Bouvet was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the French Navy, built in the 1890s, and armed with a main battery of two 305 mm (12 in) guns and two 274 mm (10.8 in) guns in individual turrets. A top speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) made her one of the fastest battleships in the world. Bouvet spent the majority of her peacetime career conducting routine training exercises and was withdrawn from front-line service in 1907. In early 1915 during World War I the ship participated in a series of attacks on the Ottoman fortifications guarding the Dardanelles. On 18 March 1915, during a major assault, the vessel was hit approximately eight times by shellfire but was not seriously damaged. While turning to withdraw, she struck a mine and sank within two minutes; only 75 men were rescued from a complement of 718. Two British battleships were also sunk by mines the same day, and the disaster convinced the Allies to abandon the naval campaign in favor of an amphibious assault on the Gallipoli Peninsula.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_battleship_Bouvet
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1860:
To counter the French Navy's Gloire, the world's first ironclad warship, the Royal Navy launched HMS Warrior, the world's first iron- hulled armoured warship. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Warrior_%281860%29
1913:
Cecil B. DeMille started filming Hollywood's first feature film, The Squaw Man (featured). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Squaw_Man_%281914_film%29
1915:
First World War: The French parliament passed a law granting the land occupied by British war graves as "the free gift of the French people". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_law_of_29_December_1915
1975:
Planted by unknown perpetrators, a bomb exploded at LaGuardia Airport in New York City, killing 11 people and seriously injuring 74 others. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975_LaGuardia_Airport_bombing
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
that'll be the frosty Friday: (idiomatic, informal) Synonym of that'll be the day (“said in reply to something that one believes will never happen”) https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/that%27ll_be_the_frosty_Friday
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is out of time that my decision is taken If you call that decision To which my whole being gives entire consent. I give my life To the Law of God above the Law of Man. --Murder in the Cathedral https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Murder_in_the_Cathedral