TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
22 December
◆1775 Congress commissions first naval officers: Esek Hopkins, Commander in Chief of the Fleet, Captains Dudley Saltonstall, Abraham Whipple, Nicolas Biddle, and John Hopkins. Lieutenants included John Paul Jones.
◆1783 Washington resigned his military commission.
◆1807 The Napoleonic Wars threatened to engulf the nation. French Emperor Napoleon I had vowed to seal off all foreign trade with Britain; the British responded in kind and moved to halt all foreign trade with France. America's fleet of merchant ships and economic livelihood were effectively caught in the middle of the conflict. Looking to protect the ships without sacrificing the nation's neutral stance, Jefferson resorted to legislative action. On December 22, 1807, the House passed Jefferson's Embargo Act, which barred trading between the U.S. and European nations. In Jefferson's eyes, the Embargo Act was not merely a defensive measure; he also hoped to demonstrate the United States' growing power as a trade partner. Alas, the Embargo Act had a far different impact than Jefferson intended: it not only took a severe toll on U.S. agricultural and mercantile interests, but also proved to be a financial boon to British and French traders. By 1809, an angry chorus of farmers, mercantilists, and political critics forced Jefferson to repeal the Embargo Act and re-open the doors to trade with Europe, save for Britain and France.
◆1819 The Revenue cutter Dallas seized a vessel laden with lumber that had been unlawfully cut from public land in one of the first recorded instance of a revenue cutter enforcing an environmental law.
◆1837 Congress authorized President "to cause any suitable number of public vessels, adapted to the purpose, to cruise upon the coast, in the severe portion of the season, and to afford aid to distressed navigators." First statute authorizing activities in the field of maritime safety. Thus interjecting the national government into the field of lifesaving for the first time. Although revenue cutters were specifically mentioned, the performance of this duty was imposed primarily upon the Revenue Marine Service and quickly became one of its major activities.
◆1841 Commissioning of USS Mississippi, first U.S. ocean-going side-wheel steam warship, at Philadelphia.
◆1862 Captain Dahlgren, confidant of and advisor to the President, went to the White House at the request of President Lincoln to observe the testing of a new type of gunpowder.
◆1864 Union General William T. Sherman presents the city of Savannah, Georgia, to President Lincoln.
◆1882 1st string of Christmas tree lights was created by Thomas Edison.
◆1918 The last of the food restrictions, that had been enforced because of the shortages during World War I, were lifted.
◆1941 After continuing the bombardment of Wake Island the Japanese land 200 men on the island to fierce resistance from the 450 US Marines stationed there1941 - Japanese troops made an amphibious landing on the coast of Lingayen Gulf on Luzon, the Philippines.
◆1942 Pharmacist's Mate First Class Thomas A. Moore performs appendectomy on Fireman Second Class George M. Platter on board USS Silversides (SS-236).
◆1942 Sue Dauser takes oath of office as Superintendant of Navy Nurse Corps, becoming first woman with the relative rank of captain in U.S. Navy. She was promoted to the rank of captain on 26 February 1944.
◆1944 Commissioning of first 2 African-American WAVES officers, Harriet Ida Pickens and Frances F. Wills.
◆1944 In the advance of German 5th Panzer Army, Bastogne is surrounded. An German demand to surrender, issued to the American defenders, is rejected by American General McAuliffe commanding the encircled troops. St. Vith is captured late in the day. However, the lack of substantial progress leads Model, commanding Army Group B, and Rundstedt, Commander in Chief West, to recommend an end to the offensive. Brigadier Gen. Anthony C. McAuliffe reportedly replied: "Nuts!" ★
◆1944 On Leyte, there is fighting around Palompon where the Japanese forces on the island are now concentrated.
◆1945 The U.S. recognized Tito's government in Yugoslavia.
◆1950 The Eighth Army main command post moved from Seoul to Taegu.
◆1950 In the biggest air battle of the Korean War, U.S. Air Force F-86 Sabres shot down six communist MiG-15s over North Korea with the loss of a single F-86. This was a fitting end to the 4th Fighter Interceptor Wing's first week in Korea.
◆1950 Vice Admiral C. Turner Joy, commander of the U.N. Naval Forces, announced that 400 ships from the United States, Great Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, France, the Netherlands and Thailand were participating in the U.N. blockade of North Korea.
◆1951 The communists were invited to inspect U.N. prison camps to see that over 35,000 Koreans previously listed as prisoners had been removed from POW status and reclassified, mostly as civilian internees after further screening. The U.N. Command demanded an explanation of why 1,000 missing soldiers (mostly American) were omitted from the communist list of POWs. The U.N. Command proposed an immediate exchange of all sick and wounded prisoners.
◆1956 The evacuation of the Suez Canal was completed by Britain and France.
◆1960 HS-3 and HU-2 (USS Valley Forge) helicopters rescue 27 men from oiler SS Pine Ridge breaking up in heavy seas off Cape Hatteras.
◆1963 The official 30 days of mourning ended following the assassination of President Kennedy.
◆1965 The EF-105F Wild Weasel made its first kill over Vietnam.
◆1971 The Soviet Union accuses China of backing U.S. policies in Vietnam, an accusation that illustrates the growing rift between the two communist superpowers. China, which had previously taken a hard line toward negotiations between Hanoi and Washington, softened its position by endorsing a North Vietnamese peace plan for ending the war. Although the peace proposal was unacceptable to the United States, the fact that China advocated negotiations between Hanoi and Washington was significant. The Soviet Union, whose relations with China were already deteriorating, was highly suspicious of what they rightfully perceived as a "warming" in Sino-American relations. This suspicion only grew stronger in February 1972, when President Richard Nixon visited China.
◆2001 A new “thermobaric” bomb had been developed by the Pentagon for use in caves and tunnels. The BLU-118b was capable of destroying a tunnel’s contents without collapsing the tunnel mouth.