USS Langley — First Aircraft Carrier

In March of 1794, the House of Representatives and the Senate passed the “Act to provide a Naval Armament.” It authorized the President to acquire six frigates, four of 44 guns each and two of 36 guns each, by purchase or otherwise. In addition, it specified how many crew members would be necessary and what [...]

On March 9, 1862, the first prophetic battle between ironclads — the USS Monitor and CSS Virginia (aka Merrimac) — took place at Hampton Roads, Virginia. Shown here is the USS Monitor several months later with evidence of battle damage.

The telegram describes the destruction of the USS Maine in Havana harbor on the evening of February 15, 1898, a pivotal event leading up to the Spanish-American War.

Taken on February 10, 1944, this is one of a collection of photographs of salvage operations at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard taken by the shipyard during the period following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

After shattering the traditional bottle of champagne across the bow of the USS Nautilus, First Lady Mamie Eisenhower and others gathered at the Electric Boat Yard of General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticut, on January 21, 1954, watched as the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine slipped into the Thames River. The submarine became the first commissioned [...]