On This Day – 7th/8th May 1942
The Battle of the Coral Sea is fought to stop the Japanese-planned capture of Port Moresby. It is a confused engagement and is the first major naval battle fought without visual contact being made between the surface forces of the opposing fleets. Continue reading “WWII – Battle of the Coral Sea”
27 June
During the Russo-Japanese War, sailors start a mutiny aboard the Russian battleship Potemkin.
31 May
The British Grand Fleet under the command of Admiral John Jellicoe, and Vice-Admiral David Beatty, engage the Imperial German Navy under the command of Vice-Admiral Reinhard Scheer and Vice-Admiral Franz von Hipper in the largest naval battle of the war, which proves indecisive.
Continue reading “1916 -World War One the Battle of Jutland”
27 April
Sultana was a Mississippi River side-wheel steamboat that exploded on this day in 1865. Continue reading “1865 – The ‘Sultana’ disaster”
18 April
Operation Praying Mantis was an attack on this day in 1988, by U.S. forces within Iranian territorial waters in retaliation for the Iranian mining of the Persian Gulf during the Iran–Iraq war and the subsequent damage to an American warship. Continue reading “1988 – Operation Praying Mantis”
April
USS Thresher (SSN-593) was the lead boat of her class of nuclear-powered attack submarines in the United States Navy. She was lost with all hands during deep-diving tests on 10 April 1963.
Continue reading “1963 – Submarine USS Thresher lost at sea”
24 March
HMS Eurydice was a 26-gun Royal Navy corvette which was the victim of one of Britain’s worst peace-time naval disasters when she sank in 1878. Continue reading “1878 – The British frigate HMS Eurydice sinks, killing more than 300”
20 March
USS Langley (CV-1/AV-3) was the United States Navy’s first aircraft carrier, converted in 1920 from the collier USS Jupiter (AC-3), and also the U.S. Navy’s first turbo-electric-powered ship. Continue reading “1922 – The USS Langley is commissioned”
2 March
The Battle of the Bismarck Sea (2–4 March 1943) took place in the South West Pacific Area (SWPA) during World War II when aircraft of the U.S. Fifth Air Force and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) attacked a Japanese convoy carrying troops to Lae, New Guinea. Most of the task force was destroyed, and Japanese troop losses were heavy. Continue reading “1943 – World War II: Battle of the Bismarck Sea”
