This Day in Navy History - September 23-25

September 23

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 on board USS Langley while underway.
1944 - Naval Task Group lands Army troops on Ulithi Atoll, Caroline Islands
1944 - USS West Virginia (BB-48) reaches Pearl Harbor and rejoins the Pacific Fleet, marking the end of the salvage and reconstruction of 18 ships damaged at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941.
1947 - James Forrestal, former SECNAV, takes office as first Secretary of Defense
1990 - Two Hospital ships (USNS Mercy and USNS Comfort) steam together for first time in Arabian Gulf

September 24

1918 - Ensign David S. Ingalls, USNR, in a Sopwith Camel, shoots down his fifth enemy aircraft, becoming the first U.S. Navy ace while flying with the British Royal Air Force.
1944 - 5th Fleet carrier aircraft attack Japanese in Visayas, Philippines
1960 - First nuclear powered aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise (CVAN-65), launched at Newport News, VA

September 25

1941 - In first successful U.S. Navy escort of convoys during World War II, Navy escort turn over HX-150 to British escorts at the Mid-Ocean Meeting Point. All ships reach port safely.
1957 - In project Stratoscope, Office of Naval Research obtains sharp photographs of sun's corona from first balloon-borne telescope camera.