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United States Navy

maritime branch of the United States military

51 dated entries naming United States Navy, drawn from 37 separate years between 1775 CE and 2024 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

Also written as American Navy, U.S. Navy, US Navy in the source articles; Wikipedia redirects those to the same subject, so their entries are on this page.

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18th century

  • 1775October 13 – American Revolution: The Continental Congress orders the establishment of the Continental Navy (later the United States Navy).source
  • 1794March 27 – The United States Government authorizes the building of the first six United States Navy vessels; in 1797 the first three frigates, USS United States, USS Constellation and USS Constitution will go into service (not to be confused with October 13, 1775, which is observed as the Navy's Birthday).source
  • 1794March 27 – The United States Government authorizes the building of the first six United States Navy vessels (in 1797 the first 3 frigates, USS United States, USS Constellation and USS Constitution go into service), not to be confused with October 13, 1775, which is observed as the Navy's Birthday .source
  • 1797May 10 – The first ship of the United States Navy, the frigate USS United States, is commissioned.source
  • 1798July 7 – In the action of USS Delaware vs La Croyable, the newly-formed United States Navy makes its first capture.source

19th century

  • 1801August 1 – First Barbary War: Action of 1 August 1801 – United States Navy schooner USS Enterprise captures the 14-gun Tripolitan corsair polacca Tripoli off the north African coast, in a single-ship action.source
  • 1801August 1 – Action of 1 August 1801 (First Barbary War): United States Navy schooner USS Enterprise captures the 14-gun Tripolitan corsair polacca Tripoli off the north African coast in a single-ship action.source
  • 1803September 13 – John Barry, officer in the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War, later in the United States Navy (born 1745)source
  • 1807June 22 – Chesapeake–Leopard affair: British Royal Navy fourth rate HMS Leopard attacks and boards United States Navy frigate USS Chesapeake off Norfolk, Virginia, seeking deserters. This act of British aggression plays a role in the run-up to the War of 1812.source
  • 1854March 31 – Commodore Matthew Perry of the U.S. Navy signs the Treaty/Convention of Kanagawa with the Japanese government (the Tokugawa Shogunate), opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade (see History of Japan).source
  • 1862December 2 – The first United States Navy hospital ships enter service.source
  • 1862December 2 – The first U.S. Navy hospital ships enter service.source
  • 1887January 20 – The United States Senate allows the United States Navy to lease Pearl Harbor as a naval base.source
  • 1890November 29 – In West Point, New York, the United States Navy defeats the United States Army 24–0 in the first Army–Navy football game.source
  • 1891June 4 - United States Navy admiral George Brown convinces the Congressionalist Junta to give up the Itata.source
  • 1893February 28 – USS Indiana, the first battleship in the United States Navy comparable to other nation's battleships of the time, is launched.source
  • 1893April 1 – The rank of Chief Petty Officer is established in the United States Navy.source
  • 1898April 21 – Spanish–American War: The United States Navy begins a blockade of Cuban ports and USS Nashville captures a Spanish merchant ship.source
  • 1898July 3 – Spanish–American War: Battle of Santiago de Cuba – The United States Navy destroys the Spanish Navy's Caribbean Squadron.source

20th century

  • 1914The Port of Orange, Texas, is dredged for the fabrication of vessels for the United States Navy.source
  • 1917December 6 – WWI: U.S. Navy destroyer USS Jacob Jones is torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean south west of the British Isles by German submarine SMU U-53, killing 66 crew in the first significant American naval loss of the war, the first ever U.S. destroyer loss to an enemy.source
  • 1919May 8–27 – United States Navy Curtiss flying boat NC-4, commanded by Albert Cushing Read, makes the first transatlantic flight, from Naval Air Station Rockaway to Lisbon via Trepassey, Newfoundland (departs May 16) and the Azores (arrives May 17). (On May 30–31 it flies on to Plymouth in England.)source
  • 1922March 20 – The USS Langley is commissioned as the first United States Navy aircraft carrier.source
  • 1923September 4 – The United States Navy's first home-built rigid airship USS Shenandoah makes her first flight at Naval Air Station Lakehurst (New Jersey); she contains most of the world's extracted reserves of helium at this time.source
  • 1923September 8 – Honda Point Disaster: Seven U.S. Navy destroyers run aground off the California coast.source
  • 1927March 24 – Nanking Incident: After six foreigners have been killed in Nanking, and it appears that Kuomintang and Chinese Communist Party forces will overrun the foreign consulates, warships of the U.S. Navy and the British Royal Navy fire shells and shoot to disperse the crowds.source
  • 1927December 17 – United States Navy submarine USS S-4 is accidentally rammed and sunk by United States Coast Guard cutter John Paulding off Provincetown, Massachusetts, killing everyone aboard despite several unsuccessful attempts to raise the submarine.source
  • 193813 February – Nineteen people die when Sydney ferry the Rodney, carrying 150 passengers, capsizes in Sydney Harbour while farewelling US Navy cruiser USS Louisville.source
  • 1941October 31 – WWII: Destroyer USS Reuben James, on convoy escort, is accidentally torpedoed by a German U-boat near Iceland, killing more than 100 United States Navy sailors.source
  • 1942February 27 – The USS Langley, first aircraft carrier of the United States Navy, is attacked by 9 Japanese bombers while ferrying a cargo of USAAF P-40 fighters to Java. Langley is so badly damaged that she has to be scuttled to avoid falling into Japanese hands.source
  • 1942May 20 – The first African-American seamen are taken into the United States Navy.source
  • 1942August 7 – WWII: Guadalcanal campaign – The U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps start the first American offensive of the war, with an amphibious landing on the island of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.source
  • 1942October 11 – WWII: Battle of Cape Esperance: On the northwest coast of Guadalcanal, United States Navy ships intercept and defeat a Japanese fleet, on their way to reinforce troops on the island.source
  • 1942November 15 – The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal ends: Although the United States Navy suffers heavy losses, it retains control of Guadalcanal.source
  • 1942November 30 – WWII: Battle of Tassafaronga – In a nighttime naval battle as part of the Guadalcanal campaign, ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy defeat those of the United States Navy.source
  • 1944June 1 – Two K-class blimps of the United States Navy complete the first transatlantic crossing by non-rigid airships, from the U.S. to French Morocco, with two stops.source
  • 1944June 4 – A hunter-killer group of the United States Navy captures the GS U-505, marking the first time a U.S. Navy vessel has captured an enemy vessel at sea since the War of 1812. Some significant intelligence data is acquired.source
  • 1945December 5 – Flight 19 of United States Navy Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bombers disappears on a training exercise from Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale.source
  • 1946Homeless families from Derry begin to occupy the former United States Navy Springtown Camp.source
  • 1954September 30 – The USS Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine in the world, is commissioned into the United States Navy.source
  • 1956October 31 – A United States Navy team becomes the third group to reach the South Pole (arriving by air), and commences construction of the first permanent Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station.source
  • 1959February 17 – Vanguard 2, the first weather satellite, is launched to measure cloud cover for the United States Navy.source
  • 1965March 2 – Vietnam War: Operation Rolling Thunder – The United States Air Force 2nd Air Division, United States Navy and South Vietnamese air force begin a 31/2-year aerial bombardment campaign against North Vietnam.source
  • 1966January 17 – 1966 Palomares B-52 crash: A U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker over Spain, dropping three 70-kiloton hydrogen bombs near the town of Palomares, and one into the sea. Carl Brashear, the first African-American United States Navy diver, is involved in an accident during the recovery of the latter, which results in the amputation of his leg.source
  • 1966January 17 – 1966 Palomares B-52 crash: A USAF B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker over Spain, dropping three 70-kiloton hydrogen bombs near the town of Palomares, and one into the sea. Carl Brashear, the first African American United States Navy diver, is involved in an accident during the recovery of the latter which results in the amputation of his leg.source
  • 1967June 8 – USS Liberty incident: a United States Navy spy ship is attacked by Israeli forces, allegedly in error, killing 34 crew.source
  • 19693 June – Melbourne-Evans collision – The Royal Australian Navy aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne collides with the United States Navy destroyer USS Frank E. Evans in the South China Sea. Frank E. Evans is cut in half and sinks, killing 74 crew.source
  • 1986March 9 – United States Navy divers find the largely intact but heavily damaged crew compartment of the Space Shuttle Challenger; the bodies of all seven astronauts are still inside.source
  • 2000October 12 – In Aden, Yemen, USS Cole is badly damaged by two Al-Qaeda suicide bombers, who place a small boat laden with explosives alongside the United States Navy destroyer, killing 17 crew members and wounding at least 39.source

21st century

  • 2023November 20 – A Boeing P-8A Poseidon operated by the United States Navy overshot the runway at Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay, Kaneohe, Hawaii. No one died.source
  • 202424 September – The United States Navy vessel USNS Big Horn runs aground and is damaged off the coast of Oman after replenishing the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group.source

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