1800
USS Essex becomes first U.S. Navy vessel to cross the Equator.
1832
The frigate Potomac, commanded by Capt. John Downes, shells a pirate stronghold at Qualla Battoo, Sumatra, destroying a fort. The day before a Potomac landing party destroys four forts, killing 150 pirates and the pirate leader, Rajah Po Mohamet. The Malays agree not to make further attacks on American ships
1943
USS Growler (SS 215) fights a desperate night battle with the Japanese supply ship Hayasaki, during which the boat’s commanding officer, Lt. Cmdr. Howard W. Gilmore, rams the enemy ship, badly bending Growler’s bow. Wounded by machine gun fire and unable to go below, Gilmore gives the order “Take her down!” sacrificing himself so his submarine could dive to safety. For his “distinguished gallantry and valor” on this occasion and earlier in the patrol, he is posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor and promoted one rank.
1945
USS Thomason (DE 203) sinks the Japanese submarine RO 55 off Iba, Luzon. USS Bergall (SS 320) attacks a Japanese convoy and sinks Coast Defense Vessel No. 53 off Cam Ranh Bay. USS Guavina (SS 362) attacks a Japanese convoy and sinks merchant tanker Taigyo Maru, off Saigon, French Indochina while USS Parche (SS 384) sinks Japanese army cargo ship Okinoyama Maru in Tokara Retto.
1955
Seventh Fleet ships begin evacuation of Chinese nationalists from Tachen Islands
1965
In response to a Viet Cong attack on barracks area at Pleiku, South Vietnam, aircraft from carriers, USS Coral Sea, USS Hancock, and USS Ranger attack North Vietnamese area near Donghoi.
1984
Naval Aviator/Astronaut Bruce McCandless II makes the first untethered spacewalk as he flies some 300 feet from the Space Shuttle Challenger in the first test of the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU).