Saddam Hussein has been hanged in northern Baghdad for crimes against humanity. Iraqi state TV showed images of him going to the gallows before dawn in a building that his intelligence services once used for executions. The moment of his execution was not shown, although pictures of his body wrapped in a shroud were later broadcast on TV.

The first U.S. ballistic missile submarine, the nuclear-powered U.S.S. George Washington, was commissioned. The 380-ft-long ship had 16 vertical missile launch tubes, able to fire Polaris missiles even while the vessel was underwater. Building it began on 7 Nov 1967 at Groton, Connecticut, at a cost of about $110 million. It was launched 9 Jun 1959. The following July, it successfully tested the launch of two Polaris missile while submerged. On its first duty patrol (15 Nov 1960 - 21 Jan 1961) the ship spent 67 days travelling underwater. Two complete crews, of 130 men each, rotated after each 60-day period (after a 30-day resupply and refit period) to get the maximum use of the submarine on extended patrols.