This Day In Naval History - Oct. 11

[Boats]

This Day In Naval History - Oct. 11
Story Number: NNS020711-14Release Date: 7/11/2002 3:43:00 PM
RE:http://www.navy.mil/search/display_history.asp

From Naval History and Heritage Command, Communication and Outreach Division

1776 - Brig. Gen. Benedict Arnolds 17-ship flotilla is defeated in three long and separate actions at the Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain as they engage 25 ships under Capt. Thomas Pringle. Though defeated, the battle delays the British advance and causes it to fall back into winter quarters. It is nearly a year before the advance is renewed.

1841 - Abel P. Upshur becomes the 13th Secretary of the Navy, serving until July 1843. Among his achievements are the replacement of the old Board of Navy Commissioners with the bureau system, regularization of the officer corps, increased Navy appropriations, construction of new sailing and steam warships, and the establishment of the Naval Observatory and Hydrographic Office.

1942 - A cruiser-destroyer task force led by Rear Adm. Norman Scott intercepts a similar Japanese Navy unit. In the resulting Battle of Cape Esperance, the Japanese lose the heavy cruiser Furutaka and destroyer Fubuki, with two more destroyers sunk by American air attacks the next day. The destroyer Duncan (DD 485) is the only loss from Scott's Task Force 64. This victory is the U.S. Navy's first of the Guadalcanal Campaign.

1944 - USS Tang (SS 306) sinks Japanese freighters Joshu Go and Oita Maru in the Formosa Strait. Also on this date, USS Trepang (SS 412), in an attack on a Japanese convoy south of Honshu, sinks landing ship T.105 about 105 miles southwest of Tokyo Bay.

1968 - Apollo 7 is launched. The first U.S. three-man space mission is commanded by Navy Cmdr. Walter Schirra, Jr. Donn F. Eisele is the command module pilot and Marine Corps Maj. Ronnie Cunningham serves as lunar module pilot. The mission lasts 10 days and 20 hours with 163 orbits. Recovery is facilitated by HS-5 helicopters from USS Essex (CVS 9).

2014 - USS America (LHA 6) is commissioned at San Francisco, Calif. The first ship of its class (LHA 6) is the Navys next-generation of big deck amphibious ships. She is based at Naval Station San Diego, and is the fifth ship to carry on the name and fourth serving U.S. Navy ship to be named America.