Maritime History

[GordMay]

October 3

1990 ~ Reunification of East and West Germany

1986 ~ Soviet Yankee-class sub sinks 1,000 miles off NC (3 or 4 die)
A fire breaks out after an explosion in a missile tube (16 SS-N-6 missiles aboard) in the Atlantic, about 400 miles east of Bermuda. The submarine sinks three days later, with, while under tow.

1972 ~ 1st flexible substrate photovoltaic flown aboard Spaceflight 71-2

1906 ~”SOS” - ships in distress shall use the following signal: ...- - -... , repeated at brief intervals
In 1904, the Marconi company suggested the use of "CQD" for a distress signal. Although generally accepted to mean, "Come Quick Danger," that is not the case. It is a general call, "CQ," followed by "D," meaning distress. A strict interpretation would be "All stations, Distress."
At the second Berlin Radiotelegraphic Conference 1906, the subject of a danger signal was again addressed. Considerable discussion ensued and finally SOS was adopted. The thinking was that three dots, three dashes and three dots could not be misinterpreted. It was to be sent together as one string ( ...—... ).
The Marconi Yearbook of Wireless Telegraphy and Telephony , 1918 states, "This signal [SOS] was adopted simply on account of its easy radiation and its unmistakable character. There is no special signification in the letter themselves, and it is entirely incorrect to put full stops between them [the letters]." All the popular interpretations of "SOS," "Save or Ship," "Save Our Souls," or "Send Out Succour" are simply not valid.
More: http://www.telegraph-office.com/pages/arc2-2.html

[GordMay]

October 4

1970 ~ Janis Joplin (27) dies

1964 ~ Hurricane “Hilda” strikes St. Mary Parish, LA (38 die)

1957 ~ U.S.S.R. launches “Sputnik I”
The successful launch of the unmanned earth satellite “Sputnik I”, by the Soviet Union, in October 1957 shocks and frightens many Americans. As the tiny satellite orbited the earth, Americans reacted with dismay that the Soviets could have gotten so far ahead of the supposedly technologically superior United States. The “Space Race” has begun.
From “Sputnik and The Dawn of the Space Age” (NASA History):
”... The world's first artificial satellite was about the size of a basketball, weighed only 183 pounds, and took about 98 minutes to orbit the Earth on its elliptical path. That launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments. While the Sputnik launch was a single event, it marked the start of the space age and the U.S.-U.S.S.R space race ...”
Goto: http://history.nasa.gov/sputnik/

1901 ~ “Columbia” (U.S.) beats “Shamrock II” (England) in 12th America's Cup

[GordMay]

October 5

1986 ~ Eugene Hasenfus captured in Nicaragua - Iran-Contra scandal unravels

1969 ~ Cuban defector lands MiG in Miami
In an embarrassing breach of the United States' air-defense capability, a Cuban defector enters U.S. air space undetected and lands his Soviet-made MiG-17 at Homestead Air Force Base, south of Miami, Florida. The presidential aircraft Air Force One was at the base at the time, waiting to return President Richard M. Nixon to Washington. The base was subsequently put on continuous alert, and it opened a new radar tracking facility to prevent the repetition of a similar incident in the future.

1931 ~ Herndon and Pangborn ~ first nonstop transpacific flight
[size=1More: http://www.historynet.com/exploratio...s/3030551.html [/size]

1864 ~ Most of Calcutta destroyed by cyclone (approx 60,000 die)
High sea waves washed up the Hooghly river to destroy most of Calcutta and drown 60 - 70,000. On the same day, a 200-foot tsunami kills thousands in Kamaishi, Japan.

1863 ~ “David” attacks “Ironsides”
CSS ”David”, commanded by Lieutenant William T. Glassell, CSN, slipped down Charleston Harbor to attack the ironclad steamer USS “New Ironsides”. The torpedo boat approached undetected until she was within 50 yards of the blockader. Hailed by the watch on board New Ironsides, Glassell replied with a blast from a shotgun and David plunged ahead to strike. Her spar torpedo detonated under the starboard quarter of the ironclad, throwing high a column of water which rained back upon the Confederate vessel and put out her boiler fires. Her engine dead, David hung under the quarter of New Ironsides while small arms fire from the Federal ship spattered the water around the torpedo boat.
Believing that their vessel was sinking, Glassell and two others abandoned her; the pilot, Walker Cannon, who could not swim, remained on board. A short time later, Assistant Engineer J. H. Tomb swam back to the craft and climbed on board. Rebuilding the fires, Tomb succeeded in getting David's engine working again, and with Cannon at the wheel, the torpedo boat steamed up the channel to safety. Glassell and Seaman James Sullivan, David's fireman, were captured. New Ironsides, though not sunk, was seriously damaged by the explosion.

[GordMay]

October 5

1986 ~ Eugene Hasenfus captured in Nicaragua - Iran-Contra scandal unravels

1969 ~ Cuban defector lands MiG in Miami
In an embarrassing breach of the United States' air-defense capability, a Cuban defector enters U.S. air space undetected and lands his Soviet-made MiG-17 at Homestead Air Force Base, south of Miami, Florida. The presidential aircraft Air Force One was at the base at the time, waiting to return President Richard M. Nixon to Washington. The base was subsequently put on continuous alert, and it opened a new radar tracking facility to prevent the repetition of a similar incident in the future.

1931 ~ Herndon and Pangborn ~ first nonstop transpacific flight
More: http://www.historynet.com/exploratio...s/3030551.html

1864 ~ Most of Calcutta destroyed by cyclone (approx 60,000 die)
High sea waves washed up the Hooghly river to destroy most of Calcutta and drown 60 - 70,000. On the same day, a 200-foot tsunami kills thousands in Kamaishi, Japan.

1863 ~ “David” attacks “Ironsides”
CSS ”David”, commanded by Lieutenant William T. Glassell, CSN, slipped down Charleston Harbor to attack the ironclad steamer USS “New Ironsides”. The torpedo boat approached undetected until she was within 50 yards of the blockader. Hailed by the watch on board New Ironsides, Glassell replied with a blast from a shotgun and David plunged ahead to strike. Her spar torpedo detonated under the starboard quarter of the ironclad, throwing high a column of water which rained back upon the Confederate vessel and put out her boiler fires. Her engine dead, David hung under the quarter of New Ironsides while small arms fire from the Federal ship spattered the water around the torpedo boat.
Believing that their vessel was sinking, Glassell and two others abandoned her; the pilot, Walker Cannon, who could not swim, remained on board. A short time later, Assistant Engineer J. H. Tomb swam back to the craft and climbed on board. Rebuilding the fires, Tomb succeeded in getting David's engine working again, and with Cannon at the wheel, the torpedo boat steamed up the channel to safety. Glassell and Seaman James Sullivan, David's fireman, were captured. New Ironsides, though not sunk, was seriously damaged by the explosion.

[GordMay]

October 6


1973 ~ The Yom Kippur (or Ramadan) War
Egyptian and Syrian forces attack Israel, hoping to avenge their humiliating defeat in the Six-Day War of 1967. They didn’t (The war lasted for 3 weeks, ending on October 22 on the Syrian front, and on October 26 on the Egyptian front). The Syrians were driven back, with Israeli troops seizing the strategically important Golan Heights. Egyptian forces fared even worse; retreating back through the Sinai Desert, thousands of their troops were surrounded and cut off by the Israeli army. Eventually, Israeli troops withdrew from some of their positions in both the Sinai and Syrian territory, while Egypt promised to forego the use of force in its dealings with Israel. Syria grudgingly accepted the peace plan, but remained adamantly opposed to the existence of the Israeli state.

1918 ~ U.S. ship “Otranto” sinks between Scotland and Ireland (425 die)
On the morning of September 25, 1918, about 690 doughboys (infantrymen), mostly Georgians from Fort Screven, boarded the old British liner “Otranto”, which set sail with a large Allied convoy bound for England. The Otranto was a medium-sized, prewar passenger liner that, like so many others, had been pressed into military service by the British Royal Navy. As the convoy entered the Irish Sea on October 6, still a day from port, the storm became worse, with gale-force winds. A tremendous wave struck the “Kashmir”, a converted troopship within the convoy, causing it to break ranks and veer hard. It rammed at full steam into the unsuspecting Otranto and caused severe damage to the liner. With a gaping hole in her side and a loss of power, the Otranto was helpless against the strong, storm-driven current, and she began to drift toward the nearby Scottish island of Islay and its rocky coast. The Otranto began to sink slowly before a huge wave pushed the ship onto Islay's rocks. The ship broke apart and quickly sank. Approximately 425 men were killed.

1914 - Thor Heyerdahl born
Heyerdahl will be forever remembered as the Kon-Tiki man. In 1947 he skippered the tiny balsawood raft on a 6,000 kilometre journey from Peru to Polynesia. It proved, he said, that ancient cultures could have sailed to, and populated, the South Pacific. Heyerdahl died April 18, 2002.
More: http://www.thorheyerdahl.org/
And: http://www.greatdreams.com/thor.htm

[GordMay]

October 6


1973 ~ The Yom Kippur (or Ramadan) War
Egyptian and Syrian forces attack Israel, hoping to avenge their humiliating defeat in the Six-Day War of 1967. They didn’t (The war lasted for 3 weeks, ending on October 22 on the Syrian front, and on October 26 on the Egyptian front). The Syrians were driven back, with Israeli troops seizing the strategically important Golan Heights. Egyptian forces fared even worse; retreating back through the Sinai Desert, thousands of their troops were surrounded and cut off by the Israeli army. Eventually, Israeli troops withdrew from some of their positions in both the Sinai and Syrian territory, while Egypt promised to forego the use of force in its dealings with Israel. Syria grudgingly accepted the peace plan, but remained adamantly opposed to the existence of the Israeli state.

1918 ~ U.S. ship “Otranto” sinks between Scotland and Ireland (425 die)
On the morning of September 25, 1918, about 690 doughboys (infantrymen), mostly Georgians from Fort Screven, boarded the old British liner “Otranto”, which set sail with a large Allied convoy bound for England. The Otranto was a medium-sized, prewar passenger liner that, like so many others, had been pressed into military service by the British Royal Navy. As the convoy entered the Irish Sea on October 6, still a day from port, the storm became worse, with gale-force winds. A tremendous wave struck the “Kashmir”, a converted troopship within the convoy, causing it to break ranks and veer hard. It rammed at full steam into the unsuspecting Otranto and caused severe damage to the liner. With a gaping hole in her side and a loss of power, the Otranto was helpless against the strong, storm-driven current, and she began to drift toward the nearby Scottish island of Islay and its rocky coast. The Otranto began to sink slowly before a huge wave pushed the ship onto Islay's rocks. The ship broke apart and quickly sank. Approximately 425 men were killed.

1914 - Thor Heyerdahl born
Heyerdahl will be forever remembered as the Kon-Tiki man. In 1947 he skippered the tiny balsawood raft on a 6,000 kilometre journey from Peru to Polynesia. It proved, he said, that ancient cultures could have sailed to, and populated, the South Pacific. Heyerdahl died April 18, 2002.
More: http://www.thorheyerdahl.org/
And: http://www.greatdreams.com/thor.htm

[GordMay]

October 7

2001 ~ U.S.-led attack (“Operation Enduring Freedom”) on Afghanistan begins
The invasion of Afghanistan was the opening salvo in the United States’ “war on terrorism” in response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C.

1985 ~ PLO terrorists seize Italian cruise liner “Achille Lauro”
Four heavily armed terrorists representing the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF - a PLO faction) hijacked the Italian cruise ship “Achille Lauro”, with some 400, mostly elderly, passengers on board, in Egyptian waters. The hijackers demanded that Israel free 50 Palestinian prisoners, and to prove their determination, they shot and killed a disabled American tourist, 69-year-old Leon Klinghoffer, and threw his body overboard with his wheelchair. After a two-day drama, the Egyptian government, unaware that Klinghoffer had been murdered, provided the hijackers with safe passage in exchange for freeing the ship and its passengers. When an Egyptian jet tries to fly the hijackers to freedom in Tunisia, U.S. Navy F-14 fighters intercept it and force it to land in Sicily. The terrorists are taken into custody by Italian authorities, (11 of 15 charged) were tried and convicted to long prison terms.
Update: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/...172654179.html

1959 ~ “Luna 3" (USSR) sees far side of Moon

1955 ~ Aircraft carrier USS “Saratoga” launched at Brooklyn

1864 ~ CSS “Florida” captured at Bahia Harbor Brazil (USS “Wachusett”)
The C.S.S. “Florida” was seized by the U.S.S. “Wachusetts” in Bahia Harbor, Brazil, after a surprise attack, while the Confederate ship was at anchor under the protection of the Brazilian government. The Union returned the ship and crew to the Confederate government, but the Florida sunk six weeks later off Hampton Roads, Virginia.
The U.S.S. Wachusetts was under the command of Commander Napoleon Collins, whose defiance of international law and the expressed prohibitions of the Brazilian government led to his eventual court-martial and dismissal from the Union Navy. Secretary Sumner Welles, however, restored Collins to his command. Brazilian protests over this blatant violation of international law continued until 1866.
More: http://www.history.navy.mil/docs/civilwar/64-10-7a.htm

1737 ~ Cyclone in Bay of Bengal (? 300,000 die ?)
Over 300,000 were drowned and 20,000 ships smashed. Four islands were buried beneath forty-foot-high waves, which washed out thousands of coastal huts and dwellings. This typhoon was one of the most deadly in history.
Maybe not: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articl...15/ai_15770734

1571~ Ali Pasha, Turkish fleet commander, dies in battle at Lepanto
The 5-hour battle of Lepanto, pitting the Ottoman navy against the combined naval power of the Pope, Spain, and Venice, was an overwhelming defeat for the Ottomans, who lost all but 40 of their 300 galleys involved in the battle. “Lepanto” was fought at the northern edge of the Gulf of Patras, off western Greece, where the Ottoman forces sailing westwards from their naval station in Lepanto met the Holy League forces, which had come from Messina. It was the final major naval battle in major world history solely between rowing vessels (galleys).
More: http://www.traditioninaction.org/His...1_Lepanto.html

[GordMay]

October 8

2005 ~ Massive earthquake hits Kashmir region
A massive 7.6-magnitude earthquake strikes the Kashmir border region between India and Pakistan. An estimated 70,000 were killed, and 70,000 more were injured. More than 3 million were left homeless and without food and basic supplies.

1978 ~ Ken Warby ("Spirit of Australia") set world water speed record at 319.627 mph (514 kph)
Many attempts have been made to beat this 28 year old record, some with significantly more powerful engines and much larger design budgets; but none have been successful at achieving even 300 mph. Approximately fifty percent of the attempts have proven fatal for the drivers. Warby is in the process of designing another vessel, “Aussie Spirit”, with which he plans to exceed his record.
More: http://www.kenwarby.com/introduction.htm

1968 ~ Aircraft carrier “Karel Doorman” sold to Argentina (ARA “Veinticinco de Mayo”)
The ship was built in England for the Royal Navy, during the Second World War. As a Colossus class aircraft carrier, she was named HMS “Venerable” and saw service in the British Pacific Fleet. However Venerable only served 3 years in the Royal Navy before being sold to the Dutch as HNLMS “Karel Doorman”, then to Argentina as “Veinticinco de Mayo” in 1968. She was decommissioned in 1997, and finally scrapped in 2000.
More: http://www.fleetairarmarchive.net/Ships/Venerable.html

1967 ~ Ernesto (Che) Guevara, Arg/Cuban revolutionary captured in Bolivia
[size=1]Born in Argentina, Guevara believed that a man of action could revolutionize a people. He played a pivotal role in the Cuban Revolution of 1956-59. After holding several positions in Castro's government, he disappeared from Cuba in 1965. He secretly traveled to the Congo, where he trained rebels, and in 1966 resurfaced in Bolivia as leader of another guerrilla group.
Che’s final battle commences in Quebrada del Yuro. Simon Cuba (Willy) Sarabia, a Bolivian miner, leads the rebel group. Che is behind him and is shot in the leg several times. Sarabia picks up Che and tries to carry him away from the line of fire. The firing starts again and Che’s beret is knocked off. Sarabia sits Che on the ground so he can return the fire. Encircled at less than ten yards distance, the Rangers concentrate their fire on him, riddling him with bullets. Che attempts to keep firing, but cannot keep his gun up with only one arm. He is hit again on his right leg, his gun is knocked out of his hand and his right forearm is pierced. As soldiers approach Che he shouts, "Do not shoot! I am Che Guevara and worth more to you alive than dead."
The battle ends at approximately 3:30 p.m. Che is taken prisoner, and excecuted the next day at La Higuera.
Che's last words are, "I know you've come to kill me. Shoot, you are only going to kill a man."

1871 ~ Great Chicago Fire
The great fire began near the home of Patrick and Catherine O’Leary, at 137 De Koven Street (southwest Chicago), at about 9 p.m. Legend holds that the fire started when the family's cow knocked over a lantern, but it is unknown whether this is actually true. What is known is that within 90 minutes, the fire was completely out of control and rapidly moving toward the city center.
The fire goes on to kill 250 people, leave 100,000 people homeless and destroys thousands of buildings. The fire was responsible for an estimated $200 million in damages, approximately one-third of the city’s entire worth.

[GordMay]

October 9

1997 ~ Hurricane “Pauline” kills 123 in Acapulco Mexico
Making landfall, near Puerto Escondido, as a Category 2 hurricane, “Pauline” produced torrential rainfall along the Mexican coastline up to 16 inches. Intense flooding and mudslides in some of the poorest areas of Mexico killed between 230 to 400 people. The hardest hit city was Acapulco. There, rainfall peaked at 16.2 inches, causing extensive flooding and mudslides. Mud-filled streets contaminated the drinking water, while no electricity or telephones isolated the area from the outside world. The hill-side outskirts of Acapulco were particularly hard hit by flooding, where 5,000 destroyed houses left over 10,000 homeless.

1994 ~ New element #110 created at Darmstadt
A new element (no.110) was reported on November 19, 1994 from a group of German researchers at the Heavy Ion Research Center at Darmstadt, in southern Germany. By bombarding lead atoms with nickle nucleic, accelerated by an ion accelerator, a new element was formed with a lifetime of less than 1/1000th of a second. The initial discovery occurred on October 9th, and since then four more atoms of the the element have been produced. The principle investigator is Dr. Peter Armbruster who has submitted an article on Nov.14th to Zeitschrift fur Physik A. Twelve scientists share credit with Mr. Armbruster: six others at the Darmstadt center, three from Russia, two from the University of Bratislava in Slovakia and one from the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland.


1974 ~ Oskar Schindler dies
German businessman Oskar Schindler, credited with saving 1,200 Jews from the Holocaust, dies at the age of 66.

1967 ~ Ernesto "Che" Guevara executed in Bolivia

1940 ~ John Lennon born

1915 ~ Gil Anderson sets new auto speed record (102.6mph average over 50 miles)

1837 ~ Steamboat "Home" sinks off Okracoke North Carolina (100 die)
More: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news100104.htm

1799 ~ British frigate HMS “Lutine” sinks off Dutch coast (240 die)

1651 ~ English parliament proclaims Navigation Act
”For the increase of the shipping and the encouragement of the navigation of this nation, ... no goods or commodities whatsoever of the growth, production or manufacture of Asia, Africa or America, or of any part thereof; or of any islands belonging to them, or which are described or laid down in the usual maps or cards of those places, as well of the English plantations as others, shall be imported or brought into this Commonwealth of England, ...”
So begins the Navigation Act of 1651.
More: http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/...gation-act.htm
The Act: http://www.constitution.org/eng/conpur_ap.htm

1000 ~ Leif Ericson discovers "Vinland"
Nearly 500 years before Christopher Columbus' voyage, the first Europeans set foot in the New World on this day in 1001. Leif Erikson and a group of Vikings landed in present-day L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, naming it Vinland. His father, Eric (Thorvaldsson) the Red (exiled from Iceland), was earlier the first European to set foot on Greenland.

[Canibul]

Ericson "discovers" Vinland? Maybe the Vinlanders discovered Ericson...I mean, they knew where THEY were.....did he?

[GordMay]

October 10


1970 ~ October Crisis in Canada
The Quebec Liberation Front (FLQ), a militant separatist group, kidnaps Quebec labor minister Pierre Laporte in Montreal. Five days earlier, FLQ terrorists had seized British trade commissioner James Richard Cross. Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau responded by proclaiming the War Powers Act, under which the FLQ was banned, some civil liberties were suspended, and thousands of troops were sent to Montreal.
More: http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-71-101-...r_crisis/clip2

1963 ~ Atmospheric (Nuclear) Test Ban Treaty signed by U.S., UK, & U.S.S.R.

1913 ~ British passenger ship “Volturno” catches fire in Atlantic (136 die)

1892 ~ Entire Hong Kong national cricket team die in shipwreck off Taiwan

1845 ~ U.S. Naval Academy) opens at Annapolis

1780 ~ Hurricane ravages West Indies (over 20,000 die)
Known as the Great Hurricane of 1780, the deadliest Atlantic storm ever recorded killed over more than 20,000 people. Martinique and Barbados had the highest casualty rates: The best guess is that upwards of 9,000 people perished in Martinique from a huge storm surge. In Barbados, 4,000 people were killed. More than 1,000 people also died in Jamaica. Although there have been many deadly hurricanes in the years since 1780, only Hurricane Mitch in 1998, which killed about 18,000 people, has approached the Great Hurricane in terms of lives lost.
More: http://www.jamesspann.com/bmachine/p...ricane-of-1780


1375 ~ Westfriese sea wall breaks flooding northern Netherlands

[GordMay]

October 11

2002 ~ Jimmy Carter wins Nobel Prize

1982 ~ English ship “Mary Rose” (sank in 1545) raised at Portsmouth, England
The Mary Rose is the only 16th century warship on display anywhere in the world. Built between 1509 and 1511, she was one of the first ships able to fire a broadside, and was a firm favourite of King Henry VIII. After a long and successful career, she sank accidentally during an engagement with the French fleet in 1545. Her rediscovery and raising were seminal events in the history of nautical archaeology.
More: http://www.abc.se/~pa/publ/maryrose.htm

1945 ~ Chinese civil war begins (Chiang Kai-Shek vs Mao Tse-Tung)

1899 ~ South African Boers declare war on Great Britain

1811 ~ The “Juliana”, 1st steam-powered ferryboat, begins operation

1797 ~ Battle of Camperdown
British naval forces defeat Dutch allies of Napoleon off Camperdown (Kamperduin), Netherlands.

1492 ~ Columbus' ships sites land (Bahamas) on the horizon

[GordMay]

October 12

2000 - Terrorists make suicide attack on USS “Cole" (DDG-67) (17 killed)
At 12:15 p.m. local time, a motorized rubber dinghy loaded with explosives blows a 40-by-40-foot hole in the port side of the USS Cole, a U.S. Navy destroyer that was refueling at Aden, Yemen. Seventeen sailors were killed and 38 wounded in the attack, which was carried out by two suicide terrorists alleged to be members of Saudi exile Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network.

1992 ~ Microwave Observing Project (SETI) begins at Arecibo
The largest single-dish radio telescope in the world. It came into operation in 1963 and is operated by Cornell University for the National Science Foundation. Occupying a large karst sinkhole in the hills south of Arecibo in Puerto Rico, its area of almost 9 hectares is greater than that of all other such instruments in the world combined. The surface of Arecibo's 305-meter (1,000-foot) fixed, spherical dish is made from almost 40,000 perforated aluminum panels, each measuring 1 meter by 2 meters (3 feet by 6 feet), supported by a network of steel cables strung across the underlying depression. Suspended 150 meters (450 feet) above the reflector is a 900-ton platform which houses the receiving equipment. Although the telescope is not steerable, some directionality is obtained by moving the feed antenna (upgraded in 1996). The immense size and accurate configuration of the dish allows extremely faint signals to be detected.

1979 ~ Tropical cyclone “Tip” (Guam) hits record low pressure of 870 hpa

1972 ~ Race riot on aircraft carrier “Kitty Hawk”
Forty six sailors are injured in a race riot involving more than 100 sailors on the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk enroute to her station in the Gulf of Tonkin off Vietnam. The incident broke out when a black sailor was summoned for questioning regarding an altercation that took place during the crew's liberty in Subic Bay (in the Philippines). The sailor refused to make a statement and he and his friends started a brawl that resulted in sixty sailors being injured during the fighting. Eventually 26 men, all black, were charged with assault and rioting and were ordered to appear before a court-martial in San Diego.
Four days later, a group of about 12 black sailors aboard the USS Hassayampa, a fleet oiler docked at Subic Bay, told ship's officers that they would not sail with the ship when the ship put to sea. The group demanded the return of money that allegedly had been stolen from the wallet of one of the group. The ship's leadership failed to act quickly enough to defuse the situation and later that day, a group of seven white sailors were set upon by the group and beaten. It took the arrival of a Marine detachment to restore order. Six black sailors were charged with assault and rioting.

1957 ~ Canadian Prime Minister Lester Bowles Pearson wins Nobel Peace Prize

1955 ~ Hurricane “Hazel” kills 68 in Haiti

1914 - USS “Jupiter” (AC-3) is first Navy ship to complete transit of Panama Canal.
USS Jupiter, a 19,360-ton collier built at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, was commissioned in April 1913. The Navy's first surface ship propelled by electric motors, she was an engineering prototype for a propulsion system widely used in Navy capital ships built during the later "Teens" and the 1920s. Jupiter provided transportation and coal carrying services for the Pacific fleet until October 1914, when she transited the Panama Canal to begin operations in the Atlantic. During the First World War, she carried cargo to Europe and supplied coal to combat and logistics forces on both sides of the Atlantic. Jupiter decommissioned in March 1920 to began conversion to an aircraft carrier. Renamed Langley (CV-1), in April 1920, she recommissioned two years later as the first ship in the Navy's seagoing air fleet. The “Langley” was sunk by Japanese bombers south of Java in February of 1942.

[GordMay]

October 13

1893 ~ “Vigilant” (U.S.) beats “Valkyrie II” (England) in 9th America's Cup

1884 ~ Greenwich established as universal (prime) time meridian of longitude
The Greenwich Observatory in Greenwich, England was chosen as standard at the 1884 International Meridian Conference, leading to the widespread use of Greenwich Mean Time in order to set local clocks. This location was chosen because by 1884 two-thirds of all charts and maps already used it as their prime (Longitude Zero degrees).

1812 ~ Battle of Queenstown Heights (Canada defeats U.S.A.)
During the War of 1812, British and Indian forces under Sir Isaac Brock defeat Americans under General Stephen Van Rensselaer. The British victory, in which more than 1,000 U.S. troops were killed, wounded, or captured, effectively ended any further U.S. invasion of Canada. Sir Isaac Brock, Britain's most talented general in the war, was killed during the battle.

1775 ~ Continental Navy established
On October 13, 1775, Congress authorized the building of the first vessels of the Continental Navy, literally the birth of the US Navy. The first U.S. fleet consisted of seven ships: two 24-gun frigates, the “Alfred” and the “Columbus”; two 14-gun brigs, the “Andrea Doria” and the “Cabot”; and three schooners, the “Hornet”, the “Wasp”, and the “Fly”.

[GordMay]

October 14

1962 ~Cuban Missile Crisis begins with spy photos
Maj. Richard S. Heyser piloted a U-2 spy plane over Cuba, to obtain the first photos of a Soviet-made medium-range missile site. During the next two weeks, the United States and the Soviet Union would come as close to nuclear war as they ever had.
The Photos: http://www.jamesshuggins.com/h/u-2a/...ssile_base.htm
More:
http://www.fas.org/irp/imint/cuba.htm
http://library.thinkquest.org/11046/days/timeline.html

1947 ~ Chuck Yeager makes 1st supersonic flight in Bell XS-1 (Mach 1.015)

1939 ~ German “U-47" sinks British battleship HMS “Royal Oak” (833 die)
The eighth “Royal Oak” of the Royal Navy, was a Revenge-class battleship launched in 1914 and sunk (torpedoed) at anchor on October 14, 1939, in Scapa Flow. She saw service at the Battle of Jutland. but was not damaged.
Built at a cost of £2.5 million, the 27,000 ton Royal Oak had been presumed unsinkable by submarine attack within Scapa Flow; but the unsinkable became the unthinkable, as German U-boat commander Lt Gunther Prien evaded the defences, and attacked at the heart of the British Navy. After firing three torpedoes, Prien stated in his log: “After three tense minutes comes the detonation on the nearer ship. there is a loud explosion, roar and rumbling. Then come columns of water, followed by columns of fire and splinters fly through the air. The harbour springs to life . Destroyers are lit up, signalling starts on every side and on land, 200 metres from me, cars roar along the roads. A battleship has been sunk, a second damaged and the other three torpedoes have gone to blazes. All the tubes are empty.”

1906 ~ Painter Paul Cezanne dies (67)

1890 ~ U.S. Prsident Dwight D. Eisenhower born