The Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands (25–27 October 1942) was the
fourth aircraft carrier battle fought between the navies of the United
States and Japan during World War II. It was part of the Guadalcanal
Campaign, through which the Allies sought to parry and reverse Japanese
advances in the southwest Pacific. The Japanese Army, in an attempt to
drive Allied forces from Guadalcanal and nearby islands and end the
stalemate there, planned a ground offensive for 20–25 October. In
support, carriers and other large warships were moved into position near
the southern Solomon Islands, where they hoped to engage and defeat any
Allied naval forces responding to the offensive. As in the battles of
the Coral Sea, Midway, and the Eastern Solomons, almost all attacks by
both sides were mounted by or against carrier- or land-based aircraft.
Allied surface ships were forced to retreat after one carrier was sunk
and another heavily damaged, but the veteran pilots lost by the Japanese
proved to be irreplaceable.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Santa_Cruz_Islands>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1682:
William Penn landed at New Castle, Delaware Colony, on his way
to founding the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Philadelphia>
1914:
World War I: The Royal Navy dreadnought HMS Audacious was sunk
by a mine, but its loss was kept secret for four more years.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Audacious_(1912)>
1958:
General Ayub Khan deposed Iskander Mirza to become the second
President of Pakistan.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayub_Khan_(President_of_Pakistan)>
1992:
U.S. Navy Petty Officer Allen R. Schindler Jr. was killed in
Sasebo, Nagasaki, Japan, a victim of a hate crime for being gay, which
led to the U.S. Armed Forces' "Don't ask, don't tell" policy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_R._Schindler_Jr.>
2011:
Michael D. Higgins was elected President of Ireland with far
more votes than any Irish politician in the history of the republic.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_presidential_election,_2011>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
hummel:
1. (Northern England, Scotland, also attributive) A stag that has failed
to grow antlers; a cow that has not developed horns.
2. (also attributive) Especially in hummel corn: grain that lacks awns
(beards or bristles), or has had its awns removed (barley, oats, etc.).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hummel>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We stand equally against government by a plutocracy and government
by a mob. There is something to be said for government by a great
aristocracy which has furnished leaders to the nation in peace and war
for generations; even a democrat like myself must admit this. But there
is absolutely nothing to be said for government by a plutocracy, for
government by men very powerful in certain lines and gifted with "the
money touch," but with ideals which in their essence are merely those of
so many glorified pawnbrokers.
--Theodore Roosevelt
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Theodore_Roosevelt>