Bouvet was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the French Navy, built in the
1890s, and armed with a main battery of two 305 mm (12 in) guns and
two 274 mm (10.8 in) guns in individual turrets. A top speed of 18
knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) made her one of the fastest battleships in the
world. Bouvet spent the majority of her peacetime career conducting
routine training exercises and was withdrawn from front-line service in
1907. In early 1915 during World War I the ship participated in a
series of attacks on the Ottoman fortifications guarding the
Dardanelles. On 18 March 1915, during a major assault, the vessel was
hit approximately eight times by shellfire but was not seriously
damaged. While turning to withdraw, she struck a mine and sank within
two minutes; only 75 men were rescued from a complement of 718. Two
British battleships were also sunk by mines the same day, and the
disaster convinced the Allies to abandon the naval campaign in favor of
an amphibious assault on the Gallipoli Peninsula.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_battleship_Bouvet>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1860:
To counter the French Navy's Gloire, the world's first ironclad
warship, the Royal Navy launched HMS Warrior, the world's first iron-
hulled armoured warship.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Warrior_%281860%29>
1913:
Cecil B. DeMille started filming Hollywood's first feature
film, The Squaw Man (featured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Squaw_Man_%281914_film%29>
1915:
First World War: The French parliament passed a law granting
the land occupied by British war graves as "the free gift of the French
people".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_law_of_29_December_1915>
1975:
Planted by unknown perpetrators, a bomb exploded at LaGuardia
Airport in New York City, killing 11 people and seriously injuring 74
others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975_LaGuardia_Airport_bombing>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
that'll be the frosty Friday:
(idiomatic, informal) Synonym of that'll be the day (“said in reply to
something that one believes will never happen”)
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/that%27ll_be_the_frosty_Friday>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is out of time that my decision is taken If you call that
decision To which my whole being gives entire consent. I give my life
To the Law of God above the Law of Man.
--Murder in the Cathedral
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Murder_in_the_Cathedral>