On this day: February 1
POSTED: 10:51 PM PST Jan 31, 2013
UPDATED: 11:00 PM PST Jan 31, 2013
The Beatles hit No. 1 for the first time in America, tragedy strikes space shuttle Columbia, and Janet Jackson suffers a Super Bowl "wardrobe malfunction," all on this day.
U.S. Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation
1942: The U.S. Navy conducts the Marshalls-Gilberts raids, the first offensive action by the United States against Japanese forces in the Pacific Theater during World War II. The tactical airstrikes and naval artillery attacks targeted Imperial Japanese Navy garrisons in the Marshall and Gilbert Islands, causing minor damage. Although the raids had little long-term strategic impact, they did help lift the morale of the American public, still reeling from the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
