This Day In US Naval History - January 18

1879 - USS Constitution, while sailing back to the U.S. from France, ran aground off Bollard Head on the south coast of England. She was towed to the Portsmouth Navy Yard and placed in Dry Dock 11 for inspection. The 82-year-old frigate survived the grounding and only needed to have 85 feet of her false keel replaced and several sheets of underwater copper. She resumed her voyage home on January 24th.

 

1885 - A Marine guard from steamer USS Alliance lands at Colon, Panama, (then in Colombia) to guard the railroad and to protect American lives and property during a period of political unrest.

 

1911 - The first aircraft landing onboard a ship takes place when pilot Eugene Ely lands onboard the armored cruiser USS Pennsylvania while anchored in San Francisco Bay, Calif., and then makes a return flight back to Tanforan Field in San Francisco.

 

1942 - Submarine USS Plunger (SS 179) sinks the Japanese freighter Eizan Maru (ex-Panamanian Aurora) off the mouth of Kii Strait, Honshu.

 

1962 - USS Duxbury Bay transfers a Navy doctor to help a Danish crewman after a flash fire burned him onboard Danish tanker Prima Maersk in the Persian Gulf.

 

1991 - During Operation Desert Storm, HSL-44 (Det 8) SH-60Bs from USS Nicholas (FFG 47), along with Kuwaiti and Army vessels, engage and neutralize Iraqi forces on nine oil platforms in the Durrah oil field.