HMS Cardiff (D108) is a Type 42 destroyer, the third ship of the Royal
Navy to be named in honour of the Welsh capital city of Cardiff. She
was built by Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd in
Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria and launched on 22 February, 1974. During
her career, Cardiff served in the Falklands War, where she shot down
the last Argentine aircraft of the conflict and accepted the surrender
of a 700-strong garrison in the settlement of Port Howard. During the
1991 Gulf War, her Lynx helicopter sank two Iraqi minesweepers. She
later participated in the build-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq as
part of the Royal Navy's constant Armilla Patrol; Cardiff thwarted
attempts to smuggle oil out of the country, but was not involved in
the actual invasion. Cardiff was decommissioned in July 2005, having
earned two battle honours for service in the Falklands and Gulf wars.
She is currently moored in Portsmouth Harbour, next to sister ship
HMS Newcastle. Former servicemen have petitioned for her
preservation as a museum ship and local tourist attraction at Cardiff,
but her fate remains undecided.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Cardiff_%28D108%29
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Today's selected anniversaries:
451:
A coalition led by Roman General Flavius Aetius and Visigothic king
Theodoric I clashed violently with the Hunnic alliance commanded by
Attila the Hun at the Battle of Chalons.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Chalons)
1685:
Monmouth Rebellion: The Duke of Monmouth declared himself King of
England at Bridgwater.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Scott%2C_1st_Duke_of_Monmouth)
1789:
French Revolution: Members of France's Third Estate took the Tennis
Court Oath, pledging not to separate until a new constitution was
established.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennis_Court_Oath)
1837:
Victoria succeeded to the British throne.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_of_the_United_Kingdom)
1973:
Snipers fired into a crowd of Peronists near the Ezeiza Airport in
Buenos Aires, killing at least 13 people and injuring 365 others.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_Ezeiza_massacre)
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Wiktionary's Word of the day:
otaku: One with an obsessive interest, particularly anime or manga.
(
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/otaku)
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Wikiquote of the day:
The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom
from fear.
-- Aung San Suu Kyi
(
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aung_San_Suu_Kyi)