Naval History and Heritage Command

The Dental Corps is established by an Act of Congress.

USS Blue (DD 387) is torpedoed by Japanese destroyer, Kawakaze, off Guadalcanal. She was scuttled by her crew the following day.

Submarines Haddo (SS 255) and Harder (SS 257) encounter three Japanese escort vessels off the mouth of Manila Bay. Haddo sinks Sado 35 miles west of Manila; Harder sinks Matsuwa and Hiburi about 50 miles west-southwest of Manila.

The Japanese of Mille Atoll, Marshall Islands, surrenders on board USS Levy (DE 162), the first Japanese surrender at the end of World War II.

A P4M Mercator, while on night patrol out of Iwakuni, Japan, reported it is under attack by aircraft over international waters, 32 miles off the China coast, and is not heard from again. Carrier and land-based air and surface ships, searching for the plane, found wreckage, empty life rafts, and the bodies of two crew members.

USS Passumpsic (AO 107), guided by (P 3) aircraft from Patrol Squadron 1 and 26 (VP 1 and VP 26), rescues 28 Vietnamese refugees off Saigon.