USS President was a 44-gun wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy. She was one of the original six frigates whose construction was authorized by the Naval Act of 1794. Launched on 10 April 1800, she was the last to be completed. Her first duties with the newly formed United States Navy were to provide protection for American merchant shipping during the Quasi-War with France and to defeat the Barbary pirates in the First Barbary War. On 16 May 1811 President was at the center of the Little Belt Affair, when her crew mistakenly identified HMS Little Belt as HMS Guerriere, which was sought after for impressing an American seaman. The ships exchanged cannon fire for several minutes; Little Belt was heavily damaged. Subsequent U.S. and Royal Navy investigations placed responsibility for the attack on each other with no resolution. The incident contributed to tensions between the U.S. and Great Britain that led to the War of 1812.
Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_President_%281800%29
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1204:
Fourth Crusade: Count Baldwin IX of Flanders was crowned the first Latin Emperor in Constantinople. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldwin_I_of_Constantinople
1811:
Peninsular War: An allied force of British, Spanish, and Portuguese troops clashed with the French at the Battle of Albuera south of Badajoz, Spain. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Albuera
1960:
American physicist Theodore Maiman operated the first working laser at the Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/laser
1966:
Chinese leader Mao Zedong launched the Cultural Revolution officially as a campaign to rid China of its liberal bourgeoisie elements and to continue revolutionary class struggle. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Revolution
1975:
Based on the results of a referendum held about one month earlier, Sikkim abolished its monarchy and was annexed by India, becoming its 22nd state. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikkim
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
promiscuous (adj): 1. Made up of many disparate elements. 2. Indiscrimiate; applied to everything equally. 3. Undiscrimiating in one's choice of sexual partners; sexually active with many different people http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/promiscuous
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
I have learned, by some experience, that virtue and patriotism, vice and selfishness, are found in all parties, and that they differ less in their motives than in the policies they pursue. --William H. Seward http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_H._Seward