This Day In Naval History - March 8
1822 - Crew from the schooner Enterprise capture and burn seven small pirate vessels off Cape Antonio, Cuba.
1862 - The ironclad CSS Virginia destroys the wooden ships USS Cumberland and USS Congress in Hampton Roads, Virginia.
1943 - PBY-5 Catalinas from VP-53 sink German submarine U 156 east-northeast of Trinidad.
1945 - Phyllis Daley becomes the first African-American ensign in the Navy Nurse Corps and serves at the Naval Dispensary at Boston, Mass.
1945 - Navy patrol bombers hit a Japanese convoy, sinking cargo vessel No. 21 Yusen Maru in Formosa Strait.
1950 - Operation Portrex begins. The two-week-long exercise is the first use of airborne troops in support of an amphibious landing and takes place on Vieques Island, Puerto Rico.
1961 - USS Patrick Henry (SSBN 599) returns from patrol to become the first ballistic missile submarine to use Holy Loch, Scotland, as a refit and upkeep anchorage.
2009 - USNS Wally Schirra (T-AKE 8) is christened and launched at National Steel and Shipbuilding Company, San Diego, Calif.
(Source: Naval History and Heritage Command, Communication and Outreach Division)
