May 5, 201412 yr Author 5 May 1980 Under Operation Nimrod, the British Special Air Service (SAS) puts an end to a six day hostage taking at the Iranian Embassy in London, bringing the SAS out of obscurity and into the public spotlight for the first time.
May 7, 201412 yr Author 7 May 1915 The Cunard passenger liner RMS Lusitania is torpedoed and sunk by the German Type U19 U-boat U-20 off the southern coast of Ireland. The vessel sinks quickly, with the loss of 1,198 of the 1,959 persons aboard, including 128 American citizens. It hastens the entrance of the United States into World War I.
May 8, 201412 yr Author 8 May 1942 The Battle of the Coral Sea comes to an end. The carrier USS Lexington (CV-2) is lost but a Japanese invasion of Port Moresby is averted. And we would be remiss if we did not also mention: 8 May 1945 Nazi German forces unconditionally surrender in Reims, France, forever marking V-E Day (Victory in Europe).
May 9, 201412 yr Author 9 May 1941 Four years prior to the capture of U-505, the German Type IXB U-boat U-110 is captured by the Royal Navy and her Enigma machine and codebooks seized. The capture is later assigned the name Operation Primrose, and kept secret from the Americans until 1942.
May 12, 201412 yr Author 12 May 1975 The American container ship SS Mayaguez is seized by the Khmer Rouge, starting a three day skirmish that would be considered the final battle of the Vietnam war.
May 13, 201412 yr Author 13 May 1998 On 11 and 13 May, some 24 years after its first test (on 18 May 1974, dubbed 'Pokhran I'), India conducts five further nuclear tests, dubbed 'Pokhran II', at the Pokhran test range in the Thar Desert, including a thermonuclear device called Shakti. Economic sanctions follow.
May 14, 201412 yr Author 14 May 1948 The State of Israel is established, immediately transforming a civil war (a war of independence, as far as the Israelis are concerned) into the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and igniting scores of conflicts since.
May 15, 201412 yr Author 15 May 1987 A Soviet Energia rocket is launched from Baikonur with the Polyus prototype orbital laser weapon aboard, designed to destroy satellites (more specifically, future satellites of the American SDI system) with a megawatt class carbon dioxide laser. It fails to reach orbit.
May 16, 201412 yr Author 16 May 1919 US Navy Curtiss seaplane NC-4 leaves Trepassey, Newfoundland, on the first transatlantic flight (via the Azores). The journey took 23 days and was supported by a trail of 53 "station ships" across the Atlantic. A month later, British aviators Alcock and Brown make the first non-stop transatlantic flight, flying a modified WWI Vickers Vimy bomber from St. John's, Newfoundland, to Ireland. [The field from which Alcock and Brown took off is the same place where I run my English setter most every evening].
May 20, 201412 yr Author 20 May 1969 The Battle of Hamburger Hill, fought over Hill 937 in Vietnam, comes to an end after 10 days of brutal fighting.
May 21, 201412 yr Author 21 May 1982 During the Falklands War, the Battle of San Carlos begins. It is the first time that a modern surface fleet (equipped with both SAMs and carrier based aircraft) must defend itself against repeated air strikes. British ships begin entering San Carlos Water (later to be nicknamed 'Bomb Alley') at 0250 hours on 21 May, a bay on the west coast of East Falkland. Argentine air attacks begin later in the morning. In the first air attack: Flying out of Stanley, Lt Guillermo Owen Crippa flies an Argentine Naval Aviation MB.339A of the 1st Attack Squadron 1 (Esc) on a reconnaissance flight to determine composition of the British fleet, attacking HMS Argonaut and an unidentified Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship with 30mm cannon fire and 68mm SNEB rockets. Argonaut sustains minor damage from gun hits.
May 22, 201412 yr Author 22 May 1968 While on a mission to observe Soviet naval activity around the Azores, the US Navy's Skipjack class nuclear powered attack submarine USS Scorpion (SSN-589) is lost under mysterious circumstances, with all 99 crew aboard. Her wreck is located in late October 1968, about 740 km southwest of the Azores, in waters more than 3,000 m deep. Investigations into the cause of the incident remain inconclusive.
May 23, 201412 yr Author 23 May 1982 During the first air raid of that Sunday, four Argentine A-4B Skyhawks from the FAA's Grupo 5 find the Royal Navy's Type 21 class frigate HMS Antelope in San Carlos Water. The ship is hit by two 1,000 lb bombs, neither of which explodes, but one sailor is killed. One of the attacking aircraft clips the ship's mast and crashes. That evening, attempts are made to defuse the bombs but only one can be reached. Unfortunately, this bomb explodes, killing Staff Sgt James Prescott RE. The blast starts fires in both engine rooms, and the crew abandons ship as the magazines begin to explode. Antelope burns through the night and sinks the next day with a broken back.
May 26, 201412 yr Author 26 May 1940 Winston Churchill orders the launch of Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk, France. It begins in earnest the next day and continues through 4 June.
May 27, 201412 yr Author 27 May 1941 The British Royal Navy's pursuit of Bismarck comes to an end with the destruction of the German battleship in the North Atlantic.
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