May 28, 201412 yr Author 28 May 1905 The Battle of Tsushima, the only decisive sea battle fought by modern steel battleship fleets, comes to an end with the destruction of the Russian fleet by the Empire of Japan.
May 29, 201412 yr Author 29 May 1988 The Moscow Summit begins with the first trip by US President Ronald Reagan to Moscow to meet with Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. Among other accomplishments, the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty is finalized.
May 30, 201412 yr Author 30 May 1982 The Majestic class aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne (R21) is decommissioned, putting an end to carrier aviation in the Royal Australian Navy.
June 9, 201412 yr Author 9 June 1959 The world's first nuclear powered ballistic missile submarine, USS George Washington (SSBN-598), is launched at Groton, CT.
June 10, 201412 yr Author 10 June 1967 The Six Day War ends with the completion of the Israeli offensive in the Golan Heights. A ceasefire follows.
June 11, 201412 yr Author 11 June 1944 The Iowa class battleship USS Missouri (BB-63), the last battleship built for the US Navy, is commissioned into service.
June 12, 201412 yr Author 12 June 1987 While delivering a speech at the Brandenburg Gate near the Berlin Wall, American President Ronald Reagan challenges Soviet general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall".
June 13, 201412 yr Author 13 June 1936 The Gorch Fock class barque SSS Horst Wessel is launched, later becoming flagship of the Kriegsmarine sail training fleet. After WWII, she is taken over by the USA as war reparations, and recommissioned in May 1946 as the US Coast Guard cutter USCGC Eagle (WIX-327).
June 16, 201412 yr Author 16 June 1981 Canadian diplomat Ken Taylor becomes the first foreign citizen to receive the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal, in recognition for his work in helping six Americans escape from Iran during the hostage crisis of 1979-81.
June 17, 201412 yr Author 17 June 1967 Just 32 months after exploding its first fission bomb, the People's Republic of China detonates its first successful hydrogen bomb (aka Test No. 6) with a yield of 3.31 megatons. It is the shortest fission to fusion development in history, compared to 86 months for the USA, 75 months for the USSR, 66 months for the UK, and 105 months for France.
June 18, 201412 yr Author 18 June 1940 Following the fall of Paris just days earlier, new British prime minister Winston Churchill delivers his 'Finest Hour' speech, of which an excerpt follows: What General Weygand has called the Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilisation. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be freed and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new dark age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves, that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, This was their finest hour.
June 19, 201412 yr Author 19 June 1953 Having been convicted in March 1951 of passing atomic bomb secrets to the Soviets, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are executed at Sing Sing prison.
June 20, 201412 yr Author 20 June 1963 In the wake of the Cuban missile crisis, a 'hotline' is established to allow direct communication between the leaders of the United States and the USSR. It is known colloquially as the "red phone".
June 23, 201412 yr Author 23 June 1961 The Antarctic Treaty, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and and bans military activity on that continent, comes into effect.
June 24, 201412 yr Author 24 June 1948 The Berlin Blockade begins in earnest, with the Soviets severing all land and water connections in Germany between the non-Soviet zones and Berlin.
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