This Day in Naval History: March 8, 2005

From the Navy News Service

1854 - Commodore Matthew Perry opens treaty negotiations with Japan.

1862 - Ironclad ram CSS Virginia destroys USS Cumberland and USS Congress.

1945 - Phyllis Daley, assigned to the Navy Nurse Corps, becomes the first African-American ensign.

1958 - Battleship USS Wisconsin (BB 64) is decommissioned, leaving the Navy without an active battleship for the first time since 1895.

1965 - The 7th Fleet lands the first major Marine Corps units in South Vietnam at Danang.

For more information about naval history, visit the Naval Historical Center Web site at www.history.navy.mil.