United States Navy Timeline of Events

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United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

Timeline of Events

1775

10.13.1775

The United States Continental Congress orders the establishment of the Continental Navy (later renamed the United States Navy).

1794

3.27.1794

The United States Government establishes a permanent navy and authorizes the building of six frigates.

1797

10.21.1797

In Boston Harbor, the 44-gun United States Navy frigate USS Constitution is launched.

1862

7.16.1862

American Civil War: David Farragut is promoted to rear admiral, becoming the first officer in United States Navy to hold an admiral rank.

1884

10.6.1884

The Naval War College of the United States Navy is founded in Newport, Rhode Island.

1887

1.20.1887

The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl Harbor as a naval base.

1893

2.28.1893

The USS ''Indiana'', the lead ship of her class and the first battleship in the United States Navy comparable to foreign battleships of the time, is launched.

4.1.1893

The rank of Chief Petty Officer in the United States Navy is established.

1898

4.22.1898

Spanish-American War: The United States Navy begins a blockade of Cuban ports and the USS Nashville captures a Spanish merchant ship.

1922

3.20.1922

The USS Langley is commissioned as the first United States Navy aircraft carrier.

1923

9.8.1923

Honda Point Disaster: nine US Navy destroyers run aground off the California coast. Seven are lost, and twenty-three sailors killed.

1941

10.31.1941

World War II: The destroyer USS ''Reuben James'' is torpedoed by a German U-boat near Iceland, killing more than 100 United States Navy sailors. It is the first U.S. Navy vessel sunk by enemy action in WWII.

1942

5.7.1942

During the Battle of the Coral Sea, United States Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attack and sink the Japanese Imperial Navy light aircraft carrier Shōhō. The battle marks the first time in the naval history that two enemy fleets fight without visual contact between warring ships.

5.8.1942

World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea comes to an end with Japanese Imperial Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attacking and sinking the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Lexington. The battle marks the first time in the naval history that two enemy fleets fight without visual contact between warring ships.

9.15.1942

World War II: U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Wasp is torpedoed at Guadalcanal.

1943

8.12.1943

Alleged date of the first Philadelphia Experiment test on United States Navy ship USS Eldridge.

8.31.1943

The USS Harmon, the first U.S. Navy ship to be named after a black person, is commissioned.

1944

1.29.1944

USS Missouri the last battleship commissioned by the United States Navy is launched.

6.4.1944

World War II: A hunter-killer group of the United States Navy captures the German submarine German submarine U-505|''U-505''

6.20.1944

World War II: The Battle of the Philippine Sea concludes with a decisive U.S. naval victory. The lopsided naval air battle is also known as the “Great Marianas Turkey Shoot”.

1945

7.26.1945

The US Navy cruiser USS Indianapolis arrives at Tinian with parts of the warhead for the Hiroshima atomic bomb.

1972

10.11.1972

A race riot occurs on the United States Navy aircraft carrier ''Kitty Hawk'' off the coast of Vietnam during Operation Linebacker.

10.12.1972

En route to the Gulf of Tonkin, a racial brawl involving more than 100 sailors breaks out aboard the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS ''Kitty Hawk''

1985

10.10.1985

United States Navy F-14 fighter jets intercept an Egyptian plane carrying the ''Achille Lauro'' cruise ship hijackers and force it to land at a NATO base in Sigonella, Sicily where they are arrested.

11.21.1985

United States Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Pollard is arrested for spying after being caught giving Israel classified information on Arab nations. He is subsequently sentenced to life in prison.

1986

4.28.1986

The United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Enterprise becomes the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to transit the Suez Canal, navigating from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea to relieve the USS Coral Sea.

8.28.1986

United States Navy officer Jerry A. Whitworth is sentenced to 365 years imprisonment for espionage for the Soviet Union.

1987

10.19.1987

In retaliation for Iranian attacks on ships in the Persian Gulf, the U.S. Navy disables three of Iran's offshore oil platforms.

1988

7.3.1988

United States Navy warship USS Vincennes shoots down Iran Air Flight 655 over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard.

1992

3.31.1992

The USS Missouri, the last active United States Navy battleship, is decommissioned in Long Beach, California.

10.27.1992

United States Navy radioman Allen R. Schindler, Jr. is brutally murdered by shipmate Terry M. Helvey for being gay, precipitating first military, then national, debate about gays in the military that resulted in the United States "Don't ask, don't tell" military policy.

1995

9.29.1995

The United States Navy disbands Fighter Squadron 84 (VF-84), nicknamed the "Jolly Rogers".

2001

4.1.2001

An EP-3E United States Navy surveillance aircraft collides with a Chinese People's Liberation Army Shenyang J-8 fighter jet. The Navy crew makes an emergency landing in Hainan, People's Republic of China and is detained.

2005

5.14.2005

The former USS America, a decommissioned supercarrier of the United States Navy, is deliberately sunk in the Atlantic Ocean after four weeks of live-fire exercises. She is the largest ship ever to be disposed of as a target in a military exercise.

2009

2.5.2009

The United States Navy guided missile cruiser USS Port Royal runs aground off Oahu, Hawaii, damaging the ship as well as a coral reef.