TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
25 July
◆1139 Battle of Ourique: King Affonso I of Portugal defeats the Moors, personally accounting for five enemy knights.
◆1391 Battle of Alessandria: The Visconti defeat the French.
◆1467 Battle of Riccardino/Molinella: Bartolomeo Colleoni's Venetians defeat Federico da Montefeltro's Emilian-Romagnan alliance.
◆1501 The French capture Capua amid great slaughter (besieged since the 17th).
◆1729 North Carolina became a royal colony.
◆1759 British forces defeated a French army at Fort Niagara in Canada. During their 7 Years' War.
◆1775 Maryland issued currency depicting George III trampling the Magna Carta.
◆1779 Amphibious expedition against British in Penobscot Bay, ME.
◆1797 Presidente Fermin Francisco de Lasuen founded Mission San Miguel Archangel, the 16th California mission. He took possession of the land on behalf of Viceroy Branciforte. The mission facilitated travel between Mission San Luis Obispo and Mission San Antonio.
◆1799 Battle of Abukir: Bonaparte beats the Turks.
◆1805 Aaron Burr visited New Orleans with plans to establish a new country, with New Orleans as the capital city
◆1813 Battle of Maya: French defeat the English.
◆1814 An American army under the command of Major General Jacob Brown, having won a victory at Chippewa on July 5th, was now compelled by an advancing British army, to retreat toward Fort Erie, on the Canadian side of the Niagara River.
◆1850 Gold was discovered in the Rogue River in Oregon, extending the quest for gold up the Pacific coast.
◆1861 The Crittenden-Johnson Resolution passes, declaring that the war is being waged for the reunion of the states and not to interfere with the institutions of the South, namely slavery.★
◆1861 John LaMountain began balloon reconnaissance ascensions at Fort Monroe, Virginia.
◆1863 U.S. Squadron bombards Fort Wagner, NC.
◆1866 Rank of Admiral created. David G. Farragut is appointed the first Admiral in the U.S. Navy.
◆1866 Ulysses S. Grant was named General of the Army, the first officer to hold the rank.
◆1868 Congress passed an act creating the Wyoming Territory.
◆1898 During the Spanish-American War, U.S. forces launch their invasion of Puerto Rico, the 108-mile-long, 40-mile-wide island that was one of Spain's two principal possessions in the Caribbean.★
◆1912 First specifications for naval aircraft published.
◆1914 Russia declared that it would act to protect Serbian sovereignty.
◆1941 Bureau of Ordnance issues first Navy "E" certificates (for excellence) for industry.
◆1941 The U.S. government froze Japanese and Chinese assets.
◆1943 Mussolini is summoned to meet with the King of Italy in the afternoon and relieved of his offices. He is arrest upon leaving the meeting. Marshal Badoglio is selected to form a new government.
◆1943 American forces in north encounter heavy resistance to further advances. British and Canadian forces launch converging attacks on Agira, in the central region. Allied reinforcements, including the US 9th Division and British 78th Divisions arrive from North Africa.
◆1943 A new American offensive begins. The US 43rd and 37th Divisions are supplemented with the 25th Division. Some progress is made near Bartley Ridge.
◆1943 Launching of USS Harmon (DE-72), first ship named for African-American.
◆1944 The US 1st Army begins "Operation Cobra". The main attack is made west of St. Lo by the US 7th Corps with 8th Corps on the right flank and 13th Corps on the left flank. A massive bombardment precedes the assault. More than 3000 planes are involved, including 1500 heavy bombers of the US 8th Air Force. Some American casualties result from the bombers releasing their loads short of their target. Regardless, the American forces make good progress.
◆1944 On Guam the American marine forces are still unable to link up the two beachheads. On the southern landing, there is also fighting on the Orote Peninsula. On Tinian, the forces of US 5th Amphibious Corps advance cautiously southward after repulsing Japanese counterattacks.
◆1944 Two carrier groups from Task Force 58 (Admiral Mitscher) attack Palau while a third attacks Yap, Ulithi, Ngulu, Tais and Sorol.
◆1945 American cruisers Pasadena, Springfield, Wilkes-Barre and Astoria bombard Japanese air bases in southern Honshu. Meanwhile, aircraft from the US 3rd Fleet attack Kure naval base and the airfields at Nagoya, Osaka and Miho for a second day. The battleships Hyuga, Ise, and Haruna, the escort carrier Kaiyo and the heavy cruisers Aoba and Iwate are all sunk. There is not noticeable Japanese resistance to the strikes.
◆1945 On Mindanao, all organized Japanese resistance comes to an end in the Sarangani Bay area. American mopping up operations begin.
◆1946 The United States detonated a 2nd atomic bomb at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific in the first underwater test of the device.
◆1950 The independent U.S. 29th Infantry Regimental Combat Team was committed to action near Chinju. The North Koreans ambushed its 3rd Battalion at Hadong, killing 313 and capturing 100.
◆1950 Thailand, the first Pacific nation to do so, offered to send 4,000 ground troops to Korea.
◆1952 Puerto Rico became a self-governing commonwealth of the United States.
◆1953 Naval Task Force 77 aircraft flew 538 offensive and 62 defensive sorties, a record number for a single day
.◆1963 The United States, the Soviet Union and Britain initialed a treaty in Moscow prohibiting the testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere, in space or underwater.
◆1964 Following a meeting of the National Security Council to discuss the deteriorating situation in Saigon, the Joint Chiefs of Staff draw up a memo proposing air strikes against North Vietnam.★
◆1969 President Richard Nixon announces that henceforth the United States will expect its Asian allies to tend to their own military defense.
◆1978 The Viking 2 Orbiter to Mars was powered down after 706 orbits.
◆1981 Voyager 2 encountered Saturn.
◆1990 The US ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie, met with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to discuss Iraq’s economic dispute with Kuwait.
◆1998 The new nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, USS Harry S. Truman, was commissioned by Pres. Clinton. The 97,000 ton ship cost $4.5 billion.
◆1998 It was reported that the US dropped secret plans to seize Radovan Karadzic and Gen’l. Ratko Mladic in Bosnia.
◆1998 The governor of Puerto Rico called for a December referendum on statehood.
◆1999 The US and Vietnam agreed to normalize relations after 3 years of negotiations. Commercial ties were expected to follow.