|
Alexander Wilson (Royal Navy Officer)
Rear admiral (Royal Navy), Rear-Admiral Alexander Wilson (12 January 1760 – June 1834) was a Royal Navy officer most notable for his rise to flag rank from his position as a common seaman. Wilson joined the navy in 1777 and soon after became coxswain to Alexander Hood, 1st Viscount Bridport, Alexander Hood. By 1778 Wilson had been made a midshipman, fighting at the Battle of Ushant (1778), Battle of Ushant and Battle of Cape Henry. Wilson was promoted to lieutenant (Royal Navy), lieutenant in 1787 and, continuing to serve with Hood, fought at the Glorious First of June and Battle of Groix before being promoted to commander (Royal Navy), commander. After a brief command of HMS Kingfisher (1782), HMS ''Kingfisher'' Wilson was promoted to post-captain on 2 September 1795. He temporarily commanded HMS Flora (1780), HMS ''Flora'' in 1798, and in 1801 joined the troopship HMS Trusty (1782), HMS ''Trusty''. ''Trusty'' then participated in the Battle of Abukir (1801), Battle of Abukir. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wexford
Wexford () is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the island of Ireland. The town is linked to Dublin by the M11/N11 National Primary Route; and to Rosslare Europort, Cork and Waterford by the N25. The national rail network connects it to Dublin and Rosslare Europort. It had a population of 20,188 according to the 2016 census. History The town was founded by the Vikings in about 800 AD. They named it ''Veisafjǫrðr'', meaning "inlet of the mudflats", and the name has changed only slightly into its present form. According to a story recorded in the ''Dindsenchas'', the name "Loch Garman" comes from a man named '' Garman mac Bomma Licce'' who was chased to the river mouth and drowned as a consequence of stealing the queen's crown from Temair during the feast of Samhain. For about three hundred years it was a Viking town, a city-state, largely independ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Groix
The Battle of Groix was a large naval engagement which took place near the island of Groix off the Biscay coast of Brittany on 23 June 1795 ( 5 messidor an III) during the French Revolutionary Wars. The battle was fought between elements of the British Channel Fleet and the French Atlantic Fleet, which were cruising in the region on separate missions. The British fleet, commanded by Admiral Lord Bridport, was covering an invasion convoy carrying a French Royalist army to invade Quiberon, while the French under Vice-admiral Villaret de Joyeuse had sailed a week earlier to rescue a French convoy from attack by a British squadron. The French fleet had driven off the British squadron in a battle on 17 June known as Cornwallis's Retreat, and were attempting to return to their base at Brest when Bridport's force of 14 ships of the line appeared on 22 June. Villaret, believing that the stronger British fleet would destroy his own 12 ships of the line, ordered his force to fall back t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laid Up
A reserve fleet is a collection of naval vessels of all types that are fully equipped for service but are not currently needed; they are partially or fully decommissioned. A reserve fleet is informally said to be "in mothballs" or "mothballed"; an equivalent expression in unofficial modern US naval usage is "ghost fleet". In earlier times, especially in British usage, the ships were said to be "laid up in ordinary". Overview Such ships are held in reserve against a time when it may be necessary to call them back into service. They are usually tied up in backwater areas near naval bases or shipyards in order to speed the reactivation process. They may be modified for storage during such a period, for instance by having rust-prone areas sealed off or wrapped in plastic or, in the case of sailing warships, the masts removed. While being held in the reserve fleet, ships typically have a minimal crew (known informally as a skeleton crew) to ensure that they stay in somewhat usable co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Troopship
A troopship (also troop ship or troop transport or trooper) is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Troopships were often drafted from commercial shipping fleets, and were unable land troops directly on shore, typically loading and unloading at a seaport or onto smaller vessels, either tenders or barges. Attack transports, a variant of ocean-going troopship adapted to transporting invasion forces ashore, carry their own fleet of landing craft. Landing ships beach themselves and bring their troops directly ashore. History Ships to transport troops were used in Antiquity. Ancient Rome used the navis lusoria, a small vessel powered by rowers and sail, to move soldiers on the Rhine and Danube. The modern troopship has as long a history as passenger ships do, as most maritime nations enlisted their support in military operations (either by leasing the vessels or by impressing them into service) when their normal naval forces were deemed insufficient fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Post-captain
Post-captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of Captain (Royal Navy), captain in the Royal Navy. The term served to distinguish those who were captains by rank from: * Officers in command of a naval vessel, who were (and still are) addressed as captain regardless of rank; * Commander (Royal Navy), Commanders, who received the title of captain as a courtesy, whether they currently had a command or not (e.g. the fictional Captain Jack Aubrey in ''Aubrey-Maturin series#Master and Commander, Master and Commander'' or the fictional Captain Horatio Hornblower in ''Hornblower and the Hotspur''); this custom is now defunct. In the Royal Navy of the 18th and 19th centuries, an officer might be promoted from commander to captain, but not have a command. Until the officer obtained a command, he was "on the beach" and on half-pay. An officer "took post" or was "made post" when he was first commissioned to command a vessel. Usually this was a rating system of the Royal Navy, ra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commander (Royal Navy)
Commander (Cdr) is a senior officer rank of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom. It is immediately junior to captain and immediately senior to the rank of lieutenant commander. Officers holding the junior rank of lieutenant commander are not considered to be commanders. History The title (originally 'master and commander') originated in around 1670 to describe Royal Navy officers who commanded ships of war too large to be commanded by a lieutenant, but too small to warrant the assignment of a post-captain, or (before about 1770) a sailing-master who was in charge of a ship's navigation. These ships were usually unrated sloops-of-war of no more than 20 guns, fireships, hospital ships and store ships. The commanding officer of this type of ship was responsible for both sailing and fighting the ship and was thus its 'master and commander'. Before 1750, the rank was broadly considered as the limit of advancement for those without patronage, especially those who had been promot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lieutenant (Royal Navy)
LieutenantThe pronunciation of ''lieutenant'' is generally split between , , generally in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Commonwealth countries, and , , generally associated with the United States. See lieutenant. (abbreviated Lt, LT (U.S.), LT(USN), Lieut and LEUT, depending on nation) is a commissioned officer rank in many English-speaking nations' navies and coast guards. It is typically the most senior of junior officer ranks. In most navies, the rank's insignia may consist of two medium gold braid stripes, the uppermost stripe featuring an executive curl in many Commonwealth of Nations; or three stripes of equal or unequal width. The now immediately senior rank of lieutenant commander was formerly a senior naval lieutenant rank. Many navies also use a subordinate rank of sub-lieutenant. The appointment of "first lieutenant" in many navies is held by a senior lieutenant. This naval lieutenant ranks higher than an army lieutenants; within NATO countries the naval rank ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Midshipman
A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada (Naval Cadet), Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Kenya. In the 17th century, a midshipman was a 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 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 apprentice officer who had previously served at least three years as a volunteer, officer's servant or able seaman, and was roughly equivalent to a present-day petty officer in rank and responsibilities. After serving at least three years as a midshipman or master's mate, he was eligible to take the e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexander Hood, 1st Viscount Bridport
Admiral Alexander Hood, 1st Viscount Bridport, KB (2 December 17262 May 1814), of Cricket St Thomas, Somerset, was an officer of the British Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. Origins He was a younger son of the Rev. Samuel Hood (1691/2 – 1777), Vicar of Butleigh and prebendary of Wells Cathedral (both in Somerset) and Vicar of Thorncombe in Devon (whose monument survives in St Leonard's Church, Butleigh), by his wife Mary Hoskins, a daughter of Richard Hoskins, Esquire, of Beaminster, Dorset. His elder brother was Admiral Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood (1724–1816). The sons of his first cousin Samuel Hood (1715–1805), a purser in the Royal Navy included Admiral Sir Samuel Hood, 1st Baronet (1762–1814), Captain Alexander Hood (1758–1798) and Captain Arthur Hood (1754–1776). Career The story of his entry into the navy is recounted by Edmund Lodge (1756–1839) (a personal acquaintance of Lord Bridport) in his ''Portraits of Ill ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coxswain
The coxswain ( , or ) is the person in charge of a boat, particularly its navigation and steering. The etymology of the word gives a literal meaning of "boat servant" since it comes from ''cock'', referring to the cockboat, a type of ship's boat, and ''swain'', an Old English term derived from the Old Norse ''sveinn'' meaning boy or servant. In 1724, a "cockswain" was defined as "An officer of a ship who takes care of the cockboat, barge or shallop, with all its furniture, and is in readiness with his crew to man the boat on all occasions." When the term "cockboat" became obsolete, the title of coxswain as the person in charge of a ship's boat remained. Rowing In rowing, the coxswain sits in either the bow or the stern of the boat (depending on the type of boat) while verbally and physically controlling the boat's steering, speed, timing and fluidity. The primary duty of a coxswain is to ensure the safety of those in the boat. In a race setting, the coxswain is tasked with m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flag Rank
A flag officer is a commissioned officer in a nation's armed forces senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark the position from which the officer exercises command. The term is used differently in different countries: *In many countries, a flag officer is a senior officer of the navy, specifically those who hold any of the admiral ranks; the term may or may not include the rank of commodore. *In some countries, such as the United States, India, and Bangladesh it may apply to all armed forces, not just the navy. This means generals can also be considered flag officers. *In most Arab armies, ''liwa'' (Arabic: لواء), which can be translated as flag officer, is a specific rank, equivalent to a major general. However, "ensign" is debatably a more exact translation of the word. In principle, a flag officer commands several units called "flags" (or "ensigns") (i.e. brigades). General usage The generic title of flag officer is used in many modern navies and coast guards to d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Order Of The Crescent
The Imperial Order of the Crescent ( ota, نشانِ خلال) was a chivalric order of the Ottoman Empire. History The order was instituted in 1799 by Sultan Selim III when he wished to reward Horatio Nelson, an Anglican Christian, for his victory at the Battle of the Nile. None of the existing Ottoman orders could be awarded to non-Muslims, so Selim specially created the Order of the Crescent for Nelson, making him its first Knight and sending him the insignia in August 1799. (He also rewarded Nelson with the separate award of the chelengk.) The Order was then extended to reward further British military successes on land and sea against Napoleon's forces in Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean in 1801. Nelson was so proud of his award that he appended it to his name in the Articles of Capitulation with Denmark after the Battle of Copenhagen on 9 April 1801 (news of which appending so pleased the Sultan that he added a ribbon and gold medal to Nelson's star). However, the Bri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
_underway_c1947.jpg "Click for more on -> Laid Up")
_Arms.svg "Click for more on -> Alexander Hood, 1st Viscount Bridport")
.svg "Click for more on -> Order Of The Crescent")