SMS Kaiser Wilhelm II was the second of the Kaiser Friedrich III class of pre-dreadnought battleships, built at the Imperial Dockyard in Wilhelmshaven. She was launched on 14 September 1897 and commissioned into the fleet in 1902. She was armed with four 24-centimeter (9.4 in) guns in two twin turrets and powered by triple expansion engines that delivered a top speed of 17.5 knots (32.4 km/h; 20.1 mph). Kaiser Wilhelm II served as the flagship of the German fleet until 1906, participating in fleet training exercises and visits to foreign ports. After the new dreadnought battleships began entering service in 1908, she was decommissioned, then reactivated between 1910 and 1912 for training ship duties in the Baltic. With the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Kaiser Wilhelm II and her sister ships were brought back into duty as coastal defense ships in the V Battle Squadron. Her age, coupled with shortages of ship crews, led to her withdrawal from this role in February 1915; after which she served as a command ship for the High Seas Fleet, based in Wilhelmshaven. She was sold for scrap in the early 1920s.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Kaiser_Wilhelm_II

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

81:

Domitian became the last Flavian emperor of Rome, succeeding his brother Titus. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domitian

1752:

In adopting the Gregorian calendar under the terms of the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750, the British Empire skipped eleven days: (September 2 was followed directly by September 14). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calendar_(New_Style)_Act_1750

1901:

Theodore Roosevelt became President of the United States at age 42, the youngest person ever to do so, eight days after William McKinley was fatally wounded in Buffalo, New York. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Roosevelt

1911:

Prime Minister of Russia Pyotr Stolypin was mortally shot at the Kiev Opera House. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyotr_Stolypin

2003:

Kumba Ialá, the President of Guinea-Bissau, was deposed in a bloodless coup. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumba_Ial%C3%A1

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

torrefy: To subject to intense heat. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/torrefy

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Freud's prescription for personal happiness as consisting of work and love must be taken with the proviso that the work has to be loved, and the love has to be worked at.   --Sydney J. Harris https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sydney_J._Harris