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Author Topic: This Day in History  (Read 200517 times)

besilarius

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Reply #1140 on: March 25, 2024, 02:09:51 PM
421   Venice, founded by fugitives from the Hunnish sack of Aquileaia

1300  Sometime cavalryman and poet Dante Alighieri took a walk.

1811 the famous sculptor Antonio Canova, who had carved the famous statue of Pauline Bonaparte as a reclining nude Venus, completed a marble statue for her brother depicting him as the god Mars in heroic nudity, which proved so embarrassing that Napoleon hid it in a closet, though it was later given to the Duke of Wellington, who displayed it in his London home, where it remains.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_as_Mars_the_Peacemaker

1897. Reportedly, latrines in British Army barracks were not lighted at night until1896, because the Crown could save £200 a year, not to mention the cost of installing lamps in the first place.

1898. Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt, recommends to Secretary of the Navy John D. Long that he appoint two officers of scientific attainments and practical ability who, with representatives from the War Department, would examine Professor Samuel P. Langley's flying machine and report upon its practicability and its potential for use in war.

1905  Most battle flags captured during the Civil War are returned to the South

1925. During the period between the world wars, Joseph M. Reeves (1872-1948), nicknamed “Billy Goat” because of his beard, was one of the most able senior officers in the history of the U.S. Navy. Both a traditionalist and an innovator, while playing at Annapolis he invented the football helmet and later became the “Father of Carrier Aviation”.
While Reeves was commanding the battleship North Dakota (BB-29) in 1922-1923, one of the ship’s float planes went into the water.  A nearby destroyer promptly dispatched a motor whale boat. While rescuing the plane's crew, one of the destroyermen briefly becoming entangled in the wreckage and was almost pulled under as it sank.
Reeves deeply appreciated this effort, and wanted to show both his gratitude for the rescue and encourage similar efforts if other planes went into the drink.  So he initiated the paperwork for awards.  But he wanted to do something more, something immediate.  Now, as captain of a battleship, Reeves had a pretty good cook, a man who was a top notch baker.  So, the next day that destroyer received enough fresh-baked apple pies for everyone in the crew to have a taste.  Knowing it came from the captain's mess only made it sweeter.  This was much appreciated, and word got out to the fleet that if one of Reeves’ flyers went in, he would be generous in his thanks.
In 1925, Reeves, having qualified as an aviation observer, became Commander, Aircraft Squadrons, Battle Fleet, aboard the Langley (CV-1). This began what was to be his most important work for the fleet: developing carrier aviation.  Now Langley was not the best ship for working aircraft, and planes often went into the sea.  Destroyers were assigned to plane guard duty, which was -- and is -- difficult and dangerous.  While planes were landing, a destroyer serving as plane guard was pretty safe, as she was in an offset position about a thousand yards behind the carrier.  So if a plane went into the sea on its landing approach, the destroyer could make a quick run toward it, put a boat into the water, and fish out the aviators with some degree of safety.
But plane guard duty when aircraft were taking off could be very dangerous.  The destroyer had to stand off the carrier's bow in case a plane fell into the water.  If that happened, attempting a rescue could put the destroyer in great danger.  The Langley was much less nimble than destroyers, and much bigger, while the rescuers’ whaleboats were even smaller, and in danger of getting too close to the flattop and being overrun.
Needing to inspire rescuers, as well as reward them, Reeves recalled the pies from his North Dakota days.  But pies are rather fragile, and don't take rough handling well.  Thinking harder, Reeves realized that the Langley was equipped with something new and unique and not available to destroyers: an ice cream machine.  So Reeves passed the word that a ship whose boat crew pulled a pilot out of the water would get ice cream, gallons of it.  Soon, instead of shunning plane guard duty, destroyermen were actually volunteering for it.
Admiral Reeves' thoughtful incentive worked where orders and exhortations might not have.  It was an easy, elegant answer that benefitted everyone.  And rewarding ships with ice cream for pulling aircrew out of the water became a tradition in the U.S. Navy that lasted into the 1950s when new destroyers began being equipped with their own “geedunk machines

2184  Pavel Andreivich Chekov, Star Fleet officer

3019. of the Third Age.  the Ring was destroyed, Gollum died, and Sauron was overthrown
« Last Edit: March 25, 2024, 02:16:51 PM by besilarius »

"These things must be done delicately-- or you hurt the spell."  - The Wicked Witch of the West.
"We've got the torpedo damage temporarily shored up, the fires out and soon will have the ship back on an even keel. But I would suggest, sir, that if you have to take any more torpedoes, you take 'em on the starboard side."   Pops Healy, DCA USS Lexington.


besilarius

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Reply #1141 on: March 27, 2024, 12:22:22 PM
47   BC   Ptolemy XIII of Egypt (c. 15), brother and husband to Cleopatra, drowned in the Nile fleeing Caesar's troops

1794. Congress authorizes construction of 6 frigates, including Constitution

1804. From December, the month Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of France, and July of 1806, there were 119 recorded incidents of anti-draft disturbances in the country, with desertions averaging about 800 a month and an officially estimated 4,000 men actually fled to Spain to evade service.

1813. The Duke of Wellington was a notably effective logistical manager, and despite great difficulties his troops were usually better equipped and supplied than those of his French opponents.
This was no mean feat.
Consider the logistical requirements of a cavalry regiment.  On paper cavalry regiments had 407 personnel, organized into six troops, plus a staff, with 478 horses and mules, including mounts for troopers plus draught animals for the baggage, service, and munitions wagons.
To feed the men each day required 407 pounds of biscuit, 407 of meat, and 407 rations of alcoholic beverages, or some 200 pounds of booze, if one included the cask, and omitting additional rations allocated to officers
Feeding the animals required a daily ration of 4,780 pounds of grain, plus 5,786 of hay or straw, not to mention water, which could, with a little luck, be obtained locally.
As the normal issue of ration was three days’ worth, the regiment had to carry a minimum of 12,642 pounds of food and drink for the men, plus 31,698 for the animals.
And then there was a daily fire wood ration of 1,586 pounds, for a three day total of 4,758 pounds, plus additional for the officers.
So the total weight of three days’ rations for a full regiment -- men and beasts, food, drink, and fire wood -- came to roughly 25 tons, if one includes additional allocations for officers.
All this was usually transported by pack mules.  Since commissariat mules commonly could only carry only 200 pounds, 246 mules were needed.  And since the mules had to be fed, a at least four more mules would be required to carry the grain and hay needed for the commissary animals each day.
Now although Wellington's cavalry was often better fed, and usually better mounted, than that of his French opponents, the Duke often remarked that the French seemed to get much better service from their troops.  This was perhaps because  nearly half -- 45.1 percent -- of the officers in the British cavalry had obtained their commissions through purchase, in contrast to only about 18 percent of those in the infantry regiments, and none at all in the French cavalry..

1865. Lincoln, generals Grant and Sherman, and admiral Porter met on the steamer 'River Queen' to plan the end of the Civil War -  President Lincoln was very fond of cats.  So much so that once while en route to a conference with General-in-Chief U.S. Grant and Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter, he picked up three stray kittens and took them into the meeting.  Grant’s aide Horace Porter reported that it was a "curious sight at an army headquarters, upon the eve of a great military crisis" to see the president "tenderly caressing three stray kittens” as he discussed strategy with his commanders.
The President’s affection for cats once led to a minor tiff with Mrs. Lincoln, who was often unhappy about what she perceived to be his lack of appropriate dignity.
Reportedly, during dinner at the White House one evening, Lincoln used a gold fork from the presidential service to feed a cat named “Tabby.”
Mrs. Lincoln asked, perhaps rhetorically, “Don’t you think it’s shameful for Mr. Lincoln to feed Tabby with a gold fork?”
The President replied, “If the gold fork was good enough for former President James Buchanan, I think it is good enough for Tabby.”

"These things must be done delicately-- or you hurt the spell."  - The Wicked Witch of the West.
"We've got the torpedo damage temporarily shored up, the fires out and soon will have the ship back on an even keel. But I would suggest, sir, that if you have to take any more torpedoes, you take 'em on the starboard side."   Pops Healy, DCA USS Lexington.


bbmike

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Reply #1142 on: March 27, 2024, 02:56:58 PM
...
The President’s affection for cats once led to a minor tiff with Mrs. Lincoln, who was often unhappy about what she perceived to be his lack of appropriate dignity.
Reportedly, during dinner at the White House one evening, Lincoln used a gold fork from the presidential service to feed a cat named “Tabby.”
Mrs. Lincoln asked, perhaps rhetorically, “Don’t you think it’s shameful for Mr. Lincoln to feed Tabby with a gold fork?”
The President replied, “If the gold fork was good enough for former President James Buchanan, I think it is good enough for Tabby.”

 ;D

"My life is spent in one long effort to escape from the commonplace of existence."
-Sherlock Holmes

My Own Worst Enemy


besilarius

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Reply #1143 on: Yesterday at 02:26:39 PM
49 BC. Julius Caesar, who has the flu, visits Cicero at Formiae

845    The Vikings sack Paris

1584. Birth of Ivan the Terrible.  Although largely remembered for the homicidal paranoia that came to characterize his reign in later years, while a young man Ivan the Terrible (r. 1547-1584), like a number of other rulers across history – most famously the Caliph Haroun al-Rashid – was wont to go among his people in disguise to get a sense of what they were thinking, an early form of polling one might say.
Once, while visiting a village near Moscow dressed as a beggar, he found no one who would give him lodging for the night, save a poor family. By chance, that very night the poor man’s wife gave birth. Taking his leave the next morning, the Tsar returned shortly in full regalia with numerous dignitaries in train, to hand out generous gifts to his hosts, and become the godfather of their newborn, while ordering the rest of the people of the village to be turned out of their homes, which he promptly burned down to remind them of their obligations to the poor..
Apparently during many of his adventures, Ivan found congenial companions in the company of common criminals.
On one such occasion, the Tsar proposed robbing the Imperial treasury, telling them that he knew how to get inside, which was true enough.
Hardly had he said this than the chief of the gang of thieves with which he was consorting gave him a playful punch in the face, saying, in effect, “Rogue, you want to rob the Tsar, who has been so good to us? Why not rob some rich boyar who is screwing His Imperial Majesty’s subjects out of vast sums?”
Pleased at the response, Ivan swapped caps with the man, and suggested they meet on the morrow at a place in Moscow near the palace, to share a cup of vodka and a meal. The thief readily agreed.
The thief showed up at the appointed place and time, to find, not his roguish companion of the night before, but the Tsar himself holding out a mug of vodka.
As they downed the liquor, Ivan ordered the thief to steal no more, appointed him to a post at court, and assigned him to ferret out criminals.

 1757. Robert Francois Damiens, executed at 42, by skinned, doused with molten lead, castrated, and drawn and quartered, for attempting to kill Louis XV of France

1799  NY State initiates the abolition of slavery, which is completed in 1827

1800  USS Essex becomes first U.S. Navy vessel to pass Cape of Good Hope

1814. HMS Phoebe (36) and HMS Cherub (18) under Cptn. James Hillyar capture USS Essex (46), Cptn. David Porter, off Valparaiso, Chile.

1855, during the planning for the Anglo-French invasion of the Crimea, Empress Eugénie of France is reported to have consulted her husband’s late uncle, the real Napoleon, for guidance, through the use of a Ouija board.

1940. During World War II the Spanish Ambassador to Britain was the Duke of Alba, Jacobo Maria del Pilar Carlos Manuel Fitz-James Stuart, a direct descendant of the deposed Stuart kings of England, though via an illegitimate line.

1942  Operation Chariot: Nocturnal RN/RM commando raid blocks the 'Normandie' dock in Nazi-occupied St Nazaire; five VCs awarded
     Sergeant Thomas Frank Durrant, Royal Engineers. During the famous British naval raid on St. Nazaire, France, on the night of March 27-28, 1942, Sgt. Durrant (1918-1942) was serving with No. 1 Commando, manning a dual-mounted Lewis gun on HM Motor Launch 306. Proceeding up the Loire River, the boat came under heavy fire from the German destroyer Jaguar, which greatly outclassed her. She was hit repeatedly, and Durrant was wounded several times. Twice the Germans summoned the boat to surrender and were refused. Finally the launch was boarded and those who were still alive were taken prisoner, among them Sgt Durrant, who had been wounded 16 times. He died of his wounds on the 29th. Speaking with the prisoners, Kapitänleutnant F.K Paul, commander of the Jaguar, commended them for their gallant fight, and singled out Durrant for special praise. Acting with Paul’s comment in mind, Durrant’s commanding officer, Lieutenant R. O. C. Swayne, initiated the process that led to the award of the V.C. to Sgt. Durrant. Durrant also has the distinction of being the only British soldier to have won the V.C. while serving with the Royal Navy.


"These things must be done delicately-- or you hurt the spell."  - The Wicked Witch of the West.
"We've got the torpedo damage temporarily shored up, the fires out and soon will have the ship back on an even keel. But I would suggest, sir, that if you have to take any more torpedoes, you take 'em on the starboard side."   Pops Healy, DCA USS Lexington.