This Day in Naval History - March 07

1778 - Continental Navy frigate Randolph (32 guns) engages HMS Yarmouth (64). Randolph explodes and sinks with the loss of all but four men.

1958 - Commissioning of USS Grayback (SS 574), first submarine built from keel up with guided-missile capability, to fire Regulus II missile.

1960 - USS Kearsarge (CVS 33) rescues four Russian soldiers from their landing craft 1,000 miles from Midway Island.The Soldiers were drifting several weeks after their engine failed off Kamchatka Peninsula.

1966 - The Department of the Navy is reorganized into its present structure under the Chief of Naval Operations.

1967 - River Patrol Boats assist Operation Overload II in Rung Sat Zone, Vietnam.

1968 - Operation Coronado XII begins in Mekong Delta, Vietnam.

1994 - The Navy issues its first orders to women assigned aboard a combat ship - USS Eisenhower (CVN 69).

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