This Day in Navy History

September 16

1854 - CDR David G. Farragut takes possession of Mare Island, the first U.S. Navy Yard on the Pacific.
1917 - Navy Department authorizes establishment of 16 Naval air stations abroad
1922 - Commander Halsey Powell in USS Edsall became the senior officer directing the evacuation of 250,000 Greek refugees from Turkey after war between Greece and Turkey.
1940 - President Roosevelt signs Selective Training and Service Act, the first peacetime draft.
1958 - USS Grayback fires first operational launch of Regulus II surface to surface guided missile off CA coast; Missile carries first U.S. mail sent by guided missile.
1966 - USS Oriskany helicopters rescue 44-men crew of British merchant ship August Moon near Hong Kong

September 17

1861 - Union landing party from USS Massachusetts takes possession of Ship Island south of New Orleans, LA. This was the headquarters for ADM David Farragut's Gulf Coast Blockading Squadron.
1944 - Navy Task Force lands Army troops on Angaur, Palau Islands supported by Navy carrier aircraft and shore bombardment

September 18

1926 - Navy brings relief aid to Miami, FL, after a severe hurricane.
1936 - Squadron 40-T, based in the Mediterranean, established to protect U.S. interests and citizens around Iberian peninsula throughout the Spanish Civil War.
1941 - U.S. Navy ships escort eastbound British trans-Atlantic convoy for first time (Convoy HX-150). Although the U.S. Navy ships joined HX-150, which left port escorted by British ships on 16th, on night of 17 September, the official escort duty began on 18th.
1947 - National Security Act becomes effective