The two Minas Geraes-class battleships were built during the first decade of the twentieth century for the Brazilian Navy. Named Minas Geraes and São Paulo, Brazil's order for these "dreadnoughts"—powerful warships whose capabilities far outstripped those of the world's older battleships—initiated a vastly expensive South American naval arms race. Once in service, Minas Geraes and São Paulo were only ever used for or against rebellions. Soon after the ships arrived in Brazil in 1910, their crews revolted against the continued use of corporal punishment (in this case, whipping or "lashing") in the navy. In 1922, the government used both warships to help put down an army rebellion. São Paulo‍ '​s crew mutinied in 1924, but eight years later the ship helped the government break a rebel blockade. During the Second World War, the obsolete dreadnoughts were used as harbor defense vessels for ports in northeast Brazil. They were both sold for scrap after the war, but São Paulo sank without a trace while under tow.

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

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1570:

A party of ten Jesuit missionaries landed on the Virginia Peninsula to establish the short-lived Ajacán Mission. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajac%C3%A1n_Mission

1897:

A peaceful labor demonstration made up of mostly Polish and Slovak anthracite coal miners in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, US, was fired upon by a sheriff's posse in the Lattimer massacre. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lattimer_massacre

1945:

Mike the Headless Chicken was decapitated in a farm in Colorado; he survived another 18 months as part of sideshows before choking to death in Phoenix, Arizona. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_the_Headless_Chicken

1961:

At the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, German driver Wolfgang von Trips's car collided with another, causing it to become airborne and crash into a side barrier, killing him and 15 spectators. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_von_Trips

2000:

Operation Barras successfully freed six British soldiers held captive for over two weeks and contributed to the end of the Sierra Leone Civil War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Barras

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

set apart: 1. To select (something or someone) for a specific purpose. 2. To distinguish, make obvious the distinction between (two things) or of (something). 3. Used other than as an idiom: to separate or isolate. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/set_apart

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

What I want in my life is to be willing to be dazzled — to cast aside the weight of facts and maybe even to float a little above this difficult world.   --Mary Oliver https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mary_Oliver