Two Andrea Doria-class dreadnought battleships were built for the Royal Italian Navy. Completed during World War I, Andrea Doria (pictured) and Caio Duilio displayed incremental improvements over the preceding Conte di Cavour class. Like the earlier ships, they were armed with a main battery of thirteen 305-millimeter (12.0 in) guns. The two ships were based in southern Italy during World War I to help contain the Austro- Hungarian Navy surface fleet in the Adriatic, but neither vessel saw combat during the conflict. After the war, they cruised the Mediterranean and were involved in several international incidents, including at Corfu in 1923. In 1940, when Italy was engaged in World War II, they were moored when the British launched a carrier strike on the Italian fleet. In the resulting Battle of Taranto, Caio Duilio was hit by a torpedo and forced to beach to avoid sinking.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Doria-class_battleship

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1734:

A black slave known as Marie-Joseph Angélique, having been convicted of setting the fire that destroyed much of Montreal, was tortured and then hanged in New France. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie-Joseph_Ang%C3%A9lique

1854:

Crimean War: During the first Battle of Bomarsund, Irish sailor Charles Davis Lucas threw an artillery shell off his ship before it exploded, earning him the first Victoria Cross. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Davis_Lucas

1898:

In a bloodless event during the Spanish–American War, the United States captured Guam from Spain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_Guam

1948:

The Manchester Baby (replica pictured), the world's first stored-program computer, ran its first computer program. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Baby

1963:

Italian cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini was elected as Pope Paul VI. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Paul_VI

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

melomaniac:

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/melomaniac

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

My personal attitude toward atheists is the same attitude that I have toward Christians, and would be governed by a very orthodox text: "By their fruits shall ye know them." I wouldn't judge a man by the presuppositions of his life, but only by the fruits of his life. And the fruits — the relevant fruits — are, I'd say, a sense of charity, a sense of proportion, a sense of justice. And whether the man is an atheist or a Christian, I would judge him by his fruits, and I have therefore many agnostic friends.   --Reinhold Niebuhr https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Reinhold_Niebuhr