Today in U.S. Naval History: July 1

MarineLink.com July 1, 2013

USS Covington. Fine screen halftone reproduction of a photograph taken in 1918. This ship was torpedoed and sunk in July of that year. (Courtesy of William H. Davis, 1977. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.)

Today in U.S. Naval History - July 1

1797 - Naval Regulations passed by Congress

1800 - First convoy duty; USS Essex escorts convoy of merchant ships from East Indies to U.S.

1801 - U.S. squadron under Commodore Dale enters Mediterranean to strike Barbary Pirates

1850 - Naval School at Annapolis renamed Naval Academy

1851 - Naval Academy adopts four year course of study

1911 - Trial of first Navy aircraft, Curtiss A-1. The designer, Glenn Curtiss, makes first flight in Navy's first aircraft, A-1, at Lake Keuka, NY, then prepares LT Theodore G. Ellyson, the first naval aviator, for his two solo flights in A-1.

1914 - Prohibition of alcohol begins in the Navy

1916 - Establishment of informal school for officers assigned to submarines at New London, CT

1918 - USS Covington hit without warning by two torpedoes from German Submarine U-86 and sank the next day

1933 - USS Constitution commences tour of principal U.S. seaports.

1946 – First of two detonations, Operation Crossroads nuclear test

1951 - Responsibility for the Government of Trust Territories transferred from Navy to Department of Interior.

1972 - Date of rank of Rear Admiral Samuel Lee Gravely, Jr., who was first U.S. Navy Admiral of African-American descent.

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