User:Navy Smart/12 31

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1862 - USS Monitor founders in a storm off Cape Hatteras, N.C. and is lost. Ordinary Seaman John Jones of USS Rhode Island is awarded the Medal of Honor for his conduct while rescuing crewmen during the night.
1941 - Adm. Chester W. Nimitz assumes command of U.S. Pacific Fleet.
1942 - USS Essex (CV 9), the first of a new class of aircraft carriers, is commissioned at Norfolk, Va.
1943 - USS Greenling (SS 213) sinks Japanese transport Shoho Maru southeast of Ponape and evades counterattacks by submarine chaser Ch 30.
1948 - The last annual report by a Secretary of the Navy to Congress and the President is filed by Secretary of the Navy John L. Sullivan. Thereafter the Secretary of Defense reports annually to Congress.