That one is from 1916, shortly after she was commissioned, and taken in the East River, New York City.

December 8

1854. Ineffabilis Deus -- Pope Pius IX issues a Papal Bull declaring that the Virgin Mother was born free of original sin.

1980. John Lennon is murdered by Mark David Chapman, a mentally unstable "fan". He remains incarcerated at Attica prison, his parole having been denied six times.

1991. The leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine sign an agreement dissolving the Soviet Union.

1993. NAFTA is signed into law by President Clinton.

I'm surprised it was still that way in 1768. I would've thought it would've been solved earlier than that.

http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Page...id-chapman.jpg

http://www.lewrockwell.com/special/Prison1.jpg

December 9

1851. The first YMCA in North America (I didn't even know it was international) is establish, at Montreal, Canada.

1937. Japanese Imperial troops begin their assault of the city of Nanking (Nanjing), China. This will result in the fall of the city, and the aftermath will become known as the Nanking Massacre, or the Rape of Nanking.

NSFW pictures that you probably do not want to see.

http://www.someworthwhilequotes.com/...rchildren1.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_OZlz2hw1ud...0/nankingx.jpg

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...:0&tx=63&ty=84



1961. The trial of Adolf Eichmann ends in Israel, with the former Nazi convicted of 15 counts of various crimes against humanity.

Is that a skull on his cap?

http://home.comcast.net/~twirlrecords/AdolfEichmann.jpg

Yes. The Death Head was a standard part of the SS uniform.

http://www.ww2incolor.com/d/446349-1...-world-war-2-8

http://www.german-helmets.com/ALLG-S...LG_SS_logo.jpg

http://www.german-helmets.com/SS_ALLG_MAIN.htm

That's pretty wild.

December 10

1864. Having marched across Georgia leaving only havoc and destruction in their wake, the forces of General Sherman reach the outer defenses of the city of Savannah, Georgia.

1901. The first Nobel Prizes are awarded.

1906. President Roosevelt wins the Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the first American to win a Nobel Prize.

1935. The Downtown Athletic Club Trophy, later renamed the Heisman Trophy, is awarded for the first time, to the immortal Jay Berwanger of the University of Chicago.

1941. The British battleship Prince of Wales and Battlecruiser HMS Repulse, the centerpieces of the British Navy's most powerful naval forces in the Pacific/Indian theater, are sunk by Japanese aircraft. It is an early and painful lesson that airpower has reached ascendancy in naval matters and that even the best capital ships are extremely vulnerable if they are unaccompanied by air power.

1941. Japanese troops begin landing on the Phillipines. History will largely go on to ignore MacArthur's rather fumbling defense of the islands, in particular his loss of American airpower in much the same manner as that which got the commander general in Hawaii fired and accused of gross stupidity.

1949. The Communist forces of the People's Republic of China begin their assault on the last nationalist strongholder of Chiang Kai Shek on the mainland, forcing him to retreat to Formosa/Taiwan.

Yeah, I never gave much thought to it -- it's just sort of embedded knowledge for me that I never look at to analyze, but in retrospect, it does seem a bit wild. You should note, however, that use of morbid symbols is hardly rare or unusual for military or paramilitary uniforms in history, though you certainly see less of it now (perhaps because of the assocation with Nazi Germany, because the Death Head was a very prominent feature of the SS).

Looking up the picture reminded me that the phrase Death Head, Totenkopf in German, also gave rise to the name for one of the "named" SS divisions, along with such other notables as the Adolf Hitler division. Totenkopf served with distinction mostly along the Eastern Front.

The Hermann Goring Division, reknowned in its own right, was an elite Luftwaffe division, and not an SS division. The fact taht the Air Force had its own elite "army-type" division just goes to show how dysfunctional the German military machine was in many respects.

:spock:

Use of the Totenkopf didn't begin with the NAZIs, however. It was used by certain Prussian dorks as well long before the NAZIs. I'll try to find a picture.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...nMackensen.jpg

Think I said that:

I remember the Prussians having it, and I think some American units (sub-division) have them as well. I can't remember others, but I think it's one of those things, like the swastika itself, which was not uncommon across nationalities/cultures and now is in disuse due to the association with the Nazis.

That is one snazzy looking uniform...











....for Halloween.