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USS Macdonough (DDG-39)

USS Macdonough (DDG-39)

USS MacDonough (DLG-8/DDG-39) named for Commodore Thomas Macdonough was the 4th ship of the United States Navy to be named for him. The fourth Macdonough was projected as DL-8, but redesignated DLG-8 prior to keel laying by the Fore River Shipyard, Bethlehem Steel Co., Quincy, Massachusetts, 16 April 1958; launched 9 July 1959, sponsored by Mrs. Agnes Macdonough Wilson, great-granddaughter of Commodore Thomas Macdonough; and commissioned 4 November 1961, Comdr. Wm. G. Hurley in command. The guided-missile frigate Macdonough, having undergone an extended shakedown and training period, reported to her home port at Charleston, S.C., 23 September 1962 and assumed duties as flagship for Commander, Cruiser-Destroyer Flotilla 6, U.S. Atlantic Fleet. A month later she joined other units of the U.S. 2nd Fleet in enforcing the Cuban quarantine, remaining with that force until it was dissolved on Thanksgiving Day. The first 3 months of 1963 were spent firing missiles off the coast of Florida under the auspices of the Operational Test and Evaluation Force. She returned to Charleston in March and operated in the Charleston-Norfolk area until departing on her first U.S. 6th Fleet deployment 4 June. The frigate cruised the Mediterranean until the following fall, taking part in scheduled fleet exercises and training operations. Upon her return to the East Coast, 26 October, she resumed operations in the Charleston area. With the new year, 1964, Macdonough steamed south to Puerto Rico for training exercises with the 2nd Fleet. During these exercises; she participated in an Atlantic Fleet live-firing antiair warfare exercise, which included missile firing at drone aircraft. The ship returne d to Charleston for 2 weeks in February, and then put out to sea again for carrier exercises off the East Coast followed by helicopter evaluation tests in the Atlantic. Macdonough's second Mediterranean deployment, 10 July to 22 December 1964, was followed by a 6-month overhaul at the Charleston Naval Shipyard. Coastal operations out of home port occupied the frigate until mid-September 1966, when she proceeded to the Atlantic Fleet Missile Range and then to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for training exercises. Having returned to her Charleston home port in early November, Macdonough prepared for another Mediterranean deployment, departing Charleston at the end of the month On 8 April 1966, Macdonough returned to South Carolina and once again resumed operations and fleet and squadron exercises along the southern east coast and in the Caribbean. During the summer a midshipman training cruise took the frigate to several east coast ports and to the Caribbean. After participating in "LANTFLEX 66," and AAW/ASW/amphibious exercise, she returned to Charleston 16 December. After conducting further exercises off the east coast, Macdonough prepared once again for overseas movement; and, on 2 May 1967, she departed Charleston for her fourth Mediterranean cruise. She conducted summer midshipmen training, visited various Mediterranean ports and participate in several joint exercises with ships of Allied navies, returning to South Carolina 28 October. Macdonough continued operating with the 2nd Fleet until May 1968 when she again deployed to the Mediterranean, returning to her home port in September. She remained off the east coast into 1969.

References

External links

- [http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/m1/macdonough-iv.htm history.navy.mil: USS Macdonough]
- [http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/0208.htm navsource.org: USS Macdonough]
- [http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/dl-dlg/dlg8.htm hazegray.org: USS Macdonough] Macdonough

Commodore (rank)

The military rank of Commodore is used in some navies for officers whose position exceeds that of a Captain, but is less than that of a flag officer. In many navies they are known as 'One Star' officers. (Admirals rank upwards with more stars). Commodore derives from the French commandeur, which was one of the highest ranks in orders of knights. The Royal Netherlands Navy also used the rank of commandeur from the end of the 16th century and it was used for a variety of temporary positions until it became a conventional permanent rank in 1955. The Royal Netherlands Air Force has adopted the English spelling of commodore for an equivalent rank.

Royal Navy and other Commonwealth navies

Royal Netherlands Air Force Use of the term "commodore" in the Royal Navy dates to the mid-17th century: it was first used in the time of William III. There was a need for officers to command squadrons, but it was not deemed desirable to create new admirals. Captains assigned squadron command were given this title, but it was not an actual rank. The officer so designated kept his place on the list of captains. In 1748 it was established that captains serving as commodores were equal to brigadier generals. The Royal Navy commodore eventually became split into two classes. Those of the first class had a captain under them to command their ship. Those of the second class commanded their own ship as well as the squadron. In 1783, commodores of the first class were allowed to wear the uniform of a rear admiral, a distinction which continued with some variation until the two classes of commodore were consolidated in 1958. In 1996 the rank of commodore was made a substantive rank in the Royal Navy: previously it had been merely a temporary rank, and commodores used to revert to the rank of captain at the end of their posting (and captains could be promoted directly to Rear Admiral). Commodores first class, while wearing the sleeve stripes of a rear admiral, had gold lace-covered epaulettes and shoulder-boards with a crown, two stars and anchor (also worn by other commodores but only with formal uniforms). They flew a swallow-tailed pennant with the St George's cross, but without the disc that appeared on the pennant of a second class commodore. Commodores second class wore a single 1.75 in. wide row of lace below a ring measuring 1.75 in. in diameter on both sleeve and shoulder-board (and this is the insignia worn by modern commodores). Their uniforms are otherwise the same as for captains. Some Commonwealth countries have replaced Commodore with an equivalent flag rank, the (correct) insignia of which is a single 1.75 in. wide row of sleeve lace below a gold lace ring with a diamater of 2 in., and a crown (or comparable emblem for republics) with a crossed sword and baton on a gold lace-covered shoulder-board. (There is some variation due to misconceptions about the status of stars in Commonwealth-style rank insignia.) The rest of the uniform is identical to that of a rear admiral.

United States Navy

St George's cross St George's cross Commodores of the United States Navy have had a more complicated history. Congress was unwilling to authorize any admirals in its service until 1862, so considerable importance was attached to the office of commodore. Like its Royal Navy counterpart, the American commodore was not a higher rank, but a temporary assignment for captains. As Herman Melville wrote in White Jacket, 1849, :An American commodore, like an English commodore or a French chef d'escadre, is but a senior captain, temporarily commanding a small number of ships, detached for any special purpose. He has no permanent rank, recognized by government, above his captaincy; though once employed as a commodore, usage and courtesy unite in continuing the title. The practice was not reserved to captains in the earlier days. Captain Isaac Hull, chafing at not being able to progress further in rank, wrote in 1814 that, if no admirals were to be authorized, something should be done to prevent "every midshipman that has command of a gunboat on a separate station taking upon himself the name of Commodore." Eventually the title of commodore was defined more strictly, and was reserved for captains so designated by the Navy Department, although the practice of retaining the title for life added some confusion. In 1857, Congress established the grade of Flag Officer. This generic title was intended "to promote the efficiency of the Navy," but differed little from the previous practice. Like the courtesy-title commodores, "flag officers" reverted to captain once their squadron command assignment was completed. Because of the acute need for officers at the beginning of the American Civil War, naval tradition was ignored and commodore became for the first time a permanent commissioned rank. Eighteen were authorized on July 16, 1862. The rank title also lost its "line command" status when, in 1863, the chiefs of the Bureaus of Medicine and Surgery, Provisions and Clothing, Steam Engineering, and Construction and Repair were given the rank of commodore. The rank of commodore continued in the Navy until 1899, when the Naval Personnel Act made all commodores into rear admirals. The reason, according to Laws Relating to the Navy, 1919, was "... on account of international relationships, the consideration of which caused the Navy Department to regard the complications confronting it as inimical to the honor and dignity of this nation, because of the adverse effect upon its high ranking representatives in their association with foreign officers." US commodores were not being treated as flag-level officers by other navies, or given the respect the Navy Department thought was their due. As it would have been expensive to increase the pay of all the former commodores to the level of Rear Admirals, Congress specified that the lower half of the Rear Admiral list have pay equal to Brigadier Generals of the Army. If there were an odd number of Rear Admirals, the lower half of the list was to be the larger. All Rear Admirals, upper or lower half, were equal to major generals, flew a flag instead of a broad pennant, and were entitled to a thirteen gun salute. The Supreme Court held that the rank of Commodore had been removed from the navy, leaving it without a rank equivalent to Brigadier General. This act disgruntled Brigadier Generals, who could now be outranked by officers who were their juniors in terms of service. This was a point of inter-service controversy, and in 1916 the army made its Brigadier Generals equivalent to Rear Admirals (lower half). Thus, Rear Admirals (upper half) were equal to Major Generals, and Brigadier Generals were equal to Rear Admirals (lower half), but Major Generals still out-ranked Brigadier Generals. During the naval expansion during World War II, the Navy Department was concerned that the appointment of more flag officers would create a glut of admirals after the war. However, some captains were holding commands of higher responsibility, and needed to be recognized. Admiral Ernest King proposed bringing back the old rank of commodore for these officers. President Franklin D. Roosevelt agreed, though he specified that this rank be restricted to line officers. The Navy's one-star officer reappeared in April 1943. In practice, staff corps officers could also become commodores. By the end of the war, there were over one hundred commodores in service. Very few of the wartime commodores were promoted to rear admiral. Promotions to commodore ended in 1947, and all had left the navy by 1950. The one star rank appeared again in 1982 with the title of Commodore Admiral. The next year, after numerous protests to the Chief of Naval Operations, Commodore Admiral was changed to simply Commodore. In 1985, Commodore had also begun to appear as a position title for senior Captains who commanded Destroyer Squadrons, Patrol Boat Flotillas, and Naval Aircraft Groups. To prevent confusion between the title of Commodore and the actual rank, the one star Navy admiral rank was changed to Rear Admiral (Lower Half). From that point on, Commodore remained a title and all Navy one star admirals were referred to as Rear Admiral (Lower Half). The Navy no longer maintains a rank of Commodore but the term has survived as a title. Modern-day Commodores are senior Captains in command of Destroyer/Cruiser Squadrons, Coastal Warfare Groups, and Aircraft Squadrons. Such officers are referred to, both verbally and in correspondence, as "Commodore," but wear the insignia of a Captain.

German Navy

Captain The German rank of Commodore (spelled Kommodore and pronounced Kom-o-door-eh) originated as a title used by some Captains in World War I. A German Commodore could hold any naval rank between Lieutenant and Captain and the title of Commodore was held by those officers who held tactical control over more than one vessel. This was most common with U-Boat commanders in charge of several submarines that were assigned to a single task force. (In the 19th-Century, German officers of this rank were referred to as Fleet Captains.) By World War II, Commodore had at last become an actual rank in the Kriegsmarine (German War Navy). The position was considered that of a senior Captain, with insignia being the shoulder boards of a Captain with one thick rank stripe on the sleeve. German Commodores also were permitted to wear greatcoat lapels and visor insignia of an Admiral but were not officially members of the German Admiralty. The World War II rank of Commodore existed in a grey zone of seniority, very similar to the Schutzstaffel (S.S.) rank of Oberführer. After the fall of Nazi Germany, and the rebuilding of the Deutsche Marine (modern German navy), Commodore fell into disuse as a rank, effectively replaced by the Flotilla Admiral (Flottilenadmiral) which is the lowest flag rank. It reappeared as a title in the 1950s. In the modern age, a German Commodore is a senior Captain who holds the rank of Captain but holds such positions as a Naval Squadron Commander.

Merchant navies

Commodore is a title often held by an officer commanding a number of ships, or the senior captain within a shipping company. It is also a title held by the senior officer of many yacht clubs and boating associations.

Other

In the Church of Scientology, "the Commodore" is one of many titles (and some critics would say, the least grandiose among them) held by the church's founder, L. Ron Hubbard. As the head of Sea Org, a pseudo naval branch of Scientology, Hubbard awarded himself this title. In fact, Hubbard never earned an actual rank higher than Lieutenant in his U.S. Navy service during World War II.

References

- Originally based on text by Justin T. Broderick, Salt Lake City, Utah. [http://users.sisna.com/justinb/cop.html] Used with permission. [http://mail.wikipedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2003-October/007030.html]
- And on public domain information published by the US Navy.[http://www.history.navy.mil/trivia/triv4-5k.htm]
- [http://www.geocities.com/commentariat/emperor.htm The Emperor's New Clothes]

United States Navy

The United States Navy (USN) is the branch of the United States armed forces responsible for naval operations. The U.S. Navy consists of 281 ships and over 4,000 aircraft. It has over half a million men and women on active or ready reserve duty. The United States Navy traces its origins to the Continental Navy, which the Continental Congress established during the American Revolutionary War. The United States Constitution, ratified in 1789, empowered Congress "to provide and maintain a navy." Acting on this authority, Congress ordered the construction and manning of six frigates; one of the original six, USS Constitution, familiarly known as "Old Ironsides," survives to this day. The War Department administered naval affairs from that year until Congress established the Department of the Navy on April 30, 1798. The Navy became part of the Department of Defense upon its establishment in 1947.

History of the Navy

Main article: History of the United States Navy History of the United States Navy The Continental Navy was established in Philadelphia by the Continental Congress on October 13, 1775, which authorized the procurement, fitting out, manning, and dispatch of two armed vessels to search for munitions ships supplying the British Army in America. The legislation also established a Naval Committee to supervise the work. The Continental Navy operated some 50 ships over the course of the American Revolutionary War, but no more than about 20 at one time. After the war, Congress sold the surviving ships and released the seamen and officers. Congress ordered the construction and manning of six frigates on March 27, 1794, and three years later welcomed into service the first three: USS United States, Constellation and Constitution. The frigates became famous in the War of 1812, where they unexpectedly defeated British Royal Navy forces several times. During the American Civil War, the Navy was an innovator in the use of ironclad warships, but after the war slipped into obsolescence. A modernization program beginning in the 1880s brought the U.S. into the first rank of the world's navies by the beginning of the 20th century. 20th century (middle) and USS Annapolis (SSN 760) (front)]] The Navy saw little action during World War I, but grew into a formidable force in the years before World War II. Japan unsuccessfully attempted to allay this strategic threat with a late-1941 surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. During the next three years, the U.S. Navy grew into the most powerful in the world. It is widely accepted that currently the United States Navy remains the most powerful in the world.

Organization

The Navy is administered by the Department of the Navy, led by the Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV). The senior naval officer, the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), is the four-star admiral immediately under the Secretary of the Navy. The Secretary of the Navy and Chief of Naval Operations are responsible for organizing, recruiting, training, and equipping the Navy so the Navy is ready for operation under the command of the Unified Combatant Commanders. (Also see United States Armed Forces Organization.) President | SECDEF | ------------------- | | SECNAV | | | CNO Unified Combatant Commanders | | -------------------- | | | | Shore establishment Operating Forces (including fleets)

Fleets

The two main fleets are the Pacific Fleet and the Atlantic Fleet. Under these two organizations fall the numbered fleets.
- 1st Fleet - no longer active
- 2nd Fleet – Atlantic Ocean — Flagship Iwo Jima, Norfolk, Virginia
- 3rd Fleet – Eastern and Northern Pacific Ocean — Flagship Coronado, San Diego, California (In peacetime the Third Fleet has no ARG and the carriers in the area are either on their way to the Seventh Fleet or conducting training cruises, after an overhaul for example.)
- 4th Fleet – Disbanded.
- 5th Fleet – Middle East — Headquartered at Manama, Bahrain
- 6th Fleet – Mediterranean Sea — Flagship Mount Whitney, Gaeta, Italy
- 7th Fleet – Western Pacific and Indian Ocean — Flagship Blue Ridge, Yokosuka, Japan

Shore commands

In addition to afloat fleets, the Navy maintains several "Naval Forces Commands" which operate naval shore facilities and serve as liaison units to local ground forces of the Air Force and Army. Such commands are answerable to a Fleet Commander as the shore component of the afloat command. During times of war, all Naval Forces Commands augment to become task forces of a primary fleet. Some of the larger Naval Forces Commands include:
- Commander Naval Forces Korea (CNFK)
- Commander Naval Forces Marianas (CNFM)
- Command Naval Forces Japan (CNFJ)

Staff corps

In addition to the regular line commands of the navy, several staff corps are also maintained which augment the line community and whose personnel are assigned to both line and staff commands. The current staff corps of the United States Navy are as follows:
- Navy Supply Corps
- Navy Medical Corps
- Navy Medical Service Corps
- Navy Nurse Corps
- Navy Chaplains Corps
- Navy Civil Engineer Corps (Seabees)
- Navy Judge Advocate General (JAG)

Weapons

Ships

Main article: U.S. Navy ships See also List of ships of the United States Navy for a more complete listing of ships past and present. The names of commissioned ships of the U.S. Navy start with USS, meaning 'United States Ship'. Non-commissioned, civilian-manned vessels of the U.S. Navy have names that begin with USNS, standing for 'United States Naval Ship'. A letter-based hull classification symbol is used to designate a vessel's type. The names of ships are selected by the Secretary of the Navy. The names are usually those of U.S. states, cities, towns, important people, famous battles, fish, and ideals. The U.S. Navy pioneered the use of nuclear reactors aboard naval vessels; today, they power most U.S. aircraft carriers and submarines. See United States Naval reactor. As of January 2004, a relatively small number of ship classes accounted for the bulk of the U.S. naval fleet. These include:

Aircraft carriers

United States Naval reactor on November 3, 2003. Approximately fifty aircraft can be counted on deck.]] Aircraft carriers are the major strategic arm of the Navy. They put U.S. air power within reach of most land-based military power. The US Navy's carriers are much larger and more powerful than those of the rest of the world. See also: List of aircraft carriers of the United States Navy and List of escort aircraft carriers of the United States Navy. Modern aircraft carriers since CV-67 are typically named for living or dead politicians; previous aircraft carriers were named for battles and famous fighting ships of the Navy.
- Kitty Hawk class (1 ship)
- Enterprise — Norfolk, Virginia
- John F. Kennedy — Mayport Naval Station, Florida
- Nimitz class (9 ships, 1 under construction)
- USS Nimitz (CVN-68)
- USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69)
- USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70)
- USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71)
- USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72)
- USS George Washington (CVN-73)
- USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74)
- USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75)
- USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76)
- USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77)

Amphibious assault ships

The largest of all amphibious warfare ships amphibious assault ships resemble small aircraft carriers; capable of V/STOL, STOVL, VTOL tiltrotor and rotary wing aircraft operations; contains a welldeck to support use of Landing Craft Air Cushion and other watercraft. Amphibious assault ships are typically named after World War II aircraft carriers, a name source kept over from the earliest ones, which were converted WWII carriers.
- Wasp class (7 ships)
- Tarawa class (4 ships active, 1 decommissioned)

Amphibious transport docks

Amphibious transports are warships that embark, transport, and land elements of a landing force for a variety of expeditionary warfare missions. Amphibious transport docks are named for cities, except for USS New York (LPD-21), which is named for the state of New York and USS Somerset (LPD-25), which is named for Somerset County, Pennsylvania.
- San Antonio class (3 launched, 2 under construction, 3 planned, 2 projected)
- Austin class (10 ships active, 1 Decommissioned, 1 converted to AGF)

Submarines

:Main article: Submarines in the United States Navy There are two major types of submarines, ballistic and attack. Ballistic subs have a single, strategic mission: carrying nuclear SLBMs. Attack submarines have several tactical missions, including sinking ships and subs, launching cruise missiles, and gathering intelligence. Sea attack submarines are typically named for cities; land attack submarines (Virginia and Ohio-class boats) are typically named for states. Earlier attack submarines were named for fish, while earlier ballistic missile submarines were named for "famous Americans" (although many of these were actually foreigners).
- Ohio class (18 in commission) — ballistic missile submarines, 4 to be converted into guided missile submarines
- Virginia class (1 in commission, 3 under construction, 2 on order) — attack submarines
- Seawolf class (3 in commission) — attack submarines
- Los Angeles Class (51 in commission) — attack submarines

Cruisers

Guided missile cruisers can conduct air warfare, surface warfare and undersea warfare. All modern cruisers are named for battles. Previous cruisers were either named for cities (until CG-12), the redesignated frigates were named for naval heroes (CG-15 to CG-35) or states (CG-36 to CG-42).
- Ticonderoga class (23 in commission) — first ships to carry the Aegis combat system

Destroyers

See also the List of destroyers of the United States Navy. All destroyers have been named for naval heroes since USS Bainbridge (DD-1).
- Arleigh Burke class (44 in commission as of June 2005) — first ship class with comprehensive design for stealth technology.

Frigates

Modern frigates mainly perform anti-submarine warfare and escort other ships. The U.S. Navy is gradually retiring its frigates; some of their jobs will be performed by the nascent littoral combat ship. [http://peoships.crane.navy.mil/lcs/] Named, like the destroyers, for naval heroes.
- Oliver Hazard Perry class (30 ships in commission)

Battleships

All U.S. battleships have been retired, although two Tomahawk-capable ships remain in "Inactive" Reserve. They are maintained in accordance with the National Defense Authorization Act of 1996. Current plans in the United States Navy call for keeping the battleships on the NVR until the naval surface fire support gun and missile development programs achieve operational capability, which is expected to occur sometime between 2003 and 2008. All battleships except USS Kearsarge (BB-5) were named for states.
- Iowa class

Early vessels

- USS Constitution — "Old Ironsides," oldest commissioned warship afloat
- USS Monitor — first US ironclad warship, also first rotating turret
- USS Merrimack — a wooden warship rebuilt by the Confederates as the ironclad CSS Virginia
- USS Alligator — the first submarine of the Civil War, but sunk while being towed during a storm.
- CSS Hunley — First submarine to sink a ship in a combat engagement, though it sunk in the aftermath as well. Built by the Confederates near the end of the Civil War. Sank USS Housatonic with a spar-mounted torpedo.

Naval aircraft

torpedo, 2003]]
- A-4 Skyhawk
- AV-8B Harrier II
- C-2 Greyhound
- E-2C Hawkeye
- E-6B Mercury
- EA-6B Prowler
- ES-3 Shadow
- FH-1 Phantom
- F-14 Tomcat
- F-15 Eagle
- F-16 Fighting Falcon
- F/A-18 Hornet
- F/A-18E/F Super Hornet
- EA-18G Growler
- F-35 Joint Strike Fighter
- H-3 Sea King
- CH-46 Sea Knight
- CH-53 Sea Stallion
- SH-2 Seasprite
- SH-60 Sea Hawk
- P-3C Orion see also Multimission Maritime Aircraft
- S-3B Viking
- V-22 Osprey
- T-6A Texan II
- T-45 Goshawk
- Aerial Common Sensor (no designation yet)

Harbor defense

The United States Navy has, in the last few years, greatly expanded its harbor defense forces in response to the War on Terrorism. The main components of Naval Harbor Defense include:
- Inshore Boat Units (IBUs)
- Mobile Inshore Undersea Warfare Units (MIUWUs)
- Special Boat Units (SBUs)

Special warfare

The Navy Seals are the U.S. Navy's primary special warfare units whose purpose is to engage in "special activities other than war". The Navy also maintains an EOD Corps (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) as well as a small corps of Surface Warfare personel known by the designator "Special Operations Underway".

Missiles, guns, equipment

- Trident missile
- Poseidon missile
- Tomahawk missile
- Polaris missile
- Naval Space Surveillance System
- CIWS

Submarine warfare and nuclear deterrence

The submarine has a long history in the USN. It began in the late 19th century, with the building of the SS-1, USS Holland. The boat was in service for 10 years and was a developmental and trials vessel for many systems on other early submarines. The submarine really came of age in World War I. The USN did not have a large part in this war, with its action mainly being confined to escorting convoys later in the war and sending a division of battleships to reinforce the British Grand Fleet. However, there were those in the USN submarine service who saw what the Germans had done with their U-boats and took careful note. Doctrine in the inter-war years emphasised the submarine as a scout for the battle fleet, and also extreme caution in command. Both these axioms were proven wrong after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. The submarine skippers of the fleet boats of World War II waged a very effective campaign against Japanese merchant vessels, doing to Japan what Germany failed to do to the United Kingdom. They were aggressive and effective, and operated far from the fleet. In addition to their commerce raiding role, submarines also proved valuable in air-sea rescue. There was many an American aircraft carrier pilot who owed his life to the valour of USN submarine crews, including future U.S. President George H. W. Bush.

Navy revolutions

After WWII, things continued along much the same path until the early 1950s. Then a revolution, that was to forever change the nature of the submarine arm occurred. That revolution was USS Nautilus. The Nautilus was the first nuclear-powered submarine. Up until that point, submarines had really been, at their most basic level, torpedo boats that happened to be able to go underwater. They had been tied to the surface by the need to charge their batteries using diesel engines relatively often. The nuclear power plant of the Nautilus meant that the boat could stay underwater for literally months at a time, the only limit in the end being the amount of food that the boat could carry. Another revolution in submarine warfare came with USS George Washington. Nuclear powered, like Nautilus, George Washington added strategic ballistic missiles to the mix. Earlier submarines had carried strategic missiles, but the boats had been diesel powered, and the missiles required the boat to surface in order to fire. The missiles were also cruise missiles, which were vulnerable to the defences of the day in a way that ballistic missiles were not. George Washington's missiles could be fired whilst the boat was submerged, meaning that it was far less likely to be detected before firing. The nuclear power of the boat also meant that, like Nautilus, George Washington's patrol length was only limited by the amount of food the boat could carry. Ballistic missile submarines, carrying Polaris missiles, eventually superseded all other strategic nuclear systems in the USN. Deterrent patrols continue to this day, although now with the Ohio class boats and Trident missiles. Trident missile]] Given the lack of large scale conventional naval warfare since 1945, with the USN's role being primarily that of power projection, the submarine service did not fire weapons in anger for very many years. The development of a new generation of cruise missiles changed that. The BGM-109 Tomahawk missile was developed to give naval vessels a long range land attack capability. Other than direct shore bombardment, and strikes by aircraft flying off carriers, the ability of naval vessels to influence warfare on land was limited. Now, instead of being limited to firing shells less than 20 miles inland from guns, any naval vessel fitted with the Tomahawk could hit targets up to 1,000 miles inland. The mainstay of the Tomahawk equipped vessels in the early days of the missile's deployment were the Iowa class battleships, and the submarine fleet. The Tomahawk was first used in combat on 17 January 1991, on the opening night of Operation Desert Storm. On that day, for the first time since the surrender of Japan in 1945, an American submarine fired in combat, when Tomahawks were launched by US boats in the eastern Mediterranean. Since then, the Tomahawk has become a staple of American campaigns. It has seen use in no less than three separate wars. It has also been exported to the United Kingdom, which has also fitted it to submarines. The Tomahawk has seen a change in the design of attack submarines. At first it was fired through torpedo tubes, but more recent US boats have been fitted with vertical launch systems to enable them to carry more of the weapons. In the early 21st century, the USN submarine fleet is made up entirely of nuclear powered vessels. It is the most powerful of its type in the world. However, there are those who worry that there are not enough boats in the fleet. As with other branches of the US military the budget cuts of the late 1980s and the early 1990s, as the Cold War ended, followed up by the War on Terrorism, have left little or no slack in the system. This point is illustrated by the fact that in 2003, for the first time since 1945, a US submarine made two back-to-back war patrols.

Major naval bases

- Complete list of US Naval facilities
- Norfolk, Virginia — The largest Naval base in the world, situated in southeastern Virginia. This is the main port on the Eastern Seaboard.
- Pearl Harbor, Hawaii — A deep water naval base and headquarters of the Pacific Fleet
- San Diego, California — A large complex of Navy bases, and the primary port for ships on the West Coast of the United States
- Naval Base Kitsap, Washington — Home base for Ohio Class nuclear missile submarines in the Pacific Ocean
- Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Georgia — Home base for Ohio Class nuclear missile submarines in the Atlantic Ocean
- Naval Station Mayport, Florida
- Naval Air Station Fallon, Nevada
- Guantanamo Bay — A small section on the south coast of Cuba is leased by the United States and used as a naval base.
- U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka, Japan. Largest overseas Naval facility.

Personnel

Commissioned officer

Commissioned officers in the Navy have paygrades from O-1 to O-10. Officers with superior performance may be promoted. Officers between O-1 and O-4 are called junior officers, O-5 and O-6 are called senior officers, and O-7 to O-10 are called flag officers. See U.S. Navy officer rank insignia for a complete list of paygrades and corresponding ranks. Commissioned officers belong to one of the following communities:
- Unrestricted line: Surface Warfare, Aviation Warfare, Submarine Warfare, Special Warfare, Nuclear
- Restricted line: Engineering Duty, Aerospace Engineering Duty, Aerospace Maintenance Duty, Cryptologic, Naval Intelligence, Public Affairs, Meteorology and Oceanography, Information Professional, Human Resource
- Staff Corps: Supply Corps, Medical Corps, Medical Service Corps, Dental Corps, Nurse Corps, Chaplain Corps, Civil Engineer Corps, Judge Advocate General Corps, Navy Band Corps The term "line" officer means someone who may command a warship or an aviation unit. It is a carryover from the 18th-century British tactic of employing warships in a "line" to take advantage of cannons on each side of the ship. The captains of such vessels commanded "ships of the line." Today, all Navy line officers wear a star on the sleeves of uniforms near the cuff braid that denotes rank. Staff officers wear different insignias. Note: Marine Corps officers, also part of the Department of the Navy, are all considered "line" officers because they are qualified as troop commanders in addition to their specialties. Commissioned officers originate from the United States Naval Academy, Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC), Officer Candidate School (OCS), direct commission, and other commissioning programs (such as [https://www.sta-21.navy.mil/ Seaman to Admiral-21] and Limited Duty Officer programs).

Enlisted

Enlisted members of the Navy have paygrades from E-1 to E-9. Enlisted members with superior performance may be advanced in paygrade. Two notably significant advancements are Seaman to Petty Officer Third Class (E-3 to E-4) and Petty Officer First Class to Chief Petty Officer (E-6 to E-7). Advancement to Chief Petty Officer is especially significant, marked by a special initiation ceremony. See U.S. Navy enlisted rate insignia for a complete list of the paygrades. All new active-duty enlisted members receive basic training ("boot camp") at the Recruit Training Command in Great Lakes, Illinois. Those who have a contract for a specific rating continue onto "A" schools for training in the rating. Those who don't have a specific rating go into the fleet to learn on the job and later strike for a rating. Some members may go to additonal training in a "C" school either before a tour of duty, or after a tour of duty. A "C" school assigns a member a Navy Enlisted Classification code, or NEC, which shows that a sailor is able to perform a specific task requiring that NEC, such as NEC 2780 - Network Security Vulnerablity Technician. Enlisted members of paygrades E-4 and above are said to be "rated" and have a rating: an occupational specialty. As of June 2005, there are more than 50 ratings, including Boatswain's Mate, Quartermaster, Engineman, Damage Controlman, Electronics Technician, Information Systems Technician, Air Traffic Controller, Fire Control Technician, Gunner's Mate, Sonar Technician, Construction Mechanic, Hospital Corpsman, Yeoman, Disbursing Clerk, Culinary Specialist, Photographer's Mate, Musician, Master-at-Arms, Aviation Electronics Technician, and Cryptologic Technician. Some ratings have subspecialties acquired either through an initial "A" school for training (such as Cryptologic Technician Technical and Cryptologic Technician Collection) or through a separate "C" school (such as Aviation Electronics Technician Organizational and Aviation Electronics Technician Intermediate.)

Qualifications

Sailors prove they have mastered skills and deserve responsibilities by completing Personal Qualification Standards (PQS) tasks and examinations. Among the most important is the "warfare qualification," which denotes a journeyman level of capability in Aviation Warfare, Special Warfare, Surface Warfare, or Submarine Warfare. Many qualifications are denoted on a sailor's uniform with U.S. Navy badges and insignia.

Sea Warrior

Launched in 2003 as part of the Navy's [http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/cno/proceedings.html Sea Power 21] transformation plan, Sea Warrior is intended to link the fleet's personnel processes (recruiting, training, and assigning) with acquisition processes (buying ships, aircraft, etc.) in a way that also improves each individual sailor's ability to guide his or her own career in a satisfying direction. The aim is to more efficiently muster the right number of sailors with the right skills and seniority at each ship, squadron, and duty station. Sea Warrior is led by the Chief of Naval Personnel[http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/people/flags/biographies/hoewinggl.html], and the commander of the [https://www.cnet.navy.mil/netc/netc.html Naval Education and Training Command].

Naval culture

Navy sailors are trained in the core values of Honor, Courage, Commitment. Sailors cope with boredom on long cruises of six months to a year, and cherish their time in their home ports, as well as vacations at ports abroad.

Naval jack

Chief of Naval Personnel Chief of Naval Personnel Chief of Naval Personnel The naval jack of the United States is the First Navy Jack, first used during the American Revolutionary War. On May 31, 2002, Secretary of the Navy Gordon England directed all U.S. naval ships to fly the First Navy Jack for the duration of the War on Terrorism. Many ships chose to shift colors on September 11, 2002. The jack is flown from the bow of the ship and the ensign from the stern when the ship is moored or anchored. When underway, the ensign is flown from the main mast. The former naval jack was a blue field with 50 white stars, identical to the canton of the ensign, both in appearance and size. A jack of similar design was first used in 1794, though with 13 stars arranged in a 3–2–3–2–3 pattern.

Naval jargon

Main article: Military slang A distinct jargon has developed among sailors over the course of the last four centuries. Naval jargon is spoken by American sailors as a normal part of their daily speech. There are three distinct components of Naval jargon:
- Words that are unique to sailing and have no use in standard English, such as yardarm, bow, and stern.
- Archaic English that remains common in naval jargon, such as "aye" (the common English word for "Yes" until the 16th century), "Fo'c'sle" (from Fore Castle), and Bo'sun (from "Boat Swain", swain being Middle English for a young man or a servant).
- Modern jargon, such as "Bird" to refer to missiles, or 1MC. See U.S. Navy slang for more information. Also see Covey Crump.
Notable members of the U.S. Navy
Covey Crump Officers
- Vern Clark — former Chief of Naval Operations
- Robert Dennison — retired admiral, presidential aide
- George Dewey — Hero of the Battle of Manila Bay in Spanish-American War; first and only Admiral of the Navy
- David Farragut — American Civil War Admiral, first officer to become an Admiral in the U.S. Navy
- Wilson Flagg — retired Admiral, killed in Sept 11 attack
- William Halsey, Jr. — Third Fleet Commander, won battles off Guadalcanal and the Solomons; attained rank of Fleet Admiral (5 stars)
- Esek Hopkins — first Commander in Chief of the navy during the Revolutionary War
- Grace Hopper — early computing pioneer, attained the rank of Rear Admiral in the Navy Reserve
- John Paul Jones — commander during the American Revolutionary War, considered to be the founder of the American Naval tradition
- Ernest King — Fleet Admiral; former Chief of Naval Operations
- William D. Leahy — first Fleet Admiral; first head of the Chiefs of Staff (before the post was renamed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff); former Chief of Naval Operations; former Governor of Puerto Rico; former U.S. ambassador to France
- Richard Marcinko — author, founder and commander of SEAL Team Six
- Chester Nimitz — Fleet Admiral; former Chief of Naval Operations; signed for the U.S. when Japan formally surrendered onboard the USS Missouri, class of carriers named after him
- Matthew Perry — Commodore who forced the opening of Japan
- Eli Thomas Reich — Vice Admiral, only submariner to sink a Japanese battleship unaided during WW2.
- Hyman G. Rickover — Admiral, "Father of the Nuclear Navy"
- Raymond A. Spruance -Commander at the Battle of Midway, led the Fifth Fleet in the Central Pacific and Okinawa. Rebuilt the Naval War College after World War II Politicians
- George H. W. Bush — former U.S. President; youngest Naval Aviator in World War II; former director of the Central Intelligence Agency
- Jimmy Carter — former U.S. President; Cold War submariner and Peace Prize laureate
- Glenn Robert Davis — former member of the US House of Representatives
- Gerald Ford — former U.S. President; served aboard carrier during World War II
- Lyndon B. Johnson — former U.S. President; worked as a bomb observer with the Army during World War II
- John F. Kennedy — former U.S. President; decorated PT Boat commander in World War II
- John Kerry — junior U.S. Senator and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate; swift boat commander during the Vietnam War
- John McCain — senior U.S. Senator from Arizona and Republican presidential primary candidate in 2000; former naval aviator and POW
- Richard M. Nixon — former U.S. President; supply officer in World War II Astronauts
- Neil Armstrong — astronaut, first man on the moon
- James Lovell — naval aviator, astronaut, pilot of first lunar orbit flight (Apollo 8) and commander of Apollo 13 mission
- Alan Shepard — naval aviator, first American in space (Mercury-Redstone 3) and Apollo 14 commander
- John Young — naval aviator and Gemini, Apollo, and Space Shuttle astronaut Others
- Bill Cosby — actor, comedian and educational philanthropist
- Lenny Bruce — American comedian
- Robert A. Heinlein — science fiction author
- L. Ron Hubbard — science fiction author and founder of the Church of Scientology
- David Robinson — former NBA star (San Antonio Spurs), commonly nicknamed "The Admiral"
- Bill Sharman — basketball Hall of Famer
- Roger Staubach — football hall of Famer, Vietnam veteran
- Jesse Ventura — actor, professional wrestler, Governor of Minnesota
See also

- Continental Navy
- Electronics Technician rating
- Information Systems Technician rating
- Seabees, US Navy Construction Battalions, hence CBs
- Navy SEAL, special forces
- BUPERS
- Fleet Week
- WAVES
- Ship-Submarine recycling program
- U.S. Navy officer rank insignia
- U.S. Navy enlisted rate insignia
- Unrestricted Line Officer
- Restricted Line Officer
- Limited Duty Officer
- Awards and decorations of the United States military
- Military badges of the United States
- United States armed forces
- United States Secretary of the Navy
- Comparative military ranks
- List of United States Navy bases
- List of ships of the United States Navy
- List of active Navy ships, sorted by homeport
- List of units of the United States Navy
- U.S. Navy munitions
- Navy Band
- Eternal Father Strong to Save (the U.S. Navy hymn)
References

- [http://www.navy.mil Official U.S. Navy Website]
- [http://www.hq.navy.mil/ Department of the Navy Website]
- [https://www.nko.navy.mil Navy Knowledge Online]
- [http://www.seawarrior.navy.mil Sea Warrior]
- [http://www.nosi.org Naval Open Source Intelligence (NOSI)] — a digital library of world naval operational news, curated from open source intelligence, and intended to serve as a source of continuing education on naval and military affairs
- [http://www.microworks.net/pacific/ U.S. Navy in WW II] — a web site devoted to the U.S. navy in the Pacific theater during World War II
External links

- [http://www.navsource.org NavSource Naval History - Photographic History Of The U.S. Navy ] — a source of thousands of photographs of US Navy ships.
- [http://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/us_navy_pages/us_battleship_list.htm Maritimequest US Battleship photo gallery]
- [http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ The Offical Chronology of the US Navy In World War II]
- Category:Navies ja:アメリカ海軍

16 April

April 16 is the 106th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (107th in leap years). There are 259 days remaining.

Events

- 1178 BC - A solar eclipse may mark the return of Odysseus, legendary King of Ithaca, to his kingdom after the Trojan War.
- 1071 - Bari falls to Robert Guiscard, ending Byzantine rule in Italy.
- 1521 - Martin Luther's first appearance before the Diet of Worms to be examined by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and the rest of the estates of the empire.
- 1746 - Second Jacobite Rebellion: The Battle of Culloden, the last battle of the Jacobite Uprising is fought, ultimately leading to the destruction of the Highland clans.
- 1780 - The University of Münster in Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany is founded
- 1799 - Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Mount Tabor – Napoleon drives Ottoman Turks across the River Jordan near Acre.
- 1853 - The first passenger rail opens in India, from Bori Bunder, Bombay to Thane.
- 1863 - American Civil War: Siege of Vicksburg – 12 ships led by Union Admiral David Dixon Porter move through heavy Confederate artillery fire on approach to Vicksburg, Mississippi. Only one ship is lost.
- 1881 - In Dodge City, Kansas, Bat Masterson fights his last gun battle.
- 1912 - Harriet Quimby becomes the first woman to fly an airplane across the English Channel.
- 1917 - Vladimir Lenin returns to Petrograd (present-day Saint Petersburg) from exile in Finland.
- 1919 - Mohandas Gandhi organizes a day of "prayer and fasting" in response to the British slaughter of Indian protestors in the Amritsar Massacre.
- 1922 - The Treaty of Rapallo, in which Germany and the Soviet Union re-establish diplomatic relations between Berlin and Moscow, is signed.
- 1926 - Lolly Willows by Sylvia Townsend Warner is distributed as the first Book-of-the-Month Club selection.
- 1935 - Radio program Fibber McGee and Molly debuts.
- 1943 - Dr. Albert Hofmann discovers the psychedelic effects of LSD.
- 1945 - WWII: The Red Army begins the final assault on German forces around Berlin.
- 1945 - The United States Army liberates Nazi Sonderlager (high security) Prisoner of War camp Oflag IVc (Colditz Castle).
- 1945 - German ship Goya sinks, killing more than 7,000 people.
- 1947 - Texas City Disaster: An explosion on board a freighter in port causes the city of Texas City, Texas, to catch fire, killing almost 600.
- 1947 - Bernard Baruch coins the term "Cold War" to describe the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union.
- 1949 - Dave Garroway moves from radio to television to host the musical-variety show Garroway at Large.
- 1963 - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. pens his famous Letter From a Birmingham Jail while incarcerated in Birmingham, Alabama for protesting against segregation.
- 1972 - Apollo program: Apollo 16 launches toward the Moon from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
- 1972 - Vietnam War: Nguyen Hue Offensive – Prompted by the North Vietnamese offensive, the United States resumes bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong.
- 1992 - The Katina P. runs aground off of Maputo, Mozambique. 60,000 tons of crude oil spill into the ocean.
- 1996 - France Télécom introduces its Wanadoo Internet service.
- 1998 - One of the most serious urban tornadoes in history does significant damage to downtown Nashville, Tennessee (see Nashville Tornado of 1998).
- 2001 - First 3G voice call on Vodafone UK's 3G network.
- 2003 - Makobo Modjadji is crowned the new Rain Queen of Balobedu.
- 2003 - The Accession Treaty is signed in Athens admitting 10 new member states to the European Union.
- 2005 - The BBC announces David Tennant's casting as the Tenth Doctor in the long-running science-fiction television series, Doctor Who.
Births

- 778 - King Louis the Pious (d. 840)
- 1319 - King John II of France (d. 1364)
- 1495 - Petrus Apianus, German mathematician (d. 1557)
- 1646 - Jules Hardouin Mansart, French architect (d. 1708)
- 1660 - Hans Sloane, British collector and physician (d. 1753)
- 1661 - Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, English poet and statesman (d. 1715)
- 1682 - John Hadley, inventor (d. 1744)
- 1728 - Joseph Black, Scottish chemist (d. 1799)
- 1730 - Henry Clinton, British general (d. 1795)
- 1755 - Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun, French painter (d. 1842)
- 1800 - George Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan, British soldier (d. 1888)
- 1823 - Ferdinand Eisenstein, German mathematician (d. 1852)
- 1844 - Anatole France, French writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1924)
- 1865 - Henry George Chauvel, Australian general (d. 1945)
- 1867 - Wilbur Wright, American aviation pioneer (d. 1912)
- 1871 - John Millington Synge, Irish writer (d. 1909)
- 1878 - Tip Foster, English cricketer (d. 1914)
- 1886 - Ernst Thälmann, German politician (d. 1944)
- 1889 - Charles Chaplin, English actor, writer, and film producer (d. 1977)
- 1904 - Fifi D'Orsay, Canadian actress (d. 1983)
- 1905 - Frits Philips, Dutch businessman (d. 2005)
- 1912 - Garth Williams, American illustrator (d. 1996)
- 1915 - Gerard McLarnon, Irish playwright and actor (d. 1997)
- 1918 - Spike Milligan, British comedian (d. 2002)
- 1919 - Merce Cunningham, American dancer and choreographer
- 1921 - Peter Ustinov, English writer, actor, and film director (d. 2004)
- 1922 - Kingsley Amis, English author (d. 1995)
- 1924 - Henry Mancini, American composer (d. 1994)
- 1927 - Edie Adams, American actress
- 1927 - Pope Benedict XVI
- 1927 - Peter Mark Richman, American actor
- 1928 - Dick "Night Train" Lane, American football player (d. 2002)
- 1930 - Herbie Mann, American jazz flute player (d. 2003)
- 1933 - Joan Bakewell, British broadcaster
- 1935 - Sarah Kirsch, German poet
- 1935 - Bobby Vinton, American singer
- 1937 - Joseph Whipp, American actor
- 1939 - Dusty Springfield, English singer (d. 1999)
- 1940 - Queen Margaret II of Denmark
- 1946 - Margot Adler, American journalist
- 1947 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, American basketball player
- 1947 - Gerry Rafferty, British musician and songwriter
- 1951 - Pierre Toutain-Dorbec, French photographer, painter, sculptor
- 1951 - Ioan Mihai Cochinescu, Romanian writer, musicologist, photographer, essayst
- 1952 - Bill Belichick, American football coach
- 1953 - J. Neil Schulman, American writer and activist
- 1954 - Ellen Barkin, American actress
- 1955 - Bruce Bochy, baseball player and manager
- 1956 - Lise-Marie Morerod, Swiss skier
- 1959 - Alison Ramsay, Scottish field hockey player
- 1960 - Rafael Benitez, Spanish football manager
- 1962 - Ian MacKaye, American musician (fugazi and Minor Threat)
- 1965 - Jon Cryer, American actor
- 1965 - Martin Lawrence, American actor, comedian, and producer
- 1971 - Selena, American singer (d. 1995)
- 1975 - Sean Maher, American actor
- 1976 - Lukas Haas, American actor
- 1977 - Fredrik Ljungberg, Swedish footballer
- 1978 - Matthew Lloyd, Australian football player
Deaths

- 69 - Otho, Roman Emperor (b. 32)
- 744 - al-Walid II, Umayyad caliph
- 924 - Berengar of Friuli, King of Italy
- 1113 - Sviatopolk II of Kiev, Russian prince (b. 1050)
- 1118 - Adelaide del Vasto, queen of Roger II of Sicily
- 1198 - Duke Frederick I of Austria
- 1645 - Tobias Hume, English composer
- 1687 - George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, English statesman (b. 1628)
- 1689 - Aphra Behn, English dramatist
- 1783 - Christian Mayer, Czech astronomer (b. 1719)
- 1788 - Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, French naturalist (b. 1707)
- 1828 - Francisco de Goya, Spanish painter (b. 1746)
- 1846 - Domenico Dragonetti, Italian composer (b. 1763)
- 1859 - Alexis de Tocqueville, French historian (b. 1805)
- 1904 - Samuel Smiles, Scottish writer and reformer (b. 1812)
- 1914 - George William Hill, American astronomer (b. 1838)
- 1915 - Nelson W. Aldrich, U.S. Senator from Rhode Island (b. 1841)
- 1938 - Steve Bloomer, English footballer (b. 1874)
- 1946 - Arthur Chevrolet, Swiss-born race car driver and automobile designer (b. 1884)
- 1958 - Rosalind Franklin, British chemist (b. 1920)
- 1968 - Edna Ferber, American author (b. 1885)
- 1972 - Kawabata Yasunari, Japanese writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)
- 1978 - Lucius Clay, American general (b. 1897)
- 1985 - Scott Brady, American actor (b. 1924)
- 1991 - David Lean, British film director (b. 1908)
- 1992 - Neville Brand, American actor (b. 1920)
- 1994 - Ralph Ellison, American writer (b. 1914)
- 1997 - Doris Angleton, American socialite (b. 1951)
- 1998 - Fred Davis, English snooker player (b. 1913)
- 2001 - Michael Ritchie, American film director (b. 1920)
- 2002 - Ruth Fertel, American restaurateur (b. 1927)
- 2002 - Robert Urich, American actor (b. 1946)
- 2003 - Graham Stuart Thomas, English author and garden designer (b. 1909)
- 2005 - Kay Walsh, British actress (b. 1911)
Holidays and observances

- Feast days:
- Benedict Joseph Labre in the Roman Catholic Church
- Saint Bernadette
- Saint Paternus
- Saint Fructuosus
- Saint Turibius
- Saints Martial, Urban, Eventius, Caecilian, Julia, and their companions martyrs of 304
- Saint Drogo
- Birthday of the Queen celebrated in Greenland
External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/16 BBC: On This Day] ---- April 15 - April 17 - March 16 - May 16 – listing of all days ko:4월 16일 ms:16 April ja:4月16日 simple:April 16 th:16 เมษายน

1958

1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar.

Events

January

- January 1 - Treaty of Rome founding the EU is implemented
- January 4 - Sputnik 1 falls to Earth from its orbit (launched on October 4 1957)
- January 8 - 14 year old Bobby Fischer wins the United States Chess Championship
- January 13 - 9235 scientists publish a plea to stop nuclear bomb tests
- January 18 - Armed Lumbee Native Americans chase off an estimated 5,000 Klansmen and supporters at the town of Maxton, North Carolina.
- January 23 - Following a two-day general strike, dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez was overthrown by a militar-popular uprising.
- January 28 - Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate begin their murder spree with the killings of her parents and infant sister
- January 29 - Police capture Charles Starkweather in Wyoming
- January 31 - The first successful American satellite, Explorer I, is launched into orbit
- January 31 - James Van Allen discovers the Van Allen radiation belt

February

- February 1 - Egypt and Syria unite to form the United Arab Republic
- February 5 - Gamel Abdel Nasser is nominated to be the first president of the United Arab Republic
- February 6 - Munich air disaster - 21 dead, including 7 players for Manchester United
- February 11 - Marshal Chen Yi succeeds Zhou Enlai as Chinese Minister of Foreign affairs.
- February 11 - Ruth Carol Taylor is 1st African American woman hired as a flight attendant
- February 17 - Pope Pius XII declares Saint Clare the patron saint of television
- February 20 - Test rocket explodes in Cape Canaveral
- February 23 - Cuban rebels kidnap 5-time world driving champion Juan Manuel Fangio. They release him 28 hours later
- February 23 - Arturo Frondizi wins presidential elections in Argentina
- February 24 - In Cuba, Radio Rebelde, radio of rebels of Fidel Castro, begins broadcasting from Sierra Maestra
- February 25 - Bertrand Russell launches the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
- February 28 - One of the worst school bus accidents in U.S. history occurred at Prestonsburg, Kentucky, killing 27.

March-April

- March 1 - Samuel Alphonsus Stritch, ninth bishop (fourth archbishop) of the Roman Catholic diocese of Chicago, appointed Pro-Perfect of the Propagaion of Faith and thus becomes the first American member of the Roman Curia
- March 2 - A British team led by Sir Vivian Fuchs completes the first crossing of the Antarctic in Snow-cat caterpillar tractors and dogsled teams in 99 days
- March 8 - USS Wisconsin is decomissioned, leaving the United States Navy without an active battleship for the first time since 1896.
- March 11 - The US B-47 bomber drops a nuclear bomb in the Mars Bluff, South Carolina
- March 17 - The United States launches the Vanguard 1 satellite
- March 26 - The United States Army launches Explorer III
- March 27 - Nikita Khrushchev becomes Premier of the Soviet Union
- April 3 - Castro's revolutionary army begins its attacks on Havana
- April 4-April 7 - The first protest march for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament from Hyde Park, London to Aldermarston, Berkshire. Demonstrators demand ban of nuclear weapons
- April 4 - The daughter of the actress Lana Turner stabs her mother's gangster lover to death (eventually ruled self defence)
- April 6 - Soraya Esfandiary Bakhtiari divorces the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi after she is unable to produce any children.
- April 17 - King Baudouin of Belgium officially opens the World Fair in Brussels, also known as Expo '58.

May-June

- May 1 - Arturo Frondizi becomes President of Argentina
- May 2 - A State of Emergency is declared in Aden
- May 12 - A formal North American Aerospace Defense Command agreement is signed between the United States and Canada
- May 13 - During a visit to Caracas, Venezuela, Vice President Richard M. Nixon's car is attacked by anti-American demonstrators
- May 15 - The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 3
- May 16 - Short-lived outburst of friendship between Arabs and Europeans in Algiers
- May 18 - An F-104 Starfighter sets a world speed record of 1,404.19 mph
- May 20 - Batista's government launches counteroffensive against Castro's rebels
- May 21 - United Kingdom Postmaster General Ernest Marples announces that from December, Subscriber Trunk Dialling will be introduced in the Bristol area. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/21/newsid_2510000/2510289.stm]
- May 23 - Explorer I ceased transmission
- May 30 - The bodies of unidentified soldiers killed in action during World War II and the Korean War are buried at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery.
- June 1 - Charles De Gaulle is brought out of retirement to lead France by decree for six months
- June 1 - Iceland extends its fishing limits to 12 miles
- June 4 - Charles De Gaulle visits Algeria
- June 16 - Imre Nagy is hanged for treason in Hungary
- June 27 - Peronist party becomes legal again in Argentina
- June 29 - Brazil beat Sweden 5-2 to win the 1958 World Cup

July-August

- July 5 - First ascent of Gasherbrum I, 11th highest mountain in the world
- July 7 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Alaska Statehood Act into United States law
- July 8 - 7.5 Richter scale earthquake in Lituya Bay, Alaska, causes a landslide that produces a huge 520 meter high wave
- July 10 - First parking meters installed in Britain
- July 14 - Iraqi Revolution: In Iraq the monarchy is overthrown by Arab nationalists and Abdul Karim Qassim becomes the nation's new leader
- July 14 - A left wing military coup in Iraq leads to the murder of the king, Faisal II
- July 15 - In Lebanon, 5,000 United States Marines land in the capital Beirut in order to protect the pro-Western government there
- July 17 - British paratroopers arrive in Jordania; king Hussein has asked help against pressure from Iraq
- July 20 - Various rebel groups in Cuba join forces but communists do not join the deal
- July 24 - The first life peerage is created in Britain
- July 26 - Explorer program: Explorer IV is launched
- July 29 - The U.S. Congress formally creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
- August 3 - The nuclear powered submarine USS Nautilus (SSN-571) became the first vessel to cross the North Pole under water
- August 23 - Chinese Civil War: The Second Taiwan Strait crisis begins with the People's Liberation Army's bombardment of Quemoy.
- August 30-September 1 - Riots between blacks and whites in Notting Hill, London

September-October

- September 14 - Two rockets of the German engineer Ernst Mohr reach as first German post-war rockets the upper atmosphere
- September 27 - Hurricane Vera in Honshu, Japan, kills 615
- September 28 - In