SMS Wittelsbach (His Majesty's Ship Wittelsbach) was the lead ship of
her class of pre-dreadnought battleships, built for the German Imperial
Navy. She was the first capital ship built under the Navy Law of 1898,
which was brought about by Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz. Wittelsbach was
laid down in 1899 at the Wilhelmshaven Navy Dockyard and completed in
October 1902, armed with a main battery of four 24 cm (9.4 in) guns
and with a top speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph). During World War I
the ship served in the IV Battle Squadron, with limited non-combat duty
in the Baltic Sea, including during the Battle of the Gulf of Riga in
August 1915. By late 1915, crew shortages and the threat from British
submarines forced the navy to withdraw older battleships like
Wittelsbach. The ship then saw service in auxiliary roles, first as a
training ship and then as a ship's tender. In 1919, after the war, she
was converted to a tender for minesweepers.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Wittelsbach>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1435:
Sicut Dudum, forbidding the enslavement of the Guanche natives
in Canary Islands by the Spanish, was promulgated by Eugene IV.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sicut_Dudum>
1847:
The Treaty of Cahuenga was signed, informally ending the
fighting of the Mexican–American War in California.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Cahuenga>
1910:
The first public radio broadcast, a live performance of
Cavalleria rusticana from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City,
was sent over the airwaves.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birth_of_public_radio_broadcasting>
1972:
Ignatius Kutu Acheampong led a coup d'état to overthrow Prime
Minister Kofi Abrefa Busia and President Edward Akufo-Addo of Ghana.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignatius_Kutu_Acheampong>
2012:
The Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia ran aground on a reef
off the shore of Isola del Giglio, Tuscany, and partially sank.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa_Concordia_disaster>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
bolt-on:
1. An accessory that can be attached by bolting it on.
2. An additional functionality or service for a mobile telephone
subscription.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bolt-on>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
The gentle minde by gentle deeds is knowne. For a man by nothing
is so well bewrayd, As by his manners.
--Edmund Spenser
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edmund_Spenser>