Naval History and Heritage Command

The Second Continental Congress unanimously adopts the Declaration of Independence, which announces the colonies' separation from Great Britain.

President Thomas Jefferson holds the first Presidential Review of U.S. Marine Band and Marines at the White House, Washington, District of Columbia.

During the Civil War, the Confederates surrender Vicksburg, Miss., following a lengthy bombardment and siege by Union naval and land forces. The surrender gives the Union control of the Mississippi River. President Abraham Lincoln writes, ''The Father of Waters again goes unvexed to the sea.''

USS David W. Taylor (DD 551) and USS Riddle (DE 185) sink Japanese submarine (I 10) while attempting an evacuation mission to Saipan, 100 miles east-northeast of her destination.

USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) is commissioned at the waterfront of downtown Norfolk, Va. The guided-missile destroyer is the lead ship of her class and named for the former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Arleigh Burke, who attends the ships commissioning ceremony.

USS George Washington (CVN 73) is commissioned at Norfolk, Va. The ships sponsor is First Lady Barbara Bush. The sixth carrier in the Nimitz-class of supercarriers, it is the fourth warship to be named after the first president of the United States.