February 16 in History

Historical Events on February 16

1804 First Barbary War: Stephen Decatur leads a raid to burn the pirate-held frigate USS Philadelphia.

1862 American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant captures Fort Donelson, Tennessee.

1881 The Canadian Pacific Railway is incorporated by Act of Parliament at Ottawa (44th Vic., c.1).

1940 World War II: Altmark Incident: The German tanker Altmark is boarded by sailors from the British destroyer HMS Cossack. 299 British prisoners are freed.

1959 Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba after dictator Fulgencio Batista was overthrown on January 1.

1960 The U.S. Navy submarine USS Triton begins Operation Sandblast, setting sail from New London, Connecticut, to begin the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe.

1986 The Soviet liner MS Mikhail Lermontov runs aground in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand.

1996 A Chicago-bound Amtrak train, the Capitol Limited, collides with a MARC commuter train bound for Washington, D.C., killing 11 people.

2005 The Kyoto Protocol comes into force, following its ratification by Russia.

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Famous Birthdays on February 16

1222 Nichiren

1979 Valentino Rossi

1985 Ron Vlaar

1990 The Weeknd

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Famous Deaths on February 16

1932 Edgar Speyer

1990 Keith Haring

1997 Chien-Shiung Wu

2002 Walter Winterbottom

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