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1872 Phileas Fogg completes his round the world trip in 80 days, in Jules Verne's "Around the World in Eighty Days".

1988 Lockerbie disaster: Pan Am Flight 103 destroyed mid air by a terrorist bomb killing all 258 on board over Scotland.

1942 World War II: Adolf Hitler signs the order to develop the V-2 rocket as a weapon.

1944 Germans demand surrender of American troops at Bastogne, Belgium.

1944 Sub Swordfish departs Pearl Harbor for Japan.

1963 Cruise ship Lakonia burns 180 miles north of Madeira with the loss of 128 lives.

THIS BEING A NAVAL FORUM

2017: HMAS AE1 IS FOUND AFTER 103 YEARS: https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media...fenkrgdhok.jpg< LAST KNOWN PHOTO) Just six weeks into the First World War, Australian submarine HMAS AE1 disappeared without a trace somewhere off the coast of New Guinea, marking the first time an allied sub had been lost in the conflict. Marine archaeologists have now discovered the historic wreck, ending a mystery that has endured for over a century.
Australia, like other commonwealth countries, joined Great Britain in the war against Germany and Austria-Hungary on August 4, 1914. Six weeks later, on September 14, the HMAS AE1 was on patrol off the New Guinean island of East New Britain when it went missing, going down with 35 Australian, New Zealand, and British crewmen on board. No distress calls were issued, nor were there any witnesses to the scene. Its final resting place, and the cause of the sinking, have remained a mystery since that day. Since the sub went down, there have been no less than 13 private and government-funded hunts for the wreck. Sydney , it seems the 13th time’s the charm.
Along with the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force, the AE1 was part of an operation to capture German-occupied New Guinea. Commanded by Royal Navy Lieutenant Commander Thomas Besant, the sub participated in actions that eventually led to the capture of New Guinea.
The reason for the sinking is still unknown. It’s highly unlikely that the sub went down as a result of enemy action, as the nearest German vessel at the time was a survey ship. Also, because no oil, wreckage, or bodies were found, it was assumed the sub sank intact—an assumption that proved correct. Radio scans and images taken by a submersible show a remarkably well-preserved submarine. https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media...fg4qc3qhi8.jpg:Kaleun_Salute: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/dec/21/australian-navy-world-war-one-ae1-submarine-found-103-years-after-it-vanished

1937 First flight of the Vickers Wellington bomber.

1943 Gen Bernard Montgomery told he is appointed commandant for D-day.

1961 Fidel Castro announces Cuba will release 1,113 prisoners from failed 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion for $62M worth of food & medical supplies.

1962 Cuba starts returning US prisoners from Bay of Pigs invasion.

1968 82 members of US intelligence ship Pueblo released by North Korea.

The Christmas Spirit

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...99.redvers.jpg1914: Widespread Christmas truces break out along the WWI front as soldiers of both sides meet in No Man's Land. Roughly 100,000 British and German troops were involved in the unofficial cessations of hostility along the Western Front.

Quote:

Friday (Christmas Day). We are having the most extraordinary Christmas Day imaginable. A sort of unarranged and quite unauthorized but perfectly understood and scrupulously observed truce exists between us and our friends in front. The funny thing is it only seems to exist in this part of the battle line – on our right and left we can all hear them firing away as cheerfully as ever. The thing started last night – a bitter cold night, with white frost – soon after dusk when the Germans started shouting 'Merry Christmas, Englishmen' to us. Of course our fellows shouted back and presently large numbers of both sides had left their trenches, unarmed, and met in the debatable, shot-riddled, no man's land between the lines. Here the agreement – all on their own – came to be made that we should not fire at each other until after midnight tonight. The men were all fraternizing in the middle (we naturally did not allow them too close to our line) and swapped cigarettes and lies in the utmost good fellowship. Not a shot was fired all night.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...Truce_1914.png<The Northumberland Hussars and their (erstwhile) German foes in No Man' Land. The Christmas truce occured during the relatively early period of the war (month 5 of 51). In the week leading up to the 25th, French, German, and British soldiers crossed trenches to exchange seasonal greetings and talk. In some areas, men from both sides ventured into no man's land on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to mingle and exchange food and souvenirs. There were joint burial ceremonies and prisoner swaps, while several meetings ended in carol-singing. Men played games of football (soccer) with one another, giving one of the most memorable images of the truce. Peaceful behavior was not ubiquitous; fighting continued in some sectors, while in others the sides settled on little more than arrangements to recover bodies....https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_truce

1914 German plane drops bombs on Dover England.

1941 First ships of admiral Nagumo's Pearl Harbor fleet return to Japan.

1942 First powered flight of V-1 'buzz bomb', Peenemunde, Germany.

1943 US President FDR appoints General Eisenhower Supreme Commander of the Allied forces.

1946 US General MacNarney gives 800,000 "minor nazis" amnesty.

Christmas use to be against the law in merry old England: https://christianhistoryinstitute.or...ed-today/12/25

Quote:

After the Puritans came to power in England, they began issuing laws against Christmas in 1642. In 1647 Parliament passed a law that the feast of the Nativity of Christ should be no longer observed. Some English folk protested through pamphlets, others by holding celebrations in defiance of the law, still others by refusing to open their shops. At Oxford, Ipswich, and Canterbury, people rioted. A mob beat the Mayor of Canterbury senseless, breaking his windows as well as his bones. Thousands vowed that if they could not have Christmas, they would bring the king back to his throne.

Five years later, Parliament was still issuing unpopular rules. One dated Christmas Eve, 1652, directed, “That no observation shall be had of the five and twentieth day of December, commonly called Christmas Day; nor any solemnity used or exercised in churches upon that day in respect thereof.”

1941 Winston Churchill becomes first British Prime Minister to address a joint meeting of the US Congress, warning that Axis would "stop at nothing".

1943 Royal Navy sinks German battle cruiser Scharnhorst.

1943 Earl Claus von Stauffenberg vain with bomb to Hitlers headquarters.

1944 Battle of Bastogne: US General Patton's 3rd Army repulses Germans.

1968 Led Zeppelin's concert debut in Denver as opener for Vanilla Fudge.

Quote:

1977: Star Wars fever hits Britain
Thousands of people are flocking to cinemas in the UK to watch the long-awaited blockbuster, Star Wars - a movie which is already setting US box offices alight.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/d...00/2544239.stm

Thank you Star Wars that gave ALIEN the green light.

1923 Unsuccessful assassination attempt on Prince Regent Hirohito of Japan.

1945 International Monetary Fund formally established by 29 member countries based on ideas of Harry Dexter White and John Maynard Keynes.

1867 United States claims Midway Island, the first territory annexed outside Continental limits.

1915 British Cabinet recognizes the true nature of the war by deciding to institute compulsory military service, with single men to be conscripted before married ones.

1950 Chinese troops cross 38th Parallel, into South Korea.

1972 Martin Bormann's skeleton is found in Berlin (Hitlers deputy).

1845 Texas admitted as 28th state of the Union.

1860 The first British seagoing iron-clad warship, HMS Warrior is launched.

1939 First flight of the Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber prototype.

1940 Germany drops its 1st incendiary bombs on London during the Blitz.

1944 General Eisenhower's train returns to Versailles.

1997 Hong Kong begins slaughtering all its chickens to prevent bird flu.

1915 Cromarty Harbour, Scotland - British cruiser HMS Natal explodes: 405 die.

1924 Astronomer Edwin Hubble formally announces existence of other galactic systems at meeting of the American Astronomical Society.

2016 Ray Davies of The Kinks is awarded a knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II.

1904 First New Year's Eve celebration held in Times Square (then Longacre Square), in New York City.

1907 For 1st time a ball drops at Times Square to signal the New Year.

1942 Battle of the Barents Sea between British Navy and German Kriegsmarine off North Cape, Norway.

1946 US President Harry Truman officially proclaims end of WW II.

1997 Microsoft buys Hotmail email service for $400 million and re-launches it as MSN Hotmail.

1801 The Irish Parliament votes to join the Kingdom of Great Britain, forming the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

1946 Emperor Hirohito of Japan announces he is not a god.

1958 European Economic Community, better known as the European Common Market starts operation.