On this day...... 5 September

1781: The Royal Navy suffered a rare defeat at the hands of the French, at the battle of the Capes of the Chesapeake, which helped seal the American victory during the War of the Revolution.  Rear Admiral Thomas Graves, commanding 19 ships of the line, faced the talented Comte de Grasse du Bar with 24 ships.  De Grasse was landing French troops at the Chesapeake to link up with General Washington's advance on Yorktown.  Graves failed to seize an opportunity to fall upon the French fleet whilst it headed for the open sea, and several of his own ships suffered heavily, one subsequently having to be scuttled.  With a British relief force unable to reach him by land or sea, General Cornwallis at Yorktown had to surrender to Washington on 20 October.

1800: Malta surrendered to British forces.

1914: HMS Pathfinder was sunk by U-21, the first Royal Navy warship lost to submarine attack.

1915: On the North-West Frontier, Trooper Hull of the 21st Lancers won the Victoria Cross for his rescue under fire of an unhorsed officer lying at the mercy of tribesmen.

1940: RAF airfields continued to bear the brunt of Luftwaffe attacks, Biggin Hill in particular receiving another pounding .  The day's events are recorded on the RAF's Battle of Britain website.

1940: The United States Government transferred 50 elderly destroyers to the Royal Navy under the Lend Lease agreement.  Despite their age, the ships provided a desperately needed reinforcement, particularly for escorting convoys.  The most famous was undoubtedly HMS Campbeltown, the former USS Buchanan, expended on 28 March 1942 when, packed with five tons of explosives, she rammed the dock gates at St Nazaire during the famous raid to deny the use of the facilities by the Tirpitz.

1943: US and Australian troops mounted the first major Allied airborne operation in the Pacific theatre, landing in the Markham valley in New Guinea.