March 9 in U.S. military history

1847: Over 11,000 American soldiers and a company-sized (though referred to as a battalion) force of Marines under the overall command of U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott (featured image) and “Home Squadron” Commodore David E. Conner begin landing at Collado Beach, Mexico, just south of Vera Cruz.

In what will prove to be “a model” for future amphibious operations, the landings are unprecedented: The largest American amphibious operation to date, conducted in less than five hours without a single loss of life. Though the landings are bloodless, grim fighting will continue in the Mexican-American War.

1862: In day-two of the now-famous Battle of Hampton Roads (Va.), the Confederate Navy’s ironclad warship, CSS Virginia (built from the remains of the previously scuttled frigate USS Merrimack) and her Union rival, the also-ironclad USS Monitor, begin exchanging shots in history’s first duel of ironclads.

Although Virginia destroyed the wooden ships USS Congress and USS Cumberland the previous day, she is unable to break the Union blockade. The battle ends in a draw with the new armored vessels inflicting marginal damage on one another before breaking off the fight.

1918: Capt. James Ely Miller, flying a borrowed French SPAD S.VII C.1 fighter, encounters a flight of four German aircraft and is shot down near Corbény, France. The 95th Aero Squadron’s commanding officer becomes the first American airman to perish in World War I.

1919: While anchored at Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay, USS Texas becomes the first battleship to launch an airplane. Lt. Commander Edward O. McDonnell, who earned the Medal of Honor during the Veracruz campaign in 1914, launches a Sopwith Camel from a special platform constructed atop the Number 2 turret. Soon, U.S. battleships will begin carrying their own aircraft for scouting and artillery spotting duties.