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John R. Goldsborough
John R. Goldsborough (2 July 1809 – 22 June 1877) was an American naval officer who fought in the Union Navy during the American Civil War. Goldsborough was made a cadet-midshipman in 1824 and as such saw action in the Mediterranean against pirates. In one incident, while in charge of 18 men he attacked and captured a Greek pirate ship with a 58-man crew. Promoted to lieutenant in 1837 he was involved in charting the United States East Coast and in 1847 introduced the standardized system of markings for buoys and navigational markers ashore still in use in the United States today. Goldsborough was a commodore at the outbreak of the American Civil War in April 1861, commanding the screw steamer . That year the ''Union'' captured several Confederate blockade runners and engaged and destroyed the Confederate privateer ''York''. He was promoted to captain in 1862. During the rest of the war he was successful in several commands, capturing further Confederate ships. After the war ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Privateer
A privateer is a private person or vessel which engages in commerce raiding under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or delegated authority issued commissions, also referred to as letters of marque, during wartime. The commission empowered the holder to carry on all forms of hostility permissible at sea by the usages of war. This included attacking foreign vessels and taking them as prizes and taking crews prisoner for exchange. Captured ships were subject to condemnation and sale under prize law, with the proceeds divided by percentage between the privateer's sponsors, shipowners, captains and crew. A percentage share usually went to the issuer of the commission (i.e. the sovereign). Most colonial powers, as well as other countries, engaged in privateering. Privateering allowed sovereigns to multiply their naval forces at relatively low cost by mobilizi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Piracy
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, and vessels used for piracy are called pirate ships. The earliest documented instances of piracy were in the 14th century BC, when the Sea Peoples, a group of ocean raiders, attacked the ships of the Aegean and Mediterranean civilisations. Narrow channels which funnel shipping into predictable routes have long created opportunities for piracy, as well as for privateering and commerce raiding. Historic examples of such areas include the waters of Gibraltar, the Strait of Malacca, Madagascar, the Gulf of Aden, and the English Channel, whose geographic structures facilitated pirate attacks. The term ''piracy'' generally refers to maritime piracy, although the term has been generalized to refer to acts committed on land, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greece
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the east. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of the Geography of Greece, mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, and the Sea of Crete and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin, spanning List of islands of Greece, thousands of islands and nine Geographic regions of Greece, traditional geographic regions. It has a population of over 10 million. Athens is the nation's capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city, followed by Thessaloniki and Patras. Greece is considered the cradle of Western culture, Western civilisation and the birthplace of Athenian democracy, democracy, Western philosophy, Western literature, historiography, political science, major History of science in cl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mediterranean Squadron (United States)
The Mediterranean Squadron, also known as the Mediterranean Station, was part of the United States Navy in the 19th century that operated in the Mediterranean Sea. It was formed in response to the First and Second Barbary Wars. Between 1801 and 1818, the squadron was composed of a series of rotating squadrons. Later, squadrons were sent in the 1820s to the 1860s to suppress piracy, primarily in Greece and to engage in gunboat diplomacy. In 1865 the force was renamed the European Squadron. History First Barbary War The Barbary pirates' seizure of US merchant ships began after American Revolutionary War ended in 1783. When the Dey of Algiers demanded tribute, the Americans refused and thus began a long series of conflict between the Barbary states and the United States lasting from the 1780s to 1815. The Mediterranean Squadron was created for the protection of American merchant ships sailing in Mediterranean waters. The first squadron sent was under the command of Commod ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sloop-of-war
During the 18th and 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship of the Royal Navy with a single gun deck that carried up to 18 guns. The rating system of the Royal Navy covered all vessels with 20 or more guns; thus, the term encompassed all unrated warships, including List of gun-brigs of the Royal Navy, gun-brigs and Cutter (boat), cutters. In technical terms, even the more specialised bomb vessels and fire ships were classed by the Royal Navy as sloops-of-war, and in practice these were employed in the role of a sloop-of-war when not carrying out their specialised functions. In World War I and World War II, the Royal Navy reused the term "sloop" for specialised convoy-defence vessels, including the of the First World War and the highly successful of the Second World War, with anti-aircraft and anti-submarine capabilities. They performed similar duties to the destroyer escorts of the United States Navy, and also performed similar duties to the smaller corvettes of the Royal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ship-of-the-line
A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which involved the two columns of opposing warships manoeuvering to volley fire with the cannons along their broadsides. In conflicts where opposing ships were both able to fire from their broadsides, the faction with more cannons firingand therefore more firepowertypically had an advantage. From the end of the 1840s, the introduction of steam power brought less dependence on the wind in battle and led to the construction of screw-driven wooden-hulled ships of the line; a number of purely sail-powered ships were converted to this propulsion mechanism. However, the rise of the ironclad frigate, starting in 1859, made steam-assisted ships of the line obsolete. The ironclad warship was predecessor to the 20th-century battleship, whose very designation is itself a cont ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rear Admiral (United States)
A rear admiral in four of the uniformed services of the United States is one of two distinct ranks of commissioned officers; "rear admiral (lower half)," a one-star flag officer, and "rear admiral" (sometimes referred to as "rear admiral (upper half)"), a two-star flag officer. The two ranks are only utilized by the United States Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, USPHSCC, U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, and the NOAA Corps, National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps. In contrast, in most other nations' rank-bearing services, the term "rear admiral" refers exclusively to two-star flag officer rank. Rear admiral (lower half) Rear admiral (lower half) (abbreviated as RDML) is a one-star rank, one-star flag officer, with the U.S. uniformed services pay grades, pay grade of in the United States Navy, the United States Coast Guard, the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, and the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps, National ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Midshipman
A midshipman is an officer of the lowest Military rank#Subordinate/student officer, rank in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Royal Canadian Navy, Canada (Naval Cadet), Royal Australian Navy, Australia, Bangladesh Navy, Bangladesh, Namibian Navy, Namibia, Royal New Zealand Navy, New Zealand, South African Navy, South Africa, Indian Navy, India, Pakistan Navy, Pakistan, Republic of Singapore Navy, Singapore, Sri Lanka Navy, Sri Lanka, and Kenya Navy, Kenya. In the 17th century, a midshipman was a Naval rating, rating for an experienced seaman, and the word derives from the area aboard a ship, amidships, either where he worked on the ship, or where he was Berth (sleeping), berthed. Beginning in the 18th century, a commissioned officer candidate was rated as a midshipman, and the seaman rating began to slowly die out. By the Napoleonic era (1793–1815), a midshipman was an a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
West Indies Squadron (United States)
The West Indies Squadron, or the West Indies Station, was a United States Navy squadron that operated in the West Indies in the early nineteenth century. It was formed due to the need to suppress piracy in the Caribbean Sea, the Antilles and the Gulf of Mexico region of the Atlantic Ocean. This unit later engaged in the Second Seminole War until being combined with the Home Squadron in 1842. From 1822 to 1826 the squadron was based out of Saint Thomas Island until the Pensacola Naval Yard was constructed. Formation United States Navy ships had for years operated against piracy and the slave trade in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico but it was not until 1822 that a permanent squadron was formed. American warships were assigned to anti-piracy operations in the West Indies as early as 1817 but after a September 1821 attack by pirates, in which three American merchant ships were captured, the United States Congress authorized Commodore James Biddle to dispatch a fleet to the C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Porter (naval Officer)
David Porter (February 1, 1780 – March 3, 1843) was an American naval officer and diplomat. Porter commanded a number of U.S. naval ships. He saw service in the First Barbary War, the War of 1812 and in the West Indies. On July 2, 1812, Porter hoisted the banner "Free trade and sailors' rights" as captain of .Gilje, Paul A. Free Trade and Sailors' Rights in the War of 1812', Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2013, , p. 1. The phrase resonated with many Americans. Porter was later court martialed; he resigned and then joined and became commander-in-chief of the Mexican Navy. Porter County, Indiana was named after him. Early life Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Porter served in the Quasi-War with France first as midshipman aboard , participating in the capture of '' L'Insurgente'' on February 9, 1799; then as 1st lieutenant of ; and finally in command of USS ''Amphitheatre''. During the First Barbary War (1801–07), Porter was first lieutenant of , , and and was take ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the first, largest, fastest, most heavily armed, or best known. Over the years, the term "flagship" has become a metaphor used in industries such as broadcasting, automobiles, education, technology, airlines, and retail to refer to their highest quality, best known, or most expensive products and locations. Naval use In common naval use, the term ''flagship'' is fundamentally a temporary designation; the flagship is wherever the admiral's flag is being flown. However, admirals have always needed additional facilities, including a meeting room large enough to hold all the captains of the fleet and a place for the admiral's staff to make plans and draw up orders. Historically, only larger ships could accommodate such requirements. The ter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
