The two Rivadavia-class battleships were constructed for Argentina as a part of a wider South American naval arms race. To counter Brazil's two Minas Geraes-class dreadnought battleships, Argentina began seeking bids for at least two of their own in 1908. Over the next two years, multiple shipbuilders from five countries vied for the contracts, complemented by efforts from their respective governments. Argentina's choice in early 1910 of the Fore River Shipbuilding Company, based in the United States, shocked the European bidders, but could partly be explained by the American steel trust's ability to produce steel at a lower cost than any other country. Amid increasing tension in Europe that would lead to the First World War, newspapers speculated that the Argentine dreadnoughts would be sold to a European nation. Under diplomatic pressure, the Argentines decided to keep the ships; after numerous delays, they arrived in the country in February and May 1915. The dreadnoughts were modernized in the 1920s, and in the latter half of their life were frequently employed as training ships and diplomatic envoys. Both were sold for scrap in the late 1950s.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rivadavia-class_battleship
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1590:
Anne of Denmark was crowned Queen consort of Scotland in the abbey church at Holyrood Palace. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_of_Denmark
1792:
Twenty-four stock brokers signed the Buttonwood Agreement to establish the New York Stock Exchange. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Stock_Exchange
1865:
The International Telecommunication Union, an international organization that standardizes and regulates international radio and telecommunications, was founded as the International Telegraph Union in Paris. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Telecommunication_Union
1902:
The Antikythera mechanism, the oldest known surviving geared mechanism, was discovered among artifacts retrieved from a shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism
1995:
After 18 years as Mayor of Paris, Jacques Chirac was inaugurated as President of France. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Chirac
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
morpheme: (linguistics) The smallest linguistic unit within a word that can carry a meaning, such as "un-", "break", and "-able" in the word "unbreakable". https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/morpheme
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
My view is this: We teach nothing. We do not teach physics nor do we teach students. (I take physics merely as an example.) What is the same thing: No one is taught anything! Here lies the folly of this business. We try to teach somebody nothing. This is a sorry endeavour for no one can be taught a thing. What we do, if we are successful, is to stir interest in the matter at hand, awaken enthusiasm for it, arouse a curiosity, kindle a feeling, fire up the imagination. To my own teachers who handled me in this way, I owe a great and lasting debt. --Julius Sumner Miller https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Julius_Sumner_Miller