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Gunboat Classes
A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-steam era In the age of sail, a gunboat was usually a small undecked vessel carrying a single smoothbore cannon in the bow, or just two or three such cannons. A gunboat could carry one or two masts or be oar-powered only, but the single-masted version of about length was most typical. Some types of gunboats carried two cannon, or else mounted a number of swivel guns on the railings. The small gunboat had advantages: if it only carried a single cannon, the boat could manoeuvre in shallow or restricted areas – such as rivers or lakes – where larger ships could sail only with difficulty. The gun that such boats carried could be quite heavy; a 32-pounder for instance. As such boats were cheap and quick to build, naval forces favoured swarm t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Frederick Mitchell - H
William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era. It is sometimes abbreviated "Wm." Shortened familiar versions in English include Will (given name), Will or Wil, Wills, Willy, Willie, Bill (given name), Bill, Billie (given name), Billie, and Billy (name), Billy. A common Irish people, Irish form is Liam. Scottish people, Scottish diminutives include Wull, Willie or Wullie (as in Oor Wullie). Female forms include Willa, Willemina, Wilma (given name), Wilma and Wilhelmina (given name), Wilhelmina. Etymology William is related to the German language, German given name ''Wilhelm''. Both ultimately descend from Proto-Germanic ''*Wiljahelmaz'', with a direct cognate also in the Old Norse name ''Vilhjalmr'' and a West Germanic borrowing into Medieval Latin ''Wil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Valcour Island
The Battle of Valcour Island, also known as the Battle of Valcour Bay, was a naval engagement that took place on October 11, 1776, on Lake Champlain. The main action took place in Valcour Bay, a narrow strait between the Province of New York, New York mainland and Valcour Island. The battle is generally regarded as one of the first naval battles of the American Revolutionary War, and one of the first fought by the United States Navy. Most of the ships in the American fleet under the command of Benedict Arnold were captured or destroyed by a Kingdom of Great Britain, British force under the overall direction of General Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester, Guy Carleton. However, the American defense of Lake Champlain stalled British plans to reach the upper Hudson River valley. The Continental Army had retreated from Province of Quebec (1763-1791), Quebec to Fort Ticonderoga and Fort Crown Point in June 1776 after British forces were massively reinforced. They spent the summer of 17 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Svensksund
The Second Battle of Svensksund (; ) was a naval battle fought in the Gulf of Finland outside the present day city of Kotka on 9 and 10 July 1790. The Swedish Empire, Swedish naval forces dealt the Imperial Russia, Russian fleet a devastating defeat that brought an end to the Russo-Swedish War (1788–1790). The battle is the biggest Swedish naval victory and the largest naval battle ever in the Baltic Sea. It qualifies among the Largest naval battle in history, largest naval battles in history in terms of the number of vessels involved. Background Circumstances in the 1780s, including the war between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire, and the moving of a portion of the Russian Baltic Fleet to the Black Sea, prompted the Swedish king, Gustavus III of Sweden, Gustav III, to attack Russia in 1788. The war was also initiated to distract domestic attention from political problems and for Gustav III to be able to fulfill his role as a successful and powerful monarch. Gust ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russo-Swedish War (1788–1790)
The Russo-Swedish War of 1788–1790 was fought between Gustavian era, Sweden and Russian Empire, Russia from June 1788 to August 1790. The war was ended by the Treaty of Värälä on 14 August 1790 and took place concomitantly with both the Austro-Turkish War (1788–1791), Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792) and Theatre War. The war was, overall, mostly insignificant for the parties involved. King Gustav III, Gustav III of Sweden initiated the war for domestic political reasons, hoping to gain support from the opposition. Despite forming an alliance with the Ottoman Empire, Sweden failed to secure support from Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain, the Dutch Republic, and Kingdom of Prussia, Prussia. Sweden's initial plan to attack Saint Petersburg and instigate a coup to depose Empress Catherine the Great, Catherine II did not materialize. The war led to Denmark–Norway declaring war on Sweden, but peace was eventually signed on 9 July 1789 after diplomatic intervention by Gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Archipelago
An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands. An archipelago may be in an ocean, a sea, or a smaller body of water. Example archipelagos include the Aegean Islands (the origin of the term), the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, the Stockholm Archipelago, the Malay Archipelago (which includes the Indonesian and Philippine Archipelagos), the Lucayan (Bahamian) Archipelago, the Japanese archipelago, and the Hawaiian Archipelago. Etymology The word ''archipelago'' is derived from the Italian ''arcipelago'', used as a proper name for the Aegean Sea, itself perhaps a deformation of the Greek Αιγαίον Πέλαγος. Later, usage shifted to refer to the Aegean Islands (since the sea has a large number of islands). The erudite paretymology, deriving the word from Ancient Greek ἄρχι-(''arkhi-'', "chief") and πέλαγος (''pélagos'', "sea"), proposed by Buondelmonti, can still be found. Geograph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Skerry
A skerry ( ) is a small rocky island, or islet, usually too small for human habitation. It may simply be a rocky reef. A skerry can also be called a low stack (geology), sea stack. A skerry may have vegetative life such as moss and small, hardy grasses. They are often used as resting places by animals such as Pinniped, seals and seabird, birds. Etymology The term ''skerry'' is derived from the Old Norse ', which means a small rocky island in the sea (which in turn derives from the Proto-Indo-European root *''sker''-, "cut", in the sense of a rock cut off from the land). The Old Norse term ' was brought into the English language via the Scots language word spelled or . It is a cognate of the Scandinavian languages' words for ''skerry'' – Icelandic language, Icelandic, , , , , found also in , , , , and (). In Scottish Gaelic, it appears as ', e.g. Sula Sgeir, in Irish language, Irish as '','' in Welsh language, Welsh as '','' and in Manx language, Manx as ''.'' Formatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the world's largest brackish water basin. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 10°E to 30°E longitude. It is a Continental shelf#Shelf seas, shelf sea and marginal sea of the Atlantic with limited water exchange between the two, making it an inland sea. The Baltic Sea drains through the Danish straits into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, Great Belt and Little Belt. It includes the Gulf of Bothnia (divided into the Bothnian Bay and the Bothnian Sea), the Gulf of Finland, the Gulf of Riga and the Bay of Gdańsk. The "Baltic Proper" is bordered on its northern edge, at latitude 60°N, by Åland and the Gulf of Bothnia, on its northeastern edge by the Gulf of Finland, on its eastern edge by the Gulf of Riga, and in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Siege Of Gibraltar
The Great Siege of Gibraltar was an unsuccessful attempt by Enlightenment in Spain, Spain and Kingdom of France, France to capture Gibraltar from the Kingdom of Great Britain, British during the American Revolutionary War. It was the largest battle in the war by number of combatants. On 16 June 1779, Spain entered the war on the side of France and as co-belligerents of the American Revolution, revolutionary United States—the British base at Gibraltar was Spain's primary war aim. The vulnerable Gibraltar garrison under George Augustus Eliott, 1st Baron Heathfield, George Augustus Eliott was blockaded from June 1779 to February 1783, initially by the Spanish alone, led by Martín Álvarez de Sotomayor. The blockade proved to be a failure because two relief convoys entered unmolested—the first under Admiral (Royal Navy), Admiral George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney, George Rodney in 1780 and the second under Admiral George Darby in 1781—despite the presence of the Spanish ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fuerzas Sutiles
''Fuerzas sutiles'' ("subtle forces") was an 18th century term, used in the Spanish Empire and its successor states, referring to the strategic usage of small vessels in naval warfare.Martínez-Valverde, 1992 This included gunboats, xebecs and armed feluccas, originally used to defend ports before being re-purposed to offensive tactics, escorting convoys and operate in seas and rivers. The concept was popularized by captain Antonio Barceló, after which the Spanish Armada developed it extensively and with great efficacy, turning subtle forces into what has been described as "sea guerrillas". This kind of naval warfare would be known in France as ''flotilles a l’espagnole'' ("Spanish-style flotillas"). Vessels and tactics Traditional nomenclature in the Spanish Armada included four stages: ''buques de porte mayor'' ("major-sized ships" of over 34 guns, like ships of the line and frigates), ''buques de porte menor'' ("minor-sized ships" of 16 guns, like corvettes) and ''fuerza ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spanish Navy
The Spanish Navy, officially the Armada, is the Navy, maritime branch of the Spanish Armed Forces and one of the oldest active naval forces in the world. The Spanish Navy was responsible for a number of major historic achievements in navigation, the most famous being the voyages of Christopher Columbus, discovery of North America and the Magellan's circumnavigation, first global circumnavigation. For several centuries, it played a crucial logistical role in the expansion and consolidation of the Spanish Empire, and defended a vast trade network across the Atlantic Ocean between the Spanish treasure fleet, Americas and Europe, and the Manila Galleon across the Pacific Ocean between the Spanish East Indies, Philippines and the Americas. The Spanish Navy was one of the most powerful maritime forces in the world from the late 15th century to mid-18th century. In the early 19th century, with the Spanish American wars of independence, loss of most of its empire, the Spanish navy trans ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barbary Pirates
The Barbary corsairs, Barbary pirates, Ottoman corsairs, or naval mujahideen (in Muslim sources) were mainly Muslim corsairs and privateers who operated from the largely independent Barbary states. This area was known in Europe as the Barbary Coast, in reference to the Berbers. Slaves in Barbary could be of many ethnicities, and of many different religions, such as Christian, Jewish, or Muslim. Their predation extended throughout the Mediterranean, south along West Africa's Atlantic seaboard and into the North Atlantic as far north as Turkish Abductions, Iceland, but they primarily operated in the western Mediterranean. In addition to seizing merchant ships, they engaged in ''Razzia (military), razzias'', raids on European coastal towns and villages, mainly in Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal, but also in the British Isles, and Iceland. While such raids began after the Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula in the 710s, the terms "Barbary pirates" and "Barbary corsairs" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antonio Barceló
Antonio Barceló y Pont de la Terra (1 January 1717 – 30 January 1797) was a Spanish privateer and general admiral of the Spanish Navy. Of humble origins, Barceló rose to admiral on military merits alone, an unusual event at his time. He was active against Barbary piracy and slave trade in the western Mediterranean, adopting their tactics to counter them and serving himself as a pirate hunter for most of his career. He later developed extensively the usage of naval artillery and gunboats, leading to the creation of the '' fuerzas sutiles''. Biography He was the oldest of the five sons of Onofre Barceló, a small time privateer against the Muslim piracy that attacked the coasts of the western Mediterranean. Antonio started his career as a cabin boy in Onofre's xebec ''Santo Cristo de Santa Margarita'', eventually replacing Onofre as its captain, and added a job as a royal mail ship between Palma de Mallorca and Barcelona. With the Spanish Navy focused on the War of J ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
