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>
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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>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
brumous:
(literary) Foggy or misty; wintry.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/brumous>
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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>