Wikipedia:Main Page history/2014 July 23

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From today's featured article

The Alaska class consisted of six cruisers ordered prior to World War II for the US Navy. They were officially classed as large cruisers (CB), but others have regarded them as battlecruisers. Their intermediate status is reflected in the naming of the ships after US territories and insular areas, rather than states (battleships) or cities (cruisers). The idea for a large cruiser class originated in the early 1930s when the Navy sought to counter German Deutschland-class "pocket battleships". Planning of what became the Alaska class began in the later 1930s after the deployment of Germany's Scharnhorst-class battleships and rumors that Japan was constructing a new battlecruiser class. To serve as "cruiser-killers" capable of seeking out and destroying such ships, the Alaska class was given large guns, limited armor protection against 12-inch shells, and machinery capable of speeds of about 31–33 knots (36–38 mph, 58–61 km/h). Of the six planned, two were completed and a third was cancelled during construction. Alaska and Guam (pictured) served for the last year of World War II as bombardment ships and fast carrier escorts, and were decommissioned in 1947. (Full article...)

Part of the Battlecruisers of the world series, one of Wikipedia's featured topics.

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Did you know...

From Wikipedia's new and recently improved content:

... that in 1920 socialist politician Valentino Pittoni (pictured) argued that the Italian city of Trieste should become a state in the Austrian republic?
... that a rough cut of "Deep Breath", the first episode of the eighth series of Doctor Who, was leaked online six weeks before the episode was due to air?
... that Elmo Hope survived being shot by New York police to become an influential jazz pianist?
... that Englesea Brook Chapel and Museum contains the first organ to be used in a Primitive Methodist chapel?
... that Freddie Hornik co-founded Dandie Fashions and helped turn Granny Takes a Trip into an international fashion brand?
... that Kenyan Simon Maina, the 1998 Commonwealth Games champion over 10,000 metres, was deported from Japan after being injured in 2007 and dropped from the Toyota team?
... that male pichis have a penis that is 60% of their body length, even though the females have no vagina?

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In the news

Joko Widodo is elected President of Indonesia.
In golf, Rory McIlroy (pictured) wins the Open Championship.
Militants attack a checkpoint in Egypt's western desert region, killing 22 soldiers.
The Cook Islands Party retains its majority in the Cook Islands general election.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, is shot down in eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.
Israel launches a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip.
Militants attack two checkpoints in the Chaambi Mountains, Tunisia, killing fourteen soldiers.
Typhoon Rammasun causes at least 94 deaths in the Philippines and at least 18 in China.

Ongoing: Ukrainian unrest
Recent deaths: James Garner – Elaine Stritch – Karl Albrecht

On this day...

July 23: Revolution Day in Egypt (1952)

1829 – William Austin Burt was awarded a patent for the typographer (replica pictured), the first practical typewriting machine.
1914 – Austria-Hungary presented Serbia with an ultimatum to allow them to investigate the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, that Serbia would ultimately reject, leading to World War I.
1927 – Wilfred Rhodes of England and Yorkshire became the only person to play in 1,000 first-class cricket matches.
1942 – The Holocaust: The gas chambers at Treblinka extermination camp began operation, killing 6,500 Jews who had been transported from the Warsaw Ghetto the day before.
1984 – Vanessa Williams, the first African-American Miss America, resigned in scandal after Penthouse magazine published nude photos of her that were taken two years prior.

More anniversaries: July 22 – July 23 – July 24

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It is now July 23, 2014 (UTC) – Reload this page

Today's featured picture

Australian artistic gymnast Lauren Mitchell (b. 1991) performing a layout step-out on the balance beam during the 41st World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in London, United Kingdom, on 14 October 2009; at the Championships, Mitchell won two silver medals, one for the balance beam and another for floor exercises. Since her first medal in 2007, Mitchell has placed in the World Championships, World Cup, and Commonwealth Games, and competed in two Olympic Games.

Photo: Steven Rasmussen; edit: Keraunoscopia

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