USS Enterprise (CVN 65), USS Long Beach (CGN 9), and USS Bainbridge (CGN 25), the world’s first-ever all nuclear-power task group, underway on their first deployment in 1964.
May 8
1911 - Navy ordered its first airplane, Curtiss A-1, Birthday of Naval Aviation.
1942 - Battle of the Coral Sea ends with Japanese retiring from area.
1945 - VE - Day, Germany's unconditional surrender to the Allies.
1963 - Navy ships evacuate 2,279 civilians from Haiti during crisis.
1972 - U.S. Navy and Marine Corps aircraft mine Haiphong Harbor in North Vietnam.
May 9
1926 - Lt. Cmdr. Richard Byrd and Chief Machinist Mate Floyd Bennett make first flight over North Pole; both receive the Medal of Honor.
1942 - USS Wasp (CV 7) in Mediterranean launches 47 Spitfire aircraft to help defend Malta.
May 10
1775 - Force under Ethan Allan and Benedict Arnold cross Lake Champlain and capture British fort at Ticonderoga, New York.
1800 - Constitution captures French Letter of Marque Sandwich.
1862 - Confederates destroy Norfolk and Pensacola Navy Yards.
1949 - First shipboard launching of LARK guided missile, by USS Norton Sound (AV 11).
1960 - USS Triton (SSRN 586) completes submerged circumnavigation of world in 84 days following many of the routes taken by Magellan and cruising 46,000 miles.
May 11
1862 - CSS Virginia blown up by Confederates to prevent capture.
1898 - Sailors and Marines from cruiser Marblehead cut trans-oceanic cable near Cienfuegos, Cuba, isolating Cuba from Spain.
1943 - Naval task force lands Army troops on Attu, Aleutians.
1965 - U.S. destroyers deliver first shore bombardment of Vietnam War.
May 12
1780 - Fall of Charleston, S.C.; three Continental Navy frigates (Boston, Providence, and Ranger) captured; and one American frigate (Queen of France) sunk to prevent capture.
1846 - U.S. declares war against Mexico.
1975 - SS Mayaguez seized by Khmer Rouge and escorted to Koh Tang Island.
1986 - Destroyer USS David R. Ray (DD 971) deters an Iranian Navy attempt to board a U.S. merchant ship.
May 13
1908 - Navy Nurse Corps established.
1943 - Bureau of Navigation renamed Bureau of Naval Personnel.
1945 - Aircraft from fast carrier task force begin 2-day attack on Kyushu airfields, Japan.
1964 - Organization and deployment of world's first all nuclear-powered task group, USS Enterprise (CVN 65), USS Long Beach (CGN 9), and USS Bainbridge (CGN 25), to Sixth Fleet.
May 14
1801 - Tripoli declares war against the United States.
1836 - U.S. Exploring Expedition authorized to conduct exploration of Pacific Ocean and South Seas, first major scientific expedition overseas.
1845 - First U.S. warship visits Vietnam.
1975 - Marines recapture SS Mayaguez, go ashore on Koh Tang Island and release the crew.
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