HMS Courageous was the lead ship of the Courageous-class cruisers built for the Royal Navy during the First World War. Lightly armoured and armed with only a few heavy guns, the ship was designed to support the Baltic Project, a plan championed by First Sea Lord John Fisher to invade the German coast north of Berlin. Courageous was completed in late 1916 and spent the war patrolling the North Sea. The ship participated in the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight in November 1917 and was present when the German High Seas Fleet surrendered a year later. Courageous was decommissioned after the war, but rebuilt as an aircraft carrier during the mid-1920s. The ship could carry 48 aircraft compared to the 36 carried by the comparable Furious on approximately the same tonnage. After recommissioning and a new career operating off Great Britain and Ireland, the ship briefly became a training carrier until resuming patrols, a few months before the start of the Second World War in September 1939. Courageous was torpedoed and sunk in the opening weeks of the war, with the loss of more than 500 crew members.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Courageous_(50)
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
62:
Pompeii was severely damaged by a strong earthquake, which may have been a precursor to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that destroyed the town 17 years later. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/62_Pompeii_earthquake
1869:
Prospectors in Moliagul, Victoria, Australia, discovered the largest alluvial gold nugget ever found, known as the "Welcome Stranger" (pictured). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welcome_Stranger
1909:
Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland announced the creation of Bakelite, the world's first synthetic plastic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakelite
1941:
Second World War: British and Free French forces began the Battle of Keren to capture the strategic town of Keren in Italian Eritrea. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Keren
2000:
Second Chechen War: As the Battle of Grozny came to a close, Russian forces summarily executed at least 60 civilians in the city's Novye Aldi suburb. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novye_Aldi_massacre
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
pony keg: 1. (US) A container for beer holding 7.75 US gallons, equal to half the size of a standard beer keg. 2. (Cincinnati, colloquial) A drive-through liquor store; by extension, any convenience store. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pony_keg
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular. --Adlai Stevenson https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Adlai_Stevenson
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