Douglas SBD-2 Dauntless dive bomber on the USS Enterprise. Note the very early war US roundals that featured the red dot in the center, which was later removed out of fears that this would cause US aircraft to be mistaken for Japanese ones.
Twenty years after the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty were agreed to, which limited ships of various types, but not aircraft carriers, this occurred:
February 1, 1942: US ships and aircraft from carriers USS Enterprise and USS Yorktown strike the Marshall and Gilbert Islands in the first offensive action by the US in the war.
The raids were of no long term consequence, but did provide valuable experience to the US Navy.
Interesting how many of these events occurred on Sunday.
That item, of course, is from Sarah Sundin's blog on daily events of World War Two.
Also, from it, for this day:
German Navy starts using 4-rotor Enigma machines, throwing off Allied code-breaking for eleven months. Nazis form puppet government in Norway with Vidkun Quisling as prime minister. Blue Star Mothers of America is established in Flint, MI, for mothers of servicemen and women.
Quisling was an odd character who had served as Norwegian Defense Minister from 1931-33. Oddly, his first attempt to seize power in a coup, coincident with the German invasion, failed as it was not supported by Germany.
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