Today is Monday, Dec. 13, the 348th day of 2004. There are 18 days left in the year. On this date in

Today is Monday, Dec. 13, the 348th day of 2004. There are 18 days left in the year. On this date in 1944, during World War II, the U.S. cruiser Nashville is badly damaged in a Japanese kamikaze attack that claims more than 130 lives.
In 1577, Sir Francis Drake of England sets out with five ships on a nearly three-year journey that would take him around the world. In 1769, Dartmouth College, in New Hampshire, receives its charter. In 1862, Union forces suffers a major defeat to the Confederates at the Battle of Fredericksburg. In 1918, President Wilson arrives in France, becoming the first chief executive to visit Europe while in office. In 1928, George Gershwin's musical work "An American in Paris" has its premiere, at Carnegie Hall in New York. In 1964, in El Paso, Texas, President Johnson and Mexican President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz set off an explosion that diverts the Rio Grande, reshaping the U.S.-Mexican border and ending a century-old dispute. In 1978, the Philadelphia Mint begins stamping the Susan B. Anthony dollar, which goes into circulation the following July. In 1981, authorities in Poland impose martial law in a crackdown on the Solidarity labor movement. (Martial law formally ends in 1983.) In 1993, the space shuttle Endeavour returns from its mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. In 1993, the U.S. Supreme Court rules, 5-4, that people are entitled to a hearing before real property linked to illegal drug sales can be seized.
December 13, 1979: New Castle Mayor-elect Angelo Sands announces his choice for police chief, Joseph Farris.
After weeks of debate, Youngstown City Council votes unanimously to sell 94 acres of land at the Youngstown Municipal Airport to Commuter Aircraft Corp., clearing the way for the city of Warren to complete its application for a $3.5 million federal grant to finance construction.
The Carter administration orders 183 Iranian diplomats to leave the country, leaving only skeleton crews at Iran's embassy in Washington and consulates in New York, Chicago, Houston and San Francisco.
December 13, 1964: John J. Power Jr. is elected president of "Automatic" Sprinkler Corp. of America, succeeding J.A. Coakley Jr. Power has been a vice president of the company for 20 years.
Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara announces a plan to abolish the Army Reserve organization and place its functions and some personnel in the National Guard. Savings are estimated at $150 million.
December 13, 1954: Vandals attempt to wreck cars on the Ohio Turnpike by dropping 55-gallon oil drums onto traffic lanes from the Route 46 bridge. The state highway patrol launches an all-out investigation to identify the hoodlums.
Two bandits kidnap a McAllister Dairy Farms truck driver, break open the safe and take $1,500 before throwing the driver out of the truck and driving away near Meander Lake.
Masked bandits break into the El Rio restaurant on Rt. 422 in Warren, tie up two employees and crack the safe, escaping with $7,000.
The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis says it intends to make Salk polio vaccinations available to all first and second graders in the nation if last summer's test inoculations prove successful.
December 13, 1929: A year after 4-year-old Melvin Horst disappeared from Orrville, the family receives a letter promising to return the boy in exchange for immunity and a payment of $100, but doesn't deliver. Officials, who have run down a thousand tips are skeptical, but the Horst family remains hopeful.
Youngstown Fire Chief Harry Callan, whose chief's auto was damaged in a wreck some months back, finally has a new car: a black Hudson sedan. The chief says he doesn't intend to have the car painted red because it would look like an oil truck.
Dr. Isadore S. Falk, a 30-year-old scientist at the University of Chicago, announces the successful isolation of the germ that causes influenza.