 1918 - Submarine USS R-18 launched 1919 - HMCS Laurentian (ex-King Edward) paid off 1920 - Submarine USS S-12 laid down 1920 - Destroyer USS Stansbury commissioned 1921 - Aircraft carrier USS Lexington laid down 1932 - Submarine HMS Sturgeon launched 1937 - Destroyer HMS Havock commissioned 1940 - U-754 laid down 1940 - U-575, U-576, U-577, U-578, U-579, U-580, U-581, U-582, U-583, U-584, U-585, U-586 ordered 1940 - A converted Wellington bomber fitted with an energized metal hoop to explode magnetic mines does its first successful trials over the North Sea 1941 - U-559 launched 1941 - Destroyer HMAS Nizam commissioned 1941 - Just as de Gaulle is about to give the British an ultimatum to set Muselier free - failing which all relations between Free France and Britain would be immediately severed - when he is informed that the whole affair is a deplorable mistake - the documents are fakes, the culprits had confessed - they were two men introduced into the Free French security services on British recommendation. These men, Commandant Howard and Adjutant Colin, had a personal grudge against the vice-admiral, and had contrived to compromise him by forging Vichy documents 1941 - Admiral William D. Leahy, USN (Retired) presents his credentials as US Ambassador to France at Vichy 1941 - RAF Wellingtons bomb Naples & battleship Guilio Cesare is badly damaged while moored in the harbor. The battleship Vittorio Veneto is also hit but scarcely damaged 1942 - Minesweeper HMAS Whyalla commissioned 1942 - Destroyer HMS Airedale commissioned 1942 - U-611 launched 1942 - U-604, U-660 commissioned 1942 - Submarine HIJMS I-19 launches a Yokosuka E14Y, Navy Type 0 Small Reconnaissance Seaplane (later given the Allied Code Name "Glen") to fly a reconnaissance mission over Pearl Harbor 1943 - The first man lost from a U-boat in 1943 was during a storm when one man was washed overboard while saving the I WO. Also the commander was wounded and so the boat was brought back to base with the IWO in command on 16 Jan. [Obersteuermann Walter Schliephake] 1943 - U-194 commissioned 1943 - At 2237, U-436 fired three single torpedoes on the convoy TM-1 and two of them hit the Oltenia II, which exploded and sank. The third torpedo hit the Albert L. Ellsworth, which fell behind the convoy and was abandoned by all hands. Her lifeboats picked up 20 survivors of the Oltenia II, but some of them died from their injuries. Destroyer HMS Havelock picked up the survivors. At 2043 the next day, the wreck of the Albert L. Ellsworth was shelled and sunk by U-436 in 27.57N/28.50W 1943 - U-436 sank SS Yorkwood in position 04.10S, 35.30W - Grid FC 7416 1943 - Destroyer USS Spence commissioned 1943 - Prime Minister Mackenzie King of Canada announced appointment of first Canadian Minister to the Soviet Union 1944 - U-1103 commissioned 1944 - U-400 launched 1944 - U-426 Sunk 8 Jan, 1944 west of Nantes, France, in position 46.47N, 10.42W, by depth charges from RAAF 10 Sqn Sunderland. 51 dead (all hands lost) 1944 - Destroyer escort USS Parle laid down 1944 - Destroyer escorts USS Raymond, Oliver Mitchell, McNulty & Leslie LB Knox launched 1944 - Submarine USS Spadefish launched 1944 - U-343 shot down RAF 179 Sqn aircraft 1944 - Corvettes HMCS Camrose & HMS Bayntun sank U-757 OLtzS Friedrich Deetz, CO, SW. of Iceland 50-33N 18-30W, of 49 crew there were no survivors. The escort for Liverpool Convoy OS-64 detected U-757 as she closed to attack. A series of 8 depth charge attacks were conducted by Camrose & Bayntun supported by HMCS Snowberry & Edmunston. The sound of a submarine blowing tanks was heard after the last attack but then the contact faded & was lost. Wreckage was found on the surface & the action ceased. The convoy arrived safely at Freetown 26 Jan 44 with all of its 38 merchantmen. U-575 was a type VIIC U-boat built by Kriegsmarine at Wilhelmshaven. Launched 14 Dec 41, commissioned 28 Feb 42, U-757 conducted 9 patrols & compiled a record of 3 ships sunk for a total of 11,456 tons. Friedrich Deetz was born in 1916, at Berlin. He joined the navy in 1935 & during the war first served as a watch officer in the survey ship Meteor & then as a Weapons Officer in the Fleet tender F2 & the 6th Torpedo-boat Flotilla. He transferred to the U-boat force in Mar 41 & completed his U-boat training in Aug 41. He was promoted to Kptlt. in Jun 42 & selected for command. He was attached to the 24th Flotilla in Oct 41 for instruction and sea training as the First Weapons Officer in U-205, commanded by Kptlt Franz-Georg Reschke. He was appointed to command U-757 on 28 Feb 42. His record of nine patrols relatively late in the war is quite a significant indication of considerable skill. Deetz who was lost on 08 Jan 44 was posthumously promoted to KKpt. with a seniority of 01 Jan 44 1944 - Tug HMCS Lawrenceville assigned to Esquimalt 1944 - Destroyers HMCS Iroquois, Haida & Huron arrived Loch Ewe with Convoy RA-55B 1945 - Frigate HMCS Sussexvale departed Halifax for workups Bermuda 1945 - Destroyers HMCS Sioux & Algonquin arrived Kola Inlet with Convoy JW-63 1945 - Admiral Jonas Ingram, Commander-in-Chief of the US Atlantic fleet, reported that the US Navy and Army Air Forces had prepared a plan code-named Operation Bumblebee to counter U-boat-launched rocket attacks on US coastal cities. The Bumblbee name was chosen because the people who deal with insects had written research papers indicating that wing area, weight and configuration of the bumble bee was such that they should not be capable of flying. The liquid fuelled birds were overtaken by the Tartar and Talos solid fuelled beasts 1945 - Light cruiser USS Amsterdam commissioned 1945 - Destroyer escort USS Cross commissioned 1946 - Destroyer USS Eversole launched 1953 - Destroyer HMCS Iroquois arrived Halifax from Korea via Panama Canal 1958 - The Coast Guard LORAN Station at Johnston Island began transmitting on a 24-hour basis, thus establishing a new LORAN rate in the Central Pacific. The new rate between Johnston Island and French Frigate Shoal gave a higher order of accuracy for fixing positions in the steamship lanes from Oahu, Hawaii, to Midway Island. In the past, this was impossible in some areas along this important shipping route 1968 - USS Coral Sea port call Subic Bay 1969 - USS Kitty Hawk port call Pearl Harbor 1974 - USS Hancock commenced Vietnam deployment 08 Jan 1975 - USS Coral Sea port call Subic Bay 1987 - Destroyer HMCS Annapolis completed life extension refit Saint John NB 1991 - DOD updates numbers of intercepts - 6,566; boardings - 785; diversions - 34; 147,300 Reserves/National Guard recalled: 9,939 Navy, 18,155 USMC. Navy ship strength in region - 63: 18 (Arabian Gulf), 21 (North Arabian Sea/ Gulf of Oman), 12 (Red Sea), 12 (Mediterranean). Sealift update: 245 ships in support, 218 under MSC operational control; 253 offloads completed (12 billion pounds of equipment/fuel) 1991 - Soviet-flagged DIMITRY FERMANOV remains in the Red Sea. Cargo ship will be allowed to proceed to its destination of Aqaba when the intercept force has determined the cargo is properly manifested 1994 - Destroyer HMCS Fraser departed Halifax for Haiti blockade duties 2003 - USNS Seay activated 2004 - USNS Regulus activated to transport materials to Iraq 2004 - Cruise ship Queen Mary 2 named by HM Queen Elizabeth II in Southampton ceremony 2005 - Vietnam accused China of violating international law after Chinese naval police killed several Vietnamese citizens in a fishing area in the Gulf of Tonkin. China said Chinese fishermen in its territorial waters in what it calls the Beibu Gulf came under attack from armed robbers in three ships. The fishermen called for help from China's naval police, who returned fire after shots were fired from the ships 2005 - USS John C Stennis arrives at new homeport of Bremerton WA for first time 2005 - USS San Francisco ran aground approximately 350 miles SE of Guam, injuring several sailors on board. One of the sailors is reported to have sustained a serious injury. The nuclear reactor on the submarine was not damaged in the incident 2005 - Ferry European Highlander ran aground on rocks at Cairnryan Harbor in Scotlan in winds of up to 100 miles per hour at about 0700 GMT. A spokeswoman for ferry company P&O said a tug would not be able to get to the scene until Sunday morning. There were 43 passengers and 57 crew stuck on the ship, which set sail from Larne, County Antrim, at 0415 GMT 2005 - Dutch cargo liner Schieborg suffered cargo fire 93 kilometer off the coast of Denmark. The Coast Guard Center in Ijmuiden dispatched helicopters to rescue the 15 crewmembers from lifeboats but were hampered by Force 12 winds. Other ships in the area also proceeded to assist as well 2005 - Passengers on the cruise ship Pacific Sky said the failed rescue of a man who jumped overboard off the Queensland coast was bungled from the start. Witnesses reported seeing the 24-year-old Victorian jump from the vessel about 0210 (AEST) about five miles NE of the Sunshine Coast city of Caloundra, en route to Brisbane. One couple, who refused to be identified, said yesterday the ship's crew had been unable to deploy the first rescue boat because it jammed, while the second boat had gone in the wrong direction 2006 - Fishermen in Selangor who were hit by the 2004 tsunami were given financial aid to repair their boats, State National Fisheries Development Board (LKIM) Director Othman Yusof said. He said there was no allocation to give them boats because the losses incurred by the fishermen in Selangor were not as serious as those in Kedah and Perlis 2006 - Australia and Canada closed their embassies in the Jordanian capital Amman until further notice, one day after the UK shut its embassy there on concern about future terrorist attacks in the country 2006 - The Iraqi Ministry of defense warned that the current terror and violence break out would ignite a civil war between the country's main sectarian groups. It expressed in a statement sorrow for the terror operations, which claimed over 200 Iraqi lives within the last few days and led these groups to trade accusations. The ministry affirmed it would not stand with hands tied and would take decisive measures to avert any potential consequences 2006 - A cargo ship loaded with 260 tons of sulfuric acid sank and capsized in Yangzte River. The ship capsize has so far not resulted in any deaths and contamination in any water space by the press time thanks to prompt rescue effort, according to sources with the China Maritime Rescue Center in Beijing. The ship named Susuqian No. 498 was a transporting vessel from Suqian City of east China's Jiangsu Province. It ran into reefs and sank with three people aboard around 0340. The China Maritime Rescue Center soon organized a rescue team for rescuing the three people on board and containing pollution. And an emergency mechanism has been launched in the locality to cope with the accident. One of the three people has been rescued and sent to hospital, and the two others remain missing. Three vessels from the local maritime affairs department are still searching for them. The sulfuric acid has not been leaked into the river so far, and the rescuing vessels have come to brace themselves for lifting the sunken ship out of the water, sources with the rescue center said 2006 - USCG suspended a search for a reported missing person near Pier One in San Francisco at 1750. The Coast Guard, San Francisco Police & Fire Departments began searching in the vicinity of Pier One near the San Francisco Ferry Terminal at approximately 1030 after receiving reports that a man had fallen into the water. Coast Guard assets involved in the search include a 47-foot motor lifeboat, three 25-foot response boats, the Coast Guard Cutter Sockeye, an HH-65 Dolphin Helicopter, and three Coast Guard Auxiliary units. Also assisting in the search efforts were several assets from the San Francisco Police and Fire Departments 2006 - A seven-year-old girl died after being stung by a suspected box jellyfish in far north Queensland. Police said the girl had been swimming off Umagico Beach, near the remote Cape York community of Bamaga, about lunchtime when she was stung by the deadly jellyfish. She came out of the water screaming and collapsed on the beach in front of her parents, who immediately called Triple-0 ============================================================= Sources: Colton Shipping Report, NOAA, MARAD, Marine Digest, Leo Pettipas, Kommersant, Samuel Loring Morison, Frank Pierce Young, Navy Times, Naval Institute Proceedings, www.uboat.net, Andrew Etherington, John Nicholas, US Naval Historical Center, Ministry of Defense, US Coast Guard, Thomas N. Carlson, Jack Arrowsmith, Allan Snowie, Ken Hansen, Andy Barber, John Weiss, Jack McKillop, Bernard de Neumann, Sympatico Today in History, Washington History Link, Lloyds List, Fairplay, New York Times, I-Newswire and other news sources in the public domain. Additions, submissions and corrections are always welcomed. ============================================================= Today in History Archives at: http://www.seawaves.com/newsletters/today_in_history_archive.htm Copyright 2007 Seawaves Publishing Inc ISSN 1710-6966 Photos courtesy of US Naval Historical Center, US Coast Guard Historical Center, Wikipedia Encyclopedia or Naval Museum of Manitoba unless otherwise noted. Images may be subject to copyright. Ask before you right-click.