Marine UH-34 Helicopters lift off from USS Princeton (LPH-5) to land Marines in the Republic of Vietnam during Operation “Jackstay,“ March 26, 1966.
March 20
1833 - Capt. David Geisinger of the sloop Peacock negotiates the first commercial treaty with the King of Siam.
1922 - USS Jupiter is recommissioned as USS Langley (CV 1), the Navy's first aircraft carrier.
1939 - The Naval Research Lab recommends financing a research program to learn to obtain power from uranium.
March 21
1917 - Loretta Walsh becomes the first woman Navy petty officer when she is sworn in as a chief yeoman.
1919 - The Navy installs and tests a Sperry gyrocompass, in the first test of an aircraft gyrocompass.
1945 - The Bureau of Aeronautics initiates rocket-powered surface-to-air guided-missile development by awarding a contract to Fairchild.
March 22
1820 - Commodore Stephen Decatur dies after a duel with Capt. James Barron.
1915 - “Naval aviator“ replaces “Navy air pilot“ for officers qualified as aviators.
1929 - Navy ships protect Americans and their property during a Mexican revolution.
1946 - USS Missouri (BB 63) departs the United States to return the body of a deceased Turkish ambassador to Turkey for burial. Missouri arrived in Istanbul April 5.
March 23
1815 - Hornet captures HMS Penguin in a battle lasting 22 minutes.
1882 - The Secretary of the Navy, William H. Hunt, issues General Order No. 292, creating the Office of Naval Intelligence.
1917 - USS New Mexico (BB 40) is launched as the first dreadnought with turboelectric drive.
1945 - Carriers begin pre-assault strikes on Okinawa; kamikaze attacks follow.
1958 - Simulated Polaris missile is launched from a submerged tactical launcher facility off California.
1965 - Lt. Cmdr. John W. Young, pilot of Gemini 3, completes three orbits in four hours, 53 minutes, at an altitude of 224 km. Recovery was by helicopters from USS Intrepid (CVS 11).
March 24
1783 - At the conclusion of the American Revolution, Congress orders all Continental naval vessels and privateers home.
1903 - George Dewey is commissioned Admiral of the Navy with the date of rank, March 2, 1899. He was the only person to hold this rank.
1918 - The battleship USS Idaho (BB 41) is commissioned.
1988 - William L. Ball III becomes the 67th secretary of the Navy.
March 25
1813 - U.S. Frigate Essex takes the Peruvian corsair ship Nereyda, marking the first capture by the Navy in the Pacific.
1898 - Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt proposes the Navy investigates the military application of Samuel Langley's flying machine, beginning naval aviation.
1915 - F-4 (SS 23) becomes the first American submarine casualty, sinking off the coast of Honolulu.
March 26
1942 - Adm. Ernest King becomes Chief of Naval Operations and Commander, U.S. Fleet.
1943 - The Battle of Komandorski Islands prevents Japanese reinforcements from reaching Attu.
1966 - Operation Jackstay is the Navy's first amphibious assault in Vietnam's inland waters.
1968 - Operation Bold Dragon III begins in the Mekong Delta.
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