25 January 1941 A.D. Keel of USS WISCONSIN (BB-64) Laid—Commissioned Apr 1944, Served in Gulf 1 War, & Now a Museum Battleship in Norfolk, VA

25 January 1941 A.D.  Keel of USS WISCONSIN (BB-64) Laid—Commissioned Apr 1944, Served in Gulf 1 War, & Now a Museum Battleship in Norfolk, VA

http://www.navy.mil/search/display_history.asp

1941 - The keel to USS Wisconsin (BB 64) is laid. Commissioned in April 1944, she serves during the later stages of World War II in the Pacific. She is now a museum battleship stationed in Norfolk, Va.

1943 - USS Shad (SS 235) encounters German blockade runners transporting ore in the Bay of Biscay. Shad fires on Nordfels, but the torpedo fails to explode, and Nordfels returns to Bilbao, Spain.

1945 - USS McLanahan (DD 615) shells the German command post on the Italian Rivera and silences the shore battery.

1945 - USS Silversides (SS 236), despite the presence of auxiliary submarine chasers, sinks the Japanese army cargo ship Malay Maru off Kuro Jima.

1952 - High speed transport ship USS Wantuck (APD 125 ) under CTF 95 OpControl, lands South Korean troops at night for demolition raid on enemy rail line, tunnels and bridges east coast of Korea.

1963 - The 1st Seabee Technical Assistance Team arrives in Vietnam. By the end of 1964, 14 teams are operating or have completed their six-month tours.

1986 - Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarine USS Alaska (SSBN 732) is commissioned.

5 January 1781 A.D. Benedict Arnold Captures & Destroys Richmond, VA

5 January 1781 A.D. Benedict Arnold Captures & Destroys Richmond, VA

Editors. “Benedict Arnold captures and destroys Richmond.”  History.com.  N.d. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/benedict-arnold-captures-and-destroys-richmond.  Accessed 4 Jan 2014.

American traitor and British Brigadier General Benedict Arnold enjoys his greatest success as a British commander on this day in 1781. Arnold's 1,600 largely Loyalist troops sailed up the James River at the beginning of January, eventually landing in Westover, Virginia. Leaving Westover on the afternoon of January 4, Arnold and his men arrived at the virtually undefended capital city of Richmond the next afternoon.

Virginia's governor, Thomas Jefferson, had frantically attempted to prepare the city for attack by moving all arms & other Military Stores records from the city to a foundry five miles outside Richmond. As news of Arnold's unexpectedly rapid approach reached him, Jefferson then tried to orchestrate their removal to Westham, seven miles further north. He was too late--Arnold's men quickly reached and burned the foundry and then proceeded towards Westham, which Jefferson had asked the formidable Prussian military advisor Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben to guard. Finding von Steuben, Arnold chose to return to Richmond, burning much of the city the following morning.

Only 200 militiamen responded to Governor Jefferson's call to defend the capital--most Virginians had already served and therefore thought they were under no further obligation to answer such calls. Despite this untenable military position, the author of the Declaration of Independence was criticized by some for fleeing Richmond during the crisis. Later, two months after Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, he was cleared of any wrongdoing during his term as governor. Jefferson went on to become the leader of the Democratic-Republican Party, and his presidential victory over the Federalists is remembered as The Revolution of 1800.

After the war, Benedict Arnold attempted and failed to establish businesses in Canada and London. He died a pauper on June 14, 1801, and lays buried in his Continental Army uniform at St. Mary's Church, Middlesex, London. To this day, his name remains synonymous with the word "traitor" in the United States.

5 January 1776 A.D. Continental Navy Squadron Ordered to Sea to Engage HMRN—the Carolinas, RI and Chesapeake Bay, VA

5 January 1776 A.D.  Continental Navy Squadron Ordered to Sea to Engage HMRN—the Carolinas, RI and Chesapeake Bay, VA

http://www.navy.mil/search/display_history.asp

1776 - The first Continental Navy squadron is ordered to sea by Congress to seek the British off coasts of the Carolinas and Rhode Island and in the Chesapeake Bay.

1875 - Cmdr. Edward Lull leaves New York to begin the Panamanian Expedition to locate the best ship canal route across Panama. The route mapped is followed 30 years later.

1943 - While bombing airfields and installations during the Guadalcanal campaign, USS Helena (CL 50) becomes the first U.S. Navy ship to use Mk.32 proximity-fused projectiles in combat, downing a Japanese Aichi Type 99 carrier bomber (VAL) with her second salvo.

1944 - USS Omaha (CL 4) and USS Jouett (DD 396) were summoned to engage the German blockade runner Burgenland under the guise of SS Rio Grande. Gunfire and scuttling charges, sank the German runner.

1945 - Kamikaze attacks continued against the U.S. Navy force bound for the Lingayen Gulf. Eight ships were hit and Rear Admiral Theodore E. Chandler was among those who were killed.

1 January 1776 A.D. Royal Navy Shells Norfolk, VA

1 January 1776 A.D.  Royal Navy Shells Norfolk, VA

Editors. This Day in U.S. Military History. N.d. http://thisdayinusmilhist.wordpress.com/2014/01/01/january-1/.  Accessed 31 Dec 2014.

1776 – The Burning of Norfolk was an incident during the American War of Independence. British Royal Navy ships in the harbor of Norfolk, Virginia began shelling the town, and landing parties came ashore to burn specific properties. The town, whose significantly Tory (Loyalist) population had fled, was occupied by Whig (Revolutionary) forces from Virginia and North Carolina. Although these forces worked to drive off the landing parties, they did nothing to impede the progress of the flames, and began burning and looting Tory properties. After three days, most of the town had been destroyed, principally by the action of the Whig forces. The destruction was completed by Whig forces in early February to deny use of even the remnants to the British. Norfolk was the last significant foothold of British authority in Virginia; after raiding Virginia’s coastal areas for a time, its last Royal Governor, Lord Dunmore, left for good in August 1776.