From the Navy News Service
1781 - French fleet defeats British at Yorktown, Va.
1910 - First recorded reference to provision for aviation in Navy Department organization.
1918 - USS Tampa lost with 118.
1931 - Keel laying at Newport News, Va., of USS Ranger (CV 4), first ship designed and constructed as an aircraft carrier.
1963 - First steam-eject launch of Polaris missile at sea off Cape Canaveral, Fla., (now Cape Kennedy) from USS Observation Island (EAG 154).