April 11 in Military History

President McKinley sent a war message to Congress requesting authority to intervene militarily in Cuba against Spanish forces. This set in motion the resolutions that led to the Spanish-American War.

The Navy purchased Holland VI from inventor John Holland, commissioning it as USS Holland (SS-1). The 64-ton boat used a gasoline engine on the surface and electric batteries submerged.

Patton's Third Army liberated Buchenwald near Weimar, Germany, finding approximately 21,000 emaciated prisoners alive. Armed prisoners had already overpowered the remaining SS guards before American tanks arrived.

Lead elements of the U.S. Ninth Army reached the Elbe River near Magdeburg, establishing the westernmost bridgehead of Anglo-American forces in Germany. Engineer battalions began laying treadway bridges within hours of arrival.

President Truman fired General MacArthur for insubordination, establishing the precedent of civilian control over the military as the bedrock of American democracy.

President Truman authorized the transfer of nine Mark 4 atomic bombs from Atomic Energy Commission custody to the Air Force. It was the first peacetime delegation of assembled nuclear weapons to military control.

President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968 just days after MLK's assassination. The act was significant for the military: African American servicemen were dying disproportionately in Vietnam while their families at home faced housing discrimination.

NASA launched Apollo 13, crewed by Navy Captain James Lovell and Marine pilot Fred Haise. An oxygen tank explosion two days later forced the crew to abort their lunar landing and use the Lunar Module as a lifeboat for a harrowing return to Earth.

The UN Security Council passed Resolution 687, establishing the formal ceasefire for the Persian Gulf War and imposing conditions on Iraq including disarmament of weapons of mass destruction.

China released the 24 crew members of a U.S. Navy EP-3E ARIES II signals intelligence aircraft after 11 days of detention. The plane had made an emergency landing on Hainan after a midair collision with a Chinese J-8 fighter.