The USS Maryland (BB-46) fires her 16“⁄45 guns, during the pre-invasion bombardment of Tarawa, Nov. 20, 1943. Rear Adm. Harry W. Hill, Commander, Task Force 53, and members of his staff are observing the bombardment from Maryland's port bridge, in the foreground.
Nov. 19
1813- Capt. David Porter claims Marquesas Islands for the United States.
1943 - Carrier force attacks bases on Tarawa and Makin begun.
1943 - USS Nautilus (SS-168) enters Tarawa lagoon in first submarine photograph reconnaissance mission.
1961 - At the request of President of Dominican Republic, U.S. Naval Task Force sails to Dominican Republic to bolster the country's government and to prevent a coup.
1969 - Navy astronauts Cmdr. Charles Conrad Jr. and Cmdr. Alan L. Bean are third and fourth men to walk on the moon. They were part of Apollo 12 mission. Cmdr. Richard F. Gordon, Jr., the Command Module Pilot, remained in lunar orbit. During the mission lasting 19 days, 4 hours, and 36 minutes, the astronauts recovered 243 lbs of lunar material. Recovery by HS-4 helicopters from USS Hornet (CVS-12).
Nov. 20
1856 – Cmdr. Andrew H. Foote lands at Canton, China, with 287 Sailors and Marines to stop attacks by Chinese on U.S. military and civilians.
1917 - USS Kanawha, Noma and Wakiva sink German sub off France.
1933 - Navy crew (Lt. Cmdr. Thomas G. W. Settle, USN, and Maj. Chester I. Fordney, USMC) sets a world altitude record in balloon (62,237 ft.) in flight into stratosphere.
1943 - Operation Galvanic, under command of Vice Adm. Raymond Spruance, lands Navy, Marine, and Army forces on Tarawa and Makin.
1962 - President John F. Kennedy lifts the Blockade of Cuba.
Nov. 21
1918 - U.S. battleships witness surrender of German High Seas fleet at Rosyth, Firth of Forth, Scotland, to U.S. and British fleets.
Nov. 22
1914 - Title Director of Naval Aeronautics established.
Nov. 23
1940 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt appoints Adm. William D. Leahy as U.S. Ambassador to Vichy France to try to prevent the French fleet and naval bases from falling into German hands.
Nov. 24
1852 - Commodore Matthew Perry sails from Norfolk, Va., to negotiate a treaty with Japan for friendship and commerce.
1964 - USS Princeton (LPH-5) completes 7-days of humanitarian relief to South Vietnam which suffered damage from typhoon and floods.
1969 - HS-4 from USS Hornet (CVS-12) recovers Apollo 12's all-Navy crew of astronauts, Commanders Richard Gordon, Charles Conrad, and Alan Bean, after moon landing by Conrad and Bean.
Nov. 25
1775 - Continental Congress authorizes privateering.
1943 - In Battle of Cape St. George, five destroyers of Destroyer Squadron 23 (Capt. Arleigh Burke) intercept five Japanese destroyers and sink three and damage one without suffering any damage.
1961 - Commissioning of USS Enterprise (CVA(N)-65), the first nuclear powered aircraft carrier, at Newport News, Va.
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