This Day in Military History...

Sergio Natali · 07-31-2015, 12:15 PM

July 31st ~

1498 – During his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher Columbus arrived at the island of Trinidad.

1777 – The Marquis de Lafayette, a 19-year-old French nobleman, was made a major-general in the American Continental Army.

1837 – William Clarke Quantrill (d.1865), Confederate raider, was born. He was known as one of the most vicious butchers of the American Civil war.

1849 – Benjamin Chambers patented a breech loading cannon.

1874 – Commissioning of USS Intrepid, first U.S. warship equipped with torpedoes.

1912 – First attempt to launch an airplane by catapult made at Annapolis.

1914 – German Kaiser Wilhelm II threatened war and ordered Russia to demobilize.

1918 – The 42nd Division (26 states and DC) is ordered to capture Hill 177 in preparation for the Aisne Offensive to begin on August 1st. Elements of its 84th Infantry Brigade, including Alabama’s the 167th and Iowa’s 168th Infantry regiments supported by the 151st Machine Gun Battalion, seize the hill after being heavily engaged.

1932 – The George Washington quarter went into circulation as a 200 year commemorative of G. Washington’s birth. It has been in use ever since.

1945 – US Secretary of War, Henry Stimson, sends President Truman a memorandum on how to persuade Japan to surrender. As part of a package of measures which also includes conventional bombing, invasion and diplomacy, he takes for granted that America will use the atomic bombs now under production.

1945 – The Japanese are warned by the Americans that eight cities will be leveled if the government refuses to surrender.

1964 – Ranger 7, an unmanned U.S. lunar probe, takes the first close-up images of the moon–4,308 in total–before it impacts with the lunar surface northwest of the Sea of the Clouds. The images were 1,000 times as clear as anything ever seen through earth-bound telescopes. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had attempted a similar mission earlier in the year–Ranger 6–but the probe’s cameras had failed as it descended to the lunar surface. Ranger 7, launched from Earth on July 28, successfully activated its cameras 17 minutes, or 1,300 miles, before impact and began beaming the images back to NASA’s receiving station in California. The pictures showed that the lunar surface was not excessively dusty or otherwise treacherous to a potential spacecraft landing, thus lending encouragement to the NASA plan to send astronauts to the moon. In July 1969, two Americans walked on the moon in the first Apollo Program lunar landing mission.

1964 – All-nuclear task force with USS Long Beach, USS Enterprise, and USS Bainbridge leaves Norfolk, VA to begin voyage, Operation Sea Orbit, to circle the globe without refueling. They returned on 3 October.

1971 – Apollo 15 astronauts (Dave Scott) took a drive on the moon in their land rover.

1991 – The US Senate voted to allow women to fly combat aircraft.

1992 – The space shuttle Atlantis blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on a problem-plagued scientific mission.

2001 – Richard Butler tells a U.S. Senate Committee that Iraq increased the production of chemical and biological weapons after U.N. inspections ended- and might even be close to developing a nuclear bomb. A former Iraqi nuclear engineer tells the Committee that Saddam Hussein will have enough weapons-grade uranium for three nuclear bombs by 2005.
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07-31-2015, 12:15 PM	#1
Sergio Natali User Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: Somewhere in Northern Italy Posts: 2,646 Thanks: 1,087 Thanked 1,783 Times in 1,007 Posts	This Day in Military History... July 31st ~ 1498 – During his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher Columbus arrived at the island of Trinidad. 1777 – The Marquis de Lafayette, a 19-year-old French nobleman, was made a major-general in the American Continental Army. 1837 – William Clarke Quantrill (d.1865), Confederate raider, was born. He was known as one of the most vicious butchers of the American Civil war. 1849 – Benjamin Chambers patented a breech loading cannon. 1874 – Commissioning of USS Intrepid, first U.S. warship equipped with torpedoes. 1912 – First attempt to launch an airplane by catapult made at Annapolis. 1914 – German Kaiser Wilhelm II threatened war and ordered Russia to demobilize. 1918 – The 42nd Division (26 states and DC) is ordered to capture Hill 177 in preparation for the Aisne Offensive to begin on August 1st. Elements of its 84th Infantry Brigade, including Alabama’s the 167th and Iowa’s 168th Infantry regiments supported by the 151st Machine Gun Battalion, seize the hill after being heavily engaged. 1932 – The George Washington quarter went into circulation as a 200 year commemorative of G. Washington’s birth. It has been in use ever since. 1945 – US Secretary of War, Henry Stimson, sends President Truman a memorandum on how to persuade Japan to surrender. As part of a package of measures which also includes conventional bombing, invasion and diplomacy, he takes for granted that America will use the atomic bombs now under production. 1945 – The Japanese are warned by the Americans that eight cities will be leveled if the government refuses to surrender. 1964 – Ranger 7, an unmanned U.S. lunar probe, takes the first close-up images of the moon–4,308 in total–before it impacts with the lunar surface northwest of the Sea of the Clouds. The images were 1,000 times as clear as anything ever seen through earth-bound telescopes. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had attempted a similar mission earlier in the year–Ranger 6–but the probe’s cameras had failed as it descended to the lunar surface. Ranger 7, launched from Earth on July 28, successfully activated its cameras 17 minutes, or 1,300 miles, before impact and began beaming the images back to NASA’s receiving station in California. The pictures showed that the lunar surface was not excessively dusty or otherwise treacherous to a potential spacecraft landing, thus lending encouragement to the NASA plan to send astronauts to the moon. In July 1969, two Americans walked on the moon in the first Apollo Program lunar landing mission. 1964 – All-nuclear task force with USS Long Beach, USS Enterprise, and USS Bainbridge leaves Norfolk, VA to begin voyage, Operation Sea Orbit, to circle the globe without refueling. They returned on 3 October. 1971 – Apollo 15 astronauts (Dave Scott) took a drive on the moon in their land rover. 1991 – The US Senate voted to allow women to fly combat aircraft. 1992 – The space shuttle Atlantis blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on a problem-plagued scientific mission. 2001 – Richard Butler tells a U.S. Senate Committee that Iraq increased the production of chemical and biological weapons after U.N. inspections ended- and might even be close to developing a nuclear bomb. A former Iraqi nuclear engineer tells the Committee that Saddam Hussein will have enough weapons-grade uranium for three nuclear bombs by 2005. __________________ __________________ "Originality can't be restored and should be at the top of any collector's priority list.