text: Template:Virginia class submarine

title: Template:Virginia class submarine


text:
Sex machine (disambiguation)

Sex Machine may refer to:

Human sexuality

 * Sex machine, a mechanized apparatus that acts as an automated erotic stimulation device
 * Virtual sex machine or teledildonics, computer-controlled sex toys
 * Sex Machines Museum, a sex museum in Prague, Czech Republic

Music

 * "Sex Machine", a song on the 1969 album Stand! by Sly and the Family Stone
 * Sex Machine (album), a 1970 album by James Brown
 * "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine", a 1970 song by James Brown
 * Live at the Sex Machine, a 1971 funk album by Kool and the Gang
 * Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine, a British indie rock band
 * Sex Machineguns, a Japanese speed metal band

Film

 * Conviene far bene l'amore (1975), also released as The Sex Machine
 * Sex Machine (1980 film), a pornographic film starring Jack Wrangler
 * Sex Machine, a character in the 1996 film From Dusk Till Dawn

People

 * Santana Sexmachine, Swedish-German drag queen

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Sex machine (disambiguation)


text:
Spandau Citadel

The Spandau Citadel (Zitadelle Spandau) is a fortress in Berlin, Germany, one of the best-preserved Renaissance military structures  of Europe. Built from 1559–94 atop a medieval fort on an island near the meeting of the Havel and the Spree, it was designed to protect the town of Spandau, which is now part of Berlin. In recent years it has been used as a museum and has become a popular tourist spot. Furthermore, the inner courtyard of the Citadel has served as an open air concert venue in the summertime since 2005.

History
In 1157, Albert the Bear built a frontier fortress at this site, and by the middle of the 15th century, the site was the Margrave of Brandenburg seat of government. By 1560, Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg engaged Christoph Römer to build an Italian style fortress, incorporating the older castle, Palas, and Julius Tower. In 1562, Römer was replaced by Francesco Chiaramella de Gandino. In 1578 Rochus Graf zu Lynar took over.

In 1580, the first troops were assigned to Spandau Citadel, although its construction was not complete until 1594. Swedish troops were the first to besiege the citadel in 1675. In 1806 the citadel's garrison surrendered to the French army under Napoleon without firing a shot during the Fall of Berlin. It was retaken by Prussian and Russian forces in 1813, but the ramparts were heavily damaged during the battle and required extensive restoration. The citadel was also used as a prison for Prussian state prisoners, including German nationalist Friedrich Ludwig Jahn.

In 1935, the Army's Gas Protection Laboratory was installed. The site employed about 300 scientist and technicians working on chemical weapons (including synthesis, animal and human testing, munitions development, and development of manufacturing processes). Much of the work developing nerve gas was done here.

Close to the end of the Second World War, during the battle in Berlin, the citadel became a part of the city's defences. Although several hundred years old, the Citadel's tracé à l'italienne design made the structure difficult to storm. So instead of bombarding and storming the Citadel, the Soviets invested it and set about negotiating a surrender. After negotiations, the citadel's commander surrendered to the Lieutenant-General Perkhorovitch's 47th Army just after 15:00 on 1 May 1945, saving many lives and leaving the Renaissance bastion fort intact.

After the Second World War, the Spandau Citadel was first occupied by Soviet troops. After the division of Berlin by the Allied powers, Spandau and its Citadel were part of the British sector. Despite its history as a prison, the Citadel was not used to hold National Socialist war criminals. Rather, they were housed at Spandau prison in the same Berlin borough.

The Citadel now houses a museum, the Zitadelle; among the exhibitions is a collection of sculptures that have been removed from public display in Berlin over previous centuries, including statues of Friedrich Wilhelm III and Queen Luise, Nazi art, and the head of a 19-metre statue of Lenin.

Structure
The citadel is composed of different buildings all related to defence or representative housing. The gate house with a draw bridge used to hinder attackers from entering the citadel. The Gothic hall building palace was used as residential building. Gravestones dating back to 1244 bear witness to Jewish life as an important trade town, and the function of the citadel as a refuge. Julius tower is Spandau's most famous sight. Originally built as a keep or watchtower, it was also used as a residence tower. Its castellated top was designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel in 1838 and is an example of Romantic architecture. After the Franco-Prussian War 1870/71, part of the war reparations paid by France, 120 million marks in gold coin, was stored at Julius tower until its restitution to France in 1919.

The word Juliusturm has since been used in Germany for governmental budget surpluses.

From 1950 to 1986, the citadel housed vocational school Otto Bartning. Subsequently, more and more buildings were redesigned for museums and exhibition. Today, Spandau Citadel is famous for its open-air concerts during the Citadel Music Festival.

Scenes from the 1985 action film Gotcha! were filmed at and around Spandau Citadel.

title: Spandau Citadel


text:
Baron Harlech

Baron Harlech, of Harlech in the County of Merioneth, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1876 for the Conservative politician John Ormsby-Gore, with remainder to his younger brother William. He had previously represented Carnarvon and North Shropshire in the House of Commons. Ormsby-Gore was the eldest son of William Ormsby-Gore, Member of Parliament for County Leitrim, Carnarvon and North Shropshire, and the great-great-great-grandson of William Gore, third and youngest son of Sir Arthur Gore, 1st Baronet, of Newtown, second son of Sir Paul Gore, 1st Baronet, of Magharabag, whose eldest son Paul was the grandfather of Arthur Gore, 1st Earl of Arran.

Lord Harlech was succeeded according to the special remainder by his brother William, the second Baron. He was a former Conservative Member of Parliament for County Sligo and County Leitrim and also served as Lord Lieutenant of County Leitrim for many years. His son, the third Baron, represented Oswestry in the House of Commons as a Conservative between the May 1901 - June 1904. And he also served as Lord Lieutenant of County Leitrim and of Merionethshire. He was succeeded by his son, the fourth Baron. He was a Conservative politician and notably served as Postmaster-General, as First Commissioner of Works and as Secretary of State for the Colonies. His second but eldest surviving son, the fifth Baron, was a prominent Conservative politician and diplomat. From 1961 to 1965 he served as British Ambassador to the United States. the title is held by his grandson, the seventh Baron, who succeeded in 2016.

ITV Wales & West is an independent television company established by David Ormsby-Gore, 5th Baron Harlech. The company was initially known as Harlech Television (HTV), but changed name in 1970.

The family seat is Glyn Cywarch, near Talsarnau, Gwynedd, Wales. The former family seat is Brogyntyn Hall, near Oswestry, Shropshire. The 7th Baron sold off almost £2.6m in family heirlooms to fund restoration of Glyn Cywarch.

Baron Harlech (1876)

 * John Ralph Ormsby-Gore, 1st Baron Harlech (1816–1876)
 * William Richard Ormsby-Gore, 2nd Baron Harlech (1819–1904)
 * William Seymour Ormsby-Gore (1852–1853)
 * George Ralph Charles Ormsby-Gore, 3rd Baron Harlech (1855–1938)
 * William George Arthur Ormsby-Gore, 4th Baron Harlech (1885–1964)
 * Owen Gerhard Cecil Ormsby-Gore (1916–1935)
 * (William) David Ormsby-Gore, 5th Baron Harlech (1918–1985)
 * Hon. Julian Hugh Ormsby-Gore (1940–1974)
 * Francis David Ormsby-Gore, 6th Baron Harlech (1954–2016)
 * Jasset David Cody Ormsby-Gore, 7th Baron Harlech (born 1986).

There is currently no heir to the barony.

title: Baron Harlech


text:
QMC

QMC may refer to:

 * Quaid e Azam Medical College, a medical college in Bahawalpur, Pakistan
 * Quantum Monte Carlo, a class of computer algorithms
 * Quartermaster Corporal, a type of appointment in the British Household Cavalry
 * Quasi-Monte Carlo method, an integration method in mathematics
 * Queen Margaret College, now Queen Margaret University, in Edinburgh, Scotland
 * Queen Margaret College (Wellington), an all-girls high school in Wellington, New Zealand
 * Queen Mary Coast, a portion of the coast of Antarctica
 * Queen Mary College, a former college of the University of London, now part of Queen Mary University of London
 * Queen Mary's College, Chennai, a women's college in Chennai
 * Queen Mary's College, a Sixth Form College in Basingstoke, Hampshire, England
 * Queen's Medical Centre, a hospital in Nottingham, England
 * Quezon Memorial Circle, a national park and shrine in Quezon City, Philippines
 * Quine–McCluskey algorithm, a method used for the minimization of Boolean functions

title: QMC


text:
Martina Topley-Bird

Martina Gillian Topley-Bird (née Topley; born 7 May 1975) is an English singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist who first gained fame as the featured female vocalist on trip hop pioneer Tricky's debut album, Maxinquaye (1995). She also worked with him on his subsequent albums, Nearly God and Pre-Millennium Tension (both in 1996). In 2003, Topley-Bird released her debut solo album, Quixotic, which was critically praised and earned her a Mercury Prize nomination.

This was followed by Anything (2004), The Blue God (2008), and Some Place Simple (2010). She has also collaborated with Gorillaz, appearing on their album Demon Days (2005), as well as with Mark Lanegan, Diplo, and Massive Attack on Heligoland (2010), which she followed by a world tour with the group. Her song "Sandpaper Kisses" was covered by Stephen Marley and sampled by artists such as Berry Weight and The Weeknd and used in the video game Fahrenheit.

Early life
Martina Topley-Bird was born in London, England, to Charlette Conlon (née Pouncey) and Martin Geoffrey Topley, who died in 1974 before her birth; Martina was named after him. Her stepfather is British direct marketing specialist Drayton Bird, whose surname she adopted in addition to her father's. Her mother is of Salvadoran and Seminole descent, while her father was of untraceable African-American descent. Topley-Bird grew up in a large family, with five siblings and three step-siblings.

Her family later relocated from London to Bristol. "We moved about a bit when I was a child, which wasn't a problem for me", she recalled. "If you're not white and middle-class, then you're slightly different and exotic in those new environments. I thrived, and survived, on those situations." She attended Clifton College, where she was a member of the school choir and took piano lessons.

Topley-Bird grew up listening to R&B, opera and soul music throughout her childhood. As a teenager, she began listening to alternative rock, and became a fan of The Sugarcubes, Faith No More and Jane's Addiction.

Collaboration with Tricky
In 1993, as a teenager at Clifton College, Topley-Bird was discovered by trip hop pioneer Tricky when he saw her sitting on a wall near his house, singing to herself. "That's really how it happened," she recalled. "It's one of those things people are always surprised to find out is true. I remember the graveyard behind the wall. A few weeks later, I went around to his house with some friends. We'd been drinking cider after our GCSEs. We were banging on his door, but he wasn't in. Then Mark Stewart, who lived there, came up to us and said: "Yeah, this is Tricky's house, jump in through the window." So I jumped through, opened the door and we got mashed."

She and Tricky formed a musical partnership, and Topley-Bird collaborated with Tricky as a featured vocalist on his debut album Maxinquaye (1995) (a printing error credited her as "Martine"). Almost all of her vocals on the album were recorded in a single take. In describing the recording sessions, she recalled: "It was totally instinctive. There was no time to drum up an alter ego. I liked the idea that the information people needed about me was what they would hear when they put the record on. Anything else was sort of extraneous. I didn't think there was anything in my biography that would explain my musical choices." Topley-Bird continued her collaboration with Tricky on his follow-up albums Nearly God (1996), Pre-Millennium Tension (1996) and Angels with Dirty Faces (1998).

Solo career
Following a deterioration of her professional and personal relationship with Tricky in 1998, Topley-Bird began pursuing a solo career. It was not until 2003 that she released her debut album, Quixotic through Independiente Records, which she recorded in Los Angeles, California. The record was mainly produced by Topley-Bird and production team AMP9 (Alex McGowan, Steve Crittall, Nick Bird) at Space Eko Recording Studios London. She commented on the ideas underpinning the album, saying: "A lot of it is about the notion of physical proximity relative to emotional connections between people. My dad, Martin Topley, died when he was twenty-nine. Between the release of Quixotic and now, I turned twenty-nine, and I started thinking about what I'd achieved in my life as a human being. Also I wanted to focus on the nature of my relationship with him and with my step father because of the way I felt those relationships were affecting my other relationships." Quixotic peaked at no. 70 on the UK Albums Chart, received positive reviews from critics, and was a finalist for the 2003 Mercury Music Prize. The album finally saw a limited release in the United States in July 2004, when the Palm Pictures label released a re-designed and re-sequenced version under the title Anything, which featured a shorter track listing and all-new cover art. The following year she appeared on the Starbucks compilation album Sweetheart 2005: Love Songs, which features contemporary musicians covering classic love songs. She sang "I Only Have Eyes for You", a song originally by composer Harry Warren and lyricist Al Dubin.

Her second solo album, The Blue God, was released in May 2008. The track "Carnies" was released as the first single on 3 March 2008 and reached No. 20 on the UK Indie Charts. "Poison" was released as the second single and reached No.9 on the Indie Charts. The album received generally positive critical reception; the BBC said it "warps reflections of Ella Fitzgerald, two-tone ska, dark psychedelia and Pentangle's 'acid folk' into unsettling shapes ... It's an often astonishing album and one which, if Tricky's forthcoming comeback can't match it, may curse him to be known as 'that bloke who used to rap with Martina Topley Bird.'"

In 2010, Topley-Bird appeared on the album Heligoland by Massive Attack, lending her voice on the tracks "Psyche" and "Babel". She also toured with Massive Attack as their support act and providing guest vocals at their shows. Her third album, Some Place Simple, was released in July 2010. It contained stripped-down versions of songs from her first two releases, along with four new songs. Topley-Bird performed Maxinquaye live at the Sundance Festival, London, in April 2012, and also appeared on the tracks "Open" and "Secret" on electronic musician Clark's album Iradelphic. In 2013 contributed to a cover of the xx's "Crystalised" with Mark Lanegan and Warpaint, and also toured with Warpaint as a supporting act on their 2013 world tour. On 26 January 2015, she appeared as lead vocalist on title track "The Day is My Enemy", the second single of The Prodigy's, from their album The Day Is My Enemy (2015).

In 2018 Martina Topley-Bird released the single "Solitude", which would subsequently appear on the four-track EP MTB Continued.

In May 2021 Topley-Bird released the single "Pure Heart" from her album Forever I Wait released in September of the same year. In a The Guardian interview, Topley-Bird stated she was a lot happier with the end results compared to her previous albums. Also, noting it does not directly address the death of her daughter, largely being written beforehand.

Influences
Topley-Bird cites Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday as vocal influences, as well as Tom Waits and Serge Gainsbourg as instrumental influences. She has cited Bollywood and Asian cinema as an influence on her album artwork as well, including the work of Park Chan-wook.

Personal life
Topley-Bird has an elder sister named Elizabeth. She had one daughter with Tricky. Mina Mazy (19 March 1995 – 8 May 2019) was born one month after the release of Maxinquaye. Mazy died by suicide after suffering a psychotic episode.

She has said that she doesn't consider herself religious, though she "believes in the need to have a healthy spiritual life".

As of 2021 she lived with her partner in Valencia, Spain.

Albums

 * Quixotic (2003) (UK)
 * Anything (2004) (Re-sequenced US version of Quixotic)
 * The Blue God (2008)
 * Some Place Simple (2010)
 * Forever I Wait (2021)

Singles

 * "Need One" (2003)
 * "Anything" (2003)
 * "I Still Feel" (2003)
 * "Soul Food" (2004)
 * "Carnies" (2008)
 * "Poison" (2008)
 * "Baby Blue" (2008)
 * "Crystalised" (2013) (with Mark Lanegan and Warpaint)
 * Solitude (2018)
 * "Pure Heart" (2021)
 * "Hunt" (2021)

Guest appearances

 * Tricky – "Overcome", "Ponderosa", "Black Steel", "Hell Is Round the Corner", "Aftermath", "Abbaon Fat Tracks", "Brand New You're Retro", "Suffocated Love", "Strugglin'" and "Feed Me" from Maxinquaye (1995)
 * Tricky – "Black Coffee", "Children's Story", "I Be the Prophet", "Judas," and "Poems" from Nearly God (1996)
 * Tricky – "Vent", "Christiansands", "Bad Dreams", "Makes Me Wanna Die", "Sex Drive", "Lyrics of Fury" and "My Evil Is Strong" from Pre-Millennium Tension (1996)
 * Tricky – "Singing the Blues", "6 Minutes", "Analyze Me", "Talk to Me (Angels with Dirty Faces)", "Carriage for Two" and "Demise" from Angels with Dirty Faces (1998)
 * Primus – "Dirty Drowning Man" and "Coattails of a Dead Man" from Antipop (1999)
 * David Holmes – "Outrun" and "Zero Tolerance" from Bow Down to the Exit Sign (2000)
 * Diplo – "Into the Sun" from Florida (2004)
 * Gorillaz – "All Alone" from Demon Days (2005)
 * Common – "Everywhere" from Universal Mind Control (2008)
 * Leila – "Deflect" and "Why Should I?" from Blood Looms and Blooms (2008)
 * Massive Attack – "Babel" and "Psyche" from Heligoland (2010)
 * Clark – "Open", "Secret" and "The Pining Pt. 2" from Iradelphic (2012)
 * The Prodigy – "The Day Is My Enemy" from The Day Is My Enemy (2015)
 * Tricky – "When We Die" (2016)

title: Martina Topley-Bird


text:
Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge

Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge is a United States National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), and part of the Everglades Headwaters NWR complex, located just off the western coast of North Hutchinson Island in the Indian River Lagoon east of Sebastian, Florida. The refuge consists of a 3 acre island that includes an additional 2.5 acre of surrounding water and is located off the east coast of Florida of the Indian River Lagoon. Established by an executive order of President Theodore Roosevelt on March 14, 1903, Pelican Island was the first National wildlife refuge in the United States. It was created to protect egrets and other birds from extinction through plume hunting. The oldest government wildlife refuge of any kind in North America is the Lake Merritt Bird Refuge in Oakland, California. Oakland Mayor Samuel Merritt declared it a wildlife refuge for migrating birds in 1869. In 1870, the state of California designated Lake Merritt a state game refuge.

Management
Pelican Island is administered as part of the 8,000 acre Everglades Headwaters NWR complex along with Archie Carr NWR, Lake Wales Ridge NWR, and the Everglades Headwaters NWR and Conservation Area, created in 2012 (556th unit of the National Wildlife Refuge System) with a 10 acre donation and other lands covering approximately 150,000 acres north of Lake Okeechobee. 100,000 acres will be held under "conservation easement"s through the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This allows landowners the right to retain ownership of the land, with the ability to continue farming or ranching, ensuring that the land can't be subdivided or developed.

Pelican Island NWR has been placed on the List of Ramsar wetlands of international importance along with other areas of wetlands in the United States.

Early history
In 1860 census listed population of two people and in the 1880 census listed that less than 30 individuals lived in the St. Sebastian River area. Pelican Island's bird populations were threatened because of increased American settlement around the area in the mid-19th century. Many of the exotic birds were killed for their feathers, used in the fashion industry. Plumes from the birds were used to adorn ladies' hats of the day and at the time were worth more than their weight in gold.

Paul Kroegel, a German immigrant, moved to Florida in 1881 and lived on the west bank of Indian River Lagoon. He was fascinated with the pelicans on the island. Being able to see the island from his home, Paul would watch the pelicans and other water birds. He eventually took an interest in the island and its protection. However, there was not any state or federal law to help him so he took control of the situation himself. Kroegel sailed to the island to stand guard and protect the birds and the island.

A few naturalists visited Kroegel at Pelican Island. A curator at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, Frank Chapman, was one of the naturalists showing interest in the island as well. He discovered that Pelican Island was one of the last rookeries of Brown pelicans on the eastern coast of Florida.

The American Ornithologists' Union and the Florida Audubon Society led a campaign to pass legislation for protection of non-game birds in 1901. Knowing that the protection of Pelican Island would require more legislation, Chapman and his fellow advocate, William Dutcher went to President Theodore Roosevelt at his home in New York. The two appealed their case to Roosevelt's conservative ethics. On 14 March 1903, President Roosevelt signed an executive order that established Pelican Island as the first federal bird reservation. This was the first time that the federal government put land aside for the sake of wildlife. The area, however, was open for big game hunters. Kroegel was hired as the first national wildlife refuge manager until 1926. He was paid $1 per month by the Audubon Society, as Congress had not made financial provisions for the refuge.

Recent threats
During the 1960s, Pelican Island was threatened by attempts to sell the surrounding wetlands and islands to developers. Local citizens led a fight to protect Pelican Island by stopping the sale of the wetlands. The Indian River Area Preservation League, formed by local citrus growers, commercial fishermen, and sportsmen, joined with Florida Audubon Society to convince the State to include the islands as a part of the refuge. "Later in 1963, Pelican Island was designated as a National Historic Landmark by the Secretary of the Interior because of its status as the first federal area set aside specifically to protect wildlife." In 1968, Florida agreed to expand to include nearly 5000 acres (20 km2) of mangrove islands and other submerged lands. And then in 1970, Pelican Island became the smallest wilderness area in the National Wilderness Preservation System. Since, the refuge has gained over 500 acres (2 km2) through purchases, management agreements, and conservation easements to provide a buffer against encroaching development and also to be a link to the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge. Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge was added to the list of wetlands of international importance under the Ramsar Convention signed in 1971.

Today, Pelican Island is also threatened by shoreline development. Shoreline development has many negative impacts associated with it. Shoreline development can reduce the water quality by increasing the runoff of sediments, fertilizers, and pesticides. These runoffs will cause decline in water quality, and this can directly affect the food base that sustains the island's nesting bird colonies. Waterfront development will also lead to more boat traffic. This extra boat traffic will also negatively affect the birds on the coast. Not only this, development of the shorelines of Pelican Island will permanently flaw the pristine character of this unique National Historic Landmark.

Physical environment
The environment of Pelican Island consists of climate, topography, geology, air quality, and waterways.

Climate
The climate at Pelican Island NWR is subtropical and temperate and experiences an average temperate of 67 °F. Pelican Island has long, warm, and humid summers and short, mild winters and has an average rainfall of about 55 to 60 in annually. Pelican Island may experience tropical storms in the period from May to November.

Topography
The elevation of Pelican Island changes from east to west. It rises sharply from sea level to about 15 ft and then drops back down more slowly to below sea level in the Indian River Lagoon. The land between the Indian River Lagoon and St. Sebastian River is 20 ft. Even further west, there is an ancient dune that rises in elevation from 20 ft to 30 ft.

Geology
The landscape of Pelican Island area is made of Pleistocene (glacial) and Holocene (recent) origin. Submerged lands were exposed during the late Pleistocene period, allowing for the spread of flora and fauna from the peninsula. Wetlands, salt marshes, mangroves, and other swampy formations make up the uplands and submerged lands.

Soil
"The general soils in the Pelican Island Refuge are Canaveral-Captiva-Palm Beach, which is characterized by the gently sloping, somewhat poorly drained to moderately drained sandy soils with shell fragments, and McKee-Quartzipsamments-St. Augustine, which is characterized by level, somewhat poorly drained soils mixed with sand and shell fragments." Other soils include Canaveral Fine Sand, Quartzipsamments, Captiva Fine Sand, McKee Mucky Clay Loam, and Kesson Muck.

Air quality
Good air quality is vital for the refuge to maintain itself. A few problems dealing with air pollution are carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, particulate matter, and sulfur dioxide. The primary producers of these pollutants are vehicle emissions, power plants, and industrial activities. The Indian River Lagoon area is said to have good air quality. Sometimes occasional temperate increases can temporarily degrade the air quality below the accepted levels.

Waterways
The Indian River Lagoon stretches from Ponce de Leon south of Daytona Beach to Jupiter Inlet near West Palm Beach, a distance of about 155 mi, and contains a number of small rivers, creeks, and canals. The Intracoastal Waterway is the deepest part of the Lagoon. St. Sebastian River and Turkey Creek provide freshwater to the Lagoon. Water quality is also a concern in the refuge: cadmium, lead, mercury, nutrients, selenium, thallium, and dissolved oxygen. The water circulation is affected by the Intracoastal Waterway, winds, inlets, and causeways. Within the refuge boundary, the water quality is generally better compared to portions of the Lagoon.

Wildlife
Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge holds hundreds of species of animals including birds, fish, plants, and mammals. The wetlands of Pelican Island are a major ecological system supporting the huge biological diversity. Fifteen federally listed threatened and endangered species live in Pelican Island NWR and around Indian River Lagoon. Of the endangered species, West Indian manatees and sea turtles occupy parts of the lagoon. Around the lagoon in the refuge are two wood stork refuges. These birds along with other wading birds that nest on the island thrive on the tremendous fish population. Pelican Island is home to many nesting birds including brown pelicans, great egrets, snowy egrets, reddish egrets, great blue heron, little blue heron, tricolored heron, black-crowned night heron, American white ibis, glossy ibis, double-crested cormorant, anhinga, and American oystercatcher.

Visiting
Pelican Island is only accessible by boat or chartered tours. Nesting birds are easily disturbed, so people are not allowed to get too close or to disembark. Visiting during nesting season (late November through late July), one can expect to see brown pelican, wood storks, white ibises, black-crowned night herons, double-crested cormorants, reddish, snowy, and great egrets, and great blue, little blue and tricolored herons. Traveling in the winter, look for lesser scaup, blue-winged teal, mottled ducks, great northern divers, laughing gulls, American white pelicans, and red-breasted mergansers. Summer visitors should watch for roseate spoonbills, magnificent frigatebirds and least terns. Pelican Island also features some marine life in the Indian River including sea turtles, dolphins, and manatees.

New public facilities were opened and dedicated on March 14, 2003, in ceremonies marking the centennial of Pelican Island and the National Wildlife Refuge System. A 37¢ US Commemorative Stamp in honor of the NWR Centennial was issued as part of the celebration. The new facilities include a 1/4 mile boardwalk and 18 ft observation tower to view Pelican Island, two 2.5 mi salt marsh impoundment foot trails, interpretive signs, informational kiosks, restrooms and parking areas. The facilities are west of Highway A1A on the north end of Historic Jungle Trail. They were produced through a partnership with Indian River County, St. Johns River Water Management District, Florida Inland Navigation District, Florida Power and Light, ConocoPhillips, Wild Birds Unlimited, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and many others. Future plans include additional boardwalks, an overlook, a photo blind and a wildlife drive.

Jungle Trail
The historic Jungle Trail is a 7.8 mile sandy road with a section that goes through the refuge. Citrus growers originally built this road in the 1920s and it is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

Budget cuts
Pelican Island, along with many other wildlife refuges, has been experiencing budget cuts. Many problems arise from the stagnant budget and lack of maintenance in the wildlife refuges. These are vital to preserve the habitat and the wildlife and to provide public education and recreation. This situation worsened further because of the failure of congress to timely pass federal funding bills.

Staffing at Pelican Island is made up of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The staff members have recently fallen from six to two which has had many negative consequences. The cuts have led to limiting refuge work and restricting public visitation. Another consequence is the end of 14-year tradition of the wildlife festival. Pelican Island will be losing its only public-use staff and eliminating all active outreach at the nation's first wildlife refuge. Pelican Island Refuge manager and project leader Paul Tritaik said in 2006 that reductions to a full-time staff would lead to the end of some refuge activities and the loss of several trails.

title: Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge


text:
Baron Hothfield

Baron Hothfield, of Hothfield in the County of Kent, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1881 for Sir Henry Tufton, 2nd Baronet, who was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Westmorland the same year and who also served briefly as a government whip in the Liberal administration of 1886. His eldest son, the second Baron, notably served as Mayor of Appleby, Westmorland. On the death of his son, the third Baron, in 1961, this line of the family failed. The late Baron was succeeded by his first cousin, the fourth Baron. He was the only son of the Hon. Sackville Philip Tufton, second son of the first Baron. On his death in 1986 this line of the family also failed and the titles passed to his first cousin, the fifth Baron. He was the eldest son of the Hon. Charles Henry Tufton, third son of the first Baron. the titles are held by his son, the sixth Baron, who succeeded in 1991.

The Tufton baronetcy, of Appleby Castle in the County of Westmorland, was created in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom in 1851 for Richard Tufton. He was the reputed natural son of Henry Tufton, 11th and last Earl of Thanet, who devised the substantial Tufton estates on him. He was succeeded by his son, the aforementioned second Baronet, who was raised to the peerage in 1881.

The family seat now is Drybeck Hall, near Appleby-in-Westmorland, Cumbria. The former was Skipton Castle, sold by the third Baron in 1956.

Tufton baronets, of Appleby Castle (1851)

 * Sir Richard Tufton, 1st Baronet (1813 – 20 June 1871), was a British baronet. He was born in Verdun, France, as the reputed natural son of Henry Tufton, 11th Earl of Thanet, who devised the substantial estates on him. On the Earl's death in 1849 he inherited the estates, which included Skipton Castle in Yorkshire and Hothfield Place, Nr. Ashford, Kent, and became a British citizen the same year. In 1851 he was created a Baronet, of Appleby Castle in the County of Westmorland. He served as High Sheriff of Kent in 1859. Tufton married Adelaide Amelie Lacour in 1843. He died in June 1871 and was succeeded in the baronetcy by his son Henry, who was elevated to the peerage as Baron Hothfield in 1881.
 * Sir Henry James Tufton, 2nd Baronet (1844–1926) (created Baron Hothfield in 1881)

Baron Hothfield (1881)

 * Henry James Tufton, 1st Baron Hothfield (1844–1926)
 * John Sackville Richard Tufton, 2nd Baron Hothfield (1873–1952)
 * Henry Hastings Sackville Thanet Tufton, 3rd Baron Hothfield (1897–1961)
 * Thomas Sackville Tufton, 4th Baron Hothfield (1916–1986)
 * George William Anthony Tufton, 5th Baron Hothfield (1904–1991)
 * Anthony Charles Sackville Tufton, 6th Baron Hothfield (born 1939)

The heir apparent is the present holder's son, Hon. William Sackville Tufton (born 1977). The heir apparent's heir apparent is his son, Samuel James Tufton (born 2009).

title: Baron Hothfield


text:
Greenspun

Greenspun (Anglicized from גרינשפּון) is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:

 * Hank Greenspun (1909–1989), American newspaper publisher, and founder of the Greenspun Corporation
 * Philip Greenspun (born 1963), American computer scientist and entrepreneur
 * Roger Greenspun, American journalist and film critic

title: Greenspun


text:
Lexington-class aircraft carrier

The Lexington-class aircraft carriers were a pair of aircraft carriers built for the United States Navy (USN) during the 1920s, the USS Lexington (CV-2) and USS Saratoga (CV-3). The ships were built on hulls originally laid down as battlecruisers after World War I, but under the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922, all U.S. battleship and battlecruiser construction was cancelled. The Treaty, however, allowed two of the unfinished ships to be converted to carriers. They were the first operational aircraft carriers in the USN and were used to develop carrier aviation tactics and procedures before World War II in a series of annual exercises.

They proved extremely successful as carriers and experience with the Lexington class convinced the Navy of the value of large carriers. They were the largest aircraft carriers in the USN until the Midway-class aircraft carriers were completed beginning in 1945. The ships served in World War II, seeing action in many battles. Although Lexington was sunk in the first carrier battle in history (the Battle of the Coral Sea) in 1942, Saratoga served throughout the war, despite being torpedoed twice, notably participating in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons in mid-1942 where her aircraft sank the Japanese light carrier JAPANESE AIRCRAFT CARRIER Ryūjō. She supported Allied operations in the Indian Ocean and South West Pacific Areas until she became a training ship at the end of 1944. Saratoga returned to combat to protect American forces during the Battle of Iwo Jima in early 1945, but was badly damaged by kamikazes. The continued growth in the size and weight of carrier aircraft made her obsolete by the end of the war. In mid-1946, the ship was purposefully sunk during nuclear weapon tests in Operation Crossroads.

Development

The Lexington-class ships were originally designed to be battlecruisers, with heavy guns, high speed, and moderate armor protection. The Navy laid down six ships of the class in 1919–20. When the battlecruisers were cancelled under the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922, two of the unfinished ships were designated for completion as carriers. Lexington and Saratoga were selected since they were the most advanced of the six ships in construction.

Conversion became a series of compromises and mixed blessings which would not have arisen had they been "specifically designed carriers" from the outset. On the plus side, the ships would have better anti-torpedo protection, larger magazines for aircraft bombs and, with the aft elevator 28 ft higher than otherwise, more room for aircraft landings. On the minus side, a converted battlecruiser would be 0.5 kn slower than a specifically designed carrier, have 16 percent less hangar space, less emergency fuel and, with "narrower lines" aft, not as wide a runway for which to aim. Costs were similar. A brand-new aircraft carrier was estimated at $27.1 million. Conversion of a Lexington class was $22.4 million, not counting the $6.7 million already sunk into them. Added together, the figure rose to $28.1 million.

The bottom line, with the signing of the treaty, was that any capital ships under construction by the five signatories (the United States, Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan) had to be canceled and scrapped. For battlecruisers, this encompassed the United States' Lexington class, Japan's Amagi-class battlecruiser, and Great Britain's G3 battlecruisers. For the U.S. Navy, the choice seemed clear. If it scrapped all six Lexingtons in accordance with the treaty, it would throw away $13.4 million that could otherwise go toward aircraft carriers. The Navy opted for the latter course.

The next challenge the Navy's Bureau of Construction and Repair faced was the tonnage cap set by the treaty. Carriers were to be no more than 27,000 tons. An exception, spearheaded by Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt Jr. and added to the treaty, allowed capital ships under conversion to go up to 33,000 tons, an increase of 6000 tons. This would almost not be enough for a conversion without removing half the power plant, something the Navy General Board did not consider an option. Creative interpreting of a clause in the treaty allowed a potential way out of this situation. The clause (Chapter II, Part III, Section I, (d)) read:

"No retained capital ships or aircraft carriers shall be reconstructed except for the purpose of providing means of defense against air and submarine attack, and subject to the following rules: The Contracting Powers may, for that purpose, equip existing tonnage with bulge or blister or anti-air attack deck protection, providing the increase of displacement thus effected does not exceed 3,000 tons (3,048 metric tons) displacement for each ship."

Without this clause, conversion might not have been feasible. Estimates made in 1928 for the two ships put Lexington at an actual tonnage of 35,689 tons and Saratoga at 35,544. On official lists, the number given was 33,000 tons, with the footnote, "[this number] does not include weight allowance under Ch. 2, pt. 3, Sec. 1, art. (d) of Washington Treaty for providing means against air and submarine attack". This tonnage was used by these ships for their entire careers.

General description
The ships had an overall length of 888 ft, a beam of 106 ft, and a draft of 30 ft at deep load. Saratoga had a standard displacement of 36000 LT, and 43055 LT at deep load.

One of their innovative features was a relatively new kind of bow called the bulbous bow or Taylor bow, named after its inventor, Rear Admiral David W. Taylor, who served as Chief Constructor for the U.S. Navy's Bureau of Construction and Repair in World War I. The result of a series of towing tests begun in 1910, this bow reduced water resistance by an average of six percent at high speeds, supported the forecastle and reduced bending stress on the hull. A disadvantage was the formation of a thick layer of water, part of the bow wave, which would creep up along the forward side of the hull at higher speeds, although this could be reduced to some degree by careful design of this area.

Flight deck arrangements
These ships were given a 866.17 by teak flight deck. Their hangar had a clear height of 20 ft and encompassed 33528 sqft. It was the largest enclosed space afloat, civilian or military, when built. The hangar was 424 ft long and its width varied from 68 to 74 ft, constrained by the bulky funnel uptakes and boat compartments. The height of the hangar was not exceeded on an American aircraft carrier until the Forrestal-class aircraft carrier ships appeared in the mid-1950s. Aircraft repair shops, 108 ft long, were aft of the hangar and below them was a storage space for disassembled aircraft, 128 ft long. The hangar was divided by a single fire curtain just forward of the aft aircraft elevator.

The carriers were fitted with two hydraulically powered elevators on their centerline. The forward elevator was 30 x and had a capacity of 16000 lb. A 20 by section of the flight deck adjoining the rear edge of the elevator could split down the centerline to lift aircraft otherwise too long. Carrying 12000 lb, it moved at a speed of 2 ft/s. The aft elevator measured 30 by and could only lift 6000 lb. Munitions were delivered from the magazines by two hydraulically powered bomb lifts and one torpedo lift. A folding crane with a capacity of 10 LT was positioned on the flight deck forward of the gun turrets. Aviation gasoline was stored in eight compartments of the torpedo protection system and their capacity has been quoted as either 132264 USgal or 163000 USgal. A flywheel-powered aircraft catapult, 155 ft long, was fitted at the bow; it could launch a 10000 lb aircraft at a speed of 48 kn. It was removed in 1934 as unnecessary.

The Lexington-class ships were designed to carry 78 aircraft of various types, including 36 bombers, but these numbers increased once the Navy adopted the practice of tying up spare aircraft in the unused spaces at the top of the hangar. In 1936, her air group consisted of 18 Grumman F2F-1 and 18 Boeing F4B-4 fighters, plus an additional nine F2Fs in reserve. Offensive punch was provided by 20 Vought SBU Corsair dive bombers with 10 spare aircraft and 18 Great Lakes BG torpedo bombers with nine spares. Miscellaneous aircraft included two Grumman JF Duck amphibians, plus one in reserve, and three active and one spare Vought O2U Corsair observation aircraft. This amounted to 79 aircraft, plus 30 spares.

In early December 1941, Lexington was ferrying 18 U.S. Marine Corps Vought SB2U Vindicator dive bombers to Midway Atoll and at that time she embarked 65 of her own aircraft, including 17 Brewster F2A Buffalo fighters. During the Wake Island relief expedition later that month, Saratoga's air group consisted of 13 Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters, 42 Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers, and 11 Douglas TBD Devastator torpedo bombers. The ship also carried 14 Marine Corps Buffalos for delivery at Wake. Before the Battle of the Eastern Solomons in mid-1942, Saratoga's air group consisted of 90 aircraft, comprising 37 Wildcats, 37 Dauntlesses and 16 Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bombers. In early 1945, the ship carried 53 Grumman F6F Hellcat fighters and 17 Avengers.

Propulsion
Turbo-electric propulsion had been chosen for the battlecruisers because American companies struggled to produce the very large geared turbines necessary for such big ships and was retained when they were converted into aircraft carriers. One advantage of turbo-electric drive was that the substitution of flexible electric cables for bulky steam-lines allowed the motors to be mounted farther aft; this reduced vibration and weight by shortening the propeller shafts. Another was the ability to go astern at full power without needing a separate reverse turbine to do so, simply by reversing the electrical polarity of the motors. Other benefits were the ability to operate all four propellers if one of the turbo generators failed, and the possibility of operating only some of the generators at low speed with suitably higher loading and greater efficiency. "[Turbo-electric drive] was efficient, rugged and always reliable. But it was also heavy, intricate, and not easy to maintain and keep tuned up." The machinery also required special ventilation measures to dissipate heat and to keep out any salt air. Even with this and elaborate insulation measures, protection from moisture or from flooding due to battle damage or other causes remained problematic and it posed the danger of high voltage to the crew if damaged.

Each propeller was 14 ft in diameter and each of the four propeller shafts was powered by two 22500 shp electric motors acting in tandem. These motors were about five times the size of any earlier electric motor. Four General Electric turbo generators powered each propeller shaft and each was rated at 35200 kW, 5000 volts and 4620 amps of direct current (DC). Each of the four AC alternators produced 40,000 kVA. Sixteen water-tube boilers, each in their own individual compartment, provided steam for the generators at a working pressure of 295 psi and a temperature of 460 °F. The turbo-electric machinery of the Lexington-class ships was designed to produce a total of 180000 shp and propel the ships at 33.25 kn, but each ship reached over 202000 shp and 34.5 knots in sea trials in 1928. Six 750 kW DC turbo generators were installed in the upper levels of the two main turbine compartments.

The ships carried a maximum of 6688 LT of fuel oil, but only 5400 LT of that was usable as the rest had to be retained as ballast in the port fuel tanks to offset the weight of the island and main guns. They demonstrated a range of 9910 nmi at a speed of 10.7 kn with 4540 LT of oil.

Armament
The Bureau of Construction and Repair was not then convinced that aircraft could be an effective and sufficient armament for a warship. Thus the design as carriers included a substantial gun battery of eight 8"/55 caliber guns in four twin gun turrets, two pairs of superfiring turrets fore and aft of the island. These turrets were mounted above the flight deck on the starboard side, two before the bridge, and two behind the funnel. The guns in theory could fire to both sides, but it is probable that if they were fired to port (across the deck) the blast would have damaged the flight deck. The guns could be depressed to −5° and elevated to +41°; they were loaded at an angle of +9°. They fired 260 lb projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 2800 ft/s; this gave a maximum range of 31860 yd.

The Lexington class' anti-aircraft (AA) armament consisted of a dozen 5"/25 caliber guns, six on each side of the ship on single mounts. They had a maximum elevation of +85°. They fired 53.85 lb projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 2110 ft/s. Their maximum range against surface targets was 17700 yd at +30° elevation.

As built, the ships were not fitted with any light AA guns, but a few .50 in water-cooled M2 Browning anti-aircraft machine guns were fitted shortly after commissioning and the numbers gradually increased over the 1930s. Lexington had 24 of these guns aboard when she was sunk in early 1942. Their 1.6 oz projectiles had a muzzle velocity of 2930 ft/s, but an effective range of only 1600 yd. They had a rate of fire of 550–700 rounds per minute and were exceedingly reliable, however, their projectiles were too light and too short ranged so they were replaced by license-built Oerlikon 20 mm autocannon beginning in 1942. The Oerlikon fired 20 mm, .272 lb high-explosive shells at a muzzle velocity of 2750 ft/s. Its maximum range was 4800 yd although the effective range was under 1000 yd. The cyclic rate of fire was 450 rounds per minute, but the practical rate was between 250 and 320 rounds per minute owing to the need to reload magazines. Saratoga mounted 52 of these guns in late 1942.

The Navy had been developing a quadruple 1.1-inch light AA gun since the early 1930s, but it was delayed with teething problems, so five single 3"/50 caliber Mk 10 AA guns were installed in 1940 as temporary replacements. They fired 13 lb shells at a muzzle velocity of 2700 ft/s. At +85° elevation they had an anti-aircraft ceiling of 29800 ft.

The Navy made plans to remove the 8 in gun turrets in 1940 and replace them with four twin 5"/38 caliber dual-purpose gun turrets (the standard mounting on U.S. battleships and cruisers). At the same time, the 5 in 25-caliber guns were to be replaced with more 5"/38 guns on a two for three basis to compensate for their greater weight. The guns fired 55 lb projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 2600 ft/s at a rate of fire up to 20 rounds per minute. Against surface targets they had a range of 18200 yd.

Five quadruple 1.1-inch gun mounts were finally fitted aboard the Lexington-class ships in late 1941 and early 1942. The .9 lb projectiles had a muzzle velocity of 2700 ft/s and an effective range of 3000 yd. The maximum rate of fire was 150 rounds per minute although the frequent need to reload the eight-round magazines reduced that. The gun was not successful in service and it was replaced by the license-built Bofors 40 mm gun beginning in late 1942. The 40 mm, 1.98 lb high-explosive shell was fired at a muzzle velocity of 2890 ft/s. Its maximum range was 11000 yd although the effective range was around 4000 - 5000 yd. The cyclic rate of fire was 160 rounds per minute. The guns were fitted in quadruple and twin gun mounts in increasing numbers over the war. Saratoga had 23 quadruple and two twin mounts in early 1944.

Lexington's eight-inch gun turrets were removed in early 1942, but they were replaced by seven additional quadruple 1.1-inch gun mounts as a temporary measure. The ship was sunk before her five-inch guns could be replaced and the turrets installed. Saratoga's armament was upgraded in early 1942 while she was under repair after she had been torpedoed. The eight-inch guns and turrets of both ships were reused as coast defense weapons on Oahu.

Fire control and electronics
The two superfiring eight-inch turrets had a Mk 30 rangefinder at the rear of the turret for local control, but the guns were normally controlled by two Mk 18 fire-control directors, one each on the fore and aft spotting tops. A 20 ft rangefinder was fitted on top of the pilothouse to provide range information for the directors. Each group of three 5-inch guns was controlled by a Mk 19 director, two of which were mounted on each side of the spotting tops. Plans were made before the war to replace the obsolete Mk 19 directors with two heavier Mk 33 directors, one each on the fore and aft five-inch spotting tops, but these plans were cancelled when the dual-purpose guns replaced the main armament in early 1942.

Saratoga received a RCA CXAM-1 early warning radar in February 1941 during a refit in Bremerton. The antenna was mounted on the forward lip of the funnel with its control room directly below the aerial, replacing the secondary conning station formerly mounted there. She also received two FC (Mk 3) surface fire-control radars in late 1941, although these were both removed along with her main armament in January 1942. The new dual-purpose guns were controlled by two Mk 37 directors, each mounting an FD (Mk 4) anti-aircraft gunnery radar. When the 1.1-inch guns were replaced by 40 mm guns in 1942, the directors for the smaller guns were replaced by five Mk 51 directors. Additional radars were added during 1942 and the ship's electronics were modernized during her refit in January 1944.

Armor
The waterline belt of the Lexington-class ships tapered 7 - 5 in in thickness from top to bottom and angled 11° outwards at the top. This angle increased the armor's relative thickness to horizontal, close-range fire, albeit at the cost of reducing its relative height which increased the chance of plunging shellfire going over or under it. It covered the middle 530 ft of the ships. Forward, the belt ended in a bulkhead that also tapered from seven to five inches in thickness. Aft, it terminated at a seven-inch bulkhead. This belt had a height of 9 ft. The third deck over the ships' machinery and magazine was armored with two layers of special treatment steel (STS) totaling 2 in in thickness. The steering gear, however, was protected by two layers of STS that totaled 3 in on the flat and 4.5 in on the slope.

The gun turrets were protected only against splinters with .75 in of armor. The conning tower was 2 - 2.25 in of STS, and it had a communications tube with two-inch sides ran from the conning tower down to the lower conning position on the third deck. The torpedo defense system of the Lexington-class ships consisted of three to six medium steel protective bulkheads that ranged from .375 to .75 in in thickness. The spaces between them could be left empty or used as fuel tanks to absorb the detonation of a torpedo's warhead.

Service
Lexington and Saratoga were used to develop and refine carrier tactics in a series of annual exercises before World War II. On more than one occasion these included successfully staged surprise attacks on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Lexington's turbo-electric propulsion system allowed her to supplement the electrical supply of Tacoma, Washington, in a drought from late 1929 to early 1930. She also delivered medical personnel and relief supplies to Managua, Nicaragua, after an earthquake in 1931.

Both ships were assigned to the Pacific Fleet and were based at Pearl Harbor in December 1941, although, at the time of the Japanese attack, neither of them were in port. Lexington was at sea ferrying fighter aircraft to Midway Island. Her mission was cancelled and she returned to Pearl Harbor a week later. Saratoga had completed a major refit at Bremerton, and, following work up, had arrived in San Diego to embark her air group. Saratoga immediately sailed for Hawaii as the flagship of Carrier Division One, arriving on December 15.

A few days after Lexington returned to Pearl Harbor from her aborted mission to Midway, she was sent to create a diversion from the force en route to relieve the besieged Wake Island garrison by attacking Japanese installations in the Marshall Islands. The island was forced to surrender before the relief force got close enough, and the mission was cancelled. A planned attack on Wake Island in January 1942 had to be cancelled when a submarine sank the oiler required to supply the fuel for the return trip. Lexington was sent to the Coral Sea the following month to block any Japanese advances into the area. The ship was spotted by Japanese search aircraft while approaching Rabaul, New Britain, and her aircraft shot down most of the Japanese bombers that attacked her. Together with the carrier USS Yorktown (CV-5), she successfully attacked Japanese shipping off the east coast of New Guinea in early March.

Lexington was briefly refitted in Pearl Harbor at the end of the month and rendezvoused with Yorktown in the Coral Sea in early May. A few days later the Japanese began Operation MO, the invasion of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, and the two American carriers attempted to stop the invasion forces. They sank the light aircraft carrier JAPANESE AIRCRAFT CARRIER Shōhō on 7 May in the Battle of the Coral Sea, but did not encounter the main Japanese force of the carriers JAPANESE AIRCRAFT CARRIER Shōkaku and JAPANESE AIRCRAFT CARRIER Zuikaku until the next day. Aircraft from Lexington and Yorktown succeeded in badly damaging Shōkaku, but the Japanese aircraft crippled Lexington. Vapors from leaking aviation gasoline tanks sparked a series of explosions and fires that could not be controlled, and the carrier had to be scuttled by an American destroyer on the evening of 8 May to prevent her capture.

Shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Saratoga was the centerpiece of the unsuccessful American effort to relieve Wake Island and was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine a few weeks later. After lengthy repairs, the ship supported forces participating in the Guadalcanal Campaign and her aircraft sank the light carrier JAPANESE AIRCRAFT CARRIER Ryūjō in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons in August 1942. She was again torpedoed the following month and returned to the Solomon Islands area after repairs were completed.

In 1943, Saratoga supported Allied forces involved in the New Georgia Campaign and invasion of Bougainville in the northern Solomon Islands and her aircraft twice attacked the Japanese base at Rabaul in November. Early in 1944, her aircraft provided air support in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands Campaign before she was transferred to the Indian Ocean for several months to support the Royal Navy's Eastern Fleet as it attacked targets in Java and Sumatra. After a brief refit in mid-1944, the ship became a training ship for the rest of the year. In early 1945, Saratoga participated in the Battle of Iwo Jima as a dedicated night fighter carrier. Several days into the battle, she was badly damaged by kamikaze hits and was forced to return to the United States for repairs. While under repair, the ship, now increasingly obsolete, was permanently modified as a training carrier with some of her hangar deck converted into classrooms. Saratoga remained in this role for the rest of the war and was used to ferry troops back to the United States after the Japanese surrender in August. In July 1946, she was used as a target for atomic bomb tests in Operation Crossroads, and sank at Bikini Atoll. Her wreck is easily accessible to scuba divers and organized dive tours are available.

title: Lexington-class aircraft carrier


text:
Creoda of Mercia

Creoda (Cryda or Crida, 6th century) may have been one of the first kings of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia, ruling toward the end of the 6th century.

Although he is mentioned in a pedigree found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Creoda is not given the title of king. His existence is disputed by some scholars. Barbara Yorke wrote: "Although it is possible that some kind of regnal list could be the source of the information (though the Worcester lists begin with Penda), these entries could be nothing more than intelligent guesswork based on names derived from Bede and the genealogy of Æthelred, while the dates seem to be influenced by an entry in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the death of a West Saxon Creoda...The surviving sources allow us to say with confidence little more than that the kingdom of Mercia was in existence by the end of the sixth century."

Yorke's sentiment is shared by Professor of Medieval History Nicholas Brooks, who wrote: "Despite Professor Davies's tentative advocacy of the historicity of this material, it cannot be said that it is yet clear that what lies behind these scattered entries in the works of Henry of Huntingdon, Roger of Wendover and Matthew Paris is anything more important than some inventive conjectures by an English monk, perhaps as late as the early twelfth century, on the basis of the names available in Bede, the Mercian royal genealogy and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. On such an interpretation it would not be surprising that they should more or less fit the fragments of information that we have on the early history of Mercia; for the compiler of these entries may have had access to the same sources as are available to us."

The suggestion that Creoda was a king of Mercia is to be found in the Historia Anglorum, which was written by Henry of Huntingdon in the first half of the 12th century. Creoda's presumed death was reported by Henry of Huntingdon as occurring in 593, but appears to be based on a confusion, because in that year the death of a man called Crida is specified, but the context suggests that the dying man was West Saxon and not Mercian.

Creoda is recorded by the Mercian pedigree in the Anglian collection as having been the son of Cynewald and the great-grandson of Icel, the eponymous ancestor of his family, the Iclingas.

title: Creoda of Mercia


text:
Baron Herschell

Baron Herschell, of the City of Durham, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 8 February 1886 for the lawyer and Liberal politician Sir Farrer Herschell. He served as Lord Chancellor in 1886 and from 1892 to 1895. The title became extinct on the death of his grandson, the third Baron, in 2008.

Ridley Haim Herschell was the father of the first Baron.

Barons Herschell (1886)

 * Farrer Herschell, 1st Baron Herschell (1837–1899)
 * Richard Farrer Herschell, 2nd Baron Herschell (1878–1929)
 * Rognvald Richard Farrer Herschell, 3rd Baron Herschell (1923–2008)

title: Baron Herschell


text:
Creoda

Creoda may refer to:

 * King Creoda of Mercia, Anglo-Saxon Monarch in the 6th century
 * Creoda of Wessex, Anglo-Saxon royalty in the 6th century

title: Creoda


text:
USS Virginia (SSN-774)

USS Virginia (SSN-774) is a nuclear powered cruise missile attack submarine and the lead ship of her class, currently serving in the United States Navy (USN). She is the tenth vessel of the Navy to be named for the Commonwealth of Virginia, as well as the second US Navy attack submarine to be named after a state, a pattern that is common throughout her class.

The contract to build her was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticut on 30 September 1998 and her keel was laid down on 2 September 1999. She was launched on 16 August 2003 sponsored by Lynda Johnson Robb, the wife of former Virginia governor and senator Charles Robb, and daughter of President of the United States Lyndon B. Johnson and Lady Bird Johnson. She was the first U.S. Navy submarine to be completely designed on a computer. On 10 and 11 March, the prospective submarine shot 12 dummy torpedoes into the Thames River, Connecticut, from each of the boat's four tubes.

Virginia was delivered to the Navy on 12 October 2004, the 104th anniversary of the commissioning of Holland, the Navy's first modern, commissioned submarine. She was commissioned on 23 October 2004 under the command of David J. Kern. The commissioning ceremony was featured in the 2005 television series Submarine: Hidden Hunter on Discovery Channel. This class of submarine is unique in that it features a photonics mast that freed ship designers to place the boat's control room in a lower, less geometrically constrained space than would be required by a standard, optical tube periscope. It is additionally unique in the U.S. Navy for featuring all-digital ship and ballast control systems that are operated by relatively senior watchstanders and a pressure chamber to deploy SEALs, divers or other special forces units while being submerged.

On 23 November 2005, Virginia completed her first deployment in support of the Global War on Terrorism. On 12 January 2006, Virginia entered Electric Boat's shipyard for post-shakedown availability, which was expected to last for most of 2006. In April 2010 the submarine returned from a six-month deployment having covered 37,000 miles.

The submarine completed her first 20-month-long overhaul in May 2012.

Ship's crest
"Emblazoned on a blue background that symbolizes the mighty deep, Virginia is prominently positioned. The forward view of Virginia denotes her leading the submarine force into a new century and onto a new and exciting course for the United States Navy. The gold lettering and border around the seal combined with the blue background represent the Navy's colors of blue and gold. The silhouette of the Commonwealth of Virginia represents the state for which the boat is named. Each of the nine stars represents an American warship named Virginia. The single point of light at the stern of the boat symbolizes both the nuclear propulsion plant that powers the submarine as well as the boat's data processing system fiber optic backbone. In keeping with the Commonwealth of Virginia's motto, the words "Sic Semper Tyrannis" (Latin for "Thus Always To Tyrants") appear at the bottom, which combined with the symbolism of the Commonwealth's Seal, represents the triumph of Virtue over tyranny.

The image of George Washington also looks forward with Virginia. George Washington, a Virginia native, has been characterized as the "indispensable man" vital to the formation of the American republic. In all of history, few men who possessed unassailable power have used that power so selflessly and wisely for the welfare of their countrymen and all mankind. Virginia also stands ready in all her indisputable power to serve the people of America and her allies."

Commemorative works
The Navy League of the United States commissioned Tom Liesegang to commemorate the USS Virginia in 2004. A print, depicting the submarine on her sea trials, is layered with copies of the CSS Virginia (1862) line drawings obtained from the Mariners' Museum. Ten prints were created for contractors and sponsors, including: Senator John Warner, Admiral Edmund Giambastiani and Lynda Bird Johnson Robb, the daughter of President Lyndon Johnson.

title: USS Virginia (SSN-774)


text:
Proteus syndrome

Proteus syndrome is a rare disorder with a genetic background that can cause tissue overgrowth involving all three embryonic lineages. Patients with Proteus syndrome tend to have an increased risk of embryonic tumor development. The clinical and radiographic symptoms of Proteus syndrome are highly variable, as are its orthopedic manifestations.

Only a few more than 200 cases have been confirmed worldwide, with estimates that about 120 people are currently alive with the condition. As attenuated forms of the disease may exist, there could be many people with Proteus syndrome who remain undiagnosed. Those most readily diagnosed are also the most severely disfigured.

The syndrome is named after the Greek sea-god Proteus, who could change his shape. The condition appears to have been first described in the American medical literature by Samia Temtamy and John Rogers in 1976. American pathologist Michael Cohen described it in 1979.

Signs and symptoms
Proteus syndrome causes an overgrowth of skin, bones, muscles, fatty tissues, and blood and lymphatic vessels. Proteus syndrome is a progressive condition wherein children are usually born without any obvious deformities. Tumors of skin and bone growths appear as they age typically in early childhood. The musculoskeletal manifestations are cardinal for the diagnosis of Proteus syndrome. The severity and locations of these various asymmetrical growths vary greatly but typically the skull, one or more limbs, and soles of the feet will be affected. There is a risk of premature death in affected individuals due to deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism caused by the vessel malformations that are associated with this disorder. Because of carrying excess weight and enlarged limbs, arthritis and muscle pain may also be symptoms. Further risks may occur due to the mass of extra tissue.

The disorder itself does not uniformly cause learning impairments: the distribution of intelligence deficits among those with Proteus syndrome appears higher than that of the general population, although this is difficult to determine with statistical significance. In addition, the presence of visible deformity have a negative effect on the social experiences of the affected individual, causing cognitive, social rejection and stigma.

Affected individuals are at increased risk for developing certain tumors including unilateral ovarian cystadenomas, testicular tumors, meningiomas, and monomorphic adenomas of the parotid gland.

Hemimegalencephaly is often found to be associated.

Orthopaedic features
The musculoskeletal manifestations of Proteus syndrome are frequent and recognizable. Patients tend to demonstrate a unique pattern of skeletal abnormalities. The orthopaedic features are usually bilateral, asymmetrical, progressive and involving all four limbs and spine. Affected patients usually have localized periarticular limb distortions, limb length discrepancy, and spine deformity. Patients with Proteus syndrome can have regular bone configuration and contours despite the bone enlargement. Patients can also exhibit deformation of the skull in the form of dolichocephaly or elongated skull and facial abnormalities. Because of the rarity of the syndrome and the variability of signs, the orthopaedic management should be individualized.

Genetics
In 2011 researchers determined the cause of Proteus syndrome. In 26 of 29 patients who met strict clinical criteria for the disorder, Lindhurst et al. identified an activating mutation in AKT1 kinase in a mosaic state.

Previous research had suggested the condition linked to PTEN on chromosome 10, while other research pointed to chromosome 16. Prior to the findings regarding AKT1 in 2011, other researchers expressed doubt regarding the involvement of PTEN or GPC3, which codes for glypican 3 and may play a role in regulating cell division and growth regulation.

Differential diagnosis

 * Macrodystrophia lipomatosa
 * Fibrolipomatous hamartoma
 * Neurofibromatosis type 1
 * Klippel–Trénaunay syndrome
 * Parkes Weber syndrome
 * Sotos syndrome
 * Hemangiomas

Classification
Many sources classify Proteus syndrome to be a type of nevus syndrome. The lesions appear to be distributed in a mosaic manner. It has been confirmed that the disorder is an example of genetic mosaicism.

Treatment
A team of doctors in Australia have trial-tested the drug rapamycin in the treatment of a patient said to have Proteus syndrome and have found it to be an effective remedy. However, the diagnosis of Proteus syndrome in this patient has been questioned by others.

The Proteus syndrome research team in the National Human Genome Research Institute at the United States National Institutes of Health have initiated a Phase 0 dose finding trial with the AKT1 inhibitor ARQ 092, which is being developed by the Arqule Corporation. In earlier tests on tissue and cell samples obtained from patients, ARQ 092 reduced phosphorylation of AKT and downstream targets of AKT in as little as two hours. The Phase 0 trial opened in November 2015. This trial is based on in vitro data showing inhibition of AKT1 in cell lines from patients with Proteus syndrome.

Notable cases
In a 1986 article in the British Medical Journal, Michael Cohen and J.A.R. Tibbles put forward the theory that Joseph Merrick (an Englishman known as the "Elephant Man") had Proteus syndrome. However, the exact condition that Joseph Merrick had is still not known with certainty.

Mandy Sellars has been diagnosed by some doctors as having this condition. Her legs and feet have grown at a disproportionate rate since birth. However, in 2013, Sellars' case was profiled on British television in a special called Shrinking My 17 Stone Legs, in which it was determined that Sellars' condition was not, in fact, Proteus syndrome, but rather the often-misdiagnosed PIK3CA-related overgrowth spectrum, a syndrome caused by a PIK3CA gene mutation.

title: Proteus syndrome


text:
USS Hawaii (SSN-776)

USS Hawaii (SSN-776), a Virginia-class submarine, is the first commissioned warship of the United States Navy to be named for the 50th state. (A previous large cruiser, or battlecruiser, USS Hawaii (CB-3) was launched, but never commissioned, and was named after the Territory of Hawaii.) The building contract was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticut on 30 September 1998 and her keel was laid down on 27 August 2004. She was christened on 17 June 2006 by her sponsor, Governor Linda Lingle of Hawaii. Electric Boat delivered Hawaii to the US Navy on 22 December 2006, ahead of schedule. She was commissioned on 5 May 2007. In July 2009, she changed home port from Groton, CT (Submarine Group Two, Submarine Squadron Two) to Pearl Harbor, HI (Submarine Squadron One).

History

 * January 2008 – maiden deployment.
 * May 2008 – post-shakedown availability.
 * 4 December 2008 – US Navy announces USS Hawaii will be home ported at Pearl Harbor in 2009.
 * 8 May 2009 – US Navy announces the ship has earned the U.S. Coast Guard Meritorious Unit Commendation for their work in disrupting drug trafficking from 20 February to 17 April 2008.
 * 10 July 2009 – The sub transits the Panama Canal en route to new homeport at Pearl Harbor.
 * 23 July 2009 – The sub reaches Pearl Harbor.
 * 30 March to 5 May 2010 – The sub receives a $2.5 million refit in a drydock in Pearl Harbor.
 * August 2010 – The boat leaves for her first Western Pacific cruise, under temporarily assignment to Seventh Fleet, making her the first Virginia-class submarine to enter the Western Pacific.
 * February 2011 – The boat returns from her first Western Pacific cruise.

title: USS Hawaii (SSN-776)


text:
Talk:Sex machine (disambiguation)

Untitled
Move to Wiktionary? Jwrosenzweig 22:00, 23 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Maybe the James Brown song should be the default result Jbhf1 (talk) 14:12, 20 September 2010 (UTC)

title: Talk:Sex machine (disambiguation)


text:
USS North Carolina (SSN-777)

USS North Carolina (SSN-777), a Virginia-class submarine attack submarine, is the fourth vessel of the United States Navy named for U.S. state of North Carolina. The contract to build her was awarded to Northrop Grumman Newport News on 30 September 1998 and her keel was laid down on 24 May 2004. She was launched on 5 May 2007. North Carolina was commissioned on 3 May 2008 in Wilmington, North Carolina.

This class of submarine is unique in that it features the Photonics Mast Program (PMP) that freed ship designers to place the boat's control room in a lower, less geometrically constrained space than would be required by a standard, optical tube periscope. It is additionally unique in the U.S. Navy for featuring all-digital ship and ballast control systems that are operated by relatively senior watchstanders and a pressure chamber to deploy SEAL divers while being submerged. She is capable of diverse missions, including conventional submarine warfare, strike warfare, mining operations, and delivery of special operations personnel and equipment.

History
The contract to build her was awarded to Northrop Grumman Newport News (then called Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Company) in Newport News, Virginia on 30 September 1998 and her keel was laid down on 22 May 2004. She was christened on 21 April 2007 sponsored by Linda Bowman, wife of Admiral Frank L. "Skip" Bowman, former director of Naval Reactors.

The boat has physical connections to previous ships named North Carolina. Sections of the teak decking from USS North Carolina (BB-55), a fast battleship that served in World War II, are reused within the submarine, and several pieces from a silver serving set made for USS North Carolina (ACR-12), a World War I-era armored cruiser, transferred through the state governor to the battleship will be used aboard the submarine.

North Carolina joined the fleet on 21 February 2008, after problems with the boat's steam valve and internal piping system had forced two delays in the acceptance of the vessel. Welding issues in the internal piping system scuttled a first-planned December 2007 delivery, and the discovery of an inadequate steam valve forced a further delay from January to February 2008.

The ship's official commissioning ceremony was held on 3 May 2008, in Wilmington, North Carolina. The submarine joined the U.S. Navy's Atlantic Fleet based in New London, Connecticut.

In 2010, North Carolina changed homeports from Naval Submarine Base New London to Naval Station Pearl Harbor. She left Groton for Pearl Harbor on 22 July 2010 and arrived at her new homeport, Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam, on Monday, 15 November 2010 after her four-month transfer activities. During the transfer, the officers and crew of North Carolina conducted a series of exercises designed to test the boat's new combat systems and stealth capabilities. North Carolina is the third Virginia-class attack submarine to be homeported at Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam and is assigned to Commander, Submarine Squadron 1.

title: USS North Carolina (SSN-777)


text:
Yorktown-class aircraft carrier

The Yorktown class was a class of three aircraft carriers built for the United States Navy and completed shortly before World War II, the USS Yorktown (CV-5), USS Enterprise (CV-6), and USS Hornet (CV-8). They immediately followed USS Ranger (CV-4), the first U.S. aircraft carrier built as such, and benefited in design from experience with Ranger and the earlier Lexington-class aircraft carrier, which were conversions into carriers of two battlecruisers that were to be scrapped to comply with the Washington Naval Treaty, an arms limitation accord.

These ships bore the brunt of the fighting in the Pacific during 1942, and two of the three were lost: Yorktown, sunk at the Battle of Midway, and Hornet, sunk in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands.

Enterprise, the sole survivor of the class, was the most decorated ship of the U.S. Navy in the Second World War. After efforts to save her as a museum ship failed, she was scrapped in 1958.

Development
In an early example of modern weapons development, the Yorktown class was a result of standardized war gaming exercises using USS Langley (CV-1) and the Newport Naval War College. Analysis of the results, combined with lessons learned from operations with the large converted battlecruiser Lexington-class in comparison with the smaller purpose-built Ranger, highlighted the greater flexibility presented by large air groups and fast ships. These became, along with torpedo protection, the guiding principles in the Yorktown class designs.

With the commissioning of USS Ranger, the USN had 54,400 tons of carrier construction left under the Washington Treaty. Initially, the development plan for the class envisioned a 17,000-ton design that would allow the Navy to build three ships and stay within the 135,000-ton Washington Naval Treaty limit on aircraft carrier tonnage. However, this design could not achieve the desired high operating speed without sacrificing protection features and air wing capacity. In addition, the London Treaty of 1930 required that the USS Langley be added into the tonnage limits, no longer being classified as an "experimental" carrier. In the end, the Navy chose instead to build two 19,000-ton carriers that could fulfill the design vision; though smaller in displacement than the USS Lexington class and a nominal 27,000-ton limit design, the ships retained high-powered machinery, hull volume and flight deck area that allowed for a fast and capacious design, but also improved durability and provided close to an all-weather ability to launch aircraft. These were versatile carriers that could carry and operate over 80 aircraft, almost as many as the much larger Lexington class.

Plans initially called for a flush deck with no island. However, the Royal Navy had constructed several flush-deck carriers, and the problems encountered in those designs were known to the US Navy; the US naval attaché in Britain, J.C. Hunsacker, reported that HMS Furious (47) had problems exhausting boiler smoke without proper smoke stacks. In addition to the engineering constraints, it was becoming evident that larger air groups and antiaircraft batteries would be easier to command from an island design. In the end BuAer retracted all demands for flush decked carriers.

Conversion of USS Langley into a seaplane tender allowed the Navy to fill in the remaining available treaty tonnage with a scaled-down version of the class, which became the 14,700-ton USS Wasp (CV-7). Service experience validated the advantages of the larger hull design. USS Ranger proved to be unable to withstand rougher weather in the Pacific, while lack of virtually any protective features soon relegated her to a training ship. USS Wasp's lack of torpedo protection contributed to her loss in the Pacific theater.

The abandonment of the arms limitation treaties system in 1937 allowed the US to begin building more carriers, and the first of this new carrier program was Hornet, another of the class, commissioned in 1941. Improvements to the Yorktown design and freedom from the Washington Treaty limitations brought about the Essex-class aircraft carriers.

The Yorktowns carried a seldom-used catapult on the hangar deck. This catapult was subsequently eliminated from U.S. carriers as it was relatively useless in operation. The hangar-deck catapult was removed from Enterprise and Hornet in late June 1942.

All three ships of the Yorktown class were built at the Newport News Shipbuilding Company, Newport News, Virginia.

Operational history
The three ships of this class are noted for bearing the brunt of the fighting in the early months of the Pacific War, most notably during the Battle of the Coral Sea, the Battle of Midway, and the Guadalcanal campaign. During the latter campaign, Hornet and later Enterprise had the distinction of being the only operational carrier in the United States Pacific Fleet.

Enterprise was at sea on the morning of 7 December 1941 (the day of the Attack on Pearl Harbor). That evening, Enterprise, screened by six of her Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters, put into Pearl Harbor for fuel and supplies. The aircraft were fired on by anti-aircraft defenses, and one pilot radioed in, reporting that his aircraft was an American aircraft. Enterprise later participated in the first offensive actions against Japan, launching attacks against the Marshall Islands, Wake, and Marcus Island.

Yorktown transferred to the Pacific on 16 December 1941 and later raided the Gilbert Islands in the same operation as Enterprise. Along with USS Lexington (CV-2), she raided bases in New Guinea, then participated in the Battle of the Coral Sea. Her planes helped sink the JAPANESE AIRCRAFT CARRIER Shōhō and damaged the carrier JAPANESE AIRCRAFT CARRIER Shōkaku. Damaged by Japanese carrier aircraft, Yorktown returned to Pearl Harbor and was hastily repaired in time to participate in the Battle of Midway.

Hornet spent the first months of the war training in Norfolk, Virginia, before being assigned to the Doolittle Raid. Loaded with a squadron of B-25 bombers and escorted by Enterprise, the ship launched the first air raids against the Japanese mainland.

All three ships of the class saw action during the Battle of Midway (4–7 June 1942), Enterprise and Yorktown aircraft were responsible for sinking all four Japanese carriers engaged in the battle, while Hornet assisted in the sinking of one heavy cruiser and severely damaging another. All three carriers suffered severe losses among their air groups, most notably Hornet's Torpedo Squadron 8, which lost 15 aircraft with only a single surviving airman. Yorktown was damaged by aerial bombs and torpedoes and abandoned on 4 June. Later re-manned by repair crews, the ship was spotted and torpedoed by a Japanese submarine and eventually sank on 7 June 1942.

Enterprise was assigned to the invasion of Guadalcanal and participated in preliminary strikes on the island. She suffered moderate damage during the Battle of the Eastern Solomons but was repaired in time to join Hornet in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. Hornet was severely damaged during the latter engagement and had to be abandoned. Attempts to scuttle the ship by her escorts failed, and she was left adrift before finally being sunk by Japanese destroyers on 27 October 1942. Enterprise was again damaged during the battle, but was repaired enough to deliver her air group to Guadalcanal, where it participated in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. Enterprise aircraft assisted in finishing off the heavily damaged battleship JAPANESE BATTLESHIP Hiei and were instrumental in destroying the Japanese transport fleet, thereby ending Japan's last serious attempt at reclaiming the island.

After a lengthy overhaul and repair period at Bremerton, Washington, Enterprise joined the Central Pacific Fleet as part of the Fast Carrier Task Force. She participated in every major invasion of the Central Pacific campaign, including the Battle of the Philippine Sea and the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Her air groups contributed to the development of carrier night operations, executing a night air raid on Truk Lagoon and operating as a specialized night air group towards the end of the war.

Enterprise was finally put out of action on 14 May 1945 when she was struck in the forward elevator by a kamikaze aircraft flown by Japanese pilot Lt. Shunsuke Tomiyasu, which destroyed the elevator and severely damaged her hangar deck. She was still out of action on V-J Day but was subsequently fitted out for Operation Magic Carpet, ferrying over 10,000 veterans home from Europe.

By the end of World War II, Enterprise had been considerably modified. Her final displacement was 32,060 tons and her final armament was 8 single 5-inch/38 caliber DP guns, 40 40 mm Bofors AA guns, 6 quad and 8 twin (replacing the ineffective 1.1"/75 caliber gun quad mounts which the Yorktown class had initially been fitted with) and 50 single 20 mm Oerlikon AA cannons. The Yorktowns had proved to be vulnerable to torpedoes, and while undergoing repairs at Bremerton, Washington, from July to October, 1943, Enterprise received an extensive refit, which included an anti-torpedo blister that significantly improved her underwater protection.

With the commissioning of the more advanced Essex and Midway-class aircraft carrier carriers, Enterprise was surplus for post war needs. She entered New York Naval Shipyard on 18 January 1946 for deactivation, and was decommissioned on 17 February 1947. Stricken from the list in 1959 after multiple attempts to preserve her as a museum and memorial, ex-Enterprise met her fate in the breaker's yards at Kearny, New Jersey, in 1960, although several artifacts were retained.

title: Yorktown-class aircraft carrier


text:
Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge

Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge is a United States National Wildlife Refuge located in two separate sections in central Chaves County, New Mexico, United States, a few miles northeast of the city of Roswell. Both sections lie on the banks of the Pecos River. The refuge was established in 1937 to provide habitat for migratory birds such as the sandhill crane and the snow goose, but it is also notable for rare native fish and the over 90 species of dragonflies and damselflies that inhabit the refuge.

Where the Chihuahuan Desert meets the Southern Plains, Bitter Lake is one of the most biologically significant wetland areas of the Pecos River basin.

Aquatic habitats
Bitter Lake includes various unique aquatic habitats. The Pecos River flows across the refuge and forms oxbow lakes. Additionally, the Roswell aquifer underlies the area. Erosion of gypsum by this underground water has caused many sinkholes, some of which have become very deep lakes that are home to unique species. Underground water also feeds springs that are the source of water for the lakes on the refuge. The water level in these lakes is managed by park personnel and is adjusted throughout the year to accommodate the different species of birds that migrate to the refuge.

Dragonflies
Bitter Lake hosts a diverse population of over 90 species of dragonflies and damselfiles. There is a special viewing area along the auto tour route, however, dragonflies can be seen throughout the refuge. The peak dragonfly population occurs in July and August. The park hosts an annual dragonfly festival in September.

Birds
Bitter Lake is especially known as a refuge for birds. There are at least 350 species of birds that have been recorded on the refuge. Bird activity varies year-round with Bitter Lake serving as a refuge for migrating species. Songbirds can be seen in the spring, especially May. In the summer months the refuge is home to many marsh and shorebirds. In the fall there are raptor migrations. Waterfowl concentrations rise in the winter. While some species such as the sandhill crane can number in the thousands, others have been spotted only on rare occasions.

title: Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge