Randolph (CVA 15) - Naval Cruise Book

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TOULON I I 1. E.. I . s m ' ,x 1 X f I A v Il X I , X xxx Il X , ,I I 1 7 1 . :i , , S A ., 1' Nxz 1 x '-11 I X ' N 1x2-.. z,. .- ' .7' 1 sX.' . x -+A mf . 1 : x , X ag, :- , . 'Q ' , I E u'.'.'3' 3 5. . N 'i ,X : ' xx-..-07' .Q..2' '-1:I gf. ' f' Q Y Q Q23 ..-if' -- . 'la 'I E I N -is U ..,X.:..: O .I fl 4 - xx 5.5, 9 ' 32.4, Q a 'ia' f X TG EL -.aw ' ' ' ':f1. ll: If JUNE ,X Q .f-.a:I. PV -was 9 Q 2 ',...:1z:: .2 1 '51 23 v 6 , ' 5: Lg ,, 'ix 4,125 o e Q fff ' nt. - xx X 1 ' N. .- '-P- ' '3'-3. - x::T'-N NNN Q ,-.--f I n',, NI -. X '---- -- - -- -v I f I . 'I-..-sp MALTA xx XX 'I ,f I un, xxx N-N..,.,--,,,f' I ue JUNE! Nc, X ,' as FN- X , , ,I ' x ,,-' 1 ----- BRITISH en N-cs i ,J 'f:5.:. ' N-NN 'X '17-I AUG .I 'i ' NN N fre. FRENCH ' SCALE KMIJ 200 400 600 n,:,f, Nl... '---r- -11' ,.., -4 :FALEXANDRIA ze JUNE The Sea Chase Having come this far he resolved to search the eastern shore, although he was not optimistic. His luck was very bad again, for had he turned back immediately he would have run into the heart of the French fleet. lt had actually left Malta on I9 -Iune, giving it only three days lead instead of six, and Nelson's fast war- ships had passed the slowytransports hull- .,..x X K i xx--Wy' ,fl down over the horizon in the night. Nel- I 'MJ xxx 'N ff! son had arrived at Alexandria on 28 June, I , H ,,,. ,,,, 5 ,XX F' at which time the French were right behind .wif ND XX- him. Nelson returned to Sicily on 18 July, l-X a whole month gone by without a scrap of 1' A Xxx. ,,' information. Four days were spent replen- rjzf' fxxx XI ' ,,,' ishing, still without news, during which R, f.f'N,X SHOAL WATER X-I ' nflflf time Nelson concluded that if there were -'mx all in 'N'--XX. IFN-f rr ,cfflf I no news at Sicily the French must indeed Lx I A Xi k 'm'F i7Z5 - ,ll I' I : have sailed to the East. xx, .ff T! iff, Il I' f F l It was part of Nelson's genius that he was ,..,. 5 I i I I i more than willing to sail to the ends of the I li B l : I l : earth to find the enemy. Later, before Tra- .ff Il s Xxx I I I : I lalgar, he was to chase the French across the I! I ' NI Q 1 I I I Atlantic to the XfVest Indies and back again Ii lx i B 5 I I I before succeeding in bringing them to ac- xxxx I I : tion. Now he sailed back again to the East. X I3 ' I I this time going by way of Greece. There I' I he learned that Napoleon was invading N 0 I I Egypt, and again he rushed to Alexandria. G, 6 I' This time the British were elated to find If the harbor full of French shipping, until 0 I they realized that the ships there were all ,f transports and merchantmen, the French 0 f fleet was gone. Nelson was heart-broken: . Q f - -I he had given Napoleon more than a month BRIIHSH 0 ls i'N ! in which to conquer Egypt, and had al- Q FRENCH 0 I' ,fy lowed the fleet to get off scot-free. W'ith- -,-' ff' Ollt much hope, the British continued cast, 0 I LVN ,lf--Nw ,ff I-.-.X ,KW 0 N .1 1' f' X' l H3 .... r 1 K f - 'I

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I of world history was expanding rapidly. The develop- ment of tht sea-going ship to replace the land-bound galley played at great part in this expansion. 'l'he gal- ley could not carry more than three or four day's sup- ply of water for its crew, but the ship could remain at sea for months. Naval strategy and tactics were dras- tically revised. The English and the Dutch were both nations of first-rate seamen, but gradually, in the course of three long naval wars, the greater wealth and population of England prevailed. ln the eighteenth century Great Britain acquired India and found herself on the path of Empire. Im- mediately naval control of the Mediterranean became the principal concern of British policy, and the story of seapower returned to its birthplace. At this time France was by far the greatest military power in the world. During the XVar of the Spanish Succession at the beginning of the century she could be held in check only by a vast alliance of all the other European powers. Frances interest was primarily continental, which induced her rulers to under-estimate the im- portance of the navy. In the end the policy of dis- counting sea power was to prove fatal to France. Great Britain maintained a fleet in the Mediter- ranean very much like the Sixth Fleet today, but she did so for hundreds of years, during which time her sailors fought innumerable battles. XfVe shall look at only one of these, the most important of them all and the one that settled the issue, Lord Nelson's Battle of the Nile. Nelson's reputation as the greatest of the world's Hghting sailors rests principally on three smashing victories, the Battles of the Nile, of Copenhagen, and of Trafalgar. The second of these, the Battle of Copenhagen, was a diversion made necessary when Denmark and Russia threatened to reverse their alli- ance and join with Napoleon's France against Great Britain. It was the Battle of the Nile which made the Mediterranean a British lake, and the Battle of Tra- falgar which hnally crushed the French navy. Before the Battle of the Nile Nelson had an excellent reputa- tion in the service, but thereafter he was all the world's darling, and the spirit of the French navy had suffered a blow from which it never fully recovered. At the beginning of the year l798 Nelson was in England recovering from the amputation of his right arm, after four and a half years of service in the Medi- terranean. Although Great Britain had recently been successful in several sea battles, her overall military situation was grave. Napoleon's amazing campaign in northern Italy had forced Austria ont of the war, and the new Emperor of Russia, Alexander Il, was waver- ing in his alliance. YVhen Nelson sailed to rejoin the Mediterranean fleet in April, rumor was spreading that Napoleon was mounting a great amphibious force in Toulon' its destination was only conjectural. Ns soon is IN: lson in Vangumfl came up to the fleet, which was blockading Cadiz, Lord St. Vincent, the commander-in-chief, dispatched him with two other ships to Toulon to investigate the activities of the French fleet. This was a detached command of the greatest importance, and St. Vincent passed over a number of more senior officers, who complained loudly to the Admiralty, in selecting Nelson. As soon as Nel- , Zfig 1 , A W I I ,ff ' ,lf ,- 4 ,O Y .flpfi lf AX ci , , C I c 6 I f xv- 1 Saracen son had entered the Mediterranean and was approach- ing his station off Toulon he ran. into the first of the hard luck that plagued him in this operationg Van- guard lost her masts in a storm. The ships made an emergency anchorage in Sardinia where all three crews contrived to jury-rig her masts in three days, but most unfortunately the senior officer in Nelson's frigates had assumed that Nelson would have to return to Gibraltar, and had done so himself. Nelson was shortly reinforced by ten more line-of-battleships, but he was without his fast reconnaissance vessels when his first crucial task was to find the French. It became apparent from news from passing mer- chantmen that the French were at sea. Nelson rounded Corsica to the north and put in at Naples for more information, where he learned that the French were attacking Malta. Transiting the Straits of Messina, Nelson spoke a ship on 22 June which informed him that the French had taken Malta on 15 june and sailed the next day. A council of war was called to de- cide where in the vast sea to search for the elusive French fleet. Judging from the facts that the wind was westerly and that the latest news was six days old, it was decided to search the Eastern Mediterranean. Nelson's imagination settled on Alexandria, the route of an army destined for India. The passage to Egypt was very fast, 800 miles in six days. Nelson was dismayed to find Alexandria harbor empty' he had brought his fleet far away from his station, and still had no real knowledge of the enemy ll7

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4' 1 f determined not to miss any chance. lhere, just around a bcnd in the coast-line, in -Xboukir Bay, were the French Thirteen shipsol-the-line were anchored far back tery of cannon set up on an island The French were in individual fights. It was the most overwhelming victory the modern world had seen, and Nelson be- came overnight the only man in the world who could be mentioned together with Napoleon who was now stranded in Egypt thousands of miles from France. After the Battle of the Nile control of the Mediter- J t A A I in very shallow, treacherous waters, covered by a bat- ' ' t c , A V sighted at 1500 while two of Nelsons thirteen ships were far astern returning from Alexandria harbor, and another was astern towing a prize. It was obvious to the French admiral that Nelson must wait for his ships to come up, and that he could not navigate those waters at night. It was obvious to Nelson that he was going in to destroy the French as fast as the wind would carry him. During the many weeks at sea Nelson had called his captains together time and again to discuss tactics. When the time came there was no confusion and in- decisiong Captain Foley in Goliath led the line not only through the shallows, but around the head of the French line to strike them on the inboard side. As he approached he took a heavy beating from the leading French ships, but he held his own fire. A good sea- man, he knew that the water between the anchor buoy and the bows of the leading ship must be deep enough, and his only concern at the moment was to have ga clear view of that buoy unobscured by gunsmoke. As he scraped by he raked the Guerricre from stem to sterng when five British ships had done the same Guerriere was a dismasted wreck. Nelson in the sixth ship saw that it was time to double up on the French line, and came to anchor opposite the third ship. The seventh and eighth British ships brought up opposite the fourth and fifth Frenchmen, and the van was out- numbered eight to five. It was dark when the ninth and tenth British came up, and they dropped too far down the line, Belleroplton found herself opposite the French flagship, L'Orient a giant of 120 guns, and Majestic was all alone in the French rear. In the van the French were being crushed, but Majestic and Belleroplmn suffered severely. Bellero- phon was at last forced to cut her cable and drift out of action, but just then the three trailing British ships came up, and all three engaged L,O7'I'67'lf. A fire was started, and the British directed their guns against the French Hre-parties. The flames spread, and as neighboring ships realized what must inevitably occur they cut their cables to get away. L'O1'1'ent exploded with awful forccg for minutes the battle ceased while every sailor stared. At last a gun hred, and the fright- ful work went on. After midnight the battle petered out from the sheer exhaustion of the men. When dawn broke the first six French ships had struck their colors, I.'O1'ient had disappeared, two others were run ashore, and one was just being taken. Of the three sound ships left, one ran aground attempting to flee. while the last two made good their escapeg Nelson later had the satisfaction of taking each of these ships ll9 ranean and of the seas of the world was firmly in British hands. Napoleon, like Hitler, went on to prepare a plan for a huge operation to invade Eng- land. Like Hitler he asked his admirals to control the English Channel for one day and he would conquer the world. Hitler's admirals were able to dissuade their ruler, but Napoleon's admirals were forced to make a desperate effort to concentrate their fleet, and 1' 1 13: , cv .' 'wtf I' g .gi 'E X X ' fs- X I' ,f I 7 5 Q - ffffzfif -riff if 1. ,ll .X - ,gi l 19th Century Navigator were beaten by Nelson at Trafalgar. In both cases these would-be conquerors were forced to turn East, to defeat in the vast and bitter reaches of Russia. As early as 1854, Alexis de Toqueville, a Frenchman travelling in America, was able to predict that the future of the world would be decided by two young giants growing up in the West and in the East, Amer- ica and Russia. For almost a hundred years there- after, the world stage continued to be dominated by Britain, France, and Germany, but in 1959, the truth of de Toqueville's prophecy is all too apparent. Before the twentieth century, the stability of Europe was maintained by the balance of power which meant, in practice that England took it as her responsibility to form an alliance against whatever power grew strong enough to threaten the European order. This was possible because then there were any number of powers in Europeg the peculiar quality of today's international situation is that militarily there are only two powers in the world. International politics has spread from Europe to include the whole world, so the problem of the Mediterranean is not our only