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Strinesdale Reservoir

Strinesdale is a reservoir situated on the A62 between Oldham and Delph in Greater Manchester, England. The town of Rochdale is to the north and the town of Oldham to the south. It is fed by the River Medlock.

Strinesdale is an area of water and woodland covering approximately 40 acres (162,000 m2). In 1991, the reservoirs were drained and replaced by two smaller lakes with the old reservoir sites being planted with trees and grassland. Herons and kestrels can be seen on the lakeside and as the woodland develops it will provide shelter for animals and birds and many varieties of wild flowers. The site is now used for walking, orienteering and fishing.

The original upper reservoir was built in around 1826 and the erected plaque can be seen at Upper Strinesdale; a second reservoir followed in 1838.

Strinesdale derives its name from the Old English "strine" meaning boundary in connotation to the old Lancashire–Yorkshire boundary that ran through the middle of the site; since 1974 the whole area lies in Greater Manchester.

Strinesdale was home to a children's boarding hospital in the 1950s–1960s.

title: Strinesdale Reservoir


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German cruiser Admiral Hipper

Admiral Hipper was the lead ship of the Admiral Hipper-class cruiser of heavy cruisers which served with Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1935 and launched February 1937; Admiral Hipper entered service shortly before the outbreak of war, in April 1939. The ship was named after Admiral Franz von Hipper, commander of the German battlecruiser squadron during the Battle of Jutland in 1916 and later commander-in-chief of the German High Seas Fleet. She was armed with a main battery of eight 20.3 cm guns and, although nominally under the 10000 LT limit set by the Anglo-German Naval Agreement, actually displaced over 16000 LT.

Admiral Hipper saw a significant amount of action during the war, notably present during the Battle of the Atlantic. She led the assault on Trondheim during Operation Weserübung; while en route to her objective, she sank the British destroyer HMS Glowworm (H92). In December 1940, she broke out into the Atlantic Ocean to operate against Allied merchant shipping, though this operation ended without significant success. In February 1941, Admiral Hipper sortied again, sinking several merchant vessels before eventually returning to Germany via the Denmark Strait. The ship was then transferred to northern Norway to participate in operations against convoys to the Soviet Union, culminating in the Battle of the Barents Sea on 31 December 1942, where she sank the destroyer HMS Achates (H12) and the minesweeper HMS Bramble (J11) but was in turn damaged and forced to withdraw by the light cruisers HMS Sheffield (C24) and HMS Jamaica (44).

Disappointed by the failure to sink merchant ships in that battle, Adolf Hitler ordered the majority of the surface warships scrapped, though Admiral Karl Dönitz was able to persuade Hitler to retain the surface fleet. As a result, Admiral Hipper was returned to Germany and decommissioned for repairs. The ship was never restored to operational status, however, and on 3 May 1945, Royal Air Force bombers severely damaged her while she was in Kiel, Germany. Her crew scuttled the ship at her moorings, and in July 1945, she was raised and towed to Heikendorfer Bay. She was ultimately broken up for scrap in 1948–1952; her bell is currently on display at the Laboe Naval Memorial near Kiel.

Design

The Admiral Hipper-class cruiser of heavy cruisers was ordered in the context of German naval rearmament after the Nazi Party came to power in 1933 and repudiated the disarmament clauses of the Treaty of Versailles. In 1935, Germany signed the Anglo–German Naval Agreement with Great Britain, which provided a legal basis for German naval rearmament; the treaty specified that Germany would be able to build five 10000 LT "treaty cruisers". The Admiral Hippers were nominally within the 10,000-ton limit, though they significantly exceeded the figure.

Admiral Hipper was 202.8 m long overall and had a beam of 21.3 m and a maximum draft of 7.2 m. After the installation of a clipper bow during fitting out, her overall length increased to 205.9 m. The ship had a design displacement of 16170 MT and a full load displacement of 18200 LT. Admiral Hipper was powered by three sets of geared steam turbines, which were supplied with steam by twelve ultra-high pressure oil-fired boilers. The ship's top speed was 32 kn, at 132000 shp. Her standard complement consisted of 42 officers and 1,340 enlisted men.

Admiral Hipper's primary armament was eight 20.3 cm SK L/60 guns mounted in four twin gun turrets, placed in superfiring pairs forward and aft. Her anti-aircraft battery consisted of twelve 10.5 cm L/65 guns, twelve 3.7 cm guns, and eight 2 cm guns. She had four triple 53.3 cm torpedo launchers, all on the main deck next to the four range finders for the anti-aircraft guns.

Admiral Hipper's armored belt was 70 to 80 mm thick; her upper deck was 12 to 30 mm thick while the main armored deck was 20 to 50 mm thick. The main battery turrets had 105 mm thick faces and 70 mm thick sides. The heaviest armor with 150 mm thickness was applied to the vertical surfaces of the conning tower, while the horizontal surfaces were limited to 50 mm.

The initial design of Admiral Hipper included an aircraft hangar for one aircraft. During building, the requirements were changed and an aircraft hangar was constructed for two floatplanes that could be stored side by side. The wider aircraft hangar forced the rearrangement of the middle pair of 10.5 cm guns from the superstructure deck to the upper deck, which restricted their arc of fire towards the rear. The ship was equipped with three Arado Ar 196 seaplanes and one catapult. In 1941 the aircraft hangar was reduced with place for just one Arado and in total only two Arado floatplanes were carried.

Service history

Admiral Hipper was ordered by the Kriegsmarine from the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg. Her keel was laid on 6 July 1935, under construction number 501. The ship was launched on 6 February 1937, and was completed on 29 April 1939, the day she was commissioned into the German fleet. The Commander-in-Chief of the Kriegsmarine, Großadmiral (Grand Admiral) Erich Raeder, who had been Franz von Hipper's chief of staff during World War I, gave the christening speech and his wife Erika Raeder performed the christening. As built, the ship had a straight stem, though after her launch this was replaced with a clipper bow. A raked funnel cap was also installed.

Kapitän zur See (Captain at Sea) Hellmuth Heye was given command of the ship at her commissioning. After her commissioning in April 1939, Admiral Hipper steamed into the Baltic Sea to conduct training maneuvers. The ship also made port calls to various Baltic ports, including cities in Estonia and Sweden. In August, the ship conducted live fire drills in the Baltic. At the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, the ship was still conducting gunnery trials. She was briefly used to patrol the Baltic, but she did not see combat, and was quickly returned to training exercises. In November 1939, the ship returned to the Blohm & Voss dockyard for modifications; these included the replacement of the straight stem with a clipper bow and the installation of the funnel cap.

Sea trials in the Baltic resumed in January 1940, but severe ice restrained the ship to port. On 17 February, the Kriegsmarine pronounced the ship fully operational, and on the following day, Admiral Hipper began her first major wartime patrol during Operation Nordmark. She joined the battleships GERMAN BATTLESHIP Scharnhorst and GERMAN BATTLESHIP Gneisenau and the destroyers GERMAN DESTROYER Z20 Karl Galster and GERMAN DESTROYER Z21 Wilhelm Heidkamp in a sortie into the North Sea off Bergen, Norway. A third destroyer, GERMAN DESTROYER Z9 Wolfgang Zenker, was forced to turn back after sustaining damage from ice. The ships operated under the command of Admiral Wilhelm Marschall. The ships attempted to locate British merchant shipping, but failed and returned to port on 20 February.

Operation Weserübung

Following her return from the North Sea sortie, Admiral Hipper was assigned to the forces tasked with the invasion of Norway, codenamed Operation Weserübung. The ship was assigned as the flagship of Group 2, along with the destroyers GERMAN DESTROYER Z5 Paul Jakobi, GERMAN DESTROYER Z6 Theodor Riedel, GERMAN DESTROYER Z16 Friedrich Eckoldt, and GERMAN DESTROYER Z8 Bruno Heinemann. KzS Heye was given command of Group 2 during the operation. The five ships carried a total of 1,700 Wehrmacht mountain troops, whose objective was the port of Trondheim; the ships loaded the troops in Cuxhaven. The ships steamed to the Schillig roadstead outside Wilhelmshaven, where they joined Group 1, consisting of ten destroyers, and the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau under the command of Vice Admiral Günther Lütjens, which were assigned to cover Groups 1 and 2. The ships steamed out of the roadstead at midnight on the night of 6–7 April.

Between 14:25 and 14:48 on 7 April, the ships were unsuccessfully attacked West of the Skagerrak by twelve bombers. By evening the weather had deteriorated and several destroyers could not keep up the high ( 27 knots ) speed and remained behind the main force. On 8 April at 09:15 one of the trailing destroyers, the GERMAN DESTROYER Z11 Bernd von Arnim signalled a fight with a British destroyer and at 09:22 Lütjens ordered the Admiral Hipper to investigate. Upon arriving on the scene, Admiral Hipper was initially misidentified by the British destroyer HMS Glowworm (H92) to be a friendly vessel, which allowed the German ship to close the distance and fire first. Admiral Hipper rained fire on Glowworm, scoring several hits. Glowworm attempted to flee, but when it became apparent she could not break away from the pursuing cruiser, she turned toward Admiral Hipper and fired a spread of torpedoes, all of which missed. The British destroyer scored one hit on Admiral Hipper's starboard bow before a rudder malfunction set the ship on a collision course with the German cruiser. The collision with Glowworm tore off a 40 m section of Admiral Hipper's armored belt on the starboard side, as well as the ship's starboard torpedo launcher. Minor flooding caused a four degree list to starboard, though the ship was able to continue with the mission. Glowworm's boilers exploded shortly after the collision, causing her to sink quickly. Forty survivors were picked up by the German ship. At 11:14 Admiral Hipper broke off the rescue operation and set course toward Trondheim with her four destroyers, whilst Group 1 set course for Narvik. Scharnhorst and Gneisenau took a position South of the Lofoten in the Vestfjorden to cover both landings. The British destroyer had survived long enough to send a wireless message to the Royal Navy headquarters, which allowed the battlecruiser HMS Renown (1916) time to move into position to engage Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, though the German battleships used their superior speed to break off contact.

Group 2 was sighted at 14:50 by a Short Sunderland, and signal intelligence indicated enemy ships were operating nearby. In order to clarify the situation, Admiral Hipper launched at 17:50 an Arado seaplane in the direction of Trondheim. The Arado reported no activity in the approaches to Trondheim and then made an emergency landing in Eide, since the weather was too bad to land at Admiral Hipper in open sea. After trying to purchase fuel from locals, the aircrew were detained and handed over to the police. The Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service captured the Arado, which was painted in Norwegian colors and used by the Norwegians until 18 April when it was evacuated to Britain.

When steaming at maximum speed through the long and narrow Trondheim Fjord towards Trondheim, Admiral Hipper successfully passed herself off as a British warship long enough to get past the Norwegian coastal artillery batteries. After the ships forced the most narrow part of the fjord between 04:04 and 04:14, one Norwegian battery belatedly opened fire but to no effect. Admiral Hipper responded with two salvoes from the rear turrets. The two remaining Arado seaplanes were flown off to scout and check the suitable places for airplane and seaplane bases. One of the airplanes also attacked a coastal battery with bombs. The cruiser entered the harbor and anchored at 05:25 to debark the mountain troops. A German tanker which was scheduled to refuel Group 2 at Trondheim failed to show up, and the ships had to remain in harbor because of fuel shortage. On 10 April an Arado seaplane from Scharnhorst brought orders from Lütjens to attempt a breakout and return to Germany together with the two battleships during the following night. Admiral Hipper left Trondheim at 21:30, escorted by Friedrich Eckoldt. The two ships steamed first Northwest to clear the Norwegian coast. On 11 April at 02:50, Friedrich Eckoldt returned to Trondheim because of the bad weather and fuel shortage. In the bad weather Admiral Hipper was able to take a short, direct route to Germany. The ship joined Scharnhorst and Gneisenau only at 08:00 on 12 April and they reached Wilhelmshaven at 22:00, Admiral Hipper with only 125 out of 3005 cubic meters of fuel remaining. Admiral Hipper went into drydock where it was discovered the ship had been damaged more severely by the collision with Glowworm than had previously been thought. Nevertheless, repairs were completed in the span of two weeks.

Operation Juno
Marschall organized a mission to seize Harstad in Northern Norway in early June 1940; Admiral Hipper, the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, and the four destroyers GERMAN DESTROYER Z7 Hermann Schoemann, GERMAN DESTROYER Z10 Hans Lody, GERMAN DESTROYER Z15 Erich Steinbrinck and Z20 Karl Galster were tasked with the operation. The ships departed from Kiel on 4 June. Three days later, Admiral Hipper and the four destroyers refueled from the supply ship Dithmarschen. The plan was to attack the British base at Harstadt in the morning of 9 June, but shortly after midnight of 8 June the plan was changed: a reconnaissance plane reported no ships in Harstadt and since the German ships also detected highly increased convoy radio transmissions, Marschall deduced that the British are evacuating Harstadt. Instead of raiding Harstadt, Marschall decided to operate against the evacuation convoy. While in search of the convoy, the German force first encountered the tanker Oil Pioneer at 06:45 on 8 June, which was escorted by the trawler HMT Juniper. Admiral Hipper sank Juniper with gunfire and Gneisenau sank Oil Pioneer. At 10:52, Admiral Hipper encountered and sank the empty troopship Orama. Despite launching their Ar 196 reconnaissance planes, the German ships failed to find the convoy, and at 13:00, Admiral Hipper and the four destroyers returned to Trondheim to cover and protect the German forces there, whilst the battleships refueled from Dithmarschen and continued the operation. Towards the evening Scharnhorst and Gneisenau found a British force consisting of the British aircraft carrier HMS Glorious and two escorting destroyers, HMS Ardent (H41) and HMS Acasta (H09). All three British ships were sunk but Scharnhorst was heavily damaged by a torpedo hit and both German battleships returned to Trondheim on 9 June as well.

On 10 June, Admiral Hipper and Gneisenau left Trondheim with the four destroyers in a second attempt to attack evacuating convoys but they returned to Trondheim the next day, having failed to locate any British vessels. On 13 June, fifteen Blackburn Skuas from 800 Naval Air Squadron and 803 Naval Air Squadron took off from the British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal (91) to attack the German ships at Trondheim. The bombers hit Scharnhorst with a dud bomb and lost eight of their number to fighters and anti-aircraft guns. The anti-aircraft gunners of Admiral Hipper shot down one of the attacking British bombers. In order to cover the return of the damaged Scharnhorst to Germany, Admiral Hipper and Gneisenau left Trondheim on 20 June for a raid towards the Iceland-Faeroes passage, but Gneisenau was torpedoed and damaged by the submarine HMS Clyde (N12) and both ships returned to Trondheim the same day

On 25 July, Admiral Hipper steamed out on a commerce raiding patrol in the area between Spitzbergen and Tromsø; the cruise lasted until 9 August. The Arado seaplanes could find a few ships, but these were all neutrals. No British ships were found. On 31 July one of the Arados was lost in an accident. The next day, Admiral Hipper encountered the Finnish freighter Ester Thorden, which was found to be carrying 1.75 MT of gold. The ship was seized and sent to occupied Norway with a prize crew. On 5 August Admiral Hipper received orders to return immediately to Germany. The cruiser first replenished from Dithmarschen before heading for the Norwegian coast. On 10 August Admiral Hipper arrived in Wilhelmshaven.

Operation Nordseetour
The overhaul in Wilhelmshaven was completed on 9 September and with a new commanding officer, Wilhelm Meisel, the cruiser made ready to participate in Operation Sea Lion, the planned invasion of the United Kingdom. Admiral Hipper's role would have been a diversionary foray into the North Sea, Operation Herbstreise or "Autumn Journey", with the aim of luring the British Home Fleet away from the intended invasion routes in the English Channel. Following the postponement of that operation, on 24 September the ship left Wilhelmshaven on a mission break out into the Atlantic Ocean to raid merchant traffic. The engine oil feed system caught fire and was severely damaged. The fire forced the crew to shut down the ship's propulsion system until the blaze could be brought under control; this rendered Admiral Hipper motionless for several hours on the open sea. British reconnaissance failed to locate the ship, and after the fire was extinguished, the ship returned to Hamburg's Blohm & Voss shipyard, where repairs lasted slightly over a week.

The ship made a second attempt to break out into the Atlantic that was designated Operation Nordseetour. On 30 November Admiral Hipper escorted by five torpedo boats left Germany for Bergen in Norway, where she refueled from the tanker Wollin on 1 December. The German cruiser then proceeded towards a position South of Jan Mayen where she refueled several times from the tanker Adria whilst waiting for convenient bad weather to break through the Denmark Strait into the North Atlantic. During a gale in the night of 6 December, she navigated the Denmark Strait undetected. After a refueling by the tanker Friedrich Breme on 12 December, Meisel started searching for the convoy HX 94 which according to B-Dienst intelligence was nearby. Admiral Hipper encountered a few independent sailing vessels but as his orders were to attack only convoys, Meisel did not attack and remained undetected. In deteriorating weather, the convoy was not found. Between refueling twice from the Friedrich Breme on 16 and 20 December, Admiral Hipper searched for the convoys SC 15 and HX 95 but again nothing was found because of bad weather. Finally Meisel decided to leave the North Atlantic convoy lanes and to operate on the shipping lanes between the United Kingdom and West Africa, where the B-Dienst had reported the convoys SL 58 and SLS 58. An Arado floatplane was launched to search for the convoys, but the plane went missing and nothing was found. On 23 December the Admiral Hipper operated between the Azores and Spain.

On 24 December at dusk, Admiral Hipper detected with her DeTe radar Convoy WS 5A some 700 nmi west of Cape Finisterre. She shadowed the convoy during the night with her radar with the intention to attack at dawn. During the night a large escort was visually detected and unsuccessfully attacked with three torpedoes. Convoy WS 5A was however not one of the regular merchant convoys but a heavily guarded troopship convoy consisting of twenty ships. Five of the twenty ships were allocated to Operation Excess. The convoy was protected by a powerful escort composed of the heavy cruiser HMS Berwick (65) and the light cruisers HMS Bonaventure (31) and HMS Dunedin. The aircraft carriers HMS Furious (47) and HMS Argus (I49) were part of the convoy, but not operational as they were transferring crated aircraft. When Admiral Hipper attacked in the morning, she was surprised to make contact with Berwick. A torpedo attack on Berwick failed, but with her main guns she badly damaged the transport Empire Trooper, and lightly damaged the freighter Arabistan, before spotting other ships steaming toward her. Believing these ships to be destroyers preparing for a torpedo attack, she quickly withdrew, using her main guns to keep the escorts at bay. Ten minutes later, Berwick reappeared off Admiral Hipper's port bow; the German cruiser fired several salvos from her rear turrets and scored hits on the British cruiser's rear turrets, waterline, and forward superstructure. Admiral Hipper then disengaged, to prevent the 'British destroyers' from closing to launch a torpedo attack.

By this time, the ship was running low on fuel, and so she put into Brest in occupied France on 27 December, escorted by the torpedo boat GERMAN TORPEDO BOAT Jaguar. While en route, Admiral Hipper encountered and sank the independent sailing 6,078 GRT passenger ship SS Jumna on 25 December. Another round of routine maintenance work was effected while the ship was in Brest, readying her for another sortie into the Atlantic shipping lanes. On 4 January Admiral Hipper was detected by British air reconnaissance in Brest. The same night a major air raid was mounted with 53 Vickers Wellington, Armstrong Whitworth Whitley and Handley Page Hampden bombers but due to cloud and heavy Flak there was no success. In the night of 10 January there was a smaller attack with twelve Whitleys and in the night of 12 January 26 Wellingtons and Hampdens, all without success. The British failed to detect the departure of Admiral Hipper from Brest on 1 February and continued the attacks. On 4 February a Wellington wrongly claimed a hit on a cruiser in Brest.

Second Atlantic operation
The Kriegsmarine had initially sought to send the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau to operate in concert with Admiral Hipper, but Gneisenau suffered storm damage in December that prevented the participation of the two ships. Repairs were effected quickly, however, and the two battleships embarked upon a second attempt end January. On 1 February 1941, Admiral Hipper embarked on her second Atlantic sortie, with orders to operate on the convoy lanes between the United Kingdom and West-Africa. The ship was allowed to operate against both lightly escorted convoys and independent sailing vessels, with the hope that her appearance in these waters would draw away British forces from guarding the Denmark Strait, so that Scharnhorst and Gneisenau could easily break out into the Atlantic. Between 4 and 10 February Admiral Hipper patrolled off the Azores but no ships were found. She was refueled several times by the tanker GERMAN TANKER Spichern. Upon learning that the British Force H had sortied from Gibraltar deep into the Mediterranean to bombard La Spezia, Meisel understood that the convoys between the UK, Gibraltar and West Africa were left uncovered with heavy units and he decided to operate closer to Gibraltar, where U-boat and Luftwaffe had attacked convoy HG 53. On 11 February, Admiral Hipper encountered and sank the straggling 1,236 GRT English ship Iceland.

That evening around midnight, she picked up on her radar the unescorted convoy SLS 64, which contained nineteen merchant ships. The following morning, Admiral Hipper attacked the convoy and posing as a British cruiser could approach the convoy to close distance before opening fire at 06:19. The surprised ships dispersed at once. At the start of the fight Admiral Hipper kept between three and five km distance to the ships, but once munition was running low, she closed in order to fire more accurately. After ships were hit with cannon fire and stopped, they were finished off with torpedoes. Admiral Hipper fired all of her twelve torpedoes and claimed all torpedoes had hit. At 07:18 only six ships were still in sight of which only two were steaming. Meisel decided to break off the fight and depart before British forces closed in. The British reported only seven ships were lost, totaling 32,806 GRT along with damage to two more. The Germans claimed Admiral Hipper had sunk thirteen of the nineteen freighters totalling 79,000 GRT, while some survivors reported fourteen ships of the convoy were sunk.Following the attack on convoy SLS 64, Admiral Hipper's fuel stocks were running low. Meisel feared that approaching British forces will block the way to the tanker at the Azores and therefore returned to Brest on 15 February. Since the bigger dry docks had to be kept free for the eventual return of Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, Admiral Hipper was docked in a smaller one, but when moving into that dock she damaged her starboard screw on uncharted wreckage. A spare screw had to be transferred from Kiel and this caused additional delay. British bombers were regularly attacking the port, however, and the Kriegsmarine therefore decided Admiral Hipper should return to Germany, where she could be better protected. On 15 March, the ship slipped out of Brest, unobserved, and steered to a rendezvous point South of Greenland with the tanker Thorn. The refueling was delayed to 21 March because of bad weather. Since the heavy cruiser GERMAN CRUISER Admiral Scheer was also returning from a raid to Germany around the same time, there was a concern the two ships might hinder each other so Admiral Hipper got orders to make the breakthrough via the Denmark Strait before 28 March. She managed to do so on the 24 March. and two days later stopped to refuel in Bergen. By 28 March, the cruiser was docked in Kiel, having made the entire journey without being detected by the British.

Upon arrival, the ship went into the Deutsche Werke shipyard for an extensive overhaul, which lasted for seven months. Raeder intended to continue to send the Admiral Hipper on North Atlantic raids and as her operations so far had been dominated by the constant need to refuel, it was decided to augment her fuel capacity from 3050 to 3700 cubic meters. The aircraft hangar was also adapted at this time, the large hangar for two floatplanes with folded wings which proved difficult to handle in operations, was replaced by a smaller hangar for just one floatplane, the spare room being taken up by refueling gear and extra food storage room. After completion of the refit, Admiral Hipper conducted sea trials in the Baltic before putting into Gotenhafen on 21 December for some minor refitting. In January 1942, the ship had her steam turbines overhauled at the Blohm & Voss shipyard; a degaussing coil was fitted to the ship's hull during this overhaul. By March, the ship was again fully operational. By then the strategic situation had altered completely: due to British air reconnaissance and developments in radar it was no longer viable to execute raids in the North Atlantic. Instead the German surface fleet concentrated in Norway as a deterrent against an Allied invasion and to attack Arctic convoys to Russia.

Deployment to Norway
On 19 March 1942, Admiral Hipper steamed to Trondheim, escorted by the destroyers GERMAN DESTROYER Z24, GERMAN DESTROYER Z26, and GERMAN DESTROYER Z30 and the torpedo boats GERMAN TORPEDO BOAT T15, GERMAN TORPEDO BOAT T16, and GERMAN TORPEDO BOAT T17. Several British submarines were patrolling the area, but failed to intercept the German flotilla. Admiral Hipper and her escorts reached their destination on 21 March. There, they joined the heavy cruisers Admiral Scheer and GERMAN CRUISER Prinz Eugen, though the latter had been torpedoed by the British submarine HMS Trident (N52) on 23 February and returned to Germany for repairs on 16 May. At the same time the heavy cruiser GERMAN CRUISER Lützow transferred from Germany to Norway. In begin March, the battleship GERMAN BATTLESHIP Tirpitz had been operating against the Arctic convoy PQ 12 during Operation Sportpalast and had depleted the already very low German fuel stocks. As a result, operations above destroyer level were impossible and the Admiral Hipper remained in port for the next months.

In July fuel stocks were sufficient to allow operations again and the Germans intended to attack the next convoy PQ 17 with the complete surface fleet in Operation Rösselsprung. On 1 July the convoy was located by the B-Dienst and detected by U-boats. The next day, the first stage of Operation Rösselsprung was set in motion when German forces concentrated in Altafjord from where they could sortie against the convoy. On 2 July, Admiral Hipper, Tirpitz, the destroyers Z6 Theodor Riedel, Z10 Hans Lody, GERMAN DESTROYER Z14 Friedrich Ihn and Z20 Karl Galster, and the torpedo boats GERMAN TORPEDO BOAT T7 and T15 left Trondheim for Altafjord, followed on 3 July by the cruisers Lützow and Admiral Scheer and the destroyers Z24, GERMAN DESTROYER Z27, GERMAN DESTROYER Z28, GERMAN DESTROYER Z29, Z30 and GERMAN DESTROYER Z4 Richard Beitzen coming from Narvik in order to avoid British reconnaissance, the German fleet did not steer into open waters but remained close to the coast. In fog Lützow ran aground in the narrow Tjeldsundet, and the destroyers Z6 Theodor Riedel, Z10 Hans Lody and Z20 Karl Galster struck uncharted rocks at Grimsöy in Vestfjorden and all these ships fell out for the operation. The destroyers Z15 Erich Steinbrinck and Z16 Friedrich Eckoldt arrived also on 3 July in Altafjord.

Escorting the convoy were the battleships HMS Duke of York (17) and USS Washington (BB-56) and the aircraft carrier HMS Victorious (R38). Since aircraft from the Victorious had nearly torpedoed Tirpitz during Operation Sportpalast, Hitler explicitly forbade to launch the next stage of operation Rösselsprung, the actual attack on the convoy, as long as the aircraft carrier was not disabled by the Luftwaffe. Swedish intelligence had meanwhile reported the German departures to the British Admiralty, which ordered the convoy to disperse in the evening of 4 July. In the morning of 5 July the Germans became aware that the escorts were withdrawing and the merchants were continuing independently. The second stage of Operation Rösselsprung was initiated at 11:37 and Admiral Hipper left Altafjord together with the German fleet. During the evening it became clear that they had been detected and reported by the British submarine HMS Unshaken and a Consolidated PBY Catalina from No. 201 Squadron RAF, although an attack by the Soviet submarine K-21 went unnoticed. The Germans aborted the operation and left the merchants over to the U-boats and the Luftwaffe, which sank 21 of the 34 fleeing transports.

Due to commitments in the Mediterranean with Operation Pedestal, the Royal Navy was not able to provide sufficient escorts for the next Arctic convoy and the sailing of convoy PQ-18 was delayed until September. The convoy was located on 8 September and on 10 September the Germans set Operation Doppelschlag in motion: all available surface units were ordered to the Altafjord from where they would launch their attack against the convoy. Admiral Hipper left Narvik together with the Admiral Scheer, the light cruiser GERMAN CRUISER Köln and the destroyers GERMAN DESTROYER Z23 and Z27, and arrived on 11 September in the Altafjord. Tirpitz and Lützow were under repair and remained in Narvik. On their way, the ships were first detected by the British submarine HMS Tribune (N76). and then unsuccessfully attacked by the British submarine HMS Tigris (N63). The Norwegian submarine HNOMS Uredd (P41) and the British submarine HMS Unshaken sighted the German fleet but were unable to attack. The destroyers Z4 Richard Beitzen, Z16 Friedrich Eckoldt, Z29 and Z30 also arrived in Altafjord on 11 September, but then the operation was once more cancelled because Hitler did not want to risk losses to the surface fleet.

In Operation Zarin, the cruiser laid a minefield on 24–28 September off the north-west coast of Novaya Zemlya, escorted by the destroyers Z23, Z28, Z29, and Z30 The goal of the operation was to funnel merchant traffic further south, closer to the reach of German naval units in Norway. After her return to port, Admiral Hipper was transferred to Bogen Bay near Narvik for repairs to her propulsion system.

On 28–29 October, Admiral Hipper and the destroyers Friedrich Eckoldt and Richard Beitzen were transferred further north from Narvik to the Altafjord. Because the Allies could not provide sufficient escorts for the next Arctic convoy PQ-19, they decided to cancel the convoy and instead on 29 October thirteen freighters sailed independently from Iceland to the USSR. From the USSR 23 empty ships also tried to return independently to Iceland. Against this traffic the Germans started Operation Hoffnung on 5 November: Admiral Hipper and the 5th Destroyer Flotilla, composed of Z27, Z30, Z4 Richard Beitzen, and Z16 Friedrich Eckoldt, patrolled for Allied shipping in the Arctic. Vizeadmiral Oskar Kummetz commanded the squadron from Admiral Hipper. On 7 November, the cruiser's Arado floatplane located the 7,925 GRT Soviet tanker Donbass and its escort, the auxiliary warship BO-78. Kummetz dispatched the destroyer Z27 to sink the two Soviet ships. On 9 November the ships are back in the Kaafjord.

Battle of the Barents Sea
In December 1942, convoy traffic to the Soviet Union resumed. Raeder ordered a plan, Operation Regenbogen, to use the available surface units in Norway to launch an attack on the convoys. The first convoy of the month, JW 51A, passed to the Soviet Union without incident. However, the second, convoy JW 51B, was spotted by the submarine GS U-354 south of Bear Island. Raeder ordered the forces assigned to Operation Regenbogen into action. Admiral Hipper, again served as Kummetz's flagship; the squadron comprised Lützow and the destroyers Friederich Eckoldt, Richard Beitzen, Theodor Riedel, Z29, Z30, and GERMAN DESTROYER Z31. The force left Altafjord at 18:00 on 30 December, under orders to avoid confrontation with even an equal opponent.

Kummetz's plan was to divide his force in half; he would take Admiral Hipper and three destroyers north of the convoy to attack it and draw away the escorts. Lützow and the remaining three destroyers would then attack the undefended convoy from the south. At 09:15 on the 31st, the British destroyer HMS Obdurate (G39) spotted the three destroyers screening for Admiral Hipper; the Germans opened fire first. Four of the other five destroyers escorting the convoy rushed to join the fight, while HMS Achates (H12) laid a smoke screen to cover the convoy. Admiral Hipper fired several salvos at Achates, raining shell splinters on the destroyer that severed steam lines and reduced her speed to 15 kn. Kummetz then turned back north to draw the destroyers away. Captain Robert Sherbrooke, the British escort commander, left two destroyers to cover the convoy while he took the remaining four to pursue Admiral Hipper.

Rear Admiral Robert Burnett's Force R, centered on the cruisers HMS Sheffield (C24) and HMS Jamaica (44), standing by in distant support of the Allied convoy, raced to the scene. The cruisers engaged Admiral Hipper, which had been firing to port at the destroyer HMS Obedient (G48). Burnett's ships approached from Admiral Hipper's starboard side and achieved complete surprise. In the initial series of salvos from the British cruisers, Admiral Hipper was hit three times. One of the hits damaged the ship's propulsion system; the No. 3 boiler filled with a mix of oil and water, which forced the crew to turn off the starboard turbine engine. This reduced her speed to 23 kn. The other two hits started a fire in her aircraft hangar. She fired a single salvo at the cruisers before turning toward them, her escorting destroyers screening her with smoke. After emerging from the smoke screen, Admiral Hipper was again engaged by Burnett's cruisers. Owing to the uncertainty over the condition of his flagship and the ferocity of the British defense, Kummetz issued the following order at 10:37: "Break off action and retire to the west." Mistakenly identifying Sheffield as Admiral Hipper, the destroyer Friederich Eckoldt approached too closely and was sunk. Meanwhile, Lützow closed to within 3 nmi of the convoy, but due to poor visibility, she held her fire. She then received Kummetz's order, and turned west to rendezvous with Admiral Hipper. Lützow inadvertently came alongside Sheffield and Jamaica, and after identifying them as hostile, engaged them. The British cruisers turned toward Lützow and came under fire from both German cruisers. Admiral Hipper's firing was more accurate and quickly straddled Sheffield, though the British cruiser escaped unscathed. Burnett quickly decided to withdraw in the face of superior German firepower; his ships were armed with 6 in guns, while Admiral Hipper and Lützow carried 20.3 cm and 28 cm guns, respectively.

Based on the order issued at the outset of the operation to avoid action with a force equal in strength to his own, poor visibility, and the damage to his flagship, Kummetz decided to abort the attack. In the course of the battle, the British destroyer Achates was sunk by the damage inflicted by Admiral Hipper. The Germans also sank the minesweeper HMS Bramble (J11) and damaged the destroyers HMS Onslow (G17), Obedient, and Obdurate. In return, the British sank Friederich Eckoldt and damaged Admiral Hipper, and forced the Germans to abandon the attack on the convoy. In the aftermath of the failed operation, a furious Hitler proclaimed that the Kriegsmarine's surface forces would be paid off and dismantled, and their guns used to reinforce the fortifications of the Atlantic Wall. Admiral Karl Dönitz, Raeder's successor, persuaded Hitler to retain the surface fleet, however. After returning to Altafjord, emergency repairs to Admiral Hipper were effected, which allowed her to return to Bogen Bay on 23 January 1943. That day, Admiral Hipper, Köln, and the destroyer Richard Beitzen left the Altafjord to return to Germany. The three ships stopped in Narvik on 25 January, and in Trondheim from 30 January to 2 February. After resuming the voyage south, the ships searched for Norwegian blockade runners in the Skagerrak on 6 February before putting into port at Kiel on 8 February. On 28 February, the ship was decommissioned in accordance with Hitler's decree.

Fate

Admiral Hipper received only basic repairs so that in April the ship could be towed to Pillau in the Baltic, to put her out of the reach of Allied bombers. On 1 March 1944 the Admiral Hipper was recommissioned in her damaged state as a training ship for cadets in Gotenhafen. During the next five months Admiral Hipper executed gunnery and sea training in the Baltic. In September she was reported conditionally operational and on 27 October the cadets graduated. In November there were plans drafted to use her for shore bombardments, but as the Soviet army pushed the Germans back on the Eastern Front, her crew was drafted into construction work on the defenses of the city, further impairing Admiral Hipper's ability to enter active service. The Royal Air Force also laid an extensive minefield around the port, which forced the ship to remain in the harbor.

By the end of 1944, the ship was due for another overhaul; work was to have lasted for three months. The Soviet Army had advanced so far, however, that it was necessary to move the ship farther away from the front, despite the fact that she had only one working turbine. On 29 January 1945, the ship left Gotenhafen with 1,377 refugees embarked, escorted by the torpedo boat GERMAN TORPEDO BOAT T36. On the evening of the 30th, Admiral Hipper received a distress call from the sinking transport Wilhelm Gustloff, which was also carrying refugees. The cruiser did not stop to pick up survivors due to the threat of the submarine that sank Wilhelm Gustloff; it would instead become one of the worst maritime disasters in history.

Admiral Hipper arrived in Kiel on 2 February and entered the Germaniawerft shipyard for refitting. On 3 April, RAF bombers attacked the harbor and hit the Admiral Hipper with one bomb which failed to penetrate the armor deck but caused six deaths amongst the crew. In the night of 9 April the RAF attacked the port with 591 heavy bombers. The bombers hit several ships in the harbor: Admiral Scheer capsized, the light cruiser GERMAN CRUISER Emden was hit, and Admiral Hipper was severely damaged by three bomb hits. Munitions for her heavy artillery were brought aboard with the idea to operate her as a floating battery, but her crew scuttled the wrecked ship at her moorings at 04:25 on 3 May. In July 1945, after the end of the war, Admiral Hipper was raised and towed to Heikendorfer Bay and subsequently broken up for scrap in 1948–1952. Her bell was on display at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. The bell has since been returned to Germany and is on display at the Laboe Naval Memorial near Kiel.

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

title: German cruiser Admiral Hipper


text:
Jim Marurai

Jim Marurai (9 July 1947 – November 2020) was a Cook Islands politician who served as Prime Minister of the Cook Islands. He was a member of the Democratic Party.

Personal life
Marurai was born in Ivirua, Mangaia. He attended Ivirua and Oneroa Primary school and then Tereora College on Rarotonga and Napier Boys' High School in New Zealand. He later studied to be a teacher at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand.

Marurai's wife, Tuaine Marurai, died on 14 September 2005 in Auckland, New Zealand at the age of 56 after suffering from cancer. She was buried on her home island of Mangaia.

In March 2020 Marurai went missing from his home but was found after two days. He died in the first week of November 2020 in his home in Ivirua.

Political career
Marurai was first elected to Parliament in a by-election in 1994. He served as an opposition backbencher for his first term, and joined Norman George in splitting from the Democrats to form the New Alliance Party. Following the 1999 election he was appointed Minister of Education in the coalition Cabinets of Geoffrey Henry and Joe Williams. He retained the portfolio under both succeeding Prime Ministers, Terepai Maoate and Robert Woonton.

Prime Minister
Marurai was re-elected at the 2004 election. When Prime Minister Robert Woonton was expelled from the Democratic party for forming a coalition with the Cook Islands Party, Marurai joined him in the newly formed Demo Party Tumu (later known as Cook Islands First). When an electoral petition found Woonton's seat was a dead tie, Woonton resigned, and Marurai was elected Prime Minister. Initially he governed in coalition with the Cook Islands Party as part of a power-sharing deal which would see CIP leader Geoffrey Henry become Prime Minister after two years, but in August 2005 the agreement broke down and Marurai formed a new coalition with the Democrats. Terepai Maoate became Deputy Prime Minister again, and a month later the remaining CIP Cabinet Ministers were sacked and replaced by Democrats.

In October 2005 Marurai suspended Police Minister Peri Vaevae Pare from Cabinet over an allegation of wrongful use of public funds; Pare was subsequently asked to resign after he was convicted in January 2006. In March 2006 two government MP's crossed the floor and sided with the opposition in an unsuccessful plot to bring down the government. The High Commissioner to New Zealand, former Prime Minister Rober Woonton, was sacked for his involvement in the plot. The resulting deadlock in Parliament was broken when Environment Minister Teina Bishop resigned and joined the opposition and the Cook Islands Party won the 2006 Matavera by-election. To avoid a confidence vote, Marurai dissolved Parliament and called a snap election. The Democratic Party won the resulting 2006 election and agreed to back Marurai as Prime Minister again. Shortly after the election his government pushed a controversial Media Standards Bill to regulate the media. In May 2007 Marurai attended the 8th Pacific Islands Conference of Leaders in Washington, D.C., and expressed disappointment with the lack of commitments by the United States. In August 2007 he hosted New Zealand Governor-General Anand Satyanand, and in October he made a state visit to China.

Marurai's coalition came under strain in early 2008, with an outbreak of bickering and calls for Ministers to be sacked. In late 2008 Foreign Minister Wilkie Rasmussen publicly called for both Marurai and his deputy Maoate to step down. In July 2009 Rasmussen was sacked for plotting with the opposition. In December, a million dollar legal settlement from a failed bid to buy the Toa fuel tank farm led to the sacking of Maoate and a walkout of Democrats from Cabinet. Marurai was subsequently expelled from the Democratic Party. In January 2010, with both the Democrats and the Cook Islands Party opposed to his premiership, Marurai announced that he would not be "calling parliament for at least several months" as no sitting was required until it was necessary to pass a budget. He later announced that he had no intention of calling Parliament until September.

Marurai was readmitted to the Democratic party at a party conference in June 2010. He subsequently announced that he would not continue as Prime Minister if the Democratic Party won the 2010 election. Marurai was re-elected to his Ivirua seat in the 2010 elections, but his party was ousted. He resigned as Prime Minister on 29 November 2010, but continued to serve as a backbench MP.

Despite saying that the 2010 term would be his last, Marurai stood again for Ivirua in the 2014 election and was elected unopposed. He resigned for health reasons in 2017. The subsequent 2017 Ivirua by-election was won by Tony Armstrong.

title: Jim Marurai


text:
Palomar

Palomar may refer to:

Places

 * Any of several locations in San Diego County, California:
 * Palomar Mountain
 * Palomar Observatory, located on Palomar Mountain
 * Palomar College in San Marcos, California
 * Palomar Medical Center in Escondido, California
 * Palomar Airport, officially McClellan-Palomar Airport, in Carlsbad, California
 * El Palomar, Buenos Aires, a city in Argentina
 * El Palomar (airbase), Argentina
 * El Palomar, Valencia, a municipality in Spain
 * Palomar de Arroyos, a town in Aragón, Spain

Music

 * Palomar (band), a band from Brooklyn, New York
 * Palomar, a band formed by three members of Paw
 * "Palomar", a 1992 song by the Rheostatics from Whale Music

Other uses

 * Palomar (comics), a 2003 graphic novel by Gilbert Hernandez
 * Palomar Ballroom, in Los Angeles, California
 * Palomar Handicap, a horse race
 * Palomar knot
 * Palomar Pictures, a subsidiary of ABC Pictures

People with the surname

 * Arnau de Palomar (fl. c. 1150), Catalan nobleman
 * Enrique de la Mora y Palomar (1907–1978), Mexican architect
 * Jared Palomar, member of Augustana

title: Palomar


text:
Ahom dynasty

The Ahom dynasty (1228–1826) ruled the Ahom Kingdom in present-day Assam, India for nearly 598 years. The dynasty was established by Sukaphaa, a Shan prince of Mong Mao (present-day Yunnan, China) who came to Assam after crossing the Patkai mountains. The rule of this dynasty ended with the Burmese invasion of Assam and the subsequent annexation by the British East India Company following the Treaty of Yandabo in 1826.

In external medieval chronicles the kings of this dynasty were called Asam Raja, whereas the subjects of the kingdom called them Chaopha, or Swargadeo (in Assamese).

Ahom Kingdom (Chao-Pha / Swargadeo)
The office of the Ahom king, was reserved exclusively for the descendants of the first king Sukaphaa (1228–1268) who came to Assam from Mong Mao in 1228. Succession was by agnatic primogeniture. Nevertheless, following Rudra Singha's deathbed injunction four of his five sons became the king one after the other. The descendants of Sukaphaa were not eligible for ministerial positions—a division of power that was followed till the end of the dynasty and the kingdom. When the nobles asked Atan Burhagohain to become the king, the Tai priests rejected the idea and he desisted from ascending the throne.

The king could be appointed only with the concurrence of the patra mantris (council of ministers—Burhagohain, Borgohain, Borpatrogohain, Borbarua and Borphukan). During three periods in the 14th century, the kingdom had no kings when acceptable candidates were not found. The ministers could remove unacceptable kings, and it used to involve executing the erstwhile king. In the 17th century a power struggle and the increasing number of claimants to the throne resulted in kings being deposed in quick succession, all of whom were executed after the new king was instated. To prevent this bloody end, a new rule was introduced during the reign of Sulikphaa Lora Roja—claimants to the throne had to be physically unblemished—which meant that threats to the throne could be removed by merely slitting the ear of an ambitious prince. Rudra Singha, suspecting his brother Lechai's intention, mutilated and banished him. The problem of succession remained, and on his deathbed, he instructed that all his sons were to become kings. One of his sons, Mohanmala Gohain, was superseded, who went on to lead a rebel group during the Moamoria rebellion. The later kings and officers exploited the unblemished rule, leading to weak kings being instated. Kamaleswar Singha (2-year-old son of Kadam Dighala) and Purandar Singha (10-year-old son of Brajanath and one of the last kings of this dynasty) came into office because their fathers were mutilated.

The Ahom kings were given divine origin. According to Ahom tradition, Sukaphaa was a descendant of Khunlung, the grandson of the king of the heavens Leungdon, who had come down from the heavens and ruled Mong-Ri-Mong-Ram. During the reign of Suhungmung (1497–1539) which saw the composition of the first Assamese Buranji and increased Hindu influence, the Ahom kings were traced to the union of Indra (identified with Lengdon) and Syama (a low-caste woman), and were declared Indravamsa kshatriyas, a lineage created exclusively for the Ahoms. Suhungmung adopted the title Swarganarayan, and the later kings were called Swargadeo's (literal meaning: Lord of the Heavens). It was during his reign that the Buranji titled Sri Sri Swarganarayan Maharajor Jonmokotha was written wherein the source and lineage of the Ahom kings was connected to the Hindu God, Indra, Lord of the Heaven.

Coronation
The Swargadeo's coronation was called Singarigharutha, a ceremony that was performed first by Sudangphaa, (Bamuni Konwar) (1397–1407). The first coins in the new king's name were minted during the reign of Sutamla. Kamaleswar Singha (1795–1811) and Chandrakanta Singha's (1811–1818) coronations were not performed on the advice of Prime minister Purnananda Burhagohain, due to the financial constraints of State treasury caused by the internal disturbances during Moamoria rebellion. Kings who died in office were buried in vaults called Moidam, at Charaideo. Some of the earlier Maidam especially with Rajeswar Singha (1751–1769), who were cremated had their ashes buried instead.

On ascent, the king would generally assume an Ahom name decided by the Ahom priests. The name generally ended in Pha (Tai: Heaven), e.g. Susenghphaa. Later kings also assumed a Hindu name that ended in Singha (Assamese: Lion): Susengphaa assumed the name Pratap Singha. Buranjis occasionally would refer to a past king by a more informal and colourful name that focused on a specific aspect of the king Pratap Singha was also known as Burha Roja (Assamese: Old King) because when Pratap Singha became the king, he was quite advanced in age.

Royal offices
Subinphaa (1281–1293), the third Ahom king, delineated the Satghariya Ahom, the Ahom aristocracy of the Seven Houses. Of this, the first lineage was that of the king. The next two were the lineages of the Burhagohain and the Borgohain. The last four were priestly lineages. Sukhrangpha (1332–1364) established the position of Charing Raja which came to be reserved for the heir apparent. The first Charing Raja was Sukhramphaa's half-brother, Chao Pulai, the son of the Kamata princess Rajani, but who did not ultimately become the Swargadeo. Suhungmung Dihingia Raja (1497–1539) settled the descendants of past kings in different regions that gave rise to seven royal houses—Saringiya, Tipamiya, Dihingiya, Samuguriya, Tungkhungiya, Parvatiya and Namrupiya—and periods of Ahom rule came to be known after these families. The rule of the last such house, Tungkhungiya, was established by Gadadhar Singha (1681–1696) and his descendants ruled till the end of the Ahom kingdom.

Queens
Ahom queens (Kunworis) played important roles in the matter of state. They were officially designated in a gradation of positions, called the Bor Kuwori (Chief Queen), Parvatia Kuwori, Raidangia Kuwori, Tamuli Kuwori, etc. who were generally daughters of Ahom noblemen and high officials. Lesser wives of the Swargadeo were called Chamua Kunworis. Some of the queens were given separate estates that were looked after by state officials (Phukans or Baruas). During the reign of Siva Singha (1714–1744), the king gave his royal umbrella and royal insignia to his queens—Phuleshwari kunwori, Ambika Kunwori and Anadari Kunwori in succession— to rule the kingdom. They were called Bor-Rojaa. Some queens maintained office even after the death or removal of the kings, as happened with Pakhori Gabhoru and Kuranganayani who were queens to multiple kings.

One way in which the importance of the queens can be seen is that many of them are named on coins; typically the king's name would be on the obverse of the coin and the queen's on the reverse.

Court influences
Sukaphaa's ruling deity was Chum-Pha and Sheng-mung a pair of non-Hindu, non-Buddhist gods, and he was accompanied by classes of priests called Deodhai, Bailung etc. But the Ahom kings let themselves be influenced by the religion and customs of those they ruled over. Sudangphaa Bamuni Konwar (1397–1407) installed a Brahmin of Habung, in whose household he was born and raised, as his adviser, but he himself did not convert to Hinduism. Susenphaa (1439–1488) constructed a temple at Negheriting. Suhungmung Dihingia Rojaa (1497–1539) was the first Ahom king to expand the kingdom and the polity, allow Assamese influence in his court and accept a non-Ahom title—Swarganarayan. Sukhaamphaa Khora Rojaa (1552–1603) began consulting Hindu astrologers alongside the traditional Deodhai-Bailung priests, and Pratap Singha (1603–1641) installed 13 Brahmin families as diplomats. Assamese language coexisted with Tai language in the court till the reign of Pratap Singha, during whose rule Assamese became dominant. Sutamla (1648–1663) was the first Ahom king to be initiated into the Mahapuruxiya Dharma, and Ahom kings till Sulikphaa lora roja (1679–1681) continued to be disciples of one sattra or the other. Mahapuruxiya pontiffs belonging to different sects began playing a greater role in state politics. After the chaos of the late 17th century, Gadadhar Sinha (1681–1696), the first Tungkhungiya king began his rule with a deep distrust of these religious groups. His son and successor Rudra Singha (1696–1714) searched for an alternative state religion, and his son and successor Siva Singha (1714–1744) formally adopted Saktism, the nemesis of the Mahapuruxiya sects. The persecution of the Mahapuruxiya Sattras under the Tunkhungiya rulers following Siba Singha was a crucial factor leading to the Moamoria rebellion that greatly depleted the Ahom kingdom.

King's Guards
The king was guarded by a six thousand strong household troop under a Bhitarual Phukan. A unit of musketeers consisting of the king's relatives was established by Sukhaamphaa alias Khora Raja that protected the capital (under the Bajua Hilaidari Konwar) and the palace and environs (Bhitarual Hilaidari Konwar).

The protection of the king was strictly taken into measure. Several classes of highly trusted guards were entrusted with the duty of protecting the king, which were duly supervised by the superior officers. (i) Hendangdhara or persons wielding hengdang were the personal bodyguards of the king. (ii) Chabukdhara, wielding whip, preceded the king whenever he moved out. (iii) Da-dhara or guards holding swords accompanied the king on his side. (iv) Dangdhara or guards carrying baton, moved around the side of the king.

Patronage to Art
The Ahom kings particularly of the tungkhungia house were great patrons of art, they encouraged the art of manuscript painting. Under their patronage, a great number of highly illustrated manuscripts were produced and a new school of art emerged as the 'Garhgaon school'. This school of art broke away from the already existing 'Sattriya school', with much secular influence. Richly illustrated manuscripts such as– Gita Govinda, Dharma Purana, Sankachura Vadh, Hastividyarnava, Ananda Lahiri, Bhagavata Purana VI, Brhamavaivarta Purana, etc., are all products of the royal court.

Swargadeo dynastic lineage
In the nearly 600-years 39-Swargadeo dynastic history, there are three progenitor kings (all subsequent kings are descendants of these kings). They are Sukaphaa, who established the kingdom; Suhungmung, who made the greatest territorial and political expansion of the kingdom; and Supaatphaa, who established the House of Tungkhugia kings that reigned the kingdom during its political and cultural zenith, as well as the period of decay and end (except for Jogeswar Singha, who was a descendant of Supaatphaa's father Gobar, and who was installed as a puppet king by the Burmese).

The dynastic history and dates that are accepted today are the result of a re-examination of Ahom and other documents by a team of Nora astronomers and experts who were commissioned to do so by Gaurinath Singha (1780–1795).

title: Ahom dynasty


text:
User:WinyatesStud

Hi there!

I was researching my home town for project and I found this page which is greate, but does not yet do it justice. I added a few lines, hope that's OK.

TheStud

title: User:WinyatesStud


text:
User:Mindstream

Mindstream.

I am a Web Developer based in Pembrokeshire West Wales. I use Wikipedia quite a lot and hope to add content as and when I can.

My business site. My personal pages

title: User:Mindstream


text:
Ranong

Ranong (ระนอง) is a town (thesaban mueang) in southern Thailand, capital of the Ranong Province and the Mueang Ranong District. The town covers completely the area of the tambon Khao Niwet (เขานิเวศน์). As of 2005, it had a population of 16,163. Ranong lies 586 km south-southwest of Bangkok by road.

Geography
Ranong is on the estuary of the Pak Chan (or Kraburi) River, opposite Myanmar's Kawthaung (formerly Victoria Point). The Tenasserim Hills rise directly to the east of Ranong, and another small ridge runs along the edge of the estuary to the town's north.

Climate
Ranong has a tropical monsoon climate (Köppen climate classification Am). There is little variation in the temperature throughout the year, although the pre-monsoon months (February to April) are somewhat hotter in the day. However, Ranong's position to the west of the Tenasserim Hills means that the monsoon season's rains are greatly amplified, resulting in torrential rains from May until October, and significant rainfall in the transition months of April and November.

Transportation
Phet Kasem Road (Thailand Route 4) runs through the city. Ranong Airport is about 24 km south of town.

The Port Authority of Thailand operates the Ranong Port, which is Thailand's principal Indian Ocean port. In 2008, the Ranong human-smuggling incident resulted in 54 deaths.

Several ferries are connecting to Kawthaung, Myanmar, which can be accessed by foreigners without visa. There also is a boat from Ranong to the Burmese resort island Thahtay Kyun.

title: Ranong


text:
List of Underground Railroad sites

The list of Underground Railroad sites includes abolitionist locations of sanctuary, support, and transport for former slaves in 19th century North America before and during the American Civil War. It also includes sites closely associated with people who worked to achieve personal freedom for all Americans in the movement to end slavery in the United States.

The list of validated or authenticated Underground Railroad and Network to Freedom sites is sorted within state or province, by location.

Canada

The Act Against Slavery of 1793 stated that any enslaved person would become free on arrival in Upper Canada. A network of routes led from the United States to Upper and Lower Canada.

Ontario

 * 1) Amherstburg Freedom Museum – Amherstburg. The museum uses historical artifacts, Black heritage exhibits, and video presentations to share the story of how Africans were forced into slavery and the made their way to Canada.
 * 2) Fort Malden – Amherstburg One of the routes to Ontario was to cross Lake Erie from Sandusky, Ohio to Fort Malden. Another route to Fort Malden was traveling across the Detroit River into Canada and then across to Amherstburg. A number of fugitive slaves lived in the area and Isaac J. Rice established himself as a missionary, operating a school for black children.
 * 3) Buxton National Historic Site and Elgin settlement – Chatham, Ontario  The Elgin settlement was established by a Presbyterian minister, Reverend William King, with fifteen former slaved on November 28, 1849. King came from Ohio, where he inherited fourteen enslaved people from his father-in-law and acquired another and set them free. King intended the Elgin settlement to a refuge for runaway enslaved people. The Buxton Mission was established at the settlement.
 * 4) Uncle Tom's Cabin Historic Site and Dawn Settlement – Dresden.  Rev. Josiah Henson, a former enslaved man who fled slavery via the Underground Railroad with his wife Nancy and their children, was a cofounder of the Dawn Settlement in 1841. Dawn Settlement was designed to be a community for black refugees, where children and adults could receive an education and develop skills so that they could prosper. They exported tobacco, grain, and black walnut lumber to the United States and Britain.
 * 5) John R. Park Homestead Conservation Area – Essex. The Park Homestead was a station on the Underground Railroad.
 * 6) John Freeman Walls Historic Site – Lakeshore.  John Freeman Walls, left his enslavers in North Carolina and settled in Canada. The Refugee Home Society supplied the money to buy land and he built a cabin. Church services were held there before the Puce Baptist Church was built. It was also a terminal stop on the Underground Railroad. Walls and his family stayed in Canada after the American Civil War.
 * 7) Queen's Bush – Mapleton. Beginning in 1820, African American pioneers settled in the open lands of Queen's Bush. More than 1,500 blacks set up farms and created a community with churches and Mount Pleasant and Mount Hope schools, which were taught by American missionaries.
 * 8) St. Catharines – Harriet Tubman lived in St. Catharines and attended the  Salem Chapel for ten years. After she freed herself from slavery, she helped other enslaved people reach freedom in Canada. The town was a final stop on the Underground Railroad for many people.
 * 9) Sandwich First Baptist Church – Windsor. The church was built just over the border from the United States in Windsor, Ontario by blacks who came to Canada to live free. For its role in the lives of its congregants and as a sanctuary for fugitive slaves, it was designated a National Historic Site in 1999.

Nova Scotia
African-American people settled in Nova Scotia since 1749.
 * 1) Birchtown National Historic Site – Birchtown. It was a settlement of black people from Colonial America, who served the British during the American Revolutionary War in exchange for their freedom. Birchtown was the largest community of free black people in British North America during the late 18th century.
 * 2) Africville – Halifax. Black people settled in Africville beginning in 1848. Black residents did not have the same services as white people, like clean water and sewers, and lived on land that was not arable. Some were able to make a living for themselves and build a community with a Baptist church, a school, stores, and a post office. A plan was initiated to relocate families and raze the site of the town.

Colorado

 * 1) Barney L. Ford Building — Denver, associated with escaped slave Barney Ford, who became a quite successful businessman and led political action towards Black voting rights in Colorado. He used the Underground Railroad (UGRR) to flee slavery and supported UGRR activities.

Connecticut

 * 1) Francis Gillette House — Bloomfield
 * 2) Austin F. Williams Carriagehouse and House — Farmington. Built in the mid-19th century, the property was designated a National Historic Landmark for the role it played in the celebrated case of the Amistad Africans, and as a "station" on the Underground Railroad.
 * 3) First Church of Christ, Congregational — Farmington The church was a hub of the Underground Railroad, and became involved in the celebrated case of the African slaves who revolted on the Spanish vessel La Amistad. When the Africans who had participated in the revolt were released in 1841, they came to Farmington.
 * 4) Polly and William Wakeman House — Wilton. The Wakemans were among a group of abolitionists in Wilton who helped runaway slaves. Underneath their house was a tunnel that was accessed by a trap door. They took people on late-night trips to neighboring towns on the Underground Railroad.

Delaware

 * 1) Camden Friends Meetinghouse — Camden Quaker meeting house (built in 1806) of Camden Monthly Meeting, several of whose members were active in the Underground Railroad, including John Hunn, who is buried in its cemetery.
 * 2) John Dickinson Plantation — Dover
 * 3) New Castle Court House — New Castle
 * 4) Appoquinimink Friends Meetinghouse — Odessa
 * 5) Corbit–Sharp House — Odessa
 * 6) The Tilly Escape site, Gateway to Freedom: Harriet Tubman's Daring Route through Seaford — Seaford
 * 7) Friends Meeting House — Wilmington
 * 8) Thomas Garrett House — Wilmington

District of Columbia

 * 1) Blanche K. Bruce House
 * 2) Camp Greene and Contraband Camp
 * 3) Frederick Douglass National Historic Site
 * 4) Howard University, Moorland-Spingarn Research Center
 * 5) Leonard Grimes Property Site
 * 6) Mary Ann Shadd Cary House
 * 7) Pearl incident at 7th Street Dock

Florida

 * 1) Negro Fort, also known as British Fort and Fort Gadsden — near Sumatra, Franklin County
 * 2) Fort Mosé — St. John's County

Georgia

 * 1) First African Baptist Church — Savannah
 * 2) Dr. Robert Collins House - William and Ellen Craft Escape Site (NRHP site) — Macon

Illinois

 * 1) Old Rock House — Alton
 * 2) New Philadelphia Town Site — Barry
 * 3) Quinn Chapel AME Church — Brooklyn
 * 4) Lucius Read House — Byron
 * 5) Galesburg Colony UGRR Freedom Station at Knox College — Galesburg
 * 6) Beecher Hall, Illinois College — Jacksonville
 * 7) Graue Mill — Oak Brook
 * 8) Dr. Hiram Rutherford House and Office — Oakland
 * 9) Owen Lovejoy House — Princeton
 * 10) John Hossack House — Ottawa
 * 11) Dr. Richard Eells House — Quincy
 * 12) Maple Lane (Reverend Asa Turner House) – Quincy
 * 13) Mission Institute Number One – Quincy
 * 14) Mission Institute Number Two – Quincy
 * 15) Oakland (Dr. David Nelson House) – Quincy
 * 16) Blanchard Hall, Wheaton College — Wheaton

Indiana

 * 1) Levi Coffin House — Fountain City
 * 2) Bethel AME Church — Indianapolis
 * 3) Eleutherian College Classroom and Chapel Building — Lancaster
 * 4) Lyman and Asenath Hoyt House — Madison
 * 5) Madison Historic District — Madison
 * 6) Town Clock Church (now Second Baptist Church) — New Albany
 * 7) Quinn House, within Old Richmond Historic District — Richmond
 * 8) Phanuel Lutheran Church — Southeastern Fountain County

Iowa

 * 1) First Congregational Church — Burlington
 * 2) Horace Anthony House — Camanche
 * 3) Reverend George B. Hitchcock House — Lewis vicinity
 * 4) Henderson Lewelling House — Salem
 * 5) Todd House — Tabor
 * 6) Jordan House — West Des Moines

Kansas

 * 1) Fort Scott National Historic Site  — Bourbon County
 * 2) John Brown Cabin — Osawatomie

Maine

 * 1) Harriet Beecher Stowe House — Brunswick
 * 2) Abyssinian Meeting House — Portland
 * 3) Maple Grove Friends Church — Fort Fairfield
 * 4) Private Home - 55 High St Brownsville, ME

Maryland

 * 1) President Street Station — Baltimore
 * 2) Harriet Tubman's birthplace — Dorchester County
 * 3) Riley-Bolten House — North Bethesda
 * 4) John Brown's Headquarters — Sample's Manor

Massachusetts

 * 1) African American National Historic Site — Boston
 * 2) William Lloyd Garrison House — Boston
 * 3) Black Heritage Trail, including the Lewis and Harriet Hayden House — Boston
 * 4) William Ingersoll Bowditch House — Brookline
 * 5) Mount Auburn Cemetery — Cambridge
 * 6) The Wayside — Concord
 * 7) George Luther Stearns Estate — Medford
 * 8) Nathan and Mary Johnson House — New Bedford
 * 9) Jackson Homestead — Newton
 * 10) Ross Farm — Northampton
 * 11) Dorsey–Jones House — Northampton
 * 12) Liberty Farm — Worcester

Michigan

 * 1) Guy Beckley — Ann Arbor. Underground Railroad promoter and station master and anti-slavery lecturer. The Guy Beckley House is on the Underground Railroad Network to Freedom.
 * 2) Erastus and Sarah Hussey — Battle Creek
 * 3) Second Baptist Church — Detroit
 * 4) Dr. Nathan M. Thomas House — Schoolcraft
 * 5) Wright Modlin  — Williamsville, Cass County. His house was a railroad station, but he often traveled south to the Ohio River (a border between the free and slave states) or into Kentucky where he found people escaping slavery and brought them up to Cass County. He was so successful that it angered Kentuckian slaveholders, who instigated the Kentucky raid on Cass County in 1847. He was also a central figure in The South Bend Fugitive Slave case.

Nebraska

 * 1) Mayhew Cabin — Nebraska City

New Jersey

 * 1) Holden Hilton House — Jersey City
 * 2) Thomas Vreeland Jackson and John Vreeland Jackson house — Jersey City
 * 3) Mott House — Lawnside Borough
 * 4) Red Maple Farm — Monmouth Junction
 * 5) Grimes Homestead — Mountain Lakes
 * 6) Rhoads Chapel — Saddlertown, Haddon Township
 * 7) Bethel AME Church — Springtown
 * 8) Mortonson-Van Leer Log Cabin — Swedesboro
 * 9) Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church — Woolwich Township

New York

 * 1) Edwin Weyburn Goodwin — Albany
 * 2) Stephen and Harriet Myers House — Albany
 * 3) Allegany County network: Baylies Bassett — Alfred and others (including Henry Crandall Home — Almond; William Sortore Farm — Belmont); Marcus Lucas Home — Corning; Thatcher Brothers — Hornell, McBurney House — Canisteo (now in town of Hornellsville); William Knight — Scio
 * 4) Harriet Tubman House and Thompson AME Zion Church — Auburn
 * 5) North Star Underground Railroad Museum — Ausable Chasm
 * 6) Michigan Street Baptist Church — Buffalo
 * 7) Cadiz, Franklinville area network: Merlin Mead House and others, including John Burlingame, Alfred Rice, Isaac Searle, and the owner of the Stagecoach Inn
 * 8) McClew Farm at Murphy Orchards — Burt

 * 1) St. James AME Zion Church — Ithaca

 * 1) John Brown Farm State Historic Site — Lake Placid

 * 1) Starr Clock Tinshop — Mexico
 * 2) Abolitionist Place — New York City: Brooklyn. Abolitionist Place is a section of Duffield Street in downtown Brooklyn that used to be a center of anti-slavery and Underground Railroad activity. New York City was one of the busiest ports in the world in the 19th century. Some freedom seekers traveled aboard ships amongst cargo, like tobacco or cotton from the Southern United States and arrived in Brooklyn a few blocks away from Abolitionist Place. Underground Railroad conductors helped these freedom seekers, as well as people who traveled north on the Underground Railroad. They were provided needed shelter, like at the Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims; clothing; and food.
 * 3) Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims — New York City: Brooklyn

 * 1) Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center — Niagara Falls

 * 1) Chappaqua Friends Meeting House - Chappaqua, New York
 * 2) Buckout-Jones Building — Oswego
 * 3) Edwin W. and Charlotte Clarke House — Oswego
 * 4) Hamilton and Rhoda Littlefield House — Oswego
 * 5) John B. and Lydia Edwards House — Oswego
 * 6) John Jay Homestead - Bedford/Katonah
 * 7) Orson Ames House — Mexico, Oswego County
 * 8) Oswego Market House — Oswego
 * 9) Oswego School District Public Library (presumably the Oswego City Library) — Oswego
 * 10) Richardson-Bates House Museum — Oswego
 * 11) Tudor E. Grant — Oswego
 * 1) Gerrit Smith Estate and Land Office — Peterboro
 * 2) Smithfield Community Center — Peterboro, formerly a church; first meeting of New York Anti-Slavery Society held there; houses National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum.
 * 3) Samuel and Elizabeth Cuyler House Site — Pultneyville

 * 1) Foster Memorial AME Zion Church — Tarrytown

 * 1) Eber Pettit Home - Versailles

 * 1) African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church - Rochester, New York. Escaping enslaved people were hidden under the pulpit and in hollow pews. Frederick Douglass, Amy and Isaac Post, Jacob P. Morris, and other Rochester Underground Railroad organizers were associated with the site.

North Carolina

 * 1) Guilford College Woods meeting place, Guilford College — Greensboro
 * 2) Freedmen's Colony of Roanoke Island Network to Freedom site — Manteo, Outer Banks

Ohio

 * 1) Col. William Hubbard House — Ashtabula
 * 2) Captain Jonathan Stone House — Belpre
 * 3) Harriet Beecher Stowe House — Cincinnati
 * 4) House of Peter and Sarah M. Fossett — Cincinnati / Cumminsville
 * 5) Samuel and Sally Wilson House — Cincinnati

 * 1) James and Sophia Clemens Farmstead — Greenville

 * 1) Sawyer–Curtis House — Little Hocking
 * 1) Mount Pleasant Historic District — Mt. Pleasant

 * 1) Reuben Benedict House — Marengo
 * 2) Spring Hill — Massillon
 * 3) Wilson Bruce Evans House — Oberlin

 * 1) John P. Parker House — Ripley
 * 2) John Rankin House — Ripley
 * 3) Daniel Howell Hise House — Salem
 * 4) Rush R. Sloane House — Sandusky

 * 1) George W. Adams House /  Prospect Place — Trinway
 * 2) Iberia — Washington Township, Morrow County
 * 3) Putnam Historic District — Zanesville

Pennsylvania

 * 1) Kaufman's Station — Boiling Springs

 * 1) Oakdale — Chadds Ford
 * 2) John Brown House — Chambersburg

 * 1) Dobbin House — Gettysburg

 * 1) Thaddeus Stevens Home and Law Office – Lancaster

 * 1) Johnson House — Philadelphia
 * 2) Hosanna Meeting House — Chester County
 * 3) Liberty Bell, Independence National Historical Park — Philadelphia
 * 4) White Horse Farm — Phoenixville
 * 5) Hovenden House, Barn and Abolition Hall — Plymouth Meeting
 * 6) Bethel AME Zion Church — Reading

 * 1) F. Julius LeMoyne House — Washington
 * 2) William Goodrich House — York
 * 3) Eusebius Barnard House — Pocopson
 * 4) Van Leer Cabin — Tredyffrin

Rhode Island

 * 1) Isaac Rice Homestead — Newport

Tennessee

 * 1) Burkle Estate was possibly a station and is now Slave Haven Underground Railroad Museum  — Memphis
 * 2) Hunt-Phelan House — Memphis

Texas

 * 1) Matilda and Nathaniel Jackson
 * 2) Silvia and John Webber

Vermont

 * 1) Rowland E. Robinson House, Rokeby — Ferrisburgh

Virgin Islands

 * 1) Annaberg Sugar Plantation and School — St. John

Virginia

 * 1) Bruin's Slave Jail — Alexandria
 * 2) Rochelle–Prince House / Nat Turner Historic District — Courtland
 * 3) Moncure Conway House — Falmouth
 * 4) Theodore Roosevelt Island — Rosslyn
 * 5) Fort Monroe — Hampton

West Virginia

 * 1) Z. D. Ramsdell House — Ceredo
 * 2) Jefferson County Courthouse — Charles Town
 * 3) Harpers Ferry National Historical Park — Harpers Ferry
 * 4) Wheeling Hotel — Wheeling

Wisconsin

 * 1) Milton House — Milton
 * 2) Joshua Glover — Milwaukee
 * 3) Lyman Goodnow — Waukesha. Conductor, led 16-year-old Caroline Quarlls, the first known freedom seeker along Wisconsin's Underground Railroad, from Wisconsin to Canada.

title: List of Underground Railroad sites


text:
Babruysk fortress

Babruysk Fortress (Бабруйская крэпасць; Бобруйская крепость) is a historic fortress in the city of Babruysk, Belarus, that was built between 1810 and 1836. It is one of the best surviving examples of fortification architecture and design in the first half of the 19th century. The fortress was constructed in the historic center of the city, at the confluence of the Babruyka and Berezina rivers. It was one of the western Russian fortresses.

In 1810, Tsar Alexander I sent out his military engineer Teodor Narbutt to find a site suitable for building a fortress somewhere on the Dnieper, between Mogilev and Rogachev in order to prepare for the looming threat in Western Europe. However, after his investigation, Narbut advised his superiors that a more strategic position would be on the shore of the Berezina river near Babruysk. This decision was approved by the Chief of Military Engineers, Count Carl Operman, who at the time had authority over all of Russian forts. On June 4, 1810, the Tsar issued an order for the Babruysk fortress to be constructed. Narbut had to resign for health reasons and was replaced by General Major Gabriel Ignatiev.

The early fortress comprised five bastions, multiple soil ridges, and water channels. The basis for the Babruysk fortress was the Babruysk Jesuit house and a smaller Polish fortress, which were built earlier.

Only partially completed, the fortress had to face Napoleon's invading army in the summer of 1812. After the French army captured Minsk, General Ignatiev took command of the fort and the city of Babruysk, which served as a holdout for the retreating Russian forces. Soldiers from The Second Russian Army were provided with food and the wounded received medical treatment. After that they were ferried by the Berezina and Dniper to Smolensk, where the main Russian army was stationed. General Ignatiev remained in the fortress and oversaw its defence.

The city faced an attack by the forces of General Jan Henryk Dąbrowski, the Polish Corps Commander of Napoleon's Army. The siege lasted for four months, however the fortress held until the French forces began their retreat. Throughout this time Ignatiev was instrumental in collecting intelligence and forwarding it to the high command of the Russian army.

Following the Napoleonic wars, in 1820, the fortress was further rapidly expanded by the addition of 18 more bastions and towers. The fort Freidrich Wilhelm was designed according to the plans of the architect A. Staubert in 1822. Tsar Alexander I himself and his brother arrived in Babruysk on September 24, 1825, at the completion of this building phase.

In 1892 the 1st Brigade of the 40th Infantry Division of the Imperial Russian Army was stationed here.

By 1900 the fortress lost its military significance and was converted into a jail. It was captured by the Polish I Corps in February 1918 and used by Polish forces during the Polish-Bolshevik War (1919—1920, about 1.000.000 deaths). During World War II, it was used as a concentration camp by German occupation forces (about 80,000 deaths).

The Babruysk Fortress was registered as a national architectural monument of Belarus.

title: Babruysk fortress


text:
Hartford Ball Club Grounds

Hartford Ball Club Grounds was a baseball grounds in Hartford, Connecticut. It was home to the Hartford Dark Blues from 1874 to 1876, two years in the National Association and one in the National League.

The Hartford club remained in the League for 1877 but played its home games at Union Grounds in Brooklyn, New York, whose last professional tenant had gone out of business.

Contemporary maps show that the ballpark was bounded by Wyllys Street to the northwest and Hendricxsen Avenue to the northeast, with trees and residences along the south sides of the field. The stands were situated along Wyllys, and the diamond was set up with home plate pointing northwest. Across Hendricxsen to the northeast was the Church of the Good Shepherd, bounded by Van Block Avenue on its northeast side. In modern times, Hendricxsen ends at Masseek Street, well to the southeast, but the driveway from Wyllys into the church parking lot approximates the old Hendricxsen. The former ballpark site is a large lawn across from the church and the parking lot.

The Hartford Base Ball Grounds was marked with a memorial bronze plaque in July 2008. The effort was led by Ronald Bolin. In February 2009 the plaque was stolen. It was recovered in 2017 from a scrap yard in Massachusetts. No decision has been made on whether to place it back on the site.

In June 2013, the bases were marked with commemorative granite slabs on their approximate original locations on the grounds field just in front of the Church of the Good Shepherd's Caldwell Colt Memorial. The tribute was created and financed made by The Friends of Vintage Base Ball.

title: Hartford Ball Club Grounds


text:
History of central banking in the United States

This history of central banking in the United States encompasses various bank regulations, from early wildcat banking practices through the present Federal Reserve System.

Bank of North America
Some Founding Fathers were strongly opposed to the formation of a national banking system; the fact that England tried to place the colonies under the monetary control of the Bank of England was seen by many as the "last straw" of oppression which led directly to the American Revolutionary War.

Others were strongly in favor of a national bank. Robert Morris, as Superintendent of Finance, helped to open the Bank of North America in 1782, and has been accordingly called by Thomas Goddard "the father of the system of credit and paper circulation in the United States". As ratification in early 1781 of the Articles of Confederation had extended to Congress the sovereign power to generate bills of credit, it passed later that year an ordinance to incorporate a privately subscribed national bank following in the footsteps of the Bank of England. However, it was thwarted in fulfilling its intended role as a nationwide national bank due to objections of "alarming foreign influence and fictitious credit", favoritism to foreigners and unfair policies against less corrupt state banks issuing their own notes, such that Pennsylvania's legislature repealed its charter to operate within the Commonwealth in 1785.

First Bank of the United States
In 1791, former Morris aide and chief advocate for Northern mercantile interests, Alexander Hamilton, the Secretary of the Treasury, accepted a compromise with the Southern lawmakers to ensure the continuation of Morris's Bank project; in exchange for support by the South for a national bank, Hamilton agreed to ensure sufficient support to have the national or federal capitol moved from its temporary Northern location, New York, to a "Southern" location on the Potomac. As a result, the First Bank of the United States (1791–1811) was chartered by Congress within the year and signed by George Washington soon after. The First Bank of the United States was modeled after the Bank of England and differed in many ways from today's central banks. For example, it was partly owned by foreigners, who shared in its profits. Also, it was not solely responsible for the country's supply of bank notes. It was responsible for only 20% of the currency supply; state banks accounted for the rest. Several founding fathers bitterly opposed the Bank. Thomas Jefferson saw it as an engine for speculation, financial manipulation, and corruption. In 1811 its twenty-year charter expired and was not renewed by Congress. Absent the federally chartered bank, the next several years witnessed a proliferation of federally issued Treasury Notes to create credit as the government struggled to finance the War of 1812; a suspension of specie payment by most banks soon followed as well.

Second Bank of the United States
After five years, the federal government chartered its successor, the Second Bank of the United States (1816–1836). James Madison signed the charter with the intention of stopping runaway inflation that had plagued the country during the five-year interim. It was essentially a copy of the First Bank, with branches across the country. Andrew Jackson, who became president in 1829, denounced the bank as an engine of corruption. His destruction of the bank was a major political issue in the 1830s and shaped the Second Party System, as Democrats in the states opposed banks and Whigs supported them. He was unable to get the bank dissolved, but refused to renew its charter. Jackson attempted to counteract this by executive order requiring all federal land payments to be made in gold or silver, in accordance with his interpretation of The Constitution of the United States, which only gives Congress the power to "coin" money, not emit bills of credit. The Panic of 1837 followed. The Bank then flatly denied a subpoena to examine its records and its chief, Nicholas Biddle, bemusedly observed that it would be ironic if he went to prison "By the votes of members of Congress because I would not give up to their enemies their confidential letters". Biddle was eventually arrested and charged with fraud. The Bank's charter expired in 1836.

1837–1862: "Free banking" era
In this period, only state-chartered banks existed. They could issue bank notes against specie (gold and silver coins) and the states heavily regulated their own reserve requirements, interest rates for loans and deposits, the necessary capital ratio etc. These banks had existed since 1781, in parallel with the Banks of the United States. The Michigan Act (1837) allowed the automatic chartering of banks that would fulfill its requirements without special consent of the state legislature. This legislation made creating unstable banks easier by lowering state supervision in states that adopted it. The real value of a bank bill was often lower than its face value, and the issuing bank's financial strength generally determined the size of the discount. By 1797 there were 24 chartered banks in the U.S.; with the beginning of the free banking era (1837) there were 712.

During the free banking era, the banks were short-lived compared to today's commercial banks, with an average lifespan of five years. About half of the banks failed, and about a third of which went out of business because they could not redeem their notes. (See also "Wildcat banking".)

During the free banking era, some local banks took over the functions of a central bank. In New York, the New York Safety Fund provided deposit insurance for member banks. In Boston, the Suffolk Bank guaranteed that bank notes would trade at near par value, and acted as a private bank note clearinghouse.

1863–1913: National banks
The National Banking Act of 1863, besides providing loans in the Civil War effort of the Union, included provisions:

 * To create a system of national banks. They were to have higher standards concerning reserves and business practices than state banks. Recent research indicates that state monopoly banks had the lowest long run survival rates. The office of Comptroller of the Currency was created to supervise these banks.
 * To create a uniform national currency. To achieve this, all national banks were required to accept each other's currencies at par value. This eliminated the risk of loss in case of bank default. The notes were printed by the Comptroller of the Currency to ensure uniform quality and prevent counterfeiting.
 * To finance the war, national banks were required to secure their notes by holding Treasury securities, enlarging the market and raising its liquidity.

As described by Gresham's Law, soon bad money from state banks drove out the new, good money; the government imposed a 10% tax on state bank bills, forcing most banks to convert to national banks. By 1865, there were already 1,500 national banks. In 1870, 1,638 national banks stood against only 325 state banks. The tax led in the 1880s and 1890s to the creation and adoption of checking accounts. By the 1890s, 90% of the money supply was in checking accounts. State banking had made a comeback.

Two problems still remained in the banking sector. The first was the requirement to back up the currency with treasuries. When the treasuries fluctuated in value, banks had to recall loans or borrow from other banks or clearinghouses. The second problem was that the system created seasonal liquidity spikes. A rural bank had deposit accounts at a larger bank, that it withdrew from when the need for funds was highest, e.g., in the planting season. When combined liquidity demands were too big, the bank again had to find a lender of last resort.

These liquidity crises led to bank runs, causing severe disruptions and depressions, the worst of which was the Panic of 1907.

National banks issued National Bank Notes as currency. Because they were uniformly backed by US government debt, they generally traded at comparable values in contrast to the notes issued during the Free Banking era in which notes from different banks could have significantly different values. National bank notes were not however "lawful tender", and could not be used as bank reserves under the National Bank Act. The Federal government issued greenbacks which fulfilled this role along with gold.

Congress suspended the gold standard in 1861 early in the Civil War and began issuing paper currency (greenbacks). The federally issued greenbacks were gradually supposed to be eliminated in favor of national bank notes after the Specie Payment Resumption Act of 1875 was passed. However, the elimination of the greenbacks was suspended in 1878 and the notes remained in circulation. Federal debt throughout the period continued to be paid in gold. In 1879, the United States had returned to the gold standard, and all currency could be redeemed in gold.

Panic of 1907 alarms bankers
Early in 1907, New York Times Annual Financial Review published Paul Warburg's (a partner of Kuhn, Loeb and Co.) first official reform plan, entitled "A Plan for a Modified Central Bank", in which he outlined remedies that he thought might avert panics. Early in 1907, Jacob Schiff, the chief executive officer of Kuhn, Loeb and Co., in a speech to the New York Chamber of Commerce, warned that "unless we have a central bank with adequate control of credit resources, this country is going to undergo the most severe and far reaching money panic in its history." "The Panic of 1907" hit full stride in October. [Herrick]

Bankers felt the real problem was that the United States was the last major country without a central bank, which might provide stability and emergency credit in times of financial crisis. While segments of the financial community were worried about the power that had accrued to JP Morgan and other financiers, most were more concerned about the general frailty of a vast, decentralized banking system that could not regulate itself without the extraordinary intervention of one man. Financial leaders who advocated a central bank with an elastic currency after the Panic of 1907 included Frank Vanderlip, Myron T. Herrick, William Barret Ridgely, George E. Roberts, Isaac Newton Seligman and Jacob H. Schiff. They stressed the need for an elastic money supply that could expand or contract as needed. After the scare of 1907 the bankers demanded reform; the next year, Congress established a commission of experts to come up with a nonpartisan solution.

Aldrich Plan
Rhode Island Senator Nelson Aldrich, the Republican leader in the Senate, ran the Commission personally, with the aid of a team of economists. They went to Europe and were impressed with how the central banks in Britain and Germany appeared to handle the stabilization of the overall economy and the promotion of international trade. Aldrich's investigation led to his plan in 1912 to bring central banking to the United States, with promises of financial stability, expanded international roles, control by impartial experts and no political meddling in finance. Aldrich asserted that a central bank had to be, paradoxically, decentralized somehow, or it would be attacked by local politicians and bankers as had the First and Second Banks of the United States. The Aldrich plan was introduced in the 62nd and 63rd Congresses (1912 and 1913) but never gained much traction as the Democrats in 1912 won control of both the House and the Senate as well as the White House.

A regional Federal Reserve system
The new President, Woodrow Wilson, then became the principal mover for banking and currency reform in the 63rd Congress, working with the two chairs of the House and Senate Banking and Currency Committees, Rep. Carter Glass of Virginia and Sen. Robert L. Owen of Oklahoma. It was Wilson who insisted that the regional Federal Reserve banks be controlled by a central Federal Reserve Board appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the U.S. Senate.

Agrarian demands partly met
William Jennings Bryan, now Secretary of State, long-time enemy of Wall Street and still a power in the Democratic Party, threatened to destroy the bill. Wilson came up with a compromise plan that pleased bankers and Bryan alike. The Bryanites were happy that Federal Reserve currency became liabilities of the government rather than of private banks—a symbolic change—and by provisions for federal loans to farmers. The Bryanite demand to prohibit interlocking directorates did not pass. Wilson convinced the anti-bank Congressmen that because Federal Reserve notes were obligations of the government, the plan fit their demands. Wilson assured southerners and westerners that the system was decentralized into 12 districts, and thus would weaken New York City's Wall Street influence and strengthen the hinterlands. After much debate and many amendments, Congress passed the Federal Reserve Act or Glass–Owen Act, as it was sometimes called at the time, in late 1913. President Wilson signed the Act into law on December 23, 1913.

Since 1913: The Federal Reserve
The Federal Reserve System, also known as the Federal Reserve or simply as the Fed, is the central banking system of the United States today. The Federal Reserve's power developed slowly in part due to an understanding at its creation that it was to function primarily as a reserve, a money-creator of last resort to prevent the downward spiral of withdrawal/withholding of funds which characterizes a monetary panic. At the outbreak of World War I, the Federal Reserve was better positioned than the United States Department of the Treasury to issue war bonds, and so became the primary retailer for war bonds under the direction of the Treasury. After the war, the Federal Reserve, led by Paul Warburg and New York Governor Bank President Benjamin Strong, convinced Congress to modify its powers, giving it the ability to both create money, as the 1913 Act intended, and destroy money, as a central bank could.

During the 1920s, the Federal Reserve experimented with a number of approaches, alternatively creating and then destroying money which, in the eyes of Milton Friedman, helped create the late-1920s stock market bubble and the Great Depression.

After Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in 1933, the Federal Reserve was subordinated to the Executive Branch, where it remained until 1951, when the Federal Reserve and the Treasury department signed an accord granting the Federal Reserve full independence over monetary matters while leaving fiscal matters to the Treasury.

The Federal Reserve's monetary powers did not dramatically change for the rest of the 20th century, but in the 1970s it was specifically charged by Congress to effectively promote "the goals of maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates" as well as given regulatory responsibility over many consumer credit protection laws.

Since the Global Financial Crisis, central banks globally (including the Federal Reserve) have implemented several experimental Unconventional Monetary Policy Tools (UMPS) in order to achieve their monetary policy objectives.


text:
Criggion

Criggion (Crugion) is a village in Powys, Wales. Criggion Radio Station was located nearby. A branch of the now defunct Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Railway terminated at Criggion.

St Michael and All Angels's church was built in red brick in 1770 and a stone-built chancel added in the mid-19th century. It is a grade II* listed building.

title: Criggion


text:
User talk:X-Kind

Hello and welcome to Wikipedia! Hope you like it here, and stick around.

Here are some tips to help you get started:

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 * Remember Neutral point of view
 * Explore, be bold in editing pages, and, most importantly, have fun!

Good luck!

[[User:Meelar|Meelar (talk)]] 17:55, Dec 17, 2004 (UTC)

title: User talk:X-Kind


text:
Talk:A Prison Diary

This article is so good, I wonder if Lord Archer wrote it himself. Deb 17:56, 17 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Now, Deb, sarcasm isn't going to encourage improvement from novice contributors.

Article contributors, you need to tell us more about these books. For example: who wrote "Prison Diary"? When? In what language? And perhaps a short summary of the contents. Why is this book important? What inspired it's creation? What influence did it have on other writers/the public? I'd like to know.

Crikey this article is poorly written. Like the book, I would imagine. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.138.200.30 (talk) 12:33, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

title: Talk:A Prison Diary