The Francesco Caracciolo-class battleships were a group of four battleships designed for the Royal Italian Navy in 1913 and ordered in 1914. The first ship of the class, Francesco Caracciolo, was laid down in late 1914; the other three ships followed in 1915. Armed with a main battery of eight 381 mm (15 in) guns and possessing a top speed of 28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph), the four ships were intended to be the equivalent of fast battleships such as the British Queen Elizabeth class. The class was never completed due to material shortages and shifting construction priorities following the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Only the lead ship was launched, in 1920, and several proposals to convert her into an aircraft carrier were considered, but budgetary problems prevented any work being done. She was sold to an Italian shipping firm for conversion into a merchant vessel, but this also proved to be too expensive, and she was broken up for scrap, beginning in 1926.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_Caracciolo-class_battleship
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1848:
James W. Marshall discovered gold at Sutter's Mill (reconstruction pictured) in Coloma, California, leading to the California Gold Rush. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Gold_Rush
1968:
Vietnam War: The 1st Australian Task Force launched Operation Coburg against the North Vietnamese army and the Viet Cong. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Coburg
1977:
During the Spanish transition to democracy, neo-fascists attacked an office in Madrid, killing five people and injuring four others. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1977_Atocha_massacre
2011:
A North Caucasian jihadist carried out a suicide bombing at Moscow Domodedovo Airport, killing 37 people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domodedovo_International_Airport_bombing
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
brumous: (literary) Foggy or misty; wintry. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/brumous
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
If you have passion, a chip on the shoulder, a sense of humor, and you can explain what you do very well, it doesn't matter if you're a plumber or a singer or a politician. If you have those four things, you are interesting. --Larry King https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Larry_King