1665: James, Duke of York, commanding 102 ships, fought the 111 Dutch ships of Admiral Jacob van Obdam off Lowestoft. The Duke of York succeeded in gaining the advantage of the wind, but was unable to form his massive fleet into a well-ordered line. The Dutch equally found the weather conditions unsuitable for their favoured melee tactics. Accounts are confused, but the battle broke down into a series of bitter gunnery duels.

The decisive moment came when the Earl of Sandwich closed to very short range and forced four Dutch ships to collide. The stricken vessels were all subsequently destroyed, and Obdam's flagship Eendracht, fighting the Duke of York's flagship Royal Charles, also caught fire and blew up, only five of her crew being rescued; the explosion was felt in the Hague.

The Dutch second in command, Kortenaer, had also been killed, and the day ended in a clear English victory with seventeen Dutch ships, including three flagships, lost. Only one English armed merchantman was lost. During the battle, the Duke of York's professional naval adviser aboard the flagship was Admiral Sir William Penn, father of the famous Quaker and founder of Pennsylvania; Admiral Penn had commanded the lead squadron at the Battle of the Gabbard exactly twelve years earlier.

1666: The third day of the Four Days Battle. Albemarle, now down to just 35 ships, and some of them badly damaged, finally decided to attempt to withdraw to the Thames. However, three of his largest ships, including his flagship Royal Charles, ran aground on the Galloper shoal. Royal Charles and Royal Katherine managed to work themselves free, but Royal Prince, flagship of Admiral Sir George Ayscue, was stuck firm and forced to surrender to Cornelius Tromp.

1832: HMS Speedwell, enforcing the abolition of the slave-trade, captured the slave-ship Aquila off Cuba.

1855: Lieutenant Buckley and Boatswain Cooper of HMS Miranda put ashore on the Crimean coast to attack a Russian supply dump, despite a Russian garrison of 3,000 troops. As British and French ships distracted the defenders with a bombardment, the two men managed to get into the storehouses and set fire to them before escaping safely back to their ship. Buckley and Cooper both received the Victoria Cross, in Buckley's case also in recognition for his part in a similar raid on 29 May 1855.

1910: The British Army's Beta 1 airship made its maiden flight, fitted with wireless equipment.

1916: On the Western Front, a runner delivering an urgent operational message was caught in the blast from an enemy shell, and knocked unconscious. Private Chafer, positioned nearby, realised the importance of the message and set off with the papers for headquarters. He suffered a severe wound, was poisoned and blinded by gas, but continued running along the trench parapets, fully exposed to machine-gun and artillery fire. He delivered the message safely before he collapsed. He survived his injuries to receive the Victoria Cross.

1940: On the last full day of evacuation operations at Dunkirk, the Luftwaffe was mercifully largely absent, having been diverted to a major attack on Paris. German artillery was still a major threat, pounding the defensive positions held by the French and British rearguard.

1944: At Anzio, an attack by a carrier platoon of the Wiltshire Regiment ran into heavy barbed wire entanglements and accurate machine-gun fire. Sergeant Rogers went forward alone and wiped out two of the enemy positions. The platoon then continued its advance, but before they could reach him, Rogers was killed charging a third position. He was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross.