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SMS Rheinland in 1910

The Nassau class was a group of four dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial German Navy in the mid-1900s. The class comprised Nassau, Rheinland (pictured), Posen, and Westfalen. All four were laid down in mid-1907, and completed by late 1910. The battleships adopted a main battery of twelve 28 cm (11 in) guns in six twin-gun turrets. The ships served as II Division, I Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet for the duration of their careers. From 1910 to 1914, they participated in squadron exercises, training cruises, and fleet maneuvers. During World War I, the ships took part in operations intended to isolate and destroy parts of the numerically superior British Grand Fleet. These culminated in the Battle of Jutland in 1916, where the ships helped to sink HMS Black Prince, an armored cruiser. They also saw service in the Baltic Sea against the Russian Empire. After the war, all four ships were ceded to the Allied powers and broken up. (This article is part of a featured topic: Battleships of Germany.)

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Diana and Endymion

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In the news

Brahim Ghali

Chris Hipkins succeeds Jacinda Ardern as prime minister of New Zealand and leader of the Labour Party after her resignation.
Brahim Ghali (pictured) is re-elected as secretary general of the Polisario Front and president of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.
A helicopter crashes near Kyiv, killing fourteen people, including Ukrainian interior minister Denys Monastyrsky.
In the Antiguan general election, the Labour Party retains its majority in the House of Representatives.
A plane crash in Pokhara, Nepal, kills all 72 people on board.

On this day

January 28

Lego bricks

1142 – Despite having saved the southern Song dynasty from attempts by the northern Jin dynasty to conquer it, Chinese general Yue Fei was executed by the Song government.
1547 – Nine-year-old Edward VI, the first English monarch to be raised as a Protestant, became king.
1813 – English author Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice was published, using material from an unpublished manuscript originally written between 1796 and 1797.
1958 – The Lego Group, a Danish toy company, filed a patent in Denmark for the design of Lego bricks (pictured).
1984 – Tropical Storm Domoina made landfall in southern Mozambique, causing some of the most severe flooding recorded in the region.

Paul Luther (b. 1533)
Colette (b. 1873)
Paul Henderson (b. 1943)

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Today's featured picture

1942 series
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1943–1945 series
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The Japanese government-issued Philippine peso was a fiat currency issued in the Philippines during World War II, by the occupying Japanese government. One of several examples of Japanese invasion money, the currency was issued in several denominations and was known by some Filipinos by the derogatory term "Mickey Mouse money". The effect of wartime hyperinflation towards the end of the war can be seen in the rapid increase of denomination values that were put into circulation. These thirteen banknotes were issued in ten denominations from one centavo to one thousand pesos by the Japanese government and are now part of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution.

Banknote design credit: Empire of Japan

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