The Mahan-class destroyers of the US Navy were 18 destroyers
commissioned in 1936 and 1937. Mahan was the lead ship, named for Rear
Admiral Alfred T. Mahan, an influential historian and theorist on sea
power. These ships featured improvements over previous destroyers, with
12 torpedo tubes, superimposed gun shelters, generators for emergency
use, and a new steam propulsion system that was used on many subsequent
wartime US destroyers. All 18 ships saw action in World War II, entirely
in the Pacific Theater, including during the Guadalcanal Campaign and
the battles of the Santa Cruz Islands, Leyte Gulf, and Iwo Jima. Their
participation in major and secondary campaigns included the bombardment
of beachheads, amphibious landings, task force screening, convoy and
patrol duty, and anti-aircraft and submarine warfare. Six ships were
lost in combat and two were expended in the postwar Operation Crossroads
nuclear tests. The remainder were decommissioned, sold, or scrapped
after the war; none remain today. Collectively, the ships received 111
battle stars for their World War II service.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahan-class_destroyer>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
27 BC:
Gaius Octavianus was given the title Augustus by the Roman
Senate when he became the first Roman emperor.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus>
1780:
American Revolutionary War: The British Royal Navy gained their
first major naval victory over their European enemies in the war when
they defeated a Spanish squadron in the Battle of Cape St. Vincent
(pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cape_St._Vincent_(1780)>
1862:
The beam of a pumping engine broke at the Hartley Colliery in
Northumberland, England, and fell down the shaft trapping the men below,
resulting in the deaths of 204 men.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartley_Colliery_Disaster>
1945:
World War II: Adolf Hitler and his staff moved into the
Führerbunker, where he would eventually commit suicide.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%BChrerbunker>
1969:
Student Jan Palach set himself on fire in Wenceslas Square in
Prague as a protest against the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia the
previous year.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Palach>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
smurf account:
(Internet slang) An alternate account used by a known or experienced
user to appear to be someone else.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/smurf_account>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Literature is dialogue; responsiveness. Literature might be
described as the history of human responsiveness to what is alive and
what is moribund as cultures evolve and interact with one another.
--Susan Sontag
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Susan_Sontag>