for the Royal Navy during the First World War. Lightly armoured and
armed with only a few heavy guns, the ship was designed to support the
Baltic Project, a plan championed by First Sea Lord John Fisher to
invade the German coast north of Berlin. Courageous was completed in
late 1916 and spent the war patrolling the North Sea. The ship
participated in the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight in November 1917
and was present when the German High Seas Fleet surrendered a year
later. Courageous was decommissioned after the war, but rebuilt as an
aircraft carrier during the mid-1920s. The ship could carry 48 aircraft
compared to the 36 carried by the comparable Furious on approximately
the same tonnage. After recommissioning and a new career operating off
Great Britain and Ireland, the ship briefly became a training carrier
until resuming patrols, a few months before the start of the Second
World War in September 1939. Courageous was torpedoed and sunk in the
opening weeks of the war, with the loss of more than 500 crew members.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Courageous_(50)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
62:
Pompeii was severely damaged by a strong earthquake, which may
have been a precursor to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that destroyed
the town 17 years later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/62_Pompeii_earthquake>
1869:
Prospectors in Moliagul, Victoria, Australia, discovered the
largest alluvial gold nugget ever found, known as the "Welcome Stranger"
(pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welcome_Stranger>
1909:
Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland announced the creation of
Bakelite, the world's first synthetic plastic.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakelite>
1941:
Second World War: British and Free French forces began the
Battle of Keren to capture the strategic town of Keren in Italian
Eritrea.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Keren>
2000:
Second Chechen War: As the Battle of Grozny came to a close,
Russian forces summarily executed at least 60 civilians in the city's
Novye Aldi suburb.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novye_Aldi_massacre>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
pony keg:
1. (US) A container for beer holding 7.75 US gallons, equal to half the
size of a standard beer keg.
2. (Cincinnati, colloquial) A drive-through liquor store; by extension, any
convenience store.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pony_keg>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to
be unpopular.
--Adlai Stevenson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Adlai_Stevenson>
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