This Day in Navy History

October 10, 1845 - Naval School, later the Naval Academy, opens in Annapolis, Maryland with 50 midshipmen and seven faculty. 1923 - First American-built rigid airship, Shenandoah, is christened. It used helium gas instead of hydrogen. 1944 - Opening of Leyte campaign begins with attack of four Carrier Task Groups of Task Force 38 on Okinawa and Ryukyus. 1960 - Navy assigned responsibility for program management and technial direction of Project SPASUR, the first U.S. universal satellite detection and tracking network. 1985 - Fighters from USS Saratoga (CV-60) force Egyptian airliner, with the hijackers of the cruise ship Achille Lauro aboard, to Italy, where the hijackers were taken into custody. [Source: Source: www.history.navy.mil]