This Day in Naval History – April 20

1796 - Congress authorizes completion of 3 frigates

1861 - Norfolk Navy Yard abandoned and burned by Union forces.

1914 - In first call to action of naval aviators, detachment on USS Birmingham sailed to Tampico, Mexico.

1915 - First Navy contract for lighter-than-air craft awarded.

1942 - USS Wasp (CV-7) launches 47 British aircraft to reinforce Malta

1947 - CAPT L.O. Fox, USN, supported by 80 Marines, accepted the surrender of LT Yamaguchi and 26 Japanese soldiers and sailors, two and one half years after the occupation of Peleliu and nearly 20 months after the surrender of Japan.

1953 - USS New Jersey shells Wonsan, Korea from inside the harbor.

1964 - USS Henry Clay (SSBN-625) launches a Polaris A-2 missile from the surface in first demonstration that Polaris submarines could launch missiles from the surface as well as from beneath the ocean. 30 minutes later the submarine launched another Polaris missile while submerged.

(Source: Navy News Service)