Vardar was the eventual name of a Sava-class river monitor, originally
built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy as SMS Bosna, that went into service
on 9 July 1915. During World War I she fought the Serbian Army, the
Romanian Navy and Army, and the French Army. After briefly serving with
the Hungarian People's Republic at the end of the war, she was
transferred to the newly created Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
(later Yugoslavia), and renamed Vardar. She remained in service
throughout the interwar period. During the first few days of the German-
led Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, she laid mines in the
Danube near the Romanian border as the flagship of the 1st Monitor
Division. She fought off several attacks by the Luftwaffe, but was
forced to withdraw to Belgrade. Due to high river levels and low
bridges, navigation became difficult, and she was scuttled on 11 April
by her crew, who were later killed or captured.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugoslav_monitor_Vardar>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1701:
The Battle of Carpi, the first battle of the War of the Spanish
Succession, took place near Legnago, Italy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Carpi>
1790:
Russo-Swedish War: During the Second Battle of Svensksund in
the Baltic Sea, the Swedish Navy captured one third of the Russian
fleet.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Svensksund>
1962:
The United States conducted the Starfish Prime high-altitude
nuclear test, the largest nuclear explosion in outer space.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfish_Prime>
1981:
Nintendo released the arcade game Donkey Kong, which featured
the debut of Mario, one of the most famous characters in video game
history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
hyperparasite:
1. (biology) Any parasite whose host is a parasite.
2. (entomology, specifically) An insect that parasitizes another
parasitic insect.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hyperparasite>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I wanted to live my life so that people would know unmistakably
that I am alive, so that when I finally die people will know the
difference for sure between my living and my death.
--June Jordan
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/June_Jordan>