JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, S.C. –
July 17, 1975 - The U.S. Apollo 18 and Soviet Soyuz 19 spacecrafts docked in space. This was the first manned space flight conducted jointly by the two nations. Former naval aviator Vance Brand was the Apollo Command Module pilot. The Apollo craft was in space for nine days and seven and a half hours and was recovered by USS New Orleans (LPH-11).
July 18, 1973 - Task Force 78, Mine Countermeasures Force, departed the waters of North Vietnam after completing their minesweeping operations of 1,992 tow hours at a cost of $20,394,000.
July 19, 1897 - Lt. Robert Peary departed on a year-long arctic expedition which made many important discoveries, including one of the largest meteorites.
July 20, 1960 - In first launch of a Polaris missile, USS George Washington (SSBN 598) successfully fired two operational Polaris missiles while submerged off Florida.
July 21, 1823 - After a pirate attack, Lt. David Farragut led a landing party to destroy a pirate stronghold in Cuba.
July 22, 1964 - Four Navy Divers, Lt. Cmdr. Robert Thompson, Gunners Mate First Class Lester Anderson, Chief Quartermaster Robert Barth and Chief Hospital Corpsman Sanders Manning submerged in Sealab I for 10 days at a depth of 192 feet, 39 miles off Hamilton, Bermuda. They surfaced July 31.
July 23, 1948 - USS Putnum (DD-757) evacuated United Nations team from Haifa, Israel and became first U.S. Navy ship to fly the U.N. flag.