NASA image of June 15th ..[ 1329 ]

The latest NASA "Image of the Day" image.

Shooting for the Moon
This image from 1967 shows the S-II stage of the Saturn V rocket as it was hoisted onto the A-2 test stand at the Mississippi Test Facility (now the Stennis Space Center). 

 

This was the second stage of the 364-foot tall moon rocket, which was powered by five J-2 engines. 

 

Image Credit: NASA

Τρίτη, 15 Ιούνιος 2010 7:00:00 πμ

The Historical Battle ship "AVEROF"..[ 1328 ]

B/S "AVEROF" The Battle of Lemnos

BS Averof during the military operation

Naval Battle of Lemnos
Part of First Balkan War
Date: January 5 (O.S.)/18 1913 Location: Lemnos, Greece Result: Greek victory
Combatants
Greece	Ottoman Empire
Commanders
Rear Adm Pavlos Kountouriotis	Cpt Ramiz Bey
Strength
1 armoured cruiser, three coastal battleships	3 battleships, 1 cruiser
Casualties
1 wounded	heavy damages to 2 ships, 190 dead and wounded

The Battle of Lemnos (Greek: Ναυμαχία της Λήμνου), fought on January 5 (O.S.)/18, 1913, was a naval battle during the First Balkan War, which defeated an attempt of the Ottoman Empire to reclaim supremacy over the Aegean Sea from Greece.

Before the battle

Following the loss of a number of Aegean Islands to Greece during the first phase of the war in 1912, and its first defeat at the Battle of Elli, the Ottoman Navy sought to check Greek progress by destroying the Greek fleet docked at the port of Moudros, Lemnos. However, it faced the problem of countering the Greek flagship, the Georgios Averof, which had already defeated them at Elli. The Turks developed the plan to slip a fast cruiser through the Greek patrols for a raiding mission in the Aegean, hoping to draw off some Greek ships, possibly even the Averof itself, in pursuit, leaving the remainder thus weakened for them to attack. Indeed, the cruiser Hamidiye evaded the Greek lookout ships on the night of January 1 (O.S.), 1913, and sunk a Greek transport ship at Syros the next day, also bombarding the island's harbour. This action caused panic in Athens, and under the pressure of public opinion an order was sent to the Fleet, commanding it to "sail immediately in pursuit". Luckily for the Greeks, admiral Kountouriotis refused to obey, suspecting a Turkish trap, and instead prepared for the inevitable exit of the Ottoman Fleet from the Dardanelles Straits.

On the Turkish side, efforts were made to uplift the morale of the crews, including the hoisting of the original banner of the great pirate Khair ad Din "Barbarossa" on the flagship, Hayreddin Barbarossa, which was named after him.

The Battle

Battleship Psara

The Greek fleet, led by Rear Admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis was composed of its 9,960 ton armored cruiser flagship Averof, the three old coastal defense battleships Spetsai, Ydra and Psara and eight destroyers, while the Ottoman flotilla included the pre-dreadnought battleships Hayreddin Barbarossa, Turgut Reis and Mesudiye and the cruiser Medjidiye, thirteen destroyers and torpedo ships. The battleship Assar-i-Tevfik remained in the Dardanelles and did not participate in the battle.

On 08:20 in the morning of January 5 (O.S.), the Greek patrols signalled that the Turkish fleet had appeared. At 09:45, the Greek Fleet sailed from Moudros Bay. The two fleets met some 12 miles SE of Lemnos, sailing southeast in converging columns, with their flagships in front. The gunnery exchange commenced at 11:34, when the two fleets were at a distance of 8400 metres. Immediately the Greek column turned left, further diminishing the distance. Soon after, the Medjidiye and the accompanying destroyers turned northeast towards the Dardanelles, followed by the Mesudiye at 11:50, after it had suffered heavy damage from the combined fire of Ydra and Psara. At 11:54, a successful salvo from the Averof hit the Barbarossa, destroying its middle tower, forcing it to withdraw towards the Dardanelles, along with the Turgut Reis at 12:00. As at Elli, the Averof commenced independent action, using its superior speed, and maneuvering so that it could use the artillery of both its sides, to pursue the Ottoman ships, while the older battleships followed as fast as they could. The pursuit ended only at 14:30, when the Turkish ships were earing the Dardanelles.

Losses and Aftermath

Througout the battle, the Turkish ships achieved an excellent rate of fire, firing about 800 shells, but with dismal accuracy. Only two hits were registered on the Averof, causing one injury and minor damages, while the other battleships escaped unscathed. The Turkish ships suffered far more. Barbarossa was hit by over 20 shells, which destroyed much of its artillery, and suffered 75 dead and 130 wounded. Turgut Reis suffered a major leak and other minor damages from 17 hits, and 47 casualties. Mesudiye also suffered several hits, but the main damage was caused by a 270 mm shell which destroyed the central 150 mm gun platform, and had 68 casualties.

This, the final naval battle of the First Balkan War, forced the Ottoman Navy to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it did not venture for the rest of the war, securing thus the dominion of the Aegean Sea for Greece.

Use of aircraft

Michail Moutousis

The withdrawal of the Turkish fleet to within the Dardanelles was confirmed by 1st Lieutenat Michail Moutoussis and Ensign Aristides Moraitinis on January 24, 1913. They conducted the first ever wartime naval aviation mission, flying their Maurice Farman hydroplane over the Nagara naval base, where they spotted the enemy fleet. During their sortie, they accurately drew a diagram of the positions of the Ottoman fleet, against which they dropped four bombs. Moutoussis and Moraitinis travelled over 180km and took 2 hours 20 minutes to complete their mission, which was extensively reported in both the Greek and International Press.

Battleship Averof, Trokadero Marina Palaio Faliro [Source]

Battle of Lemnos

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/"
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License
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Τα παραπάνω αντί σχολίων δια το κατάπτυστο " πάρτυ " που έγινε πρόσφατα επί του Ιστορικού Θωρηκτού " Αβέρωφ "

Hello ..Again

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     Hello *........Here we go ..again !

   * After my silence as of May 29th....

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Gulf: 40 days and the oil spill has no end...[ 1326 ]

Gulf oil spill hits Day 40 with no end in sight

Tom Bergin and Ed Stoddard

NEW ORLEANS/VENICE

Sat May 29, 2010 1:06am EDT

Oil impacts Redfish Bay in Louisiana's birdsfoot delta, where the Mississippi River empties into the Gulf of Mexico, May 27, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Jeffrey Dubinsky/Gulf Restoration Network/Handout

NEW ORLEANS/VENICE Louisiana (Reuters) - The worst oil spill in U.S. history hits its 40th day on Saturday with Gulf residents clinging to one tenuous hope: that BP's complicated "top kill" operation will plug the gushing well.

Beleaguered Louisiana residents heard from President Barack Obama and BP CEO Tony Hayward on separate visits to the Gulf coast on Friday as they tried to get a handle on a crisis damaging the credibility of both the government and BP.
Obama, facing criticism that he responded too slowly to the environmental catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico, assured Louisianians during his five-hour visit that they "will not be left behind" and that the "buck stops" with him.
Hayward, on a visit to the site of the April 20 rig explosion that killed 11 workers and unleashed the oil, said the energy giant needed up to two more days to determine if the top kill will stop the underwater gusher once and for all.
The top kill, however, is a tricky maneuver that involves injecting heavy fluids, material and cement into the well to stifle the flow. It has never been done at this depth, one mile under below sea level.
Hayward dismissed concerns about delays, which made investors jittery and drove BP shares down 5 percent Friday.
"We're continuing because we are making progress," Hayward said on a drilling ship at the site, with perspiration dripping from under a white plastic BP safety hat.
Obama is caught in a tight spot: there is not much he can do about the well other than apply pressure to BP to get it right and put his best scientists in the room. The government has no deep-sea oil technology of its own.
That fact is not lost on the people of Louisiana's coast, a hub of the U.S. oil industry and now the site of the country's largest oil spill after it surpassed the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaskan waters.

'WANT OUR BEACH BACK'

"I wouldn't know what to ask him to do, other than stop the leak," said John Bourg, a resident of Grand Isle who watched the president's motorcade roar by on Friday. "And I'd put more faith in an oil company to stop a leak than anybody else."
But that doesn't mean the public will forgive the first-term president, who is anxious to avoid comparisons to President George W. Bush after his government's much-criticized response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Polls show that Americans are losing faith in the Obama's administration's response to the spill as oil seeps farther into fragile marshlands and shuts down a good chunk of the lucrative fishing industry.
Still, BP gets worse marks and faces anger over lack of proper clean-up of the 100 miles of Louisiana coastline and the oil in the gulf.
In Grand Isle, 17-year old Hanna Lemoie posted a sign she painted that read "BP...we want our beach back."

"The beach, the waves had like orange oil coming in and it made me mad because there was nobody cleaning it up and I felt helpless," Lemoie said.
The frustration, the anger and the delays all were taking their toll -- on Obama, Hayward, the residents and those working to plug the well.
Bruce Simokat, the captain of the Discoverer Enterprise drill ship assisting in the BP containment effort, said the crew found it difficult to hear all the criticism about the response effort on television.
But were they still watching the TV?
"It's hard not to," said Simokat.

(Additional reporting by Katharine Jackson in Grand Isle, Louisiana; Writing by Mary Milliken; Editing by Bill Trott)

Israel feels strong in its' loneliness...!.! .[ 1325 ]

Israeli aircraft hit 2 Gaza targets; no injuries

(AP) – 2 hours ago

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip , 29-5-2010.,, —

The Israeli military says its aircraft fired missiles at a metal workshop and a militants' tunnel in Hamas-ruled Gaza.

Hamas security officials said Saturday that nine missiles were fired, but that no one was hurt.

The military says the tunnel targeted late Friday was dug with the intention of smuggling militants from Gaza into Israel. Metal workshops are part of Gaza's small homegrown weapons industry, which makes crude rockets that are fired at Israeli border towns.

Hamas says the workshop targeted Friday was destroyed.

The airstrikes came a day after a rocket fired from Gaza hit near an Israeli town and armed men tried unsuccessfully to rush across the border with Israel.

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