Operation Teardrop was a United States Navy operation of World War II
conducted during April and May 1945 to sink German U-boats that were
believed to be approaching the U.S. east coast armed with V-1 flying
bombs. It was planned during late 1944 in response to intelligence
reports which indicated that Germany was preparing a force of missile-
armed submarines. The plan was executed in April 1945 after several
Type IX submarines put to sea from Norway bound for the United States.
While severe weather conditions in the North Atlantic Ocean greatly
reduced the effectiveness of the four U.S. Navy escort carriers
involved, long patrol lines of destroyer escorts successfully detected
and engaged most of the submarines. Four were sunk with the loss of
their entire crew. Most of the crew of the other submarine to be sunk
were captured, with the specialists among the prisoners being brutally
interrogated. USS Frederick C. Davis (pictured) was also sunk with the
loss of most of her crew. The surviving U-boats surrendered in early May
as part of the general German surrender. After the war the Allies
determined that the submarines were not carrying missiles.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Teardrop>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1794:
The Reign of Terror: Branded a traitor, French chemist Antoine
Lavoisier (pictured), a former royal tax collector with the Ferme
Générale, was tried, convicted, and guillotined on the same day.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_Lavoisier>
1842:
A train derailed and caught fire in Paris, killing between 52
and 200 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Versailles_rail_accident>
1945:
A parade to celebrate the end of World War II turned into a
riot, followed by widespread disturbances and killings in and around
Sétif, French Algeria.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A9tif_and_Guelma_massacre>
1963:
In Huế, South Vietnam, soldiers of the Army of the Republic
of Vietnam opened fire into a crowd of Buddhist protestors against a
government ban on the flying of the Buddhist flag on Vesākha, killing
nine and sparking the Buddhist crisis.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hu%E1%BA%BF_Ph%E1%BA%ADt_%C4%90%E1%BA%A3n_shootings>
1970:
Construction workers in New York City attacked students and
others protesting the Kent State shootings.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_Hat_Riot>
1987:
A British Army Special Air Service unit ambushed a Provisional
Irish Republican Army unit in Loughgall, Northern Ireland, killing eight
IRA members and a civilian.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loughgall_Ambush>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
adversity:
1. (uncountable) The state of adverse conditions; state of misfortune or
calamity.
2. (countable) An event that is adverse; calamity.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/adversity>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
If man is not to do more harm than good in his efforts to improve
the social order, he will have to learn that in this, as in all other
fields where essential complexity of an organized kind prevails, he
cannot acquire the full knowledge which would make mastery of the events
possible. He will therefore have to use what knowledge he can achieve,
not to shape the results as the craftsman shapes his handiwork, but
rather to cultivate a growth by providing the appropriate environment,
in the manner in which the gardener does this for his plants.
--Friedrich Hayek
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Friedrich_Hayek>