The two submarines of the U-1 class, U-1 and U-2, were built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy. Constructed according to an American design, they were launched in 1909. A diving chamber, wheels for traveling along the seabed, and other experimental features were tested extensively in sea trials. Their gasoline engines were replaced around the start of World War I over safety and efficiency concerns. The boats have been described by naval historians as obsolete by the time they were commissioned in 1911. Both submarines were mobilized briefly during the Balkan Wars, and otherwise served as training boats before 1915. From 1915 to 1918 they conducted reconnaissance cruises out of Trieste and Pola, though neither sank any enemy vessels during the war. Facing defeat in October 1918, the Austro-Hungarian government transferred the bulk of its fleet, including these submarines, to the newly formed State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs to avoid having to hand its ships over to the Allied Powers.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U-1-class_submarine_%28Austria-Hungary%29

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1829:

The Metropolitan Police (headquarters pictured) of Greater London, originally headquartered in Great Scotland Yard, Westminster, was founded. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Police

1941:

The Holocaust: Nazi forces, aided by Ukrainian collaborators, began a massacre of Jews in a ravine in Kyiv, killing more than 30,000 civilians in two days and thousands more in the following months. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babi_Yar

1954:

Willie Mays of Major League Baseball's New York Giants made one of the most famous defensive plays in baseball history, now known as The Catch. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Catch_%28baseball%29

1991:

The award-winning Disney animated film Beauty and the Beast premiered as an unfinished film at the New York Film Festival. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beauty_and_the_Beast_%281991_film%29

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

Neptunian: 1. (Roman mythology) Of or pertaining to Neptune, the Roman god of fresh water and the sea, the counterpart of the Greek god Poseidon. 2. (by extension, rare) Of or pertaining to water or the sea. 3. (by extension, geology) Formed by the action of water. 4. (by extension, geology, historical) Of, pertaining to, or supporting Neptunism (“a discredited theory that rocks were formed from the crystallisation of minerals in the early Earth's oceans”). [...] 5. (astrology) Pertaining to the astrological influence of the planet Neptune. 6. (astronomy) Of or pertaining to the planet Neptune. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Neptunian

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

The measure may be thought bold, but I am of the opinion the boldest are the safest.   --Horatio Nelson https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Horatio_Nelson