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Today in Naval History
July 8
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1960 - USS Proteus (AS 19) is recommissioned and serves as a tender for the Polaris Fleet Ballistic Missile submarines.
On This Day

1777

British frigate HMS Rainbow and brig HMS Flora chase the Continental frigates Boston and Hancock and the captured prize, British frigate HMS Fox, off Halifax, Nova Scotia. Boston escapes but Hancock is captured and renamed HMS Iris.

1778

The Allied French fleet under Adm. Comte dEstaing arrives in America with reinforcements for the American Revolution and participates in the Battle of Rhode Island and at the Siege of Savannah.

1879

USS Jeannette departs San Francisco to explore the Arctic, but becomes frozen in the ice pack by September. On June 13, 1881, the bark-rigged wooden steamship sinks after she is crushed in an Arctic ice pack during an attempt to reach the North Pole through the Bering Strait. Of the 33 who set off after the ship went down, only 13 of Jeannette's men survive their adventures and return to civilization.

1944

The cruisers and destroyers of Task Group 53.18, commanded by Rear Adm. Charles Turner Joy, begin daily bombardment of Japanese defenses on Guam. Battleships join the bombardment group on July 14.

1960

USS Proteus (AS-19) is recommissioned and serves as a tender for the Polaris Fleet Ballistic Missile submarines.