This date in history

[Aktungbby]

1939: the USS Squalus sinks off the New Hampshire coast. Squalus sank during a test dive on 23 May 1939. She was raised, renamed, and recommissioned on 15 May 1940 as USS Sailfish. Failure of the main induction valve caused the flooding of the aft torpedo room, both engine rooms, and the crew's quarters, drowning 26 men immediately. Quick action by the crew prevented the other compartments from flooding. Squalus bottomed in 243 ft (74 m) of water.
Squalus was initially located by her sister ship, Sculpin. The two submarines were able to communicate using a telephone marker buoy until the cable parted. Divers from the sub rescue ship Falcon began rescue operations under the direction of the salvage and rescue expert Lt Cmdr Momsen, using the new McCann Rescue Chamber. The navy authorities felt it important to raise her as she incorporated a succession of new design features. With a thorough investigation of why she sank, more confidence could be placed in the new construction, or alteration of existing designs could be undertaken when cheapest and most efficient to do so. Furthermore, given similar previous accidents in Sturgeon and Snapper (indeed, in S-5, as far back as 1920), it was necessary to determine a cause. Proving worthy of her salvage as the recommisioned USS Sailfish, she went on to win nine battle stars and a Presidential unit citation in a twelve patrol wartime carrer. Sailors are understanbly superstitious: During the Pacific War, the captain of the renamed ship issued standing orders if any man on the boat said the word "Squalus", he was to be marooned at the next port of call. This led to crew members referring to their vessel as "Squailfish". That went over almost as well; a court martial was threatened for anyone heard using it . Given the numerous arduous depth chargings of a long combat career that she survived, such logic was unassailable. USS Sailfish in drydock after salvage. [wiki]

[Jimbuna]

1844 - Samuel Morse taps out "What hath God wrought" (1st telegraph message).

1941 - Bismarck sinks British battle cruiser HMS Hood; 1,416 die, 3 survive.

[Jimbuna]

1986 - 30,000,000 people watch "Live Aid", a benefit concert for the Ethiopian famine.

[Jimbuna]

1907 - John Wayne [Marion Mitchell Morrison], Winterset IA, actor (Green Berets, True Grit) is born.

1927 - Henry Ford and the Ford Motor Company produce the last (and 15th million) Model T Ford / Tin Lizzie.

1982 - British ship Atlantic Conveyor carrying Chinook helicopters & destroyer HMS Coventry were hit in Falkland war: 39 crew members died.

[Jimbuna]

1940 - British & French begin evacuation of Dunkirk (Operation Dynamo) during WWII.

1941 - German battleship Bismarck sunk by British naval force.

[Aktungbby]

1937; the newly completed bridge is opened connecting San Francisco to marin county on Highway 101. Just drove it last night..always fabulous. And sometimes downright stunning I was present on this occasion: And for a lot of Civil War reenactments/campout overnights in old Fort Point right underneath: Kudos to the bridge builder/designer who knew the historic value of the fort and built an arch into the bridge design to protect the 1860 fort! Just to be able to drive into the city on the newly completed innovative desgn Bay Bridge(toll) and out on the Golden Gate(toll-free direction) every other night is a real joy...during non commute hours-otherwise it's rated the worst commute in the nation! The old Bay Bridge; still being taken down in sections as the new bridge assumes the duty!

[Jimbuna]

1431 - Joan of Arc accused of relapsing back into heresy by donning male clothing again, providing justification for her execution.

1936 - Alan Turing submits "On Computable Numbers" for publication, in which he set out the theoretical basis for modern computers.

1972 - White House "plumbers" break into Democratic Natlional HQ at Watergate.

[Aktungbby]

1937: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt pushes a button( actually a telegraph key) in Washington to signal vehicular traffic could begin crossing the Golden Gate Bridge. Today's presidents live with a whole lot more buttons to push! The toll was .50 cents; It's $6.00 now inbound. It was from 1937 to 1964, the longest suspension bridge in the world, until, the building of the 60-foot longer Verrazano Narrows Suspension Bridge in New York City. The Golden Gate Bridge is now the world's ninth longest. In any case it was a major naval exercise: In addition to a flight over the Bridge by 500 planes from Navy aircraft carriers Ranger, Lexington and Saratoga and battleships 60 miles out at sea...The arrival of the United States Fleet Fleet – 42 ships in total. Ten capital ships were lead by the USS Pennsylvania, followed by the California, West Virginia, Texas, Maryland, Nevada, Idaho, New Mexico, Mississippi, and Colorado. Heavy cruisers included the Indianapolis, Houston, Northampton, Pensacola, Salt Lake City, Louisville, Portland, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Astoria, San Francisco, Tuscaloosa, and Quincy. Light cruisers included the Concord, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Trenton, Richmond, Memphis, and Detroit. One thing's for sure; crossing is never boring..10/9/2014's Fleet Week.

[Jimbuna]

1953 - Edmund Hillary (NZ) and Tenzing Norgay (Nepal) are first to reach the summit of Mount Everest as part of a British Expedition.

[Aktungbby]

^

Well, George, we knocked the bastard off.

That climb had long lasting and pleasant far reaching effects: Sir Edmund Hillary, knighted by a young Queen Elizabeth, proved 'worthy of his spurs' for the many decades of his life in public service and philanthropy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Hillary The view from the top; taken by Hillary;

[Kptlt. Neuerburg]

May 29, 1910 pioneer aviator Glenn Curtiss completes the first true cross-country flight from Albany to Manhattan, NY, a distance of 150 miles. Curtiss was going for the $10,000 dollar prize put up by the publisher of the newspaper New York World who was none other then Joseph Pulitzer. Curtiss flew for a total of 2 hours and 30 minutes with an average speed of 54 miles per hour.

[Jimbuna]

1431 - Hundred Years' War: in Rouen, France, 19-year-old Joan of Arc is burned at the stake by an English-dominated tribunal.

1539 - Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto discovers Florida.

[Aktungbby]

1814: With Ol Boney, 'less able ere he saw Elba', The Treaty of Paris, is signed on 30 May 1814; ending the war between France and the Sixth Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars, It established peace between France and the United Kingdom, Russia, Austria, and Prussia, and was also signed by Portugal and Sweden. Spain signed later in July. The treaty reduced France to her 1792 borders and restored the independence of her neighbors after Napoleon Bonaparte's defeat. [wiki] Alas! The devil will get loose for a hundred days and a Second Treaty of Paris required after Ol Boney "meets his Waterloo' in 1815. This time, the Little Corporal will be made even less able on St. Helena, a barren rock in the South Atlantic. And it doesn't stop there! Enter into history a brazen English smuggler, double-agent and saboteur: Tom Johnston in consort (possibly) with inventor Robert Fulton's Submarine design: https://allkindsofhistory.wordpress.com/2013/03/09/a-secret-plot-to-rescue-napoleon-by-submarine/ Johnston definitely had a submarine. Clearly one of history's might-have-beens but 'Ol Boney had died beforehand in 1821...fortunately!

[Jimbuna]

70 - Rome captures 1st wall of the city of Jerusalem.

[Jimbuna]

1967 - Beatles release Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in US & goes gold