Wikipedia:Main Page history/2015 February 18

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From today's featured article

SMS Bayern was the lead ship of her class of battleships in the German Imperial Navy. The vessel was launched in February 1915 and entered service in July 1916, too late to take part in the Battle of Jutland. Her main armament consisted of eight 38 cm (15 in) guns in four turrets, which was a significant improvement over the preceding König 's ten 30.5 cm (12 inch) guns. The ship was to have led a battle squadron of four ships in the High Seas Fleet, but only Baden was completed; the other two ships were cancelled when wartime production requirements shifted to U-boat construction. Bayern 's first assignment was on an abortive fleet advance into the North Sea, a month after she had been commissioned. The ship also participated in Operation Albion in the Gulf of Riga, but shortly after the German attack began in October 1917, Bayern was mined and had to be withdrawn for repairs. She was interned with the majority of the High Seas Fleet in Scapa Flow, Scotland, in November 1918 following the end of World War I. On 21 June 1919, Admiral Ludwig von Reuter ordered the fleet to be scuttled, and Bayern was sunk. In September 1934, the ship was raised, towed to Rosyth, and scrapped. (Full article...)

Part of the Battleships of Germany series, one of Wikipedia's featured topics.

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From Wikipedia's new and recently improved content:

... that Bonne of Bourbon (pictured), countess of Savoy, had to sell her jewelry to re-equip her husband at war in Italy?
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... that the 2015 Scottish League Cup Final will be Celtic's 30th appearance in the final and Dundee United's 7th?
... that Taiwanese actress Jade Chou was once compared to her character in What Is Love because they were both in their thirties and still single?
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... that film producer Anne Rosellini wrote her first screenplay because "I didn't have the money to hire a writer, so I just decided to do it myself"?

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In the news

Egypt strikes ISIS targets in Libya after a video is released showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Copts.
Taxi, by Iranian director Jafar Panahi (pictured), wins the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival.
The attempted rape and subsequent murder of a student on a bus spark protests across Turkey.
Two people are killed in shootings at a free-speech seminar and at a synagogue service in Copenhagen.
Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim is imprisoned for five years after the country's Federal Court upholds his conviction for sodomy.

Ongoing: Boko Haram – Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – War in Ukraine
Recent deaths: Philip Levine – Louis Jourdan – John McCabe

On this day...

February 18: Ash Wednesday in Western Christianity (2015); Independence Day in the Gambia (1965)

1637 – Eighty Years' War: Off the coast of Cornwall, England, a Spanish fleet intercepted an important Anglo-Dutch merchant convoy of 44 vessels escorted by 6 warships, destroying or capturing 20 of them.
1766 – A mutiny by captive Malagasy began at sea on the slave ship Meermin, leading to the ship's destruction on Cape Agulhas in present-day South Africa and the recapture of the instigators.
1873 – Vasil Levski (pictured), the national hero of Bulgaria, was executed in Sofia by Ottoman authorities for his efforts to establish an independent Bulgarian republic.
1942 – World War II: The Imperial Japanese Army began the systematic extermination of perceived hostile elements among Chinese Singaporeans.
2001 – Inter-ethnic violence between Dayaks and Madurese broke out in Sampit, Indonesia, that would ultimately result in more than 500 deaths and 100,000 Madurese displaced from their homes.

More anniversaries: February 17 – February 18 – February 19

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It is now February 18, 2015 (UTC) – Reload this page

Today's featured picture

A male (top) and female purple finch (Haemorhous purpureus), photographed in the Cap Tourmente National Wildlife Area in Quebec. This species, part of the finch family, mainly eats seeds, berries and insects. They breed in the coniferous and mixed forests of Canada and the northeastern United States; birds from the northern part of this species' range will migrate in the winter.

Photo: Simon Pierre Barrette

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