SMS Wittelsbach (His Majesty's Ship Wittelsbach) was the lead ship of her class of pre-dreadnought battleships, built for the German Imperial Navy. She was the first capital ship built under the Navy Law of 1898, which was brought about by Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz. Wittelsbach was laid down in 1899 at the Wilhelmshaven Navy Dockyard and completed in October 1902, armed with a main battery of four 24 cm (9.4 in) guns and with a top speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph). During World War I the ship served in the IV Battle Squadron, with limited non-combat duty in the Baltic Sea, including during the Battle of the Gulf of Riga in August 1915. By late 1915, crew shortages and the threat from British submarines forced the navy to withdraw older battleships like Wittelsbach. The ship then saw service in auxiliary roles, first as a training ship and then as a ship's tender. In 1919, after the war, she was converted to a tender for minesweepers.

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

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1435:

Sicut Dudum, forbidding the enslavement of the Guanche natives in Canary Islands by the Spanish, was promulgated by Eugene IV. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sicut_Dudum

1847:

The Treaty of Cahuenga was signed, informally ending the fighting of the Mexican–American War in California. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Cahuenga

1910:

The first public radio broadcast, a live performance of Cavalleria rusticana from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City, was sent over the airwaves. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birth_of_public_radio_broadcasting

1972:

Ignatius Kutu Acheampong led a coup d'état to overthrow Prime Minister Kofi Abrefa Busia and President Edward Akufo-Addo of Ghana. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignatius_Kutu_Acheampong

2012:

The Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia ran aground on a reef off the shore of Isola del Giglio, Tuscany, and partially sank. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa_Concordia_disaster

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

bolt-on: 1. An accessory that can be attached by bolting it on. 2. An additional functionality or service for a mobile telephone subscription. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bolt-on

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

The gentle minde by gentle deeds is knowne. For a man by nothing is so well bewrayd, As by his manners.   --Edmund Spenser https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edmund_Spenser