Naval History and Heritage Command

Crew from the schooner Enterprise capture and burn seven small pirate vessels off Cape Antonio, Cuba.

The ironclad CSS Virginia destroys the wooden ships USS Cumberland and USS Congress in Hampton Roads, Virginia.

PBY-5 Catalinas from VP-53 sink German submarine U 156 east-northeast of Trinidad.

Phyllis Dailey becomes the first African-American ensign in the Navy Nurse Corps and serves at the Naval Dispensary at Boston, Mass.

Navy patrol bombers hit a Japanese convoy, sinking cargo vessel No. 21 Yusen Maru in Formosa Strait.

Operation Portrex begins. The two-week-long exercise is the first use of airborne troops in support of an amphibious landing and takes place on Vieques Island, Puerto Rico.

USS Patrick Henry (SSBN 599) returns from patrol to become the first ballistic missile submarine to use Holy Loch, Scotland, as a refit and upkeep anchorage.