- 1814 - A squadron from the schooner USS Carolina attacks and raids the base of the pirate Jean Lafitte, at Barataria, La., capturing six schooners and other small craft while the pirates flee the attack.
- 1823 - Samuel Southard becomes the seventh Secretary of the Navy, serving until March 3, 1829. During his tenure, he enlarges the Navy, improves administration, purchases land for the first Naval Hospitals, begins construction of the first Navy dry docks, undertakes surveying U.S. coastal waters and promotes exploration in the Pacific Ocean.
- 1854 - Mare Island, Calif. becomes the first permanent U.S. naval installation on the west coast, with Cmdr. David G. Farragut as its first base commander.
- 1922 - Cmdr. Halsey Powell in USS Edsall (DD 219 becomes the senior officer directing the evacuation of 250,000 Greek refugees from Turkey after war between Greece and Turkey.
- 1944 - USS Barb (SS 220) sinks the Japanese 11,700-ton tanker, Azusa, and the 20,000-ton escort carrier, Unyo, 200 miles southeast of Hong Kong. Additionally, while off Yokosuka, Japan, USS Sea Devil (SS 400) sinks the Japanese submarine I-364.
- 1947 - The National Security Act becomes effective after the bill signed by President Harry S. Truman on July 26, 1947. The Act realigns and reorganizes the U.S. Armed Forces, foreign policy, and Intelligence Community apparatus in the aftermath of World War II. The Act merges the Department of War and the Department of the Navy into the National Military Establishment, headed by the Secretary of Defense, Adm. James Forrestal.
- 1958 - USS Grayback (SSG 574) fires the first operational launch of a Regulus II surface-to- surface guided missile, while off the coast of California.
- 1966 - USS Oriskany (CVA 34) helicopters rescue 44 men of British merchant ship, Aug. Moon, as she was breaking up in heavy seas on Pratas Reef 175 miles southeast of Hong Kong.
- 1994 - USS Charlotte (SSN 766) is commissioned at Naval Station Norfolk. The 16th of the Los Angeles-class(improved) attack submarines, the boat is the fourth Navy ship to be named for the North Carolina city. The submarine is homeported at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
