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Al-Samh ibn Malik al-Khawlani

Al-Samh ibn Malik al-Khawlani (السمح بن مالك الخولاني) was the Arab governor general of Al-Andalus from between 719 and 721. In 720, under his governorate he minted the first purely Arab coins in Al-Andalus as part of his fiscal reforms.

Conquest of remaining Visigothic rule
On al-Samh's accession to office, the Visigothic king Ardo still held a grip over the Lower Ebro and Septimania. Early on al-Samh captured Barcelona, and also Narbonne (720), extinguishing the vestigial Visigothic kingdom there after leading an Umayyad incursion into current southern France. Besides the above Narbonne, the Arab commander went on to lead a large Arab army into the rest of Visigothic Septimania, besieging a number of towns and cities including Béziers, Agde, Lodève, Maguelonne (Montpellier) and Nîmes.

Siege and defeat at Toulouse
After setting up his headquarters in Narbonne, military moves took an unexpected turn when Al-Samh returned to Al Andalus to gather more Arab troops prior to attacking the strongly defended Aquitanian capital city of Toulouse. While the ultimate reasons remain obscure, it has been argued that Odo provided shelter to Visigothic elites and population fleeing the theater of war around the eastern Pyrenees. Al-Samh returned to Septimania and on to southeastern Aquitaine with a massive army, siege engines, infantry, horsemen and mercenaries. The siege of Toulouse, with its near-impregnable walls, lasted until early summer.

The defenders, short of provisions, were close to breaking when, around June 9, 721, Odo the Great, the duke of Aquitaine, returned at the head of a large Aquitanian and Frankish force, attacking al-Samh's rear and launching a highly successful encircling movement. A major, decisive battle ensued. Caught between the Toulouse defenders and Eudes's men, al-Samh tried to break out, but was trapped with the bulk of his troops in a place that came to be called by Muslim chroniclers Balat al Shuhada ('the path of the martyrs') where he made a determined last stand as his army was decimated by Odo's forces.

Al-Samh himself was critically wounded, and died shortly afterwards in Narbonne.

title: Al-Samh ibn Malik al-Khawlani


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The Other Final

The Other Final is a 2003 documentary film, directed by of Dutch communications agency Kessels Kramer, about a football match between Bhutan and Montserrat, the then-lowest ranked teams in the FIFA World Rankings. The game was played in the Changlimithang Stadium, Thimphu, Bhutan on the same day as the 2002 FIFA World Cup Final. Bhutan won the game 4–0, their first ever victory and the first time they had kept a clean sheet. The friendly match, officially sanctioned by FIFA, saw Bhutan rise out of the bottom two of the world rankings and kept Montserrat in last place. The referee was Englishman Steve Bennett.

Background
In 2002, Montserrat were ranked last in the world FIFA rankings with Bhutan second last. Prior to their meeting, Bhutan, who first competed in 1982, had never won an official match (they had one victory over Tibet, who are not FIFA members so the match was not officially sanctioned), whilst Montserrat, who made their debut in 1950 had only managed two victories, both against Anguilla in the 1995 Caribbean Cup, in their entire history. Additionally, financial constraints and a slump in the popularity of the game in the 1980s and 1990s had impacted the development of the national team in Bhutan, as well as the fact that the low level of facilities in the country had prevented the team from attempting to qualify for the FIFA World Cup.

Montserrat had also suffered their own significant misfortunes, when the Soufrière Hills erupted causing widespread devastation to the island. Seismic activity had occurred in 1897–1898, 1933–1937, and again in 1966–1967, but the eruption that began on 18 July 1995 was the first since the 16th century in Montserrat. When pyroclastic flows and mudflows began occurring regularly, the capital, Plymouth, was evacuated, and a few weeks later a pyroclastic flow covered the city in several metres of debris. The British destroyer HMS Liverpool (D92) took a large role in evacuating Montserrat's population to other islands; these included Antigua and Barbuda, who warned they would not be able to cope with many more refugees. About 7,000 people, or two-thirds of the population, left Montserrat; 4,000 to the United Kingdom. These events understandably had a major impact on football in Montserrat and the team did not compete internationally for four years and when they returned they had to play all of their matches away from Montserrat after the eruptions had destroyed the only football stadium of an international standard.

At the same time, with the Netherlands having failed to qualify for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, two Dutch ad-agency partners, Johan Kramer and Matthijs de Jongh, not having their home team to cheer on pondered who the worst team in the world might be. (De Jongh: "That's the official version, but the real story behind it is that I had been in Bhutan in 2000 and 2001, and I was fascinated by the country and wanted to share it." ) With Bhutan and Montserrat so close to each other at the bottom of the FIFA rankings, they set out to arrange a match between the two nations. The match was not as easily arranged as might initially be thought. Firstly, this match was being arranged by private individuals rather than by the relevant football federations during a normal international fixture window. Both sides thought that the idea was unrealistic in the beginning, and officials from both federations thought the initial suggestion of the match was a joke and had little knowledge of each other's countries. Johan Kramer said that he thought Montserrat were willing to agree to the friendly and to travel all the way to Bhutan because their government felt that the publicity from the match would counterbalance the reports about the volcanic eruptions on the island.

Three weeks prior to the match, Dutch coach Arie Schans flew out to Bhutan to take temporary charge of the side and took four hour long daily training sessions with the team in order to prepare them for the match. There was a considerable deal of anticipation in Thimphu prior to the game, though the Bhutan Football Federation sought to play down the importance of victory, saying it was more important to focus on participation than winning. However, both sets of players were very much focused on getting a result, Dinesh Chhetri said that Bhutan would win by at least two goals to nil, whereas Montserratian midfielder Antoine Lake-Willix thought they would win 3–0.

Match report
The game started strongly for Montserrat and Bhutan struggled to keep them at bay during early exchanges, however, initial nerves were settled after five minutes when Wangay Dorji headed a goal to give Bhutan the lead. This gave them the momentum to press on, but their finishing was lax and they were unable to convert the chance they created. Montserrat were able to keep Bhutan at bay for the rest of the half and the game remained at 1–0 until well past the hour mark when referee, Steve Bennett awarded Bhutan a freekick. Dorji stepped up and scored his second of the game. the momentum remained with Bhutan and veteran striker Dinesh Chhetri scored a third before Dorji took full advantage of a tiring Montserratian team to complete his hat trick and seal a 4–0 victory, Bhutan's first victory on the international stage against any opposition, indeed, their first ever result of any kind, and the first time they had ever kept a clean sheet. Overall, it seemed unlikely that Montserrat would be able to put up much of a fight, struggling as a team not only with the altitude, the game was played at 7500 ft, Montserrat rarely troubled the Bhutanese goalkeeper, having only one shot of note, which Vladimir Farrell fired straight at the Bhutan goalkeeper. A crowd of 15,000 watched the game, which followed an hour long dance program designed to showcase the Buddhist traditions of the country.

Awards
The Other Final claimed two awards:
 * Avignon Film Festival's best documentary (2003)
 * Bermuda International Film Festival – Documentary Prize – Special Mention (2003)

Still photography and photobook
In association with KesselsKramer, the Dutch photographer photographed the run-up in Bhutan to the match, and the match itself. The photographs were collected into a photobook, Bhutan–Montserrat: The Other Final.

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

title: The Other Final


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USS Colhoun (DD-801)

USS Colhoun (DD-801), a Fletcher-class destroyer, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Rear Admiral Edmund Colhoun (1821–1897).

Colhoun was launched 10 April 1944 by Todd-Pacific Shipbuilding Corp., Seattle, Washington; sponsored by Captain K. K. Johnson, WAC; and commissioned 8 July 1944.

Service history
Colhoun arrived at Pearl Harbor 10 October 1944 for training and patrol duty. Arriving off Iwo Jima 19 February 1945, she screened transports, served as radar picket and gave fire support for the invasion of Iwo Jima. On 1 March, she was hit by a salvo from heavy enemy batteries ashore, which killed one man and injured 16. After repairs at Saipan, Colhoun sailed for Okinawa, arriving 31 March for radar picket duty.

At 1530 on 6 April 1945, during the first heavy kamikaze raid of the battle of Okinawa, Colhoun received a request for help from USS Bush and sped to her aid. Interposing her guns between Bush and the attacking suicide planes, Colhoun downed three planes before a kamikaze crashed into the 40 mm mount scattering flaming wreckage across the ship and dropping a bomb into the aft fireroom where it exploded. Retaining power and using emergency steering, Colhoun awaited the next attacking trio, shooting down the first two while the third struck her on the starboard side.

The bomb from the second kamikaze exploded, breaking Colhoun's keel, piercing both boilers, ripping a 20 by hole below the waterline, and starting oil and electrical fires. Operating the remaining guns manually, the crew gamely faced yet another wave of three attackers shooting down one and damaging another, while the third kamikaze struck her aft section. This airplane's bomb bounced overboard and exploded, adding another 3 ft hole to allow more flooding. Colhoun valiantly struggled to stay afloat, but a final kamikaze crashed into the bridge in a mass of flames. At 1800, USS LCS-84 took off all but a skeleton crew, which remained onboard while a tug attempted to tow Colhoun to Okinawa. Heavy listing, uncontrolled flooding, and fires made it impossible to save her, and she was sunk by gunfire from USS Cassin Young (DD-793) at 27.26667°N, 127.8°W. Her casualties were: 34 killed and 21 wounded.

Awards
Colhoun received one battle star for World War II service.

title: USS Colhoun (DD-801)


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Declaration of Avellaneda

The Declaration of Avellaneda was the main platform of the intransigent movement inside the Argentine political party known as Radical Civic Union (Unión Cívica Radical, UCR). It was issued on April 4, 1945, in Avellaneda, province of Buenos Aires.

Briefly, its main points were:
 * 1) The history of Argentina is described as the struggle between popular, progressive ideals against a backward oligarchy.
 * 2) Economy is considered as a medium to obtain higher ends, collective and individual.
 * 3) Referring to the agrarian problem, it is said that the land should be for the people that work it, either individually or collectively owned. It should not be used for business that speculates with it.
 * 4) All national resources should be nationalized. All sources of natural energy, public companies and international and national monopolies that prevent the economic development of the county will be nationalized, and their control given to the nation, provinces or cities.
 * 5) The state will defend all small companies that are independent. It will also assure that no barriers will be set up to stop the economic activity.
 * 6) The industrial development will be global, and it will not be based on low wages.
 * 7) The internal problems of the party will be solved, the objective is to unify it under its doctrine as well as appealing to individuals that are known to be capable of following the objectives proposed.
 * 8) This declaration rejects any pact with other political forces. The country must be governed by organic parties, and the UCR as an organic party intends to take by itself the responsibility of structuring a new Argentina.

title: Declaration of Avellaneda


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Careening

Careening (also known as "heaving down") is a method of gaining access to the hull of a sailing vessel without the use of a dry dock. It is used for cleaning or repairing the hull. Before ship's hulls were protected from marine growth by fastening copper sheets over the surface of the hull, fouling by this growth would seriously affect the sailing qualities of a ship, causing a large amount of drag.

Etymology
The term, and similar terms in French, Spanish and Italian, derive from the term for a ship's keel—carène (French), carena (Spanish), carena (Italian). These come from the Latin term for keel, carīna.

Practice
The ship was grounded broadside on a steep beach or, in dockyards, moored at a permanent facility for careening known as a careening wharf. A beach favoured for careening was called a careenage. The vessel was then pulled over with tackles from the mastheads to strong points on the shore. If this was being done on a beach, then the ship's guns might be moved to the shore and used as anchoring points. However, a careening wharf in a dockyard was preferred, as it would have been equipped with the capstans and rope tackle necessary for hauling over the ship. The ship would have been lightened beforehand by removing all stores, and a careening wharf would have had large sheds available to protect them from weather and theft. With one side of the ship raised out of the water, maintenance work would be carried out. Then the ship would be floated off and the process repeated on the other side.

While a competent crew could careen their ship without outside assistance, it was a laborious task. In early 1843, HMS Formidable was careened at Malta Dockyard to carry out repairs after the ship had grounded a few weeks earlier. An account of the work done notes that every movable item on the ship had to be taken off. Additional structural reinforcements had to be installed in the hull and all the masts and rigging removed except for the lowest parts. The lower gun ports were sealed, reinforced and made watertight. Also a large number of thick, timber outriggers were installed; these were up to 2 ft across and 40 ft long. The ship was pulled over by ropes wound around three capstans; each was turned by 120 men.

In the 18th century, careening wharves existed at overseas Royal Navy dockyards such as Port Mahon and Halifax. They were important facilities and often the first things built when the navy was establishing a new overseas base. However, dockyards in the United Kingdom typically had dry docks. Careening placed a hull under a considerable strain and even a strongly built ship could be structurally weakened or damaged by the procedure. Using a dry dock was preferred if one was available.

At the end of the 18th century, the Royal Navy had 24 dry docks available in Britain, so careening was not usually necessary for ships stationed in British waters. This gave an advantage over their French rivals, as France had few dry docks, and the French Navy had to routinely careen its ships for maintenance.

Pirates would often careen their ships because they had no access to dry docks. A secluded bay would suffice for necessary repairs or hull cleaning, and such little "safe havens" could be found throughout the islands in the Caribbean and nearly around the world. One group of islands, Las Tres Marías in Panama, became popular after Francis Drake had sailed there in 1579, and they became a popular place for piracy.

A practice similar to careening was a Parliamentary heel, in which the vessel was heeled over in deep water by shifting weight, such as ballast or guns, to one side. In this way the upper sides could be cleaned or repaired with minimal delay. Famously, HMS Royal George sank at Spithead off Portsmouth while undergoing a Parliamentary heel in 1782, killing hundreds of people on board.

Modern practice
Careening in the traditional sense can only be done on a sailing vessel as its masts are used for hauling it over. Today, larger ships are placed in dry dock; smaller vessels can be lifted from the water by a crane or a travel lift.

A procedure known as careening is still sometimes done with smaller boats, but differs from what was done historically in that the boat is not winched over by cables attached to the mast. The boat is simply moored at a location where it will be grounded and its hull exposed at low tide. For a few hours, it is possible to carry out inspection or maintenance before the rising tide refloats the boat.

title: Careening


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Motorcycle engine

A motorcycle engine is an engine that powers a motorcycle. Motorcycle engines are typically two-stroke or four-stroke internal combustion engines, but other engine types, such as Wankels and electric motors, have been used.

Although some mopeds, such as the VéloSoleX, had friction drive to the front tire, a motorcycle engine normally drives the rear wheel, power being sent to the driven wheel by belt, chain or shaft. Historically, some 2,000 units of the Megola were produced between 1921 and 1925 with front wheel drive, and the modern Rokon, an all terrain motorcycle with both wheels driven, has been produced since 1960.

Most engines have a gearbox with up to six or even 7 ratios. Reverse gear is occasionally found on heavy tourers, for example the Honda GL1600, and sidecar motorcycles, such as the Ural. The rider changes gears on most motorcycles using a foot-pedal and manual clutch, but early models had hand-levers. More recently, some have automatic or semi-automatic gearboxes, and some using CVT transmission.

Outside the United States, engine capacities typically ranged from about 50 cc to 650 cc; but in Europe since 1968 motorcycles with larger capacities have become common, ranging as high as the Triumph Rocket 3's 2300 cc engine. In the United States, V-twin engined motorcycles with capacities of 850 cc or more have been the norm since the 1920s.

History

The first motorcycles were powered by steam engines. The earliest example is the French Michaux-Perreaux steam velocipede of 1868. This was followed by the American Roper steam velocipede of 1869, and a number of other steam powered two and three wheelers, manufactured and sold to the public on through the early 20th century.

Using frames based both on the earlier boneshaker and the later—and in many ways completely modern—safety bicycle design, these early steam motorcycles experimented with a variety of engine placement strategies, as well as transmission and options. While today nearly every motorcycle has its engine in the center of the frame; this became standard only around 1900-1910 after nearly every possible engine location was tried. The origins of the scooter engine arrangement (including the shaft drive) can be traced back to the 19th century but the current layout became generally adopted after the Great War. The modern equivalent became universally popular in the 1950s and remains much the same today.

The Otto cycle gasoline internal combustion engine was first used on an experimental two-wheeler created by Gottlieb Daimler to test the practicality of such an engine in a vehicle. This motorcycle, the Daimler Reitwagen, is credited as the world's first motorcycle by many authorities, partially on the assumption that a motorcycle is defined not as any two-wheel motor vehicle, but a two-wheel internal combustion engine motor vehicle. The Oxford English Dictionary, for example, defines the word motorcycle this way. The steam cycles were also simply neglected and forgotten by many historians, even as the Michaux-Perreaux waited forty years on display in the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu.

In recent years, a surge in interest in clean energy has put many new electric powered two wheelers on the market, and they are registered as motorcycles or scooters, without the type of powerplant being an issue. Diesel motorcycles were also experimented with briefly in the 20th century, and are again the subject of interest due to fuel economy and the needs of military logistics. The USMC has ordered a new diesel motorcycle, the M1030 M1, that can use the same fuel, JP-8, as the rest of their armored vehicles, aircraft, cars and trucks.

The overwhelming majority of the motorcycles produced and used in the world today have small displacement air-cooled single-cylinder engines, both two- and four-strokes. In the wealthier parts of the world, Europe and Japan, larger displacements and multiple cylinders are common alongside small-displacement bikes required by various licensing and rider experience requirements, and so a very diverse range of sizes, cylinder numbers, configurations, and cooling systems are seen on the road. Many developed countries have graduated licensing, where a rider is licensed for a period of time to ride only smaller-displacement motorcycles before being allowed to ride larger ones. In the United States, there are no such mandates, and so the mix is skewed even further to the largest displacements, consumer demand drives manufacturers to offer their largest motorcycles to that country, and to export far fewer sub-600 cc models to the American market.

Types
Almost all production motorcycles have gasoline internal combustion engines. Both four-stroke and two-stroke engines are used, but strict emission laws have led to far fewer two-strokes. A few have used Wankel rotary engines, but no Wankel bikes are currently in production. Motorcycle engines can be air cooled or liquid cooled, and optionally include oil cooling as well. Some scooters use batteries and an electric motor. The 2009 TT races introduced a new category 'TTX' (renamed as TT Zero) for electric bikes using fuel-cells or batteries.

Motorcycle engines can be mounted transversely; with the crankshaft aligned perpendicular to the frame or longitudinally, with the crankshaft parallel to the frame. Motorcycles with transversely mounted engines are more suited to have chain or belt final-drive. Motorcycles with longitudinally mounted engines are more suited for shaft final-drive.

Motor scooters often have the engine as part of the rear suspension, so the engine is not fixed rigidly to the main frame. Instead, the combined engine-transmission-swingarm assembly is pivoted to follow the road surface and is part of the "unsprung weight". The chain final-drive of scooters runs in an oil-bath within the engine casings. "Step-through" motorcycles may have a rigidly fixed engine, or may have a scooter-type arrangement.

Two-stroke and four-stroke
Two-stroke engines have fewer moving parts than four-stroke engines, and produce twice the number of power strokes per revolution.

Fuel economy is better in four-strokes due to more complete combustion of the intake charge in four-stroke engines.

Nevertheless, two-strokes have been largely replaced on motorcycles in developed nations due to their environmental disadvantages. Cylinder lubrication is necessarily total-loss and this inevitably leads to a smokey exhaust, particularly on wide throttle openings. Two-stroke-engined motorcycles continue to be made in large numbers, but mostly off-road motocross low-power mopeds, small scooters and step-through underbones where they still compete strongly with four-strokes (including the highest-selling motorcycle of all time, the 50 cc Honda Super Cub). The major markets of two-stroke motorcycles are in dirt bikes and developing nations.

Cylinder heads (four-stroke)
Cylinder head design has a significant effect on the efficiency of combustion, and hence the power output of the engine. The head may be flat, in which case the combustion chamber resides within the cylinder and/or a depression in the piston crown, but usually a "dome" within the cylinder head provides most of the combustion volume. Motorcycles use poppet valves in a range of designs: side valve, overhead valve (OHV) with pushrod operation, overhead cam (SOHC), and double overhead cam (DOHC). A cylinder with desmodromic valves may have three or even four camshafts. An OHC or DOHC cylinder head will have at least two valves per cylinder (1 inlet and 1 exhaust), but multi-valve engines may have three (2 inlet and 1 exhaust), or four (2 inlet and 2 exhaust), or even five (3 inlet and 2 exhaust). Cylinder heads are the hottest part of the engine and require adequate cooling, typically air cooling, oil cooling or liquid cooling.

Some motorcycles such as Harley-Davidsons, Moto Guzzis and BMWs become identifiable by their cylinder-head types, namely airhead, panhead, oilhead, and even knucklehead. The Ducati desmos head enables higher rpm to be achieved without detrimental valve float also known as valve bounce.

Valve control in four-strokes
In a side-valve engine, the valves are operated from the "underhead" cam without special valve gear. Overhead valve (OHV) engines have valves operated by pushrods. Single- and double-overhead camshaft (SOHC and DOHC, respectively) engines have overhead camshafts typically operated by chain, belt, gear train or bevel gear drive.

The earliest motorcycle engines had exhaust valves operated in the same way as a side-valve engine, but they had overhead intake valves held closed by a weak spring. The intake valve was opened by the suction caused by the intake stroke. As the need for mechanical control of the intake valve arose, the design was modified by adding another cam to the camshaft and using a pushrod and rocker arm to operate the intake valve.

Honda equipped the CBR400F with REV, described as "revolution responding type valve pausing mechanism", in 1983. This system enabled switching over the number of valve operations per cylinder between low and medium speed revolution range and high speed revolution range. In 2002, Honda introduced HYPER VTEC in the VFR800 Interceptor. In 2006, Kawasaki introduced VVT in the Concours 14.

Unit construction
Engines and gearboxes were originally separate items, the gearbox being driven by a "primary chain". Later designs combined the two elements into a single "unit construction". Some manufacturers, such as Norton and Enfield continued with "pre-unit" construction until recently, and Harley-Davidson still makes pre-unit engines today.

In the early 1960s, BSA introduced new short-stroke unit construction 500 and 650 cc parallel twins to replace their existing pre-unit long-stroke engines. Triumph modified their large pre-unit 500 and 650 cc parallel twins into unit-construction engines. The smaller Triumph 350 and 500 cc twins had been unit construction from their introduction in 1957. The decision by Lucas to discontinue making dynamos and magnetos, and to produce only alternators and coil ignition systems, was a significant factor in forcing the redesign.

Traditionally, engines and gearboxes had separate lubrication systems with different grades of oil; but modern practice is to use the same oil for both.

Cylinders and configuration
Generally, motorcycle engines have between one and six cylinders. The majority of motorcycle engines are configured as singles, parallel twins, triples, fours and sixes; and all these may be inline or transverse. Vee engines include V-twins and V-fours, and horizontally opposed engines include flat-twins, flat-fours and flat-sixes. Wankel engines are either single-rotor or twin-rotor. Bigger bikes tend to have more cylinders for smoothness and increased power. Modern singles range in capacity from 50 cc to 660 cc, twins from 175 cc to 1,800 cc, triples from 380 cc to 2,300 cc, and so on.

Single

Single-cylinder engines (a.k.a. "singles" or "thumpers") have the cylinder vertical, inclined or horizontal, the last type most common in step-through motorcycles. Single-cylinder engines require both a larger flywheel and a heavier-duty gearbox than multicylinder engines. Small singles are cheap to build and maintain and are suitable as cheap utility motorcycles.

Until the mid-1960s, road-racing machines, like the UK's Matchless, AJS and Norton, tended to be large singles, but since then multicylinder racers have become the norm. Off-road and smaller dual-sport bikes tend to use single-cylinder engines. The simplicity of these engines, often relying on a single carburetor, make them relatively easy to maintain and repair in remote locations with few tools.

Compared to lightweight off-road singles, the modern category of heavier off-road adventure bikes tend to forgo such simplicity, and instead have larger and more powerful parallel-twin, flat-twin, or V-twin engines.

Twin

 * Straight-twin

Starting with Edward Turner's 1937 Triumph Speed Twin design, and until the mid-1970s, the parallel-twin was the most common British motorcycle type. Parallel-twins are usually mounted transversely, with the cylinders side by side above the crankshaft, and with exhaust pipes at the front, in the cool airstream. Longitudinal, or inline, twins include the 500 cc Sunbeam S7 and S8. There are three crankshaft configurations for this engine: 360°, 180°, and the newer 270°. Parallel twins usually have only two main bearings.

 * V-twin

In a V-twin engine the cylinders form a "V" around the crankshaft. A Vee-angle of 90°, as used by Ducati and Moto Guzzi, can give perfect primary and secondary balance, with a pleasingly irregular firing order. A lesser angle gives a more compact motor, but one which is prone to vibration, such as 42° (Indian), 45° (Harley-Davidson), 52° Honda, and 60° (Aprilia). Most V-twins have a single crankpin shared by side-by-side connecting rods so that the cylinders are slightly offset, but a variation is to have a single crankpin with "fork & blade" con-rods, to keep the cylinders in line. Non-90° V-twins may have offset crankpins to try to reduce vibration.

V-twins may be mounted either longitudinally with the cylinders protruding either side, like the Honda CX500 and Moto Guzzi, or transversely, such as Harley-Davidson, Ducati, or Aprilia. Transverse V-twins can raise difficulties in cooling the aft cylinder, and in siting the airbox, battery, aft carburetor, and aft exhaust pipe.

 * Flat-twin

In a flat-twin, or boxer, engine the cylinders are horizontally opposed. The boxer has perfect primary balance, and only a small rocking couple, and unlike a V-twin, regular firing intervals, producing very low vibration levels, without the use of counterbalance shafts. They are usually mounted with a longitudinal crankshaft, with the cylinders protruding into the airstream, so that a flat-twin can satisfactorily be air-cooled. Flat-twins are made by BMW and Ural and historically by Douglas, Marusho, and Hoffmann, among others. The longitudinal mounting makes the flat twin highly suitable for shaft final drive.

Some early motorcycles used transverse-crank flat twin engines, especially Douglas motorcycles before World War II.

 * Tandem twin

The Tandem Twin where the cylinders are longitudinal, and have two cranks geared together such as Kawasaki's KR250 road bike and KR250 and KR350 GP Bikes. A tandem twin is effectively a pair of geared singles, and is to be distinguished from an inline twin such as the Sunbeam S7. Tandem twins are suitable primarily for two-stroke racers.

Triple

 * Inline triple

Three-cylinder engines, a.k.a. triples, are normally mounted transversely. The British Hinckley Triumph factory has specialized in transverse triples, although their 2,300 cc Rocket III has its engine mounted longitudinally. Other examples are the Benelli' "Tre"and the Yamaha XS750. The Italian firm Laverda made a few 1,000 cc and 1,200 cc triples. Some Laverda Triples had 120° cranks, while some had 180° cranks, essentially three-quarters of a four. BMW made the K75 longitudinally mounted 750 cc triple with the cylinders parallel to the ground. Meriden Triumph developed the 750 cc Trident, from which BSA "badge-engineered" the Rocket-3.

Some triples were two-strokes. The Kawasaki triples were produced with capacities of 250, 350, 400, 500, and 750 cc in the 1970s, while Suzuki produced 380, 550, and 750 triples, the last being water-cooled. Motobecane made 350 cc and fuel-injected 500 cc triples with 3 into 4 pipes in the early seventies. Honda produced the water-cooled V-3 two-strokes MVX250 and NS400. There have been various race bike triples such as Kawasaki KR750, Suzuki TR750 transverse 3s, and Proton/Modenas KR3, Honda NS500 V-3s.

Four
Four-cylinder engines are most commonly found in a transverse-mounted inline four layout, although some are longitudinal, as in the earlier BMW K100. V-4 and boxer designs, as in the earlier Honda Gold Wing, have been produced. One of the more unusual designs was the Ariel Square Four, effectively two parallel-twin engines one in front of the other in a common crankcase — it had remarkably little vibration due to the contra-rotating crankshafts.

 * Inline four

Production of four cylinder motorcycles began with the FN Four in 1905. The FN had its engine in line with the frame; this layout would be copied by manufacturers in Europe and the United States before World War II. In the United States, inline fours made by Henderson and Indian were bought by enthusiasts and by police departments, the latter using them as pursuit motorcycles.

The first across-the-frame 4-cylinder motorcycle was the racer 1939 Gilera 500 Rondine, it also had double-over-head camshafts, forced-inducting supercharger and also water-cooled. Since the advent of the Honda CB750 straight-four engine, straight-fours have dominated the non-cruiser street motorcycle segments. The German manufacturer Münch based their motorcycles on four-cylinder car engines. For example, the Mammut 2000 has a 2.0l with a turbo and cylinder heads by Cosworth.

 * Flat four

A flat-4 or horizontally opposed-4 is a flat engine with four cylinders arranged horizontally in two banks of two cylinders on each side of a central crankcase. The pistons are usually mounted on the crankshaft such that opposing pistons move back and forth in opposite directions at the same time, somewhat like a boxing competitor punching their gloves together before a fight, which has led to it being referred to as a boxer engine. The configuration results in inherently good balance of the reciprocating parts, a low centre of gravity, and a very short engine length.

 * V4

Honda uses V4 engines in the ST series and VFR series. As for two-stroke engines, there were four cylinders in the smaller classes such as Kawasaki's 125 cc KR3 square 4 and Yamaha's 250 cc RD500 V4 (RZ 500 in the US). Yamaha later raced transverse four TZ500/700/750's and virtually all the bikes in the last decade of the two-stroke GP500 era were fours, first squares then Vs, by Honda, Kawasaki, Cagiva, Suzuki, Yamaha. Kawasaki also experimented with a trapezoidal four the 602S. Yamaha made the V4 RD500LC, and Suzuki the RG400 and RG500 square four road bikes.

 * Square four

A square four is a U engine with two cylinders on each side. This configuration was used on the Ariel Square Four motorcycle from 1931 to 1959. This design was revived as a two-stroke version on some racing Suzuki models, and their subsequent road-going version the RG500. Although some racing success was achieved, the road bikes didn't sell in great numbers, and the design was phased out in favor of in-line, four-stroke designs, as at the time two-stroke engines were quickly being superseded by more economical, reliable, and emissions-friendly four-strokes.

Five

 * V5

Honda has produced five-cylinder engines for racing, the RC211V 990 cc V5. No V5 engines are currently available in commercial production motorcycles.

Just prior to their collapse, BSA planned a modular family of bike engines based around a 200 cc single. The range was to include the single, a 400 cc twin, a 600 cc triple and a 1000 cc V5. None of these motorcycles reached production.

Six

 * Inline six

The 1,047 cc Honda CBX was produced from 1978 to 1982. The 1,300 cc Kawasaki KZ1300 was produced from 1979 to 1989. Benelli made the 750 cc and 900 cc the Sei from 1972 to 1978. Honda made a 250 cc straight-six GP bike. The BMW K1600GT and K1600GTL, which were launched in 2011, have a transverse-mounted 1,649 cc engine.

 * Flat 6

The six-cylinder engine is currently used by Honda in the Gold Wing, and had previously been used in the Valkyrie and the Rune, both of which were cruiser developments of the Gold Wing.

V8

Galbusera built a V8 in 1938, and Moto Guzzi experimented over a period of two years with its dual-overhead-cam 500 cc V8, the Otto Cilindri, in the 1950s. Some custom and one-off motorcycles use more than six cylinders. For example, the Boss Hoss motorcycle uses (5,700 cc, 6,000 cc and 8,200 cc) Chevrolet V-8 crate motors. In 2003 Daimler-Chrysler manufactured a limited number of Tomahawk concept vehicles with a Dodge Viper V-10 engine. Australian company Drysdale have built short runs of 750 cc V8 superbikes and 1L V8 roadgoing motorcycles, both with engines specifically developed for the purpose. No major motorcycle manufacturer has used eight or more cylinders, although Honda made the 'almost' V8 oval-piston NR750 road bike and NR500 GP bike, having eight connecting rods. Morbidelli has shown two V8 prototype road bikes that were not produced.

Other types

 * Wankel rotary

Wankel engines produce high power outputs for their size and weight, and several attempts were made to produce Wankel powered motorcycles in the 1970s. Yamaha and Kawasaki exhibited Wankel-powered motorcycles in 1972, but neither company manufactured one. German manufacturer Hercules, a member of the Sachs-controlled Zweirad Union, produced their single-rotor W2000 from 1974 to 1977. Suzuki produced their single-rotor RE5 from 1975 to 1976. Van Veen built 38 OCR1000 motorcycles with twin-rotor Comotor engines between 1978 and 1981.

BSA experimented with Wankel engines before they ended production in the 1970s. These experiments later led to Wankel-engined Norton motorcycles in the 1980s and 1990s, including the Classic, the Commander, the fleet-only Interpol 2, and the F1. Steve Hislop won the 1992 Senior TT on a Wankel-powered Norton.

Honda NR
 * Oval pistons

 * Rotary engines

Megola, Killinger and Freund Motorcycle

Other jet engine motorcycle prototypes exist, but never have been commercialized.
 * Turbine engines
 * MTT Turbine Superbike (turboshaft)
 * Jet Reaction afterburning turbojet

Several rocket-powered motorcycles have been built, including:
 * Rocket
 * Fritz von Opel's 1928 "Monster" rocket bike
 * Skycycle X-2 rocket developed for Evel Knievel's Snake River Canyon jump attempt
 * Eric Teboul's rocket-powered dragbike that set the world record at Santa Pod Raceway in 2009

Hydrogen
The joint four manufacture introducing one of first H2-based IC Engine for motorcycle.

Diesel
Only very small numbers of diesel engined motorcycles have ever been built. The improved fuel efficiency is offset by the increased weight, reduced acceleration and potential difficulty of starting, at least in colder climates. Enfield India built a few from 1965 onwards but is no longer doing so. In November 2006, the Dutch company E.V.A. Products BV Holland announced their first diesel-powered motorcycle, its Track T-800CDI, using an 800 cc three-cylinder Daimler Chrysler diesel engine.

Several armies are moving to an all-diesel engine fleet to reduce the fire risks of gasoline and the need to provide two different fuels. This includes their dispatch riders as well, encouraging the market for diesel motorcycles. Interest in biofuels is also likely to encourage future developments for small Diesels.

Diesels are also available in both two- and four-stroke versions.

Liquid
Liquid-cooled motorcycles have a radiator, similar to the radiator on a car, which is the primary way their heat is dispersed. Coolant is constantly circulated between this radiator and the cylinders when the engine is running. While most off-road motorcycles have no radiator fan and rely on air flowing over the radiators from the forward motion of the motorcycle, many road motorcycles have a small fan attached to the radiator which is controlled by a thermostat. Some off-road motorcycles are liquid-cooled, and anti-dirt protection is attached to the radiator. The cooling effect of this fan is enough to prevent the engine overheating in most conditions, so liquid-cooled bikes are safe to use in a city, where traffic may frequently be at a standstill.

Emissions regulations and the market demand for maximum power are driving the motorcycle industry to liquid-cooling for most motorcycles. Even Harley-Davidson, a strong advocate of air-cooled motors, has recently added water cooling to the heads of their V-twin motors in their large touring models, with the radiators being hidden in the lower leg fairings. The Harley-Davidson Street 500, Street 750, and two V-Rod models have 60° V-twins that are fully water cooled, as opposed to the traditional air-cooled 45° V-twins.

Air
Most air-cooled motorcycles take advantage of air blowing past the cylinder and cylinder head while in motion to disperse heat. Frequent, sustained stationary periods may cause overheating. Some models, mostly scooters, are equipped with fans that force the air to go past the cylinder block, which solves the problem of city driving. The cylinders on air-cooled bikes are designed with fin heat sinks to aid in this process. Air-cooled bikes are cheaper, simpler and lighter than their water-cooled counterparts.

Oil
Some manufacturers use a hybrid cooling method where engine oil is circulated between the engine case and a small radiator. Here the oil doubles as cooling liquid, prompting the name "oil-cooling." Suzuki has produced many oil-cooled motorcycles. Modern BMW R-series flat-twin motorcycles, such as the R1150GS, use air and oil cooling. Polaris's Victory motorcycles use oil/air cooling exclusively.

Fuel Injection
Fuel injection and computer engine management systems are now normal on middle range and larger motorcycles and are increasingly being incorporated onto the smaller machines, partly driven by better emission control and lower maintenance but mostly by manufacturing cost considerations.

Ignition
Ignition systems moved from magneto in the 1950s to battery-coil-contact breaker points, and these were increasingly superseded by Capacitor Discharge Ignition (CDI) from the 1980s. Small, single-cylinder motorcycles abandoned the flywheel magneto system with contact breakers to similar flywheel driven solid-state systems at about the same time.

Turbo and Superchargers
Superchargers, or blowers, were common in the GPs, until they were banned. The first supercharger on a production motorcycle was the 2015 Kawasaki Ninja H2 and H2R. The big four made a turbocharged bike, and Honda made two, mainly as an exercise in technical expertise and later discontinued them for more conventional methods. Bolt-on superchargers are available for street bikes and are essential for performance applications such as drag bikes and land speed record streamliners. Most sports bikes now use a ram-air induction system where as road speed increases, more air is forced through ducts in the fairing to pressurize the airbox. The first on a production motorcycle was the 1990 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-11. Not to be confused with the original Ram-Air system where an air scoop/cowl was fitted to the top of the cylinder heads of Suzuki two-stroke engines to aid cooling.

title: Motorcycle engine


text:
USS Little (DD-803)

USS Little (DD-803), a Fletcher-class destroyer, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Captain George Little (1754–1809).

Little was laid down by Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corp., Seattle, Wash., 13 September 1943; launched 22 May 1944, sponsored by Mrs. Russell F. O'Hara; and commissioned 19 August 1944.

History
After training off the West Coast, Little departed Seattle 11 November 1944 to escort a convoy to Pearl Harbor. She arrived 23 November and participated in gunnery training and battle problems. On 22 January 1945 she got underway with a group of LSTs for Eniwetok and rehearsals for the invasion of Iwo Jima. Final preparations were made at Saipan, and 15 February Little sailed for the assault beaches.

Shore bombardment at Iwo Jima began 19 February. Little furnished fire support for ground forces until the 24th when she left for Saipan. She returned 4 March for bombardment, screening, and radar picket duties, and was back at Saipan 14 March to prepare for the Okinawa invasion.

Little sailed for Okinawa 27 March assigned to the demonstration group charged with feigning landings opposite the actual assault beaches. After accomplishing this diversion 1 and 2 April, Little screened transports and escorted LSTs to the beaches. On 19 April she was ordered to picket duty where she remained until 24 April—unscathed despite relentless enemy suicide attacks.

On 3 May Little and Aaron Ward (DM-34) were again on picket duty. At 18:13 hours, 18 to 24 aircraft attacked from under cloud cover. Aaron Ward took the first hit at 18:41. An instant later Little was hit on the portside. Within four minutes three more enemy kamikazes had hit her, breaking her keel, demolishing the amidship section, and opening all three after machinery spaces. At 19:55 Little broke up and sank. Thirty-one of the Little's approximately 320 crew members perished, while another 49 suffered injuries.

Little received two battle stars for World War II service.

title: USS Little (DD-803)


text:
Yu Yeon Kim (curator)

Yu Yeon Kim (born 1956, South Korea) is an independent curator based in New York City, United States and Seoul, South Korea. Kim has curated and been a commissioner of many distinguished international exhibitions of contemporary art.

Works
In 2008, Kim curated "Corporeal/Technoreal", a Media Art project for the Poland. In the same year she curated the first exhibition of Korean contemporary art in Cuba. The project, "Los Puntos del Compas" (The Points of the Compass) was exhibited at the Fundacion Ludwig de Cuba and other satellite sites in Havana. The exhibition was also hosted by the, Mexico City.

In 2007, she curated "Counterpoint", an international exhibition of art that is part of a series exploring cultural, political and territorial divisions – using the schism of Korea as a relative point. The exhibition was held at Bund 18 in Shanghai, and the Coreana Museum of Art in Seoul as well as venues in Poznan, Poland. This subject was also manifested in other exhibitions of international artists Kim has curated, including "Pyongyang Report" at the Book House, Has II and Jung Han Sook Memorial Hall in Heyri Art Valley, S. Korea

Kim was an International Researcher of the Liverpool Biennial 2004 in the United Kingdom. She was also the commissioner and curator for Latin America for the 3rd Gwangju Biennale 2000 (Exotica Incognita) in South Korea and a principal curator of the 2nd, South Africa, 1997–1998, (for which she curated Transversions at the Museum Africa).

In 2001, she produced and curated the controversial exhibition, Translated Acts - Performance and Body Art from East Asia, which was initially presented at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2001) and then traveled to the Queens Museum of Art, New York (2001–2002) and the in Mexico City (2002–2003).

Kim's curatorial projects also include:

 * 2016 "New Conjunctions" at the United National Headquarter, New York.
 * 2014 "Fluid Form II" (Arab Contemporary Art) at the Busan Museum of Art and Blue Square Samsung, Seoul.
 * 2013 "Gauguin and After 'Idyllic Synthesis'; Contradiction of Vision and Reality" at Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul.
 * 2012 "Hanji Metamorphoses" ; An International exhibition of Art & Design & Fashion utilizing Hanji (Korean handmade paper) projects at the Rubin Museum of Art, UN Korean Embassy & Chelsea venues in New York.
 * 2011 "Tong ; Link", Contemporary Art and Buddhism at Sungbo Museum and Haeinsa Temples in Korea celebrating 1,000 years of the Tripitaka Koreana.
 * 2010 - 2009 "Magnetic Power" ; Contemporary Art from South East Asia (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Laos, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam), Coreana Museum of Art & Samcheong-dong Art Spaces, Seoul and “Fluid Form I ”, Contemporary Art and Urban Design from Arab Countries at Korea Culture Foundation and Museum of Modern Art, Ansan, Korea.
 * 2008 "Corporeal/Technoreal", a Media Art project, Printing Factory, Poznan.
 * 2008 "Los Puntos del Compas" at the Fundacion Ludwig de Cuba and other satellite sites in Havana. The exhibition was also hosted by the Sala de Arte Publico Siqueiros Museum, Mexico City.
 * 2007 "Counterpoint", (an international exhibition of art that is part of a series exploring cultural, political and territorial divisions) at Bund 18 in Shanghai, China and the Coreana Museum of Art in Seoul as well as venues in Poznan, Poland.
 * 2006 "Pyongyang Report" at Paju Book City, Publication Culture Center, Heyri Art Village and Press Center, Seoul, S. Korea.
 * 2005 "DMZ-2005" at Paju Book City, Publication Culture Center, Heyri Art Village and Press Center, Seoul, S. Korea.
 * 2003 - 2001, "Translated Acts" - Performance and Body Art from China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan and their Diasporas, a controversial exhibition initially presented at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2001) and then traveled to the Queens Museum of Art, New York (2001-2002) and the Museo de Carrillo Gil in Mexico City (2002-2003).
 * 1998 "Fragmented Histories", (Asia-Pacific section) for Cinco Continentes y Una Ciudad (Five Continents and One City) exposition at the Mexico City Museum in Mexico (1998).
 * 1998 - 1997 In the Eye of the Tiger, a survey of Korean contemporary art at Exit Art/The Third World, New York, and the Ilmin Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea.
 * 1996 OMNIZONE, Perspectives in Mapping Digital Culture, an on-line project featured on both the Plexus.org and the Guggenheim Museum website.
 * 1994 Flesh and Ciphers, Here Art Foundation New York City.

title: Yu Yeon Kim (curator)


text:
USS Wickes (DD-578)

USS Wickes (DD-578), a Fletcher-class destroyer, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Captain Lambert Wickes (1735–1777), who served in the Continental Navy.

Wickes was laid down on 15 April 1942 at Orange, Tex., by the Consolidated Steel Corporation; launched on 13 September 1942, sponsored by Miss Catherine Young Wickes, the great-great-grandniece of Capt. Wickes; and commissioned on 16 June 1943.

Departing New Orleans. La. on 13 July, Wickes sailed for Cuban waters and reached Guantanamo Bay three days later. She conducted shakedown training until 11 August, when she set sail for Charleston, S.C., where she commenced her post-shakedown availability.

Wickes then trained into the autumn, ranging from Trinidad, in the British West Indies to Casco Bay, Maine; and from Norfolk, Virginia, to NS Argentia, Newfoundland, from 1 September to 6 November. Between drills at sea, the ship underwent brief periods of repair in the navy yards at Boston and Norfolk.

On 6 November, Wickes departed the Boston Navy Yard in company with the small aircraft carrier Cabot (CVL-28) and sister destroyer Bell (DD-587)—their destination: the Canal Zone. Transiting the Panama Canal between 12 and 15 November, the destroyer reached San Diego, California, on the 22d, but pushed on for the Hawaiian Islands and reached Pearl Harbor on the 27th. Over the ensuing days, the destroyer exercised in those local waters, conducting antisubmarine and antiaircraft drills. On several occasions during this training, her routine was interrupted by orders to rendezvous with and augment the screens of various task groups returning from the operations which wrested the Gilbert Islands from Japan.

North Pacific campaign December 1943 – August 1944
Wickes—in company with sister-ships Charles J. Badger (DD-657) and Isherwood (DD-520)—departed Pearl Harbor on 10 December 1943 and set a course for the Aleutian Islands. Over the next few months, Wickes operated in the Aleutians. To her commanding officer and crew, the duties performed seemed "uneventful", their "greatest battles", he recalled were fought against the elements and the "dreary monotony of Aleutian duty".

Such an enervating routine was interrupted by three bombardments conducted by Task Force 94 (TF 94) against the Kuril Islands, Paramushiro and Matsuwa. The first raid hit Paramushiro on 4 February 1944 and marked the first time that Wickes made contact with the enemy. She bombarded Japanese targets in the town of Kurabuzaki on the southern tip of the island.

Early in March, Wickes—in company with other units of TF 94—made another sweep into Japan's backyard. On the lookout for Japanese shipping as they steamed through the Sea of Okhotsk, the task force found slim pickings before again shelling targets on Paramushiro on 4 March. Another bombardment was slated to take place there, but unfavorable weather made it impossible.

Two months later, Wickes' guns once more joined in a cannonade against Japanese facilities on Paramushiro and at Matsuwa, on 26 May and 13 June, respectively. Darkness and fog presented difficulties for the American forces but did not constitute insurmountable difficulties. On 2 August, while TF 94 was again steaming to shell Matsuwa, Wickes made visual contact with a "snooper", a Mitsubishi G4M "Betty" bomber. On van picket station, the destroyer opened fire on the intruder—the ship's first antiaircraft action. The plane managed to escape and, together with the worsening weather, nullified TF 94's chances of making an undetected approach to Matsuwa. The bombardment was accordingly canceled.

Wickes' tour in one of the most difficult operating areas on the globe finally ended when she "very happily" departed Adak, Alaska, on 7 August, headed south in company with other units of Destroyer Squadron 49 (DesRon 49). Reaching San Francisco on 16 August, Wickes moored at Pier 36. There, she received minor repairs from the facilities and workmen of the Matson Navigation Company, under the eye of the Assistant Industrial Manager, Mare Island Navy Yard. During the refit, the ship received a "dazzle" camouflage pattern, designed to confuse observers as to the ship's heading and speed.

Philippines campaign, September 1944 – March 1945
Underway from the west coast upon completion of repairs and alterations, Wickes set a course for Pearl Harbor once more, in company with Kimberly (DD-521), Young (DD-580), and William D. Porter (DD-579)—other units of DesRon 49. Reaching Hawaiian waters, Wickes spent the first two weeks of September engaged in supporting landing rehearsals at Lahaina Roads, Maui, "in preparation for forthcoming operations." While in port between exercises at sea, Wickes received additional radar gear while alongside Yosemite (AD-19), in preparation for the ship's slated role as a fighter-director ship.

Thus newly outfitted, Wickes left Pearl Harbor on 15 September, as part of Task Group 33.2 (TG 33.2), the group slated to hit the island of Yap. Reaching Eniwetok, in the Marshalls, on the 25th, the destroyer spent the next two days replenishing fuel and provisions. Resuming her voyage on the 28th, Wickes reached Manus, in the Admiralties, on 3 October. En route, the ship crossed the equator for the first time.

However, changing operational requirements resulted in the cancellation of the Yap invasion. Wickes was thus reassigned to the 7th Fleet and earmarked for participation in the assault on the island of Leyte. She remained at Manus until 14 October, conducting general upkeep and engaging in gunnery and antisubmarine warfare (ASW) training.

Wickes—with a fighter-director team embarked— departed the Admiralties on 14 October. As a screening unit of task group "Baker"—TG 79.4—a transport group, the destroyer reached Leyte Gulf according to plan, on D day, 20 October. She then proceeded to her assigned radar picket station near the center of the gulf and assumed duties as picket and fighter-director ship.

Over the next four days, Wickes remained on that station as the invasion of Leyte—the first step in the liberation of the Philippines—unfolded. She frequently saw Japanese aircraft—particularly in the area where the transports were congregated—but none came within range of her guns. She even made one good sound contact, on the 22d, and dropped an 11-depth-charge pattern but observed no positive results.

Wickes witnessed the Battle of Surigao Strait from a faraway vantage point in the pre-dawn darkness of 25 October. "It is no exaggeration", recorded her historian, "to state that this engagement was exciting even from a distance." During the rest of her time on station, Wickes' fighter-director team evaluated the air situation, controlling the protecting combat air patrol (CAP) overhead on the first two days of the landings, 20 and 21 October. During the first afternoon, the Wickes-directed CAP splashed a Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" carrier-borne fighter.

Subsequently clearing Leyte Gulf, Wickes served as screen commander for a 12-ship group of LSTs headed for New Guinea. The group, Task Unit 79.14.9 (TU 79.14.9), reached Hollandia, arriving without incident on 1 November. Wickes dropped anchor soon after her arrival and remained there through the 4th.

Wickes subsequently spent most of November in screening operations, escorting a transport group during all phases of its replenishment run to Leyte. Transports and cargo ships, TG 79.15, were screened to Noemfoor Island and during the loading operations that ensued. She then escorted them to Leyte, where they were unloaded on the 18th. She then escorted the auxiliaries back to Seeadler Harbor, Manus, where she arrived on the 25th.

Wickes departed Manus on the 28th, bound for Torokina, Bougainville, in the Solomons, escorting the troopships of Transport Division 38. En route, she touched at Finschhafen on the 29th during the division's stopover to embark troops and reached Torokina on 1 December.

Wickes remained at Torokina, Empress Augusta Bay, until the 15th, patrolling the outskirts of that body of water in company with her sister-ships of DesRon 49. The next day, she began the return trip to the Admiralty Islands but stopped in the Huon Gulf for a landing exercise to prepare for her next slated operation. She finally reached Manus on the 21st. The destroyer spent Christmas in port and replenished her logistics requirements until the 27th.

Underway on that day, Wickes proceeded to Luzon for the assault at Lingayen. On the approach run, the ship—screening tractor groups "Able and Baker" of TF 79—steamed with TU 79.11.3. Embarked was a new fighter-director team taken on at Manus.

The northbound run proved largely uneventful, except for what the ship's historian called "a moderate amount of heckling" by enemy aircraft day and night. Again, Wickes proved exceptionally adept at fighter-direction duties. Her team vectored CAP planes to oncoming enemy planes, and they accordingly splashed four Nakajima Ki-44 "Tojo" fighters into the waters off Luzon on the morning of 8 January 1945.

The ship herself did not fire upon any enemy planes until reaching Lingayen Gulf itself the following day, 9 January, when she fired at a pair of attacking planes, driving them off but not splashing them. That same evening, Wickes departed the coast of Luzon with her charges, screening the unloaded ships as they headed out of the battle area.

About one-half hour before sunrise on the morning of 10 January, a Japanese plane—a single-engined fighter—pushed over in a dive and dropped a bomb which exploded off the destroyer's starboard side, close aboard. Fragments, scything through the air, wounded 15 sailors topside and punctured the ship with a few small holes.

That brush with the enemy, and the light damage inflicted by the attacker, did not keep the ship off the "front lines", for she was soon back in action again, operating on antisubmarine patrols in Leyte Gulf during most of the time between 13 and 25 January.

On 26 January, she sortied as part of TG 78.3 and took station as escort and fighter-director ship for the passage of the task group through the Mindanao and Sulu Seas, en route to Luzon, for landings on the west coast in the vicinity of San Felipe, Zambales Province. The landings themselves took place two days later, meeting no opposition and calling for no bombardment. Friendly natives, happy to see their liberators, came out in bancas and other craft to greet the Americans warmly. On the 30th, Wickes stood in readiness during another unopposed landing—the one made at Grande Island, in Subic Bay. For the next two weeks, the destroyer was based on Subic Bay, operating in the waters off southwestern Luzon. During that period, she made a short run to Mindoro and back, escorting for convoys of landing craft each way.

Meanwhile, preparations were being made for assaults on Bataan and Corregidor—the scene of the humiliating disasters for the United States and her Filipino allies three years before. Minesweeping operations commenced on 13 February. At sunset that day, Wickes joined her sister-ship Young in supporting the thinly armored "sweepers" off Manila Bay, retired with them that night, and returned with them the next morning.

As the ships worked their way into an area between Corregidor and Carabao Islands, Japanese shore batteries emplaced on those islands and on Caballo began to lob shells at the minecraft and their escorts. Wickes teamed with Young to deliver vigorous counter-battery fire, knocking out the pugnacious guns. Other destroyers and cruisers also participated in the silencing of the enemy emplacements, but Wickes' historian modestly recorded, "No claim is made by Wickes to have done the job single-handed, but it is certain that this ship's gunfire was accurate and effective, and contributed materially toward the successful result and protection of the minesweepers who were able to proceed with their task unmolested for the remainder of the day." Nevertheless, both Wickes and Young had some close shaves, as the enemy landed some shells close aboard but did not hit either ship.

On the morning of the 15th, Wickes shelled Japanese positions in Mariveles Bay, just prior to the landings there. She then stood by to render gunfire support for the troops as they went ashore. However, when no opposition developed, the destroyer took up a patrol station, on watch for submarines. Meanwhile, throughout the day, 7th-Fleet destroyers and cruisers—assisted by planes— continued giving Corregidor a pasting.

Between 04:00 and daylight on the 16th, Wickes steamed in company with Picking and Young, to intercept "suicide boats" that had penetrated Mariveles Bay. Many drifting mines revealed themselves with the wash of dawn—but no suiciders. Wickes destroyed one mine with gunfire and was about to destroy others when minesweepers arrived on the scene and relieved the destroyer of that duty.

Wickes then proceeded to conduct another shore bombardment mission—this time against the beaches on Corregidor over which the assault was to pass. Paratroops drifted down and landed on the top of the island as part of the many-faceted attack designed to destroy the enemy units heavily entrenched there. When the troops commenced landing, Japanese guns opened up from caves on the rocky island. Wickes replied with counter-battery rounds against Corregidor and Caballo Islands, maneuvering to keep Caballo covered for the remainder of the day.

Late on the afternoon of the 16th, Wickes—in company with Picking and Young—was detached from that duty. "By all standards", recounted the ship's historian when reviewing the Philippine operations, "this operation was the most interesting one the Wickes ever took part in." It had afforded the ship the opportunity to observe, closely, the activities of other units: paratroops, heavy bombers, minesweepers, and ground troops alike. "All hands felt that at last the Wickes had produced some results and definitely accomplished something after months of more or less routine duties", "Fire from enemy shore batteries", he went on, "added just the right amount of hazard and provided the first real test of the ship under fire."

However, there would be quite enough "hazard", in the ship's future operations. Inexorably, the mighty American Navy bore down upon the shores of Nippon itself. Yet every step that the American armada took closer to the Japanese home islands increased the intensity of the enemy's resistance.

For Wickes, upon conclusion of her support of the Corregidor assaults, there was a tender availability awaiting her in Leyte Gulf. After those repairs, Wickes —in company with Luce (DD-522) and Charles J. Badger—escorted the heavy cruisers Portland (CA-33) and Minneapolis (CA-36) to Ulithi, in the Carolines, departing Philippine waters on 2 March and returning eight days later on the 10th.

Battle of Okinawa, March – June 1945
Wickes participated in the landing practices in Leyte Gulf for the next operation on the American timetable, the assault on Okinawa Gunto. From 13 to 16 March, the forces slated to take part in that thrust trained and rehearsed for the upcoming event. Activities during those days of training included duty in the tractor group "George" screen—TG 51.7—fire support drills, and ASW patrols around the transport area—all skills that would be very much needed.

After replenishing fuel, ammunition, and provisions and receiving additional fighter-director equipment, Wickes—with a new fighter-director team embarked— sortied for Okinawa on 19 March with TG 51.7.

Upon her arrival off Okinawa on the 26th, Wickes acted as a fire support vessel, supporting the landings by scheduled bombardments on Yakabi Shima, Kerama Retto; but there was no opposition on that island that required additional naval gunfire. Commencing on 26 March and continuing through 4 May, Wickes conducted regular radar-picket and fighter-director duties on the various stations off Okinawa. During that period, the CAP, vectored to the enemy by Lt. (jg.) James R. Baumgartner, USNR, the senior fighter-director officer embarked, engaged 42 enemy aircraft, destroyed eight, and damaged four.

Late on the afternoon of 22 April, the Wickes-directed CAP scored their most signal success. On Radar Picket Station 14, about 70 miles northwest of Okinawa, Wickes vectored Marine fighters from Yontan Field to a large raid approaching from the northward. The flying Leathernecks knocked down 26 Japanese planes, probably splashed another pair, and damaged four.

After later turning over her fighter-director team to Gainard (DD-706), on 4 May, Wickes alternated duty on the antiaircraft screen protecting the transports off Hagushi beach with antisubmarine patrols. She also supervised underway fueling operations for a day. She then underwent a period of needed upkeep to have her boilers cleaned.

During the 51 days Wickes spent off Okinawa, she took enemy aircraft under fire no less than 14 times, and was four times, the object of attention from kamikazes. Her gunners claimed five "kills" from the suiciders' ranks, and one "probable". Two of the downed enemy aircraft managed to crash close enough to send pieces of themselves onto the ship's fantail—but doing no damage. On one occasion, one of the kamikazes attempted to torpedo the ship, but its "fish" also missed. In addition, Wickes may have saved the hospital ship Relief (AH-1) from serious damage when she deflected, with her gunfire, a suicider attempting to crash into the ship-of-mercy.

Until 10 April, Wickes patrolled her picket stations alone, without support. After that time, a landing craft or another destroyer was always present. Other incidental occurrences that came up during the ship's time off the embattled isle of Okinawa included the rescue of five men from a raft from the fast transport Dickerson (APD-21); fishing out a crashed fighter pilot from the fleet carrier Bennington (CV-20); and exploding a drifting mine with gunfire. Remarkably, in contrast to some of her sister-ships that suffered grievous damage at the hands of the suicidal kamikaze, Wickes suffered only three casualties: all wounded when a plane strafed the ship.

Wickes departed the Okinawa area on 15 May, bound for Ulithi, while the campaign continued on. She screened a convoy of auxiliaries and merchantmen to the Western Carolines, reaching her destination on the 21st. She then nested alongside the destroyer tender Prairie (AD-15) and received a 10-day availability. The time spent there at the sprawling, busy, advance base was, truly, "a welcome rest" after the long hours of general quarters and alerts that were part and parcel of duty off Okinawa. "Although all hands had gained a great deal of confidence in our ability to handle air attacks", wrote the ship's historian, "it was difficult, after more than a month of picket duty, not to feel like fugitives from the law of averages, as so many other ships had been hit."

Wickes—her availability alongside Prairie completed by early June—departed Ulithi on 7 June, escorting another slow convoy. Her destination was again Okinawa. She safely reached there with her charges on the 13th and took on board another fighter-director team. In company with two or three supporting destroyers, Wickes then returned to the picket lines. Most enemy air activity then took place nocturnally.

Her second stay at Okinawa proved briefer than the first. The ship headed for Saipan on 23 June with a slow convoy but with onward routing approved to Pearl Harbor. Reaching Saipan on the 29th, Wickes departed that same day, bound for the Hawaiian Islands in company with Picking and Hall (DD-583).

Making port at Pearl Harbor on 7 July, Wickes' time in Hawaiian waters proved brief; for, on the 8th, she was bound "stateside", her bow "very happily pointed" toward the Golden Gate. She made the last leg of the voyage in company with her old companion, Picking, and two other ships, Sproston (DD-577) and Brackett (DE-41). All ships arrived on the morning of 14 July and proceeded to the Naval Ammunition Depot at Mare Island to unload ammunition. Upon completion of that task, Wickes got underway for Hunters Point, tying up at pier-side at sunset, with 47 days' availability ahead of her.

Within a day or two after arrival, DesRon 49 was dissolved; and Wickes was reassigned to DesRon 58. The war in the Pacific, though, ended before the destroyer completed her scheduled overhaul on 31 August 1945.

With the end of the war, however, it soon became evident that with the massive shipbuilding programs that had come along during hostilities there was a surplus of ships for anticipated postwar needs. Along with the decommissioning and scrapping of many of the older fleet units, some of the newer ships were decommissioned and placed in reserve.

Wickes was among the latter. Completing her overhaul by early September 1945, the ship conducted refresher training exercises into the autumn and winter. Her service career was growing short. She was placed out of commission, in reserve, on 20 December 1945. She never returned to active duty, even during the Korean War when many of her sister-ships were pulled out of mothballs and recommissioned. Struck from the Navy list on 1 November 1972, her hulk was later expended in ordnance tests.

Honors
Wickes earned five battle stars for her World War II service.

title: USS Wickes (DD-578)


text: Category:Fictional golems

title: Category:Fictional golems


text:
David Bergen

David Bergen (born January 14, 1957) is a Canadian novelist. He has published eleven novels and two collections of short stories since 1993 and is currently based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. His 2005 novel The Time in Between won the Scotiabank Giller Prize and he was a finalist again in 2010 (for The Matter With Morris) and 2020 (for Here the Dark), making the long list in 2008 (for ''The Retreat). ''

Life and career
Bergen was born on January 14, 1957, in Port Edward, a small fishing village in British Columbia, Canada, and later grew up in the small town of Niverville, Manitoba. He went to Bible college in British Columbia and Red River College in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where he studied creative communication. He taught English and Creative Writing at Winnipeg's Kelvin High School until 2002.

Raised Mennonite, Bergen has noted that the tendency of the church to stifle questions and criticism affected his decision to write fiction. "Writing is a way of figuring things out," he says. "If you can't ask certain questions in church, maybe you can ask them in fiction."

His debut novel, A Year of Lesser in 1996, was a New York Times Notable Book and winner of the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award. His 2002 novel The Case of Lena S. was a finalist for the Governor General's Award for English-language fiction, and won the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award. It was also a finalist for the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award, and the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction.

His 2005 novel The Time in Between won the Scotiabank Giller Prize, received a coveted starred review in the Kirkus Reviews trade magazine, and was recently longlisted for the 2007 International Dublin Literary Award. In 2008, he published his fifth novel, The Retreat, which was longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, and which won the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award, and the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction. In 2010, he was shortlisted again for the Scotiabank Giller Prize for his sixth novel, The Matter with Morris, which was also shortlisted for the 2012 International Dublin Literary Award.

He is also the author of a collection of short fiction, Sitting Opposite My Brother (1993), which was a finalist for the Manitoba Book of the Year. His most recent short story collection, Here the Dark, was published in 2020, and was shortlisted for the Giller Prize and the 2021 ReLit Award for short fiction.

His 2023 novel Away from the Dead was longlisted for the Giller Prize.

Novels

 * A Year of Lesser, HarperCollins Canada, 1996
 * See the Child, HarperCollins Canada, 1999
 * The Case of Lena S., McClelland & Stewart, 2002
 * The Time in Between, McClelland & Stewart, 2005
 * The Retreat, McClelland & Stewart, 2008
 * The Matter With Morris, HarperCollins Canada, 2010
 * The Age of Hope, HarperCollins Canada, 2012
 * Leaving Tomorrow, HarperCollins Canada, 2014
 * Stranger, HarperCollins Canada, 2016
 * Out of Mind, Goose Lane Editions, 2021
 * Away from the Dead, 2023

Short stories

 * Sitting Opposite My Brother, Turnstone Press, 1993
 * Here the Dark, Stories and a Novella, Biblioasis, March, 2020

Awards

 * 1993 Finalist, Manitoba Book of the Year — Sitting Opposite My Brother
 * 1996 John Hirsch Award — A Year of Lesser
 * 1996 McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award — A Year of Lesser
 * 1999 CBC Literary Award, Short Story — How Can 'N' Men Share a Bottle of Vodka
 * 2002 Short list, Governor General's Award — The Case of Lena S.
 * 2002 Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award — The Case of Lena S.
 * 2002 Finalist, McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award — The Case of Lena S.
 * 2002 Finalist, Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction — The Case of Lena S.
 * 2005 Giller Prize — The Time in Between
 * 2005 McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award — The Time in Between
 * 2007 Long list, International Dublin Literary Award — The Time in Between
 * 2008 Long list, Giller Prize — The Retreat
 * 2008 McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award — The Retreat
 * 2008 Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction — The Retreat
 * 2010 Shortlist, Giller Prize — The Matter With Morris
 * 2012 Shortlist, International Dublin Literary Award — The Matter with Morris
 * 2013 The Age of Hope chosen for Canada Reads - Defended by Ron Maclean
 * 2016 Longlist, Scotiabank Giller Prize - Stranger
 * 2018 Matt Cohen Award
 * 2020 Shortlist, Scotiabank Giller Prize - Here the Dark
 * 2021 McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award - Here the Dark
 * 2022 McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award - Out of Mind

title: David Bergen


text:
USS Ross (DD-563)

USS Ross (DD-563) was a U.S. Navy Fletcher-class destroyer. Ross is the only ship in U.S. naval history to survive two underwater mine explosions.

Namesake
David Ross was a lieutenant in the Continental Navy. He commanded the American private armed ship Belvedere (14 guns) at the end of the 18th century. While en route to London, on 23 December 1799, his ship was caught in a hurricane. Provisions, seven guns and a quantity of shot were thrown overboard to lighten ship. Nineteen days later, on 12 January 1800, Belvedere was overtaken by a French brig, whose captain demanded that the American haul down her flag. Ross's answer was a broadside. A two-hour engagement, within pistol shot, followed; and after the Frenchman had sheered off, Belvedere, with damage to its rigging, sails, and hull, continued on.

Construction and commissioning
Ross was laid down on 7 September 1942 by the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corp., Seattle, Washington and launched on 10 September 1943, sponsored by Mrs. William J. Malone. She was commissioned on 21 February 1944, Commander Benjamin Coe commanding.

She completed shakedown off California in early May 1944 and on 5 May sailed for Pearl Harbor. On 29 May she sortied with Task Force 52 (TF 52) for Eniwetok, whence the fleet sailed for Saipan and the beginning of the Marianas Campaign.

Marianas and Palaus campaign
Attached to the carrier support group for the invasion of Saipan, Ross arrived on station in the operating area to the east of the island on 14 June. Through the landings on the 15th, and until the 19th, she remained in that area providing screening and plane guard services for the carriers. On 19 June, she headed east with Kalinin Bay (CVE-68) to rendezvous with replacement aircraft from Eniwetok. On the 25th, the two ships rejoined the Saipan support force. Ross remained in the vicinity of Saipan and Tinian well into July, interrupting duty there only at the beginning of the month to escort another replacement aircraft run.

On 1 August, the destroyer returned to Eniwetok, then headed for the Solomons to rehearse the Palau operation. On 6 September she departed Purvis Bay in Task Group 32.5 (TG 32.5), the Western Fire Support Group. Off Peleliu by dawn on 12 September, Ross screened the heavier ships as they began bombarding the proposed landing beaches. On the morning of the 13th, she closed White and Orange beaches to provide fire support for the Underwater Demolition Teams (UDTs) clearing the approaches of obstacles and through that day and the next she alternated between that mission and screening duty. On the night of 14–15 September, she shelled Ngesebus Island and conducted patrols to intercept enemy boat traffic. Then, prior to the 08:30 landings, she fired on enemy observation posts in the assault area. After the troops hit the beaches, she shifted to call fire support and until the 20th rotated that duty with night patrols and picket duty.

On 20 August, Ross headed for Ulithi. Arriving the next day, she covered UDT operations on Asor, Falalop, and Sorlen. On the 23d, she covered the landings on Falalop and on the 24th she got underway to return to Peleliu.

En route Ross stopped in Kossol Roads to embark Major General Julian Smith, USMC, and his staff, whom she transported to Peleliu. Arriving on 26 August, she provided harassing fire, call fire, and illumination until the 29th, when she sailed for Manus to prepare for her last amphibious operation, the invasion of Leyte.

Ross disabled
On 12 October, Ross departed the Admiralties. Five days later she arrived off Dinagat Island. On the morning of the 18th, she covered landings there, on Black Beach 2, then joined Task Unit 77.2.6 (77.2.6) to provide cover for that minesweeping and hydrography unit. Her duty, however, ended abruptly less than 15 hours later.

At 01:33 on 19 October, she struck a mine to port under the forward engineroom and fireroom; and began to list to port. At 01:55 she struck a second mine in the vicinity of the after engineroom. The list increased to 14°.

Chickasaw (ATF-83) and Preserver (ARS-8) closed to render assistance.

Soon after 02:10, Ross jettisoned six torpedoes, all port depth charges, and miscellaneous gear. Topside movable weights were shifted to starboard. The list began to decrease. At 03:15, her medical officer, the seriously injured, and the ship's funds were transferred to Chickasaw. At 03:43, she was taken in tow by the ATF and 4 hours later anchored off Homonhon Island.

Casualties from the mine explosions were three killed, 20 missing, nine injured. At 12:04 the anchorage was attacked by Japanese planes. Shrapnel injured two more from Ross' crew.

In the afternoon, the destroyer was towed to an anchorage south of Mariquitdaquit Island. At dawn on 20 October, that anchorage was attacked.

Salvage work on Ross began. Air attacks caused frequent interruptions, but the work continued. On 23 November, she was shifted to the Northern Transport Area anchorage and on the 24th, she was towed into San Pedro Bay and docked in floating drydock ARD-19. The frequent air raids continued, and on the 28th, Ross sustained further damage. A Nakajima Ki-44 "Tojo" crashed into the ARD, passed through the starboard wingwall, and caused gasoline-fed flames to encompass the dock basin deck. As firefighters went to work, another Japanese fighter began a strafing run, but was splashed by gunfire from Ross, the ARD and LST-556.

Repairs to Ross were delayed as the ARD's crew repaired the drydock, but on 13 December the destroyer was underway under tow, for Humboldt Bay. There, further repairs were made and her journey was continued. On 2 March 1945 she reached Mare Island.

Repairs complete, Ross moved down to San Diego at the end of June and in July she steamed for Pearl Harbor en route back to the Western Carolines. She arrived at Ulithi on 14 August, the day hostilities ended.

From 24 August to 4 September, Ross was on air-sea rescue duty as occupation troops were moved by air from Okinawa to Tokyo. On the 5th, she entered Tokyo Bay and into October remained on occupation duty.

Ross departed Japan for the United States on 21 October. On 9 November, she reported for inactivation at Seattle, and with the new year, she shifted to San Diego where she was decommissioned on 4 June 1946.

1951 – 1953
For the next 5 years Ross remained berthed with the Reserve Fleet at San Diego. In the summer of 1951 she was activated and on 27 October she was recommissioned. Into March 1952 she operated off southern California. On the 12th, she departed San Diego for the U.S. east coast,escorting the Carriers Ranger and Antietam for their conversion to slant deck carriers at her new homeport, Naval Station Norfolk|Norfolk, Va., on the 29th, in company with another destroyer. Local operations occupied the summer; and, in late summer, she moved to Philadelphia Navy Yard for overhaul/conversion with a tri-pod mainmast to support high-tech radar/countermeasures and beefed-up 3.50" armament to counter missiles,replacing the 20/40mm AA armament. Also, acquiring another, smaller secondary tri-pod mast amidships, for AA firecontrol/countermeastures. In February 1953, she again steamed south, operated in the Caribbean into April, then returned to Norfolk to prepare for a summer cruise to Scotland and Norway. In August she was back in the Caribbean, and in September she returned to Norfolk. Further operations off the Atlantic seaboard and in the Caribbean followed, then in the spring of 1954 she began a cruise around the world.

1954
Departing Norfolk 20 April, Ross transited the Panama Canal and crossed the Pacific. Arriving at Yokosuka, Japan on 28 May, she served with the 7th Fleet until the end of August, ranging from the Sea of Japan to the South China Sea. From 24 to 29 July she participated in operations off Indochina as residents of North Vietnam were allowed to move to South Vietnam.

On 31 August, Ross departed Sasebo, Japan. Then, steaming via Hong Kong, Singapore, Colombo, and the Suez Canal, she crossed the Mediterranean, and entered the Atlantic. On 28 October she reached Norfolk.

1955 – 1959
Coastal and Caribbean operations were resumed in May 1955, following an overhaul. In November, she headed east and, for the next 2½ months, operated with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean. Returning to Norfolk on 26 February 1956, she conducted local operations through the spring, then repeated her 1953 schedule—a northern European cruise followed by exercises in the Caribbean.

In 1957, the destroyer again deployed to the Mediterranean. Departing the east coast in late October, she arrived at Gibraltar at the end of the month and continued on. On 8 November she transited the Suez Canal and until mid-December operated in the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, Indian Ocean area. She then retransmitted the Canal, and remained with the 6th Fleet until 16 February 1958.

Ross returned to Norfolk 5 March 1959. During the summer, she conducted her last summer cruise to Northern Europe. Into the summer she remained on the east coast. In July she operated in the Key West-Guantanamo Bay area and in August she departed Norfolk for Beaumont, Tex., and inactivation.

Fate
In reserve from 10 August, Ross was decommissioned on 6 November 1959. The ship was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register 1 December 1974. She was sunk as a target off Puerto Rico 26 January 1978.

Awards
Ross (DD-563) earned five battle stars during World War II.

title: USS Ross (DD-563)


text:
Maxime Brunerie

Maxime Brunerie (born 21 May 1977) is a French convicted criminal and former neo-Nazi activist, known for his 14 July 2002 assassination attempt on Jacques Chirac, while he was still the President of France, during the Bastille Day celebrations in Paris.

Early life
Maxime Brunerie was born 21 May 1977 in Courcouronnes, a southern outer suburb of Paris, the son of Annie and Jean Brunerie. He was a far-right activist, participated in protests and worked as a janitor.

Diagnosed with lymphoma in 1998 and undergoing chemotherapy, Brunerie found a propaganda sticker of the neo-Nazi French and European Nationalist Party (PNFE); he became a member of the group between June and November 1998, when he left the "agonising party" to join the Groupe Union Défense, renamed Unité Radicale early that year. In June 1999, Brunerie entered the National Republican Movement led by Bruno Mégret. He ran for the party in the 2001 municipal election in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. Brunerie attended BTS studies in management accounting after 2000.

Assassination attempt
On 14 July 2002, 25-year-old Brunerie attempted to assassinate President Jacques Chirac by firearm during the Bastille Day military parade on the Champs-Élysées in Paris.

The week before the attempt, Brunerie obtained a .22 rifle. On the day before the attempt, Brunerie left a message on the Combat 18 guestbook saying "Watch the Tv This Sunday, i will be the star... Death to zog,88!" [sic]

Armed with a .22 rifle hidden in his father's guitar case, Brunerie attempted to fire one shot from the sidewalk at the passing presidential motorcade; spectators noticed him before he attempted suicide. Spectators were able to divert his gun before the police were able to arrest him. According to police, the shot was very wide and the shooter's inexperience and lack of preparation made a successful assassination attempt unlikely.

Brunerie was found to have been linked to the far-right group Unité Radicale (which was dissolved in the aftermath of the shooting); he had been a candidate for the far-right party Mouvement National Républicain at a local election, as well as being associated with the French and European Nationalist Party.

After the police searched his house, they found a copy of Mein Kampf and a skinhead-themed music CD.

Brunerie's trial began on 6 December 2004. The court eventually found the defendant guilty of attempted murder, judging that his mental responsibility, though diminished, was not abolished. On 10 December 2004, Brunerie was sentenced to ten years of prison. He was freed after seven years in jail, on 3 August 2009.

After his release
Brunerie stated that he did not want to kill Chirac, but rather wanted to commit suicide by cop by being beaten to death by the GIGN.

He finished his BTS in management accounting in prison.

He was interviewed by Europe 1 not long after his release, stating that he "lost it" in 2002 and wants to move on.

In 2011, he released an autobiography titled A normal life: I wanted to kill Jacques Chirac and now says he is far from any political activism. The same year he founded a book reselling company. His political views changed; he requested a membership for the Democratic Movement but was denied. He voted for Ségolène Royal in the 2011 Socialist Party presidential primary.

In 2011, he was set to publish a short story in a literary magazine called Bordel; the story was removed before publication.

In 2012, he triggered a controversy by participating in the jury of a literary prize created by Laurence Biava.

In 2013, he participated in a protest against same-sex marriage. In 2018, he was sentenced to a suspended prison sentence of three months for domestic abuse.

title: Maxime Brunerie


text:
Kringle domain

Kringle domains are autonomous protein domains that fold into large loops stabilized by 3 disulfide linkages. These are important in protein–protein interactions with blood coagulation factors. Their name refers to the Kringle, a Scandinavian pastry which they somewhat resemble.

Kringle domains have been found in plasminogen, hepatocyte growth factors, prothrombin, and apolipoprotein(a).

Kringles are found throughout the blood clotting and fibrinolytic proteins. Kringle domains are believed to play a role in binding mediators (e.g., membranes, other proteins or phospholipids), and in the regulation of proteolytic activity. Kringle domains  are characterised by a triple loop, 3-disulfide bridge structure, whose conformation is defined by a number of hydrogen bonds and small pieces of anti-parallel beta-sheet. They are found in a varying number of copies in some plasma proteins including prothrombin and urokinase-type plasminogen activator, which are serine proteases belonging to MEROPS peptidase family S1A.

Human proteins containing this domain
ATF; F12; F2; HABP2; HGF; HGFAC; KREMEN1; KREMEN2; LPA; LPAL2; MST1; PIK3IP1; PLAT; PLAU; PLG; PRSS12; ROR1; ROR2;

title: Kringle domain


text:
Talk:Political action committee

2012 list - scratchpad
Group Total Raised Restore Our Future  $142,097,336 American Crossroads  $104,746,670 Priorities USA Action  $65,166,859 Majority PAC  $37,498,257 House Majority PAC  $30,470,122 Freedomworks for America $19,636,548 Winning Our Future  $17,007,762 Club for Growth Action  $16,584,207 Ending Spending Action Fund $13,250,766

Total of Top Nine: $ 446 million

FROM ANOTHER SOURCE

Super PACs spending over $10 million Total Spent through Nov 30, 2012

Restore Our Future  $142,655,346 American Crossroads  $91,115,447 Priorities USA Action  $66,482,084 Winning Our Future  $17,008,038

Regular PACs with spending over $10 million Total Spent through Nov 30, 2012

Republican National Committee  $42,252,251 Americans for Prosperity  $33,542,058 Crossroads GPS  $22,146,304 American Future Fund  $19,038,220 Americans for Job Security $15,223,067

Wiki Education assignment: Money and Politics
— Assignment last updated by SandwichProf (talk) 18:14, 12 September 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Political action committee


text: User:CaIton Sr

title: User:CaIton Sr