Naval History and Heritage Command

The storeship USS Supply captures schooner Stephen Hart loaded with a cargo of arms and munitions, south of Sarasota, Fla.

USS Quail (AM-15) bombards Japanese troop concentrations at Longoskawayan Point, Luzon.

The Battle of Rennell Island begins when Japanese shore-based aircraft attack Task Force 18 cruisers and destroyers covering the movement of transports toward Guadalcanal. USS Chicago (CA-29) is damaged and sinks the next day.

The battleship USS Missouri (BB-63) is christened. Built at the New York Navy Yard, her keel was laid on Jan. 6, 1941. After her christening and launching Jan. 29, she is completed rapidly, commissioning on June 11 of the same year, the last battleship to enter active service in the U.S. Navy.

While loading a cargo of depth charges in Lunga Roads, off Guadalcanal, USS Serpens (AK-97) is destroyed by a massive explosion. All but two of the 198 Coast Guard crewmen, plus 57 Army stevedores are killed.

U.S. Fleet Cyber Command and U.S. Tenth Fleet were reestablished and established, respectively, at Fort Meade, MD.

Chief Special Warfare Operator William "Ryan" Owens, 36, of Peoria, Illinois, died Jan. 29 in the Arabian Peninsula of Yemen, of wounds sustained in a raid against al-Qaida.