This Day In United States Naval History

This Day In United States Naval History - September 18th

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1860 - The sloop of war, USS Levant, sails from Hawaii for Panama. She is never seen again. In June 1861 a mast and a part of a lower yardarm believed to be from USS Levant are found near Hilo. Spikes had been driven into the mast as if to a form a raft. Some rumors had her running aground on an uncharted reef off California; others had her defecting to the Confederacy.

1906 - A Marine battalion from USS Dixie lands at Cienfuegos, Cuba to reinforce a party guarding American owned plantations, where tensions are still high from the stalled revolution attempt from Sept. 13.

1936 - Squadron 40-T, based in the Mediterranean, is established to protect U.S. interests and evacuate U.S. citizens around the Iberian Peninsula throughout the Spanish Civil War.

1943 - U.S. Navy aircraft perform aerial raids on the Tarawa Makin Islands, where the aerial photography taken proves to be fruitful for the oncoming invasion of the islands.

1947 - Pursuant to provisions of the National Security Act of 1947 of the previous July 26, the Department of the Air Force is established.

1993 - USS Gladiator (MCM 11) is commissioned at Naval Station Newport, R.I. The 11th Avenger-class mine countermeasures ship is the third U.S. ship named Gladiator.

1993 - USS Vella Gulf (CG 72) is commissioned at her homeport of Naval Station Norfolk. The guided-missile cruiser is the 26th in the Ticonderoga-class and the second Navy ship to be named after the famed Battle of Vella Gulf from the Solomons campaign of World War II.

2004 - USS Chung Hoon (DDG 93) is commissioned. USS Chung Hoon is named in honor of Rear Adm. Gordon Pai'ea Chung-Hoon, first Asian-American Naval Academy graduate and first Asian-American flag officer. During World War II, he was in command of USS Sigsbee (DD 502) when a kamikaze crashed into her in Apr. 1945.

2008 - USNS Carl Brashear (T-AKE 7) is christened and launched at San Diego, Calif. The dry cargo ship provides ammunition, food, repair, parts, stores and small quantities of fuel for the U.S. Marine Corps. The ship is named for Master Chief Carl Brashear, the first African American Master Diver in the U.S. Navy and the first amputee to be recertified as a diver after amputation.

2017 - Hurricane Maria makes landfall with the Caribbean island of Dominica. Joint Task Force-Leeward Islands (JTF-LI) was established to support relief efforts in St. Martin and Dominica as requested by the U.S. Agency for International Development's Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA). JTF-LI with the USS Wasp (LHD 1) assisted with the evacuation of 2,073 American Citizens (AMCITs) from St. Martin and at least 178 AMCITs from Dominica. Additionally, the JTF-LI provided 83,020 gallons of potable water to St. Martin and assisted with distributing relief supplies to Dominica.

This Day In United States Naval History - September 20th

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1942 - During World War II, the U.S. Naval Operating Base at Auckland, New Zealand, is established.

1943 - USS S-28 (SS 133) sinks Japanese gunboat No. 2 Katsura Maru, 165 miles southwest of Paramushir, Kuril Islands.

1943- While conducting daylight reconnaissance of the Bay of Naples to investigate German shore battery activity on the Sorrento Peninsula, Motor Torpedo Boats PT 204 and PT 209 are showered with water from near-hits but escape damage. They chart the location of the battery before leaving the area.

1951- During Operation Summit, the first helicopter-borne landing of a combat unit is performed when Marines are landed by Marine helicopter squadron (HMR 161) in dense fog in Korea.

1981 - Philippine Navy frigate, Datu Kalantia, previously, USS Booth (DE 170), is forced aground by Typhoon Clara while at anchor near Clayan Island, 340 miles north of Manila. USS Mount Hood (AE 29), with a special medical team embarks and joins in on rescue operations on Sept. 21. Only 18 members of the crew survive.

1986 - USS Bunker Hill (CG 52) is commissioned at Charlestown Naval Shipyard in Boston, near the American Revolutionary War battleground for which the ship is named.

1997 - USS Bataan (LHD 5) is commissioned at Pascagoula, Miss. It is the second US Navy ship named in remembrance of the valiant resistance of American and Filipino troops on the Bataan Peninsula in the dawning days of World War II.

2017 - Hurricane Maria makes landfall in Puerto Rico as a Category 4 storm with deadly flooding. The Navy responds by sending USS Wasp (LHD 1), USS Kearsarge (LHD 3), USS Oak Hill (LSD 51), USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) and 17 aircraft to provide humanitarian assistance that lasts until Nov. 20.

This Day In United States Naval History - September 22nd

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1861 - Commodore William W. McKean assumes command of the Gulf Blockading Squadron.

1863 - During the Civil War, USS De Soto, commanded by Capt. W. M. Walker, recaptures the Army tug Leviathan in the Gulf of Mexico, some 40 miles off shore. She had been captured by the Confederates earlier in the day.

1944 - USS Yukon (AF 9) is hit in her starboard side by a torpedo fired by German submarine U-979, about 43 miles west of Reykjavik, Iceland. Damaged, she steams at three knots until her SOS is responded to by tugs from Reykjavik.

1952 - During the Korean War, enemy guns fire on Sosari. HMS Cardigan Bay (PF) and USS Bradford (DD 545) provide direct counter battery fire, silencing the guns.

1959 - USS Patrick Henry (SSBN 599) is launched. In 1982, her ballistic missile tubes are disabled, and she is reclassified as an attack submarine.

1979 - USNS Catawba (T-ATF 168) is christened and launched at Marinette marine Corp, Marinette, Wisc. The fleet ocean tug, provides towing, diving and standby submarine rescue services to the Navys numbered fleet commanders.

1989 - After Hurricane Hugo, Sailors and Marines provide assistance to Charleston, S.C. through Oct. 10.

1990 - USNS Kanawha (T-AO 196) is christened and launched at the Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Chester, Penn. The Henry J. Kaiser-class fleet replenishment oiler provides underway replenishment of fuel, fleet cargo and stores to the Navy through the Military Sealift Command.

2012 - USS Fort Worth (LCS 3) is commissioned in Galveston, Texas. The littoral combat ship is the first US Navy warship to be named after the fifth largest city in Texas.

This Day In United States Naval History - September 24th

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1864 - The steam tug USS Fuschia and the sidewheel steamer Thomas Freeborn conduct a raid against a boat works above Milford Haven, Va., on Stutts Creek. Some three miles upstream a force of 40 sailors land, destroying four Confederate boats, capturing five, and demolishing a fishery.

1918 - Lt. j.g. David S. Ingalls, while on a test flight in a Sopwith Camel, sights an enemy two-seat Rumpler over Nieuport. In company with another Camel he attacks and scores his fifth aerial victory in six weeks to become the Navy's first ace.

1941 - USS Eberle (DD 430) is screening convoy HX 150 in Task Unit 4.1.1. when she rescues the crew of British freighter, Nigaristan after it suffered an engine room fire.

1943 - USS Cabrilla (SS 288) attacks three Japanese ships, a carrier, escort carrier and destroyer, northwest of Chichi Jima.

1960 - USS Charles Berry (DE 1035) begins a goodwill cruise of the southern Philippine Islands, visiting the small cities not usually visited by naval units.

1960 - The first nuclear powered aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise (CVAN 65), is launched at Newport News, Va. In 1975, she is designated (CVN 65).

This Day In United States Naval History - September 26th

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1860 - The sloop-of-war, USS Constellation captures the American slaver Cora with 705 slaves on board off the Congo River. The newly freed slaves are taken to Monrovia, Liberia.

1863 - During the Civil War, the double-ender side-wheel steamer, USS Tioga captures Confederate steamer Herald near the Bahamas off the Florida Keys with cargo including cigars and sugar.

1918 - After shepherding a convoy to the Irish Sea, while under the command of the U.S. Navy during World War I, Coast Guard cutter Tampa is steaming through the Bristol Channel when she is torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine UB-91. All those on board, 115 crew members and 16 passengers, are killed, resulting in the greatest combat-related loss of life suffered by the U.S. Naval forces during WWI.

1931 - The keel to USS Ranger (CV 4) is laid at Newport News, Va. She is the first ship designed and constructed as an aircraft carrier.

1944 - USS Pargo (SS 264) sinks the Japanese minelayer, Aotaka, off Borneo. Also on this date, USS McCoy Reynolds (DE 440) sinks Japanese submarine I-175 northeast of Palau.

1961 - USNS Potomac (T AO 181) is damaged by fire and explosion while at Morehead City, N.C.

1963 - First steam-eject launch of Polaris missile at sea occurs off Cape Canaveral, Fla., from USS Observation Island (EAG 154).

1987 - USS Leyte Gulf (CG 55) is commissioned at Port Everglades, Fla. The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser is the ninth in her class and the second to be named after the World War II Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Pacific.

1991 - USNS Effective (T-AGOS 21) is christened and launched at Morgan City, La. The Military Sealift Command vessel is one of several ocean surveillance ships that conduct Surveillance Towed Array Sensory System (SURTASS).

This Day In United States Naval History - September 28th

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1822 - Under Commodore David Porter's West India Squadron, the sloop of war USS Peacock raids a pirate camp at Funda Bay, burning two pirate boats, capturing five others, while also liberating "89 sacks of coffee concealed in the woods...."

1850 - Flogging on Navy and merchant marine ships is abolished by an appropriation bill by Congress, which President Millard Fillmore signs into law.

1861 - During the Civil War, the side-wheel steamer USS Susquehanna captures Confederate schooner San Juan bound for Elizabeth City, N.C., with a cargo of salt, sugar, and gin.

1957 - After reconfiguration and reclassification, the former LST-32 becomes USS Alameda County (AVB 1), an advance aviation base ship. The first of her class, she is designated to provide fuel, spare parts, technicians, and facilities necessary to establish and operate an airstrip for patrol and carrier aircraft in locations where there are no base facilities.

1964 - The first deployment of a Polaris A-3 missile takes place on board USS Daniel Webster (SSBN 626) from Charleston, S.C.

1991 - USS Asheville (SSN 758) is commissioned during a ceremony at Newport News, Va. The Los Angeles-class nuclear-powered submarine is the fourth ship in the Navy to be named after the city in North Carolina, and is ideally suited for covert surveillance, intelligence gathering and special forces missions.

1991 - USNS Rainier (T-AOE 7) is christened and launched at San Diego, Calif. The fast combat support ship delivers petroleum products, ammunition, food and other cargo to ships at sea. It is Military Sealift Commands largest combat logistics ship and the third Navy vessel to be named after Mount Rainier in Washington. The ship is based out of Bremerton, Wash.