[Daily article] November 9: Japanese battleship Yashima

Yashima was a Fuji-class pre-dreadnought battleship built for the
Imperial Japanese Navy in the 1890s. Yashima (a classical name for
Japan) was designed and built in the United Kingdom, as Japan lacked
the necessary industrial capacity. Her main battery consisted of four
12-inch (305 mm) guns. Commanded by Captain Hajime Sakamoto at the
start of the Russo-Japanese War, the ship participated in the Battle of
Port Arthur on 9 February 1904 when Vice-Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō led
his battleships and cruisers in an attack on Russia's Pacific Squadron.
Yashima was involved in war operations until May, when she struck two
mines off Port Arthur. She did not sink immediately, but capsized while
under tow later that day. The Japanese were able to keep her loss a
secret from the Russians for over a year; as part of the deception,
surviving crewmen who were guarding Port Arthur addressed their letters
as if they were still aboard the battleship.

Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_battleship_Yashima>

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Today's selected anniversaries:

1914:

World War I: Off the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, the Australian
light cruiser HMAS Sydney sank SMS Emden, the last active warship of
the Central Powers in the Indian Ocean.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cocos>

1989:

East German official Günter Schabowski mistakenly announced
the immediate opening of the inner German border, resulting in the fall
of the Berlin Wall that night (border crossing pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_the_Berlin_Wall>

2016:

A tram derailed in Croydon, London, killing seven people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Croydon_tram_derailment>

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Wiktionary's word of the day:

trounce:
1. (transitive) To beat severely; to thrash.
2. (transitive) To beat thoroughly, to defeat heavily; especially
(games, sports) to win against (someone) by a wide margin.
3. (transitive) To chastise or punish physically or verbally; to scold
with abusive language.
4. (transitive, Britain, regional) To punish by bringing a lawsuit
against; to sue. [...]
5. (intransitive, Britain, dialectal) To walk heavily or with some
difficulty; to tramp, to trudge.
6. (intransitive, Britain, dialectal) To pass across or over; to
traverse.
7. (intransitive) To travel quickly over a long distance.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/trounce>

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Wikiquote quote of the day:

  We stand again at an inflection point. We have the opportunity
to defeat despair and to build a nation of prosperity and purpose. We
can do it. I know we can. I've long talked about the battle for the
soul of America. We must restore the soul of America. Our nation is
shaped by the constant battle between our better angels and our darkest
impulses. It is time for our better angels to prevail. Tonight, the
whole world is watching America. I believe at our best America is a
beacon for the globe. And we lead not by the example of our power, but
by the power of our example.  
--Joe Biden
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joe_Biden>

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