1779 - The Continental Navy sloop Providence, captures the British brig Diligent off Sandy Hook and is later acquired for service in the Continental Navy.
1934 - The frigate Constitution completes her 3-year tour of 76 port cities along the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts and then returns to Boston, Mass. Prior to her journey that began July 1931, the 137-year-old frigate undergoes a refit and overhaul. Congress authorized the restoration of Constitution in March 1925.
1942 - The Battle of the Coral Sea resumes as Task Force Seventeen (TF-17) intercepts the Japanese intending to invade Port Moresby, New Guinea marking the first naval battle where aircraft carriers engage each other out of sight from one another.
1945 - Marine Pfc. Albert E. Schwab scales a cliff, alone and under fire, to the enemy position skillfully uses his flame thrower to destroy two hostile gun emplacements. He is mortally wounded and posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
1945 - Gen. Afred Jodl, Chief of the German General Staff, signs the unconditional surrender of the Third Reich at Reims, France at Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF).
