This day in military history..

December 18 US Naval History
1902 - Admiral of the Navy George Dewey receives orders to send his battleship to Trinidad and then to Venezuela to make sure that Great Britain's and Germany's dispute with Venezuela was settled by peaceful arbitration not force.
1944 - Admiral Halsey's Third Fleet encounters typhoon northeast of Samar. Destroyers USS Hull, USS Monaghan and USS Spence sink, while 21 other ships are damaged.
1965 - River Patrol Force established in Vietnam.
1965 - Helicopters from HS-11 on USS Wasp (CVS-18) pick up crew and capsule of Gemini 7, after picking up the crew and capsule of Gemini 6 two days earlier.
1967 - Operation Preakness II begins in Mekong Delta.
1972 - Mining and bombing of North Vietnam resumes with Linebacker II Operation.
​
 
Dec 19, 1941 Italian frogmen sink Battleships HMS Valiant & Queen Elizebeth with Limpet mines in Alexandria Harbor, Egypt
 
December 19 US Naval History
1870 - After a month at sea in a 22-foot boat, Coxswain William Halford, the lone survivor of 5, reaches Hawaii to seek help for crew of USS Saginaw, wrecked near Midway Island. Rescuers reach the 88 Saginaw survivors on 4 January 1871.
​
 
Dec 20
1522 Knights of Rhodes surrender Rhodes to Suleiman the Magnificent & are allowed to evacuate to Malta(Becoming the Knights of Malta)
1860 South Carolina seceedes from the Union
1862 CS Cavalry capture the Union supply base @ Holley Springs, Miss. Over $1 million in supplys captured/destroyed
1863 CSS Alabama arrives @ Singapore
1864 Gen. Hardee evacuates Savannah, Ga
1915 Gallipoli evacuated
1941 Flying Tigers 1st combat over Kunming
1942 Japanese air raid on Calcutta
1989 US invades Panama
 
December 20 US Naval History
1822 - Congress authorizes the 14-ship West Indies Squadron to suppress piracy in the Caribbean.
1941 - Admiral Ernest J. King designated Commander-in-Chief, United States Fleet in charge of all operating naval fleets and coastal frontier forces, reporting directly to the President.
1964 - USS Richard E. Kraus (DD-849) completes a successful emergency mission in aiding the disabled American Merchant Ship, SS Oceanic Spray in the Red Sea.
1974 - Clearance of Suez Canal for mines and unexploded ordnance completed by Joint Task Force.
1989 - Operation Just Cause begins in Panama.
1998 - Operation Desert Fox in Iraq ends.
​
 
Dec 21
1598 Battle of Caralaba
1832 Battle of Konya
1864 Sherman's army occupys Savannah, Ga, & the crew of CSS Savannah destroy the ship to prevent capture.
1883 1st permanent units of the Canadian army formed.
 
December 21 US Naval History
1861 - Congress authorizes the Medal of Honor, the Nation's highest award, for Naval personnel.
1943 - USS Grayling (SS-208) sinks fourth Japanese ship since 18 December.
1951 - First helicopter landing aboard a hospital ship, USS Consolation.
1968 - Launch of Apollo 8 with Captain James A. Lovell, Jr. as Command Module Pilot. During the mission Lovell was one of the first two people to see the far side of the moon. The mission lasted 6 days and 3 hours, and included 10 moon orbits. Recovery was by HS-4 helicopters from USS Yorktown (CVS-10).
​
 
December 22 US Naval History
1775 - Congress commissions first naval officers: Esek Hopkins, Commander in Chief of the Fleet, Captains Dudley Saltonstall, Abraham Whipple, Nicolas Biddle, and John Hopkins. Lieutenants included John Paul Jones.
1841 - Commissioning of USS Mississippi, first U.S. ocean-going side-wheel steam warship, at Philadelphia.
1942 - Pharmacist's Mate First Class Thomas A. Moore performs appendectomy on Fireman Second Class George M. Platter on board USS Silversides (SS-236).
1942 - Sue Dauser takes oath of office as Superintendant of Navy Nurse Corps, becoming first woman with the relative rank of captain in U.S. Navy. She was promoted to the rank of captain on 26 February 1944.
1944 - Commissioning of first 2 African-American WAVES officers, Harriet Ida Pickens and Frances F. Wills.
1960 - HS-3 and HU-2 (USS Valley Forge) helicopters rescue 27 men from oiler SS Pine Ridge breaking up in heavy seas off Cape Hatteras.
​
 
Dec 22
1790 Russians capture the Turkish fortress of Izmail
1940 Greeks capture Himare, Albania
1944 Battle of the Bulge, Siege of Bastone: Gen. McAuliffe relys "nuts" to a German surrender demand
1964 1st flight SR-71
 
Dec 23
962 Byzentine troops take Aleppo
1793 Battle of Savenay
1864 A 60 ship fleet, largest fleet of US Navy ships yet assembled, arrives off Ft. Fisher, N.C. The decommissioned gunboat USS Louisiana, filled with gunpowder, is exploded close to the Fort, but has no effect.
1916 Battle of Magdhaba
1937 1st flight Vickers Wellington
1941 Japanese capture Wake Island
1968 North Korea release crew of USS Pueblo
1979 Soviets occupy Kabul
2002 Iraqi Mig-25 shoots down MQ-1 Predator drone.
 
December 23 US Naval History
1826 - Captain Thomas ap Catesby Jones of USS Peacock and King Kamehameha negotiate first treaty between Hawaii and a foreign power.
1910 - LT Theodore G. Ellyson becomes first naval officer sent to flight training.
1941 - Gallant defenders of Wake Island (Sailors, Marines, volunteer civilian contractors, and Army Air Force radio detachment) surrender.
​
 
Dec 24
1862 Foster's North Carolina Expedition returns to New Bern accomplishing little except for destruction of 2 unfinished Confederate gunboats.
1864 US Navy fleet bombards Ft. Fisher all day.
1941 Japanese capture Kuching, Capitol of Sarawak
 
December 24 US Naval History
1814 - Treaty of Ghent ends the War of 1812.
1864 - Naval Forces under Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter with Army forces under Major General Benjamin F. Butler begin unsuccessful two-day attack against Fort Fisher, NC.
1950 - Under cover of naval gunfire support, Task Force 90 completes a 14-day evacuation of 100,000 troops and equipment and 91,000 refugees from Hungnam, North Korea.
​
 
Dec 25
1553 Battle of Tucapel
1776 Battle of Trenton, N.J.
1837 Battle of Lake Okeechobee US Army defeats Seminoles
1863 US Navy exchanges fire with shore batteriers @ John's Island & on the Stono River, S.C. USS Marblehead damaged
1864 Gen Butler lands with 6,000 troops 2 miles from Ft. Fisher. He finds that the Fort was relativly undamaged by the previous days bombardment & decides to pull out when word arrives of Confederate reinforcements were on the way. 700 men are left on the shore.
1914 Christmas Truce on the Western Front
1941 Japanese capture Hong Kong
 
December 25 US Naval History
1941 - Admiral Chester W. Nimitz arrives at Pearl Harbor to assume command of U.S. Pacific Fleet.
​
 
December 26 US Naval History
1862 - Four nuns who were volunteer nurses on board Red Rover were the first female nurses on a U.S. Navy hospital ship.
1943 - Seventh Amphibious Force lands 1st Marine Division on Cape Gloucester, New Britain.
​
 
Dec 26
1481 Battle of Westbroek
1793 Battle of Wissembourg
1806 Battles of Pultush & Golymin
1943 Battle of North Cape German Battleship Scharnhorst sunk by R.N. Cruisers
1944 Patton's 3rd Army reaches Bastogne
1972 Operation Linebacker II: As part of Linebacker II, USAF's S.A.C. launches its largest combat mission, 120 B-52s hit Hanoi
 
1814 USS Carolina sunk in the Missisippi River near New Orleans, La by Royal Army field artillery.
1862 Federal gunboats shell CS batteries @ Haine's Bluff on the Miss. River
 
Dec 28
1835 2nd Seminole War: Dade's Massacre. 110 man expidition under Maj. Dade wiped out north of Tampa, only 1 survivor.
1862 Battle of Chickasaw Bayou, Miss. begins
1943 Battle of Ortona Canadians defeat German Paratroopers, capture town.
 
Dec 29
1778 British capture Savannah, Ga.
1812 USS Constitution captures HMS Java off Brazil after a 3 hr fight
1813 British burn Buffalo, N.Y.
1860 Royal Navy's 1st Ironclad, HMS Warrior, is launched
1862 Battle of Chickasaw Bluffs, main battle
1934 Japan renounces Washington & London Naval Trieties
1939 1st flight B-24
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top