Naval History
Navarino, 1827 Part II
The Naval Battle of Navarino, Ambroise Louis Garneray Unlike the Spartans, the Ottomans only had to guard the southern entrance. Almost daily reconnaissance reports meant that Codrington was aware that their fleet numbered just over a hundred ships, forty of which were non-combatant. Letellier had positioned the warships at anchor in order of battle; a horseshoe facing the entrance to…
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Raid on Medway I
Upnor Castle, which lies opposite the dockyard at Chatham, played an important part in the defence of the yard at the time of the Dutch raid. Attack on the Medway, June 1667 by Pieter Cornelisz van Soest, painted c. 1667. The captured ship the Royal Charles is right of centre.…
Raid on Medway II
De Zeven ProvinciĂ«n was a Dutch ship of the line, originally armed with 80 guns. The name of the ship was also written as De 7 ProvinciĂ«n. The literal translation is “The Seven Provinces”, the name referring to the fact that the Dutch Republic in the 17th century was a…
January 1945: U-boat British Inshore Campaign
The German army had launched its large-scale counter-attack through the Ardennes against the Anglo-American forces on 16 December, and the U-boats were ordered to redouble their efforts to coincide with the assault. There had indeed been an increase in the number of U-boats at sea and sinkings achieved, see earlier.…
Demosthenes of Athens IV
The route the Athenian fleet took to Sicily Map of the siege showing walls and counter-walls Disaster in Sicily The last and most fateful chapter in Demosthenes’ career took place on the island of Sicily, and he himself was largely to blame for it. In 415, the Athenians sent a…
The Naval Leagues of the Smyrna Campaign (1343-1352)
No naval league materialized during the pontificate of Benedict XII, but his successor, Clement VI, oversaw the formation of two naval leagues, the first in 1343, which formed the preliminary wave of the Crusade of Smyrna, and the second in 1350. The first operation was officially proclaimed as a crusade…
Corsair Operations – 17th Century
Lorenzo Castro – A Sea Fight with Barbary Corsairs Contrary to popular myth, the corsairs did not prey indiscriminately on all Christian shipping. The regencies frequently made treaties with individual European powers, by which their ships would be left alone in return for some form of tribute (sometimes financial, sometimes…