Friday 22 March 2019

On this date in . . .  
from: www.scopesys.com
 1933 – During Prohibition, President Roosevelt signed a measure to make wine & beer containing up to 3.2 percent alcohol legal.

AND IN MILITARY HISTORY
from: thisdayinusmilhist.wordpress.com

1765 – Hoping to scrounge up funds to maintain a military presence in the colonies, the British government passed the notorious Stamp Act. The legislation levied a direct tax on all materials printed for commercial and legal use in the colonies, including everything from broadsides and insurance policies to playing cards and dice. Though the Stamp Act was a common fundraising vehicle in England, it stirred a storm of protest in the colonies. The colonists’ anger was partially grounded in fears that the Stamp Act would open the gates to a flood of taxes. They also felt that, as English citizens, their consent, as meted out through representative assemblies, was mandatory for the passage of tax legislation. In response, the colonists rioted, staged demonstrations, and refused to comply with the tax. Under pressure from British business interests, Parliament eventually repealed the legislation. However, the fracas over the Stamp Act had helped plant seeds for a far larger movement against the British government and the struggle for independence.
1775 – British statesman Edmund Burke made a speech in the House of Commons, urging the government to adopt a policy of reconciliation with America.
1778 – Captain Cook sighted Cape Flattery in Washington state.
1820 – U.S. Navy officer Stephen Decatur, hero of the Barbary Wars, is mortally wounded in a duel with disgraced Navy Commodore James Barron at Bladensburg, Maryland. Although once friends, Decatur sat on the court-martial that suspended Barron from the Navy for five years in 1808 and later opposed his reinstatement, leading to a fatal quarrel between the two men. Born in Maryland in 1779, Stephen Decatur was reared in the traditions of the sea and in 1798 joined the United States Navy as a midshipman aboard the new frigate, United States. That year, he saw action in the so-called quasi-war with France and in 1799 was commissioned a lieutenant. Five years later, during the Tripolitan War, he became the most lauded American naval hero since John Paul Jones. In 1801, President Thomas Jefferson ordered U.S. Navy vessels to the Mediterranean Sea in protest of continuing raids against U.S. ships by pirates from the Barbary states–Morocco, Algeria, Tunis, and Tripolitania. Sustained action began in June 1803, and in October the U.S. frigate Philadelphia ran aground near Tripoli and was captured by Tripolitan gunboats. The Americans feared that the well-constructed warship would be used as a model for building future Tripolitan frigates, and on February 16, 1804, Stephen Decatur led a daring expedition into Tripoli harbor to destroy the captured vessel. After disguising himself and his men as Maltese sailors, Decatur’s force sailed into Tripoli harbor and boarded the Philadelphia, which was guarded by Tripolitans who were quickly overpowered by the Americans. After setting fire to the frigate, Decatur and his men escaped without the loss of a single American. The Philadelphia subsequently exploded when its gunpowder reserve was lit by the spreading fire. Famed British Admiral Horatio Nelson hailed the exploit as the “most bold and daring act of the age,” and Decatur was promoted to captain.
1915 – The term “Naval Aviator” replaces former “Navy Air Pilot” for officers qualified as aviators.
1917 – The first Coast Guard aviators graduated from Pensacola Naval Aviation Training School. Third Lieutenant Elmer Stone became Naval Aviator #38 (and later Coast Guard Aviator #1).
1929 – A US Coast Guard vessel sank a Canadian schooner suspected of carrying liquor.
1929 – Navy ships protect Americans and their property during Mexican revolution.

Missions:

1.  to enhance the morale of active-duty personnel and their families,
2.  to inform Congress and the American public on the importance of strong sea services, and
3.  to support youth through programs that expose young people to the values of our sea services.