This Day in Navy History

1813- Capt. David Porter claims Marquesas Islands for the United States.

1943 - Carrier force attacks bases on Tarawa and Makin begun.

1943 - USS Nautilus (SS-168) enters Tarawa lagoon in first submarine photograph reconnaissance mission.

1961 - At the request of President of Dominican Republic, U.S. Naval Task Force sails to Dominican Republic to bolster the country's government and to prevent a coup.

1969 - Navy astronauts CDR Charles Conrad Jr. and CDR Alan L. Bean are 3rd and 4th men to walk on the moon. They were part of Apollo 12 mission. CDR Richard F. Gordon, Jr., the Command Module Pilot, remained in lunar orbit. During the mission lasting 19 days, 4 hours, and 36 minutes, the astronauts recovered 243 lbs of lunar material. Recovery by HS-4 helicopters from USS Hornet (CVS-12).

 

November 20

1856 - CDR Andrew H. Foote lands at Canton, China, with 287 Sailors and Marines to stop attacks by Chinese on U.S. military and civilians.

1917 - USS Kanawha, Noma and Wakiva sink German sub off France.

1933 - Navy crew (LCDR Thomas G. W. Settle, USN, and MAJ Chester I. Fordney, USMC) sets a world altitude record in balloon (62,237 ft.) in flight into stratosphere.

1943 - Operation Galvanic, under command of Vice Admiral Raymond Spruance, lands Navy, Marine, and Army forces on Tarawa and Makin.

1962 - President John F. Kennedy lifts the Blockade of Cuba.

 

November 21

1918 - U.S. battleships witness surrender of German High Seas fleet at Rosyth, Firth of Forth, Scotland, to U.S. and British fleets.

 

(Source: Navy News Service)