U.S. Navy. Named by President George Washington, she is the world's
oldest commissioned naval vessel afloat. Constitution was launched in
Boston in 1797 as one of the original six large, heavily armed frigates
authorized by the Naval Act of 1794. Her first duties with the newly
formed navy were to provide protection for American merchant shipping
during the Quasi-War with France and to help defeat the Barbary pirates
in the First Barbary War. During the War of 1812 against Great Britain,
Constitution captured numerous merchant ships and defeated five British
warships; the battle with HMS Guerriere earned her the nickname of "Old
Ironsides". The frigate continued to serve as flagship in the
Mediterranean and African squadrons. During the American Civil War, she
served as a training ship for the U.S. Naval Academy. She carried
American artwork and industrial displays to the Paris Exposition of
1878. Constitution was retired from active service in 1881 and
designated a museum ship in 1907, and continues to receive visitors year
round at the former Charlestown Navy Yard. The ship sailed under her own
power in 1997 on the occasion of her 200th birthday, and again on 19
August 2012 to commemorate her victory over Guerriere.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Constitution>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1685:
French colonists, led by Robert de La Salle, landed at
Matagorda Bay in present-day Texas, which later allowed the United
States to claim the region as part of the Louisiana Purchase.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_colonization_of_Texas>
1816:
Italian composer Gioachino Rossini's opera buffa The Barber of
Seville was hissed by the audience during its debut at the Teatro
Argentina in Rome.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Barber_of_Seville>
1943:
A fissure opened in a cornfield in the Mexican state of
Michoacán and turned into the cinder cone volcano Parícutin, growing
424 m (1,391 ft) in eight years.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Par%C3%ADcutin>
1965:
NASA's Ranger 8 spacecraft successfully transmitted 7,137
photographs (sample pictured) of the Moon in the final 23 minutes of its
mission before crashing into Mare Tranquillitatis.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranger_8>
2010:
Severe flooding and mudslides on the island of Madeira,
Portugal, killed 42 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Madeira_floods_and_mudslides>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
take a flyer:
(idiomatic) To make a choice with an uncertain outcome; to take a
chance.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/take_a_flyer>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Come As you are As you were As I want you to be As a trend As a
friend As an old enemy Take your time Hurry up The choice is yours don't
be late…
--Kurt Cobain
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Cobain>
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