The six Galeb-class minelayers were originally built as minesweepers for
the Imperial German Navy. In July 1921, they were purchased for the
Royal Navy of the newly created Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and
Slovenes (from 1929, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia). Re-armed, they were
mainly used for training and "show the flag" cruises. Reclassified as
minelayers by 1936, they laid mines off the Yugoslav coast just before
the April 1941 Axis invasion of Yugoslavia, which probably resulted in
the sinking of two Yugoslav merchant ships. All six were captured and
put into Italian service escorting convoys in the Mediterranean Sea. All
but one were lost or sunk during the war. The last escaped into Allied
hands in September 1943 and was returned to the Yugoslav navy-in-exile
at Malta in December. It was transferred to the new Yugoslav Navy after
the war and helped clear thousands of mines laid in Yugoslav waters,
being finally disposed of in 1962. (This article is part of a featured
topic: Ships of the Royal Yugoslav Navy.).
Read more:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/Ships_of_the_Royal_Yugoslav_Navy>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1900:
Italian-American anarchist Gaetano Bresci assassinated King
Umberto I of Italy in Monza.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaetano_Bresci>
1914:
The Cape Cod Canal, connecting Cape Cod Bay and Buzzards Bay in
the U.S. state of Massachusetts, opened on a limited basis.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Cod_Canal>
1954:
The Fellowship of the Ring, the first part of J. R. R.
Tolkien's high-fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings, was published by
Allen & Unwin.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings>
1981:
An estimated worldwide television audience of 750 million
watched the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer at
St Paul's Cathedral in London.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedding_of_Prince_Charles_and_Lady_Diana_Spencer>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
duopoly:
1. (economics) An economic condition in which two sellers exert (most of
the) control over the market of a commodity.
2. (by extension)
3. The domination of a field of endeavour by two entities or people.
4. (broadcasting) A situation in which two or more radio or television
stations in the same city or community share common ownership.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/duopoly>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
We have an A-bomb and a whole series of it, and we have a whole
series of Super bombs, and what more do you want, mermaids?
--Isidor Isaac Rabi
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isidor_Isaac_Rabi>