1.
USS Monitor
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USS Monitor was an iron-hulled steamship. Built during the American Civil War, she was the first ironclad warship commissioned by the Union Navy, the unique design of the ship, distinguished by its revolving turret which was designed by American inventor Theodore Timby, was quickly duplicated and established the monitor type of warship. The remainder of the ship was designed by the Swedish-born engineer and inventor John Ericsson, before Monitor could reach Hampton Roads, the Confederate ironclad had destroyed the sail frigates USS Cumberland and USS Congress and had run the steam frigate USS Minnesota aground. A four-hour battle ensued, both ships pounding the other with cannon fire, although neither ship could destroy or seriously damage the other. This was the battle fought between two armored warships and marked a turning point in naval warfare. After the Confederates were forced to destroy Virginia as they withdrew in early May, on her way there she foundered while under tow, during a storm off Cape Hatteras on the last day of the year. Monitors wreck was discovered in 1973 and has been partially salvaged and her guns, gun turret, engine and other relics are on display at the Mariners Museum in Newport News, Virginia. The use of iron plating on the sides of warships was not practical until steam propulsion matured enough to carry its great weight. Developments in gun technology had progressed by the 1840s so that no practical thickness of wood could withstand the power of a shell, since there was no pressing need for such a ship at the time, there was little demand to continue work on the unfinished vessel. It was France that introduced the first operational armored ships as well as the first shell guns, the French followed those ships with the first ocean-going ironclad, the armored frigate Gloire in 1859, and the British responded with HMS Warrior. Northern newspapers published accounts of the Confederates progress in converting the Merrimack to an ironclad. Concealed in her dress was a message from a Union sympathizer who worked in the Navy Yard warning that the former Merrimack, convinced by the papers Mary was carrying he had production of Monitor sped up. Welles later recorded in his memoirs that Mrs. Louveste encountered no small risk in bringing this information, after the United States received word of the construction of Virginia, Congress appropriated $1.5 million on 3 August 1861 to build one or more armored steamships. It also ordered the creation of a board to inquire into the various designs proposed for armored ships, the Union Navy advertised for proposals for iron-clad steam vessels of war on 7 August and Welles appointed three senior officers as the Ironclad Board the following day. Their task was to examine plans for the completion of iron-clad vessels, the two first met on 9 September and again on the following day, after Ericsson had time to evaluate Galenas design. During this second meeting Ericsson showed Bushnell a model of his own design, Bushnell got Ericssons permission to show the model to Welles, who told Bushnell to show it to the board. Upon review of Ericssons unusual design, the board was skeptical, concerned that such a vessel would not float, especially in rough seas, President Lincoln, who had also examined the design, overruled them. Ericsson assured the board his ship would float exclaiming, The sea shall ride over her, on 15 September, after further deliberations, the board accepted Ericssons proposal
2.
American Civil War
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The American Civil War was an internal conflict fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865. The Union faced secessionists in eleven Southern states grouped together as the Confederate States of America, the Union won the war, which remains the bloodiest in U. S. history. Among the 34 U. S. states in February 1861, War broke out in April 1861 when Confederates attacked the U. S. fortress of Fort Sumter. The Confederacy grew to eleven states, it claimed two more states, the Indian Territory, and the southern portions of the western territories of Arizona. The Confederacy was never recognized by the United States government nor by any foreign country. The states that remained loyal, including border states where slavery was legal, were known as the Union or the North, the war ended with the surrender of all the Confederate armies and the dissolution of the Confederate government in the spring of 1865. The war had its origin in the issue of slavery. The Confederacy collapsed and 4 million slaves were freed, but before his inauguration, seven slave states with cotton-based economies formed the Confederacy. The first six to declare secession had the highest proportions of slaves in their populations, the first seven with state legislatures to resolve for secession included split majorities for unionists Douglas and Bell in Georgia with 51% and Louisiana with 55%. Alabama had voted 46% for those unionists, Mississippi with 40%, Florida with 38%, Texas with 25%, of these, only Texas held a referendum on secession. Eight remaining slave states continued to reject calls for secession, outgoing Democratic President James Buchanan and the incoming Republicans rejected secession as illegal. Lincolns March 4,1861 inaugural address declared that his administration would not initiate a civil war, speaking directly to the Southern States, he reaffirmed, I have no purpose, directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the United States where it exists. I believe I have no right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. After Confederate forces seized numerous federal forts within territory claimed by the Confederacy, efforts at compromise failed, the Confederates assumed that European countries were so dependent on King Cotton that they would intervene, but none did, and none recognized the new Confederate States of America. Hostilities began on April 12,1861, when Confederate forces fired upon Fort Sumter, while in the Western Theater the Union made significant permanent gains, in the Eastern Theater, the battle was inconclusive in 1861–62. The autumn 1862 Confederate campaigns into Maryland and Kentucky failed, dissuading British intervention, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which made ending slavery a war goal. To the west, by summer 1862 the Union destroyed the Confederate river navy, then much of their western armies, the 1863 Union siege of Vicksburg split the Confederacy in two at the Mississippi River. In 1863, Robert E. Lees Confederate incursion north ended at the Battle of Gettysburg, Western successes led to Ulysses S. Grants command of all Union armies in 1864
3.
Gun turret
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A gun turret is a location from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility, and some cone of fire. Rotating gun turrets have the protection, the weapon, and its crew rotate, when this meaning of the word turret started being used at the beginning of the 1860s, turrets were normally cylindrical. Barbettes were an alternative to turrets, with a barbette the protection was fixed, in the 1890s, armoured hoods were added to barbettes, these rotated with the platform. By the early 20th Century, these hoods were known as turrets, modern warships have gun-mountings described as turrets, though the protection on them is limited to protection from the weather. They may be manned or remotely controlled and are most often protected to some degree, the protection provided by the turret may be against battle damage, the weather conditions, general environment in which the weapon or its crew will be operating. A small turret, or sub-turret set on top of a one, is called a cupola. The term cupola is used for a rotating turret that carries a sighting device rather than weaponry. Before the development of large-calibre, long-range guns in the mid-19th century, firepower was provided by a large number of guns, each of which could traverse only in a limited arc. Additionally casemate mounts had to be recessed into the side of a vessel to afford a wide arc of fire, designs for a rotating gun turret date back to the late 18th century. The Lady Nancy proved a success and Coles patenting his rotating turret design after the war. Coless aim was to create a ship with the greatest possible all round arc of fire, the Admiralty accepted the principle of the turret gun as a useful innovation, and incorporated it into other new designs. Coles submitted a design for a ship having ten domed turrets each housing two large guns, the design was rejected as impractical, although the Admiralty remained interested in turret ships and instructed its own designers to create better designs. Coles enlisted the support of Prince Albert, who wrote to the first Lord of the Admiralty, in January 1862, the Admiralty agreed to construct a ship, the HMS Prince Albert which had four turrets and a low freeboard, intended only for coastal defence. While Coles designed the turrets the ship was the responsibility of the chief Constructor Isaac Watts, another ship using Coles turret designs, HMS Royal Sovereign, was completed in August 1864. Its existing broadside guns were replaced with four turrets on a flat deck, early ships like the Royal Sovereign had little sea-keeping qualities being limited to coastal waters. Sir Edward James Reed, went on to design and build HMS Monarch, laid down in 1866 and completed in June 1869, it carried two turrets, although the inclusion of a forecastle and poop prevented the turret guns firing fore and aft. The gun turret was independently invented by the Swedish inventor John Ericsson in America, Ericsson designed the USS Monitor in 1861, its most prominent feature being a large cylindrical gun turret mounted amidships above the low-freeboard upper hull, also called the raft. This extended well past the sides of the lower, more traditionally shaped hull, a small armoured pilot house was fitted on the upper deck towards the bow, however, its position prevented Monitor from firing her guns straight forward
4.
Brown-water navy
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These mother ships include converted World War II-era LCMs and LSTs, among other vessels. Brown-water navies are contrasted with seaworthy blue-water navies, which can conduct operations in open ocean. After losing its blue-water fleet in the Battle of Copenhagen, the kingdom of Denmark-Norway quickly built a brown-water navy, the partial successes of the resulting Gunboat War were undone by land invasion. The term brown-water navy originated in the American Civil War, of 1861–1865, in the early days of the war, U. S. Army built and crewed these boats, with the naval officers commanding them being the only direct connection to the U. S. Navy. By the autumn of 1862, the boats and their mission were transferred to the Department of the Navy. Because of the rivers murky brown water, the ships participated in these Mississippi campaigns were quickly referred to as the brown-water navy. After the end of the American civil war the next major conflict in the world was the Paraguayan War. In this the Brazilian brown-water navy, which comprised large ironclads as well as monitors, had a crucial role. The natural highway to the Republic of Paraguay was the River Paraguay and it comprised a 6,000 feet line of artillery batteries overlooking a sharp concave bend in the river, at a point where the channel was only 200 yards wide. A chain boom could be raised to block the navigation, the fortress was exceedingly hard to take from the landward side for it was protected by impassible swamp, marsh or lagoons and, where not, by 8 miles of trenches with a garrison of 18,000 men. The river was shallow, uncharted and capable of trapping large vessels if the water level should fall, in that environment the greatest threat to shipping was torpedoes. Six vessels of the Brazilian ironclad squadron eventually succeeded in dashing past Humaitá in an incident known as the Passage of Humaitá, even after Humaitá was captured − which took more than two years – the Paraguayans improvised further strongpoints along the river, further delaying the Allies. Save for a river patrol boat, the United States river ironclad navy was all. Yet the concept of a defense force lived on in countries and regions where rivers enabled the U. S. to project its military presence. The U. S. Navy of that era used the term for protecting U. S. foreign policy, the U. S. Navy, China gunboat, USS Asheville, was sunk, by the Japanese, in March 1942. They have succeeded the river created in 1945, by the request of General Leclerc. The Dinassaut served until the end of the conflict in 1955, ten Dinassauts were created, with five based in Cochinchina and the others in Tonkin. Each one was made of ten vessels and one Commandos Marine unit
5.
Royal Navy
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The Royal Navy is the United Kingdoms naval warfare force. Although warships were used by the English kings from the medieval period. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century, from the middle decades of the 17th century and through the 18th century, the Royal Navy vied with the Dutch Navy and later with the French Navy for maritime supremacy. From the mid 18th century it was the worlds most powerful navy until surpassed by the United States Navy during the Second World War. The Royal Navy played a key part in establishing the British Empire as the world power during the 19th. Due to this historical prominence, it is common, even among non-Britons, following World War I, the Royal Navy was significantly reduced in size, although at the onset of the Second World War it was still the worlds largest. By the end of the war, however, the United States Navy had emerged as the worlds largest, during the Cold War, the Royal Navy transformed into a primarily anti-submarine force, hunting for Soviet submarines, mostly active in the GIUK gap. The Royal Navy is part of Her Majestys Naval Service, which includes the Royal Marines. The professional head of the Naval Service is the First Sea Lord, the Defence Council delegates management of the Naval Service to the Admiralty Board, chaired by the Secretary of State for Defence. The strength of the fleet of the Kingdom of England was an important element in the power in the 10th century. English naval power declined as a result of the Norman conquest. Medieval fleets, in England as elsewhere, were almost entirely composed of merchant ships enlisted into service in time of war. Englands naval organisation was haphazard and the mobilisation of fleets when war broke out was slow, early in the war French plans for an invasion of England failed when Edward III of England destroyed the French fleet in the Battle of Sluys in 1340. Major fighting was confined to French soil and Englands naval capabilities sufficed to transport armies and supplies safely to their continental destinations. Such raids halted finally only with the occupation of northern France by Henry V. Henry VII deserves a large share of credit in the establishment of a standing navy and he embarked on a program of building ships larger than heretofore. He also invested in dockyards, and commissioned the oldest surviving dry dock in 1495 at Portsmouth, a standing Navy Royal, with its own secretariat, dockyards and a permanent core of purpose-built warships, emerged during the reign of Henry VIII. Under Elizabeth I England became involved in a war with Spain, the new regimes introduction of Navigation Acts, providing that all merchant shipping to and from England or her colonies should be carried out by English ships, led to war with the Dutch Republic. In the early stages of this First Anglo-Dutch War, the superiority of the large, heavily armed English ships was offset by superior Dutch tactical organisation and the fighting was inconclusive
6.
Monitor (warship)
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A monitor was a relatively small warship which was neither fast nor strongly armoured but carried disproportionately large guns. They were used by some navies from the 1860s, during the First World War, during the Vietnam War they were used by the United States Navy. The Brazilian Navys Parnaíba is the last monitor in service, the original monitor was designed by John Ericsson in 1861 who named it USS Monitor. They were designed for waters and served as coastal ships. The term monitor also encompassed more flexible breastwork monitors, and was used as a generic term for any turreted ship. The term monitor also encompasses the strongest of riverine warcraft, known as river monitors, the Lord Clive vessels were scrapped in the 1920s. In Latin, a monitor is someone who admonishes—that is, reminds others of their duties—which is how USS Monitor was given its name. She was designed by John Ericsson for emergency service in the Federal navy during the American Civil War to blockade the Confederate States from supply at sea. Ericsson designed her to operate in water and to present as small a target as possible. Nathaniel Hawthorne described Monitor thus, At no great distance from the Minnesota lay the strangest-looking craft I ever saw, going on board, we were surprised at the extent and convenience of her interior accommodations. Forward, or aft, the crew are relatively quite as well provided for as the officers and it was like finding a palace, with all its conveniences, under the sea. A storm of cannon-shot damages them no more than a handful of dried peas, nothing, however, can exceed the confidence of the officers in this new craft. Yet even this will not long be the last and most terrible improvement in the science of war, the Battle of Hampton Roads, between Monitor and CSS Virginia, was the first engagement between ironclad vessels. Several such battles took place during the course of the American Civil War, however, fortification bombardment was another critical role that the early monitors played, though one that these early designs were much less capable in performing. She was followed by 14 more monitors, one of them, Kanonbåten Sölve, served until 1922 and is today preserved at the Maritiman marine museum in Gothenburg. Ericsson and others experimented greatly during the years of the American Civil War, vessels constructed included a triple-turreted monitor, a class of paddlewheel-propelled monitors, a class of semi-submersible monitors, and a class of monitors armed with spar torpedoes. In the 1860s and 1870s several nations built monitors that were used for coastal defense and those that were directly modelled on Monitor were low-freeboard, mastless, steam-powered vessels with one or two rotating, armoured turrets. The low freeboard meant that ships were unsuitable for ocean-going duties and were always at risk of swamping, flooding
7.
Machine gun
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A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm designed to fire bullets in quick succession from an ammunition belt or magazine, typically at a rate of 300 to 1800 rounds per minute. Note that not all fully automatic firearms are machine guns, submachine guns, rifles, assault rifles, shotguns, pistols or cannons may be capable of fully automatic fire, but are not designed for sustained fire. Many machine guns also use belt feeding and open bolt operation, unlike semi-automatic firearms, which require one trigger pull per round fired, a machine gun is designed to fire for as long as the trigger is held down. Nowadays the term is restricted to heavy weapons, able to provide continuous or frequent bursts of automatic fire for as long as ammunition lasts. Machine guns are used against personnel, aircraft and light vehicles, or to provide suppressive fire. Some machine guns have in practice sustained fire almost continuously for hours, because they become very hot, practically all machine guns fire from an open bolt, to permit air cooling from the breech between bursts. They also usually have either a barrel cooling system, slow-heating heavyweight barrel, although subdivided into light, medium, heavy or general-purpose, even the lightest machine guns tend to be substantially larger and heavier than standard infantry arms. Medium and heavy guns are either mounted on a tripod or on a vehicle, when carried on foot. Medium machine guns use full-sized rifle rounds and are designed to be used from fixed positions mounted on a tripod. 50in, the M249 automatic rifle is operated by an automatic rifleman, but its ammunition may be carried by other Soldiers within the squad or unit. The M249 machine gun is a crew-served weapon, Machine guns usually have simple iron sights, though the use of optics is becoming more common. Many heavy machine guns, such as the Browning M2.50 caliber machine gun, are enough to engage targets at great distances. During the Vietnam War, Carlos Hathcock set the record for a shot at 7382 ft with a.50 caliber heavy machine gun he had equipped with a telescopic sight. This led to the introduction of.50 caliber anti-materiel sniper rifles, selective fire rifles firing a full-power rifle cartridge from a closed bolt are called automatic rifles or battle rifles, while rifles that fire an intermediate cartridge are called assault rifles. Unlocking and removing the spent case from the chamber and ejecting it out of the weapon as bolt is moving rearward Loading the next round into the firing chamber. Usually the recoil spring tension pushes bolt back into battery and a cam strips the new round from a feeding device, cycle is repeated as long as the trigger is activated by operator. Releasing the trigger resets the trigger mechanism by engaging a sear so the weapon stops firing with bolt carrier fully at the rear, the operation is basically the same for all autoloading firearms, regardless of the means of activating these mechanisms. Most modern machine guns use gas-operated reloading, a recoil actuated machine gun uses the recoil to first unlock and then operate the action. Machine guns such as the M2 Browning and MG42, are of this type, a cam, lever or actuator demultiplicates the energy of the recoil to operate the bolt
8.
Battle of Mobile Bay
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This was followed by a reduction of the Confederate fleet to a single vessel, ironclad CSS Tennessee. Tennessee did not then retire, but engaged the entire Northern fleet, Tennessees armor enabled her to inflict more injury than she received, but she could not overcome the imbalance in numbers. She was eventually reduced to a hulk and surrendered, ending the battle. With no Navy to support them, the three forts also surrendered within days, complete control of lower Mobile Bay thus passed to the Union forces. Mobile is situated near the head of Mobile Bay, a natural harbor formed where the Mobile, the bay is about 33 mi long, the lower bay is about 23 mi at its greatest width. It is deep enough to accommodate ocean-going vessels in the lower half without dredging, above the mouth of Dog River the water becomes shoal, so deep-draft vessels could not approach the city. The mouth of the bay is marked on the east by a narrow peninsula of sand, Mobile Point, that separates Bon Secour Bay. The point ends at the channel into Mobile Bay. Across the entrance, the line of the peninsula is continued in a series of barrier islands, northwest of Dauphin Island is Little Dauphin Island, then a series of minor islands that are interrupted by a secondary entrance to the bay, Grants Pass. A few other islands and shoals lie to the south of Dauphin Island. Rather early in the war, the Confederate government decided not to defend its entire coast, following the loss of New Orleans in April 1862, Mobile was the only major port on the eastern gulf that would be defended. The city subsequently became the center for blockade running on the gulf, most of the trade between the Confederacy and Havana and other Caribbean ports passed through Mobile. A few attempts were mounted to break the blockade, but they were not large enough to have lasting impact, although the orders given to Flag Officer David G. Given respite by the Union strategy, the Confederate Army improved the defenses of Mobile Bay by strengthening Fort Morgan, in addition, they set up Fort Powell, a smaller work that guarded the Grants Pass channel. Grants Pass was also obstructed by a set of piles and other impediments, Mobile and Mobile Bay were within the Department of Alabama, Mississippi and East Louisiana, led by Major General Dabney H. Maury. Local command was entrusted to Brigadier General Richard L. Page, the primary contribution of the Confederate Army to the defense of Mobile Bay was the three forts. Fort Morgan was a structure dating from 1834. The fort mounted 46 guns, of which 11 were rifled, across the main channel from Fort Morgan on Dauphin Island was Fort Gaines, containing 26 guns, and with a garrison of about 600
9.
Landing Craft Mechanized
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The landing craft mechanized also landing craft mechanical is a landing craft designed for carrying vehicles. They came to prominence during the Second World War when they were used to land troops or tanks during Allied amphibious assaults. There was no design of LCM used, unlike the landing craft, vehicle, personnel or landing craft assault landing craft made by the US. There were several different designs built by the UK and US, the British motor landing craft was conceived and tested in the 1920s and was used from 1924 in exercises. It was the first purpose built landing craft. It was the progenitor of all subsequent LCM designs, the landing craft, mechanised Mark I was an early British model. It was able to be slung under the davits of a liner or on a cargo ship boom with the result that it was limited to a 16-ton tank, the LCM Mark I was used during the Allied landings in Norway, and at Dieppe and some 600 were built. Displacement,35 tonnes Length,13.6 m Width,4.27 m Draught,1.22 m Machinery, approximately 150 were built by American Car & Foundry and Higgins Industries. A Higgins LCM-3 is on display at the Battleship Cove maritime museum in Fall River, outwardly, the LCM was almost completely identical to a late model LCM - the difference lay inside the pontoon. Here special bilge pumps and special ballast tanks allowed the LCM to alter trim to increase stability when partially loaded, British model of LCM An LCM extended by 6 feet amidships. Many were later adapted as armoured troop carriers for the Mobile Riverine Force in the Vietnam War, power plant,2 Detroit 6-71 diesel engines,348 hp sustained, twin shaft, or 2 Detroit 8V-71 diesel engines,460 hp sustained, twin shaft Length,56
10.
M79 grenade launcher
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The M79 can fire a wide variety of 40 mm rounds, including explosive, anti-personnel, smoke, buckshot, flechette, and illumination. While largely replaced by the M203, the M79 has remained in service in many units worldwide in niche roles, project Niblick created the 40 x 46 mm grenade, but was unable to create a satisfactory launcher for it that could fire more than a single shot. The other design was a single-shot break-open, shoulder-fired weapon, the S-3 and this was refined into the S-5, which resembled an oversized single-barrel shotgun. Unable to solve the problems with the multi-shot T148 launcher, the Army adopted the S-5 as the XM79, with a new sight, the XM79 was officially adopted as the M79 on December 15,1960. In 1961, the first M79 grenade launchers were delivered to the US Army, owing to its ease of use, reliability, and firepower, the M79 became popular among American soldiers, who dubbed it the platoon leaders artillery. Some soldiers would cut down the stock and barrel to make the M79 even more portable, M79s were assigned to the specialist 4 grenadier in both 4-5-man fire teams organic to an Army rifle squad headed by a squad leader. The Marines assigned one grenadier to their three-fire team 14-man rifle squad, however, its single-shot nature was a serious drawback. Reloading after every shot meant a slow rate of fire and an inability to keep up a constant volume of fire during a firefight and this led the Navy to develop the China Lake Grenade Launcher, which a were produced for deployed SEAL Teams. For close-in situations, the minimum arming range and the blast radius meant a grenadier had to use his.45 cal. pistol, or fire and hope that the grenade acted as a giant slow bullet. Special grenades for close-in fighting were created to compensate, though a soldier was not always able to one in the heat of battle. Moreover, its meant that a soldier with an M79 could be only a grenadier. Some grenadiers opted to carry a slung M16 rifle in lieu of a pistol, the XM148 was plagued with problems and the project was dropped. The M203 was a success, and was standardized in 1969, it had replaced the M79 by the end of the war, though M79s were still used in Reserve and National Guard units. Some US Navy SEALs and Army Special Forces in Iraq have been using the M79 in recent years, due to its greater accuracy. The M79 has seen limited use during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The fore-end assembly beds the barrel to the receiver, the stock is made out of wood or fiberglass. A rubber pad affixed to the buttstock absorbs some recoil, the front sight is a fixed blade. The rear sight on the M79 is a folding ladder-style leaf-type sight, when folded, the leaf sight acts as a fixed sight for close range
11.
Amur River
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The Amur River or Heilong Jiang is the worlds tenth longest river, forming the border between the Russian Far East and Northeastern China. The largest fish species in the Amur is the kaluga, attaining a length as great as 5.6 metres, historically, it was common to refer to a river simply as water. The word for water is similar in a number of Asiatic languages, mul in Korean, muren in Mongolian, the name Amur may have evolved from a root word for water, coupled with a size modifier for Big Water. The Chinese name for the river, Heilong Jiang, means Black Dragon River in Chinese, and its Mongolian name, Khar mörön, means Black River. The river rises in the hills in the part of Northeast China at the confluence of its two major affluents, the Shilka River and the Ergune River, at an elevation of 303 metres. It flows east forming the border between China and Russia, and slowly makes an arc to the southeast for about 400 kilometres, receiving many tributaries. At Huma, it is joined by a tributary, the Huma River. Afterwards it continues to south until between the cities of Blagoveschensk and Heihe, it widens significantly as it is joined by the Zeya River. At the confluence with the Songhua the river turns northeast, now flowing towards Khabarovsk, now the river spreads out dramatically into a braided character, flowing north-northeast through a wide valley in eastern Russia, passing Amursk and Komsomolsk-on-Amur. The valley narrows after about 200 kilometres and the river flows north onto plains at the confluence with the Amgun River. Shortly after, the Amur turns sharply east and into an estuary at Nikolayevsk-on-Amur, in many historical references these two geopolitical entities are known as Outer Manchuria and Inner Manchuria, respectively. The Chinese province of Heilongjiang on the bank of the river is named after it. The name Black River was used by the Manchu and the Ta-tsing Empire who regarded this river as sacred, the Amur River is an important symbol of, and geopolitical factor in, Chinese–Russian relations. The Amur was especially important in the following the Sino–Soviet political split in the 1960s. For many centuries the Amur Valley was populated by the Tungusic and Mongol people, for many of them, fishing in the Amur and its tributaries was the main source of their livelihood. Until the 17th century, these people were not known to the Europeans, and little known to the Han Chinese, the term Yupi Dazi was used for the Nanais and related groups as well, owing to their traditional clothes made of fish skins. This Ming Dynasty Aigun was located on the bank to the later Aigun that was relocated during the Qing Dynasty. In any event, the Ming presence on the Amur was as short-lived as it was tenuous, soon after the end of the Yongle era, Russian Cossack expeditions led by Vassili Poyarkov and Yerofey Khabarov explored the Amur and its tributaries in 1643–44 and 1649–51, respectively
12.
Imperial Russian Navy
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It was expanded in the second half of the 18th century and by the early part of the 19th century had reached its peak strength, only behind the British and French fleets in terms of size. The First World War was mixed for the navy, with the Germans generally gaining the upper hand in the Baltic but the Black Sea falling under Russian control. The Russian Revolution marked the end of the Imperial Navy with its sailors fighting on both sides and its surviving ships forming the core of the Soviet Navy upon its creation in 1918. Under Tsar Mikhail I, construction of the first three-masted ship actually built within Russia was completed in 1636 and it was built in Balakhna by Danish shipbuilders from Holstein according to European design and was christened Frederick. During its maiden voyage on the Caspian Sea, Frederick sailed into a storm and was lost at sea. A boyar named Afanasy Ordin-Nashchokin founded a shipyard at Tsarevich-Dmitriev fortress, in 1661, however, Russia was once again forced to abide by the harsh terms of a treaty, this time the Peace of Cardis. Russia agreed to surrender to Sweden all captured territories, and all constructed at Tsarevich-Dmitriev were ordered destroyed. Boyar Ordin-Nashchyokin, not grieving long over defeat, turned his attention to the Volga River, with the Tsars approval, the boyar brought Dutch shipbuilding experts to the town of Dedinovo near the confluence of the Oka and Volga Rivers. Shipbuilding commenced in the winter of 1667, within two years, four vessels had been completed, one 22-gun galley, christened Орёл, and three smaller ships. The ill-fated Frederick had been a Holstein vessel, Орёл became Russias first own three-masted, European-designed sailing ship, the ship was captured in Astrakhan by rebellious Cossacks led by Stepan Razin. The Cossacks ransacked Орёл and abandoned it, half-submerged, in an estuary of the Volga, unquestionably, the most celebrated Russian explorer was Semyon Dezhnev, who, in 1648, sailed the entire length of present-day Russia by way of the Arctic Ocean. Rounding the Chukotsk Peninsula, Dezhnev passed through the Bering Sea, the creation of the regular Russian Navy took place during the reign of Peter the Great. During the Second Azov campaign of 1696 against Turkey, the Russians employed for the first time 2 warships,4 fireships,23 galleys and 1300 strugs, built on the Voronezh River. After the occupation of the Azov fortress, the Boyar Duma looked into Peters report of military campaign. This date is considered the birthday of the regular Russian Navy. During the Great Northern War of 1700-1721, the Russians built the Baltic Fleet, the construction of the oared fleet took place in 1702-1704 at several shipyards. From 1703-1723, the base of the Baltic Fleet was located in Saint Petersburg. The bases were created in Reval and in Vyborg after it was ceded from Sweden after the war of 1741-43
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