HMS Argus was a British aircraft carrier that served in the Royal Navy from 1918 to 1944. Converted from an ocean liner, she became the first example of the standard pattern of aircraft carriers, with a full-length flight deck allowing aircraft to take off and land. The ship was involved for several years in the development of the optimum design for other aircraft carriers. She spent one brief deployment on the China Station in the late 1920s before being placed in reserve. Argus was recommissioned and partially modernised shortly before the Second World War. In July 1940 she made the first of her many ferry trips to fly off fighters to Malta. In 1942 she was pressed into front-line service despite her lack of speed and armament. She provided air cover during the invasion of French North Africa and was slightly damaged by a bomb. Argus was used again for deck-landing practice until September 1944. She became an accommodation ship in December, was sold in late 1946 and was scrapped in 1947.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Argus_%28I49%29

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1852:

The Argentine Confederation was defeated in the Platine War by an alliance consisting of Brazil, Uruguay and the Argentine provinces of Entre Ríos and Corrientes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platine_War

1972:

The deadliest blizzard in history began in Iran and continued for a week leaving more than 4,000 people dead. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_Iran_blizzard

2010:

An edition of L'Homme qui marche I, a bronze sculpture by Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti, was sold for £65 million, setting the record for the most expensive sculpture sold at auction. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Homme_qui_marche_I

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

inescutcheon: (heraldry) A small escutcheon (“coat of arms; shield”) (such as an escutcheon of pretence) which is charged (“represented”) on a larger escutcheon. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/inescutcheon

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

He who does not realize to what extent shifting fortune and necessity hold in subjection every human spirit, cannot regard as fellow-creatures nor love as he loves himself those whom chance separated from him by an abyss. The variety of constraints pressing upon man give rise to the illusion of several distinct species that cannot communicate. Only he who has measured the dominion of force, and knows how not to respect it, is capable of love and justice.   --Simone Weil https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Simone_Weil