Minas Geraes was a battleship built for the Brazilian Navy. Named in
honor of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, the ship was laid down in
April 1907 as the lead ship of her class, making Brazil the third
country to have a dreadnought under construction. Two months after her
commissioning on 5 January 1910, Minas Geraes was featured in an
edition of Scientific American, which hailed her as "the last word in
heavy battleship design and the [...] most powerfully armed warship
afloat". In November 1910, Minas Geraes was the focal point of the
Revolta de Chibata (English: Revolt of the Whip). When Brazil entered
the First World War in 1917, Britain's Royal Navy declined Brazil's
offer to send Minas Geraes to join the Grand Fleet because the ship was
outdated. In 1921, Minas Geraes was modernized in the United States. In
the 1930s, after having a role in two mutinies during the previous
decade, the battleship was modernized again, this time at the Rio de
Janeiro Naval Yard. She underwent further refitting from 1939 to 1943.
During the Second World War, Minas Geraes was anchored in Salvador as
the main defense of the port, as she was too old to play an active part
in the conflict. For the last nine years of her service life, Minas
Geraes remained largely inactive, and she was towed to Italy for
scrapping in March 1954.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_battleship_Minas_Geraes>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1477:
Burgundian Wars: Charles the Bold , the Duke of Burgundy, was killed at
the Battle of Nancy, eventually leading to the partition of Burgundy
between France and the House of Habsburg.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_the_Bold>
1527:
Felix Manz, co-founder of the original Swiss Brethren Anabaptist
congregation in Zürich, was executed by drowning, becoming one of the
first martyrs of the Radical Reformation.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Manz>
1968:
Alexander Dubček came to power in Czechoslovakia, beginning a period of
political liberalization known as the Prague Spring that still enabled
the Communist Party to maintain real power.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Spring>
1975:
The Tasman Bridge, crossing the Derwent River in Hobart, Tasmania,
Australia, was struck by the bulk carrier Lake Illawarra, killing seven
of the ship's crewmen and five motorists on the bridge.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasman_Bridge_disaster>
2005:
Eris, the largest known dwarf planet in the Solar System, was
discovered by a team led by Michael E. Brown using images originally
taken on October 21, 2003, at the Palomar Observatory in San Diego
County, California, U.S.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eris_%28dwarf_planet%29>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
mettle (n):
1. A quality of endurance and courage.
2. Good temperament and character
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mettle>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
We all live under the same sky, but we don't all have the same horizon.
In an instant age, perhaps we must relearn the ancient truth that
patience, too, has its victories.
--Konrad Adenauer
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Konrad_Adenauer>