SMS Zähringen was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the Wittelsbach
class of the Imperial German Navy. She was laid down in November 1899
and completed October 1902. She and her sister ships—Wittelsbach,
Wettin, Schwaben and Mecklenburg—were armed with a main battery of
four 24 cm (9.4 in) guns and had a top speed of 18 knots (33 km/h;
21 mph). These and the other ships of I Squadron underwent extensive
annual training, as well as making goodwill visits to foreign countries.
Zähringen was decommissioned in September 1910 as dreadnought
battleships began to enter service and she saw little activity until the
start of World War I in 1914. Zähringen saw limited duty in the Baltic
Sea and played a minor role in the Battle of the Gulf of Riga. The ship
was withdrawn from active service in late 1915 due to crew shortages and
the threat from British submarines. After the war, she was converted
into a radio-controlled target ship..
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Target_ship>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1840:
British representatives and Māori chiefs first signed the
Treaty of Waitangi, widely regarded as the founding document of New
Zealand.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Waitangi>
1919:
More than 65,000 workers in Seattle began a five-day general
strike to gain higher wages after two years of U.S. World War I wage
controls.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_General_Strike>
1987:
Mary Gaudron became the first woman to be appointed a justice
of the High Court of Australia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Gaudron>
2000:
Second Chechen War: Russian forces captured Grozny, the capital
of Chechnya, from the separatist Chechen government following a siege
and assault that devastated the city.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Grozny_%281999%E2%80%932000%29>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
koha:
1. (New Zealand) A Māori tradition of reciprocal giving of gifts.
2. (New Zealand, by extension) A voluntary donation given for a service
that has been provided.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/koha>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I acknowledge that my verdict will not remove the President from
office. The results of this Senate Court will in fact be appealed to a
higher court: the judgement of the American people. Voters will make the
final decision, just as the President’s lawyers have implored. My vote
will likely be in the minority in the Senate. But irrespective of these
things, with my vote, I will tell my children and their children that I
did my duty to the best of my ability, believing that my country
expected it of me. I will only be one name among many, no more or less,
to future generations of Americans who look at the record of this trial.
They will note merely that I was among the senators who determined that
what the President did was wrong, grievously wrong. We’re all
footnotes at best in the annals of history. But in the most powerful
nation on earth, the nation conceived in liberty and justice, that is
distinction enough for any citizen.
--Mitt Romney
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mitt_Romney>