http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1941/jan41/f02jan41.htm
Liberty ships made in USA
Thursday, January 2, 1941 www.onwar.com
In Washington... Roosevelt announces a program to produce 200 7500-ton freighters to standardized designs. They will be known as Liberty ships.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/02.htm
January 2nd, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM:
The blackout is said to have established the importance of Vitamin A for good eyesight in the dark. Experiments have shown that it improves the ability of the eyes to adjust quickly in going from light to dark - as happens on going outdoors in the blackout. Cod-liver oil is recommended.
Surveys also reveal that 1 in 5 Britons have had an accident in the blackout. Road deaths exceed 2000, 1,700 more than the same period in peacetime. Most of the victims are pedestrians. Things may get better though. There are fewer cars due to petrol rationing and motorists have to paint the bumpers and running boards white. Kerbs and tree trunks are also being whitened. From February a 20 mph speed limit is to be introduced and British Summer Time will begin on February 25th.
RAF Bomber Command: North Sea reconnaissance. Three German aircraft destroyed; two British aircraft lost.
AA cruiser HMS Coventry damaged in a German air attack on the Shetland Islands. (Dave Shirlaw)
GERMANY: U-555, U-556, U-751 laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
CZECHOSLOVAKIA: Prague: Journalists and ex-army officers are rounded up in a new wave of arrests by the Nazis.