1865 US President Abraham Lincoln is shot in the head by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater in Washington; he dies a day later.
1912 RMS Titanic, the world's largest ocean liner, hits an iceberg at 11.40pm off Newfoundland, sinks in the early hours of 15 April.
1918 Douglas Campbell is 1st US ace pilot (shooting down 5th German plane)
1942 Destroyer Roper sinks German U-85 of US east coast.
1943 A JN-25 decrypt by American intelligence detailing a forthcoming visit by Marshal Admiral Yamamoto to Balalae Island results in his plane shot down 4 days later.
1944 General Eisenhower becomes the Supreme Allied Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force.
1945 American planes bomb Tokyo & damage the Imperial Palace.
1958 Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 2 with space dog Laika aboard burns up during reentry into Earth's atmosphere.
1960 1st underwater launching of Polaris missile.
1972 The Provisional Irish Republican Army explodes twenty-four bombs in towns and cities across Northern Ireland.
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