This Day in Naval History – March 8

1854 - Commodore Matthew Perry opens treaty negotiations with Japan

1862 - Ironclad ram CSS Virginia destroys USS Cumberland and Congress

1945 - Phyllis Daley becomes first African-American Ensign, Navy Nurse Corps

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

1965 - Seventh Fleet lands first major Marine units in South Vietnam at Danang

(Source: Navy News Service)