This Week in Naval History

1 Feb 1942: USS Enterprise and USS Yorktown activity
On 1 February 1942, USS Enterprise (CV 6) and USS Yorktown (CV 5) made the first WWII air strike against the Japanese outposts in the Marshall Islands to protect the Trans-Pacific supply route to Australia. To read more about USS Yorktown, please click here: http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-xz/cv5.htm To read more about USS Enterprise, please click here: http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-e/cv6.htm

2 Feb 1848: Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
On 2 February 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican-American War. Ratified by the Senate in March, it provided the U.S. boundary be set at the Rio Grande in Texas and the title of New Mexico and Upper California be transferred. In exchange, Mexico received fifteen million dollars in compensation for the territory and the U.S. agreed to assume claims from private citizens of these areas against the Mexican government. To read the treaty from the National Archives website, please click here: http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=26&page=transcript

3 Feb 1863: USS Sonoma captured British runner Springbok
On 3 February 1863, during the Civil War, the "double-ender" side wheel steam gunboat Sonoma, commanded by Commander Stevens, captured the blockade running British bark Springbok off the Bahamas. To read more about USS Sonoma, please click here: http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-s/sonoma.htm

4 Feb 1779: John Paul Jones took command of Bonhomme Richard
On 4 February 1779, John Paul Jones took command of Bonhomme Richard (formerly Duc de Duras), which was given by King Louis XVI of France. Jones renamed Bonhomme Richard to honor Benjamin Franklin, the American Commissioner at Paris whose famous almanacs had been published in France under the title Les Maximes du Bonhomme Richard. To read more about USS Bonhomme Richard, please click here: http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/b8/bonhomme_richard-i.htm

5 Feb 1971: Apollo 14 mission
On 5 February 1971, Capt Alan B. Shepard, Jr., Apollo 14 Commander, and Cdr Edgar D. Mitchell, Lunar Module Pilot became the 5th and 6th human to walk on the Moon. During the 9 day mission, 94 lbs of lunar material was collected and Shepard became the first person to hit a golf ball on the moon. Recovery was by helicopter from USS New Orleans (LPH-11). To read indepth about Apollo 14, please click here for the Smithsonian website: http://www.nasm.si.edu/collections/imagery/apollo/AS14/a14.htm

6 Feb 1862: US Navy forces capture Fort Henry
On 6 February 1862, during the Civil War, Naval forces, under Flag Officer A. H. Foote, captured strategic Fort Henry on the Tennessee River. This breached the Confederate line and opened the flood gates for the flow of Union power deep into the South. Vessels included: Union gunboat squadron – USS Essex, USS Carondelet, USS Cincinnati, St. Louis, and wooden gunboats USS Tyler, USS Conestoga, and USS Lexington. To read the Navy Civil War Chronology from 1862, please click here: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/civilwar.htm#1862