| 1912: | LT Theodore Ellyson makes first successful launching of an airplane (A-3) by catapult at the Washington Navy Yard. |
| 1940: | CNO Admiral Stark submits memorandum to Secretary of the Navy on 4 plans if U.S. enters war. He favors the fourth one, Plan Dog, calling for strong offensive in the Atlantic and defense in the Pacific. |
| 1942: | First day of the three days of fighting in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. |
| 1943: | President Franklin D. Roosevelt embarks on USS Iowa (BB-61) to go to the Allied conferences at Teheran, Iran, and Cairo, Egypt. |