This Day in Naval History - Aug. 06

From the Navy News Service

1862 - CSS Arkansas destroyed by her commanding officer to prevent capture by USS Essex.

1943 - Battle of Vella Gulf begins. U.S. destroyers sink three of four Japanese destroyers.

1945 - Atomic bomb detonated over Hiroshima, Japan. Navy weaponeer, Capt. W.S. Parsons, armed the atomic bomb on the B-29 bomber, Enola Gay.

1990 - President George Bush orders Operation Desert Shield, largest overseas deployment since Vietnam, to protect Saudi Arabia after Iraqi's invasion of Kuwait.

1997 - Naval Forces on Guam help rescue and begin providing medical care to survivors of Korean Airlines Flight 801 that crashed on Guam.