The two submarines of the U-1 class, U-1 and U-2, were built for the
Austro-Hungarian Navy. Constructed according to an American design, they
were launched in 1909. A diving chamber, wheels for traveling along the
seabed, and other experimental features were tested extensively in sea
trials. Their gasoline engines were replaced around the start of World
War I over safety and efficiency concerns. The boats have been
described by naval historians as obsolete by the time they were
commissioned in 1911. Both submarines were mobilized briefly during the
Balkan Wars, and otherwise served as training boats before 1915. From
1915 to 1918 they conducted reconnaissance cruises out of Trieste and
Pola, though neither sank any enemy vessels during the war. Facing
defeat in October 1918, the Austro-Hungarian government transferred the
bulk of its fleet, including these submarines, to the newly formed State
of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs to avoid having to hand its ships over to
the Allied Powers.
Read more:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U-1-class_submarine_%28Austria-Hungary%29>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1829:
The Metropolitan Police (headquarters pictured) of Greater
London, originally headquartered in Great Scotland Yard, Westminster,
was founded.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Police>
1941:
The Holocaust: Nazi forces, aided by Ukrainian collaborators,
began a massacre of Jews in a ravine in Kyiv, killing more than 30,000
civilians in two days and thousands more in the following months.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babi_Yar>
1954:
Willie Mays of Major League Baseball's New York Giants made one
of the most famous defensive plays in baseball history, now known as The
Catch.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Catch_%28baseball%29>
1991:
The award-winning Disney animated film Beauty and the Beast
premiered as an unfinished film at the New York Film Festival.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beauty_and_the_Beast_%281991_film%29>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
Neptunian:
1. (Roman mythology) Of or pertaining to Neptune, the Roman god of fresh
water and the sea, the counterpart of the Greek god Poseidon.
2. (by extension, rare) Of or pertaining to water or the sea.
3. (by extension, geology) Formed by the action of water.
4. (by extension, geology, historical) Of, pertaining to, or supporting
Neptunism (“a discredited theory that rocks were formed from the
crystallisation of minerals in the early Earth's oceans”). [...]
5. (astrology) Pertaining to the astrological influence of the planet
Neptune.
6. (astronomy) Of or pertaining to the planet Neptune.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Neptunian>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
The measure may be thought bold, but I am of the opinion the
boldest are the safest.
--Horatio Nelson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Horatio_Nelson>