USS Nevada (BB-36), the second United States Navy ship to be named after the
36th state, was the lead ship of the two Nevada-class battleships; her
sister ship was OklahomaTemplate:WP Ships USS instances. Nevada was a giant
leap forward in dreadnought technology, as she showcased four new features
that would be included on almost every subsequent U.S. battleship: gun
turrets with three guns, anti-aircraft guns, oil in place of coal for fuel,
and the "all or nothing" armor principle. All of these new features resulted
in Nevada becoming the first U.S. Navy "super-dreadnought". Nevada served in
both of the World Wars: during World War I, Nevada was based in Bantry Bay,
Ireland, for the last few months of the war to support the supply convoys
that were sailing to and from Great Britain. In World War II, she was one of
the battleships that were trapped when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on
7 December 1941. Subsequently salvaged and modernized at Puget Sound Navy
Yard, Nevada served in four amphibious assaults: the Normandy Landings and
the invasions of Southern France, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. At the end of World
War II, the Navy decided that Nevada was too old to be retained in the
post-war fleet, so they assigned her to be a target ship in the Bikini
atomic experiments of July 1946. After being hit by two atomic bombs, she
was still afloat but heavily damaged and radioactive. She was sunk during
naval gunfire exercise in 1948.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Nevada_(BB-36)<http://en.wikipedia.org/…
)
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1724:
In Toruń, Royal Prussia, Polish authorities executed the city's mayor and
nine other Lutheran officials following tensions between Protestants and
Catholics.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumult_of_Thorn_(Toru%C5%84)<http://en.wiki…
)
1787:
Delaware became the first U.S. state to ratify the United States
Constitution.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delaware <goog_1228618768069>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delaware)
1815:
Michel Ney, Marshal of France, was executed by a firing squad near Paris'
Jardin du Luxembourg for supporting Napoleon Bonaparte.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Ney)
1941:
World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy made its surprise attack on Pearl
Harbor in Hawaii, intending to neutralize the United States Pacific Fleet
from influencing the war Japan was planning to wage in Southeast Asia.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor)
1972:
The crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft took the famous photograph known as
"The Blue Marble" as they left Earth.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blue_Marble <goog_1228618768082>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blue_Marble)
1988:
An earthquake with a moment magnitude of 6.9 struck the Spitak region of
Armenia, then part of the Soviet Union, killing at least 25,000 people.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_Spitak_earthquake)
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
abattoir (n) A public slaughterhouse for cattle, sheep, etc.
( <http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/XXXXXXX>
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/abattoir)
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Artistic growth is, more than it is anything else, a refining of the sense
of truthfulness. The stupid believe that to be truthful is easy; only the
artist, the great artist, knows how difficult it is.
--Willa Cather
(
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Willa_Cather)