May 31
1900 - Sailors and Marines from USS Newark and USS Oregon arrive at Peking, China with other Sailors and Marines from Britain, France, Russia, Italy and Japan to protect U.S. and foreign diplomatic legations from the Boxers
1919 - NC-4's transatlantic mission ends at Plymouth, England
1944 - USS England sank a record 6th Japanese submarine in 13 days.
June 1
1813 - HMS Shannon captures USS Chesapeake, Capt. James Lawrence. As the mortally wounded Captain Lawrence was carried below, he ordered "Tell the men to fire faster! Don't give up the ship!" These words would live on in naval history. Oliver Hazard Perry honored his dead friend Lawrence when he had the motto sewn onto the private battle flag flown during the Battle of Lake Erie, 10
September 1813.
1871 - RADM Rodgers lands in Korea with a party of Sailors and Marines and captures 5 forts to secure protection for U.S. citizens after Americans were fired upon and murdered.
1914 - General Order 99 prohibits alcohol on board naval vessels, or at navy yards or stations
1915 - First contract for lighter-than-air craft for Navy
1939 - Director of the Naval Research Laboratory, Captain Hollis M. Cooley, proposes research in atomic energy for future use in nuclear powered submarine
1944 - ZP-14 Airships complete first crossing of Atlantic by non-rigid lighter-than-air aircraft
1954 - First test of steam catapult from USS Hancock
June 2
1941 - First aircraft escort vessel, USS Long Island (ACG-1), commissioned, then reclassified as an auxiliary aircraft carrier (AVC-1) on 20 August and finally reclassified as an escort carrier (CVE-1) in July 1943.
June 3
1785 - Order to sell last ship remaining in Continental Navy, frigate Alliance . No other Navy were ships authorized until 1794.
1898 - Collier Merrimac sunk in channel leading to Santiago, Cuba in unsuccessful attempt to trap Spanish fleet. The crew was captured and later received the Medal of Honor.
1949 - Wesley A. Brown becomes the first African-American to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy.
1966 - Launch of Gemini 9, piloted by LCDR Eugene A. Cernan, USN. The mission included 45 orbits over 3 days. Recovery was by USS Wasp (CVS-18).
June 4
1934 - USS Ranger, first ship designed from the keel up as a carrier, is commissioned at Norfolk, VA
1942 - Battle of Midway (4-6 June) begins; during battle, the 4 Japanese carriers which attacked Pearl Harbor are sunk; this decisive U.S. victory is a turning point in the Pacific war
1944 - Hunter-killer group USS Guadalcanal captures German submarine, U-505
June 5
1794 - First officers of the U.S. Navy under the Constitution are appointed. The first 6 captains appointed to superintend the construction of new ships were John Barry, Samuel Nicholson, Silas Talbot, Joshua Barney, Richard Dale, and Thomas Truxtun
1917 - First military unit sent to France, First Naval Aeronautical Detachment, reaches France on board USS Jupiter
1945 - Typhoon off Okinawa damages many U.S. Navy ships
June 6
1944 - In Operation Overlord, Allied invasion fleet (over 2700 ships and craft) land troops on Normandy beaches, the largest amphibious landing in history
