Wikipedia:Main Page history/2021 January 24

Right-elevation drawing of a Francesco Caracciolo-class battleship

The Francesco Caracciolo-class battleships were a group of four battleships designed for the Royal Italian Navy in 1913 and ordered in 1914. The first ship of the class, Francesco Caracciolo, was laid down in late 1914; the other three ships followed in 1915. Armed with a main battery of eight 381 mm (15 in) guns and possessing a top speed of 28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph), the four ships were intended to be the equivalent of fast battleships such as the British Queen Elizabeth class. The class was never completed due to material shortages and shifting construction priorities following the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Only the lead ship was launched, in 1920, and several proposals to convert her into an aircraft carrier were considered, but budgetary problems prevented any work being done. She was sold to an Italian shipping firm for conversion into a merchant vessel, but this also proved to be too expensive, and she was broken up for scrap, beginning in 1926. (Full article...)

Northern masked owl

• ... that northern masked owl (example pictured) chicks hiss to ask for food, while adults hiss to defend nests?
• ... that Joseph McLain held 30 patents, including for smoke grenades, underwater torches, and flares?
• ... that Artémis, cœur d'artichaut is a female buddy film inspired by Greek mythology, Carl Jung and Éric Rohmer?
• ... that the specific name of Laudakia nupta comes from the Latin word for a bride who veils herself?
• ... that
  Zintkala Nuni, who survived the Wounded Knee Massacre, gave birth to a stillborn boy in Nebraska's Milford Industrial Home
  , at one time the only state-funded institution in the US for unmarried pregnant women?
• ... that due to Brian Crabtree's closeness with his brothers in professional wrestling, Kendo Nagasaki once refused to wrestle "Big Daddy" Crabtree with Brian refereeing?
• ... that the 1978 science-fiction novel Dreamsnake includes a named character for whom gender pronouns are never used, thereby subverting gender expectations?
• ... that Svetlana Lloyd accidentally became a model for Christian Dior, after wandering into his Paris boutique looking for a receptionist job?

Hank Aaron in 1974

• In Russia, protests against the arrest of Alexei Navalny occur in many cities.
• American baseball player Hank Aaron (pictured) dies at the age of 86.
• Faustin-Archange Touadéra is elected for a second term as President of the Central African Republic.
• LauncherOne becomes the first liquid-fueled aircraft-launched rocket to reach orbit.

January 24

Sutter's Mill

• 1458 – The Estates unanimously proclaimed 14-year-old Matthias Corvinus King of Hungary after being persuaded to do so by his uncle Michael Szilágyi.
• California Gold Rush
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• 1968 – Vietnam War: The 1st Australian Task Force launched Operation Coburg against the North Vietnamese army and the Viet Cong.
• 1977 – During the Spanish transition to democracy, neo-fascists attacked an office in Madrid, killing five people and injuring four others.
• 2011 – A North Caucasian jihadist carried out a suicide bombing at Moscow Domodedovo Airport, killing 37 people.