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NEWS | Aug. 1, 2011

This week in Navy History

By Joint Base Charleston Public Affairs

July 31, 1964 - An all-nuclear task force which included USS Long Beach, USS Enterprise and USS Bainbridge left Norfolk, Va., to begin voyage Operation Sea Orbit circling the globe without refueling. They returned on Oct. 3.

Aug. 1, 1958 - USS Nautilus (SSN-571) submerged under the Arctic ice cap near Point Barrow.

Aug. 2, 1943 - PT-109, under command of Lt. j.g. John F. Kennedy, was cut in half by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri.

Aug. 3, 1861 - The first manned ascent in a balloon from a ship occurred on the gunboat USS Fanny. The balloon was used to observe Confederate artillery position at Hampton Roads, Va.

Aug. 4, 1964 - The Navy and national intelligence sources reported a North Vietnamese PT boat attack on USS Turner Joy and USS Maddox in the Tonkin Gulf prompting Congress to pass the Tonkin Gulf Resolution Aug. 7.

Aug. 5, 1990 - A Navy and Marine Task Force which included USS Saipan, USS Ponce and USS Sumter begin evacuation of United States citizens and foreign nationals from Liberia during a civil war.

Aug. 6, 1943 - The Battle of Vella Gulf began. U.S. destroyers sank three of four Japanese destroyers.