The Bayern-class battleships were four super-dreadnoughts, laid down from 1913 to 1915 by the Imperial German Navy. Sachsen and Württemberg were never completed, after U-boats were found to be more valuable to the war effort. Bayern (pictured) and Baden, the last German battleships completed during World War I, were commissioned into the fleet too late to take part in the Battle of Jutland (31 May – 1 June 1916). Bayern was assigned to the naval force that drove the Imperial Russian Navy from the Gulf of Riga during Operation Albion in October 1917, though the ship was severely damaged by a mine and had to be withdrawn to Kiel for repairs. Baden replaced Friedrich der Grosse as the flagship of the High Seas Fleet, but saw no combat. Bayern and Baden were interned in Scapa Flow, Scotland, following the Armistice in November 1918; in June 1919, Bayern was scuttled along with other fleet ships at the command of Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter.

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

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1821:

The Province of Guatemala proclaimed the independence of Central America from the Spanish Empire. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_of_Independence_of_Central_America

1916:

Tanks, the "secret weapons" of the British Army during the First World War (Mark I tank pictured), were first used in combat at the Battle of the Somme in Somme, Picardy, France. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Somme

1944:

World War II: Following the Greek People's Liberation Army victory in the Battle of Meligalas, more than 700 prisoners of war and about 50 civilians were massacred. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Meligalas

2008:

Late-2000s financial crisis: The global financial services firm Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy while holding over $600 billion in assets, the largest such filing in U.S. history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bankruptcy_of_Lehman_Brothers

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

jumbo: Especially large or powerful. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/jumbo

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Party is known to encourage prejudice, and to lead men astray in the judgment of character. Thus it is we see one half the nation extolling those that the other half condemns, and condemning those that the other half extols. Both cannot be right, and as passions, interests and prejudices are all enlisted on such occasions, it would be nearer the truth to say that both are wrong. Party is an instrument of error, by pledging men to support its policy, instead of supporting the policy of the state. Thus we see party measures almost always in extremes, the resistance of opponents inducing the leaders to ask for more than is necessary. Party leads to vicious, corrupt and unprofitable legislation, for the sole purpose of defeating party. Thus have we seen those territorial divisions and regulations which ought to be permanent, as well as other useful laws, altered, for no other end than to influence an election. Party, has been a means of entirely destroying that local independence, which elsewhere has given rise to a representation that acts solely for the nation, and which, under other systems is called the country party, every legislator being virtually pledged to support one of two opinions; or, if a shade of opinion between them, a shade that is equally fettered, though the truth be with neither.   --The American Democrat https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_American_Democrat