1 September
1781 – French fleet traps British fleet at Yorktown, Va.
1925 – Cmdr. John Rodgers and crew of four in PN-9 run out of fuel on first San Francisco to Hawaii flight. Landing at sea, they rigged a sail and set sail for Hawaii.
1941 – U.S. assumes responsibility for trans-Atlantic convoys from Argentia, Canada, to the meridian of Iceland.
1942 – Establishment of Commander, Naval Air Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, Vice Adm. Aubrey W. Fitch.
1942 – First Seabee unit to serve in a combat area, 6th Naval Construction Battalion, arrives on Guadalcanal.
1945 – USS Benevolence (AH 13) evacuates civilian internees from two internment camps near Tokyo, Japan.
2 September
1918 – Navy ships and crews assist earthquake victims of Yokohama and Tokyo, Japan.
1940 – Destroyer for Bases Deal agreement struck between the United States and United Kingdom.
1944 – USS Finback (SS 217) rescues Lt. j.g. George Bush, who was shot down while attacking Chichi Jima.
1945 – Japan signs surrender documents aboard USS Missouri (BB 63) at anchor in Tokyo Bay. Adm. Chester W. Nimitz signs for the United States. In different ceremonies, Japanese forces on Palau Islands, Truk, and on Pagan Island and Rota in the Marianas surrender.
3 September
1782 – As a token of gratitude for French aid during the American Revolution, the United States gives America (first ship-of-the-line built by U.S.) to France to replace a French ship lost in Boston.
1783 – Signing of the Treaty of Paris ends the American Revolution.
1885 – First classes at U.S. Naval War College begin.
1925 – Crash of rigid airship Shenandoah near Byesville, Ohio.
1943 – American landings on Lae and Salamaua.
1944 – First combat employment of a missile guided by radio and television takes place when Navy drone, Liberator, controlled by Ensign James M. Simpson, flew to attack German submarine pens on Helgoland Island.
1945 – Japanese surrender Wake Island in ceremony aboard USS Levy (DE 162).
4 September
1804 – USS Intrepid (Lt. Richard Somers) blew up in failed attack on Tripoli.
1941 – A German submarine, U-652, attacks USS Greer (DD 145), which was tracking the submarine southeast of Iceland. Greer is not damaged, but drops depth charges, damaging U-652.
1954 – Icebreakers, USS Burton Island (AGB 1) and USCG Northwind (WAG 282), complete first transit of Northwest passage through McClure Strait.
1960 – USS Bushnell (AS 15) and USS Penguin (ASR 12) begin relief operations in Marathon, Fla., after Hurricane Donna.
5 September
1775 – Adoption of first uniforms for Navy officers.
1813 – USS Enterprise captures HM brig Boxer off Portland, Maine.
1918 – USS Mount Vernon torpedoed by German submarine off France.
1923 – U.S. Asiatic Fleet arrives at Yokohama, Japan, to provide medical assistance and supplies after Kondo Plain earthquake.
1939 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders Navy to form a neutrality patrol to report the presence of foreign warships within 300 miles of eastern United States.
1946 – USS Franklin Delano Roosevelt (CVB 42) and four escorts visit Greece to underscore U.S. support for the Greek government, which faced a communist insurgency.
1990 – USS Acadia (AD 42) departs San Diego for first war-time deployment of mixed gender crew on combat vessel.
6 September
1918 – Sailors fire first of the five railroad batteries at Tergnier, a German rail head in the Comeigne Forest. These 14-inch, 50-caliber guns were originally designed for battleships.
1939 – Navy begins formation of neutrality patrol for Atlantic Ocean.
1940 – First destroyers transferred to Great Britain at Halifax, Nova Scotia, under “Destroyers for Bases” agreement.
1944 – USS Independence (CVL 22) begins use of specially trained air group for night work. First time a fully-equipped night carrier operates with fast carrier task force.
1945 – U.S. troops begin returning home when Task Force 11 left Tokyo Bay for the United States.
1953 – Exchange of prisoners of war from Korean War (Operation Big Switch) ends.
7 September
1776 – David Bushnell attempts to destroy a British ship-of-the-line, HMS Asia, in New York Harbor with his submarine Turtle.
1814 – USS Wasp captures HMS Avon.
1864 – USS Wachusett captures CSS Florida at Bahia, Brazil.
1942 – First air evacuation of casualties to hospital ships off shore occurs at Guadalcanal.
8 September
1923 – In disaster at Point Honda, Calif., seven destroyers run aground through faulty navigation.
1939 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaims a limited national emergency and increases enlisted strength in the Navy and Marine Corps; also authorizes the recall to active duty of officers,
1954 – U.S. signs Manila Treaty forming SEATO (Southeast Asia Treaty Organization).
1958 – Lt. R. H. Tabor, wearing a Navy-developed pressure suit, completes a 72-hour simulated flight at altitudes as high a 139,000 feet. It was another step in the development of the Navy spacesuit, which NASA accepted in 1959 for use by Mercury astronauts.
9 September
1825 – USS Brandywine sails for France to carry the Marquis de Lafayette home after his yearlong visit to America.
1841 – First iron ship authorized by Congress.
1940 – Navy awards contracts for 210 ships, including 12 carriers and seven battleships.
1943 – Operation Avalanche, Western Naval Task Force, under Vice Adm. Henry Hewitt, lands Allied forces at Salerno, Italy.
1944 – Fifth Fleet carrier aircraft begin air strikes on Japanese shipping and facilities at Mindanao, Philippines.
1945 – A “computer bug” is first identified and named by Lt. Grace Murray Hopper while she was on active duty. It was found in the Mark II Aiken Relay Calculator at Harvard University. The operators affixed the moth to the computer log, where it still resides, with the entry: “First actual case of bug being found.” They “debugged” the computer, first introducing the term.
10 September
1813 – In the Battle of Lake Erie, Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, flying his “Don’t give up the ship” flag, defeats British squadron and says: “We have met the enemy, and they are ours…”
1925 – Submarine R-4 (SS 81) rescues crew of PN-9 plane 10 miles from their destination of Hawaii.
1945 – Carrier Midway (CVB 42) commissioned.
1961 – World’s first nuclear-powered guided-missile cruiser, Long Beach (CGN 9) is commissioned.
11 September
1814 – In the Battle of Lake Champlain, Commodore Thomas Macdonough defeats a British Squadron.
1939 – USS Bear (AG 29) is commissioned by the U.S. Navy for Antarctic operations under command of Rear Adm. Richard Byrd.
1941 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt announces order to the Navy to “shoot on sight” vessels threatening U.S. shipping or ships under U.S. escort.
1942 – Pharmacist’s Mate 1st Class Wheeler B. Lipes performs emergency appendectomy on Seaman 1st Class Darrell D. Rector, aboard USS Seadragon (SS 194), on patrol in South China Sea.
1943 – Italian Navy surrenders to Allies.
1945 – Operation Magic Carpet, the return of troops to the Unites States, begins.
2001 – One hundred twenty-five Pentagon employees, including 42 Sailors and Department of the Navy civilians, are killed along with 59 airline passengers when terrorists fly a highjacked airliner into the Pentagon.
12 September
1916 – First demonstration of automatic stabilization and direction gear in aircraft.
1944 – Fifth Fleet carrier aircraft begin three-day attack on Japanese shipping and facilities in Visayas, Philippines.
1952 – USS Coral Sea (CVB 43) took Marshall Josip Tito for a one-day cruise in the Adriatic Sea where he was shown flight operations.
1961 – Navy task force sails to aid the Galveston area after Hurricane Carla hits Texas.
1966 – Launch of Gemini 11, piloted by Cmdr. Charles Conrad Jr. and Lt. Cmdr. Richard F. Gordon Jr. Their mission lasted two days and 23 hours and included 44 orbits at an altitude of 1368.9 km. Recovery was by HS-3 helicopter from USS Guam (LPH 9).
1967 – Operation Coronado V began in Mekong Delta.
1992 – Joint Task Force Hawaii activated to provide humanitarian aid after Typhoon Iniki struck Hawaiian Islands.
13 September
1814 – British bombardment of Fort McHenry inspires the Star Spangled Banner.
1847 – Marine Brigade leads U.S. forces that storm Chapultepec Castle near Mexico City, inspiring one line of the Marine Hymn.
1906 – Sailors and Marines from USS Denver land in Havana at the request of the Cuban government to preserve order during a revolution.
1939 – Navy suspends transfers to the Fleet Reserve after 20 years of service and retains men on active duty.
1985 – Commander Middle East Force orders escort of Military Sealift Ships in Persian Gulf because of Iranian seizure of merchant vessels.
14 September
1899 – Gunboat Concord and monitor Monterey capture two insurgent schooners at Aparri, Philippine Islands.
1939 – Atlantic Squadron Neutrality Patrol ships deploy.
1976 – USS John F. Kennedy (CV 67) and destroyer Bordelon (DD 881) collide during night operations 100 miles north of Scotland.
15 September
1944 – Invasion of Peleliu, Palau Islands, after several days of intensive carrier aircraft bombing and ship bombardment.
1950 – U.S. forces under Vice Adm. Arthur Struble achieve an amphibious landing at Inchon, Korea.
1967 – Operation Crimson Tide in Mekong Delta.
16 September
1854 – Cmdr. David G. Farragut takes possession of Mare Island, the first U.S. Navy Yard on the Pacific.
1917 – Navy Department authorizes establishment of 16 Naval air stations abroad.
1922 – Cmdr. Halsey Powell abaord USS Edsall (DD 219) became the senior officer directing the evacuation of 250,000 Greek refugees from Turkey after war between Greece and Turkey.
1940 – President Roosevelt signs Selective Training and Service Act, the first peacetime draft.
1958 – USS Grayback (SS 208) fires first operational launch of Regulus II surface-to-surface guided missile off California coast; Missile carries first U.S. mail sent by guided missile.
1966 – USS Oriskany (CVA 34) helicopters rescue 44-man crew of British merchant ship August Moon near Hong Kong.
17 September
1861 – Union landing party from USS Massachusetts takes possession of Ship Island south of New Orleans. This was the headquarters for Adm. David Farragut’s Gulf Coast Blockading Squadron.
1895 – Battleship Maine commissioned.
1902 – Detachment of Sailors and Marines land from cruiser Cincinnati (C 7) to protect American property at Colon, Panama.
1944 – Navy Task Force lands Army troops on Angaur, Palau Islands, supported by Navy carrier aircraft and shore bombardment.
18 September
1926 – Navy brings relief aid to Miami after a severe hurricane.
1936 – Squadron 40-T, based in the Mediterranean, established to protect U.S. interests and citizens around Iberian peninsula throughout the Spanish Civil War.
1941 – U.S. Navy ships escort eastbound British trans-Atlantic convoy for first time (Convoy HX-150). Although the U.S. Navy ships joined HX-150, which left port escorted by British ships on 16th, the official escort duty began on 18th.
1947 – National Security Act becomes effective.
19 September
1915 – Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels organizes the Naval Consulting Board to mobilize the scientific resources of the United States for national defense.
1957 – Bathyscaph Trieste, in a dive sponsored by the Office of Naval Research in the Mediterranean, reaches record depth of two miles.
1992 – Joint Task Force Marianas stands down after providing assistance to Guam after Typhoon Omar.
20 September
1911 – Navigational instruments first requested for naval aircraft.
1951 – In Operation Summit, the first combat helicopter landing in history, U.S. Marines were landed in Korea.
1981 – USS Mount Hood (AE 29) and Navy helicopters rescue 18 crew members of Philippine Navy frigate, Datu Kalantiaw.
21 September
1858 – Sloop Niagara departs Charleston, S.C., for Liberia with African slaves rescued from slave ship.
1923 – Asiatic Fleet completes mission of aiding earthquake victims in Japan.
1939 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt asks Congress to repeal the arms embargo provision of the Neutrality Act.
1944 – Aircraft from 12 carriers commence two-day attack against Japanese ships and airfields on Luzon, Philippine Islands.
1984 – Mid-East Force begins escort of U.S.-flagged vessels in Persian Gulf.
22 September
1776 – John Paul Jones sails into Canso Bay, Nova Scotia, and attacks British fishing fleet.
1943 – U.S. destroyers and landing craft land Australian troops at Finschhafen, New Guinea.
1989 – After Hurricane Hugo, Sailors and Marines provide assistance to Charleston, S.C., through October 10.
23 September
1779 – Captain John Paul Jones, in Continental Navy frigate Bonhomme Richard, captures HMS Serapis.
1931 – Lt. Alfred Pride pilots Navy’s first rotary wing aircraft, XOP-1 autogiro, in landings and takeoffs aboard USS Langley (CV 1) while underway.
1944 – Naval Task Group lands Army troops on Ulithi Atoll, Caroline Islands.
1944 – USS West Virginia (BB 48) reaches Pearl Harbor and rejoins the Pacific Fleet, marking the end of the salvage and reconstruction of 18 ships damaged Dec. 7, 1941.
1947 – James Forrestal, former Secretary of the Navy, takes office as the first Secretary of Defense.
1990 – Two hospital ships — USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) and USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) — steam together for the first time in the Arabian Gulf.
24 September
1918 – Ensign David S. Ingalls, in a Sopwith Camel, shoots down his fifth enemy aircraft, becoming the first U.S. Navy ace while flying with the British Royal Air Force.
1944 – Fifth Fleet carrier aircraft attack Japanese in Visayas, Philippines.
1960 – First nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise (CVN 65), launched at Newport News, Va.
25 September
1912 – Battleship Wyoming (BB 32) commissioned.
1925 – Submarine S-51 (SS 162) sinks after collision with SS City of Rome off Block Island, Rhode Island.
1941 – In first successful U.S. Navy escort of convoys during World War II, Navy escorts turn over HX-150 to British escorts at the mid-ocean meeting point. All ships reach port safely.
1957 – In project Stratoscope, Office of Naval Research obtains sharp photographs of sun’s corona from first balloon-borne telescope camera.
26 September
1781 – French fleet defeats British at Yorktown, Va.
1910 – First recorded reference to provision for aviation in Navy Department organization.
1918 – USS Tampa lost with 118.
1931 – Keel laying at Newport News, Va., of USS Ranger (CV 4), first ship designed and constructed as an aircraft carrier.
1963 – First steam-eject launch of Polaris missile at sea off Cape Canaveral, Fla., (now Cape Kennedy) from USS Observation Island (EAG 154).
27 September
1922 – Report on observations of experiments with short wave radio at Anacostia in the District of Columbia starts Navy development of radar.
1941 – Launch of first Liberty ship, SS Patrick Henry, in Baltimore.
1942 – Armed Guard on SS Stephen Hopkins engages German auxiliary cruiser Stier and supply ship Tannenfels. Stephen Hopkins and Stier both sink.
1944 – Special Air Task Force (STAG-1) commences operations with drones, controlled by TBM Avanger aircraft, against Japanese in Southwestern Pacific.
1950 – First Marine Division captures Seoul, South Korea.
28 September
1822 – Sloop-of-war Peacock captures five pirate vessels.
1850 – Congress outlaws flogging on Navy ships.
1923 – Navy aircraft take first and second places in international Schneider Cup Race.
1944 – Marines occupy islands in Palaus under cover of naval aircraft and gunfire support.
1964 – First deployment of Polaris A-3 missile on USS Daniel Webster (SSBN 626) from Charleston, S.C.
29 September
1944 – USS Narwhal (SS 167) evacuates 81 Allied prisoners of war that survived the sinking of Japanese Shinyo Maru from Sindangan Bay, Mindanao.
1946 – Lockheed P2V Neptune, Truculent Turtle, leaves Perth, Australia, on a long-distance non-stop, non-refueling flight that ends October 1.
1959 – USS Kearsarge (CVS 33), with Helicopter Squadron 6 and other 7th Fleet units, begins six days of disaster relief to Nagoya, Japan, after Typhoon Vera.
30 September
1800 – United States concludes Treaty of Peace with France, ending Quasi War with France.
1944 – USS Nautilus (SS 168) lands supplies and evacuates people from Panay, Philipppine Islands.
1946 – U.S. government announces Navy units would be permanently stationed in the Mediterranean to carry out American policy and diplomacy.
1954 – Commissioning at Groton, Conn., of USS Nautilus (SSN 571), the world’s first nuclear-powered ship.
1958 – Marines leave Lebanon.
1959 – Last flight of airships assigned to the Naval Air Reserve at Lakehurst, N.J., takes place.
1968 – USS New Jersey (BB 62) arrives off Vietnam.