ships of the British Royal Navy Mediterranean Fleet in port at Alexandria, Egypt, disabling battleships Queen Elizabeth and Valiant. Twelve days after the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor, the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland graduates its "Class of 1942" a semester early, so as to induct the graduating students without delay into the U.S. Navy and/or Marine Corps as officers, for immediate stationing in the war. December 21 Thailand and Japan sign a military alliance. The Holocaust: The Stanisławów Ghetto is established. December 22 – WWII: The Arcadia Conference opens in Washington, D.C., the first meeting on military strategy between the heads of government of the United Kingdom and the United States, following the latter's entry into the war. December 23 – WWII: A second Japanese landing attempt on Wake Island is successful, and the American garrison surrenders, after a full night and morning of fighting. December 24 – WWII: British forces capture Benghazi. Dutch submarine HNLMS K XVI is the first Allied ship to sink a Japanese warship, sinking the destroyer Sagiri near Sarawak; K XVI is herself torpedoed the following day by Japanese submarine I-66. December 25 – WWII: The Battle of Hong Kong ends after 17 days, with the surrender of the British Crown colony to the Japanese. Admiral Émile Muselier seizes the archipelago of Saint Pierre and Miquelon off Newfoundland, the first part of France to be liberated by the Free French Forces. December 26 – WWII: Winston Churchill becomes the first British Prime Minister to address a joint session of the United States Congress. December 27 – WWII: British Commandos raid the Norwegian port of Vaagso, causing Hitler to reinforce the garrison and defenses, drawing vital troops away from other areas. Date unknown The Classic Comics series is launched in the United States, with a version of The Three Musketeers. Chosun Tire and Rubber Manufacture, predecessor of South Korean tire brand Hankook, is founded in a suburb of Seoul (at this time part of the Empire of Japan). Factory Canteen, predecessor of Compass Group, global license food service and contract caterer, is founded in England. Births January January 1 Asrani, Indian actor and director Dardo Cabo, Argentine journalist, activist (d. 1977) Martin Evans, British biologist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate Abdiqasim Salad Hassan, Somali politician, 5th President of Somalia January 3 – Shima Iwashita, Japanese actress January 4 Maureen Reagan, American