SeaWaves Today in History January 21, 2007 ********************************************************************* January 21 1698 - Peter I leaves the Great Embassy in Holland and goes to London. He spent three months in Britain where he undertook the theoretic course in shipbuilding visited factories, the English Royal Society, the Oxford University, the Greenwich Observatory, the Mint and got acquainted with the parliamentary system 1775 - Emelyan Ivanvich Pugachev, the leader of the 1773-1775 Peasant War, Cossack from the Don who proclaimed himself Russian Emperor Peter III, died 1793 - During the French Revolution, King Louis XVI, condemned for treason, was executed on the guillotine 1861 - Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, and four other Southerners resigned from the US Senate 1881 - The light was first shown at Tillamook Lighthouse, located 19 miles south of the Columbia River entrance 1897 - Secretary of Treasury empowered to bestow life-saving medals 1918 - Submarine USS R-20 launched 1919 - Minesweeper HMC TR 17 paid off & returned to RN 1920 - British forces in Somaliland launched the Combined Forces operation that finally broke the power of the so-called Mad Mullah - Mohammed bin Abdullah Hassan. The Army provided men from the Somaliland Camel Corps, the King's African Rifles, and the 101st Grenadiers of the Indian Army; the Royal Navy contributed five ships including the seaplane carrier HMS Ark Royal; and the Royal Air Force provided a flight of DH9 bombers. The campaign opened with an air raid on the Mullah's headquarters at Medishe, where a bomb came within a few feet of killing him 1921 - Hurricane strikes Washington coast in The Great Blowdown 1924 - Russian revolutionary and murderous thug Vladimir Ilyich Lenin died at age 54 1925 - Destroyer HMS Broke commissioned 1931 - Destroyer FS Lion commissioned 1936 - Sloop HMAS Yarra commissioned 1937 - Sloop HMAS Swan commissioned 1940 - On 16 Jan, 1940, SS Andalusia departed from Bordeaux and sent out a last radio signal in the North Sea on 21 January early in the morning and went missing thereafter. It is believed that she was sunk by U-55, which did not return from her patrol 1940 - At 0936, SS Protesilaus struck a mine laid on 5 Dec, 1939 by U-28 in the Bristol Channel southwest of Swansea. The badly damaged vessel was beached in the Swansea Bay. The crew was rescued by the minesweeping trawler HMS Paramount & landed at Swansea. The Protesilaus was later refloated and towed to Greenock but declared a total loss. In September 1940, she was taken in tow by the British tug Empire Henchman and French tug Abeille 22 to Scapa Flow for use as a blockship, but on 13 September the ship sprung a leak and had to be sunk by gunfire about 5 miles northwest of the Skerryvore Lighthouse, Argyllshire 1940 - At 2130, the unescorted SS Ferryhill struck a mine laid on 20 Dec, 1939 by U-22 & sank 1.5 miles north from St Mary's Lighthouse near Blyth. The master and eight crewmembers were lost. Two crewmembers were picked up by the minesweeping trawler HMS Young Jacob & landed at North Shields 1940 - SS Tekla torpedoed & sank SS Tekla at 58.18N, 02.25W - Grid AN 1681 1940 - U-22 torpedoed & sank destroyer HMS Exmouth off Tarbett Ness in the Moray Firth with all hands 1940 - Light cruiser HMS Liverpool stops the liner Asamu Maru off Honshu & removes 21 German technicians on board. The technicians were survivors of the German liner Columbus, which had scuttled herself in the North Atlantic some weeks earlier. They were intending to return to Germany via Vladivostok. The Japanese protested vociferously - there were demonstrations outside the British embassy in Tokyo apparently organized by the War Party. The boarding had taken place within sight of Mt Fuji, which was considered to be an insult to Japan. Whilst the boarding had taken place in accordance with international law, the boarding officer had omitted to sign the ship's log (allegedly an infringement). After much diplomatic activity nine of the Germans (described by the British as "unsuitable for military service" were returned to the Japanese who, in turn, promised not to refuse passage to any individual of a belligerent country "who is embodied in the armed forces or who is suspected of being so embodied." The British object in this was to prevent the crossing of the Pacific by the approximately 1,000 crewmembers of German ships in US ports 1940 - US freighter SS Nishmaha is detained at Gibraltar by British authorities 1940 - Italian liner SS Orazio catches fire off Barcelona. 104 aboard the ship die. French destroyers rescue survivors 1940 - Britain rejects American protests concerning the examination of mail carried aboard US merchant ships 1941 - Rescue tug HMS Englishman lost due to unknown circumstances 1941 - U-763 laid down 1941 - Italian cruiser San Giorgio, damaged earlier in the month by the RAF & beached in Tobruk where she was used as a fortress mounting AA guns, was set on fire from the air 1941 - Gunboats HMS Gnat, Ladybird & monitor HMS Terror bombard Tobruk 1941 - US Navy orders 108 Brewster F2A-3 Buffalo fighters, for delivery between July and December 1941 - Corvettes HMCS Arrowhead, Spikenard & Eyebright departed Halifax with Convoy HX-104 for UK 1942 - RCN MTBs TM-22 to TM-29 cancelled after being ordered for the Netherlands. Four served in USN as PT-368 to PT-371 1942 - At 2221, motor tanker Alexandra Høegh was hit by two torpedoes from U-130, broke in two & sank at 40°54N/66°03W south of Shelburne, Nova Scotia. All hands survived and were rescued after 36 hours 1942 - At 1843, U-203 fired a spread of four torpedoes at steamer of estimated 8000 tons, heard a detonation after 6 minutes 52 seconds & thought that the ship sank. Apparently, the North Gaspe, a Canadian ship under charter by the US Army Transport Service, was damaged by the explosion of a torpedo near the ship about ten miles south of Cape Rose, but managed to reach port safely & was repaired. On board were a US Army gun crew and a communication unit 1942 - At 1922, the unescorted SS Belize was torpedoed & sunk by U-754. There were no survivors. 17 Norwegians, 5 Swedish, 1 Dane and a mess boy from British Honduras were lost. On 24 January, corvette HMCS Spikenard found a water-filled lifeboat bearing her name and four bodies 25 nautical miles east of St John's 1942 - U-754 sank SS William Hansen 45.56N, 52.47W - Grid BB 6682 1942 - Submarine USS Greenling commissioned 1942 - Minesweeper HMCS Sarnia launched 1942 - U-409 commissioned 1942 - Corvettes HMAS Deloraine, Katoomba & Lithgow sink submarine HIJMS I-124 off Darwin 1942 - Carrier-based aircraft from aircraft carriers HIJMS Akagi & Kaga again bomb Rabaul on New Britain Island while aircraft from Shokaku & Zuikaku bomb Kavieng on New Ireland Island 1942 - Night surface action at Balikpapan Bay. This was the first naval surface action by the USN during the Pacific War and the first such combat experience since the Spanish-American Civil War in 1898. In response to the sighting of a Japanese convoy in the Makassar Strait, Task Force 5, the striking force of the US Asiatic Fleet, commanded by Rear-Admiral William A. Glassford, sortied from Koepang, Timor, Netherlands East Indies. TF 5 was comprised of the Brooklyn-class light cruiser USS Boise (flagship) and the Omaha-class light cruiser USS Marblehead escorted by four destroyers. Glassford’s normal flagship, the Northampton-class heavy cruiser USS Houston, along with two other destroyers, was absent escorting a troop convoy from Darwin to Singapore. Seven other ‘four-stacker’ destroyers from Destroyer Squadron 29, the screening force for TF 5, were unavailable due to repair and refit requirements. While en route, Boise steamed across an uncharted pinnacle in Sape Strait, tearing a large hole in her hull plating and rendering her unfit for combat. After transferring Admiral Glassford to Marblehead and refueling the other ships in the force, Boise retired to Colombo, Ceylon, then to Bombay, India, and, finally, to Mare Island Navy Yard for repairs. Meanwhile, Marblehead developed turbine problems and was reduced to single-shaft operation, limiting her speed to only 15 knots. Adm. Glassford ordered the Clemson-class destroyers John D Ford, Parrott, Pope and Paul Jones to refuel from Marblehead. Afterwards, he detached them under the command of Cdr. Paul Talbot, CO of John D Ford, who he ordered to attack the Japanese invasion force. Just after midnight on 24 Jan, the four USN destroyers entered Balikpapan Bay at 27 knots. They found 12 Japanese transports and three patrol craft in use as transports at anchor, guarded by one light cruiser and seven destroyers, under the command of Vice-Admiral Nishimura. Four minesweepers and one patrol boat also supported the Japanese invasion force. The oil production and storage facilities at Balikpapan were burning briskly as the result of Dutch air attacks. The anchored ships were silhouetted against the shoreline but were also occasionally obscured by the large volumes of heavy, acrid smoke from the oil fires. An attack before midnight by the Dutch submarine K-18 resulted in the sinking of the 7,000-ton transport Tsuruga Maru and diverted the attention of the Japanese defenders seaward, just as the American destroyers were entering the bay. Taking advantage of the confusion, the four attackers made two passes through the anchored ships, which were arrayed in two lines. Each ship expended all of its twelve 21-inch torpedoes and then engaged targets with gunfire. The explosions from the American torpedo attacks were thought by the Japanese to come from another submarine attack, which gave the four USN destroyers the opportunity to escape to the south along the coast and rejoin Marblehead. For their efforts, the American attackers were able to sink four transports and one patrol craft, damaging an unknown number with gunfire. Only John D Ford was hit by return fire, a single shell that wounded four men and caused little damage. Although a tactical victory, the results of the engagement have been criticized for not inflicting more serious losses on the Japanese. Part of the problem was the low nighttime visibility in the bay due to the smoke. However, American target identification and fire discipline were poor and excessive speed was maintained during the attack phase, making hits on stationary targets at close range difficult to achieve due to high crossing rates. Seven torpedoes were fired at the minesweeper AM-15 (all missed) and three were fired at the patrol boat PC-37 (two of which hit). This was a major waste of firepower from the only American weapons with adequate killing power. The 4-inch guns mounted on the Clemson-class destroyers were too small to inflict major damage on large vessels. The absence of the American cruisers from TF-5 prevented the tactical setback inflicted on the Japanese at Balikpapan Bay from becoming an operational disaster. Another such opportunity did not present itself during the remainder of the campaign 1942 - Submarine USS S-36 damaged by grounding on Taka Bakang Reef in Makassar Strait yesterday, is scuttled by her crew 1943 - Destroyer escort USS Sloat launched 1943 - Aircraft carrier USS Yorktown launched 1943 - Destroyer USS Eggesford commissioned 1943 - Light cruiser HMS Newfoundland commissioned 1943 - U-301 sunk in the Mediterranean west of Bonifacio, in position 41.27N, 07.04E by torpedoes from submarine HMS Sahib. 45 dead & 1 survivor 1943 - U-321 laid down 1943 - U-364 launched 1943 - U-959 commissioned 1943 - WAVES hit Seattle at NAS Sand Point 1944 - Frigate HMCS New Waterford commissioned 1944 - Destroyer USS Walke commissioned 1944 - Light cruiser USS Vincennes commissioned 1944 - Minesweeper USS Caravan commissioned 1944 - Frigate HMS Narborough commissioned 1944 - U-1199 sunk in the English Channel near the Scilly Isles, in position 49.57N, 05.42W, by depth charges from destroyer HMS Icarus & corvette HMS Mignonette 1944 - Corvettes HMCS Belleville & Smiths Falls laid down Kingston ON 1944 - Destroyer escorts USS Leland E Thomas & Chester T O'Brien laid down 1945 - Minesweeping trawler HMS Computator sunk after collision with destroyer HMS Vanoc off Normandy. Vanoc was heavily damaged 1945 - U-300 sailed from Trondheim on her third & final patrol 1945 - U-1018 sailed from Horten, Norway on her first & final patrol 1945 - One man died in an accident onboard U-3507 [Maschinengefreiter Rudi Grötzschel] 1945 - U-3522, U-4703 commissioned 1945 - U-3034 launched 1945 - In the evening, SS Galatea was torpedoed & sunk by U-1051 off Bardsey Island in the St Georges Channel. The sole survivor, stoker Harald Hvidtsten was picked up by frigate HMS Tyler in the early morning hours of the next day. 17 crewmembers & three gunners died 1945 - In the morning, SS George Hawley joined the two-column convoy TBC-43 off the Isle of Wight and took station as the second ship in the starboard column. At 1538 George Hawley was hit by one torpedo from U-1199 about 3 miles off Wolf Trap Lighthouse. The torpedo struck on the starboard side amidships. The explosion destroyed the engines, flooded the engine room immediately, killed one officer and one crewman on watch below and started a small fire in the galley. The Liberty ship began to list to port as the British coastal tug TID-74 and SS Wiley A. Wakeman stood by. The remaining seven officers, 32 men and 27 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 5in, one 3in and eight 20mm guns) abandoned ship 20 minutes after the hit in all four lifeboats. They were picked up by the other two ships and landed at Cardiff. The master, the chief mate, to bos'n and another crewman reboarded the vessel at 1700. They passed a line to the tug, which did not have the power to tow the Liberty ship. Eight hours after the attack salvage tug HMS Allegiance arrived & took the ship in tow to Falmouth, arriving there on 22 January. She lay beached there until June 1946, when she was refloated, towed to Bremerhaven, Germany, loaded with obsolete chemical ammunition and scuttled at sea in October 1946 1945 - Corvette HMCS Lindsay damaged collision with destroyer HMS Brilliant SW Isle of Wight. Lindsay was effectively removed from the war by the damage suffered in the collision. She was taken to Devonport for temporary repairs from 19 Jan to 19 Feb. After being made seaworthy, she sailed for Saint John NB on 15 Mar for a refit that lasted until 22 Jun. Afterwards, Lindsay was dispatched to Sydney NS & was paid off there on 18 Jul 1946 - Destroyer HMS St Kitts commissioned 1950 - Former State Department official Alger Hiss, accused of being part of a Communist spy ring, was found guilty in New York of lying to a grand jury 1954 - Launching of USS Nautilus, first nuclear submarine, at Groton, CT 1961 - USS George Washington completes first operational voyage of fleet ballistic missile submarine staying submerged 66 days 1968 - USS Kearsarge port call Hong Kong 1968 - USS Coral Sea port call Subic Bay 1969 - USCGC Point Banks while on patrol south of Cam Rahn Bay received a call for help from a 9-man ARVN detachment trapped by two Vietcong platoons. Petty Officers Willis Goff and Larry Villareal took a 14-foot Boston whaler ashore to rescue the ARVN troops. In the face of heavy automatic weapons fire, all 9 men were evacuated in two trips. For their actions Goff and Villareal were each awarded the Silver Star for their actions. The citation stated, "The nine men would have met almost certain death or capture without the assistance of the two Coast Guardsmen." (Alex Larzelere, The Coast Guard at War - Vietnam, 1965-1975) 1977 - President Carter pardoned almost all Vietnam War draft evaders 1991 - A USN F-14 is downed by surface-to-air missile over Iraq. Pilot, LT Devon Jones and Radar Intercept Officer, LT Lawrence Slade of USS Saratoga's Fighter Squadron 103 are missing 1991 - US ships have conducted nearly 7,000 maritime interceptions operations in regional waters. No direct ground confrontation 1991 - USS Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Battle Group arrives on station in the Persian Gulf region 2000 - The 'Admirals' Medal' for 1999 was presented to Capt. David Hugh Patrick RYAN, CD, RCN (retired), by Vice-Admiral GL Garnett, Vice Chief of the Defense Staff, at the Rideau Club in Ottawa. The award recognized Capt. Ryan's work on the Seasoned Sailors series of video taped interviews with notable Canadian naval figures. Included on the list of interviews were Harry Dewolf, Desmond Piers, Jeffrey Brock. Admiral Garnett described the series as: "ingenious, unique, and [a] major contribution to the record of our Navy's history." He said, "[It] meets an urgent need, before all memories are obliterated and records forgotten. This series provides valuable material for students of history and others who feel history as an alive, flesh and blood, human business, rather than as something remote and academic. David Ryan died in Ottawa on 04 Dec 02, at the age of 79 2003 - MV Cape Rise, Cape Victory, Cape Trinity, Cape Race activated 2003 - MV Cape Vincent activated from Beaumont TX RRF 2003 - SS Cape Texas & MV Cape Decision, Cape Diamond activated from RRF 2003 - USNS Shugart activated 2004 - Aircraft carrier ex-USS Oriskany arrives Corpus Christi from NDRF Beaumont TX for preparation as artificial reef 2004 - Chilean frigate Almirante Williams (ex-HMS Sheffield) arrives at Punta Arenas for first time 2004 - USNS Fisher activated 2005 - The Department of Defense announced today that Bath Iron Works, a unit of General Dynamics, received a $562.1 million modification to its FY02-05 DDG 51 Class multi-year contract to build the final ship of the Arleigh Burke Class. As the 34th DDG 51 Class Destroyer built by Bath Iron Works, DDG 112 represents the culmination of new construction for the US Navy’s AEGIS shipbuilding program and marks the beginning of a major transition for the navy as it moves from the DDG 51 to the next generation of destroyer, the DD(X) 2005 - Supply ship HMCS Preserver completed refit Halifax NS; two months behind schedule 2005 - Few people took much notice as the angular structure emerged from the gloom of VT Shipbuilding's huge shed overlooking No 3 Basin. Even fewer probably appreciated the crucial role it will have, protecting British warships from air attack for a large part of the 21st century. The stunted pyramid is, in fact, the mast for a long-range radar. And its delivery is a major milestone on the road to completing the first of the Royal Navy's Type 45 destroyers. Their main task – when the first one enters service in 2009 – will be to safeguard the fleet from swarms of incoming missiles. The mast was accepted by prime contractor BAE Systems before being loaded onto a coastal cargo vessel and taken to Hengelo in the Netherlands. There another defense firm, Thales, will install the radar antenna and other hi-tech systems. The finished unit will then be shipped to BAE’s Scotstoun yard on the Clyde in early 2006 and welded to the first of the new destroyers, HMS Daring 2005 - Nordic American Tanker Shipping Ltd announced that the Company has agreed to acquire a double hull Suezmax tanker. The well maintained tanker was built by a first class yard in the Far East. Following this acquisition, the company will have five environmentally friendly modern Suezmax oil tankers. The acquired vessel was built in 1998 and the other four vessels in the NAT fleet in 1997. All the tankers have double hull 2005 - South Korea seized two Chinese fishing vessels after they reportedly entered South Korean waters. The fishing boats were detained at around 1450 for violating South Korea's exclusive economic zone, 49 kilometers southwest of an island in Sinan County, South Cholla Province, the official said 2005 - Singapore's Defense Ministry signed a contract with Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation of the US to acquire six new naval helicopters. Mindef says the helicopters will operate off the Navy's new frigates. The helicopters are equipped with advanced anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare sensors and weapons. Mindef says the acquisition is a significant milestone in the Navy's force development as it'll enhance the navy's capability to undertake a wide spectrum of missions and defend vital sea lines of communications more effectively. The helicopters are scheduled to be delivered between 2008 and 2010 2006 - Hornbeck Offshore Services, Inc. announced that at approximately 0500 EST, the Energy 5501, a tank barge owned by its subsidiary, Hornbeck Offshore Transportation, reported that an as yet undetermined amount of gasoline has escaped from the barge during the discharge of the product at a New Haven, CT terminal location. The source of the leak is still being investigated. The initial leak was contained within the containment boom that is typically deployed at the discharge location. Hornbeck Offshore activated its vessel response plan and the appropriate authorities representing the United States Coast Guard, the Connecticut DEQ, and the local police and fire departments are on the scene. Additionally, the Company's spill response contractor has been activated and is on site 2006 - Keppel FELS Limited delivered ENSCO 107, a KFELS B Class design jackup drilling rig to ENSCO International Inc (ENSCO) one month ahead of contractual schedule and within budget. S. Dhanabalan, Chairman of Temasek Holdings Pte Limited and Lim Chee Onn, Executive Chairman of Keppel Corporation Limited, were present to witness the christening ceremony 2006 - A 47-foot motor life boat from Coast Guard Station Rockland located the body of the missing sail boat captain, Michael Lord, around 0300 four miles south of Port Clyde, Maine. The 16-foot sailboat was found capsized not far from where Lord's body was found. Lord was wearing a life jacket. The incident is under investigation by the Maine Marine Patrol 2006 - Pilots and crew chiefs with Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 262 (Reinforced), the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit's aviation combat element, conducted deck landing qualifications aboard the USS Essex ============================================================= 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.