TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
25 October
◆1812 The U.S. frigate United States captured the British vessel Macedonian during the War of 1812.
◆1825 Erie Canal opened, linking Great Lakes and Atlantic Ocean.
◆1864 Skirmishes took place at Mine Creek, KS.
◆1924 Airship, USS Shenandoah (ZR-1), completes round trip transcontinental cruise that began on 7 October.
◆1941 South Greenland Patrol expanded to include 3 cutters of the Northeast Greenland Patrol and form the Greenland Patrol.
◆1942 On Guadalcanal, the Japanese army again attempt attacks on the southern perimeter of the American positions.
◆1944 On land, the US 1st Cavalry Division continues advancing on the northeast coast of Leyte. Other elements of US 10th and US 24th Corps, to the south, are inactive because of a lack of supplies. At sea, the Japanese Southern Force (Nishimura) and the 2nd Striking Force (Shima) engage American forces, commanded by Admiral Oldendorf, blocking the Surigao Strait. After suffering losses the Japanese withdraw. The Center Force (Kurita) passes through the San Bernardino Strait and engages US Task Force 77.4.3 (Sprague) which is then reinforced by aircraft from TF77.4.2 as it attempts to retreat. Center Force suffers some losses and Admiral Kurita chooses to withdraw because he believes the aircraft are from US Task Force 38. While Center Force turns back, TF77.4.3 is struck by Kamikaze strikes which sink 4 escort carriers. These are the first significant Kamikaze attacks recorded. At the same time, TF77.4.1 is also attacked by Kamikazes. Meanwhile, the Northern Force (Ozawa) is attacked TF38. Only the carrier-battleships (Ise and Hyuga) survive the day. During the engagement, two groups of TF38 turn back to attack Center Force but fail to arrive in time.
◆1945 Japanese surrendered Taiwan to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek.
◆1950 U.N. forces approached to within 34 miles of the Yalu River, the Chinese Manchurian border, as the Chinese Communist Forces launched their First Phase Offensive around this date. UNC intelligence agencies remained ignorant of Chinese intentions and the extent of their commitment to intervening in the war.
◆1950 Transport aircraft of the 315th Air Division hauled 1,962 tons of cargo for the largest 24-hour total for the war.
◆1951 Peace talks aimed at ending the Korean Conflict resumed in Panmunjom after 63 days.
◆1952 The 7th Infantry Division battled the Chinese near Kumwha and suffered 2,000 casualties during the Battle of Sniper Ridge.
◆1952 The USS Missouri hurled 500 tons of high-explosive shells against entrenched enemy in the vicinity of Tanchon.
◆1958 The last U.S. troops left Beirut.
◆1960 Cuba nationalized all remaining US businesses.
◆1962 U.S. ambassador Adlai E. Stevenson presented photographic evidence of Soviet missile bases in Cuba to the U.N. Security Council. Ambassador Adlai E. Stevenson demanded USSR and Zorin answer regarding Cuban missile bases saying " Do you, Ambassador Zorin, deny that the USSR has placed and is placing medium- and intermediate-range missiles and sites in Cuba? Yes or no? Don’t wait for the translation. Yes or no? I am prepared to wait for my answer until hell freezes over."
◆1963 - Anti-Kennedy "WANTED FOR TREASON" pamphlets scattered in Dallas.
◆1966 Operation Sea Dragon logistics interdiction began. North Vietnamese regulars and Viet Cong guerrillas were not exempt from this time-honored adage. They were dependent on the vast quantities of food and munitions smuggled across South Vietnam's shores and waterways. It was because of this waterborne logistic highway that the destroyers Mansfield and Hanson sailed north toward the 17th parallel before dawn on October 25, 1966. At 0500 hours, the ships entered North Vietnamese waters and opened a new phase of the war, attacking WBLC (pronounced "wib-lic" and meaning waterborne logistic craft) and coastal lines of communication targets still in Communist waters. As part of Operation Sea Dragon, Seventh Fleet destroyers, cruisers and eventually one battleship participated in this new mission between October 1966 and November 1968.
◆1971 The UN General Assembly voted to admit the People’s Republic of China and expel Nationalist China (Taiwan).
◆1972 The first female FBI agents were hired.
◆1974 The US Air Force fired its 1st ICBM.
◆1983 1,800 U.S. Marines and Rangers, assisted by 300 soldiers from six Caribbean nations, invaded Grenada at the order of President Reagan, who said the action was needed to protect U.S. citizens there.★
◆1990 Defense Secretary Dick Cheney said the Pentagon was laying plans to send as many as 100-thousand more troops to Saudi Arabia.
◆1993 Colonel Irene Trowell-Harris, from the New York Air National Guard, is promoted to Brigadier General on this date; thus becoming the National Guard’s first African American woman to hold general officer rank.
◆2001 American warplanes dropped cluster bombs for the 1st time on Taliban front lines.