Battle of the Falkland Islands - 50th Anniversary - 1914 - 1964

The Battle of the Falkland Islands was a naval action between the British Royal Navy and Imperial German Navy on 8 December 1914, during the First World War in the South Atlantic. The British, after a defeat at the Battle of Coronel on 1 November, sent a large force to track down and destroy the victorious German cruiser squadron. The battle is commemorated every year on 8 December in the Falkland Islands as a public holiday.

I have the mint set already in my collection. The above FDC (private) is recent addition to my collection - issued in 1964 - to commemorate 50 Years of the Battle of the Falkland Islands.

The details of 3 ships depicted in other three stamps

HMS Invincible - HMS Invincible was the lead ship of her class of three battlecruisers built for the Royal Navy during the first decade of the twentieth century and the first battlecruiser to be built by any country in the world. During the First World War she participated in the Battle of Heligoland Bight in a minor role as she was the oldest and slowest of the British battlecruisers present. The ship engaged the German light cruiser Cöln, but did not hit her before Cöln was sunk by the battlecruiser Lion. During the Battle of the Falkland Islands, Invincible and her sister Inflexible sank the armoured cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau almost without loss to themselves, despite numerous hits by the German ships.

HMS Kent - HMS Kent was one of 10 Monmouth-class armoured cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. She was placed in reserve when completed in 1903, but was recommissioned for the China Station in 1906. She remained there until she returned home in 1913 for a lengthy refit.

HMS Glasgow - HMS Glasgow, the sixth ship of that name, was a Town-class light cruiser built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century.

Click Here to know more about the battle.

Text Source: shipstamps.co.uk

Battle of Hastings 900th anniversary (1066 - 1966)

Date of Issue: June 04, 1966
Scott: 1160

Stamp design showing William - the conqueror, castle, and Norman ships.

The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of mostly Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock. Their identity emerged initially in the first half of the tenth century, and gradually evolved over succeeding centuries. The name "Normans" derives from Nortmanni (Northmen), after the Vikings who founded Normandy.

The Battle of Hastings took place on 14 October 1066. It was the decisive Norman victory in the Norman Conquest of England, fought between the Norman army of Duke William II of Normandy and the English army of King Harold II. The battle took place at Senlac Hill, approximately 6 miles northwest of Hastings, close to the present-day town of Battle, East Sussex.

The Norman army was not powerful enough, so nobles as far as Southern Italy were called to convene at Caen, in Normandy. There, William promised land and titles to his followers and claimed that the voyage was secured by the Pope. William assembled a fleet said to number 696 ships—if accurate this would imply an army of over 20,000 men.

The Battle of Hastings had a tremendous influence on the English language. The Normans were French-speaking, and as a result of their rule, they introduced many French words that started in the nobility and eventually became part of the English language itself.

Click here to read in detail about the battle and its aftermath.

Source: Wikipedia

Battle of The Nile - Bicentenary

Date of Issue: August 01, 1998
Scott #: 765 - 769

To commemorate Bicentenary of victory of Battle of The Nile, Gibraltar issued set of five stamps depicting Nelson's ship HMS Vanguard, an aerial action shots of the Battle of the Nile, Nelson's dog, Nileus; Nelson himself and his wife Frances Nisbet, nicknamed "fanny' by family and friends.

The Battle of the Nile (also known as the Battle of Aboukir Bay, or in French as the Bataille d'Aboukir) was a major naval battle fought between British and French fleets at Aboukir Bay or Abukir Bay - a spacious bay on the Mediterranean Sea in Egypt, lying between Abu Qir (Near Alexandria) and the Rosetta mouth of the Nile, from August 01 - 03, 1798.

The British fleet consisted of 13 ships of the line, one fourth rate, and one sloop - His Majesty’s Ships Vanguard (Nelson’s Flagship: Captain Berry, 74 guns), Majestic (Captain Westcott: 74 guns), Bellerophon (Captain Darby: 74 guns), Defence (Captain Peyton: 74 guns), Orion (Captain Saumarez: 74 guns), Minotaur (Captain Louis: 74 guns), Theseus (Captain Miller: 74 guns), Goliath (Captain Foley: 74 guns), Audacious (Captain Gould: 74 guns), Zealous (Captain Hood: 74 guns), Leander (Captain Thompson: 50 guns), Swiftsure (Captain Hallowell: 74 guns), Alexander (Captain Ball: 74 guns), Culloden (Captain Troubridge: 74 guns) and Mutine (Captain Hardy: 74 guns).

The French fleet consisted of 13 ships of the line and four frigates: Orient (Flagship: Commodore Casabianca: 120 guns), Guerrier (Captain Trullet: 74 guns), Conquerant (Captain D’Albarde: 74 guns), Spartiate (Captain Eimeriau: 74 guns), Aquilon (Captain Thevenard: 74 guns), Peuple Souverain (Captain Raccord: 74 guns), Franklin (Flagship of Admiral Hayla; Captain Gillet: 80 guns), Tonnant (Captain Thouars: 80 guns), Heureux (Captain Etienne: 74 guns), Mercure (Captain Cambon: 74 guns), Guillaume Tell (Admiral Villeneuve’s Flagship 80 guns), Genereux (Captain Lenoille: 74 guns), Timoleon (Captain Trullet [jeune]: 74 guns): Frigates: Serieuse (Captain Martin: 36 guns), L’Artemise (Captain Estandlet: 36 guns), Diane (Admiral de Crepe: Captain Soleil: 36 guns) and Justice (Captain Villeneuve: 40 guns).
I assume the design of the 50p stamp is taken and modified from the above painting by Nicholas Pocock, which is at the National Maritime Museum.

Click here to know more about the Battle of Nile in Wikipedia
Click here to view the Order of battle at the Battle of the Nile
Click here for a detailed narration and awesome paintings and pictures of Admiral Nelson's stunning victory at the Battle of The Nile.

Text and picture source: Wikipedia and BritishBattles.com

Battle of the Saints

Date of Issue: May 30, 1975
Scott #: 209 - 212

The Battle of the Saintes (known to the French as the Battle of Dominica) took place over four days, April 09, 1782 – April 12, 1782, during the American War of Independence, and was a victory of a British fleet under Admiral Sir George Rodney over a French fleet under the Comte de Grasse forcing the French and Spanish to abandon a planned invasion of Jamaica.

The battle is named after the Saintes (or Saints), a group of islands between Guadeloupe and Dominica in the West Indies. The French fleet defeated here by the Royal Navy was the same French fleet that had blockaded the British Army during the Siege of Yorktown.

The battle is sometimes credited with pioneering the tactic of "breaking the line", in which the British ships passed though a gap in the French line, engaging the enemy from leeward and throwing them into disorder. But there is considerable controversy about whether the tactic was intentional, and, if so, who was responsible for the idea (Rodney, his Captain-of-the-Fleet Sir Charles Douglas, or John Clerk of Eldin).

Click here to see the ships involved on both sides.

Source: Wikipedia

Battle of Vuelta de Obligado on Argentine 20 Pesos banknote

Design first issued: 1992

Thanks to swap pal from Argentina - Mr. Pablo Javier Boyero for this wonderful banknote which depicts a battle scene.

The naval Battle of Vuelta de Obligado took place on the waters of the Paraná River (second-longest river in South America, after the Amazon) on November 20, 1845, between the Argentine Confederacy, under the leadership of Juan Manuel de Rosas, and an Anglo-French fleet. From the battle it was proved that it was practically impossible to sail Argentine rivers without the authorization of Argentinian authorities.

The Battle of Obligado is remembered in Argentina on 20 November, which was declared "Day of National Sovereignty" in 1973.

Click here to know about the battle in detail at Wikipedia.

Battle of the River Plate

Date of Issue: December 13, 1974
Scott #: 237 - 240

Falkland Islands issued a set of four stamps to commemorate 35 years of the Battle of the River Plate between British ships and the German battleship Admiral Graf Spee.The Battle of the River Plate was the first major naval battle in the Second World War. The German pocket battleship (heavy cruiser) Admiral Graf Spee had been at sea at the start of the Second World War in September 1939, and she had sunk several merchantmen in the Indian Ocean and South Atlantic Ocean without loss of life due to her captain's policy of taking all crews on board before sinking the victim.

The Royal Navy assembled 9 forces to search for the surface raider, and Admiral Graf Spee was found and engaged off the estuary of the River Plate off the coast of Argentina and Uruguay in South America. Force G, the South American Cruiser Squadron, comprised the heavy cruiser HMS Exeter and two Leander-class light cruisers - HMS Ajax and HMS Achilles.

The force was commanded by Commodore Henry Harwood from the Ajax, which was captained by Charles Woodhouse. The Achilles was of the New Zealand Division (precursor to the Royal New Zealand Navy) and captained by Edward Parry. The Exeter was captained by F. S. Bell. A County-class heavy cruiser, the HMS Cumberland, was self-refitting in the Falkland Islands at the time but available at short notice.

In the ensuing battle, Exeter was severely damaged and forced to retire, while all other ships sustained moderate damage. Ajax and Achilles then shadowed the Graf Spee which entered the neutral Uruguayan capital Montevideo. After Hans Langsdorff, the captain of the Graf Spee, was told that the limit of his stay could not be extended beyond 72 hours he scuttled his damaged ship - rather than face the overwhelmingly superior force that the British led him to believe had been assembled.
Although the actual engagement between the German and Allied forces could be regarded as a German victory in terms of losses, the subsequent actions resulted in the overall battle being an Allied victory.

The battle was over in an hour and twenty minutes; and on December 17th, at sunset, the GRAFF SPEE steamed slowly out towards the British, who were waiting at action stations prepared for battle. Just outside the harbor, Langsdorf obeyed Hitler's orders and blew up his ship.

MOVIE
In 1956, the film - The Battle of the River Plate (U.S. title: Pursuit of the Graf Spee) was made of the battle and Admiral Graf Spee’s end. HMS Achilles, which had been recommissioned in 1948 as INS Delhi, flagship of the Royal Indian Navy, played herself in the movie. HMS Ajax was "played" by HMS Sheffield, HMS Exeter by HMS Jamaica and HMS Cumberland by herself. The Graf Spee was actually the US heavy cruiser Salem.

The battle is re-enacted with large-scale model boats throughout the summer season at Peasholm Park in the UK seaside resort of Scarborough.

Click here to read complete details of the battle at Wikipedia.

Text Source: Wikipedia

Death of Lord Nelson - October 21, 1805

Date of Issue: October 21, 2005
Scott #: 1028, for Isle of Man #: 1127

On this very same day, October 21, Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson, a British flag officer famous for his service in the Royal Navy, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars who won several victories, including the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, during which he was killed.

The battle of Trafalgar was the most decisive British naval victory of the war. Twenty-seven British ships of the line led by Admiral Lord Nelson aboard HMS Victory defeated thirty-three French and Spanish ships of the line under French Admiral Pierre Villeneuve off the south-west coast of Spain, just west of Cape Trafalgar. The Franco-Spanish fleet lost twenty-two ships, without a single British vessel being lost.
Extracts from the log book of Manxman Captain John Quilliam on board "Victory" 21st October, 1805 "At 4.15pm the Spanish Rear Admiral to windward struck to some of our ships which had tacked after them, observed one of the enemy's ships blow up and 14 sail standing towards Cadiz and 3 standing to the southward, partial firing occurred until 3.40 when a victory having been reported to Admiral Right Honble Lord Visc't Nelson KB, Commander in Chief died of his wounds."

Nelson was mortally wounded during the battle, becoming Britain's greatest war hero.

A number of monuments and memorials were constructed across the country to honor his memory and achievements, with Dublin being the first city to create its own monument to Nelson, with work beginning on Nelson's Pillar in 1808. Others followed across the country, with London's Trafalgar Square being created in his memory in 1835 and the centrepiece, Nelson's Column, finished in 1843.

Source: wikipedia, gibraltar-stamps.com