Wikipedia:Main Page history/2019 February 21

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From today's featured article

SMS Kronprinz (Crown Prince) was the last battleship of the four-ship König class of the Imperial German Navy, laid down in 1911 and launched on 21 February 1914. The ship was armed with ten 30.5-centimeter (12.0 in) guns in five twin turrets and could steam at a top speed of 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph). Along with her three sister ships, König, Grosser Kurfürst and Markgraf, Kronprinz took part in most of the World War I fleet actions, including the 1916 Battle of Jutland. She was torpedoed by the British submarine HMS J1 in November 1916 during an operation off the Danish coast. Following repairs, she participated in Operation Albion, an amphibious assault in the Baltic, in October 1917. After Germany's defeat in the war and the signing of the Armistice in November 1918, Kronprinz and most of the capital ships of the High Seas Fleet were interned by the Royal Navy in Scapa Flow, and later scuttled by their German crews. (Full article...)

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

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Malathi Chendur

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In the news

Karl Lagerfeld

German fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld (pictured), best known for his creative work at Chanel, dies at the age of 85.
A suicide bombing attack near Pulwama, in Indian-administered Kashmir, kills 40 security personnel.
NASA concludes the 15-year Opportunity Mars rover mission after being unable to wake the rover from hibernation.
The Republic of Macedonia changes its name to the Republic of North Macedonia as the Prespa agreement takes effect, ending a 27-year naming dispute with Greece.

On this day

February 21

Kurt Eisner

1437 – King James I of Scotland was murdered at Perth in a failed coup by his uncle and former ally Walter Stewart, Earl of Atholl.
1828 – The inaugural issue of the Cherokee Phoenix, the first newspaper in a Native American language, was published.
1919 – Bavarian socialist Kurt Eisner (pictured), who had organized the German Revolution that overthrew the Wittelsbach monarchy and established Bavaria as a republic, was assassinated.
1929 – In the first battle of the Warlord Rebellion against the Nationalist government of China, a 24,000-strong rebel force led by Zhang Zongchang was defeated at Zhifu by 7,000 NRA troops.
1973 – After accidentally having strayed into Israeli-occupied airspace, Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 was shot down by two Israeli fighter aircraft, killing 108.

Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke (b. 1705) · Mary Edwards Walker (d. 1919) · Howard Florey (d. 1968)

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Today's featured picture

Papilio machaon, also known as the Old World swallowtail, is a butterfly of the family Papilionidae. It is present throughout the entire Palearctic region, ranging from western Europe and Russia to China and Japan, including the Himalayas and Taiwan, across into Alaska, Canada, and the United States, and as far south as Saudi Arabia and Oman. The adult butterfly typically has yellow wings with black vein markings, and a wingspan of 65–86 millimetres (2.6–3.4 in). The hindwing has a pair of protruding tails, similar to that of a swallow, and just below each tail is one red and six blue eyespots. In the caterpillar stage, P. machaon has a length of 45 millimetres (1.8 in) and resembles a bird dropping, giving it camouflage.

Photograph: Zeynel Cebeci

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