This Day in Naval History - Oct. 04

From the Navy News Service

1821 - Lt. Robert F. Stockton sails from Boston for Africa to carry out orders to help stop the international slave trade.

1944 - Aircraft from USS Ranger (CV 4) sink five German ships and damage three others in Operation Leader, the only U.S. Navy carrier operation in northern European waters during World War II.

1952 - Task Force 77 aircraft encounter MIG-15 aircraft for the first time.

1976 - USS Jonas Ingram (DD 938) rescues seven survivors of a Finnish motor craft that sank in the Baltic Sea.

1991 - USS Arkansas (CGN 41), USNS Sioux (T-ATF 171), USS Aubrey Fitch (FFG 34) and Helicopter Antisubmarine Squadron (HS) 6 rescue personnel on merchant ships in three different rescue operations in the Arabian Sea.

1998 - U.S. and Algierian navies conduct the first bilateral exercise since Algeria gained independendence from France in 1962. It was a search and rescue operation involving USS Mitscher (DDG 57).