Today in History

[Werner]

This topic has been "Rebooted".

Please try to confine your posts here to announcements of historical naval events.

[Deckard]

20/08/08; At day break The Great White Fleet enters Sydney Harbour and is greeted by an estimated 650,000 people waiting in excited anticipation. President Roosevelt directs the fleet to Australia after an invitation from PM Alfred Deakin to visit the previous February. Britain, not wanting a foreign power any where near one of its 'possessions' in a show of strength, is unimpressed and offers no encouragement.

Australia is, it is the first fleet of modern* warships to visit in its history and they spend a week in Sydney, a week in Melbourne and then coal in Albany (a surprisingly very deep harbour which can accommodate all 16 battleships) before steaming to Manila. Australia has no navy of its own and public opinion during and after the visit secures the foundation of the RAN two years later with its first ships arriving in 1913.

* Even though the launch of HMS Dreadnought two years earlier had made them obsolete, it didn't matter.

[kennylibben]

195 years ago on this day, 1813.

Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry defeats and captures an entire British squadron off the coast of South Bass Island in Lake Erie, during the War of 1812.




Afterwards, he penned the famous line "We have met the enemy, and they are ours." in his report to Gen. Harrison.

[Werner]

10 September, 1945. The carrier Midway is commissioned. She is in service until the mid 1990s, and is now a museum ship in San Diego. She is the longest-serving carrier in history.

[Rob]

Long-serving carrier, I would have thought Minas Gerais could beat that and ex-Hermes should do in a year or two?

Cheers,

Rob

[Sean Hert]

Yep, Minas Gerais served from 1945 till 2001- beating Midway by 9 years. Hermes didn't enter service until 1959- she's got a ways to go yet.

[Werner]

I imagine they're getting close in years, but not miles....

Both were laid up incomplete for some time after the war, and the Brazilian/Dutch ship had ongoing problems with the Admiralty boilers and whatever replaced them. This problem put the ship in dockyard hands or tied up for at least a decade.

[Dave Wooley]

Werner I think you will find that the longest continuous serving carrier was the Cammell Laird built HMS Venerable Commissioned 17th January 1945 till 1999 and served three navies.
Dave Wooley

[Werner]

Werner I think you will find that the longest continuous serving carrier was the Cammell Laird built HMS Venerable Commissioned 17th January 1945 till 1999 and served three navies.
Dave Wooley

Wow! That's a long time.

I probably should have narrowed my statement to the longest-serving USN carrier, or carrier in continuous commission. I think there will be carriers serving beyond 47 years in commission when the Nimitz class begin retiring. I think Enterprise will beat Midway sometime in the next year.

[MartinJQuinn]

Today in 1862 was the bloodiest day in American history, when the Union and Confederate armies clashed at Antietam Creek, near Sharpsburg, Maryland. The creek keeps it "nautical".

[RNfanDan]

The creek keeps it "nautical".

Oh, behave!!

[Lesforan]

It should at least be navigable to be "nautical".

[Guest]

21 october 1805 Trafalgar , the rest is history

[chuck]

Although the magnitude of English tactical victory at Trafalgar was great, its importance has been grossly overplayed in the English speaking world. Nelson's own earlier victory at Nile was far and away a greater victory in the strategic sense and in the magnitude of its impact on the course of history. Trafalgar merely put an period at the end of the historical sentence that had ran its course and was drawing to a close by itself anyway. Napoleon's main focus had already shifted from England to central Europe at the time of Trafalgar, and the Grand Armee had already decamped from the channel and marched towards Austerlitz. In a few month the battle of Austerlitz would change the course of history much more decisively than Trafalgar.

[Gerarddm]

Maybe so, but a toast to the Immortal Mem'ry nevertheless.

[Gone Asiatic]

Maybe so, but a toast to the Immortal Mem'ry nevertheless.

Indeed - a glorious end to the career of a glorious man.

[HMAS]

24 Oct
Musashi sunk.
& now a Swedish firm wants to raise her, but the Phillipines guvmint says no!
No I haven't forgotten it's not April the first. No joking

a quick link to the sinking of the Yamato, sorry I found it on another site.
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=318168

[Ultimo Tiger]

Considering all the water in her, I assume Musashi weighs over the 100,000 ton mark?

Not to mention it's a war grave for over a 1000 men.

Still if they do it and turn it into some sort of memorial, I suppose it's not too bad. Would serve as a reminder to all that war is senseless and even the mightiest can fall.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingne ... nvironment

[Lesforan]

The weight of Musashi is unaffected by the water inside her until she would reach the surface. The ship would need to somehow be sealed while still underwater, and then dewatered slowly as it breaks the surface. It would be a huge job.

This ship should not be raised. There is no compelling reason to do so. The fact that it is a war grave should dictate that it rest undisturbed, unless it poses a substantial danger.

[Ultimo Tiger]

Maybe they want to recover they dead sailors?