This Day in U.S. Naval History - February 14

1778 - John Paul Jones in Ranger receives first official salute to U.S. Stars and Strips flag by European country, at Quiberon, France.

1813 - Essex becomes first U.S. warship to round Cape Horn and enter the Pacific Ocean

1814 - USS Constitution captures British Lovely Ann and Pictou

1903- An Act of Congress (31 Stat. L., 825, 826, 827) that created the Department of Commerce and Labor provided for the transfer of the Lighthouse Service and the Steamboat Inspection Service from the Treasury Department. This allowed the Secretary of Commerce and Labor to succeed to the authority vested in the Secretary of the Treasury under the existing legislation.

1840 - Officers from USS Vincennes make first landing in Antarctica on floating ice

(Source: Navy News Service)