20th Century

Date	Event
January 17, 1900	CDR Taussig in command of the USS Bennington takes formal possession of Wake Island for the U.S.
February 10, 1900	Appointment of first naval governor of Guam, Commodore Seaton Schroder.
January 20, 1903	Theodore Roosevelt issues Executive Order placing Midway Islands under jurisdiction of the Navy Department.
March 24, 1903	George dewey commissioned Admiral of the Navy with the date of rank, 2 March 1899.  He was the only person to hold this rank.
February 22, 1909	Great White Fleet returns from its round the world cruise to Hampton Roads, VA.
January 4, 1910	Commissioning of USS Michigan (BB-27), the first U.S. dreadnought battleship.
January 18, 1911	Eugene Ely lands a plane on the USS Pensylvania, making the first aircraft landing on board a ship.
March 16, 1911	Hulk of the USS Maine sunk at sea in deep water with full military honors.
January 26, 1913	The body of John Paul Jones is laid in its final resting place in the Chapel at the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD.
February 13, 1913	Naval Radio Station, Arlington, VA begins operations.
January 20, 1914	School for naval air training opens in Pensacola, FL.
January 29, 1914	U.S. Marines land in Haiti to protect the U.S. consulate.
March 3, 1915	Office of Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) established.
March 3, 1915	Congress creates Federal Naval Reserve.
January 6, 1916	First enlisted flight training class at Pensacola, FL.
January 10, 1917	Navy places first production order for aerial photographic equipment.
February 3, 1917	U.S. severs diplomatic relations with Germany.
March 12, 1917	All American merchant ships to be armed in war zones.
March 13, 1917	Armed merchant ships authorized to take action against German U-boats.
March 19, 1917	Navy Department authorizes enrollment of women in Naval Reserve with ratings of yeoman, radio electrician or other essential ratings.
March 23, 1917	USS New Mexico launched, the first dreadnought with turboelectric drive.
January 9, 1918	Esteblishment of Naval Overseas Transportation Service to carry cargo during WWI.
February 23, 1919	Launching of the Osmond Ingram (DD-255), the first Navy ship named for an enlisted man.
February 6, 1922	World powers sign the Washington Naval Treaty providing for the limitation of naval armament.
March 20, 1922	USS Jupiter recommissioned as the USS Langley, the Navy's first aircraft carrier.
March 4, 1925	Congress authorizes the restoration of the USS Constitution.
January 16, 1930	USS Lexington provides power to Tacoma, WA, when floods knocked out city power plants.
February 25, 1933	Commissioning of the USS Ranger, first true aircraft carrier.
January 10, 1934	VP-10F flies first non-stopformation flight from San Francisco to Pearl Harbor, arriving on January 11.
March 11, 1935	Birth of Naval Security Group when OP-20G became the Communications Security Group.
March 20, 1939	Naval Research Lab recommends financing  research program to obtain power from uranium.
February 1, 1941	United States Fleet reorganized, reviving Atlantic and Pacific Fleets.
March 11, 1941	President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Act.
January 6, 1942	Japanese capture 11 Navy Nurses in Manila, Philippines.
January 24, 1942	Battle of Makassar Strait, destroyer attack on Japanese convoy in the first surface action in the Pacific during WWII.
January 27, 1942	USS Gudgeon(SS-211) is the first U.S. submarine to sink an enemy submarine in action, the IJN I-173.
February 1, 1942	USS Enterprise and USS Yorktown make the first American WWII air strike against the Japanese Marshall Islands.
February 17, 1942	First Construction Battalion (Seabees) arrive in Bora Bora.
February 27, 1942	Battle of Java Sea, Allied Naval Force attacks Japanese invasion convoy.
March 1, 1942	U-656 becomes the first German submarine of WWII to be sunk by Naval air (VP-82).
March 5, 1942	Name "Seabees" and insignia officially authorized.
March 6, 1942	U.S. Cruisers and destroyers bombard Vila and Munda, Solomon Islands, sinking 2 Japanese destroyers.
March 11, 1942	In a PT boat, LCDR John Bulkeley leaves the Philippines to take General Douglas MacArthur to Australia.
March 12, 1942	Admiral Ernest J. King appointed to serve as Chief of Naval Operations as well as Commander-in-Chief, United States Fleet.
March 17, 1942 April 3, 1942	United States Naval Forces Europe established to plan joint operations with the British. ADM Chester Nimitz named Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Ocean areas, a joint command, and retained his other title, Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet.
January 5, 1943	USS Helena (CL-50) fired first proximity fused projectile in combat and shot down Japanese divebomber in southwest Pacific.
January 14, 1943	In the first submarine resupply, USS Gudgeon lands 6 men, 2,000 pounds of equipment and supplies on Negros Island.
January 29, 1943	Beginning of the 2 day Battle of Rennell Island after which U.S. transports reached Guadalcanal.
February 9, 1943	Organized Japanese resistance on Guadalcanal ends.
March 5, 1943	USS Bogue begins first anti-submarine operations by an escort carrier.
March 15, 1943	Numbered fleet system established.
March 26, 1943	Battle of Komandorski Islands, prevents Japanese reinforcements from reaching Attu.
January 3, 1944	Top Marine ace MAJ Boyington captured after shooting down 28 aircraft.
January 11, 1944	Aircraft from USS Block Island make the first aircraft rocket attack on German submarine.
January 22, 1944	Operation Shingle, Allied landing at Anzio, Italy.
January 31, 1944	American amphibious landing on Kwajalein, Marshall Islands.
February 17, 1944	Carrier aircraft strike Japanese fleet at Truk, sinking ships and destroying aircraft.
February 18, 1944	Amphibious Force under the command of RADM Hill lands troops on Engebi Island, Eniwetok.
February 21, 1944	Marines secure Eniwetok atoll with support from carrier aircraft and naval gunfire.
February 22, 1944	USS Iowa (BB-61), the lead ship of the last class of American fast battleships, is commissioned.
February 23, 1944	Carrier groups under ADM Spruance attack Saipan, Tinian and Rota in the Marianas.
February 26, 1944	Sue Sophia Dauser, Superintendent of the Navy's Nurse Corps, is the first woman in the Navy to achieve the rank of Captain.
February 29, 1944	PB4Y-1s from squadrons VB-108, VB-109, and VD-3, conduct a low-level bombing raid on Japanese positions on Wake Island.
March 30, 1944	First use of torpedo squadrons from carriers to drop aerial mines (Palau Harbor).
January 3, 1945	Third Fleet carriers begin a 2 day attack against Formosa destroying 100 aircraft with a loss of only 22 aircraft.
January 9, 1945	Carrier aircraft begin 2-day attack on Japanese forces at Luzon, Philippines.
January 27, 1945	Commissioning of USS Higbee (DD-806), the first U.S. Navy ship named after a woman member of the U.S. Navy.
February 12, 1945	USS Batfish(SS-310) sinks second Japanese submarine within three days.
February 13, 1945	First naval units enter Manilla Bay since 1942.
February 19, 1945	Marines land on Iwo Jima island with naval gunfire support; island is secured on March 16th.
February 21, 1945	USS Bismark Sea (CVE-95) struck by a kamikaze off Iwo Jima and sunk in 90 minutes with the loss of 318 men.  USS Saratoga (CV-3) struck by 5 kamikazes but survived with the loss of 123 men.  Bismark Sea was the last carrier lost in combat during WWII.
February 23, 1945	Five Marines and a Navy hospital corpsman raise a flag on Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima.
March 8, 1945	Phyllis Daley becomes the first African-American Ensign, Navy Nurse Corps.
March 16, 1945	Iwo Jima declared secure.
March 18, 1945	Carriers begin 3 month Okinawa Campaign by destroying aircraft on Kyushu, Japan.
March 23, 1945 April 1, 1945	Carriers begin pre-assualt strikes on Okinawa, kamikaze attacks follow. Invasion of Okinawa begins.
February 12, 1947	First launching of a guided missile (Loon) from a submarine, the USS Cusk.
March 15, 1947	Ensign John W. Lee becomes the first African american officer commissioned in the regular Navy.  He was assigned to the USS Kearsage.
January 20, 1948	Establishment of U.S. Persian Gulf Area Command, later changed to the Middle East Force in August 1948.
March 10, 1948	First use of jets assigned to operational squadron (VF-5A) on board a carrier, the USS Boxer.
January 26, 1949 April 4, 1949 April 2, 1951	USS Norton Sound, the first guided-missile ship, launches first guided missile, the Loon. Establishment of NATO. First Navy use of jet aircraft as a bomber, launched from the carrier USS Princeton.
January 12, 1953	Landings tested on board USS Antietam, the first aircraft carrier with an angled flight deck.
January 21, 1954	Launching of USS Nautilus (SSN-571), the first nuclear powered submarine, at Groton, CT from the Electric Boat shipyard.
March 1, 1954	1st of 6 detonations, Operation Castle nuclear test.
March 29, 1954	Carrier aircraft began reconnaissance near Dien Bien Phu, Indochina.
January 17, 1955	USS Nautilus(SSN-571), the first nuclear-powered submarine, casts off lines at 1100 and sends message "underway on nuclear power".
February 1, 1955	Operation Deep Freeze, a research task force, was established in the Antartic.
Febraury 7, 1955	Seventh Fleet ships begin evacuation of Chinese nationalists from Tachen Islands.
February 18, 1955	1st of 14 detonations, Operation Teapot nuclear test.
January 10, 1956	Establishment of first Navy nuclear power school at Submarine Base, New London, CT.
March 7, 1958	Commissioning of USS Grayback (SSG-574), the first submarine designed and built with guided missile capability to fire Regulus II missiles.
March 8, 1958	Battleship USS Wisconsin (BB-64) is decommissioned, leaving the Navy without an active battleship for the first time since 1895.
March 17, 1958	Navy Vanguard rocket launches a 3.25 pound sphere from Cape Canaveral.
March 23, 1958	First launching of simulated Polaris missile from submerged tactical launcher facility off CA.
January 1, 1959	U.S. Naval Observatory introduces system of uniform atomic time using cesium beam atomic oscillators.  This measurement has been adopted as standard by the International Committee on Weights and Measures.
February 4, 1959	Keel laying of the USS Enterprise, first nuclear powered aircraft carrier, Newport News, VA.
February 25, 1959	USS Galvestonfires the first Talos surface-to-air missile.
February 28, 1959	USS Strong rescues 13 Arab fisherman from Bahrain when their fishing boats floundered in a storm.
March 17, 1959	USS Skate (SSN-578) surfaces at the North Pole.
January 7, 1960	Launch of first fully-guided flight of Polaris missile at Cape Canaveral flying 900 miles.
January 23, 1960	Bathyscaph Trieste descends to the bottom of the Marianas Trench, the deepest part of the ocean.
January 26, 1960	USS John S. McCain rescues the entire 41-man crew of the sinking Japanese freighter, Shinwa Maru, in the East China Sea.
February 10, 1960	USS Sargo (SSN-583) surfaces at North Pole.
March 3, 1960	USS Sargo (SSN-583) returns to Hawaii from arctic cruise of 11,000 miles, 6,003 of which were under polar ice.
March 29, 1960	Launch of the first fully integrated Fleet Ballistic Missile from USS Observation Island.
January 21, 1961	USS George Washingtoncompletes first operational voyage of fleet ballistic missile submarine staying submerged 66 days.
January 31, 1961	LCDR Samuel Lee Gravely, Jr. becomes the first African-American to command a combat ship, the USS Falgout.
January 1, 1962	Navy SEAL teams established.
January 28, 1962	USS Cook (APD-130) rescues 25 survivors from the after section of the Panamanian tanker, SSStanvac Sumatra, which broke in two in the South China Sea.
February 20, 1962	Lt. Col. John Glenn, USMC becomes the first American to orbit Earth.  His flight in Friendship 7 (Mercury 6) consisted of 3 orbits in 88 minutes at a velocity of 17,544 mph with the highest altitude of 162.2 miles.  Recovery was by the USS Noa (DD-841).
January 25, 1963	1st Seabee Technical Assistance Team arrives in Vietnam.
January 13, 1964	USS Manley evacuates 54 American and 36 allied nationals after Zanzibar government is overthrown.
Febraury 7, 1965	In response to a Viet Cong attack on barracks area at Pleiku, South Vietnam, aircraft from carriers, USS Coral Sea, USS Hancock, and USS Rangerattack North Vietnamese area near Donghoi.
March 8, 1965	Seventh Fleet lands first major Marine units in South Vietnam at Danang.
March 11, 1965	Market Time patrols begin off South Vietnam coast.
March 23, 1965	LCDR John W. Young, USN, Pilot of Gemini 3 completed 3 orbits in 4 hours, 53 minutes at an altitude of 224 km.  Recovery was by a helicopter from the USS Intrepid (CVS-11).
March 7, 1966	Department of the Navy reorganized into present structure under CNO.
March 15, 1966	Establishment of River Squadron Five in Vietnam.
March 16, 1966	Launch of Gemini 8.  Former naval aviator Neil armstrong flew on this mission which completed 7 orbits in 10 hours and 41 minutes at an altitude of 161.3 nautical miles.  Recovery was by the USS Leonard F. Mason (DD-852).
March 26, 1966 April 1, 1966	Operation Jackstay, the Navy's first amphibious assualt in Vietnam's inland waters. The command, US Naval Forces Vietnam is established.
January 6, 1967	Operation Deckhouse V begins in Mekong Delta, Vietnam.
January 7, 1967	Mobile Riverine Force begins arriving at Vung Tau, Vietnam.
February 16, 1967	Operation River Raider begins in Mekong Delta, Vietnam.
March 7, 1967	PBRs assists Operation Overlord II in Rung Sat Zone, Vietnam.
January 18, 1968	Operation Coronado X begins in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam.
January 23, 1968	USS Pueblo seized by North Korean forces in the Sea of Japan.
January 25, 1968	Operation Windsong I begins in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam.
January 30, 1968	Tet Offensive begins in Vietnam.
February 13, 1968	Operation Coronado XI begins in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam.
February 29, 1968	Four North Vietnamese trawlers attempting to simultaneously infiltrate supplies into South Vietnam were detected.  Three of the trawlers were sunk in battle on the following day and one survived by turning back.
March 7, 1968	Operation Coronado XII begins in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam.
March 26, 1968	Operation Bold Dragon III began in Mekong Delta.
January 2, 1969	Operation Barrier Reef began in Mekong Delta, Vietnam.
February 5, 1971	Moonwalk by CAPT Alan B. Shepherd, Jr. USN, Commander of Apollo 14 and CDR Edgar D. Mitchell, USN Lunar Module Pilot.  During the 9 day mission, 94 lbs of lunar material was collected and Shepherd became the first person to hit a golf ball on the moon.  Recovery was by helicopter from the USS New Orleans (LPH-11).
February 11, 1971	U.S. and U.S.S.R. sign a treaty prohibiting the deployment of nuclear weapons on the ocean floor.
March 31, 1971	Poseidon (C-3) missile becomes operational when USS James Madison began her 3rd patrol carrying 16 tactical Poseidon missiles.
March 30, 1972	Easter Offensive began in Vietnam.
January 27, 1973	Paris Peace Accords signed, ending U.S. participation in the Vietnam War.
February 6, 1973	In accordance with the agreement at the Paris Peace Talks, Navy Task Force 78 begins Operation End Sweep, the mine clearance of North Vietnamese waters of mines laid in 1972.
February 27, 1973	First airborne mine sweep from Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron Twelve on board the USS New Orleans.
March 2, 1973	Women begin pilot training in the U.S. Navy.
March 29, 1973	Naval advisory Group and Naval forces, Vietnam disestablished and the last U.S. prisoners of war left Vietnam.
February 20, 1974	S-3A Viking ASW aircraft (carrier jet) officially introduced, first given to VS-41.
February 22, 1974	LT(jg) Barbara Ann Allen becomes the first Navy designated female aviator.
March 18, 1974	U.S. Navy sent to sweep mines from the Suez Canal.
March 29, 1975	Evacuation of Danang by sea began.
January 18, 1977	The Trident (C-4) missile development flight test program commenced when C4X-1 was launched from a flight pad at Cape Canaveral, FL.
February 28, 1980	Blue crew of the USS Francis Scott Key (SSBN-657) launches 4 trident I (C-4) missiles in the first C-4 Operational Test.
January 31, 1981	Era of Enlisted Naval Aviators ends when last pilot retired.
January 4, 1989	Two F-14s (VF-32) from USS John F. Kennedy shoot down 2 hostile Libyan Migs.
January 16, 1991	Operation Desert Storm, the liberation of Kuwait from Iraq, begins.
January 18, 1991	USS Nicholas attacks and captures Iraqi oil platform.
January 24, 1991	Helicopters from the USS Leftwich and USS Nicholas recapture first Kuwaiti territory from Iraq during Operation Desert Storm.
March 31, 1992 April 3, 1992	USS Missouri (BB-63), the last active American battleship is decommissioned. First five coed recruit companies from Orlando, FL Naval Training Center graduate.
March 7, 1994	Navy issues first orders to women assigned aboard a combat ship, USS Eisenhower.
January 15, 1997	Navy physician CAPT Jerry Lineger joined the crew of the MIR space station after being launched into orbit on the space shuttle Atlantis during Mission STS-81.  Prior to the mission, he was trained at the Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia for over a year.