1.
Submarine
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A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability, the term most commonly refers to a large, crewed vessel. It is also used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely operated vehicles and robots, as well as medium-sized or smaller vessels, such as the midget submarine. The noun submarine evolved as a form of submarine boat, by naval tradition, submarines are usually referred to as boats rather than as ships. Although experimental submarines had been built before, submarine design took off during the 19th century, Submarines were first widely used during World War I, and now figure in many navies large and small. Civilian uses for submarines include marine science, salvage, exploration and facility inspection, Submarines can also be modified to perform more specialized functions such as search-and-rescue missions or undersea cable repair. Submarines are also used in tourism, and for undersea archaeology, most large submarines consist of a cylindrical body with hemispherical ends and a vertical structure, usually located amidships, which houses communications and sensing devices as well as periscopes. In modern submarines, this structure is the sail in American usage, a conning tower was a feature of earlier designs, a separate pressure hull above the main body of the boat that allowed the use of shorter periscopes. There is a propeller at the rear, and various hydrodynamic control fins, smaller, deep-diving and specialty submarines may deviate significantly from this traditional layout. Submarines use diving planes and also change the amount of water, Submarines have one of the widest ranges of types and capabilities of any vessel. Submarines can work at greater depths than are survivable or practical for human divers, modern deep-diving submarines derive from the bathyscaphe, which in turn evolved from the diving bell. In 1578, the English mathematician William Bourne recorded in his book Inventions or Devises one of the first plans for an underwater navigation vehicle and its unclear whether he ever carried out his idea. The first submersible of whose construction there exists reliable information was designed and built in 1620 by Cornelis Drebbel and it was propelled by means of oars. By the mid-18th century, over a dozen patents for submarines/submersible boats had been granted in England, in 1747, Nathaniel Symons patented and built the first known working example of the use of a ballast tank for submersion. His design used leather bags that could fill with water to submerge the craft, a mechanism was used to twist the water out of the bags and cause the boat to resurface. In 1749, the Gentlemens Magazine reported that a design had initially been proposed by Giovanni Borelli in 1680. By this point of development, further improvement in design stagnated for over a century, until new industrial technologies for propulsion. The first military submarine was the Turtle, a hand-powered acorn-shaped device designed by the American David Bushnell to accommodate a single person and it was the first verified submarine capable of independent underwater operation and movement, and the first to use screws for propulsion
2.
USS Holland (SS-1)
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USS Holland was the United States Navys first modern commissioned submarine, although not the first military submarine of the United States, which was the 1775 submersible Turtle. The boat was laid down as Holland VI at the Crescent Shipyard of Elizabeth, New Jersey for John Hollands Holland Torpedo Boat Company. She was acquired by the USN on 11 April 1900 and commissioned on 12 October 1900, Holland was built at former Navy Lieutenant Lewis Nixons Crescent Shipyard of Elizabeth, New Jersey for John Hollands Holland Torpedo Boat Company, which became the Electric Boat company in 1899. The vessel was built under the supervision of John Philip Holland, Hollands keel was laid at Nixons Crescent Shipyard with both men present. Important contributions were made by Arthur L. Busch, Crescents superintendent. Holland VI included many features that submarines of the early 20th century would exhibit, albeit in later, there was a conning tower from which the boat and her weapons could be directed. Also, she had all the necessary ballast and trim tanks to make changes in depth. Her crew was six men and maximum diving depth was 75 feet, for armament, she had a reloadable 18 inch torpedo tube with three torpedoes and an 8. 425-inch pneumatic dynamite gun in the bow. A second dynamite gun in the stern was removed in 1900 to make room for an engine exhaust. She had both an internal combustion engine for running on the surface and an Electro Dynamic electric motor of 50 shp for submerged operation, a 66-cell Exide battery powered the electric motor when submerged. This allowed speeds of 6 knots surfaced and 5.5 knots submerged, surfaced range was 200 nmi at 6 kn, while submerged range was 30 nmi at 5.5 kn. Holland VI eventually proved her validity and worthiness as a warship and was purchased by the U. S. government for the sum of $150,000 on 11 April 1900. She was considered to be the first truly successful craft of her type, the United States Government soon ordered more submarines from Hollands company, which were to be known as the Plunger class. These became Americas first fleet of naval vessels. Holland was the first commissioned submarine in the US Navy and is the first of the line of submarines in the Navy. She was the submarine to be owned by the Navy. Holland proved valuable for experimental purposes in collecting data for submarines under construction or contemplation and her 166 mi surface run, from Annapolis to Norfolk, Virginia from 8–10 January 1901, provided useful data on her performance underway over an extended period. Holland finished her career in reserve at Norfolk, Virginia and her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 21 November 1910
3.
HMS Holland 1
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Holland 1 was the first submarine commissioned by the Royal Navy, the first in a six-boat batch of the Holland-class submarine. She was lost in 1913 while under tow to the scrapyard following decommissioning, recovered in 1982, she was put on display at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum, Gosport. In 1901 she was ordered from John Philip Holland and built at Barrow-in-Furness, the keel was laid down 4 February 1901. In order to keep the boat’s construction secret, she was assembled in a building labelled Yacht Shed, and she was launched on 2 October 1901 and dived for the first time on 20 March 1902. Sea trials began in April 1902, in September 1902 she arrived at Portsmouth with the other completed Holland boat and along with HMS Hazard made up the First Submarine Flotilla, commanded by Captain Reginald Bacon. On 3 March 1903 Holland 1 suffered an explosion that caused four injuries, the boats were recalled before any attack could take place. The submarine was decommissioned and sold in 1913 to Thos W Ward for £410, while being towed to the scrapyard Holland 1 encountered very severe weather and sank about a mile and a half off Eddystone lighthouse. The wreck was located in 1981 by Plymouth historian Michael Pearn, from 1983, after coating in anti-corrosion chemicals, she was displayed at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum. Work on restoring the submarine continued until September 1988, a talking figure was included to explain the details of the craft to visitors. However, by 1993 it was apparent that the treatment had proved inadequate, a fibreglass tank was built around her, and she was immersed in sodium carbonate solution from 1995. After four years the corrosive chloride ions had been removed, listed as part of the National Historic Fleet, in 2001, on her centenary, a new purpose-built climate-controlled building was opened by Countess Mountbatten. In the same year the Royal Mail put a photo of the submarine on a 65 pence stamp, following the initial clean, the lead batteries were recharged and found to be in good working order. Some of the original batteries still remain in the possession of Enersys at the Newport plant, Royal Navy Submarine Service Own page on RNSM website MaritimeQuest HMS Holland 1 Pages Early Holland Submarines Photos of John Hollands Submarine No.1 and the Fenian Ram at the Paterson Museum
4.
X-class submarine
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The X class was a World War II midget submarine class built for the Royal Navy during 1943–44. Once the attack was over, the X-Craft would rendezvous with the towing submarine, range was limited primarily by the endurance and determination of their crews, but was thought to be up to 14 days in the craft or 1,500 miles distance after suitable training. Actual range of the X-Craft itself was 500 nmi surfaced and 82 nmi at 2 knots submerged, the craft was about 51 feet long,5.5 feet in maximum diameter and displaced 27 tons surfaced and 30 tons submerged. The crew initially numbered three—commander, pilot and ERA but soon a specialist diver was added, for which an airlock, known as a wet, the ERA, usually a Navy Chief Petty Officer, operated most of, and maintained all of, the machinery in the vessel. The weapons on the X-Craft were two side-cargoes - explosive charges held on opposite sides of the hull with two tons of amatol in each, the intention was to drop these on the sea bed underneath the target and then escape. The charges were detonated by a time fuse, the craft were fitted with electro-magnets to evade detection by anti-submarine detectors on the sea bed. A number of development craft were built before it was felt that a weapon had been produced. The first operational craft was X3, launched on the night of 15 March 1942, training with the craft began in September 1942, with X4 arriving in October. In December 1942 and January 1943 six of the 5-10 class began to arrive, identical externally and these operations were part of a longer series of frogman operations, see human torpedo. The operational base and training establishment was HMS Varbel at the former Kyles Hydro Hotel at Port Bannatyne on the Isle of Bute in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Their first deployment was Operation Source in September,1943, an attempt to neutralise the heavy German warships based in Northern Norway, six X-Craft were used, but only 2 successfully laid charges, the rest were lost, scuttled or returned to base. Tirpitz was badly damaged and out of action until April 1944 and this was the only multiple X-craft attack. The lost craft were replaced early in 1944 with X20 to X25, on 15 April 1944 X24 attacked the Laksevåg floating dock at Bergen. X22 was intended for the mission, but had been accidentally rammed during training, X24 made the approach and escaped successfully, but the charges were placed under Bärenfels, a 7,500 ton merchant-vessel along the dock, which was sunk, the dock suffered only minor damage. On 11 September 1944, the operation was repeated by X24, with a new crew, X-Craft were involved in the preparatory work for Overlord. Operation Postage Able was planned to take surveys of the beaches with X20, commanded by Lt KR Hudspeth. Periscope reconnaissance of the shoreline and echo-soundings were performed during daytime, each night, X20 would approach the beach and 2 divers would swim ashore. Soil samples were collected in condoms, the divers went ashore on two nights to survey the beaches at Vierville-sur-Mer, Moulins St Laurent and Colleville-sur-Mer in what became the American Omaha Beach
5.
Welman submarine
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The Welman submarine was a Second World War one-man British midget submarine developed by the Special Operations Executive. It only saw action once and was not particularly successful, unlike the Chariot human torpedo, the operator was enclosed within the craft, and did not need to wear diving gear. The Welman could transport a 425-pound time-fused explosive charge of Torpex, vision was through armoured glass segments in the small conning tower, and no periscope was fitted. In early 1943 the Royal Navy establishment on board the submarine depot ship HMS Titania was expanded to carry out sea trials of the Welman, training courses for operators were located at Fort Blockhouse in Gosport. Trainees were drawn from the Royal Navy, the Royal Navy Reserve, HMS Titania was relocated to Loch a Chàirn Bhàin, south of Cape Wrath, in the north west of Scotland, which became a secret training base for all mini submarine operations. A Welman was lost on exercise in Rothesay Bay on 9 September, by autumn 1943, sufficient trained operators and craft existed for the Welman to be considered for operational use. In the autumn of 1943 the Combined Ops commander, General Sir Robert Laycock decided that the Welman was unsuitable for their purposes, so the craft were returned to the Royal Navy. Admiral Sir Lionel Wells, Flag Officer commanding Orkney and Shetland, on 20 November 1943 MTB635 and MTB625 left Lunna Voe, Shetland, carrying Welmans W45, W46, W47 and W48. The craft were launched at the entrance to the fjord, pedersens W46 encountered an anti-submarine net and was forced to the surface, where she was spotted by a German patrol craft. Pedersen was captured along with the Welman, surviving the war in a prison camp, the other three, having lost the element of surprise, could not press the attack and so eventually had to be scuttled. Their operators made their way north with the help of Norwegian resistance members and were picked up in February 1944 by MTB653, the failure made the Royal Navy concentrate on X craft and XE craft, although further Welman trials occurred, especially in Australia. Subsequent to the attack the Germans salvaged one of the craft. The major drawback of the Welman from its operators point of view was that it had no periscope, without a way of viewing its surroundings without surfacing, it was impossible to navigate covertly. It was also found that when travelling on the surface the operators eye level was so close to sea level that more than two miles away were not visible. Midget Submarines, Submariners Association, Barrow in Furness Branch Kemp, picture of the Welman submarine at Station IX Lt Jimmy Holmes RN in Welman demonstrating low freeboard of conning tower hatch
6.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
7.
Seehund
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The Seehund, also known as Type XXVII, was a successful series of German midget submarines created during World War II. The origin of the Seehund began with the salvage of the two British X class submarines HMS X6 and X7 which had sunk during Operation Source. However, this resulted in a low endurance of 69 nmi at 4 knots. In practice this proved ineffective since the weights could not be moved quickly enough and hydroplanes. Submerged control was still poor, since Hecht was not fitted with ballast tanks, even though Hecht had been designed to transport an explosive charge, Karl Dönitz insisted that a torpedo be carried so that attacks could be carried out on vessels in coastal waters. Externally, Hecht resembled the British Welman submarine, behind this was the control compartment with seats for the two-man crew arranged one behind the other on the centerline with the engineer in front and the commander behind him. The commander was provided with a periscope and a clear dome for navigational purposes. The 53 Hechts were constructed between May and August 1944, in the event, none saw active service but were used to train Seehund crews. As the orders were being placed, Hecht variants were under construction, the first was the Type XXVIIB, which had a greater range, could carry two G7e torpedoes, and had diesel/electric propulsion. The design was completed at the end of June 1944 and resembled Hecht but had a better boat-shaped external casing for improved seakeeping while surfaced, and saddle tanks. Additional room had been made inside the hull by moving the batteries to the keel. A22 hp diesel engine was fitted for use and was estimated to give a surfaced speed of 5.5 knots. The final variant of the Type XXVII was the Type XXVIIB5, Seehund had a small raised platform midships with the air intake mast, magnetic compass, periscope, and a clear dome which could survive depths of 45 m. The submarines fixed 3 m periscope incorporated lenses which let the commander check the sky above for aircraft before surfacing, the first contract for Seehund construction was placed on 30 July 1944. Enthusiasm for the submarine was so high that most of the contracts, a total of 1,000 boats were ordered, Germaniawerft and Schichau-Werke to build 25 and 45 boats per month respectively. Other centers involved in Seehund production were CRD-Monfalcone on the Adriatic, in the end Seehund production was undertaken by Germaniawerft at Kiel using a facility which was no longer needed for Type XXI or Type XXIII production. A total of 285 Seehunds were constructed and allocated numbers in the range U-5501 to U-6442, the first Seehund operation took place on 31 December 1944, when 18 craft set out from IJmuiden in the Netherlands. However this was a disaster - the submarines encountered a storm, the first sinking by a Seehund did not occur until February 1945 when a freighter was sunk off Great Yarmouth
8.
Swimmer delivery vehicle
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A diver propulsion vehicle is an item of diving equipment used by scuba and rebreather divers to increase range underwater. A DPV usually consists of a pressure-resistant watertight casing containing an electric motor. There are also DPV accessories that can be mounted to a DPV accessory board to make your DPV more useful, Dive gear such as compasses, cameras, lobster sticks and even spearguns can also be mounted to DPVs. Military applications include delivery of combat divers and their equipment over distances or at speeds that would be otherwise impracticable, DPV operation requires more situational awareness than simply swimming and operating a DPV requires simultaneous depth control, buoyancy adjustment, monitoring of breathing gas, and navigation. If the diver does not control the DPV properly, an ascent or descent under power can result in barotrauma. Many forms of marine life are very well camouflaged or hide well and are only seen by divers who move very slowly. The most common type of DPV tows the diver who holds onto handles on the stern or bow, tow-behind scooters are most efficient by placing the diver parallel to and above the propeller wash. The diver wears a harness that includes a crotch-strap with a D-ring on the front of the strap, the scooter is rigged with a tow leash that clips to the scooter with releasable metal snap. These are torpedo or fish-shaped vehicles for one or more divers typically sitting astride them or in hollows inside, the well known human torpedo or chariot was used by commando frogmen in World War II. Similar vehicles have made for work divers or sport divers but better streamlined as these do not have warheads. Some Farallon and Aquazepp scooters are torpedo-shaped with handles near the bow, the Russian Protei-5 and Proton carry the diver attached to the top. The New Zealand made Proteus is strapped onto the divers cylinder, the Subskimmer is a submersible rigid-hulled inflatable boat. On the surface it is powered by an engine, when submerged the petrol engine is sealed. It can self inflate and deflate, transforming itself from a fast, light, started in the 1970s by Submarine Products Ltd. of Hexham, Northumberland, England, Subskimmer is now a tradename owned by Marine Specialised Technology. As DPVs get bigger they gradually merge into submarines, a wet sub is a small submarine where the pilots seat is flooded and the diver must wear diving gear. Covert military operations use swimmer delivery vehicles to deliver and retrieve operators into harbors, an example is the Multi-Role Combatant Craft. These are unpowered boards towed by a boat with two ropes. The diver holds onto it and keeps it submerged by adjusting the angle like an upside-down aerofoil and it is named after the manta ray fish
9.
Frogman
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A frogman is someone who is trained in scuba diving or swimming underwater in a tactical capacity that includes combat. Such personnel are known by the more formal names of combat diver, combatant diver. The word frogman arose from Italian uomo rana around 1940 from the appearance of a diver in a shiny drysuit, combat swimming is often used to mean combat diving. Such actions are a form of frogman activity and an important feature of naval special operations. The term frogman is occasionally used to refer to a scuba diver. Some sport diving clubs include the word Frogmen in their names, in the U. S. military and intelligence community, divers trained in scuba or CCUBA who deploy for tactical assault missions are called combat divers. S. Coast Guard Helicopter Rescue Swimmers, United States Naval Search and Rescue Swimmers, United States Air Force Special Operations Weather Technicians, in Britain, police divers have often been called police frogmen. Some countries tactical diver organizations include a translation of the word frogman in their names, e. g. Denmarks Frømandskorpset. Others call themselves by indefinite names such as special group 13, many nations and some irregular armed groups deploy or have deployed combat frogmen. Merriam-Webster defines a frogman as a person equipped for extended periods of underwater swimming, the Oxford English Dictionary states, A person who swims under water wearing a rubber suit, flippers, and an oxygen supply. The Cambridge Dictionary defines a frogman as, someone who swims or works underwater for a time wearing breathing equipment, flippers. The Macmillan Dictionary definition is identical for British and American English as, someone who does police or military work under water using special clothes, as an American definition, citing Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. Copyright 2010 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and they also indicate a trend of steadily decreasing usage from the mid 20th century to 2008, and the word may be obsolescent. The Dictionary of American Slang reports that colloquial meanings include a scuba diver, tactical diving is a branch of professional diving carried out by armed forces and tactical units. They may be divided into, Combat/assault divers, Special mission work divers, who do general work underwater. Work divers who are trained in defusing mines and removing other explosives underwater and these groups may overlap, and the same men may serve as assault divers and work divers, such as the Australian Clearance Diving Branch. The range of operations performed by these operatives includes, Amphibious assault, the vast majority of combat swimmer missions are simply to get from here to there and arrive suitably equipped and in sufficient physical condition to fight on arrival. The deployment of tactical forces using the arrival by water to assault land targets, oil platforms, the purposes are many, but include feint and deception, counter-drug, law enforcement, counter-terrorism, and counter-proliferation missions
10.
Limpet mine
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A limpet mine is a type of naval mine attached to a target by magnets. It is so named because of its similarity to the limpet. A swimmer or diver may attach the mine, which is designed with hollow compartments to give the mine slight negative buoyancy. Usually limpet mines are set off by a time fuse and they may also have an anti-handling device, making the mine explode if removed from the hull by enemy divers or by explosions. In December 1938, a new unit was created in the British military that soon became known as Military Intelligence — usually abbreviated as MI or occasionally as MIR, MI absorbed a technical section that was at first known as MIc. One of Jefferis earliest ideas was a type of mine that could be towed behind a rowboat, getting a heavy bomb to stick to a ship reliably was a problem, the obvious answer was to use magnets which should be as powerful as possible. Only half the size of the eraser on a lead pencil and its magnetic attraction is several times as strong as that of any previous magnet. The strongly magnetic alloy forming the magnet can be used, too, on 17 July 1939, he contacted the editor of the magazine for more information about the magnets, the editor was Stuart Macrae. During World War I, Macrae had briefly worked on a device for dropping hand grenades from aircraft, when Jefferis call came, he promptly undertook to perform experiments and to produce prototypes. Macrae contacted Cecil Vandepeer Clarke who was managing director of the Low Loading Trailer Company, Macrae had met Clarke a couple of years previously when he was the editor of The Caravan & Trailer magazine. He had been impressed by Clarkes work and now he needed his expertise, Macrae and Clarke soon agreed to cooperate on the design of a new weapon, but they quickly abandoned a towed mine as impractical. Instead, they worked on a bomb that could be carried by a diver, the new weapon became known as a limpet mine. The first versions were assembled in a few weeks, the innovative design included a ring of small strong magnets for adhesion and the detonator used slowly dissolving aniseed ball sweets to provide the necessary time to get away. Just before war was declared, Macraes name was put forward to Holland who arranged to meet him, Holland considered that Macrae would make a good second in command for Jefferis, He saw Macrae as a capable administrator who could keep his geniuses in order. Macrae joined the War Office as a civilian and Holland saw to it that Macrae got a commission in October 1939, Clarke joined the top secret Cultivator No.6 project as a civilian and later joined the army. He served in the Special Operations Executive with Colin Gubbins and would later be appointed Commandant of one of the Secret Intelligence Services schools and he eventually rejoined Macrae when he was transferred to MD1 in 1942. The rigid limpets used by the British during World War II contained only 4 1⁄2 pounds of explosive, SOE agents could be provided with a 5 feet long placing rod. A smaller version named Clam was developed from the British limpet for use on land, in the event, the Soviets didnt care for the idea of the magnetic mine, and the Germans stopped using Zimmerit for the last year of the war
11.
Submersible
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A submersible is a small vehicle designed to operate underwater. In common usage by the public, however, the word submarine may be used to describe a craft that is by the technical definition actually a submersible. There are many types of submersibles, including both crewed and uncrewed craft, otherwise known as remotely operated vehicles or ROVs, submersibles have many uses worldwide, such as oceanography, underwater archaeology, ocean exploration, adventure, equipment maintenance and recovery, and underwater videography. The first underwater vessel was designed and built by American patriot David Bushnell in 1775 as a means to attach explosive charges to ships during the American Revolutionary War. The device, dubbed Bushnells Turtle, was a vessel of wood. It had tanks that were filled with water to make it dive, the operator used two hand-cranked propellers to move vertically or laterally under the water. The vehicle had small glass windows on top and naturally luminescent wood affixed to its instruments so that they could be read in the dark, Bushnells Turtle was first set into action on September 7,1776 at New York Harbor to attack the British flagship HMS Eagle. Sergeant Ezra Lee operated the vehicle at that time, Lee successfully brought the Turtle against the underside of Eagles hull but failed to attach the charge because of the strong water currents. Submersibles typically have shorter range, and operate underwater, as most have little function at the surface. Some submersibles operate on a tether or umbilical, remaining connected to a tender, submersibles have been able to dive to over 10 km below the surface. Submersibles may be small, hold only a small crew. A submersible often has very dexterous mobility, provided by propeller screws or pump-jets, there are three basic technologies used in the design of submersibles. Single atmosphere submersibles have a hull and the occupants are at standard atmospheric pressure. This requires the hull to be capable of withstanding the pressure from the water outside that is many times greater than the internal pressure. Another technology called ambient pressure maintains the same both inside and outside the vessel. This reduces the pressure that the hull has to withstand, a third technology is the Wet Sub, which refers to a vehicle that may or may not be enclosed, but in either case water floods the interior so SCUBA equipment is used to facilitate breathing. In both single atmosphere and ambient pressure subs, there is no need to use SCUBA equipment, some submersibles have been able to dive to great depths. The Bathyscaphe Trieste was the first to reach the deepest part of the ocean, nearly 11 km below the surface, at the bottom of the Mariana Trench in 1960
12.
FNRS-2
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The FNRS-2 was the first bathyscaphe. It was created by Auguste Piccard, work started in 1937 but was interrupted by World War II. The deep-diving submarine was finished in 1948, the bathyscaphe was named after the Belgian Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique, the funding organization for the venture. FNRS also funded the FNRS-1 which was a balloon that set an altitude record. The FNRS-2 set world diving records, besting those of the bathyspheres and it was in turn bested by a more refined version of itself, the bathyscaphe Trieste. She was damaged during sea trials in 1948, off the Cape Verde Islands, FNRS-2 was sold to the French Navy when FNRS funding ran low, in 1948. The French rebuilt and rebaptised her FNRS-3 and she was eventually replaced by the FNRS-4. In February 1954 the FNRS-3 reached a depth of 4,050 metres in the Atlantic,160 miles off Dakar, FNRS-2 went for sea trials accompanied by the 3500t Belgian ship Scaldis, as her tender. However, Scaldis crane was not strong enough to lift FNRS-2 while her float was filled, and this proved to be the detail that would end FNRS-2s career. An unmanned test dive to 4,600 feet was completed, but owing to technical problems. Scaldis attempted to tow FNRS-2 back to port, but she was battered by ocean waves, after the leak was detected, the gasoline was dumped into the sea and FNRS-2 was raised. However, there was no reserve of gasoline for replacement, nor funding to fix the float, au fond de locéan ASIN B0000DVJS0 Bathyscaphe le à4050 m au fond de locéan ASIN B0000DP36O2000 FATHOMS DOWN ASIN B001947NIS Pope, Steve. Maritime Topics on Stamps, Research Submersibles
13.
Wuhan
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Wuhan is the capital of Hubei province, China, and is the most populous city in Central China. It lies in the eastern Jianghan Plain at the intersection of the reaches of the Yangtze. Because of its key role in transportation, Wuhan was sometimes referred to as the Chicago of China by foreign sources. Holding sub-provincial status, Wuhan is recognized as the political, economic, financial, cultural, educational, the city of Wuhan, first termed as such in 1927, has a population of 10,607,700 people as of 2015. In the 1920s, Wuhan was the capital of a leftist Kuomintang government led by Wang Jingwei in opposition to Chiang Kai-shek. At the 2010 census, its built-up area made of 8 out of 10 urban districts was home to 8,821,658 inhabitants, with a 3, 500-year-long history, Wuhan is one of the most ancient and civilized metropolitan cities in China. During the Han dynasty, Hanyang became a busy port. Around that time, walls were built to protect Hanyang and Wuchang, the latter event marks the foundation of Wuhan. In AD223, the Yellow Crane Tower was constructed on the Wuchang side of the Yangtze River, cui Hao, a celebrated poet of the Tang dynasty, visited the building in the early 8th century, his poem made it the most celebrated building in southern China. The city has long been renowned as a center for the arts, under the Mongol rulers, Wuchang was promoted to the status of provincial capital, by the dawn of the 18th century, Hankou had become one of Chinas top four most important towns of trade. In the late 19th century, railroads were extended on an axis through the city. Also during this period foreign powers extracted mercantile concessions, with the riverfront of Hankou being divided up into foreign-controlled merchant districts and these districts contained trading firm offices, warehouses, and docking facilities. On October 10,1911, Sun Yat-sens followers launched the Wuchang Uprising, Wuhan was the capital of a leftist Kuomintang government led by Wang Jingwei, in opposition to Chiang Kai-shek during the 1920s. S. As the battle raged on through 1938, Wuhan and the region had become the site of the Battle of Wuhan. After being taken by the Japanese in late 1938, Wuhan became a major Japanese logistics center for operations in southern China, in December 1944, the city was largely destroyed by U. S. firebombing raids conducted by the Fourteenth Air Force. In 1967, civil strife struck the city in the Wuhan Incident as a result of tensions arising out of the Cultural Revolution. The city has been subject to devastating floods, which are now supposed to be controlled by the ambitious Three Gorges Dam, a project which was completed in 2008. In December 1858, James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin, High Commissioner to China, and in the spring of 1861, Counselor Harry Parkes and Admiral Herbert were sent to Wuhan to open a trading port
14.
Sea cucumber
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Sea cucumbers are echinoderms from the class Holothuroidea. They are marine animals with a skin and an elongated body containing a single. Sea cucumbers are found on the sea floor worldwide, the number of holothurian species worldwide is about 1,717 with the greatest number being in the Asia Pacific region. Many of these are gathered for consumption and some species are cultivated in aquaculture systems. The harvested product is referred to as trepang, bêche-de-mer or balate. Sea cucumbers serve a role in the marine ecosystem as they help recycle nutrients, breaking down detritus. Like all echinoderms, sea cucumbers have an endoskeleton just below the skin, in some species these can sometimes be enlarged to flattened plates, forming an armour. In pelagic species such as Pelagothuria natatrix, the skeleton is absent, the sea cucumbers are named after their resemblance to the fruit of the cucumber plant. Most sea cucumbers, as their name suggests, have a soft and cylindrical body, more or less lengthened, rounded off and occasionally fat in the extremities, and generally without solid appendages. Their shape ranges from almost spherical for sea apples to serpent-like for Apodida or the classic sausage-shape, the mouth is surrounded by tentacles, which can be pulled back inside the animal. Holothurians measure generally between 10 and 30 centimeters long, with extremes of some millimeters for Rhabdomolgus ruber and up to more than 3 meters for Synapta maculata. The largest American species, Holothuria floridana, which abounds just below low-water mark on the Florida reefs, has a volume of well over 500 cubic centimeters, and 25–30 cm long. Most possess five rows of feet, but Apodida lacks these and moves by crawling. The podia on the dorsal surface generally have no locomotive role, at one of the extremities opens a rounded mouth, generally surrounded with a crown of tentacles which can be very complex in some species, the anus is postero-dorsal. Holothurians do not look like other echinoderms at first glance, because of their tubular body, furthermore, the fivefold symmetry, classical for echinoderms, although preserved structurally, is doubled here by a bilateral symmetry which makes them look like chordates. However, a symmetry is still visible in some species through five radii. There is thus no oral or aboral face as for sea stars and other echinoderms, but the stands on one of its sides. A remarkable feature of animals is the catch collagen that forms their body wall
15.
Mariculture
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An example of the latter is the farming of marine fish, including finfish and shellfish like prawns, or oysters and seaweed in saltwater ponds. Non-food products produced by mariculture include, fish meal, nutrient agar, jewellery, similar to algae cultivation, shellfish can be farmed in multiple ways, on ropes, in bags or cages, or directly on the intertidal substrate. Shellfish mariculture does not require feed or fertilizer inputs, nor insecticides or antibiotics, shellfish can also be used in multi-species cultivation techniques, where shellfish can utilize waste generated by higher trophic level organisms. After trials in 2012, a commercial sea ranch was set up in Flinders Bay, the ranch is based on an artificial reef made up of 5000 separate concrete units called abitats. The 900 kilograms abitats can host 400 abalone each, the reef is seeded with young abalone from an onshore hatchery. Brad Adams, from the company, has emphasised the similarity to wild abalone, were not aquaculture, were ranching, because once theyre in the water they look after themselves. Raising marine organisms under controlled conditions in exposed, high-energy ocean environments beyond significant coastal influence, is a new approach to mariculture. Open ocean aquaculture uses cages, nets, or long-line arrays that are moored, towed or float freely. Research and commercial open ocean aquaculture facilities are in operation or under development in Panama, Australia, Chile, China, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, and Norway. As of 2004, two open ocean facilities were operating in U. S. waters, raising Threadfin near Hawaii. An operation targeting bigeye tuna recently received final approval, all U. S. commercial facilities are currently sited in waters under state or territorial jurisdiction. The largest deep water open ocean farm in the world is raising cobia 12 km off the northern coast of Panama in highly exposed sites, enhanced Stocking is a Japanese principle based on operant conditioning and the migratory nature of certain species. The fishermen raise hatchlings in a closely knitted net in a harbor, when the fish are old enough they are freed from the net to mature in the open sea. During spawning season, about 80% of these return to their birthplace. The fishermen sound the horn and then net those fish that respond, in seawater pond mariculture, fish are raised in ponds which receive water from the sea. This has the benefit that the present in the seawater can be used. This is an advantage over traditional fish farms for which the farmers buy feed. Other advantages are that water purification plants may be planted in the ponds to eliminate the buildup of nitrogen, from fecal, also, the ponds can be left unprotected from natural predators, providing another kind of filtering
16.
Renminbi
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The renminbi /ˌrɛnmɪnˈbiː/ is the official currency of the Peoples Republic of China. The yuan is the unit of the renminbi, but is also used to refer to the Chinese currency in general. The distinction between the terms renminbi and yuan is similar to that between sterling and pound, which refer to the British currency and its primary unit. One yuan is subdivided into 10 jiao, and a jiao in turn is subdivided into 10 fen, the ISO code for renminbi is CNY, or also CNH when traded in off-shore markets such as Hong Kong. The currency is often abbreviated RMB, or indicated by the yuan sign ¥, in Chinese texts the currency may also be indicated with the Chinese character for the yuan, 圆. The renminbi is legal tender in mainland China, but not in Hong Kong or Macau, renminbi is sometimes accepted in Hong Kong and Macau, and are easily exchanged in the two territories, with banks in Hong Kong allowing people to maintain accounts in RMB. The currency is issued by the Peoples Bank of China, the authority of China. Until 2005, the value of the renminbi was pegged to the US dollar and it has previously been claimed that the renminbis official exchange rate was undervalued by as much as 37. 5% against its purchasing power parity. Since 2006, the exchange rate has been allowed to float in a narrow margin around a fixed base rate determined with reference to a basket of world currencies. The Chinese government has announced that it gradually increase the flexibility of the exchange rate. As a result of the rapid internationalization of the renminbi, it became the worlds 8th most traded currency in 2013, and 5th in 2015. On 1 October 2016, the RMB became the first emerging market currency to be included in the IMFs special drawing rights basket, a variety of currencies circulated in China during the Republic of China era, most of which were denominated in the unit yuán. Each was distinguished by a name, such as the fabi, the gold yuan. During the era of the economy, the value of the renminbi was set to unrealistic values in exchange with western currency. The unrealistic levels at which exchange rates were pegged led to a black market in currency transactions. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, China worked to make the RMB more convertible, through the use of swap centres, the exchange rate was brought to realistic levels and the dual track currency system was abolished. As of 2013, the renminbi is convertible on current accounts, the ultimate goal has been to make the RMB fully convertible. From 1949 until the late 1970s, the state fixed Chinas exchange rate at a highly overvalued level as part of the countrys import -substitution strategy
17.
Knot (unit)
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The knot is a unit of speed equal to one nautical mile per hour, approximately 1.151 mph. The ISO Standard symbol for the knot is kn, the same symbol is preferred by the IEEE, kt is also common. The knot is a unit that is accepted for use with the SI. Etymologically, the term derives from counting the number of knots in the line that unspooled from the reel of a log in a specific time. 1 international knot =1 nautical mile per hour,1.852 kilometres per hour,0.514 metres per second,1.151 miles per hour,20.254 inches per second,1852 m is the length of the internationally agreed nautical mile. The US adopted the definition in 1954, having previously used the US nautical mile. The UK adopted the international nautical mile definition in 1970, having used the UK Admiralty nautical mile. The speeds of vessels relative to the fluids in which they travel are measured in knots, for consistency, the speeds of navigational fluids are also measured in knots. Thus, speed over the ground and rate of progress towards a distant point are given in knots. Until the mid-19th century, vessel speed at sea was measured using a chip log, the chip log was cast over the stern of the moving vessel and the line allowed to pay out. Knots placed at a distance of 8 fathoms -47 feet 3 inches from each other, passed through a sailors fingers, the knot count would be reported and used in the sailing masters dead reckoning and navigation. This method gives a value for the knot of 20.25 in/s, the difference from the modern definition is less than 0. 02%. On a chart of the North Atlantic, the scale varies by a factor of two from Florida to Greenland, a single graphic scale, of the sort on many maps, would therefore be useless on such a chart. Recent British Admiralty charts have a latitude scale down the middle to make this even easier, speed is sometimes incorrectly expressed as knots per hour, which is in fact a measure of acceleration. Prior to 1969, airworthiness standards for aircraft in the United States Federal Aviation Regulations specified that distances were to be in statute miles. In 1969, these standards were amended to specify that distances were to be in nautical miles. At 11000 m, an airspeed of 300 kn may correspond to a true airspeed of 500 kn in standard conditions. Beaufort scale Hull speed, which deals with theoretical estimates of maximum speed of displacement hulls Knot count Knotted cord Metre per second Orders of magnitude Rope Kemp
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Nautical mile
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A nautical mile is a unit of measurement defined as exactly 1852 meters. Historically, it was defined as one minute of latitude, which is equivalent to one sixtieth of a degree of latitude. Today it is an SI derived unit, being rounded to a number of meters. The derived unit of speed is the knot, defined as one mile per hour. The geographical mile is the length of one minute of longitude along the Equator, there is no internationally agreed symbol. M is used as the abbreviation for the mile by the International Hydrographic Organization and by the International Bureau of Weights. NM is used by the International Civil Aviation Organization, nm is used by the U. S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Nmi is used by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the word mile is from the Latin word for a thousand paces, mīlia. In 1617 the Dutch scientist Snell assessed the circumference of the Earth at 24,630 Roman miles, around that time British mathematician Edmund Gunter improved navigational tools including a new quadrant to determine latitude at sea. He reasoned that the lines of latitude could be used as the basis for a unit of measurement for distance, as one degree is 1/360 of a circle, one minute of arc is 1/21600 of a circle. These sexagesimal units originated in Babylonian astronomy, Gunter used Snells circumference to define a nautical mile as 6,080 feet, the length of one minute of arc at 48 degrees latitude.3 metres. Other countries measure the minute of arc at 45 degrees latitude, in 1929, the international nautical mile was defined by the First International Extraordinary Hydrographic Conference in Monaco as 1,852 meters. Imperial units and United States customary units used a definition of the nautical mile based on the Clarke Spheroid, the United States nautical mile was defined as 6,080.20 feet based in the Mendenhall Order foot of 1893. It was abandoned in favour of the nautical mile in 1954.181 meters. It was abandoned in 1970 and, legally, references to the unit are now converted to 1,853 meters. Conversion of units Orders of magnitude
19.
Mir (submersible)
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Mir is a self-propelled Deep Submergence Vehicle. The project was developed by the USSR Academy of Sciences along with Design Bureau Lazurith. Later two vehicles were ordered from Finland, the Mir 1 and Mir 2, delivered in 1987, were designed and built by the Finnish company Rauma-Repolas Oceanics subsidiary. The project was carried out under the supervision of constructors and engineers of the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, the vessels are designed to be used for scientific research. They might also be used to assist in rescue operations. The carrier and command centre of both Mir submersibles is the R/V Akademik Mstislav Keldysh, the two Mir units are operated by the Russian Academy of Sciences. The Mir submersibles can dive to a depth of 6,000 metres. Traditionally, the sphere of a deep sea submersible is manufactured of titanium plates that are welded together. On Mir, the sphere is made of a maraging steel alloy that has ten percent better strength/weight ratio than titanium. This alloy contains about 30% cobalt and smaller amounts of nickel, chrome, two hemispheres were made by casting and machining, and then bolted together, thus avoiding welded joints. The resulting construction is close to the density of water, thus making it easier to move in different depths, additional buoyancy is provided by 8 cubic metres of syntactic foam. Unlike other Deep Submergence Vehicles that use iron ballast to reach the ocean floor, the Mir submersibles are 7.8 m long,3.6 m wide,3.0 m high, and weighs 18,600 kg. The personnel spheres walls are 5 cm thick, and the diameter of the working area is 2.1 m. Three viewports are provided, the port is 20 cm diameter. Power is provided by NiCad batteries of 100 kWh capacity, electric motors drive hydraulic pumps to actuate hydraulic manipulators and 3 propulsors. The aft hydraulic propulsor is rated at 9 kW and 2 side propulsors are rated at 2.5 kW each, maximum underwater speed is 5 knots. Longitudinal trim is controlled using 2 spherical water ballast tanks, fore, water can be forced out of these tanks as required by using compressed air. VHF radio is used to communication with the surface
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Nautile
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Nautile is a manned submersible owned by Ifremer, the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea. Commissioned in 1984, the submersible can be operated at depths of up to 6 km, Nautile is capable of housing three people. She has a length of 8 m, still imaging cameras and she is fitted with two robotic arms to allow remote manipulation. Nautile can stay under water for up to eight hours at a time, two ships can act as mothership to Nautile, Pourquoi Pas. and Atalante. In its early days Nautile was launched from RV Nadir
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Torpedo
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Historically, it was called an automotive, automobile, locomotive or fish torpedo, colloquially called a fish. The term torpedo was originally employed for a variety of devices, from about 1900, torpedo has been used strictly to designate an underwater self-propelled weapon. Todays torpedoes can be divided into lightweight and heavyweight classes, and into straight-running, autonomous homers and they can be launched from a variety of platforms. The word torpedo comes from the name of a genus of rays in the order Torpediniformes. In naval usage, the American Robert Fulton introduced the name to refer to a gunpowder charge used by his French submarine Nautilus to demonstrate that it could sink warships. The concept of a torpedo existed many centuries before it was successfully developed. In 1275, Hasan al-Rammah described. an egg which moves itself, in modern language, a torpedo is an underwater self-propelled explosive, —but historically, the term also applied to primitive naval mines. These were used on an ad hoc basis during the modern period up to the late 19th century. An early submarine, the Turtle, attempted to lay a bomb with a fuse on the hull of HMS Eagle during the American Revolutionary War. In the early 1800s, the American inventor Robert Fulton, while in France and he coined the term torpedo in reference to the explosive charges he outfitted his submarine Nautilus. However, both the French and the Dutch governments were uninterested in the submarine, Fulton then concentrated on developing the torpedo independent of a submarine deployment. However, the British government refused to purchase the invention, stating they did not wish to introduce into naval warfare a system that would give advantage to weaker maritime nations. Fulton carried out a demonstration for the US government on 20 July 1807. Further development languished as Fulton focused on his steam-boat matters, during the War of 1812, torpedoes were employed in attempts to destroy British vessels and protect American harbors. In fact a submarine deployed torpedo was used in an attempt to destroy HMS Ramillies while in New Londons harbor. Hardy to warn the Americans to cease efforts with the use of any boat in this cruel and unheard-of warfare. Torpedoes were used by the Russian Empire during the Crimean War in 1855 against British warships in the Gulf of Finland and they used an early form of chemical detonator. During the American Civil War, the torpedo was used for what is today called a contact mine
22.
Biber (submarine)
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The Biber was a German midget submarine of the Second World War. Armed with two externally mounted 21-inch torpedoes or mines, they were intended to attack coastal shipping and they were the smallest submarines in the Kriegsmarine. The Biber was hastily developed to meet the threat of an Allied invasion of Europe. This resulted in basic technical flaws that, combined with the training of their operators, meant they never posed a real threat to Allied shipping. One of the few successes was the sinking of the cargo ship Alan A. Dale. A number have survived in museums including one example that has restored to operational condition. Construction of the first prototype began in February 1944 and was completed in less than 6 weeks, the initial prototype was officially titled Bunteboot was heavily influenced by the British Welman submarine. It differed from the design in a number of respects such as being nearly 2 meters shorter. Following testing on the Trave river on 29 May twenty four Bibers were ordered, the hull was built in three sections composed of 3 millimetres thick steel with an aluminium alloy conning tower bolted to the top. The conning tower contained armoured glass windows to allow the pilot to see out, the hydroplanes and rudder were made of wood and trying to control them while tracking the depth gauge, compass and periscope made the craft hard to handle. Adding to the difficulties, the craft lacked compensating and trimming tanks. The Biber had two diving tanks one in the bow section and one in the stern, the submarine could be armed with either two TIIIc torpedoes with neutral buoyancy, mines, or a mixture of the two. The torpedoes or mines were accommodated in semi-circular recesses in the side of the hull and these reduced the overall width of the loaded craft, making land transport easier and also reduced drag in the water, but at the cost of weakening the hull. The Biber was powered on the surface by a 32 hp Otto blitz petrol engine which was used despite concerns about the risks posed by the carbon monoxide the engine gave off, the engine had the advantage of being cheap and available in large numbers. Propulsion while submerged was provided by a 13 horsepower electric motor, Biber operations were carried out under the auspices of the K-Verband, a German naval unit which operated a mixture of midget submarines and explosive speedboats. The training of Biber operators was originally planned to take eight weeks, planning also called for flotillas of 30 boats and pilots with just under 200 shore support crew. Operations generally lasted from one to two days with pilots using a drug known as D-IX to stay awake on longer missions or caffeine-laced chocolate. The poor quality of the Bibers periscope meant that attacks had to be carried out on the surface
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Hai (midget submarine)
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The Hai was an advanced model of the Marder-class midget submarines created in Nazi Germany during World War II and operated by the K-Verband. Its prototype performed poorly during test runs and therefore no other boats were produced, the Hai was eleven meters long and its length allowed for larger batteries, giving it the maximum speed of twenty knots under water. In addition, the Hai could remain under water for up to two hours
24.
Hecht (submarine)
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The Hecht, also known as Type XXVIIA, was a two-man all-electric German midget submarine created during World War II. The origin of the Hecht began with the salvage of the two British X class submarines HMS X6 and X7 which had sunk during Operation Source. However, this resulted in a low endurance of 69 nmi at 4 knots. In practice this proved ineffective since the weights could not be moved quickly enough and hydroplanes. Submerged control was still poor, since Hecht was not fitted with ballast tanks, externally, Hecht resembled the British Welman submarine. Behind this was the compartment with seats for the two man crew arranged one behind the other on the centerline with the engineer in front. The commander was provided with a periscope and a clear dome for navigational purposes. Fifty-three Hechts were built in total between May and August 1944, but their unsatisfactory performance meant they never saw action, and were used for training Seehund crews. The submarine could carry a diver in the nose rather than a magnetic mine
25.
Marder (submarine)
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The Marder was a German miniature submarine developed from the Neger. The craft was 8.3 metres long and unlike the Neger included a tank in the nose allowing it to dive. Another improvement was the dome through which the pilot viewed the world that also served as the craft’s entrance. Maximum diving depth was about 25 metres, the submarine’s first operations took place on the night of 2 August 1944, when Nazi Germanys Kriegsmarines Small Battle Units made their largest effort of the war. 58 human torpedoes of the Neger-type and 22 Linse vessels were launched against allied shipping off Normandy as part of an operation with Negers. Warship Losses of World War Two, arms and Armour, London, Great Britain,1990
26.
Molch
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The Molch was an unsuccessful, one-man series of midget submarines created during World War II. Built in 1944, it was the first mini-submarine of Nazi Germanys Kriegsmarine, the Molch was based on torpedo technology, and carried two G7e torpedoes attached externally on either side of the craft. It was fully electrical and was created for operations, with a range of 64 km at 5 knots. The front section of the boat held a large battery, behind the battery was the operators position, which sat between two small trimming tanks. Behind the operator sat the electric motor, the complicated system of tanks made it difficult to control during combat operations. The first of 393 boats were delivered on June 12,1944 and were built by AG Weser in Bremen, the Molch were first used in the Mediterranean against the Allied Operation Dragoon in 1944. The submarines were a part of the K-Verband 411 flotilla, on the night of September 25 they attacked Allied battleships, with the loss of ten out of the twelve Molch submarines in the flotilla. Shortly after, the two were sunk by Allied warship bombardment off the Sanremo coast. Other Molch flotillas were sent to the Netherlands in December 1944, from January to April 1945, Molch and Biber submarines went out on 102 sorties, losing seventy of their own and sunk only seven small ships. Due to the ineffectiveness of the Molch in combat operations, it was used as a training vessel for more advanced midget submarines. German U-boats of WWII - uboat. net
27.
Neger
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Neger was a torpedo-carrying craft generally described as a human torpedo which could not submerge, but was difficult to see during night operations. The vessel was used by Nazi Germanys Kriegsmarine between 1943 and 1945, the name comes from the constructor Richard Mohr whose surname means Moor. The Neger was based on the G7e torpedo and sported a spartan cockpit covered by a dome where the warhead would have been. It had sufficient positive buoyancy to run awash while supporting a second G7e, with warhead, the vessel had a range of 48 nautical miles at 4 knots and displaced 2.7 tons. The pilot navigated via a wrist compass and air was provided through a Dräger self-contained breathing device, the pilot aimed his weapon by lining up an aiming spike on the nose with a graduated scale on the dome. Subsequently, an aiming spike was added closer to the dome. It, however, made little difference as water washing over the dome made visibility extremely poor, a simple lever in the cockpit irreversibly started the torpedo and released it. Though not designed as a weapon, the Neger would frequently become one when the torpedo started running but failed to release. About 200 vessels of this type were manufactured in 1944, the first Neger vessels entered service in March 1944. However, the Neger turned out to be hazardous for its crew. In return one cruiser, one destroyer, and three Catherine Class BAMS minesweepers were sunk in 1944 with the weapon, the first mission took place on the night of April 20 and 211944. Thirty Negers were launched against Allied ships berthed in Anzio, only 17 of them managed to deploy, with the other 13 capsizing upon reaching the water. Three failed to return and up until then, the Allies had no knowledge of new unusual weapon. None had made any successful attacks, the Neger flotilla consisted of some 40 vessels and operated from Favrol Woods. On 5/6 July 1944, twenty-four Negers attacked the invasion fleet, only nine Negers returned from the mission. The second attack was mounted on the night of July 7/8 and was carried out by twenty-one Neger vessels, the Negers were, however, spotted in the moonlit night and were attacked by aircraft and ships. The Germans managed to sink another minesweeper, HMS Pylades and severely damage the Polish cruiser Dragon, there is a detailed account of the attack on Dragon by Midshipman Potthast. On 20 July 1944, the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Isis was mined while at anchor in the Seine Bay, the loss was not discovered until the following morning, there were twenty survivors and German human torpedoes were suspected of sinking the warship
28.
Indian Navy
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The Indian Navy is the naval branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India serves as Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy, the Chief of Naval Staff, usually a four-star officer in the rank of Admiral, commands the navy. The Indian Navy is the fifth largest in the world and it played an important role in Indias victory in the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War. The Indian Navy can trace its lineage back to the East India Companys Marine which was founded in 1612 to protect British merchant shipping in the region. In 1793 the East India Company established its rule over eastern part of the Indian subcontinent i. e. Bengal, in 1858, East India Company rule gave way to the British Raj which lasted until India became independent in 1947. When India became a republic in 1950, the Royal Indian Navy as it had been named since 1934 was renamed to Indian Navy, the 17th-century Maratha emperor Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is considered as the Father of the Indian Navy. India has a history dating back 5,600 years. The first tidal dock is estimated to have built at Lothal around 2300 BC during the Indus Valley Civilisation. The Rig Veda written around 1500 BC, credits Varuna with knowledge of the routes and describes naval expeditions. There is reference to the wings of a vessel called Plava. A compass, the Matsya Yantra, was used for navigation in the fourth and fifth century AD, the earliest known reference to an organisation devoted to ships in ancient India is to the Mauryan Empire from the fourth century BCE. Emperor Chandragupta Mauryas Prime Minister Kautilyas Arthashastra devotes a chapter on the state department of waterways under navadhyaksha. The term, nava dvipantaragamanam appears in book in addition to appearing in the Sanskrit text, Baudhayana Dharmasastra as the interpretation of the term. Sea lanes between India and neighbouring lands were the form of trade for many centuries, and are responsible for the widespread influence of Indian Culture on other societies. Powerful navies included those of the Chola dynasty, Maurya Empire, Satavahana, Gupta Empire, Pala, Pandya, Vijayanagara Empire, Kalinga, Mughal, the Palas and the Chola]s excelled in foreign trade and maritime activity, extending their influence overseas to China and Southeast Asia. The Maratha naval power dominated the scene in India for three centuries. During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Maratha and Kerala fleets were expanded, the Pal was a three masted fighter with guns peeping on the broadsides. Kanhoji Angre and Kunjali Marakkar, the Naval chief of Saamoothiri, were two notable naval chiefs of the period
29.
Crore
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A crore denotes ten million and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. It is widely used in South Asia, and is written in Indian numbering system as 1,00,00,000 with the style of digit group separators. Large amounts of money in India are often written in terms of crores, for example,150,000,000 Indian rupees is written as fifteen crore rupees, ₹15 crore or Rs 15 crore. Trillions of ₹ are often written or spoken of in terms of lakh crore, the crore is known by various regional names. Kapampangan, katâ / kata-katâ Persian, کرور Krur / Korur Tagalog, thai, โกฏิ kot or kot̩i Myriad Names of large numbers Names of numbers in English Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Crore
30.
MARCOS
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MARCOS, previously named as Marine Commando Force, is the special forces unit of the Indian Navy. The MCF is specially organised, trained and equipped for the conduct of operations in a maritime environment. MARCOS is short for Marine Commandos, the force has gradually acquired experience and a reputation for professionalism over the three decades it has been in existence. Some MARCOS personnel are attached with the Army special forces units conducting counter-terrorism operations in the area. MARCOS are widely feared among the terrorists, who call them Dadiwala fauj, the Indian Armed Forces wanted to establish an amphibious warfare and maritime special operations force. Before this operation, Indian navy divers provided basic training in underwater demolition to Bengali insurgents, however, this did not yield expected results. Later, different Indian army units were assigned roles in exercises. In 1983, the 340th Army Independent Brigade based at Trivandrum, was converted to an assault unit. Since then, the navy has conducted exercises to demonstrate its amphibious abilities, notably the Andaman Islands in 1984. These assault operations included both airborne and amphibious forces, in April 1986, the Indian Navy started planning for a maritime special force which could conduct amphibious reconnaissance, raids and counter-terrorist operations. The force was trained by the other special forces of the country, including those under the Home Ministry. Three officers were sent to undergo a hard training schedule with US Navy SEALs. The officers formed the first nucleus of the Indian Marine Special Force which was established in February 1987. The first batch of marine commandos qualified in February 1987 and it was later renamed as the Marine Commando Force in 1991. VBSS Team During Exercise INDRA2014 The MARCOS are capable of undertaking operations in all types of terrain, the force has undertaken numerous joint exercises with special forces from around the world. The MARCOS presently has two thousand personnel, though its actual strength remains classified. In their operations, they are assisted by Westland WS-61 Sea King transport helicopters, Chetak helicopters. MARCOS can be launched from ships, aircraft and submarines in full battle gear, the exclusivity of the unit lies in its competence to operate in all three mediums namely Sea, Air and Land
31.
Hindustan Shipyard
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Hindustan Shipyard Limited is a shipyard located in Visakhapatnam on the east coast of India. Founded as the Scindia Shipyard, it was built by industrialist Walchand Hirachand as a part of The Scindia Steam Navigation Company Ltd, Walchand selected Vishakhaptnam as a strategic and ideal location and took possession of land in November 1940. The World War II was going on and in April 1941, however, Walchand was unfettered and decided to go ahead with his plan of building a shipbuilding industry in India. Rajendra Prasad on 21 June 1941, who was acting Congress President at that time, the first ship to be constructed fully in India after independence was built at the Scindia Shipyard and named Jal Usha. It was a moment for the nation, which had just began its journey. Walchand died in 1953, the Scindia Shipyard continued to flourish under next of kins of founders, however, later on the government of India decided to nationalise the Scindia Shipyard, as it was a sensitive and strategic sector related to defence sector of the country. The shipyard was nationalised in 1961 and renamed Hindustan Shipyard Limited. In 2009, HSL was transferred from the Ministry of Shipping to the Ministry of Defence, the yard played a critical role in the development of nuclear-powered, Arihant class submarine. The shipyard is relatively compact at 46.2 hectares and it is equipped with the plasma cutting machines, steel processing and welding facilities, material handling equipment, cranes, logistics and storage facilities. It also has testing and measuring facilities and it has a covered building dock for building vessels up to 80,000 DWT. There are three slipways and a 550 metres fitting-out jetty, HSL has a dry dock, wet basin and repair delphin for ship and submarine repair and retrofitting. As of 2009, it had built over 170 vessels and repaired almost 2000 ships and it builds bulk carriers, offshore patrol vessels, survey ships, drill ships, offshore platforms and repair and support vessels. It also conducts major overhauls of Indian Navy submarines, and is being equipped to construct nuclear-powered submarines
32.
Indonesian Navy
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The Indonesian Navy was founded on 10 September 1945. The Indonesian Navy is the largest navy in South East Asia based on the number of active personnel, as of 2009, the Indonesian Navy had about 75,000 active personnel and more than 150 vessels in active service. The Indonesian Navy is one of a few navies in the region backed by a domestic defence industry, marine corps. All commissioned ships of the TNI-AL have the prefix KRI, standing for Kapal Republik Indonesia, the Indonesian Navys history began on 10 September 1945, at the outset of the Indonesian National Revolution. The administration of the early Indonesian government established the Peoples Marine Security Agency, as the revolution grew and the Navy began its work, naval bases were established throughout the archipelago. Former ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy handed down to the new republic were acqurired, besides, they also attempted to breach the Dutch naval blockade in order to obtain aid from abroad. The newly-formed navy confronted the more superior Royal Netherlands Navy in Bali, Sibolga, cross-sea operations are also able to prepare the armed forces in South Kalimantan, Bali and Sulawesi. Limitations in strength and ability to lead the Navy had to divert the struggle in the countryside, after most boats were sunk and nearly all bases battered by the Dutch, but the determination to participate again in the sea never subsided. In the hard times during the National Revolution the Navy succeeded in forming the Fleet Forces, Marine Corps, the formation of these elements mark the presence of aspects for the formation of a modern national navy. The end of the War of Independence marked the development of the Navy as a modern Navy and this step in the consolidation of the body along with the Navy, revamping the organization and recruitment of personnel through educational institutions before manning naval equipment. During 1949-1959 the Navy managed to enhance the strength and improve its capabilities, Navy combat equipment grew, both from the Dutch and from other various countries. At the time of the country started to recover from the threat of disintegration, in 1959, the Navy experienced a significant progress until 1965. This is motivated by the politics of confrontation in order to seize West Irian, with such power in the era of the 1960s the Navy was called the largest Navy in Southeast Asia. The Indonesian government claimed West Irian as part of Indonesia. The Dutch government however, the Indonesian Navy started preparing a couple of naval operations for the liberation of West Irian known as Operation Trikora. At the beginning of Trikora, fast-ship torpedo Navy ships have to deal with ships destroyers, frigates, on January 15,1962 Commodore Yos Sudarso along with RI Macan Tutul sank in the sea battle in the Arafura Sea. This battle is known as the Vlakke Hoek incident, at that time the Navy is preparing to organize Operation Jayawijaya which would be the largest amphibious operation in the history of Indonesian military operations if commenced. No less than 100 warships and 16,000 sailors and Marines prepared in the operation, the deployment of forces forced the Dutch to return to negotiations and reached an agreement to hand over West Irian to Indonesia. After seizing West Irian, Soekarno by 1963 moved his sights on Malaysia, Indonesia political confrontation against Neocolonialism and Imperialism continued in Operation Dwikora to oppose the formation of Malaysia
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Purnomo Yusgiantoro
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Alumni Loyola College High School, Semarang Engineering Degree, Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia,1974 MA. Economics, University of Colorado at Boulder Main Campus, Colorado, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado, USA,1986. Mineral/ Natural Resources Economics, Colorado School of Mines at Golden, Colorado, National Defense Institute, Regular Course XXV, First Rank Award Wibawa Seroja Nugraha,1992. Professor of Development Economics Atma Jaya University and Bandung Institute of Technology, Chairman of the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting 2011. Chairman of the Defence Industry Policy Committee, 2010-2014, Chairman of the Meeting on the ASEAN Economic Ministers on Energy,2004. Secretary General & President OPEC, 2001-2004, vice Chairman of the Presidential Decree 133 - Restructuring of National Infrastructure, 2000-2004. Chairman of the Board of Pertamina Commissioners, 2000-2002, deputy Governor of National Defense Institute, 1998-2000. Advisory/Special Staff of the Minister of Mines and Energy, Development Cabinet VI, OPEC Governor, Vienna, Austria, from 1996 to 1998. Chairman of Working Group II for the Domestic and Foreign Marketing, Board of Pertamina Commissioners, expert team of PAHs I, MPR Working Body in preparing the Guidelines Pelita VII, 1997-1998. Working Group of the National Security & Defense Council, in preparing the Guidelines Pelita VII, members of the Department of Mines and Energy Committee in Formulating the Guidelines Mining and Energy PELITA VII. Lecturer in various courses, LEMHANNAS, SESKOGAB, SUSPIM Pertamina and PLN, SESPANAS. Consultants for Domestic/International on Natural Resources, Economic Development and Financial Management, together with another Authors, Indonesian Economic Analysis and Methodology Authored a book, International Financial Management. Authored a book, Energy Economics, Theory and Practice, awarded 15 Medals, from various institutions and organisations, domestic and abroad. Purnomo Yusgiantoro - Menteri Pemberani Tidak Populis
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Human torpedo
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Human torpedoes or manned torpedoes are a type of rideable submarine used as secret naval weapons in World War II. The basic design is still in use today as a type of diver propulsion vehicle, the name was commonly used to refer to the weapons that Italy, and later Britain, deployed in the Mediterranean and used to attack ships in enemy harbours. A group of a dozen countries used the human torpedo, from Italy and the United Kingdom to Argentina and Egypt, the human torpedo concept is used recreationally for sport diving. The first human torpedo was electrically propelled, with two crewmen in diving suits riding astride and they steered the torpedo at slow speed to the enemy ship. The detachable warhead was used as a limpet mine. They then rode the torpedo away, in operation, the Maiale torpedo was carried by another vessel, and launched near the target. Most manned torpedo operations were at night and during the new moon to cut down the risk of being seen, the British copies were named chariots. A typical manned torpedo has a propeller and hydroplanes at the rear, side hydroplanes in front, and it usually has two riders who sit facing forwards. It has navigation aids such as a compass, and nowadays modern aids such as sonar and GPS positioning and it may have an air supply so its riders do not have to drain their own apparatus while they are riding it. In some the riders seats are enclosed, in others the seats are open at the sides as in sitting astride a horse, the seat design includes room for the riders swimfins. There are flotation tanks, which can be flooded or blown empty to adjust buoyancy,1909, The British designer Commander Godfrey Herbert received a patent for a manned torpedo. During World War I, it was rejected by the War Office as impracticable and they had no breathing sets and they had to keep their heads above water, and thus they were discovered and taken prisoner. 1938, In Italy the 1a Flottiglia Mezzi dAssalto was formed as a result of the research, the pair resurrected the idea of Paolucci and Rossetti. 1940, Commander Moccagatta of the Italian Royal Navy reorganised the 1st Fleet Assault Vehicles into the Decima Flottiglia MAS or X-MAS and it secretly manufactured manned torpedoes and trained war frogmen, called nuotatori. 26 July 1941, An attack on Valletta Harbour ended in disaster for the X MAS,19 December 1941, The Decima Flottiglia MAS attacked the port of Alexandria with three maiali. The battleships HMS Valiant and Queen Elizabeth were sunk in shallow water putting them out of action for many months, luigi Durand de la Penne and five other swimmers were taken prisoner. De la Penne was awarded the Gold Medal of Military Valor after the war, October 1942, Two British chariots were carried aboard the Shetland Bus fishing-boat Arthur to attack the Tirpitz on Operation Title. They were swung overboard once in Norwegian waters but both became detached from their tow-hooks in a gale and the operation was a total failure, an attack by three manned torpedoes from the auxiliary ship Olterra against British naval targets was thwarted in Gibraltar
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Raid on Alexandria (1941)
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On 3 December, the submarine Scirè of the Italian Royal Navy left the naval base of La Spezia carrying three manned torpedoes, nicknamed maiali by the Italians. There were many difficulties for de la Penne and his crewmate Emilio Bianchi, there he successfully placed the limpet mine, just under the hull of the battleship. However, as both had to surface, and as Bianchi was hurt, they were discovered and captured. Questioned, both of them silent, and they were confined in a compartment aboard Valiant, under the sea level. Fortunately for the Italians, when the mine exploded just beneath them, neither was injured by the blast. Meanwhile, Marceglia and Schergat had attached their device five feet beneath the battleship HMS Queen Elizabeths keel as scheduled and they successfully left the harbour area at 4,30 am, and slipped through Alexandria posing as French sailors. They were captured two days later at Rosetta by the Egyptian police while awaiting rescue by Scirè and handed over to the British, marino fixed the mine under the tankers stern at 02,55. Both divers managed to land unmolested, but were arrested at an Egyptian police checkpoint. In the end, all the divers were made prisoners, but not before their mines exploded, eight members of Queen Elizabeths crew were killed. Sagona lost her stern section and the destroyer HMS Jervis, one of four alongside her refuelling, was badly damaged, neither of the two capital ships sank but they were out of action for some time. This represented a change of fortunes against the Allies from the strategic point of view during the next six months. The Italian fleet had temporarily wrested naval supremacy in the east-central Mediterranean from the Royal Navy, Valiant was towed to Admiralty Floating Dock 5 on the 21st for temporary repairs and was under repair at Alexandria until April 1942 when she sailed to Durban. By August, she was operating with Force B off Africa in exercises for the defence of East Africa, Queen Elizabeth was in drydock at Alexandria for temporary repairs until late June, when she sailed for the United States for refit and repairs, which ended the following June. The refit was completed in Britain, Jervis was repaired and operational again by the end of January. The attack is dramatised at the beginning of the film The Silent Enemy, another movie The Valiant, is about the damage to HMS Valiant in Alexandria harbour. There is also a 1953 Italian movie about the attack, da Capo Press,2004,284 pages, hardcover. The Royal Navy and the Mediterranean, November 1940 – December 1941, Frogmen against a Fleet, The Italian Attack on Alexandria 18/19 December 1941. The Italian Navy in World War II by Sadkovich, James, Greenwood Press, ISBN 0-313-28797-X Frogmen, First Battles by William Schofield, P. J. Carisella & Adolph Caso, Branden Books, Boston,2004
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Leros
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Leros is a Greek island and municipality in the Dodecanese in the southern Aegean Sea. It lies 317 kilometres from Athenss port of Piraeus, from which it can be reached by an 8. 5-hour ferry ride, Leros is part of the Kalymnos regional unit. The island has also called in Italian, Lèro and in Turkish. The municipality has an area of 74.172 km2, the island has a coastline of 71 kilometres. It is known for its medieval castle of the Knights of Saint John possibly built on a Byzantine fortress. Nearby islands are Patmos, Lipsi, Kalymnos, and the islands of Agia Kyriaki. In ancient times it was considered the island of Parthenos Iokallis and linked to the Hellenistic and Roman literature on Meleager, the administrative center and largest town is Agia Marina, with a population of 2,672 inhabitants. Other sizable towns are Lákki, Xirókampos, Kamára, and Álinda, thucydides stressed the special importance of the bays and the harbours of Leros during the Peloponnesian War, where Leros supported the democratic Athenians. After the end of the war Leros came under the sovereignty of the Spartans, the island had a famous sanctuary of the goddess Artemis. It then followed the fate of the rest of the Dodecanese Islands during the years of Alexander the Great and his successors, the Roman years, after the division of the Roman Empire, Leros was part of the Byzantine Empire. On the island of Farmaco east from Leros, a few miles from Didyma on the Turkish coast, during the Byzantine Age, the island was incorporated into the Theme of Samos. During the thirteenth century, the island was occupied by the Genoese, in the year 1309, the Knights of St John seized and fortified Leros. In 1505, the Ottoman Admiral Kemal Reis, with three galleys and seventeen other warships, besieged the castle but could not capture it, the operation was repeated in 1508 with more ships, but again nothing was achieved. Legend has it that then the island was rescued by the only surviving knight and he dressed women and children in the armor of the dead defenders, convincing the Ottomans that the garrison of Leros was still strong. During the Ottoman rule, and along with the islands, Leros enjoyed a privileged regime, with partial autonomy. During the Greek Revolution of 1821, the island was liberated, administratively, it came under the jurisdiction of the Temporary Committee of the Eastern Sporades. In the Diary of the Prefecture of the Archipelago of 1886, Leros, along with the islands of Patmos, Lipsos and Fournoi, the islands administrative council was made up of both Greeks and Turks. In 1912, during the Libyan War against the Ottoman Empire, on May 12,1912, the island was seized by the sailors of the Italian Navy cruiser San Giorgio
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Aegean Sea
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The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the Greek and Anatolian peninsulas, i. e. between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles, the Aegean Islands are within the sea and some bound it on its southern periphery, including Crete and Rhodes. The sea was known as Archipelago, but in English this words meaning has changed to refer to the Aegean Islands and, generally. In ancient times, there were various explanations for the name Aegean, a possible etymology is a derivation from the Greek word αἶγες – aiges = waves, hence wavy sea, cf. also αἰγιαλός, hence meaning sea-shore. The Venetians, who ruled many Greek islands in the High and Late Middle Ages, popularized the name Archipelago, in some South Slavic languages the Aegean is often called White Sea. The Aegean Sea covers about 214,000 square kilometres in area, the seas maximum depth is 3,543 metres, east of Crete. The Aegean Islands are found within its waters, with the following islands delimiting the sea on the south, Kythera, Antikythera, Crete, Kasos, Karpathos, many of the Aegean Islands, or chains of islands, are actually extensions of the mountains on the mainland. One chain extends across the sea to Chios, another extends across Euboea to Samos, the International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Aegean Sea as follows, On the South. In the Dardanelles. A line joining Kum Kale and Cape Helles, the dense Mediterranean water sinks below the Black Sea inflow to a depth of 23–30 metres, then flows through the Dardanelles Strait and into the Sea of Marmara at velocities of 5–15 cm/s. The Black Sea outflow moves westward along the northern Aegean Sea, Aegean Sea Intermediate Water – Aegean Sea Intermediate Water extends from 40–50 m to 200–300 metres with temperatures ranging from 11–18 °C. Aegean Sea Bottom Water – occurring at depths below 500–1000 m with a uniform temperature. The current coastline dates back to about 4000 BC, before that time, at the peak of the last ice age sea levels everywhere were 130 metres lower, and there were large well-watered coastal plains instead of much of the northern Aegean. When they were first occupied, the islands including Milos with its important obsidian production were probably still connected to the mainland. The present coastal arrangement appeared c.7000 BC, with post-ice age sea levels continuing to rise for another 3,000 years after that, the subsequent Bronze Age civilizations of Greece and the Aegean Sea have given rise to the general term Aegean civilization. In ancient times, the sea was the birthplace of two ancient civilizations – the Minoans of Crete and the Mycenean Civilization of the Peloponnese, later arose the city-states of Athens and Sparta among many others that constituted the Athenian Empire and Hellenic Civilization. Plato described the Greeks living round the Aegean like frogs around a pond, the Aegean Sea was later invaded by the Persians and the Romans, and inhabited by the Byzantine Empire, the Bulgarians, the Venetians, the Genoese, the Seljuq Turks, and the Ottoman Empire. The Aegean was the site of the democracies, and its seaways were the means of contact among several diverse civilizations of the Eastern Mediterranean. Many of the islands in the Aegean have safe harbours and bays, in ancient times, navigation through the sea was easier than travelling across the rough terrain of the Greek mainland
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Decima Flottiglia MAS
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The Decima Flottiglia MAS was an Italian commando frogman unit of the Regia Marina created during the Fascist regime. The acronym MAS also refers to various light torpedo used by the Regia Marina during World War I. Decima MAS was active during the Battle of the Mediterranean and took part in a number of daring raids on Allied shipping and these operations involved surface speedboats, manned torpedoes and Gamma Frogmen. During the campaign Decima MAS took part in more than a dozen operations which sank or damaged five warships and 20 merchant ships, in 1943, after the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was ousted, Italy left the Tripartite Pact and joined the Allies. Other Xª MAS men in southern Italy or other Allied-occupied areas joined the Italian Co-Belligerent Navy as part of the Mariassalto unit and they had no underwater breathing sets, and thus had to keep their heads above water to breathe. They were discovered and taken prisoner as they attempted to leave the harbour, in the 1920s, sport spearfishing without breathing apparatus became popular on the Mediterranean coast of France and Italy. This spurred the development of modern swimfins, diving masks and snorkels, in the 1930s Italian sport spearfishermen began using industrial or submarine-escape oxygen rebreathers, starting scuba diving in Italy. This new type of diving came to the attention of the Regia Marina which founded the first special forces underwater frogman unit, later copied by the Royal Navy, the two resurrected Paoluccis and Rossettis concept of manned torpedoes. Moccagatta also created the frogman training school at the San Leopoldo base of the Italian Naval Academy in Livorno, the Decima MAS saw action starting on June 10,1940, when Fascist Italy entered World War II. In more than three years of war, the unit destroyed some 72,190 tons of Allied warships and 130,572 tons of Allied merchant ships, June 10,1940, Benito Mussolini declared war on Britain. Teseo Tesei survived the attack, but casualties among the crew were heavy. September 21,1940, The Italian submarine Gondar departed La Spezia for Alexandria, the Gondar reached Alexandria on the evening of September 30, but was spotted by British and Australian destroyers, which attacked. Severely damaged, it was forced to the surface and scuttled by the crew and they were captured, along with the Decima MAS crewmen. The operation was cancelled when the British fleet left harbour before the submarine arrived, october 21,1940, Sciré departed La Spezia and sailed again to Gibraltar carrying three manned torpedoes and four crews. The Decima MAS frogmen entered the harbour, but were unable to attack any ships due to problems with the torpedoes. Only one human torpedo managed to get close to a target, the charge exploded but did not cause significant damage. The two crewmen, Gino Birindelli and Damos Paccagnini, were captured by the British, the other four manage to reach Spain and returned to Italy. Valuable experience was gained in this operation by the Decima, Gino Birindelli received the Medaglia dOro al Valor Militare, his second, Damos Paccagnini received the Medaglia dArgento al Valore Militare
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