Naval History and Heritage Command

John Holland's submarine, Holland IV, performs the first successful diving and surfacing tests off Staten Island, N.Y.

USS Block Island (CVE 21) torpedo bomber aircraft from Composite Squadron (VC 6), along with USS Corry (DD 463) and USS Bronstein (DE 189), sink German submarine U 801 west of Cape Verdes.

USS Sealion (SS 315) sinks Bangkok-bound Thai oiler Samui off Trengganu coast, while USS Spot (SS 413) attacks a Japanese convoy and sinks army cargo vessel Nanking Maru off Yushiyama Island and damages cargo Ikomasan Maru, beached off Matsu Island.

The Naval Research Laboratory satellite Vanguard 1 is launched into orbit to test the capabilities of a three-stage launch vehicle and effects of the environment on a satellite and its systems in Earths orbit.

USS Skate (SSN-578) becomes the first submarine to surface at the North Pole, traveling 3,000 miles in and under Arctic ice for more than a month.

USS Raleigh (LPD-1), the Navy's first amphibious transport dock, is launched at New York Naval shipyard.