Naval History and Heritage Command

USS Iowa (BB 61) is launched at the New York Navy Yard. Commissioned in Feb. 1943, Iowa serves in both the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean during World War II and now serves as a museum battleship at Los Angeles, Calif.

USS Stingray (SS 186), after being depth charged and lightly worked over while reconnoitering the designated spot lands a party of one Filipino officer, 14 men and 60 percent of the supplies earmarked for delivery to guerilla forces at Saddle Rock, Mayaira Point, on northwest shore of Luzon. Heavy Japanese shipping in the vicinity compels Stingrays departure before all stores land.

PV Ventura aircraft sink Japanese vessel, Tensho Maru, between Odomari, southwest of Sakhalin and Onnekotan Island, Kuril Islands.

Units of the Pacific Fleet enter Japanese waters for the first time during World War II, to prepare for the formal Japanese surrender on Sept. 2, 1945.

While off Cape Canaveral, Fla., USS Observation Island (EAG 154) makes the first shipboard launch of a Polaris missile.

Vice Adm. Adam M. Robinson, Jr., becomes the first African-American to be appointed as Surgeon General of the US Navy.