Wikipedia:Main Page history/2016 September 13

the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

From today's featured article

SS Montanan was a cargo ship operated by the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company. Built in 1912 by the Maryland Steel Company as one of eight sister ships, the freighter was employed in inter-coastal service, first via the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and then the Panama Canal, after it opened in 1914. The ship was 6,649 gross register tons (GRT), 428 ft 9 in (130.68 m) in length and 53 ft 7 in (16.33 m) abeam. Used by the United States Army Transport Service during World War I, USAT Montanan carried cargo and animals to France, and sailed in the first American convoy to France after the United States entered the war in April 1917. During another eastbound convoy in August 1918, Montanan was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-90 500 nautical miles (900 km) west of Le Verdon-sur-Mer, France. Of the 86 men aboard the ship, 81 were rescued by a convoy escort. The other five were killed, including two of the ship's Naval Armed Guardsmen, drowned when their lifeboat capsized in the heavy seas. (Full article...)

Recently featured:

Did you know...

Daniel Michel

... that Daniel Michel (pictured) is the first Australian boccia player selected to compete at the Paralympic Games since 2000?
... that in 2012, Opera Lafayette staged Le Roi et le Fermier at the Royal Opera of Versailles using rediscovered sets from a 1780 production?
... that Susan Stover has received multiple awards for her research into the causes and prevention of performance-related injuries in racehorses?
... that the melody for the hymn "Herzlich tut mich verlangen" was taken from a love song and became the tune of "O Sacred Head, Now Wounded"?
... that fictional character Daniel Wolek on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live was recast with several actors, prompting a producer to call it "the role from hell?"
... that before he became Chief Justice of Manitoba, Richard J. Scott served as the trial judge in R v Lavallee, a case which granted legal recognition to battered woman syndrome as a defence?
... that some employees of Tajikistan's government were required to buy shares in the Rogun Dam project in order to keep their jobs?
... that though Romanian courtier Ioan Kalinderu lacked any interest in riding, he rode a horse every day after reading that this was the fashion among lords in London?

In the news

Artist's impression of OSIRIS-REx

Passenger services begin on the 54-kilometre (34 mi) Moscow Central Circle rail line.
North Korea conducts its fifth and largest nuclear test to date.
NASA launches OSIRIS-REx (artist's impression pictured), a probe sent to return samples from the asteroid 101955 Bennu.
Genetic analysis shows that the giraffe genus, previously thought to contain one extant species, actually consists of four.
The Summer Paralympics open in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The IUCN reclassifies the giant panda as a vulnerable species, and the eastern gorilla as critically endangered.

On this day...

September 13: Feast day of Saint John Chrysostom (Western Christianity)

John Calvin

1437 – A Portuguese expeditionary force led by Henry the Navigator began an ultimately unsuccessful siege of Tangiers.
1541 – After three years of exile, John Calvin (pictured) returned to Geneva to reform the church under a body of doctrine that came to be known as Calvinism.
1848 – An explosion drove an iron rod through the head of railroad foreman Phineas Gage, making him an important early case of personality change after brain injury.
1964 – South Vietnamese Generals Lam Van Phat and Duong Van Duc staged a coup attempt after junta leader Nguyen Khanh demoted them.
2006 – Kimveer Gill shot 19 people for unknown reasons, killing one, at Dawson College in Montreal.

More anniversaries:

Today's featured picture

The ceiling and lantern of Ely Cathedral, an Anglican church in Cambridgeshire, England. First built in 1083, it is the seat of the Bishop of Ely and a suffragan bishop, the Bishop of Huntingdon. The central octagon, described by Nikolaus Pevsner as Ely's "greatest individual achievement of architectural genius", was built in the 14th century following the collapse of the Norman central crossing tower. The central lantern, which is also octagonal in form, has panels which can be opened to allow access from the octagon roof-space.

Photograph: David Iliff

Recently featured:

Other areas of Wikipedia

Community portal – Bulletin board, projects, resources and activities covering a wide range of Wikipedia areas.
Help desk – Ask questions about using Wikipedia.
Local embassy – For Wikipedia-related communication in languages other than English.
Reference desk – Serving as virtual librarians, Wikipedia volunteers tackle your questions on a wide range of subjects.
Site news – Announcements, updates, articles and press releases on Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation.
Village pump – For discussions about Wikipedia itself, including areas for technical issues and policies.