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Naval History articles from the archive at its-your-history.com
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Steam power not to be used,but in cases of necessity,the Admiralty,1856
 This circular from the Admiralty to all Captains, dated August 26th, 1856 is from the Navy List of December 1860. It would appear that steam power was being used unnecessarily, and coal was being wasted. "...steam power shall not be resorted to when the service on which the vessel is employed can satisfactorily be performed without it" and "all Commanding Officers are whenever steam is raised, to cause the same to be noted in the Log Book, together with their reason for so doing, stating whether it be the emergency of the occasion, the necessity of performing the service with the utmost dispatch, or other cause which, in their opinion, may justify them having recourse to steam power. The Navy list of 1860 is available as a downloadable CD-ROM, and can be found in the Navy Lists section, along with other Navy Lists spanning the period between 1805 and 1914.
Jack the Painter was executed,Portsmouth,1777
 On March 10th, 1777 John Aitkin, since known as Jack the Painter was hung on a gallows sixty four and a half feet high, being formed of the mizen-mast of the Arethusa at Portsmouth Dockyard. His body was afterwards hung in chains on Block-house Beach for all to see. John Aitkin was tried and found guilty of starting a fire at the Hemp House in Portsmouth Dockyard on the evening of December the 7th, 1776. Aitkin, by birth a Scotchman, conceived the horrid idea of destroying the whole maritime power of this country, unassisted, and apparently with little prospect of reward. Originally the fire was thought to be an accident until, on January 15th, 1777 when one of his incendiary machines was discovered. It consisted of a large piece of wood, hollowed out and filled with combustibles, was covered with tin, full of holes to admit air, with a tube and a match each end, which appeared to have been on fire, but went out. This interesting story was found in The Portsmouth Guide of 1822 downloadable CD-ROM, which can be found in the Portsmouth Guides section, along with other guides spanning 1775 to 1930.
Warrior the largest warship the world had ever seen, 1860
 HMS Warrior, the first iron-hulled, armour-plated warship, was built for the Royal Navy in response to the French ironclad warship La Gloirefirst, which was launched a year earlier. She was built in London, and was launched into the River Thames on December 29th, 1860. When she was completed in October 1861, Warrior was by far the largest, fastest, most heavily-armed and most heavily-armoured warship the world had ever seen. She was almost twice the size of La Gloire and thoroughly outclassed the French ship in speed, armour, and gunnery. The image to the right is the entry for Warrior in the Royal Navy List of 1890, she was 9,210 tons, and had 5,270 horsepower. The references to the bombardment of Copenhagen in 1801, and victory over the French and Spanish in 1805 relate to the previous HMS Warrior launched on October 18th, 1781, at Portsmouth. The ironclad Warrior of 1860 never saw battle during her years of service. The Navy list of 1890 is available as a downloadable CD-ROM, and can be found in the Navy Lists section, along with other Navy Lists dating back to 1805.
 As the world's first iron-hulled armoured warship, Warrior was recognised as one of the Royal Navy's most historically important warships, and was restored. Her restoration took place in the Coal Dock at Hartlepool, began in 1979 and took eight years. Her decks, interior compartments, engines, masts, rigging, funnels, woodwork and fittings were restored or recreated, and a new figurehead was carved using photographs of the original as a guide. Warrior is now a museum ship berthed at Portsmouth's Historic Dockyard.
The German light-cruiser Emden, capured seven British merchantmen,Bay of Bengal,1914
 On September 10th, 1914 the elusive German light-cruiser Emden, not been seen for several weeks, suddenly appeared in the Bay of Bengal. Between September the 10th and the 16th she captured seven British merchantmen, sinking six of them, and sending their crews to Calcutta in the seventh, the Kabinga. Among the vessels sunk were the Indus, Lovat, Killin, Trabbock, and Diplomat. The Emden Carries ten 4.1 inch guns, eight 5 pounders, four machine guns, and two torpedo tubes. This photograph, and many more First World War battleship photographs can be found on The Illustrated War News Volume 2 September 1914 CD-ROM, please note that the image shown is of lower resolution and quality than the image on the CD-ROM.
The Brown Navy And It's Roll In The Vietnam War
 The concept of riverine forces was not new to Southeast Asia. During the Indochina War of 1946-54, French forces created the Dinassauts, which were combat organizations designed to operate in the hostile environment of Vietnam's waterways. These employed a variety of modified landing craft in the fire support and stop and search roles. When the first South Vietnamese Naval units were established in 1955, their River Assault Groups (RAGs) took over the equipment. By 1964, the RAGs possessed over 200 craft.
Prior to 1965, operations against the VC in the Mekong Delta were the responsibility of the South Vietnamese forces. However, from December 1965 onwards they transferred to the U.S. Navy's River Patrol Force (Task Force 116). One of the earliest operations mounted by the RPF was Game Warden, which deployed river patrol boats and experimental hovercraft to prevent the VC use of the waterways. It was run parallel to Operation Market Time, which began in March 1965 by Task Force 71 (later 115), and was designed to cut off NVA seaborne infiltration. By mid-1966 it had become clear that more had to be done to challenge VC control of the delta and the coastal mangrove swamps of the Rung Sat Special Zone, southeast of Saigon.
Between August 1966 and November 1967, 17 million cubic tons of silt were dredged in order to create a base on the My Tho river for a new Mekong Delta Mobil Afloat Force (MDMAF). Along with the base, two self-propelled barracks ships (APDs) where added to the area to provide floating base facilities and accommodations for the grunts when they cam back from an operation. Each ship was usually moored no more than 30 miles from the zone of operations, and had berths for 800 men, with space for a further 600 at a tight squeeze.
American attempts to control VC infiltration in the delta, saw the largest expansions to date of riverine forces when, in June of 1967, the Mobile Riverine Force became operational. Reviving a strategy used during the American Civil War, when Union Army forces operated Navy gunboats on the Ohio, Mississippi and other inland water-ways, US Army troops were given special training, including combat operations in the Rung Sat Special Zone and at the Coronado Navel Base in San Diego, California. The MRF comprised a navel component (Task Force 117) harnessed to the 2d Brigade, 9th Infantry Division. This included the 3d and 4th Battalions, 47th Infantry; the 3rd Battalion, 60th Infantry, and the 105mm howitzers of the 3d Battalion, 39th Artillery. The task force was often combined with units drawn form the South Vietnamese Marine Corps.
The MRF were given with an array of landing craft and spawned a new type of weaponry made for taking on the VC in the Mekong. The MRF were provided with Armored Troop Carriers (ATCs) with steel slats to take the beef out of recoilless-rifle rounds; Monitors and Command Control Boats (CCBs) for co-coordinating assaults; not forgetting the trusty Swifts and River Patrol Boats (PRBs). Add helicopter pads to some of the craft, and equip each and every one with a factory of weapons ranging from the 0.5in machine gun to the 40mm cannon and 81mm mortar, and you have one heck of a Brown Navy on your hands.
The arrival of the Assault Support Patrol Boats (ASPB) added still more firepower to the MRF's inventory, and provided a razor sharp cutting edge during the ambushes, patrols, reconnaissance and escort missions. Then there was the Patrol Air Cushion Vehicle (PACV), known as the shark-mouthed raider and using the call-sign "Monster," these hovercraft could race across rice paddies and shallow swamps that were off-limits to other riverine craft. Complete with a heavy-duty battalion of 105mm howitzers based on mobile barges, the MRF worked the waters of the delta.
The operations usually followed the same pattern. The heavily armed ASPBs would take on the role of point as the column of boats cruised through the water, with minesweepers on both flanks. Next came the river assault squadron's naval commander in his CCB. A Monitor was usually the next boat in line, ready to unleash sustained firepower into the bushes on the river banks if any incoming was received. Then came a force of three ATC's carrying the battalion's first company.
The Coronado operations (I to XI) from June 1967 onwards, concentrated on Long An and Dinh Tuong Provinces in the Mekong, with special attention to the Rung Sat Special Zone. Initially, the VC attempt to stand and fight against the MRF hammer and anvil tactics, but the sheer scale of the MRF operations accounted for over 1000 VC during the last six months of 1967. By the end of 1968, the objectives of Market Time, Game Warden and MRF along the coast and in the Mekong Delta had largely been achieved. However, now there was a new problem. Thwarted in the delta, the VC began to exploit a new infiltration route - across the Cambodian border. To counter this, Market Time, Game Warden and MRF units were welded into a combined force under the codename "Sealords."
Mobile Riverine Force Boat Specs:
RIVER PATROL BOAT:
Speed: 25 knots
Length: 9.5 meters
Armament:
2 x 0.3in machine gun
2 x 0.5in machine gun
PATROL AIR CUSHION VEHICLE:
Speed: 60 knots
Length: 11.8 meters
Armament:
2 x 0.3in machiine gun
2 x 0.5in machine gun
1 x 40mm grenade launcher
COMMAND CONTROL BOAT:
Length: 17.5 meters
Armament:
1 x 40mm machine gun
2 x 40mm grenade launcher
1 x 81mm mortar
2 x 0.5in machine gun
ASSAULT SUPPORT PATROL BOAT:
Speed: 16knots
Length: 15.4 meters
Armament:
1 x 20mm
1 x 0.5in machine gun
1 x 81mm mortar Check out Nam War Collectables for discount prices on Military Collectibles. Article Source : http://www.articleonlinedirectory.com/Art/33526/508/the-brown-navy-and-it-s-roll-in-the-vietnam-war.html
The SS Richard Montgomery - A Ticking Time-Bomb in The Thames
The SS Richard Montgomery was an American Liberty ship, it sailed for only one year and a month after completion yet is still appearing on shipping news, radars and is kept under close scrutiny today. So what makes this cargo ship so special? The Montgomery, though built to serve and provide vital supplied, is now a danger to shipping after breaking its back and sinking in the Thames Estuary while fully laden with munitions and explosives. American Liberty ships were cargo vessels built during World War II from an adaptation of a British design. They were built to replace vessels which had been torpedoed by the German U-boats. A total of 2,751 of the ships were built between 1941 and 1945 and the SS Richard Montgomery was one of 82 built in one yard and completed in 1943. Named after General Richard Montgomery - an Irish-American soldier who was killed during the Revolutionary War and was famous for leading the invasion of Canada - the SS Montgomery's fate did not lie in the hands of the U-boat commanders that would sink so many of its sister ships.
Sailing from Hog Island, Philadelphia, the SS Richard Montgomery begun its final voyage in August 1944, it was loaded with 6,124 tons of munitions. Aboard the vessel was 13,064 general purpose 250Ib bombs filled with TNT, 9,022 cases of fragmentation bombs, 7,739 semi-armour-piercing bombs, 1,522 cases of fuses, 1,429 cases of phosphorus bombs, 1,427 cases of 100Ib demolition bombs, 817 cases of small arms ammunition and 240 mustard gas bombs. Let's not forget this was during some of the fiercest fighting of the Second World War.
Stocked full of munitions, the SS Richard Montgomery travelled from the Delaware river to the Thames Estuary where it was anchored to await other ships which would form a convoy to Cherbourg. The Allies had taken Cherbourg during the Battle of Normandy a month earlier and supplies were badly needed. Travelling in convoys ensured a safer crossing for ships as U-boats were limited in the number of attacks they could inflict thus travelling in conveys ensured that the majority of ships would survive.
When the Montgomery arrived at Southend the harbour master ordered it to a berth off the northern edge of the Sheerness middle sands where it ran aground in its shallow depth and broke its back on August 20th 1944. Three days later the operation to remove the cargo began but by the next day the hull had cracked open and several cargo holds flooded at the bow end. Desperate to remove the munitions, the salvage operation continued into September when the ship was finally abandoned, breaking into two parts.
With its masts still visible at low tides, the wreck of the SS Richard Montgomery is still a danger to shipping and sits in a perilous position in a very busy shipping lane. One major problem is that the ship sank while still laden with volatile explosives. Accordingly the site remains a prohibited area and no vehicles can move over the site, there is an exclusion zone around it and the ship is monitored visually and by radar by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
Still aboard the SS Richard Montgomery, 3,173 tons of munition remain with 1,400 tons of TNT. These have been left aboard to avoid a situation that took place following an attempt to remove the contents from a ship in the English Channel in 1946. Preliminary work to neutralize the explosive ordinance aboard the wreck of the Keilce in 1967 caused an explosion with force equivalent to an earthquake measuring 4.5 on the Richter Scale and dug a 20-foot deep crater in the seabed. In 1970 it was determined that if the wreck of the Montgomery were to explode it would throw a 1000-foot wide column of water and debris 10,000 feet in the air and generate a wave 16 feet high.
Not only could the explosion bring chaos and destruction to the nearby Sheerness, it could destroy the shipping port and, it has been suggested, cause a Tsunami along the River Thames. Which happens to run through the city of London. While the last ultrasound showed that there were no grounds for increased cause for alarm, a new survey of the munitions on board has been called for and a report in 2001 from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency concluded that "doing nothing was not an option for much longer."
With that conclusion now 7 years old and concerns growing over this time-bomb, the question now is when and why will the SS Richard Montgomery start ticking? Patrick is an expert travel researcher and writer currently researching Bristol Airport Parking and Bristol Silver Parking Article Source : http://www.articleonlinedirectory.com/Art/61841/215/the-ss-richard-montgomery-a-ticking-time-bomb-in-the-thames.html
HMS St Vincent launched,Portsmouth Dockyard,1908
 The battleship, HMS St Vincent , was built in Portsmouth, this photograph shows HMS St Vincent, a few moments after her launch, in Portsmouth Harbour, on September 10th, 1908. She was completed between September 1908 and May 1910, and was commissioned as the 2nd flagship of 1st Division Home Fleet, also at Portsmouth, on May 3rd, 1910. She saw action at the famous Battle of Jutland in June 1916. This is one many historic photographs included on the Portsmouth Dockyard 1900-1920 A Photographic History CD-ROM, please note that the image shown is of lower resolution and quality than the image on the CD-ROM.
Royal Cows board the Royal Yacht Medina,Portsmouth,1911
 This photograph shows the Royal Cows boarding the Royal Yacht Medina in Portsmouth Dockyard in 1911. The Royal Yacht Medina left Portsmouth Dockyard with King George V and Queen Mary aboard, bound for for India 0n November 11th, 1911. The Royal visit to India was to attend the Delhi Durbar, to be held in December to commemorate the coronation of King George V and Queen Mary as Emperor and Empress of India.. This is one many historic photographs included on the Portsmouth Dockyard 1900-1920 A Photographic History CD-ROM, please note that the image shown is of lower resolution and quality than the image on the CD-ROM.
The Nab Tower was sunk into position in the Solent,1920
 This photograph shows the MN Tower being sunk into position off the Nab Light Vessel on September 13, 1920, after being towed from Shoreham by paddle wheel tugs to the Nab rock. The Nab Tower was originaly called the MN Tower, designed during the First World War to protect allied shipping from German submarines. There were meant to be eight of these towers, linked together, but only one was completed by the end of the First World War in 1918. This is one many historic photographs included on the Portsmouth Dockyard 1900-1920 A Photographic History CD-ROM, please note that the image shown is of lower resolution and quality than the image on the CD-ROM.
Scott and the Discovery arrived at Portsmouth Harbour from the Antarctic,1904
 The Antarctic ship Discovery arrived at Portsmouth Harbour on September 10th, 1904. Robert Falcon Scott was promoted to the naval rank of Commander, prior to the Discovery sailing for the Antarctic on July 31st, 1901. Soon after her arrival in Portsmouth 1904 Commander Scott was promoted to Captain. This photograph shows her arriving at the jetty with her crew on deck. This is one many historic photographs included on the Portsmouth Dockyard 1900-1920 A Photographic History CD-ROM, please note that the image shown is of lower resolution and quality than the image on the CD-ROM.
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