This Day in Naval History - Oct. 01

From the Navy News Service

1800 - U.S. schooner Experiment captures French schooner Diana.

1844 - The Naval Observatory, headed by Lt. Matthew Fontaine Maury, occupies its first permanent quarters.

1874 - Supply Corps purser Lt. J.Q. Barton is given leave to enter service of new Japanese Navy to organize a pay department and instruct Japanese about accounts. He served until Oct. 1, 1877, when he again became a purser in the U.S. Navy.

1880 - John Phillip Sousa becomes leader of Marine Corps Band.

1928 - The first class at school for enlisted Navy and Marine Corps radio intercept operators (The "On the Roof Gang") is held.

1937 - Patrol aviation is transferred to Aircraft Scouting Force, a re-established type command. With the change, five patrol wings were established as a separate administrative command over their squadrons.

1946 - Truculent Turtle lands at Columbus, Ohio, breaking the world's record for distance without refueling during flight of 11,235 miles.

1949 - Military Sea Transportation Service is activated.

1955 - USS Forrestal (CVA 59), the first of post-war super carriers, is commissioned.

1979 - President Jimmy Carter awards the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to Neil Armstrong, retired Navy Capt. Charles Conrad Jr., retired Marine Col. John Glenn and retired Rear Adm. Alan Shepard Jr.

1980 - USS Cochrane (DDG 21) rescues 104 Vietnamese refugees 620 miles east of Saigon.

1990 - USS Independence (CV 62) enters Persian Gulf (first carrier in Persian Gulf since 1974).