Admirals archive at Tims Times

Archive for the 'Admirals' Category

New carriers, old enemies.

Published May 20, 2008 in naval heroes, Warships, Americans, English, French, Grey Funnel, Admirals and pinch of salt required. 1 Comment

Carrier

Or you play with a toy one?

According to leaks and reports here and there, the French and British Admiralties are in discussion about the possibility of sharing an aircraft carrier, more like the impossibility, French and British crew together on the same warship? It could be propelled by Nelsons revolving coffin , his own quote“You must hate a Frenchman as you do the devil”
However it certainly is an example of thinking outside the box, even if they appear to be completely out of their boxes, a few too many glasses of sherry perhaps? You could go further and forget about this sharing business altogether and build the carriers in China, everyone else is building their ships there why not warships too? Then they can have 2 or 3 for the price of one, they could even crew them from China too, just disband( or downsize) the military apparatus in Europe and outsource it.

Another alternative would be to buy a few from the cash strapped Yanks, it wouldn’t be too far away from buying from China seeing as how much China is owed from the US, but anyway the dollar at it’s current weak state must make an offer from the Brits of the Frogs for a few ships feasible, unless someone starts shouting about Freedom Fries again.

Or a completely different tack would be to think environment (and not build any at all !) and think recycling, and get out the spy satellite pictures of the ports around Murmansk or Google Earth there are a few disused ships lying around idle waiting for better weather that could be had for a gas pipeline deal or other, I’m sure they could be persuaded to help their old friends France and Britain.

At the end of the day when 2 old enemies start talking about sharing military equipment anything can happen.

Nelsons Arm

Published November 29, 2007 in Rum, naval heroes, Admirals and History. 1 Comment

Nelson has a lane named after him in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, I suppose it could be a bit of Spanish irony giving the great man a lane when he lost his arm trying to take Santa Cruz in 1797. In the end the Spanish & French fleet felt the wrath of Nelson in the battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Although he died in the battle his legacy remains and he is one of Britain’s national heroes. There was even a Nelson’s column in Dublin until 1966 when it got damaged badly from a bomb by the IRA, Dublin Corporation then decided to demolish what was left and called in the “experts” from the army who used too much explosive and broke every window on O’Connell Street when they pushed the plunger.
Back to Nelson, he joined the Navy at age 12, and by the time of the battle of Copenhagen in 1801 he had lost an arm and an eye, he was able to use his half blindness as an excuse for not seeing a signal to stop attacking. The Danes suffered a crippling defeat, one of their national disasters.

After his death he was preserved in a cask of rum, for the voyage back to Blighty and apparently rum rations were stopped, the cask was empty of liquid when it arrived in port giving birth to the phrase Nelson’s Blood for rum and various sea shanty’s like this one….a few verses of

Nelsons Blood
Oh, a drop of Nelson’s blood wouldn’t do us any harm
Oh, a drop of Nelson’s blood wouldn’t do us any harm
Oh, a drop of Nelson’s blood wouldn’t do us any harm
And we’ll all hang on behind.
So we’ll roll the old chariot along
An’ we’ll roll the golden chariot along.
So we’ll roll the old chariot along
An’ we’ll all hang on behind!

Oh, a plate of Irish stew wouldn’t do us any harm
Oh, a plate of Irish stew wouldn’t do us any harm
Oh, a plate of Irish stew wouldn’t do us any harm
And we’ll all hang on behind.
So we’ll roll the old chariot along
An’ we’ll roll the golden chariot along.
So we’ll roll the old chariot along
An’ we’ll all hang on behind!

Note that the second verse talks about Irish stew, no need to guess where a lot of the crew came from, in fact Ireland sent a lot of cannon fodder to the Napoleonic Wars fighting for King George and Napoleon some even having been press ganged into the Royal Navy were subsequently captured by the French and eventually fought as soldiers in the Regiment Irlandaise. (Which later was disbanded by the Bourbons and the remainder became the beginning of the first Foreign Legion)

Nelson after losing his arm

The portrait of Nelson was done after the loss of the arm but before the loss of the eye, his own words can be found on the website http://www.admiralnelson.org/ he says about his hair going white after the shock of losing his arm.

Another interesting link describes his funeral a website called Portcities.
I imagine that Nelson had Scandinavian forefathers, his name and his birthplace in Norfolk would indicate so even though I don’t have any proof, maybe there are Nelson scholars among the readers of this blog who know more about the great man? Be my guest and leave a comment.

Johan af Puke

Published May 14, 2007 in Admirals, History, Swedish, Sweden and On the ship. 3 Comments

Johan Puke 1751-1816 (surname pronounced Pooka not rhyming with Duke ) Swedish naval hero. I was put onto this character by a colleague and former Commander in the Swedish Navy,(thanks Gus!) A perhaps lesser known figure historically even in Sweden, not to mention in the English speaking world, however his contribution to Swedish naval history is significant and his bravery, hard to find comparison to, and his meteoric rise unparalleled. His father was tried executed for his part in the conspiracy to increase the power of the then king Adolf Fredrik when the young Johan was only 5 years old. He joined his first ship at the age of 10 as a cabin boy, and at 14 he started his naval training , at 19 he served in the Dutch and then British navies, at 23 he returned to Sweden and was made Lieutenant at 26. After a period in the French navy he became Captain in 1784 at age 33.

During the Russo-Swedish War (1788-1790) Puke became Major, then Lieutenant Colonel. At the Battle of Vyborg the Swedish Navy was blockaded by the Russians and Puke led the breakout after being persuaded by King Gustaf III “Dearest Puke you are my navy’s leader, your father did not refuse to put his neck on the line for my father, save not your life and your courage for me I will never forget”, Puke replied ” Yes, Your majesty, be damned and I’ll go out, but we’ll see how it goes with the other!” He sailed his Ship of the Line Dristigheten(Bravery) at the Russian blockade and managed to get through without major loss, blasting broadsides from port and starboard on his way through the Russian line.

In 1793 he advanced to Colonel and 1794 to Rear-admiral, and 1802 Vice-admiral, 1803 Commanding Admiral in Karlskrona, 1808 Admiral and 1809 Admiral of the Fleet. In the middle of all this promotion 1797 he was given the title Af Puke, which is equivalent to Count in English.

He went on to politics and continued to rise being made General Admiral. He retired in 1815, and died the next year 1816. He was buried near his estate in Blekinge.The was coffin made from the timbers of his Ship of the Line Dristigheten.

An interesting link about the the Swedish Navy of that period can be found here http://www.multi.fi/~goranfri/navalwar.html

Michiel de Ruyter

Published May 8, 2007 in Religion, history of the netherlands, naval heroes, Admirals, History, Politics, Netherlands and On the ship. 4 Comments

The Netherlands is an interesting place and there is a lot more to it than Tulips from Amsterdam and Heineken beer. This year is the 400th anniversary of the birth of one of the great heroes of the Netherlands and one who defended it in it’s infancy. I speak of Michiel de Ruyter born in Vlissingen (or Flushing in English). in the year 1607 as Michiel Adriaenszoon.
He was the greatest Admiral in the history of the Netherlands and is spoken of in The Netherlands as Nelson is in England , he was arguably the most successful Admiral of the era. He defeated the Royal Navy spectacularly in the Second Anglo Dutch war in the Raid on the Medway, a severe loss for the English.
As a young man he was a representative for a Dutch trading company in Dublin and apparently spoke fluent Irish by all accounts.
He raised the standard for the seafarers of his time, and his tactical methods were ahead of his time, his gunners for example fired off 2 volleys at once when the enemy were still only managing one.

The writers of history for English speaking nations have of course glossed over this and many other influential historical figures, I don’t ever recall hearing about this Admiral in school, and his would surely have been interesting and alternative stories to tell, especially as he was a trader in Dublin and an Irish speaker. Perhaps the exploits of a Dutch protestant who served the house of Nassau were not so interesting for Catholic Ireland.
Michiel de Ruyter, Lieutenant-Admiral-General of the Dutch Republic of United Provinces died in battle against the French in 1676 4 years after recieving his title from the Statholder William III of Orange in 1672, William III is of course King Billy to the Unionists in the North. I wonder how many of them know that their Bill was the ruler of a Republic?

E-mail me

Be my guest and leave a comment if you like!