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Author Topic: This Day in History  (Read 199906 times)

mirth

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Reply #270 on: December 22, 2019, 12:34:05 PM
Quite true

Being able to Google shit better than your clients is a legit career skill.


mirth

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Reply #271 on: December 24, 2019, 12:28:06 PM

Being able to Google shit better than your clients is a legit career skill.


mirth

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Reply #272 on: December 30, 2019, 12:48:31 PM

Being able to Google shit better than your clients is a legit career skill.


bob48

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Reply #273 on: December 30, 2019, 01:17:14 PM
Tin can on a shingle.

“O Lord God, let me not be disgraced in my old days.”

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mirth

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Reply #274 on: December 30, 2019, 01:23:16 PM
Tin can on a shingle.

Or "cheesebox on a raft"

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bob48

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Reply #275 on: December 30, 2019, 01:34:12 PM
Tin can on a shingle.

I seem to remember reading somewhere that Lincoln called it this when he first saw it.

“O Lord God, let me not be disgraced in my old days.”

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bbmike

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Reply #276 on: December 30, 2019, 02:05:45 PM
 “You would make a ship sail against the winds and currents by lighting a bonfire under her decks? I have no time for such nonsense.”
― Napoleon Bonaparte

"My life is spent in one long effort to escape from the commonplace of existence."
-Sherlock Holmes

My Own Worst Enemy


bob48

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Reply #277 on: December 30, 2019, 02:06:56 PM
Quite right, too.

“O Lord God, let me not be disgraced in my old days.”

'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers'


Sir Slash

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Reply #278 on: December 30, 2019, 07:35:30 PM
A Tin Can with big-ass guns on a shingle. I remember reading somewhere that if the Monitor had shells instead of round cannon balls, she would have sunk the Virginia. Don't know if that's true or not, but possible.

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besilarius

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Reply #279 on: December 30, 2019, 07:54:10 PM
Because the officials in Washington were frightened of this new technology,. the Monitor fired it's Dahlgren cannon with HALF strength charges of gunpowder. 
Even so, the hits cracked the Virginia's barbette and wrecked much of the internal structure.  Full strength charges would have done much more damage.

"These things must be done delicately-- or you hurt the spell."  - The Wicked Witch of the West.
"We've got the torpedo damage temporarily shored up, the fires out and soon will have the ship back on an even keel. But I would suggest, sir, that if you have to take any more torpedoes, you take 'em on the starboard side."   Pops Healy, DCA USS Lexington.


mirth

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Reply #280 on: December 31, 2019, 02:41:36 PM

Being able to Google shit better than your clients is a legit career skill.


besilarius

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Reply #281 on: January 01, 2020, 02:19:45 PM
The Royal Navy burns Norfolk, Va.

Late in 1775 Brig. Gen. William Woodford was campaigning in southeastern Virginia with about a thousand men, mostly from Colonel Robert Howe’s 2nd North Carolina. The American intention was to eject British Governor Lord Dunmore from the Norfolk area. On December 9th, they drove Lord Dunmore’s slender forces – he only had about 200 men – from the town of Norfolk in the Battle of Great Bridge. Dunmore sought refuge aboard some ships of the Royal Navy that were lying offshore. These were shortly reinforced by the 28-gun frigate HMS Liverpool, commanded by Captain Henry Bellew.

On Christmas Eve, Captain Bellow sent a party ashore under a flag of truce, requesting fresh provisions for his ships. As the British ships were quite powerful, and the American forces quite weak, the request put Woodford and Howe in a quandary; as they didn’t want to provoke an attack, yet they also didn’t want to provide supplies to the enemy. They resolved the problem in a rather solomonic fashion; they refused to provide fresh provisions for the British squadron, but supplied Bellew with various delicacies for his personal table.

Of course, hostilities could at best only be postponed. On December 29th, Bellew sent Howe a courteous letter. After the usual opening pleasantries, Bellew noted that although he much preferred avoiding so unpleasant a task, “the honor of my commission” required that he undertake an attack, because it was his duty to suppress armed rebellion against the Crown.

In an equally courteous reply, Colonel Howe noted that his high regard for Bellew’s honor naturally prevented him from asking that the attack be called off, but allowed as how Bellow would naturally understand that he would “be unworthy of the respect of a man of your character” if he did not, of course, resist the attack.

The attack came on January 1, 1776. Covered by the guns of HMS Liverpool and the other ships, Bellew landed a strong party of sailors, marines, and soldiers. Although unable to seize Norfolk, the British managed to torch the town before retiring on their ships. A few days later Lord Dunmore, Captain Bellew, and the rest of the British force sailed away.

"These things must be done delicately-- or you hurt the spell."  - The Wicked Witch of the West.
"We've got the torpedo damage temporarily shored up, the fires out and soon will have the ship back on an even keel. But I would suggest, sir, that if you have to take any more torpedoes, you take 'em on the starboard side."   Pops Healy, DCA USS Lexington.


besilarius

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Reply #282 on: January 07, 2020, 09:15:58 AM
1762.  The English cabinet gives the order that results in The sack of Havana.
"Ow, the Loot! Bloomin' Loot!"

Looting is an ancient military tradition. Of course most modern armies - at least those of major powers - frown upon the practice. So while some informal plundering does still occur, there is nothing like the organized distribution of goodies which once was a normal consequence of victory. Navies, which had less of an opportunity for plunder than armies, formalized the distribution of "prize" to a remarkable degree. As David Dixon Porter, America's second admiral put it "Armies loot, navies take prize."

One of the most impressive hauls ever made was a result of the British capture of Havana during the Seven Years' War.

In early 1762 the British government decided to seize Havana from Spain. To accomplish this feat a fleet of 26 ships-of-the-line, 15 frigates, a number of smaller warships, and 150 merchantmen, was fitted out, manned by 27,000 seamen and troops, under the command of Lord Albemarle. The expedition sailed from England in March. D-Day was on June 6th, and the landings achieved complete surprise. By June 20th, Albemarle had invested the city. The siege lasted 40 days, as the outnumbered defenders put up a lively resistance. As always, disease inflicted greater losses than did combat. However, having mastery of the seas, the British were able to bring in volunteer reinforcements from the colonies in North America and Jamaica. Finally, on August 13th the city surrendered. Now came the good part.

The amount of booty was enormous - even including a dozen ships-of-the-line. All the booty was all meticulously calculated and then divided up among the participants according to a complex formula. The results of "divvying up the loot" can be seen below.
Prize Awarded
Naval Personnel                           Army Personnel
Admiral-in-Chief   £122,697   General-in-Chief   £122,697
Commodores   24,539            Lieutenants-Generals   24,539
Captains   1,600                   Major Generals   6,816
Lieutenants   234                           Field Officers   564
Warrant Officers   118                   Captains   184
Petty Officers   17 5s                   Subalterns   116
Common Seamen   3 14s 9d   Sergeants   8 18s 8d
Boys   1 5s 3d                           Corporals   6 16s 6d
                                                        Other Ranks   4 1s 8d

Trying to estimate how much all this loot was actually worth is rather difficult, though not impossible. On paper, in 2001 the pound is worth about 30 times what it was worth back in 1762. So a common seaman's take would be about a hundred pounds in modern money. But that's barely $150, mere chump change. In fact, none of the purported systems of converting money from earlier times to that of the present - including the Consumer Price Index - works very well, due to changes in the cost, quality, and type of goods we buy, as well as changing standards of living and occupation.

Consider it another way.

In the mid-eighteenth century a private in the British Army was paid a bit more than £18 a year ("A shilling a day, bloomin' good pay."), though various deductions were made from this for uniform allowances and such, which actually left him with £7, 7s, and 7d. Still, £18 is just a little short of the £20 and one penny that Charles Dickens seems to have considered adequate to support a small family with lower middle class pretensions.

Officers of course, did a lot better. Depending upon rank, their shares of the booty were often greater by several degrees of magnitude than their regular salaries. So both enlisted men and officers had considerable incentive to go on campaign.
« Last Edit: January 07, 2020, 09:45:12 AM by besilarius »

"These things must be done delicately-- or you hurt the spell."  - The Wicked Witch of the West.
"We've got the torpedo damage temporarily shored up, the fires out and soon will have the ship back on an even keel. But I would suggest, sir, that if you have to take any more torpedoes, you take 'em on the starboard side."   Pops Healy, DCA USS Lexington.


mirth

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Reply #283 on: January 08, 2020, 11:15:12 AM

Being able to Google shit better than your clients is a legit career skill.


Martok

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Reply #284 on: January 08, 2020, 11:46:31 PM
Badass.  :2thumbs: 

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