her class of light cruisers built by the German Imperial Navy. Named for
the capital of East Prussia, she was laid down and launched in 1905 and
completed the next year. The ship was armed with a main battery of ten
10.5-centimeter (4.1 in) guns and had a top speed of 24.1 knots
(44.6 km/h; 27.7 mph). Königsberg served with the High Seas Fleet's
reconnaissance force, and frequently escorted Kaiser Wilhelm II's yacht
on visits to foreign countries. A planned two-year deployment to German
East Africa was interrupted by the outbreak of World War I. The cruiser
attempted to raid British and French commercial traffic, but only
destroyed one merchant ship during her career. In September 1914, she
surprised and sank the British protected cruiser HMS Pegasus in the
Battle of Zanzibar, then retreated into the Rufiji River to repair her
engines. British cruisers located her and set up a blockade. On 11 July
1915, two monitors got close enough to cause severe damage, and her crew
scuttled the ship.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_K%C3%B6nigsberg_(1905)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1405:
Marking the start of Ming China's treasure voyages, Admiral
Zheng He's expeditionary fleet set sail towards foreign regions on the
South China Sea and Indian Ocean.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasure_voyages>
1804:
U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr mortally wounded former U.S.
Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton during a duel in Weehawken, New
Jersey.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burr%E2%80%93Hamilton_duel>
1882:
Anglo-Egyptian War: British naval forces began their
bombardment of Alexandria against Urabi forces.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardment_of_Alexandria>
1940:
French World War I hero Philippe Pétain became Chief of State
of Vichy France.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_P%C3%A9tain>
1995:
Bosnian Genocide: Bosnian Serb forces began the Srebrenica
massacre in the region of Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, eventually
killing an estimated total of 8,000 Bosniaks.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srebrenica_massacre>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
gaggle:
1. A group of geese when they are on the ground or on the water.
2. Any group or gathering of related things; bunch.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gaggle>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Before you can be an internationalist you have first to be a
naturalist and feel the ground under you making a whole circle. It is
easier for a man to be loyal to his club than to his planet; the bylaws
are shorter, and he is personally acquainted with the other members. A
club, moreover, or a nation, has a most attractive offer to make: it
offers the right to be exclusive. There are not many of us who are
physically constituted to resist this strange delight, this nourishing
privilege. It is at the bottom of all fraternities, societies, orders.
It is at the bottom of most trouble. The planet holds out no such
inducement, The planet is everybody's. All it offers is the grass, the
sky, the water, the ineluctable dream of peace and fruition.
--E. B. White
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/E._B._White>
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