Photo courtesy Naval History and Heritage Command Aerial view of the USS Oklahoma (BB 37) port side. Sunk at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, the ship was refloated on Nov. 3, 1943. Visible in the photograph is the large cofferdam patch installed from frames 43 to 75 to seal the extensive torpedo damage in that area, and cofferdams built around the main deck edge by the after turrets to increase the waterplane area and improve stability during the refloating process.

1814 - Launching of Fulton I, first American steam powered warship, at New York City. The ship was designed by Robert Fulton.

1955 - Ships of the 6th Fleet join U.S. military aircraft in evacuating American citizens from Egypt, Israel and Syria when war breaks out in the Middle East.

1980 - USS Parsons (DDG 33) rescues 110 Vietnamese refugees 330 miles south of Saigon.

1989 - A pilot making his 1st carrier landing and four others are killed when his plane crashes on the flight deck of the training carrier Lexington (AVT 16) off the coast of Pensacola, Fla.

Oct. 30

1775 - Congress authorizes four vessels for the defense of the United Colonies.

1799 - William Balch becomes the Navy's first commissioned chaplain.

1990 - Two Sailors are killed when a steam line ruptures in the boiler room of USS Iwo Jima (LPH 2) in the Persian Gulf.

Oct. 31

1941 - German submarine U-552 sinks USS Reuben James (DD 245), which was escorting Convoy HX 156, with a loss of 115 lives -- First U.S. ship lost to enemy action in World War II.

1943 - Lt. Hugh D. O'Neill of VF(N)-75 destroys a Japanese aircraft during night attack off Vella Lavella in first kill by a radar-equipped night fighter of the Pacific Fleet.

1956 - Navy men land in R4D Skytrain on the ice at the South Pole. Rear Adm. George Dufek, Capt. Douglas Cordiner, Capt. William Hawkes, Lt. Cmdr. Conrad Shinn, Lt. John Swadener, Aviation Machinist's Mate 2nd Class J. P. Strider and Aviation Machinist's Mate 2nd Class William Cumbie are the first men to stand on the South Pole since Capt. Robert F. Scott in 1912.

1956 - USS Burdo (APD 133) and USS Harlan R. Dickson (DD 708) evacuate 166 persons from Haifa, Israel, due to the fighting between Egypt and Israel.

1961 - End of Lighter than Air in U.S. Navy with disestablishment of Fleet Airship Wing 1 and ZP-1 and ZP-3, the last operating units in LTA branch of naval aviation, at Lakehurst, N.J.

Nov. 1

1841 - “Mosquito Fleet“ commanded by Lt. Cmdr. J. T. McLaughlin carries 750 Sailors and Marines into the Everglades to fight the Seminole Indians.

1941 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt places Coast Guard under jurisdiction of Department of the Navy for duration of national emergency.

1967 - Operation Coronado IX began in Mekong Delta

1979 - Beginning of retirement of Polaris A-3 program begins with removal of missiles from USS Abraham Lincoln (SSBN 602). Last Polaris missile removed in February 1982.

Nov. 2

1943 - In Battle in Empress Augusta Bay, U.S. cruisers and destroyers turn back Japanese forces trying to attack transports off Bougainville, Solomons.

1968 - Operation Search Turn began in Mekong Delta.

Nov. 3

1853 - U.S. Frigate Constitution seizes suspected slaver H. N. Gambrill.

1931 - Dirigible USS Los Angeles (ZR 3) makes 10-hour flight out of NAS Lakehurst, N.J., carrying 207 persons, establishing a new record for the number of passengers carried into the air by a single craft.

1943 - USS Oklahoma (BB 37), sunk at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, is refloated.

1956 - USS Cambria (APA 36) removes 24 members of United Nations Truce Commission team from the Gaza Strip.

1956 - USS Chilton (APA 38), USS Thuban (AKA 19), and USS Fort Snelling (LSD 30) evacuate more than 1,500 U.S. and foreign nationals from Egypt and Israel because of the fighting.

1961 - After Hurricane Hattie, helicopters from USS Antietam (CV 36) begin relief operations at British Honduras providing medical personnel, medical supplies, general supplies, and water.

Nov. 4

1967 - Landing craft from USS Navarro (APA 215) rescue 43 men from British SS Habib Marikar aground on a reef at Lincoln Island in the Tonkin Gulf.

1971 - USS Nathanael Greene (SSBN 636) launches a Poseidon C-3 missile in first surface launch of Poseidon missile.