Oct 13, 1775 - Established when the Continental Congress saw a need to defend their seas from the British
Sep 23, 1779 - John Paul Jones lead the U.S. Navy to its first victory
Mar 27, 1794 - Congress signs the Naval Act of 1794, calling for a strong military defense including a navy
Apr 30, 1798 - Department of the Navy The Department of the Navy created
War of 1812 - The Royal Navy largely outnumbers the U.S. but is still defeated in the majority of important battles of the War of 1812
Feb 15, 1898 - The need for a strengthened Navy is made apparent at the beginning of the Spanish-American War with the explosion of the USS Maine
Oct 12, 1900 - First American submarine is added to the Navy, the USS Holland
Mar 3, 1915 - Navy Reserve is created
Feb 13, 1922 - End of the Naval Act of 1916 Limit put on amount of ships and personnel allowed in each nation’s Navy
Mar 20, 1922 - The first Aircraft Carrier, the USS Langley is commissioned
Nov 5, 1930 - First modern RADAR system created
Jul 21, 1936 - New Missile Technology Development of potential radio guided missile technology
Jun 13, 1939 - First successful underwater refueling
Apr 26, 1949 - The U.S.’s first African American flight officer, Jesse L. Brown is commissioned
Sep 30, 1954 - The first nuclear powered submarines sets sail, starting the use of nuclear powered naval fleets
Jul 21, 1960 - The Big Navy Act is passed calling for a naval force larger than Britain’s
Nov 25, 1961 - The USS Enterprise becomes the first nuclear powered aircraft carrier
Sep 14, 2001 - U.S. Navy hospital ships head to Manhattan to aid those effected by the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001
Jan 5, 2005 - USNS, the Navy’s hospital ship, travels to South East Asia after an intense earthquake and tsunami to provide medical support
Sep 2, 2005 - Immediately following Hurricane Katrina, USNS heads to New Orleans for medical support
Jan 16, 2010 - USNS aids Haiti after a devastating earthquake
Mar 11, 2011 - USS Ronald Reagan and multiple hospital ships ship out to Japan after the devastating earthquake and tsunami
Jan 12, 2016 - Iranian armed forces captured ten Navy personnel when their two boats entered Iranian territorial waters off the coast of Farsi Island
2017 - Two Navy ships, USS Fitzgerald and USS John S. McCain, were involved in collisions with merchant ships during regular transits that resulted in fatalities
2020 - The United States Navy was overtaken by the Chinese Navy in terms of raw number of ships