This Day in History

[besilarius]

1894  Although they tended to dismiss the possibility of a German move through Belgium to outflank their frontier defenses, the French were aware of the possibility, and in 1894 their Plan XII provided covering forces to impede such an attack, to buy time for the intervention of stronger forces.  Some time after 1900 they also became aware that the Germans might use reserve forces in a front line role, and although believing reservists of limited value, in the 1903 Plan XV they began to make some use of reserve formations.  The following year a German officer, possibly a general on the General Staff, sold the French a copy of the German plan of concentration, which clearly indicated a major move into Belgium.   In December 1906, after much discussion, and probably prompted in part by insider information on German wargaming earlier in the year, the French introduced Plan XV bis.  This assumed that rather than launch an immediate frontal attack from Lorraine the Germans would open hostilities by coming through Belgium, and so the French placed strong forces northwest of Verdun.  Plan XVI of 1909 placed greater emphasis on the risk of a German attack through Belgium, though still not considering that it might be the main thrust.  In 1911 Chief of the General Staff Victor-Constant Michel (1850-1937), believing that the Germans would undertake a massive movement through Belgium, proposed a new plan.  The French should hold in Alsace-Lorraine, and undertake a massive counteroffensive into the German flank in Belgium, an operation that would require extensive integration of the reserves into the active army.  The resulting uproar led to Michel’s resignation and replacement by General Joseph Joffre (1852-1931).
Joffre takes Command.  When Joffre assumed command he made some modifications to Plan XVI, but also began to think on a grander scale, seeking to return the French Army to the offensive in the event of a war.  He initially proposed a preemptive offensive into Belgium, to head off the Germans, which found absolutely no political support, since it meant that the British would never come to France’s aid.  So Joffre kept working.  The end product was Plan XVII, approved in the Spring of 1914.
Prior to Plan XVII all French war plans had been defensive, intended to blunt and then beat back a German invasion.  But for several years some French soldiers had been trying to return to an offensive doctrine.  Among them was Ferdinand Foch (1851-1929), an artilleryman.  In several books and lectures, Foch’s formula for a successful offensive doctrine involved a combination of the firepower of the later famous “French 75” and rifle fire from well trained, highly motivated infantry culminating in close assault with the bayonet.  These ideas spread, but became warped.  Some of the more ardent younger officers in the army, such as Col. Louis Loyzeau de Grandmaison (1861-1915), preached the notion that well motivated infantry were sufficient to undertake the “offensive á outrance” (arguably, “offensive to the utmost”) with the bayonet more important than the bullet or the artillery round.  Grandmaison reached the peak of his influence just about the time Joffre became chief-of-staff.  While officers like Foch, in 1914 commanding the XX corps d'armée, or Col. Philippe Pétain (1856-1951), commanding the 33e Régiment d'Infanterie, understood the relationship between firepower and spirit in the offensive, many others missed the first half of the equation.   
Plan XVII rejected a purely defensive strategy.  It was a contingency plan for an offensive-defensive strategy.  Rather than stand up to a German offensive, the French would counter it with one of their own.  To effect this, French forces were deployed in such a way as to be able to counter any of several possible German moves; once the German offensive got underway, the French would initiate a counter-offensive.
Based on French intelligence about German wargaming in 1905, Plan XVII presupposed that Germany would undertake a diversionary incursion into Belgium, while making her main effort in Lorraine, against the line Verdun-Nancy-St. Die.  So they put three armies on the German frontier, from the First Army on the right close to Switzerland to the Third Army close to Luxembourg.  The Fifth Army was posted mostly northwest of the Third, generally concentrated south and east of the frontier with Luxembourg-Belgian, to cope with the German thrust through those countries.  The Fourth Army was in reserve more or less equidistant behind the Third and Fifth; depending on what the Germans did, the Fourth Army was to move to support the troops in the threatened sector.
Like the German plan, the Plan XVII had some notable flaws.  The most important was the “offensive á outrance.”  The plan assumed that the French would respond with a vigorous counter offensive after the Germans initiated operations, but the plan included the phrase “The intention of the commander-in-chief is to deliver, with all forces assembled, an attack against the German armies,” which suggested a pre-emptive offensive.  Then there was the Grandmaisonite notion that spirited frontal attacks with the bayonet were the way to win wars.  There was also the assumption that German reserve divisions were no more effective than French ones were believed to be.  By implication, if the Germans did beef up their armies with reserve divisions in the front lines, they would actually be weakening their forces, since these troops would not be able to stand up to vigorous French infantry attacks; in 1913 French general de division Édouard de Castelnau (1851-1944), deputy chief-of-staff of the army, actually remarked that if the Germans came through Belgium in force “We’ll cut them in half.

1914. the German cruiser Emden slipped into the Sumatran port of Penang to torpedo the Russian cruiser Zhemchug, which had no one on watch, as everyone was below availing themselves of the services of some  sixty prostitutes.

[besilarius]

1704  Birth of  John Byng, English admiral, executed "to encourage the others" 1757

1790   Little Turtle and the Ohio Indians wiped out most of the US Army in the Battle of Kekionga.

1885. Death of  George B. McClellan, “Criticizing someone else always made McClellan feel better.” -- Chester G. Hearn, historian

1914         the Ottoman Empire entered World War I with a surprise naval bombardment of Sevastopol. 
Ottoman Army had not done well in the Italo-Turkish and Balkan Wars (September 1911-August 1913).  The First Balkan War (Oct. 8, 1912-May 30, 1913) had been particularly disastrous.  But the Turks learned quickly, and initiated reforms that began to tell during the Second Balkan War (June 29, 1913-August 10, 1913).  A comprehensive reform program continued through 1913 and into 1914.  This was largely the work of Turkish military reformers, though influenced by the presence a German military mission (which usually gets all the credit).  By the time the Ottomans entered the Great War, in October of 1914, the reforms had gone a long way, though they were by no means completed.
As the Great War was breaking out, in August of 1914, Turkish war planning was still largely defensive, with possible courses of action largely depending on contingencies.  The army was concentrated in five areas:
Thrace:  Very strong forces were ready to defend from threats to Constantinople by the Greeks or Bulgarians, or by sea against the Straits.
Caucasia:  Substantial forces were in eastern Anatolia to defend against a Russian offensive and to undertake local offensives if opportunity arose.
Syria:  Substantial forces were available in the event of war with Britain, to undertake an offensive against Egypt.
Southern Arabia:  An army corps was available to keep local tribes under control, and possibly threaten British held Aden.
Mesopotamia:  Several divisions were dispersed along the main river lines in a purely defensive posture. 
These dispositions changed after the Turks allied themselves with the Central Powers in mid-Autumn of 1914.

[bayonetbrant]

I may get to Ottoman Sunset here in another week or so and see how it plays out

[Sir Slash]

"Eden To Armageddon" by Roger Ford is an excellent book about WWI in the Middle East. 

[besilarius]

1780   HMS Ontario (22) sinks in Lake Ontario (found intact almost 230 years later)

1841 Fire destroys the Armoury of the Tower of London, with devastating loss of historic arms & relics

1916, the destroyer Flusser (DD-20) was cruising up the Maine coast. Although one of the oldest destroyers in the fleet, Flusser was still a relatively new vessel, having been commissioned only in 1909. Her skipper at the time was, Lt. William F. Halsey, Jr., U.S.N.
Halsey had been in the Navy only a little longer than his ship, having graduated from Annapolis in 1904. On this particular day he and Flusser chanced to be hosting the young Assistant Secretary of the Navy, one Franklin D. Roosevelt, cousin of a certain former president. As Flusser approached the narrow strait between Campobello Island and the mainland, Roosevelt observed that he knew the local waters quite well, having sailed them often, and offered to con the ship through the treacherous passage.
The offer put young Halsey between a rock and a hard place; he could refuse the offer of the Assistant Secretary, and thus possibly ruin his career, or he could accept it, in which case if “that damned yachtsman” ran the ship aground, his career would likewise be ruined. Weighing the odds, Halsey concluded that his career prospects were probably better if he acceded to Roosevelt’s suggestion, and ceded the helm to the Assistant Secretary.
Halsey’s fears for his future quickly evaporated. He would later write, “As Mr. Roosevelt made his first turn, I saw him look aft and check the swing of our stern. My worries were over; he knew his business.” Thus did Flusser make it safely through the narrow passage, and both men later go on to greater things.

1944  USS Franklin (CV 13) and USS Belleau Wood (CVL 24) are hit by a Japanese kamikaze near the Philippines. The attack on Franklin kills 56 of her crew and the attack on Belleau Wood sees 92 of her crew killed or missing. Both ships return to the U.S. for repair.

[besilarius]

1756         Giacomo Casanova escaped from the Leads in Venice, after 14 months imprisonment

1860         Lord Thomas Cochrane, 84, Earl of Dundonald, Marquess of Maranhão, British naval officer and admiral, maritime adventurer  dubbed "The Sea Wolf" by Napoleon.

1865. The Whisker Rebellion
The Civil War was unusual in a number of ways, not least of all because it was undoubtedly the hairiest conflict in the nation's history. Forthwith, some statistics on facial hair among the generals, using Ezra Warner’s canonical listing.

              Union         Confederate
Beards          391   (67.1%)   285   (67.1%)
Mustaches   101   (17.3%)   77   (18.1%)
Other Fuzz   50   (8.6%)   14   (3.3%)
Shaven           41   (7.0%)   49   (11.5%)
Total Generals   583      425   
"Beards" refers to all forms of facial hair which covers the chin, including everything from elaborate patriarchal Santa Claus types to neat little imperials.  "Mustached" refers to men who had facial hair confined to the general area of the upper lip. They likewise came in an enormous variety of thickness and lengths, some so full and long as to create the impression of a beard.  "Other Fuzz" refers to officers with muttonchops, Burnsides, and similar arrangements, which may, in fact incorporate mustaches not catalogued elsewhere, but do not include coverage of the chin.  "Shaven" refers to generals who managed to do without facial hair.  Note that in cases where a general changed his shaving habits, he has been included in the category in which he spent the greatest amount of time, so that, for example, Robert E. Lee, began the war with a trim mustache, but shortly grew his famous beard, which he wore to the end of his days.
In examining these statistics, it is curious to note that, while the percentage of bearded generals was the same for both armies, and that of mustachioed generals very nearly so, the Confederacy clearly won in the clean-shaven category, while the Union dominated in the miscellaneous facial fur category.
The most distinguished clean-shaven Rebel officer was undoubtedly Gen. Samuel Cooper, the senior-most man in the Confederate Army.  Among the Yankees four major generals of some note were clean-shaven: Joseph Hooker, Henry W. Halleck, Edward R.S. Canby, and Francis C. Barlow.

1956. The U.S. Navy lands seven men in an R4D Skytrain on the ice at the South Pole. They are the first men to stand on the South Pole since Capt. Robert F. Scott in 1912.

[bayonetbrant]

1932   The Great Emu War in Australia began and no, I'm not making that up

believe it or not, there are actually MULTIPLE games on the topic

https://www.2d6wargaming.com/products/emu-war

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1031650/Emu_War/  (OK, this one's more comedy/absurdity than a real game about the war)

play online!  https://pierrec.itch.io/the-great-emu-war

https://golosogames.itch.io/spike-ii-the-great-emu-war

PDF minis rules  https://i.4pcdn.org/tg/1458027250835.pdf

cached version of Pete Belli's homebrew  https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:LryIl8V1GScJ:https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1148657/great-emu-war-1932+&cd=30&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-b-1-d

[Doctor Quest]

Wargaming and OCD.

What could possibly go wrong?

[besilarius]

770 BC.  During the Eastern Zhou period of Chinese history (770 to 221 B.C.), battles allegedly were fought according to rigid rules of ettiquette, with personnel strictly enjoined from engaging or killing opponents who were of different social rank.

1475   Bartolomeo Colleoni, condottiero, at c. 75, Captain-General of Venice, but he had to pay for his own statue by Verrochio.

1500.   infantrymen had three different missile weapons available to them. There was the arquebus, a relatively light firearm manageable by one man, as well as the very common crossbow, and the longbow, which was mostly limited to use by the English. Technically the arquebus was inferior to both the other two weapons in range, accuracy, and rate of fire, while the longbow was generally superior to the crossbow.

Characteristics of Infantry Missile Weapons, c. 1500
Weapon   Weight   Proj Wt   "MV"   KE   RPM   Range
(kg)   (grms)   (m/sec)   (jls)      (m)
Arquebus   6.5       45   30           20   1           25
Crossbow   3.5      125   45         127   1 - 2   50
Longbow   3.0        75   45           76   2 - 6   50
Notes: Actual figures would have varied greatly from piece to piece due to the very serious lack of standardization that existed. Weight is that of the weapon proper, in kilograms, without ancillary equipment. In the case of the arquebus, such equipment frequently included a light stand in addition to tools for servicing the weapon. Proj Wt, is the weight of the missile, in grams. "MV", is the "muzzle velocity", or speed of the projectile as it leaves the weapon, expressed in meters per second. The higher this figure, the more accurate the weapon is likely to be. KE, is the kinetic energy possessed by the projectile as it leaves the weapon, expressed in joules, which suggests its hitting power . RPM is the number of rounds it was possible to fire per minute, with the lower figure being the sustainable rate of fire and the higher, the maximum. Range is the distance at which the weapon could reasonably be expected to be effective, expressed in meters. Maximum range was many times that given, though accuracy would deteriorate markedly.
The inferiority of the arquebus to the other two weapons was actually even greater than the data suggest. Since it was subject to fouling due to the build up of unburnt powder in the barrel, the effective range of the arquebus tended to decay after a few rounds. So it would certainly be reasonable to conclude that the arquebus was in every way inferior to the two older weapons. Technically, this was precisely the case.
But the arquebus possessed several advantages over its two rivals.
Relatively speaking the arquebus was cheaper than either the longbow, which had to be meticulously handcrafted from yew, and the crossbow, which required equally meticulous workmanship and rather expensive steel as well. The arquebus could be mass-produced by a foundry in fairly cheap cast iron. In addition, while the range, accuracy, and effectiveness of an arquebus round were inferior to those of the other weapons, an arquebusier could carry more ammunition than either of his competitors. Arquebus ammo weighed less than arrows or crossbow bolts, even after adding in the powder charge.
Rounds in Three Kilograms of Ammunition
Weapon   Round
Arquebus   50
Crossbow   24
Longbow   40
As a result of this difference in ammunition weight, an arquebusier could sustain fire longer than either a crossbowman or a longbowman. And ultimately it was sustained fire that won battles, more than accurate fire.

1766  Johann Josef Wenzel, Graf Radetzky von Radetz, Austrian field marshal, still winning at 82, d. 1858.   The grand old man of the Austrian empire, Radetzky was three years older than Wellington.  Appointed chief of staff after Wagram, he had served under Schwarzenberg in 1813-14.  His last victory was in 1849 when he defeated king Charles Albert of Piedmont at Novara.
Like Wellington, he was essentially a figure of the eighteenth century., with a charming Italian mistress who presented him in his eightieth year with his fourth illegitimate child.  In the closing years of his life he went gloriously, spectacularly bankrupt for the third time and was again compelled to appeal to the government to pay off his astronomical debts.
It is revealing that, when the Finance Minister protested that this would seriously affect an already unbalanced budget, he was immediately overruled by the young, commonsensical Emperor.
"It is cheaper than a lost war."
Had he managed to live one more year, he would have fought his last battle at the age of ninety-two and very likely have won it over Napoleon III.

1914         "Battle of the Bees": A British attempt to capture Tanga, German East Africa, from the sea is defeated by the 5th, partially due to counterattacks by African bees

[besilarius]

361        Junio Roman Emperor Julian (later named "the Apostate") became sole Emperor (Nov 3, 361-Jun 6, 363).
From the time Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus was granted the title Augustus, on Jan. 16, 27 B.C., until the deposition of Romulus Augustulus on September  4, A.D. 476, 81 men are more or less regarded as having served as Roman Emperor through to the end of the empire in the west.  Less than a third of these men died of natural causes.

Natural Causes
          Old Age        10        percent (including heart attacks, etc.)
          Disease        11        
          Accident        4        (includes a fall from a horse and a lightning strike)
Unnatural Causes
          Killed by mutinous troops        24        
          Assassinated by family or friends        8        
          Killed in action                                        8. (mostly against usurpers)
          Executed                                                8. (by their successors)
          Suicide                                                        7  (mostly to avoid execution by a usurper)
          Drowned while evading capture        1        
Resigned or Deposed                                      12. (deaths included above)
Now although attaining the Imperium was not likely to enhance one's chances of dying in bed of old age surrounded by one's children and grandchildren, the job never seems to have lacked for "applicants."  In addition to the canonical 81, at least 80 other men laid claim to the imperial dignity, virtually all of whom met a violent end.

1428. Thomas Montacute, 40, 4th Earl of Salisbury, of wounds from fragments of a door shattered by a cannonball on Oct 23rd during the siege of Orleans -- the first English gentleman to die by gunfire

1755. Massachusetts offers bounties for Indian scalps: £30 for Warriors, £20 for women & boys

1799 there were 539 officers in the Bavarian Army, of whom only about 48 percent (260) were noblemen and the rest commoners, while by 1811 aristocrats in the officer corps had fallen to only about 40 percent (902) of 2,243 officers.

1943. The battleship USS Oklahoma (BB 37) is refloated following months of laborious effort after being sunk during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor Dec. 7, 1941. Too old and badly damaged to be worth returning to service, Oklahoma is formally decommissioned in September 1944.

[Staggerwing]

1755. Massachusetts offers bounties for Indian scalps: £30 for Warriors, £20 for women & boys

I'm no expert (said every pundit on the internet ever) but isn't that like 2500 quid in modern pounds sterling?

[besilarius]

1791  Little Turtle and the Ohio Indians virtually annihilated a U.S. Army for the second time, in the Battle of the Wabash – “St. Clair's Defeat”.

1805   Battle of Cape Ortegal. British squadron, under Rear Admiral Sir Richard Strachan, of HMS Caesar (80), HMS Hero (74), Cptn. Hon. A. H. Gardner, HMS Courageux (74), HMS Namur (90) and four frigates, defeated and captured a French squadron, under Rear Admiral Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley, of Formidable (80), Scipion (74), Duguay-Trouin (74) and Mont Blanc (74) that had escaped from the Battle of Trafalgar two weeks previously.

1830. the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, the Congress of Vienna gave what is now Belgium to the Netherlands, recently elevated into a kingdom ruled by the House of Orange. This was a mite confusing to the Belgians. Until the early 1790s they had been owned by Austria. Then for nearly two decades they had more or less been incorporated into the French Empire. Now, rather suddenly, the Catholic Belgians were forcibly united with the Protestant Dutch. Needless to say, the Belgians were rather unhappy under Dutch rule.
August of 1830, anti-Dutch rioting broke out in Brussels.
With only 2,000 troops in the city, the Dutch were unable to suppress the uprising. As the rebels installed a temporary government in the city, the Dutch gathered reinforcements. On September 21st, 10,000 Dutch troops entered Brussels, intend on crushing the uprising. But the Belgians fought back, from windows, rooftops, and cellars, and behind improvised barricades in the streets. On the 26th the Dutch fell back on the fortress of Antwerp. On October 4th, the elated Belgians declared their independence from the Netherlands. With the help of an improvised army, the largely Belgian inhabitants of Antwerp promptly seized the city. But the citadel remained in Dutch hands, with a strong garrison under Lieut. Gen. David Henri de Chassé – who had fought both for and against France during the era of the Revolution and Napoleon. On October 27th de Chassé began a desultory bombardment of the, just to remind the Belgians that he was still there.
Now while all of this was unfolding, the great powers were by no means sitting idly by; fearful that the Belgian revolt would unleash a spasm of revolutionary activity across Europe. On November 4th, at a hastily convened conference in London, Britain, France, and Prussia, the three great powers most threatened by instability in the region, backed by Austria and Russia, ordered a cease-fire. A few weeks later the powers decreed independence for Belgium. Although this was a major break in the reactionary anti-nationalist policies which the “Concert of Europe” had been pursing since the fall of Napoleon, it was politically expedient. Neither Britain nor France nor Prussia were particularly happy over the incorporation of Belgium into the Netherlands, turning a small power into a potentially major one, while Austria, which had in pre-Revolutionary times owned Belgium, acceded to its independence as well.
Of course the Dutch, under King Wilhelm I, demurred. And Baron Chassé still held the citadel of Antwerp. Although it took a while to get organized, on August 2, 1831, the Prince of Orange led 36,000 Dutch troops with 72 guns into Belgium. The Belgians had been working hard to improvise an army. One force was at Brussels, under Gen. Nicolas Daine, while the other held Antwerp – save for its citadel, still in Dutch hands. Orange defeated Daine at Louvain on August 12th. This interposed his army between the Belgian capitol and the principal remaining Belgian force, at Antwerp. But the Dutch invasion had been taken against the distinct wishes of the Great Powers. And they weren’t called “great” for nothing.
Within days of the Dutch entry into Belgium, a French army over 60,000 strong was on the march, under Marshal Etienne Maurice Gérard, another one of Napoleon’s veterans. By October Gerard had forced the Dutch to retreat back into the Netherlands. Gérard began an investment of the citadel of Antwerp, to which Chassé still clung. Amazingly, the old general held out for more than a year. Finally, aided by the Royal Navy, the French began a close siege of the citadel in November of 1832. By the end of December Chassé had to give it up. He surrendered with the honors of war, and was later promoted to “General of Infantry.”
Chase was involved in the defense of Quatre Bras in the Waterloo campaign.
Although desultory fighting continued until a general armistice was concluded in late May 1833, the war was over.

[besilarius]

1740. One of the most famous military organizations of all time was the Prussian Army during the reign of Frederick the Great (1740-1786).
Following the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648), when various armies had marched freely across their lands, the Hohenzollern princes of Brandenburg-Prussia decided to build the most powerful army possible to defend their sprawling, poor, and sparsely populated territories. The result was a unique military establishment. On Frederick’s accession as king in 1740, Prussia, 12th in population among the European powers, with but 2.5 million people, had the fourth largest standing army, some 60,000 troops. 
Under the conscription regulations of 1733, boys were registered at the age of ten, so that the army could keep track of potential recruits. Men were drafted at 18, usually for 18 to 24 months, depending upon the arm of the service to which they were assigned. Thereafter, they went into the reserve, usually to be called up for of two or three months active duty each year, for refresher training, which could be accomplished in the “off season,” the country being heavily agricultural.
About a third of the army consisted of “foreign” personnel, non-Prussian men who had enlisted – or “crimped” – for permanent service. These men garrisoned the country’s fortresses and served as the cadres of the territorial regiments.
When on active duty, the troops were subject to a harsh discipline and a rigid routine. But this was not necessarily as onerous as is generally believed. Consider the daily routine of Prussian troops, on active duty in peacetime.

Time                Activity

0400                Reveille

0500                Morning formation

0600                Training

0730                Musket Drill

0830                Tactical Drill

1200                End of training day

Afternoon        Lunch, cleaning equipment, supper, guard mount for those assigned, etc.

2130                Curfew, summer; 2030 in winter

So even when on active duty, Prussian troops, including the “foreign” troops, were pretty much off duty for about half of each day. In addition, most troops were usually formally off duty about one day in three. During their off duty hours, Frederick’s soldiers were free to seek work or run little businesses, or visit their families, the regiments being territorially based, or engage in other activities.

1780         Little Turtle and the Miami Indians defeated the French under Augustine de la Balme near Kekionga

1945. Ensign Jake C. West, embarked with VF-51 on board USS Wake Island (CVE 65) for carrier qualifications with the FR-1 aircraft, loses power on the forward radial engine shortly after taking off, forcing him to start his rear engine. Returning to his ship, he makes a successful landing, thus becoming the first jet landing on board an aircraft carrier

[besilarius]

1494         Suleiman I "the Magnificent," greatest Ottoman Sultan (1520-1566), born.

1632         Battle of Lutzen: Swedes defeat the Imperialists

1779   HMS Quebec (32), Cptn. George Farmer (Killed in Action), engaged French frigate La Surveillante (40), off Ushant, but her sails caught fire and she blew up. Accompanying cutter HMS Rambler (10), Lt. George, engaged a French cutter Expedition but it bore away with Rambler too shattered to follow.

1866.       Prof. Arronax, Conseil, and Ned Land were captured by Capt. Nemo of the 'Nautilus'

1947. The awarding of prize was an ancient naval custom.  Essentially, the officers and men of a warship that captured an enemy vessel were allowed to divvy up the loot.  Although the complex formula governing the division of the spoils gave the lion’s share to the officers, and particularly the captain, a rich prize could easily leave even an ordinary cabin boy with a year’s pay in his pocket.
For much of its history the United States Navy awarded prize.  But in 1900 it was decided to abolish the practice, on the grounds that often those who ran the greatest risk had the least chance to claim prize.  For example, during the Spanish-American War, the men who served on blockade off Santiago and then fought the Spanish Fleet on July 3, 1898, received no prize, while the crews of some cruisers that had intercepted defenseless merchant ships on the high seas, did quite nicely.
Nevertheless, a case could be made that the U.S. Navy actually awarded prize money in 1947.  It seems that in November 1941, while on "Neutrality Patrol" in the waters between Brazil and Africa, the light cruiser Omaha (CL-4) and the destroyer Somers (DD-381) came upon a merchant ship flying the U.S. flag, and bearing "Willmoto – Philadelphia” on her stern.  As the appearance of the ship did not match the silhouette in the recognitions books, a boarding party was sent from Omaha.  The vessel turned out to be the German motorship Odenwald, on a blockade running mission.  As the Americans clambered aboard, the ship's crew tried to scuttle her, but the Yankee sailors were too quick, and quickly got things under control.
Oldenwald was taken to Puerto Rico.  An admiralty court ruled that since the ship was illegally claiming American registration, there was sufficient grounds for confiscation.  At that point, some sea lawyers got into the act.  Observing that the attempt to scuttle the ship was the equivalent of abandoning her, they claimed that the crews of the two American ships had salvage rights, to the tune of $3 million.  This led to a protracted court case, which was not settled until 1947.  At that time it was ruled that the members of the boarding party and the prize crew were entitled to $3,000 apiece, the equivalent today of over $25,000 according to the Consumer Price Index, but easily nearly twice that on the basis of the prevailing “minimum wage,” while all the other crewmen in Omaha and Somers were entitled to two months’ pay and allowances at their then current rate.
By then, both Omaha and Somers had already gone to the scrap yard.

1951.   A P2V-3 Neptune patrol bomber assigned to Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron One (VQ-1) is attacked by two Soviet La-2 fighters over the Sea of Japan, about 18 miles from the Soviet coast near Vladivostok. All 10 crewmen are lost. Three days of search and rescue operations revealed no trace of them and they are declared deceased by the Navy in 1952.

[Doctor Quest]

1866.       Prof. Arronax, Conseil, and Ned Land were captured by Capt. Nemo of the 'Nautilus'

Nice touch. I see what you did there.