From today's featured list

Sfax, the first French protected cruiser
Sfax, the first French protected cruiser

A series of 33 protected cruisers were built by the French Navy during the 1880s and 1890s. Protected cruisers were differentiated from other cruising warships by their relatively light sloped armor deck that provided a measure of protection against incoming shellfire, as opposed to armored cruisers that relied on heavy belt armor, or unprotected cruisers that lacked armor entirely. The first French protected cruiser, Sfax (pictured), was designed in the early 1880s in response to the introduction of similar vessels in the British Royal Navy; two more vessels of similar but larger designs – Tage and Amiral Cécille – followed shortly thereafter. Beginning in the mid-1890s, a series of large cruisers were ordered; the first of these, D'Entrecasteaux, carried the largest guns of any French cruiser. Most of the vessels had relatively uneventful careers, serving in a variety of locations with the main fleets, in the French colonies in Asia, and on patrol in the Atlantic. (Full list...)

Today's featured picture

Verbena hastata

Verbena hastata, commonly known as the American vervain, blue vervain, simpler's joy, or swamp verbena, is a perennial flowering plant in the vervain family, Verbenaceae. It grows throughout the continental United States and in much of southern Canada. V. hastata grows as a stiffly erect stem, occasionally branching in the upper half, reaching up to 1.5 metres (5 feet) tall. The stems are four-angled (square), hairy, and green to reddish in color. Leaves are opposite, simple, and measure up to 15 centimetres (6 inches) long and 3 centimetres (1 inch) across. This photograph, which was focus-stacked from 50 separate images, shows a V. hastata inflorescence.

Photograph credit: Dominicus Johannes Bergsma

Other areas of Wikipedia

  • Community portal – The central hub for editors, with resources, links, tasks, and announcements.
  • Village pump – Forum for discussions about Wikipedia itself, including policies and technical issues.
  • Site news – Sources of news about Wikipedia and the broader Wikimedia movement.
  • Teahouse – Ask basic questions about using or editing Wikipedia.
  • Help desk – Ask questions about using or editing Wikipedia.
  • Reference desk – Ask research questions about encyclopedic topics.
  • Content portals – A unique way to navigate the encyclopedia.

Wikipedia's sister projects

Wikipedia is written by volunteer editors and hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization that also hosts a range of other volunteer projects:

No tags for this post.