Naval battles of the world

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Biographical Sketch of Lord Exmouth; Atrocities of the Algerines Prompt the English to Send a Fleet, Under Lord Exmouth, Against Them; A Dutch Fleet Joins Them at Gibraltar; Str...

A universal panic now seized the Asiatics; and in spite of numbers, they broke and fled in disorder--all, that is, except the Dorians, who, led by their brave queen in person, f...

While the battle was thus progressing in the centre--without decided results--Hanno, who commanded the Carthaginian right wing, instead of engaging the left Roman column in flan...

The Turks took Constantinople in 1453, and the contests between them and the Venetians continued with even greater bitterness; and after the capture of Cyprus by the Moslems, an...

At this moment, as if by contrast, every fighting man of the Christians fell upon his knee, as did Don John himself, and prayed the Almighty to be with his own that day. Absolut...

Elizabeth of England had not only established heretical practices in her realm, but had executed Mary Stuart, and also added to her offences, in his eyes, by sending sympathy an...

That night it blew a strong breeze from the north, and the next day some of the Spanish vessels were in great danger from the Dutch shoals, but a shift of wind saved them.

The new Dutch ambassador endeavored to have this law of exclusion repealed at once; and while urging the point, hinted that his country then was fitting out a powerful fleet for...

The Danish King now refused to allow the English ships, which had been sent to the Baltic for the naval stores so necessary to the fleet, to return through the Sound or the Belt...

Blake’s opinions were known to be unfavorable to the extreme practices of the Protector, and when the Dutch heard of the revolution which had occurred in London, by means of the...

The Genoese expedition was Duquesne’s last service. He had been sixty years in actual service, a time only rivaled by Doria. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes distressed the...

This being determined, it was considered that the whole fleet could not act, in the bay, upon the enemy’s ships; but, on the contrary, that they would only impede each other. It...

In effecting all this damage and loss upon the enemy’s fleet, the loss in killed and wounded among the English must have been severe. But in those days they were not very partic...

“The three aforementioned ships thereupon made sail to the eastward, the Marlborough having been observed to have set her courses, and the Leviathan pressing forward, commenced...

Nothing could exceed the gallant conduct of this ship, as we have already noticed. The Defence, Captain Gambier, also behaved most gallantly, being terribly cut up, and totally...

The Spanish had the weather gage, and still possessed eighteen or twenty effective sail-of-the-line, but they made no attempt to renew the action. Probably some of their ships w...

Avoiding any speculations or reflections, we will simply quote from a well known writer on naval affairs, Admiral Ekins, of the British Navy, who, quoting another writer in resp...

Captain Inglis, of the Belliqueux, of 64 guns, owing either to a long absence from active service, or an inaptitude to the subject, sometimes apparent in sea officers, had negle...

At about nine o’clock a fire was observed on board the Orient. To those on board the Bellerophon it appeared to be on the second deck; while to those on board the Swiftsure it a...

“On the blowing up of L’Orient a part of the wreck fell on board of, and set fire to the jib and fore-top-mast-stay-sail of, the Alexander, but the great exertion of her officer...

The English ship seems to have been faster than her opponent, for she soon placed herself within comfortable firing distance, when she hoisted her colors, and the Bayonnaise did...

In March, 1800, provisions fell short, and much sickness appeared in the French garrison, and Décrès concluded to embark about twelve hundred men on board the Guillaume Tell, an...

The fall of the year 1801 was the season decided upon by Napoleon for putting in execution his famous plan for invading England. As this became known it was thought desirable, b...

It was now deemed advisable to withdraw the English ships from the intricate channel while the wind continued fair; and preparations to that end were making, when the Danish Adj...

On July 19th, 1805, the English fleet anchored in Gibraltar, and on the 20th Lord Nelson says, in his diary, “I went on shore for the first time since June 16th, 1803, and, from...

Early in the afternoon they were taken aback, by a breeze from the west-northwest, and at 4 P. M. wore, and again came to, on the port tack, steering north.

“Another episode in this battle of giants marked its termination. The Achille caught fire, and her crew, instead of attending to that, would not leave her guns, and she blew up,...

On the 13th of August each captain received a plan of the fortifications they were to attack, and definite instructions, and the whole fleet, amounting to twenty-three sail, wit...

The Russian ships did not reach their assigned positions until about three o’clock, when the fire was at its height. The Asia’s fire having disposed of her two opponents, that s...

By a vote of the Senate, he was required to pay the expenses of the court of inquiry, which had been very heavy, and was dismissed from the navy, and from all his other offices....

The large casemate ironclads, each with a monitor lashed alongside, then steamed up to the batteries at Humáitá. The fire of these batteries was well sustained, and true, as the...

The scene presented on board the “Huascar,” when boarded by her captors, was most terrible. Hardly a square yard of her upper works had escaped injury, including her smoke-stack...

The island Dezima is shaped like a fan, and is very small, only about six hundred by two hundred and fifty feet, and mostly of artificial construction. It was connected with the...

The Japanese torpedo flotilla consists of 41 boats more than 100 feet in length; but, as we shall have occasion to see later on, torpedoes were of not much importance in the Yal...

In the latter part of November one of the Japanese armies captured Port Arthur, with its fortifications, which were almost impregnable if well defended. The fruit of this captur...

PAGE 0. DECK OF BATTLESHIP INDIANA _Frontispiece._ 1. ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN SERAPIS AND BONHOMME RICHARD II-16 2. MEDAL AWARDED TO JOHN PAUL JONES II-43 3. THE WASP BOARDING THE FR...

The Alliance being much the fastest vessel of the American squadron, took the lead in the chase, speaking the Pallas as she passed. It has been proved that Captain Landais told...

Although this protracted and bloody contest had now ended, the victors had not done with either dangers or labors. The Richard was not only sinking, from shot-holes, but she was...

The Constitution’s crew worked splendidly. Officers and men regularly relieved each other in the exhausting labor, the officers lying down on deck for a short rest, and the men...

This squadron was commanded by Captain Robert Heriot Barclay, of the Royal Navy, a veteran officer, who had served with distinction in several engagements which had raised the f...

In this manœuvre the Detroit fouled the Queen Charlotte; and the Niagara, having shortened sail, passed slowly under the bows of the Detroit, at pistol-shot distance, and poured...

Porter had sent Downes, with some prizes, to Valparaiso, and upon his return the latter reported that Commodore James Hillyar, an English officer of experience, ability and cour...

Just then Lieutenant Downes, the Commander of the Essex Junior, thinking that the Essex would soon be taken, pulled out in his boat, and came on board to receive Porter’s orders...

The general direction of Lake Champlain is north and south, but, at a point called Cumberland Head, in coming south, the land bends north again, forming Plattsburg Bay, which is...

As the boarding officer was passing along the deck of the prize he accidentally ran against a lock-string, and thereby fired one of the Confiance’s starboard guns, which sent it...

On the 11th of March, at a little after noon, while a party from the Constitution was absent in a cutter, to bring the cartel close down to the frigate, Mr. Shubrick, who was ac...

Wonderful to relate, this entirely novel structure was finished in one hundred days from the time the plates for her keel were laid. She was launched on the 30th of January, 186...

“The Flag-Officer, having heard all the opinions expressed by the different commanders, is of the opinion that whatever is to be done will have to be done quickly, or we shall b...

At last, in despair of any more use of her as a blockade-runner, the Rebel authorities determined to convert her into an ironclad ship-of-war. She was cut down, so as to leave h...

The sagacity and far-sightedness of Mr. Welles in preventing the English Government from having any technical ground for escaping responsibility has since been triumphantly appr...

The scene on the poop of the flag-ship was now particularly interesting, as all were watching eagerly the movements of the leading monitor, Tecumseh. The Admiral stood in the po...

Page was summoned to surrender, but firmly refused, and seemed disposed to hold out stubbornly. It then became a question of time. Troops were poured in, heavy siege guns placed...

“The enemy then continued his fire, at fifteen feet range, and demanded our surrender, which I twice refused, ordering the men to save themselves, and, removing my own coat and...

For more than five hours this hand-to-hand struggle, a fight to the death, went on in those traverses. There was nothing exactly like it during the whole war. The Ironsides fire...

“Don’t be too sure, my dear Major, in your estimate of the water-sneaks, as you are pleased to term them. You may have a nearer glimpse of their rags and steel also than you cou...

The De Brock turned bottom up but a short distance from Cape Henlopen, carrying with her gold and jewels, rich bales of rare merchandise and folds of delicate, fragile lace, rep...

The crews of the Chinese fleet had gone through their morning drill and dinner was nearly ready when smoke from the Japanese ships was sighted by the lookout. The appearance of...

Persons, especially those living in the interior of our great country, are apt to think, and to say, that there is little chance of our becoming embroiled with any of the nation...

Our own Congress has nineteen times, by joint resolution, tendered thanks to the marines for their gallant behavior, and some of the greatest generals have added their tributes...

In the beginning of the hostilities the Connecticut troops had standards displaying the arms of the Colony, with the motto. The flag displayed by General Putnam had a red field...

+---------------------------------------------------- | | BATTERIES. NAME +---------------+------------------------------------ AND CLASS. | Main. | Secondary. -----------------...

+-----------------------------------+---------- | | COMPLE- | ARMOR. | MENT. +------+--------+-------+-----+-----+-----+---- | | | |Slope| Flat| | | | | Bar- | of | of |Offi-| V...

That portion of the port side of the protective deck which extends from about frame 30 to about frame 41 was blown up aft and over to port. The main deck, from about frame 30 to...

When Dewey was fourteen years old, a desire for a sea-faring life took possession of him, but his father did not take kindly to the thought of his son’s becoming a sailor; so a...