March 26, 1942
Task Force 39, commanded by Rear Adm. John W. Wilcox, Jr., sails from Portland, Maine, for Scapa Flow, Orkeny Islands, Scotland, to reinforce the British Home Fleet due the British Fleets involvement in Operation Ironclad, the British invasion of the Vichy French controlled Madagascar. The following day, Rear Adm. Wilcox, while taking an unaccompanied walk on his flagship, USS Washington (BB 56), is washed overboard and disappears in the heavy seas.
John Walter Wilcox Jr. (22 March 1882 – 27 March 1942) was a rear admiral of the United States Navy. He saw service in World War I and in the opening weeks of United States involvement in World War II before being lost overboard from his flagship in the North Atlantic Ocean in 1942.
March 27, 2007
The last known female veteran of World War I, Charlotte Louise Berry Winters, dies at the age of 109. She enlisted in the Navy in 1917.
March 28, 1953
USS Philippine Sea (CV 47), USS Princeton (CV 37), and USS Oriskany (CV 34) launch 216 sorties against a North Korean supply depot during the Korean War.
March 29, 1960
The first fully integrated Fleet Ballistic Missile system test, an A1X test vehicle, is launched from USS Observation Island (EAG 154).
March 30, 1991
USS Princeton (CG-59) and crew are awarded the Combat Action Ribbon in recognition of the superior and arduous work the crew put in to keep the ship in war-fighting status following the Feb. 18 mining of the ship where three crew members were injured and the ships propeller was damaged during Operation Desert Storm.
March 31, 1917
Rear Adm. James H. Oliver takes possession of the Danish West Indies for the United States, and they are renamed the U.S. Virgin Islands. He also becomes the first governor of the islands under American control.
April 1, 1899
A landing party of 60 men from USS Philadelphia (C 4) and a force of 100 friendly natives join 62 men from HMS Porpoise and Royal Isle in Samoa to establish order over Samoan throne.
*Source: Naval History and Heritage Command. https://www.history.navy.mil