Dates in Naval History: MayReturn to Naval Historical Center home page. Return to Dates in Naval History page DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER 805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060 Dates in American Naval History: May May 1 1898 - Battle of Manila Bay, Adm Dewey defeats Spanish at Manila, Philippines 1934 - LT Akers demonstrates blind landing system at College Park, MD in OJ-2 aircraft 1945 - VADM Barbey lands Australian troops on Tarakan Island, Borneo, supported by naval gunfire 1951 - USS Princeton aircraft attack Hwachon Dam using aerial torpedoes, only use of this weapon in Korean War 1980 - 11 Navy ships begin operations assisting Coast Guard in rescuing Cuban refugees fleeing Cuba in overcrowded boats May 2 1975 - US Navy departs Vietnamese waters at end of evacuation. May 3 1861 - USS Surprise captures Confederate privateer Savannah 1898 - Marines land at Cavite, Philippines, and raise U.S. flag 1949 - First Navy firing of a high altitude Viking rocket at White Sands, NM May 4 1917 - First Navy ships, Destroyer Division 8, arrive at Queenstown, Ireland, to provide convoy escorts against German U-boats 1942 - Battle of Coral Sea, first carrier vs. carrier battle, begins 1945 - Japanese attempt to land on Okinawa repulsed; kamikaze attacks damage 6 U.S. Navy ships 1961 - Pilot CDR Malcolm D. Ross, USNR, and medical observer LCDR Victor A. Prather, Jr., ascended in two hours to over 110,00 feet in Strato-Lab 5, a 411-foot hydrogen filled balloon launched from from the deck of USS Antietam. This was the highest altitude attained by man in an open gondola. Tragically, Prather drowned during the recovery. 1994 - Operation Restore Hope begins in Somalia May 5 1944 - USS Comfort is commissioned in San Pedro, CA; first ship to be manned jointly by Army and Navy personnel 1948 - VF-17A becomes first carrier qualified jet squadron (USS Saipan) 1961 - CDR Alan Shepard Jr. makes first U.S. manned space flight. Flight of Freedom 7 (Mercury 3) which lasted 15 minutes and 28 seconds reached the altitude of 116.5 statute miles with a velocity of 5,134 mph. Recovery was by HUS1 helicopter of HMR(L)-262 from USS Lake Champlain(CVS-39). 1980 - USS Robert E. Peary rescues 440 Vietnamese refugees from disabled craft south of Thailand May 6 1909 - Great White Fleet anchors in San Francisco 1916 - First ship-to-shore radio telephone voice conversation from USS New Hampshire off Virginia Capes to SECNAV Josephus Daniels in Washington, DC 1942 - CAPT Milton Miles arrives in Chungking, China, to begin building an intelligence and guerilla training organization, Naval Group China 1945 - Naval landing force evacuates 500 Marshallese from Jaluit Atoll, Marshall Islands May 7 1779 - Continental Navy sloop Providence captures British brig Diligent off Cape Charles 1934 - USS Constitution completes tour of principal U.S. ports 1940 - FDR orders Pacific Fleet to remain in Hawaiian waters indefinitely 1942 - Carrier aircraft sink Japanese carrier Shoho during Battle of Coral Sea May 8 1911 - Navy ordered its first airplane, Curtiss A-1, Birthday of Naval Aviation 1942 - Battle of the Coral Sea ends with Japanese retiring from area 1945 - VE - Day, Germany's unconditional surrender to the Allies 1963 - Navy ships evacuate 2,279 civilians from Haiti during crisis. 1972 - U.S. Navy and Marine Corps aircraft mine Haiphong Harbor in North Vietnam. May 9 1926 - LCDR Richard Byrd and Chief Machinist Mate Floyd Bennett make first flight over North Pole; both receive Congressional Medal of Honor. 1942 - USS Wasp in Mediterranean launches 47 Spitfire aircraft to help defend Malta May 10 1775 - Force under Ethan Allan and Benedict Arnold cross Lake Champlain and capture British fort at Ticonderoga, New York. 1800 - USS Constitution captures Letter of Marque Sandwich. 1862 - Confederates destroy Norfolk and Pensacola Navy Yards. 1949 - First shipboard launching of LARK, guided missile by USS Norton Sound. 1960 - USS Triton (SSRN-586) completes submerged circumnavigation of world in 84 days following many of the routes taken by Magellan and cruising 46,000 miles. May 11 1862 - CSS Virginia blown up by Confederates to prevent capture. 1898 - Sailors and Marines from USS Marblehead cut trans-oceanic cable near Cienfuegos, Cuba, isolating Cuba from Spain. 1943 - Naval task force lands Army troops on Attu, Aleutians. 1965 - U.S. destroyers deliver first shore bombardment of Vietnam War. May 12 1780 - Fall of Charleston, SC; three Continental Navy frigates (Boston, Providence, and Ranger) captured; and one American frigate (Queen of France) sunk to prevent capture 1846 - U.S. declares war against Mexico 1975 - SS Mayaguez seized by Khmer Rouge and escorted to Koh Tang Island. 1986 - Destroyer USS David R. Ray deters an Iranian Navy attempt to board a U.S. merchant ship. May 13 1908 - Navy Nurse Corps established. 1943 - Bureau of Navigation renamed Bureau of Naval Personnel 1945 - Aircraft from fast carrier task force begin 2-day attack on Kyushu airfields, Japan 1964 - Organization and deployment of world's first all nuclear-powered task group, USS Enterprise, USS Long Beach, and USS Bainbridge, to Sixth Fleet May 14 1801 - Tripoli declares war against the United States 1836 - U.S. Exploring Expedition authorized to conduct exploration of Pacific Ocean and South Seas, first major scientific expedition overseas. LT Charles Wilkes USN, would lead the expedition in surveying South America, Antarctica, Far East, and North Pacific. 1845 - First U.S. warship visits Vietnam. While anchored in Danang for reprovisioning, CAPT John Percival commanding USS Constitution, conducts a show of force against Vietnamese authorities in an effort to obtain the release of a French priest held prisoner by Emperor of Annam at Hue. 1975 - Marines recapture Mayaguez, go ashore on Koh Tang Island and release the crew. May 15 1800 - CAPT Preble in Essex arrives in Batavia, Java, to escort U.S. merchant ships 1942 - First Naval Air Transport Service flight across Pacific 1969 - Sinking of USS Guitarro (SSN-665) 1991 - Amphibious Task Force arrives at Chittagong, Bangladesh, for relief operations after Cyclone Marian May 16 1820 - Congress becomes first U.S. warship to visit China 1919 - Three Navy flying boats begin 1st trans-Atlantic flight from Newfoundland 1965 - First US gunfire support in Vietnam by USS Tucker May 17 1940 - FDR announces plans to recommission 35 more destroyers 1942 - USS Tautog (SS-199) sinks Japanese sub, I-28; while USS Triton (SS-201) sinks I-164 1951 - Aircraft from carriers attack bridges between Wonsan and Hamhung, Korea 1962 - Naval amphibious ready group lands Marines to guard Thailand's borders from Communist probes 1966 - Naval Support Activity Saigon established 1973 - First woman to hold a major Navy command, Captain Robin Lindsay Quigley assumes command of Navy Service School, San Diego, CA. 1987 - USS Stark (FFG-31) struck by Iraqi Exocet missile in Persian Gulf, killing 37 Sailors. 21 were wounded. 1990 - USS Roark rescues 42 refugees from unseaworthy craft in South China Sea May 18 1775 - Benedict Arnold captures British sloop and renames her Enterprise, first of many famous ships with that name 1798 - Appointment of Benjamin Stoddert as first Secretary of the Navy 1969 - Launch of Apollo 10, dress rehearsal for first lunar landing mission. CDR John W. Young, USN, was the Command Module Pilot and CDR Eugene A. Cernan, USN, was the Lunar Module Pilot. During the 8 Day mission, the craft made 31 lunar orbits in 61.6 hours. Recovery was by HS-4 helicopters from USS Princeton (LPH-5). May 19 1882 - Commodore Shufeldt (USS Swatara) lands in Korea to negotiate first treaty between Korea and Western power 1912 - Navy establishes North Atlantic Ice Patrol following RMS Titanic disaster 1965 - 30th Naval Construction Regiment activated at Danang, Vietnam May 20 1801 - Four warships sent to Mediterranean to protect American commerce 1815 - Commodore Stephen Decatur ( Frigate Guerriere) sails with 10 ships to suppress Mediterranean pirates' raids on U.S. shipping 1844 - USS Constitution sails from New York on round the world cruise 1943 - Establishment of Tenth Fleet in Washington, DC, under command of ADM King to coordinate U.S. antisubmarine operations in Atlantic May 21 1850 - Washington Navy Yard begins work on first castings for the Dahlgren guns 1917 - USS Ericsson fires first torpedo of war 1944 - Accidental explosion on board a LST unloading ammunition in West Loch, Pearl Harbor and the resulting fire and other explosions sink 5 LSTs and 1 other LST. 1964 - The initiation of the standing carrier presence at Yankee Station in the South China Sea. May 22 1882 - Commodore Shufeldt signs commerce treaty opening Korea to U.S. trade 1958 - Naval aircraft F4D-1 Sky Ray sets five world speed-to-climb records, 22-23 May 1967 - New York City reaches agreement to purchase Brooklyn Navy Yard, ending 166 years of construction and repair of naval vessels. 1968 - USS Scorpion (SSN-589) lost with all hands May 23 1850 - Navy sends USS Advance and USS Rescue to attempt rescue of Sir John Franklin's expedition, lost in Arctic. 1939 - USS Squalus (SS-92) sinks off Postsmouth, NH, with loss of 26 lives. 1962 - Launch of Aurora 7 (Mercury 7), piloted by LCDR Malcolm Scott Carpenter, USN, who completed 3 orbits in 4 hours, 56 minutes at an altitude up to 166.8 statute miles at 17,549 mph. He was picked up by HSS-2 helicopters from USS Intrepid (CVS-11). The capsule was recovered by USS John R. Pierce (DD-753). 1962 - USS Valcour (AVP-55) provides medical care to a merchant seaman from tanker SS Manhattan in the Persian Gulf. May 24 1917 - First U.S. convoy to cross North Atlantic during World War I leaves Hampton Roads, VA 1918 - USS Olympia anchors at Kola Inlet, Murmansk, Russia, to protect refugees during Russian Revolution 1939 - First and only use of VADM Allan McCann's Rescue Chamber to rescue 33 men from sunken USS Squalus (SS-192) 1941 - Authorization of construction or acquisition of 550,000 tons of auxiliary shipping for Navy 1945 - Fast carrier task force aircraft attack airfields in southern Kyushu, Japan 1945 - 9 US ships damaged by concentrated kamikaze attack off Okinawa 1961 - USS Gurke notices signals from 12 men from Truk who were caught in a storm, drifted at sea for 2 months before being stranded on a island for 1 month. USS Southerland investigated, notified Truk, and provided provisions and supplies to repair their outrigger canoe. The men would be picked up on 7 June by the motor launch Kaselehlia. May 25 1952 - USS Iowa bombards Chongjin, Korea. 1973 - Launch of Skylab 2 mission, which was first U.S. manned orbiting space station. It had an all Navy crew of CAPT Charles Conrad, Jr., USN. (commanding), CDR Joseph P. Kerwin, USN and CDR Paul J. Weitz, USN. During the 28 day mission of 404 orbits, the craft rendezvoused with Skylab to make repairs and conduct science experiments. Recovery by USS Ticonderoga (CVS-14) May 26 1944 - USS England sinks fifth Japanese submarine in one week 1952 - Tests from 26-29 May demonstrate feasibility of the angled-deck concept conducted on simulated angled deck on USS Midway 1990 - USS Beaufort rescues 24 Vietnamese refugees in South China Sea May 27 1813 - American joint operations against Fort George, Canada 1919 - Navy NC-4 completes trans-Atlantic flight from Newfoundland to Lisbon, Portugal May 28 1813 - Frigate Essex and prize capture five British whalers 1917 - First underway fueling in U.S. Navy, USS Maumee fuels 6 destroyers in North Atlantic. LCDR Chester W. Nimitz served as Maumee's executive officer and chief engineer. 1957 - 1st of 24 detonations, Operation Plumbbob nuclear test 1980 - 55 women become first women graduates from the U.S. Naval Academy. May 29 1781 - Frigate Alliance captures HMS Atalanta and Trepassy off Nova Scotia 1991 - Amphibious Task Force in Bangladesh for cyclone relief redeployed May 30 1814 - Navy gunboats capture three British boats on Lake Ontario near Sandy Creek, NY May 31 1900 - Sailors and Marines from USS Newark and USS Oregon arrive at Peking, China with other Sailors and Marines from Britain, France, Russia, Italy and Japan to protect U.S. and foreign diplomatic legations from the Boxers 1919 - NC-4's transatlantic mission ends at Plymouth, England 1944 - USS England sank a record 6th Japanese submarine in 13 days. More Dates in Naval History JanuaryFebruaryMarchApril MayJuneJulyAugust SeptemberOctoberNovemberDecember Return to Naval Historical Center home page 10 April 2003