August 2
1943 - PT-109, under command of Lt. j.g. John F. Kennedy, cut in half by Japanese destroyer Amagiri
1943 - Naval task groups bombard Japanese forces on Kiska, Alaska
1950 - Amphibious force ships land Marine First Provisional Brigade at Pusan, Korea helping to save this last area of South Korea from capture.
1964 - Three North Vietnamese PT boats attack USS Maddox (DD 731) in international waters in Gulf of Tonkin. Maddox sinks one.
August 3
1804 - American Squadron, including USS Constitution, attacks Tripoli
1812 - Frigate Essex capture British brig Brothers
1861 - Construction of USS Monitor authorized
1861 - First manned ascent in a balloon from a ship, gunboat USS Fanny, to observe Confederate artillery position at Hampton Roads, VA
1942 - Mildred McAffee (Horton) becomes the first woman officer commissioned into Naval Reserve.
1950 - First Marine Corps aviation mission against North Korea by VMF-214, from USS Sicily
1950 - First helicopter evacuation in Korea by VMO-6
1958 - USS Nautilus (SSN 571) is first ship to reach the geographic North Pole submerged.
1970 - USS James Madison (SSBN 627) conducts first submerged launching of Poseidon nuclear missile off Cape Kennedy
August 4
1846 - Sailors and Marines from USS Congress capture Santa Barbara
1858 - First trans-Atlantic cable completed by USS Niagara and British ship Agamemnon
1944 - Fifth Fleet carrier task forces begin air attack against Iwo Jima and the Bonin Islands
1947 - Birthdate of the Medical Service Corps
1964 - The Navy and national intelligence sources report a North Venamese PT boat attack on USS Turner Joy and USS Maddox in the Tokin Gulf prompting Congress to pass the Tonkin Gulf Resolution on Aug. 7, 1964. The attack was later disproven.
August 5
1832 - Frigate Potomac is first U.S. Navy ship to entertain royalty, King and Queen of Sandwich Islands, Honolulu
1864 - Rear Adm. David Farragut wins Battle of Mobile Bay, sealing off last Confederate port on Gulf Coast
1882 - Authorizing of first steel warships, beginning of the modern Navy.
1915 - First air spotting for shore batteries at Fort Monroe, VA
1921 - Yangtze River Patrol Force established as command under Asiatic Fleet.
1953 - Exchange of prisoners of war of Korean Conflict (Operation Big Switch) begins
1967 - Operation Coronado III begins in Rung Sat Zone, Vietnam
1990 - Navy and Marine Task Force (USS Saipan, USS Ponce, and USS Sumter) begin evacuation of U.S. citizens and foreign nationals from Liberia during civil war.
August 6
1862 - CSS Arkansas destroyed by her commanding officer to prevent capture by USS Essex.
1943 - Battle of Vella Gulf begins. US destroyers sink 3 of 4 Japanese destroyers.
1945 - Atomic bomb detonated over Hiroshima, Japan. Navy weaponeer, Capt. W.S. Parsons, USN, armed the atomic bomb on the B-29 bomber, Enola Gay.
1990 - President George Bush orders Operation Desert Shield, largest overseas deployment since Vietnam, to protect Saudi Arabia after Iraqi's invasion of Kuwait.
1997 - Naval Forces on Guam help rescue and begin providing medical care to survivors of Korean Airlines Flight 801 that crashed on Guam.
August 7
1782 - Badge of Military Merit (Purple Heart) established
1942 - Navy Amphibious Task Force lands Marines on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands in first U.S. land offensive of World War II
1964 - Gulf of Tonkin Resolution passed by Congress
August 8
1813- US Schooners Hamilton and Scourge founder in storm on Lake Ontario
1959 - Announcement of Project Teepee, electronic system to monitor 95 percent of earth's atmosphere for missile launchings or nuclear explosions. System developed by William Thaler, Office of Naval Research physicist.
1972 - Women authorized for sea duty as regular ship's company
