January 25th, 1939 (WEDNESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Destroyer HMS Matabele commissioned.
GERMANY: U-71, U-72, U-77, U-78, U-79, U-80, U-81, U-82, U-88, U-89, U-90, U-91, U-92 ordered.
U.S.A.: Writing to Lewis Strauss of the publishers Kuhn, Loeb and Co., Leo Szilard the nuclear physicist tells of an exciting breakthrough in the quest for a sustained nuclear reaction.
Destroyer USS Jouet commissioned.