World War II for the U.S. Navy. They were officially classed as large
cruisers (CB), but others have regarded them as battlecruisers. Their
intermediate status is reflected in the naming of the ships after US
territories and insular areas, rather than states (battleships) or
cities (cruisers). The idea for a large cruiser class originated in the
early 1930s when the Navy sought to counter German Deutschland-class
"pocket battleships". Planning of what became the Alaska class began in
the later 1930s after the deployment of Germany's Scharnhorst-class
battleships and rumors that Japan was constructing a new battlecruiser
class. To serve as "cruiser-killers" capable of seeking out and
destroying such ships, the Alaska class was given large guns, limited
armor protection against 12-inch shells, and machinery capable of speeds
of about 31–33 knots (36–38 mph, 58–61 km/h). Of the six
planned, two were completed and a third was cancelled during
construction. Alaska and Guam (pictured) served for the last year of
World War II as bombardment ships and fast carrier escorts, and were
decommissioned in 1947.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska-class_cruiser>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1829:
William Austin Burt was awarded a patent for the typographer
(replica pictured), the first practical typewriting machine.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typographer_(typewriter)>
1914:
Austria-Hungary presented Serbia with an ultimatum to allow
them to investigate the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, that
Serbia would ultimately reject, leading to World War I.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_Crisis>
1927:
Wilfred Rhodes of England and Yorkshire became the only person
to play in 1,000 first-class cricket matches.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilfred_Rhodes>
1942:
The Holocaust: The gas chambers at Treblinka extermination camp
began operation, killing 6,500 Jews who had been transported from the
Warsaw Ghetto the day before.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treblinka_extermination_camp>
1984:
Vanessa Williams, the first African-American Miss America,
resigned in scandal after Penthouse magazine published nude photos of
her that were taken two years prior.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanessa_L._Williams>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
levity:
1. Lightness of manner or speech, frivolity.
2. The state or quality of being light, buoyancy.
3. (countable) A lighthearted or frivolous act.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/levity>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 Leadership does not mean domination. The world is always well
supplied with people who wish to rule and dominate others. The true
leader is a different sort; he seeks effective activity which has a
truly beneficient purpose. He inspires others to follow in his wake, and
holding aloft the torch of wisdom, leads the way for society to realize
its genuinely great aspirations.
--Haile Selassie
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Haile_Selassie>
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