June 17, 1981 (Wednesday)
- The largest submarine ever built up to that time, the 560 foot long USS Ohio, began its first sea trials, departing from the shipyards of Groton, Connecticut shortly before 5:00 am. Built at a cost of $1.2 billion, and capable of carrying 24 of the Trident missiles, which could each deliver five nuclear warheads, the sub was immediately shadowed by the Soviet surveillance ship Ekvator, which had anchored outside of U.S. territorial waters, 12 nautical miles off of the coast of Long Island.
- Born Amrita Rao, Indian film actress, in Mumbai
- Died: Yitzhak Zuckerman, 66, Polish leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising who helped thousands of his fellow Jews escape the Nazi invasion, and continued to search for the Nazis after emigrating to Israel; Sir Richard O'Connor, 91, British general who led the fight against Italy in North Africa during World War II; and Zerna Sharp, 91, American educator, who, beginning in 1924, created the "Dick and Jane" primers used for four decades in American schools.
Read more about this topic: June 1981