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May 27
5 moments across history
Golden Gate Bridge opens
On May 27, 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge opened to pedestrians in San Francisco. Some 200,000 people walked across the new 4,200-foot main span the first day. Vehicle traffic began the next morning. It was the longest suspension bridge in the world for 27 years.
US Navy aircraft carriers pass beneath the nearly completed Golden Gate Bridge, November 1936.
German battleship Bismarck sunk
The battleship Bismarck in the Grimstadfjord, Norway, May 1941.
HMS Dorsetshire rescues Bismarck survivors after the battle.
On May 27, 1941, the German battleship Bismarck was sunk by the British Royal Navy in the North Atlantic after a three-day chase. The action followed the sinking of HMS Hood three days earlier and ended in the deaths of more than 2,000 German sailors. Only 114 survived.
Saint Petersburg founded
Peter and Paul Fortress in modern Saint Petersburg — the city's founding citadel.
Peter the Great, founder of Saint Petersburg.
On May 27, 1703, Tsar Peter the Great founded Saint Petersburg on the banks of the Neva River. The new city, built on captured Swedish marshland during the Great Northern War, became the Russian capital nine years later and remained so for the next two centuries.
RMS Queen Mary maiden voyage
RMS Queen Mary, permanently moored at Long Beach, California.
RMS Queen Mary at sea — a survivor of the trans-Atlantic liner era.
On May 27, 1936, the RMS Queen Mary departed Southampton for New York on her maiden transatlantic voyage. The 1,019-foot Cunard liner became the holder of the Blue Riband for the fastest Atlantic crossing and remained one of the most celebrated ocean liners of the 20th century.
USS Scorpion lost at sea
USS Scorpion (SSN-589), lost with all hands on May 27, 1968.
Memorial to the crew of USS Scorpion at Naval Station Norfolk.
On May 27, 1968, the US Navy nuclear submarine USS Scorpion (SSN-589) was lost with all 99 hands in the Atlantic, southwest of the Azores, while returning from a Mediterranean deployment. The cause has never been formally established. Her wreck lies 11,000 feet deep, 400 miles southwest of the Azores.