1492 - The leader of the last Arab stronghold in Spain surrendered to Spanish forces loyal to King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I

1779 - The chapel of the Royal Naval Hospital at Greenwich was destroyed by fire. James "Athenian" Stuart was commissioned to rebuild it, and ten years later his Rococo masterpiece was completed

1835 - Military historian, member of the first Russian expedition to sail around the world (1803-1806) Vasily Nikolaevich Berkh died

1862 - Electrical engineer, creator of three-phase current equipment Mikhail Osipovich Dolivo-Dobrovolsky born

1900 - Secretary of State John Hay announced "Open Door Policy" to facilitate trade with China

1905 - Japanese General Nogi received from Russian General Stoessel at 9 p.m. a letter formally offering to surrender, ending the Russo-Japanese War

1909 - Cleveland, Ohio, Lake Erie, the gas launch Junk Boy was damaged in the ice and started a bad leak. It was drifting before the wind when discovered by the keeper. He went to the aid of the occupant who had kept the launch afloat by bailing. The keeper towed the launch to the dock, passed straps under the hull, and hoisted her out. He then patched the leaks with sheets of tin and the owner ran his boat up the river

1918 - Destroyer USS Chew laid down

1919 - Destroyer USS Buchanan launched

1929 - United States and Canada reached agreement on joint action to preserve Niagara Falls

1934 - Destroyers USS Clark, Moffett & Phelps laid down

1934 - Heavy cruiser USS Vincennes laid down

1936 - U-29 laid down

1939 - Destroyer HMS Maori commissioned

1939 - U-62, U-63 laid down

1940 - U-555, U-556, U-751 laid down

1940 - AA cruiser HMS Coventry damaged in a German air attack on the Shetland Islands

1941 - At 2207, SS Nalgora, dispersed from convoy OB-261 on 22 December, was hit by one stern torpedo from U-65 about 350 miles north of the Cape Verde Islands and sunk 20 minutes later by 70 rounds from the deck gun. The master, 101 crewmembers and three passengers were rescued after eight days adrift in lifeboats. 52 survivors were picked up by the British merchantman Nolisement and landed at Freetown, while 34 survivors were picked up by the British merchant Umgeni in 21°35N/20°59W and landed in Glasgow on 13 January. 19 crewmembers in a lifeboat reached shore at San Antonio, Cape Verde Islands

1941 - U-38 was attacked by an escort with depth charges and suffered slight damage

1941 - Submarine USS Tuna commissioned

1941 - ASW trawler HMS Sarabande commissioned

1941 - U-174, U-462, U-707, U-762 laid down

1941 - U-66 commissioned

1941 - A 100-mile swathe of neutral Irish territory was bombed by German aircraft today for the second time in 48 hours. It is thought that they might be intended to intimidate the Irish into remaining neutral in spite of Anglo-American pressure for the use of Irish bases to protect convoys

1941 - Doenitz meets with Jodl to ask for better air-submarine cooperation & more air reconnaissance over the North Atlantic. He gets a daily reconnaissance sweep by 12 Focke-Wulf Kondors of 40 Group based in Bordeaux

1941 - HMS Terror, Aphis & Ladybird bombard Bardia in preparation for an assault

1941 - US President Roosevelt announces the Liberty Ship program, 200 merchant ships of a standardized British design

1942 - U-603 commissioned

1942 - SS Waziristan sunk by U-134 in position 74.09N, 19.10E - Grid AB 6362

1942 - Submarine USS Hoe laid down

1942 - Escort carrier USS Core laid down

1942 - Revised Flower Class (Increased Endurance) 1942-43 ordered - HMCS North Bay, Owen Sound, Lindsay, Frontenac, Atholl, Riviere Du Loup, Louisburg & Norsyd

1942 - Minesweeper HMCS Blairmore laid down Port Arthur ON

1942 - The Philippine capital of Manila and the nearby naval base of Cavite were captured by Japanese forces during World War II

1943 - U-410 saved 80 survivors from the sunken German ship Rhakotis

1943 - Destroyer escort USS Alger laid down

1943 - AMC HMCS Prince Robert commenced conversion to AA cruiser North Vancouver BC

1944 - U-445 was attacked in the North Atlantic by 5 bombs from an RAF Halifax aircraft. One crewmember was badly wounded and the boat suffered some damage

1944 - U-539 was the first U-boat to depart on a combat patrol equipped with the Snorkel breathing device

1944 - During an attack by 2 Liberators (RAF Sqn 224/C/G) on U-625, the Commander, Kptlt. Hans Benker, and one man were lost overboard. The boat, on its return leg of the patrol, was damaged and returned to Brest on 6 Jan

1944 - Submarine USS Baya launched

1945 - Coast Guard-manned Army FS-283 was commissioned at New York with LTJG A. H. Coane, USCGR, as commanding officer. She departed New York on 29 January 1945, for the Southwest Pacific where she operated during the war at Parang, Jacquinat Bay, etc. She was decommissioned 25 September 1945.

1945 - Frigate USS Peoria commissioned

1945 - Submarine HMS Alcide laid down

1945 - Escort carriers USS Mindoro & Rabaul laid down

1945 - Minesweeping trawler HMS Haybourn Wyke torpedoed & sunk by a German Seehund midget submarine of Ostend

1945 - Admiral Ramsay RN is killed in an air accident

1947 - Oiler HMCS Dundurn paid off Esquimalt BC. Recommissioned as civilian manned CNAV Dundurn

1951 - Chinese break UN lines north of Seoul. ROK Divisions forced to retreat

1956 - Captain Chester Edward Dimick, retired professor, died of a heart attack at age 75 on Jan. 2 at his home in Twin Gates, Tryon, North Carolina. As instructor and Head of the Mathematics Department of the US Coast Guard Academy at New London, CT from 1906 to 1945, he contributed more to the education and development of Coast Guard officers than any other officer in the Service. He was affectionately known as the "Dean" to the cadets

1960 - Sen. John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination

1969 - Operation Barrier Reef began in Mekong Delta, Vietnam

1972 - USS Constellation port call Subic Bay

1973 - USS Midway port call Subic Bay

1989 - Destroyer HMCS Assiniboine paid off

1991 - CINCCENTCOM updates numbers of intercepts - 6,221; boardings - 749; diversions - 32. Navy ship strength: 25 (Arabian Gulf), 20 (North Arabian Sea/Gulf of Oman), 10 (Red Sea). 6 anti-ship mines discovered floating in Gulf during December, all destroyed. Investigation of origin/date of deployment continues

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1991 - USNS Andrew J Higgins runs aground on an uncharted reef off Oman, hull rupture leaks undetermined amount of mixed fuels. No injuries

2000 - Retired Adm. Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr., known early in his career for modernizing the USN and later for ordering the spraying of Agent Orange in Vietnam, died in Durham, N.C., at age 79

2003 - USNS Brittin activated

2006 - HMAS Fremantle decommissioned

2006 - The Pakistan Navy decommissioned four of its Daphne-class submarines at a ceremony held at a dockyard in Karachi. Vice Admiral Mohammad Haroon, vice chief of the navy, was the senior most serving submariner who attended the event to mark the decommissioning of the French-made submarines. Haroon said despite the phasing out of the vessels, the submarine arm was capable of generating a forceful deterrence during wartime. With the induction of Agosta-class submarines, Pakistan had entered a new era of dealing with sophisticated technology. He said the government was determined to make the navy a strong maritime force equipped with modern platforms and weapons. The four submarines were decommissioned after 35 years of service

2006 - US aircraft bombed a building where suspected insurgents were hiding north of Baghdad, killing seven people and wounding four, Iraqi police said. The bombing took place in Beiji, site of Iraq's largest oil refinery, said Iraqi police Capt. Arkan Jassim, who reported the casualty figures. The US military did not comment on the deaths. It said only that an unmanned aircraft spotted three men planting a roadside bomb in the city 155 miles north of Baghdad, and that F-14s bombed a nearby building the three had entered