From the Navy News Service
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, .
1944 - USS West Virginia (BB 48) reaches 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 .