At 2:10 p.m. on December 5, 1945, five U.S. Navy Avenger
torpedo-bombers comprising Flight 19 took off from the Ft.
Lauderdale Naval Air Station in Florida on a routine three-
hour training mission.

After having completed their objective, the flight was to go
due east for an additional 67 miles, then turn north for 73
miles, and back to the air station after that, totaling a
distance of 120 miles. They never returned.

Two hours after the flight began, the leader of the squadron,
who had been flying in the area for more than six months,
reported that his compass and backup compass had failed
and that his position was unknown.

After two more hours of confused messages from the fliers,
a distorted radio transmission from the squadron leader was
heard at 6:20 p.m., apparently calling for his men to prepare
to ditch their aircraft simultaneously because of lack of fuel.

The Naval School was founded in Annapolis, Maryland in the wake
of a shocking scandal at sea on this day in history, Oct. 10, 1845.

The renowned military institute was renamed the U.S. Naval
Academy in 1850.

The school was established following the discovery of a planned
mutiny on the Atlantic Ocean aboard U.S. Navy brig Somers. 

U.S. Naval Academy in 1853.

The 17th U.S. Secretary of the Navy
(1845 – 1846)

Civil War hero Admiral David Dixon Porter
became superintendent in 1865.

USS Constitution and Santee tied up in the background.
Other ships not identified.

    
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963)

In the early hours of August 2, 1943, a Japanese destroyer
rammed an American PT (patrol torpedo) boat, No. 109,
slicing it in two. The destruction is so massive other
American PT boats in the area assume the crew is dead.

Two crewmen were, in fact, killed, but 11 survived, including
Lt. John F. Kennedy.

Kennedy’s actions in saving his surviving crew after PT-109
was rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer earned him
several commendations and made him a war hero.

A torpedo from John F. Kennedy’s PT-109 rests some 1,200
feet (360 meters) underwater in the Solomon Islands. Key
details from the torpedo and its nearby launching tube
helped identify this wreck site as that of the World War II
boat.

Birdseye view of San Francisco from 1846 showing the
harbor and streets of early San Francisco.

An American naval captain, John Montgomery led a party of
marines and sailors ashore. They met no resistance and
claimed the settlement of Yerba Buena for the United States,
raising the American flag in the central plaza. They occupied
the small settlement that would later be called San Francisco.

John Berrien Montgomery
(1794 – March 25, 1872)

The 1847 Battle of Santa Clara, the only major engagement
to take place in the Bay Area.

President Joe Biden addressed the Class of 2024 at the West Point commencement exercises on May 25 in West Point, New York. The ceremony took place at Michie Stadium and involved around 1,000 cadets who graduated and were commissioned into the Army as second lieutenants.

Biden repeated a story about how he was ‘appointed’ tot he U.S. Naval Academy and wanted to play football —but his path was blocked by future NFL great Roger Staubach.

FACT CHECK: Biden attended the University of Delaware and as an exceptional student who graduated in 1965, reportedly playing football briefly on the 1961 freshman team but did not finish the season.

FOX NEWS