On the evening of May 26, 1941, eighty years ago today, a squadron of obsolete biplanes flown by volunteer pilots succeeded in crippling the Bismarck, the mightiest battleship in the German Kriegsmarine. A revised repost. The Bismarck was about to … Continue reading
Category Archives: Ships
Attempts to salvage the historic tall ship Zebu have failed. Last week, the 100′ long brigantine, built in Sweden in 1938, broke from its moorings and drifted onto the Holyhead New Harbour breakwater in Wales, where she became hard aground. … Continue reading
In January of this year, while speaking before the annual Surface Navy Association symposium, US Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday was blunt. He said, “I don’t mean to be dramatic, but I feel like if the Navy loses its … Continue reading
The salvage job to remove the car carrier Golden Ray that rolled on its side as it departed the Port of Brunswick, GA, in September 2019 while carrying about 4,200 vehicles, was originally planned to take around eight weeks and … Continue reading
Supporters in Scotland are mounting a last-ditch effort to save the Falls of Clyde from scrapping or scuttling in Hawaii. The Falls of Clyde, launched in 1878 in Port Glasgow, Scotland, is the only remaining iron-hulled four-masted full-rigged ship and … Continue reading
This has been a terrible few days for the historic tall ship Zebu. On Thursday, the 100′ long brigantine, built in Sweden in 1938, encountered unspecified difficulties and had to be towed out of shipping lanes off Wales by the … Continue reading
The Dutch shipyard Neptune Marine has begun construction of the sailing cargo vessel Canopée, which will transport Ariane 6 rockets from Europe to the launch site in Kourou in French Guyana. The ship will feature 1,500 square meter sails to … Continue reading
The Mary Rose, often described as King Henry VIII’s favorite warship, sank on July 19, 1545 during the Battle of the Solent with the loss of most of its crew of 415. When the ship was raised in 1982, the … Continue reading
A new craze is spreading across the world of wine. Call it “shipwreck wine” without the shipwreck. Off the shores of California, Croatia, Spain, Britain, France, Argentina, Italy, and China; vintners are aging wines underwater in specially constructed ocean wine … Continue reading
As if anyone needed a reminder of how vulnerable whales are to ship strikes, when HMAS Sydney pulled into Naval Base San Diego over the weekend, it brought with it a grim cargo. The carcasses of two fin whales were … Continue reading
Bloomberg is reporting that Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos is spending upwards of $500 million to have a 417 feet (127-meter) long three-masted superyacht built at Oceano in the Netherlands. Few details are available on the newbuilding, but reports are that … Continue reading
Here is a new video from The National Museum of the Royal Navy describing the 20 year-long project to secure HMS Victory in her dock at Portsmouth’s Historic Dockyard. As we posted back in August 2020, when HMS Victory went … Continue reading
We recently posted about the schooner Ernestina-Morrissey, ex Ernestina, ex Effie M. Morrissey, beginning a new chapter as a sail training vessel for the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. Here is a repost of a documentary, narrated by the polar explorer, Captain … Continue reading
We recently posted about two “heritage desks” built for the Vice President of the United States and the Secretary of the Navy from timbers and fittings from the USS Constitution and several other historic ships. The CBC recently had an … Continue reading
We recently posted “No, 15 Large Ships Do Not Pollute More Than All the Cars in the World.” It was based on a claim made by Dr. James Corbett in 2009, that only addressed sulfur pollution. Enthusiastic journalists picked up … Continue reading
The Indonesia Navy announced that it has located debris from the missing submarine KRI Nanggala 402, indicating that the submarine sank with the loss of 53 crew. API reports that military chief Hadi Tjahjanto said the presence of an oil … Continue reading
The Indonesian submarine KRI Nanggala 402, with a crew of 53, disappeared on Wednesday during exercises off the coast of Bali, sparking a frantic search to locate the stricken vessel. Australia, India, Malaysia, Singapore, and the United States have sent … Continue reading
The schooner Ernestina-Morrissey, ex Ernestina, ex Effie M. Morrissey, will soon begin a new chapter in her long and storied career as a sail training vessel for the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. The schooner was built in 1894 at the James … Continue reading
The American Bureau of Shipping completed its survey and concluded that the ultra-large container ship Ever Given, which had blocked the Suez Canal for almost a week at the end of March, was fit for onward passage. Unfortunately, the ship … Continue reading
In June 2020, an intense fire broke out in the bow of the French nuclear attack submarine Perle, while the ship was in drydock in Toulon in southern France. The submarine’s 48-megawatt nuclear reactor that had been removed when it … Continue reading