2.19.05
IT HAPPENED THIS WEEK...FEB 21st - FEB 27TH

21-1944 - Marines secure Eniwetok atoll with naval gunfire and carrier plane support.

22-1909 - Great White Fleet returns from round the world cruise to Hampton Roads, VA.

23-1945 - Five Marines and a Navy Hospital Corpsman raise flag on Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima.

24-1920 - A fledgling German political party held its first meeting of importance in Munich: it became know as the Nazi party, and its chief spokesman was Adolph Hitler.

25-1933 - Commissioning of USS Ranger, first true aircraft carrier.

26-1811 - Congress authorizes first Naval hospital.

27-1942 - Battle of the Java Sea; Allied Naval Force attacks Japanese invasion convoy. Cruisers USS Marblehead and Houston are damaged and Marblehead was forced to return to the US for repairs. Three British destroyers were sunk. Also sunk were the Dutch cruisers DeRutyer and Java. HMS Perth and the USS Houston were forced to withdraw.