January 1

1950 - Mary T. Sproul commissioned as first female doctor in Navy
1959 - U.S. Naval Observatory introduces system of uniform atomic time using cesium beam atomic oscillators. This measurement has been adopted as standard by the International Committee on Weights and Measures.
1962 - Navy SEAL teams established

January 2

1969 - Operation Barrier Reef began in Mekong Delta, Vietnam

January 3

1904 - Marines from USS Dixie arrive in Panama
1944 - Top Marine ace MAJ Boyington captured after shooting down 28 aircraft
1945 - Third Fleet carriers begin a 2 day attack against Formosa destroying 100 aircraft with loss of only 22 aircraft.

January 4

1910 - Commissioning of USS Michigan (BB-27), the first U.S. dreadnought battleship.
1863 - Blockading ship USS Quaker City captures sloop Mercury carrying despatches emphasizing desperate plight of the South.
1989 - Aircraft (VF-32) from USS John F. Kennedy shoot down 2 hostile Libyan Migs.

January 5

1855 - USS Plymouth crew skirmish with Chinese troops
1875 - CDR Edward Lull begins expedition to locate best ship canal route across Panama. Route followed 30 years later.
1943 - USS Helena (CL-50) fired first proximity fused projectile in combat and shot down Japanese divebomber in southwest Pacific.
1968 - First Male Nurse Corps officer in Regular Navy, LT Clarence W. Cote.

January 6

1916 - First enlisted flight training class at Pensacola, FL
1942 - Japanese capture 11 Navy Nurses in Manila, Philippines
1967- Operation Deckhouse V begins in Mekong Delta, Vietnam.
1996 - USS Hopper, named for RADM Grace Hopper, commissioned.

January 7

1960 - Launch of first fully-guided flight of Polaris missile at Cape Canaveral (flew 900 miles)
1967 - Mobile Riverine Force begins arriving at Vung Tau, Vietnam

January 8

1847 - Battle of San Gabriel (Navy, Marines, Army defeat Mexicans in CA)

January 9

1861 - Union steamer Star of the West fired on in Charleston Harbor
1918 - Establishment of Naval Overseas Transportation Service to carry cargo during WWI
1945 - Carrier aircraft begin 2-day attack on Japanese forces, Luzon, Philippines

January 10

1847 - American naval forces occupy Los Angeles.
1917 - Navy places first production order for aerial photographic equipment.
1934 - VP-10F flies first non-stop formation flight from San Francisco to Pearl Harbor, arriving 11 Jan.
1946 - Establishment of first Navy nuclear power school at Submarine Base, New London, CT

January 11

1863 - CSS Alabama sinks USS Hatteras off Galveston
1944 - Aircraft from USS Block Island make first aircraft rocket attack on German submarine

January 12

1813 - US Frigate Chesapeake captures British Volunteer
1848 - Attack on Sloop Lexington, San Blas, Mexico
1953 - Landings tested on board USS Antietam, first angled deck carrier

January 13

1865 - Amphibious attack on Fort Fisher, NC
1964 - USS Manley evacuates 54 American and 36 allied nationals after Zanzibar government is overthrown

January 14

1813 - US Frigate Chesapeake captures British brig Hero
1815 - HMS Endymion, Tenedos and Pomone capture USS President
1863 - Navy General Order 4, Emancipation Proclamation
1943 - In first submarine resupply mission, USS Gudgeon lands 6 men, 2,000 pounds of equipment and supplies on Negros Island.

January 15

1865 - In largest amphibious operation of war, Union forces capture Ft. Fisher, Wilmington, NC, by joint amphibious force.
1997 - Navy physician CAPT Jerry Lineger joined the crew of the MIR space station after being launched on Atlantis during space Shuttle Mission STS-81. Prior to the mission, he was trained at the Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia for over a year.

January 16

1930 - USS Lexington provides power to Tacoma, WA, when floods knocked out city power plants
1991 - Operation Desert Storm, liberation of Kuwait from Iraq, begins

January 17

1832- USS Peacock makes contact with Vietnamese court officials
1900 - US (CDR Taussig in USS Bennington) takes formal possession of Wake Island
1955 - USS Nautilus (SSN-571), the first nuclear-powered submarine, is commissioned and sends message "underway on nuclear power"

January 18

1911 - First aircraft landing on board a ship, USS Pennsylvania by Eugene Ely.
1962 - After a flash fire in the Persian Gulf on Danish tanker, Prima Maersk, burned a crewman, USS Duxbury Bay transfers a Navy doctor to help the Danish crewman and USS Soley took him to the nearest hospital at Bahrain Island.
1968 - Operation Coronado X begins in Mekong Delta, Vietnam
1977 - The Trident (C-4) missile development flight test program commenced when C4X-1 was launched from a flight pad at Cape Canaveral, FL
1991 - USS Nicholas attacks and captures Iraqi oil platforms

January 19

1840 - LT Charles Wilkes, USN is first American to discover Antarctic coast

January 20

1783 - Hostilities cease between Great Britain and the United States
1903 - Theordore Roosevelt issues Executive Order placing Midway Islands under jurisdiction of the Navy Department.
1914 - School for naval air training opens in Pensacola, FL.
1948 - Establishment of U.S. Persian Gulf Area Command (later changed to Middle East Force in August 1948).

January 21

1954 - Launching of Nautilus, first nuclear submarine, at Groton, CT
1961 - USS George Washington completes first operational voyage of fleet ballistic missile submarine staying submerged 66 days

January 22

1800 - CAPT Thomas Tingey ordered to duty as first Superintendent of the Washington Navy Yard
1944 - Operation Shingle, Allied landing at Anzio, Italy

January 23

1960 - Bathyscaph Trieste descends to deepest part of the ocean, Marianas Trench
1968 - USS Pueblo seized by North Korean forces in Sea of Japan

January 24

1942 - Battle of Makassar Strait, destroyer attack on Japanese convoy in first surface action in the Pacific during World War II
1991 - Helos from USS Leftwich and USS Nicholas recapture first Kuwaiti territory from Iraqis

January 25

1963 - 1st Seabee Technical Assistance Team arrives in Vietnam
1968 - Operation Windsong I in Mekong Delta, Vietnam

January 26

1911 - 1st hydroaeroplane flight is witnessed by naval aviator
1913 - The body of John Paul Jones is laid in its final resting place in the Chapel of Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD
1949 - USS Norton Sound, first guided-missile ship, launches first guided missile, Loon.
1960 - USS John S. McCain rescues the entire 41-man crew of the sinking Japanese freighter, Shinwa Maru, in the East China Sea.

January 27

1942 - USS Gudgeon is first US sub to sink enemy submarine in action, Japanese I-173.
1945 - Commissioning of USS Higbee (DD-806), first U.S. Navy ship named after women member of U.S. Navy.
1967 - Fire in Command Module at Cape Kennedy during simulation countdown. Lunar Module Pilot LCDR Roger B. Chaffee and two other crew members died.
1973 - Paris Peace Accords signed, ending U.S. participation in the Vietnam War

January 28

1960 - Navy demonstrates value of moon communication relay, used in fleet broadcasts.
1962 - USS Cook (APD-130) rescues 25 survivors from after section of Panamanian tanker, SS Stanvac Sumatra, which broke in two in the South China Sea
1986 - Space shuttle Challenger explodes killing CDR Michael Smith, USN, and 6 other astronauts

January 29

1914 - U.S. Marines land in Haiti to protect U.S. consulate
1943 - Beginning of 2 day battle of Rennell Island after which U.S. transports reached Guadalcanal

January 30

1862 - Launching of first turreted warship, USS Monitor
1968 - Tet Offensive begins in Vietnam

January 31

1944 - American amphibious landing on Kwajalein, Marshall Islands
1961 - Lieutenant Commander Samuel Lee Gravely, Jr. becomes first African-American to command a combat ship, USS Falgout
1981 - Era of Enlisted Naval Aviators ends when last pilot retired

February 1

1941 - United States Fleet reorganized, reviving Atlantic and Pacific Fleets
1942 - USS Enterprise and Yorktown make first WW II air strike, Japanese Marshall Islands
1955 - Operation Deep Freeze, a research task force, established in Antarctic

February 2

1800 - USS Constellation (CAPT Thomas Truxtun) captures la Vengeance
1862 - USS Hartford, Capt David G. Farragut, departs Hampton Roads for Mississippi River campaign

February 3

1801 - Senate approves peace treaty with France ending undeclared naval war that began 1798
1917 - US severs diplomatic relations with Germany

February 4

1779 - John Paul Jones takes command of Bonhomme Richard
1959 - Keel laying of USS Enterprise, first nuclear powered aircraft carrier, Newport News, VA

February 5

1854 - Dedication of first chapel built on Navy property, Annapolis, MD
1941 - Chief Nurse Marion B. Olds and Nurse Leona Jackson, Navy, arrive on Guam.
1971 - Moonwalk by CAPT Alan B. Shepherd, Jr. USN, Commander of Apollo 14 and CDR Edgar D. Mitchell, USN Lunar Module Pilot. During the 9 day mission, 94 lbs of lunar material was collected and Shepard became the first person to hit a golf ball on the moon. Recovery was by helicopter from USS New Orleans (LPH-11).

February 6

1862 - Union gunboat squadron captures Fort Henry, Tennessee River
1922 - World powers sign the Washington Naval Treaty providing for limitation of naval armament
1973 - Operation End Sweep mine clearing begins off North Vietnam

February 7

1800 - USS Essex becomes first U.S. Navy vessel to cross the Equator.
1815 - The Board of Naval Commissioners, a group of senior officers, is established to oversee the operation and maintenance of the Navy, under the direction of the Secretary of the Navy.
1955 - Seventh Fleet ships begin evacuation of Chinese nationalists from Tachen Islands
1965 - In response to a Viet Cong attack on barracks area at Pleiku, South Vietnam, aircraft from carriers, USS Coral Sea, USS Hancock, and USS Ranger attack North Vietnamese area near Donghoi.

February 8

1862 - Joint amphibious force capture Roanoke Island, key to Albemarle Sound
1890 - USS Omaha sailors and marines assist Hodogary, Japan in subduing large fire

February 9

1799 - USS Constellation (CAPT Truxtun) captures French l'Insurgente
1943 - Organized Japanese resistance on Guadalcanal ends

February 10

1862 - Union gunboats destroy Confederate ships at Elizabeth City, NC
1900 - Appointment of first naval governor of Guam, Commodore Seaton Schroder
1960 - USS Sargo (SSN-583) surfaces at North Pole

February 11

1862 - SecNav directs formation of organization to evaluate new inventions and technical development which eventually led to National Academy of Science.
1971 - U.S. and USSR sign a treaty prohibiting the deployment of nuclear weapons on the ocean floor.

February 12

1945 - USS Batfish (SS-310) sinks second Japanese submarine within three days
1947 - First launching of guided missile (Loon) from a submarine, USS Cusk

February 13

1854 - Admiral Perry anchors off Yokosuka, Japan to receive Emperor's reply to treaty proposal
1913 - Naval Radio Station, Arlington, VA begins operations
1945 - First naval units enter Manila Bay since 1942
1968 - Operation Coronado XI begins in Mekong Delta

February 14

1778 - John Paul Jones in Ranger receives first official salute to U.S. Stars and Strips flag by European country, at Quiberon, France.
1813 - Essex becomes first U.S. warship to round Cape Horn and enter the Pacific Ocean
1814 - USS Constitution captures British Lovely Ann and Pictou
1840 - Officers from USS Vincennes make first landing in Antarctica on floating ice

February 15

1856 - USS Supply, commanded by LT David Dixon Porter, sails from Smyrna, Syria, bound for Indianola, Texas, with a load of 21 camels intended for experimental use in the American desert west of the Rockies.
1898 - U.S. battleship Maine blows up in Havana Harbor.

February 16

1804 - Lieutenant Stephen Decatur, with volunteers from frigate Constitution and schooner Enterprise, enters Tripoli harbor by night in the ketch Intrepid to burn the captured frigate Philadelphia. Decatur's raid succeeds without American losses. England's Lord Nelson calls this "the most daring act of the age."
1815 - USS Constitution captures British Susannah
1967 - Operation River Raider begins in Mekong Delta

February 17

1864 - Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley sinks USS Housatonic
1942 - First Construction Battalion (Seabees) arrive Bora Bora
1944 - Carrier aircraft strike Japanese fleet at Truk, sinking ships and destroying aircraft

February 18

1846 - General order on Port and Starboard
1944 - Amphibious Force under RADM Hill lands troops on Engebi Island, Eniwetok
1955 - 1st of 14 detonations, Operation Teapot nuclear test

February 19

1814 - USS Constitution captures British brig Catherine
1945 - Marines with naval gunfire support land on Iwo Jima; island secured 16 March.


February 20

1815 - USS Constitution, under Captain Charles Stewart, captures HMS Cyane and sloop-of-war Levant
1962 - LCOL John Glenn,USMC becomes first American to orbit Earth. His flight in Friendship 7 (Mercury 6) consisted of 3 orbits in 88 minutes at a velocity of 17,544 mph with the highest altitude of 162.2 statute miles. Recovery was by USS Noa (DD-841).
1962 - USS Dixie (AD-14) rescues lone crewman aboard a sailing yawl adrift for four days.
1974 - S-3A Viking ASW aircraft (carrier jet) introduced officially, given to VS-41.

February 21

1944 - Marines with support of naval bombardment and carrier aircraft secure Eniwetok atoll

February 22

1865 - RADM Porter's gunboats' bombardment cause surrender of Wilmington, NC .
1870 - After arriving on USS Nipsic, and supported by USS Guard and USS Nyack, the Darien Expedition, commanded by CDR Thomas O. Selfridge, Jr., begins active operations ashore at Caldonia Bay to survery the Isthmus of Darien, Panama, for an interoceanic ship canal.
1909 - Great White Fleet returns from round the world cruise to Hampton Roads, VA
1943 - USS Iowa (BB-61), the lead ship of the last class of American fast battleships, is commissioned.
1974 - LTJG Barbara Ann Allen becomes first Navy designated female aviator

February 23

1795 - U.S. Navy Office of Purveyor of Supplies is established. This is the Navy Supply Corps Birthday.
1919 - Launching of Osmond Ingram (DD-255), first Navy ship named for an enlisted man
1944 - Carrier groups under Spruance attack Saipan, Tinian and Rota in the Marianas
1945 - Marines and a Navy corpsman raise flag on Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima

February 24

1813 - USS Hornet, Captain James Lawrence, captures HMS Peacock
1968 - Task Force Clearwater established in I Corps
1973 - In accordance with the Paris Accords, Navy Task Force 78, composed of 4 ocean minesweepers plus Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron 12, begins sweeping the North Vietnamese waters of the mines laid in 1972.

February 25

1861 - Saratoga, member of U.S. African Squadron, captures slaver sloop Express
1933 - Commissioning of USS Ranger, first true aircraft carrier
1959 - USS Galveston fires first Talos surface-to-air missile

February 26

1811 - Congress authorizes first naval hospital
1913 - Approval of experimental wind tunnel for Navy
1944 - Sue Sophia Dauser, Superintendent of the Navy's Nurse Corps is first woman in Navy to receive rank of Captain.

February 27

1942 - Battle of the Java Sea, Allied Naval Force attacks Japanese invasion convoy

February 28

1844 - Explosion of Peacemaker, experimental 14 inch gun, on board USS Princeton.
1893 - Launching of USS Indiana (BB-1), first true battleship in U.S. Navy.
1959 - USS Strong rescues 13 Arab fishermen from Bahrain when their fishing boats floundered in a storm.
1980 - Blue crew of USS Francis Scott Key (SSBN-657) launches 4 Trident I (C-4) missiles in first C-4 Operational Test.

March 1

1942 - U-656 becomes the first German submarine of World War II to be sunk by Naval air (VP-82).
1954 - 1st of 6 detonations, Operation Castle nuclear test.

March 2

1859 - Launch of Saginaw at Mare Island, first Navy ship built on West Coast of U.S.
1867 - Birthday of Civil Engineering Corps.
1899 - Act of Congress creates the rank Admiral of the Navy for George Dewey.
1973 - Women begin pilot training to U.S. Navy.

March 3

1776 - First amphibious landing operation. Continental naval squadron under Commodore Esek Hopkins lands Sailors and Marines, commanded by Captain Samuel Nicholas, on New Providence Island in the Bahamas, capturing urgently-needed ordnance and gunpowder.
1871 - Navy Medical Corps established
1883 - Congress authorizes 4 modern ships of steel, "A,B,C, D Ships"; three cruisers, Atlanta, Boston and Chicago, and dispatch boat Dolphin
1915 - Office of Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) established
1915 - Congress creates Federal Naval Reserve. Under it Naval Reserve Force built up 1960 - USS Sargo return to Hawaii from arctic cruise of 11,000 miles, 6,003 miles under the polar ice

March 4

1911 - Appropriation of first funds for experiments in naval aviation.
1925 - Congress authorizes restoration of USS Constitution.
1947 - Operation Highjump, air operations in Antarctica, ends.
1963 - Navy Hercules aircraft completes 12-day rescue operation of critically ill Danish seaman from Danish freighter off the coast of Antarctic.

March 5

1942 - Name "Seabees" and insignia officially authorized
1943 - USS Bogue begins first anti-submarine operations by escort carrier.
1960 - USS Newport News (CA-148) and personnel from Port Lyautey complete emergency relief operatons at Agadir, Morocco after earthquake on 29 February.

March 6

1822 - USS Enterprise captures four pirate ships in Gulf of Mexico
1862 - USS Monitor departed New York for Hampton Roads, VA
1942 - U.S. Cruisers and destroyers bombard Vila and Munda, Solomon Islands, sinking 2 Japanese destroyers

March 7

1958 - Commissioning of USS Grayback, first submarine built from keel up with guided missile capability, to fire Regulus II missile.
1960 - USS Kearsarge (CVS-33) rescues 4 Russian soldiers from their landing craft 1,000 miles from Midway Island, which was drifting several weeks after their engine failed off Kamchatka Peninsula.
1966 - Department of Navy reorganized into present structure under CNO
1967 - PBRs assists Operation Overload II in Rung Sat Zone, Vietnam
1968 - Operation Coronado XII begins in Mekong Delta, Vietnam
1994 - Navy issues first orders to women assigned aboard combat ship, USS Eisenhower

March 8

1854 - Commodore Matthew Perry opens treaty negotiations with Japan
1862 - Ironclad ram CSS Virginia destroys USS Cumberland and Congress
1945 - Phyllis Daley becomes first African-American Ensign, Navy Nurse Corps
1958 - Battleship USS Wisconsin (BB-64) is decommissioned, leaving the Navy without an active battleship for the first time since 1895.
1965 - Seventh Fleet lands first major Marine units in South Vietnam at Danang

March 9

1798 - Appointment of first surgeon U.S. Navy, George Balfour
1847 - Commodore David Connor leads successful amphibious assault near Vera Cruz, Mexico
1862 - First battle between ironclads, USS Monitor and CSS Virginia
1914 - Test of wind tunnel at Washington Navy Yard

March 10

1783 - USS Alliance (CAPT John Barry) defeats HMS Sybil in final naval action of Revolution in West Indies waters
1933 - Pacific Fleet provides assistance after earthquake at Long Beach, CA
1945 - Navy and civilian nurses interned at Los Banos, Philippines flown back to U.S. Navy nurses awarded Bronze Star.
1948 - First use of jets assigned to operational squadron (VF-5A) on board a carrier (Boxer)

March 11

1935 - Birth of Naval Security Group when OP-20G became the Communications Security Group
1941 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Lend-Lease Act
1942 - In a PT boat, LCDR John Bulkeley leaves the Philippines to take General Douglas MacArthur to Australia
1945 - Use of first Navy landing craft to cross Rhine River at Bad Neuenahr
1965 - Market Time patrols begin off South Vietnam coast

March 12

1917 - All American merchant ships to be armed in war zones
1942 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt designates Admiral Ernest J. King to serve as the Chief of Naval Operations, as well as the Commander-in-Chief, United States Fleet to which he was appointed on 30 December 1941.
1956 - In first overseas deployment of Navy missile squadron, VA-83 left on USS Intrepid

March 13

1895 - Award of first submarine building contract to John P. Holland Torpedo Boat Co.
1917 - Armed merchant ships authorized to take action against U-boats.
1959 - Naval Research Laboratory takes first ultraviolet pictures of sun.
1963 - USS Albany (CG-10) and aircraft from Navy Airborne Early Warning Squadron Four from Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico aid five ill crewmembers of Norwegian freighter Jotunfjell.

March 14

1863 - RADM Farragut's squadron of 7 ships forces way up Mississippi River to support Union troops at Vicksburg and Baton Rouge
1929 - NAS Pensacola aircraft make 113 flights for flood rescue and relief

March 15

1943 - Numbered fleet system established
1947 - Ensign John W. Lee becomes first African American officer commissioned in regular Navy. He was assigned to USS Kearsage.
1957 - Airship ZPG-2 lands NAS Key West after 11 day non-stop flight across the Atlantic
1966 - Establishment of River Squadron Five in Vietnam

March 16

1911 - Hulk of USS Maine sunk at sea in deep water with full military honors.
1945 - Iwo Jima declared secure.
1966 - Launch of Gemini 8. Former naval aviator Neil Armstrong flew on this mission which completed 7 orbits in 10 hours and 41 minutes at an altitude of 161.3 nautical miles. Recovery was by USS Leonard F. Mason (DD-852).

March 17

1898 - USS Holland, first practical submarine, launched
1942 - United States Naval Forces Europe established to plan joint operations with British
1958 - Navy Vanguard rocket launches 3.25 pound sphere from Cape Canaveral
1959 - USS Skate (SSN-578) surfaces at North Pole

March 18

1945 - Carriers begin 3 month Okinawa Campaign by destroying aircraft on Kyushu, Japan
1974 - Navy sent to sweep mines from Suez Canal

March 19

1898 - USS Oregon departs San Francisco for 14,000 mile trip around South America to join U.S. Squadron off Cuba
1917 - Navy Department authorizes enrollment of women in Naval Reserve with ratings of yeoman, radio electrician, or other essential ratings.
1942 - SecNav gave Civil Engineering Corps command of Seabees

March 20

1833 - CDR Geisinger of Peacock negotiates first commercial treaty with King of Siam
1922 -USS Jupiter recommissioned as Langley, Navy's first aircraft carrier
1939 - Naval Research Lab recommends financing research program to obtain power from uranium.
2003 - U.S. began Operation Iraqi Freedom by lauching cruise missiles from Navy ships in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf.

March 21

1917 - Loretta Walsh becomes first woman Navy petty officer when sworn in as Chief Yeoman.
1919 - Navy installs and tests Sperry gyrocompass, in first instance of test of aircraft gyrocompass
1945 - Bureau of Aeronautics initiates rocket-powered surface-to-air guided missile development by awarding contract to Fairchild

March 22

1820 - Commodore Stephen Decatur dies after duel with Capt. James Barron
1915 - "Naval Aviator" replaces former "Navy Air Pilot" for officers qualified as aviators
1929 - Navy ships protect Americans and their property during Mexican revolution
1946 - USS Missouri departs U.S. to return body of deceased Turkish ambassador to the U.S. back to Turkey for burial. Missouri arrived in Istanbul on 5 April.

March 23

1815 - USS Hornet captures HMS Penguin in battle lasting 22 minutes
1882 - SECNAV Hunt issues General Order No. 292 creating Office of Naval Intelligence.
1917 - Launching of USS New Mexico, first dreadnought with turboelectric drive
1945 - Carriers begin pre-assault strikes on Okinawa, kamikaze attacks follow
1958 - First launching of simulated Polaris missile from submerged tactical launcher facility off CA.
1965 - LCDR John W. Young, USN, Pilot of Gemini 3 completed 3 orbits in 4 hours., 53 minutes at an altitude of 224 km. Recovery was by helicopters from USS Intrepid (CVS-11).

March 24

1903 - George Dewey commissioned Admiral of the Navy with the date of rank, 2 March 1899. He was the only person to hold this rank.

March 25

1813 - USS Essex takes Neryeda, first capture by U.S. Navy in Pacific
1898 - Assist. SECNAV Theodore Roosevelt proposes Navy investigate military application of Samuel Langley's flying machine, beginning naval aviation

March 26

1942 - ADM King becomes both Chief of Naval Operations and Commander, U.S. Fleet
1943 - Battle of Komandorski Islands, prevents Japanese reinforcements from reaching Attu
1966 - Operation Jackstay in Navy's first amphibious assault in Vietnam's inland waters
1968 - Operation Bold Dragon III began in Mekong Delta

March 27

1794 - Congress authorizes construction of 6 frigates, including Constitution
1799 - USS Constitution recaptures American sloop Neutrality from France
1880 - USS Constellation departs New York with food for famine victims in Ireland

March 28

1800 - Essex becomes first U.S. Navy vessel to pass Cape of Good Hope
1814 - HMS Phoebe and Cherub capture USS Essex off Valparaiso, Chile. Before capture, Essex had captured 24 British prizes during the War of 1812.
1848 - USS Supply reaches the Bay of Acre, anchoring under Mount Carmel near the village of Haifa, during expedition to explore the Dead Sea and the River Jordan.

March 29

1954 - Carrier aircraft began reconnaissance near Dien Bien Phu, Indochina
1960 - Launch of first fully integrated Fleet Ballistic Missile from USS Observation Island
1973 - Naval Advisory Group and Naval forces, Vietnam disestablished and last U.S. prisoners of war left Vietnam.
1975 - Evacuation of Danang by sea began

March 30

1944 - First use of torpedo squadrons from carriers to drop aerial mines (Palau Harbor)
1972 - Easter Offensive began in Vietnam

March 31

1854 - Commodore Matthew Perry negotiates Treaty of Kanagawa to open trade between U.S. and Japan
1971 - Poseidon (C-3) missile becomes operational when USS James Madison began her 3rd patrol carrying 16 tactical Poseidon missiles.
1992 - USS Missouri (BB-63), the last active American battleship is decommissioned.

April 1

1893 - Navy General Order 409 of 25 February 1893 establishes the rate of Chief Petty Officer as of this date.
1942 - First Naval Air Transportation Service (NATS) squadron for Pacific operations commissioned
1945 - Over 1200 Navy ships and Army troops begin invasion of Okinawa
1966 - The command, US Naval Forces Vietnam established
1967 - Helicopter squadron HAL 3 activated at Vung Tau

April 2

1781 - Frigate Alliance captures 2 British privateers, Mars and Minerva
1827 - First Naval Hospital construction begun at Portsmouth, VA
1898 - Adoption of U.S. Naval Academy coat of arms
1947 - UN places former Japanese mandated islands under U.S. trusteeship
1951 - First Navy use of jet aircraft as a bomber, launched from a carrier, USS Princeton.
1960 - USS Glacier begins 12 days of relief operations, providing helicopter and boat transportation and emergency supplies to residents of Paramaribo, Suriname after floods.

April 3

1797 - CAPT Thomas Truxtun issued first known American signal book using numerary system
1942 - ADM Nimitz named Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas, a joint command, and retained his other title, Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet
1992 - First five coed recruit companies from Orlando, FL Naval Training Center granduate.

April 4

1776 - Continental Navy frigate Columbus captures HM Tender Hawke, first American capture of British armed vessel
1854 - Sailors and Marines from sailing sloop, Plymouth, protect U.S. citizens at Shanghai
1898 - Appointment of first Civil Engineering Corps officer, Mordecai Endicott, as Chief, Bureau of Yards and Docks
1949 - Establishment of NATO

April 5

1946 - USS Missouri arrives in Turkey to return the body of Turkish ambassador to the U.S. and to show U.S. support and willingness to defend Turkey.

April 6

1776 - Sloop-of-war Ranger, frigate Queen of France and frigate Warren capture British Hibernia and 7 other vessels
1862 - Naval Gunfire from Tyler and Lexington help save Union Troops at Battle of Shiloh
1909 - Commander Robert E. Peary reports reaching the North Pole
1917 - U.S. declares war on Germany
1945 - First heavy kamikaze attack on ships at Okinawa.
1961 - USS Lake Champlain brings oxygen to aid stricken passenger of British liner Queen of Bermuda.
1968 - USS New Jersey recommissioned for shore bombardment duty in Vietnam
1989 - President orders DOD to assist in Exxon Valdez oil spill cleanup
1993 - Branch Navy Hospital Adak responds to crash of civilian Chinese airline providing lifesaving treatment and medical evacuation of 89 injured passengers. Only one passenger out of 265 passengers died.

April 7

1776 - Continental brig Lexington captures British Edward
1917 - Navy takes control of all wireless radio stations in the U.S.
1942 - Navy accepts African Americans for general service
1945 - First two Navy flight nurses land on an active battlefield (Iwo Jima): ENS Jane Kendeigh, USNR, and LTJG Ann Purvis, USN
1945 - Carrier aircraft defeat last Japanese Navy sortie (Battle of East China Sea); Yamato, world's largest battleship, and five other ships sunk
1979 - Launching of first Trident submarine, USS Ohio (SSBN-726) at Groton, CT

April 8

1925 - First planned night landings on a carrier, USS Langley, by VF-1
1950 - Unarmed Navy patrol aircraft shot down over Baltic Sea by USSR
1951 - 1st of 4 detonations, Operation Greenhouse nuclear test

April 9

1861 - Second relief convoy for Fort Sumter left New York
1941 - Commissioning of USS North Carolina, which carried 9 16-inch guns
1943 - Re-establishment of Commodore rank
1959 - Selection of first 7 Mercury astronauts, include 4 naval aviators

April 10

1941 - USS Niblack, while rescuing survivors of torpedoed ship, depth charged German submarine; first action of WW II between U.S. and German navies
1963 - During diving tests, USS Thresher lost with all hands (112 crew and 12 civilians) east of Cape Cod, MA
1966 - River Patrol Boats of River Patrol Force commenced operations on inland waters of South Vietnam

April 11

1783 - Congress declares end of war with Great Britain
1900 - Navy accepted its first submarine, USS Holland
1970 - Launch of Apollo 13, commanded by CAPT James A. Lovell, Jr., USN. Former naval aviator Fred W. Haise, Jr. was the Lunar Module Pilot. While 200,000 miles from Earth there was an explosion on board which forced Apollo 13 to circle the moon without landing. Mission duration was 5 days, 22 hours, and 54 minutes. Recovery was by HS-4 helicopters from USS Iwo Jima (LPH-2).
1991 - U.N. ceasefire ends Persian Gulf War

April 12

1861 - Civil War begins when Confederates fire on Fort Sumter, SC
1911 - LT Theodore Ellyson qualifies as first naval aviator
1962 - U.S. Navy demonstrates new landing craft with retractable hydrofoils, LCVP (H)
1975 - Operation Eagle Pull evacuation from Cambodia
1981 - First launching of re-useable Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-1) with all Navy crew. CAPT John W. Young, USN (Ret.) commanded, while LCDR Robert L. Crippen, USN was the pilot. Mission duration was 2 days, 6 hours, and 20 minutes. Sixteen of the shuttle's heat-shielding silicon tiles were lost and 148 damaged during reentry.
1993 - Aircraft from USS Theodore Roosevelt and NATO forces begin enforcing the no-fly zone over the Bosnia in Operation Deny Flight

April 13

1847 - Naval Forces begin 5 day battle to capture several towns in Mexico
1861 - Fort Sumter surrenders to Confederate forces
1960 - Navy's navigation satellite, Transit, placed into orbit from Cape Canaveral, FL and demonstrates ability to launch another satellite

April 14

1898 - Commissioning of first Post Civil War hospital ship, USS Solace
1969 - North Korean aircraft shoots down Navy EC-121 reconnaissance aircraft from VQ-1 over the Sea of Japan
1988 - USS Samuel B. Roberts struck Iranian mine off Qatar
1989 - First Navy ship arrives on scene to assist in Exxon Valdez oil spill cleanup

April 15

1885 - Naval forces land at Panama to protect American interests during revolution
1912 - USS Chester and USS Salem sailed from MA to assist RMS Titanic survivors
1918 - First Marine Aviation Force formed at Marine Flying Field, Miami, FL
1961 - Launching of first nuclear-powered frigate, USS Bainbridge, at Quincy, MA
1962 - USS Princeton brought first Marine helicopters to Vietnam. This was first Marine advisory unit to arrive in South Vietnam.
1986 - Operation Eldorado Canyon, Navy aircraft from USS America (CV-66) and USS Coral Sea (CV-43) attack Libya in conjunction with USAF aircraft after Libya linked to terrorist bombing of West Berlin discotheque which killed 1 American and injured 78 people.

April 16

1863 - Union gunboats pass Confederate batteries at Vicksburg
1924 - Navy commences relief operations in Mississippi Valley floods, lasting until 16 June
1947 - Act of Congress gives Navy Nurse Corps members commissioned rank
1959 - Helicopters from USS Edisto begin rescue operations in Montevideo, Uruguay. By 26 April they had carried 277 flood victims to safety.

April 17

1778 - Sloop-in-war Ranger captures British brig

April 18

1848 - U.S. Navy expedition to explore the Dead Sea and the River Jordan, commanded by LT William F. Lynch, reaches the Dead Sea.
1906 - Navy assists in relief operations during San Francisco earthquake and fire
1942 - USS Hornet launches Doolittle's Army bombers for first attack on Japan
1988 - Navy destroys 2 Iranian surveillance platforms, sinks one frigate and one patrol ships, and severely damages a second frigate in retaliation for attack on USS Samuel B. Roberts

April 19

1783 - George Washington proclaims end of hostilities
1861 - President Lincoln orders blockade of Southern ports from SC to Texas
1955 - USS Albany and USS William Wood begin to provide disaster relief to citizens of Volos, Greece, ending 21 April

April 20

1796 - Congress authorizes completion of 3 frigates
1861 - Norfolk Navy Yard abandoned and burned by Union forces.
1914 - In first call to action of naval aviators, detachment on USS Birmingham sai