Wikipedia:Main Page history/2011 April 13

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Today's featured article
HMS Ark Royal was an aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy that served in the Second World War. Designed in 1934 to fit the restrictions of the Washington Naval Treaty, she was built by Cammell Laird and Company, Ltd. at Birkenhead, England, and completed in November 1938. Her design differed from previous aircraft carriers. Ark Royal was the first ship on which the hangars and flight deck were an integral part of the hull, instead of an add-on or part of the superstructure. Designed to carry a large number of aircraft, she had two hangar deck levels. She served during a period that first saw the extensive use of naval air power; a number of carrier tactics were developed and refined aboard Ark Royal. She served in some of the most active naval theatres of the Second World War, including operations off Norway, the search for the German battleship Bismarck, and the Malta Convoys. She was torpedoed on 13 November 1941 and sank the following day. Her sinking was the subject of several inquiries; investigators were keen to know how the carrier was lost, given there were efforts to save the ship and tow her to the naval base at Gibraltar. Several design flaws were discovered during the investigation and were rectified in new British carriers. (more...) Recently featured: Pattern Recognition – Parkinson's disease – Populous: The Beginning Archive – By email – More featured articles...
Did you know...
From Wikipedia's newest articles: ... that San Francisco fireboat Phoenix (pictured) pumped some 5.5 million gallons (20.8 ML) of seawater to help fight fires after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake? ... that Rudolf Fränkel's Lichtburg cinema in Berlin, with its rooftop searchlights, probably influenced Cecil Clavering's Odeon cinema in Kingstanding? ... that Tal Brody was drafted 12th in the National Basketball Association draft, but chose instead to play basketball for Israel? ... that a stained glass window in St. Paul's Church, King Cross, Halifax built in 1911, is dedicated in memory of Edward Wainhouse, whose daughter married the first vicar of the prior church built in 1846? ... that leading Ulster Defence Association member Stephen "Top Gun" McKeag sang "Follow the Yellow Brick Road" after committing a sectarian killing? ... that the extinct Miocene redwood, Sequoiadendron chaneyi, is the probable ancestor to the giant sequoias in California? ... that Quezon Representative Lorenzo Tañada III's first girlfriend was former Akbayan Representative Risa Hontiveros while they were studying at the Ateneo de Manila University? Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

In the news
Laurent Gbagbo The Japan Atomic Energy Agency raises the severity of the Fukushima I nuclear accidents to level 7, the highest on the International Nuclear Event Scale. Former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo (pictured) is arrested after a five-month standoff with Alassane Ouattara. At least 12 people are killed and over 200 injured in a bomb attack on the Metro in Minsk, Belarus. France implements a controversial ban on full-length face covering. Iceland rejects a plan to repay the British and Dutch governments over guarantee savings after Icesave's failure. In golf, South African Charl Schwartzel wins the Masters Tournament. American film director Sidney Lumet dies at the age of 86. Wikinews – Recent deaths – More current events...
On this day...
April 13: Vaisakhi (Sikhism) 1598 – King Henry IV of France issued the Edict of Nantes, granting freedom of religion to the Huguenots. 1919 – British Indian Army troops massacred hundreds of unarmed men, women and children who were attending a peaceful gathering at the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, Punjab, India. 1941 – The Soviet Union and the Empire of Japan signed a neutrality pact, which lasted through most of World War II. 1948 – A convoy bringing medical and fortification supplies and personnel to Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus was ambushed by Arab forces, leaving about eighty people dead. 1953 – The CIA began Project MKULTRA, an illegal, covert human research program into mind control. 2009 - Twenty-three people died in a homeless hostel fire (damage pictured) in Kamień Pomorski, Poland, the country's deadliest fire since 1980. More anniversaries: April 12 – April 13 – April 14 Archive – By email – List of historical anniversaries It is now April 13, 2011 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture

A Sikh pilgrim at the Harmandir Sahib, known informally as the "Golden Temple", located in the city of Amritsar, Punjab, India. The temple is the best-known of the Sikh gurdwaras and was completed in 1604. In the early nineteenth century, Maharaja Ranjit Singh covered the upper floors of the gurdwara with gold, giving it its distinctive appearance.

Photo: Paul Rudd

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