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T1 was a seagoing torpedo boat, operational between 1914 and 1955. Built as 76 T for the Austro-Hungarian Navy, and armed with two 66 mm (2.6 in) guns and four 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes, she could carry 10 to 12 naval mines. During World War I she performed convoy, escort and minesweeping tasks, anti-submarine operations and shore bombardment missions. Following Austria-Hungary's defeat in 1918 she and seven other 250t-class boats were allocated to the Royal Yugoslav Navy, as its only modern sea-going vessels. Renamed T1, she was involved in training exercises and cruises. Captured by the Italians during the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, she served with the Royal Italian Navy. Following the Italian capitulation in September 1943, she was returned to the Yugoslav Navy. After World War II she was refitted and served as Golešnica until 1955. Sunk as a target ship in the Bay of Kotor, she is now a recreational dive site. (This article is part of a featured topic: Ships of the Royal Yugoslav Navy.)

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Did you know ...

Nadezhda Stasova

... that near the end of her life, feminist and educator Nadezhda Stasova (pictured) wrote that Russian women "still have not learned to stop being men's slaves"?
... that Jewish individuals and organizations played a pivotal role in the civil rights movement?
... that Geoffrey Holt, an unassuming New Hampshire man who worked as a groundskeeper in a mobile home park where he resided, left $3.8 million to his small town after his death?
... that young orange-billed lorikeets are actually yellow-billed?
... that the San Gregorio Fault comes ashore in only two places in northern California, one of which is between Pillar Point Bluff and Moss Beach?
... that before embarking on a music career, Matilda Cole appeared in three of her father's films?
... that the Ngwa people are the largest clan in Igboland?
... that each station in the TVX Broadcast Group had exactly 37 employees?

In the news

Expo City in Dubai

The COP28 climate change summit (location pictured) ends with a call to transition away from the use of fossil fuels.
Donald Tusk becomes Prime Minister of Poland in the aftermath of the October parliamentary election.
Baldur's Gate 3 wins game of the year at The Game Awards.
At least 17 people are killed as Cyclone Michaung makes landfall in India.
Former president of Mauritania Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz is sentenced to prison on charges of corruption.

On this day

December 15

American forces at the Battle of Arawe

1796 – War of the First Coalition: The French navy launched an expedition to Ireland to assist the Society of United Irishmen in a rebellion against the British.
1871 – Sixteen-year-old Ella Stewart sent the first telegraphed message from Arizona Territory.
1943 – World War II: Australian and American forces (pictured) began the Battle of Arawe against Japanese forces on New Britain as a diversion before a larger landing at Cape Gloucester.
1970 – The Soviet spacecraft Venera 7 touched down on the surface of Venus, making the first successful landing of a spacecraft on another planet.
2013 – The South Sudanese Civil War began when three opposition leaders voted to boycott the meeting of the National Liberation Council in Juba.

Izaak Walton (d. 1683)
Arthur Dehon Little (b. 1863)
John Meurig Thomas (b. 1932)
León Febres Cordero (d. 2008)

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Martin Ødegaard

The Arsenal Player of the Season award is an association football award given by the English Premier League club Arsenal since 1967 to the club's best performing player over the course of a season. The inaugural award was handed to former Scotland international Frank McLintock, following his performances during the 1966–67 Arsenal season. Since the first edition, the award has been given 57 times to 42 different players, with the most recent recipient being Norway international Martin Ødegaard (pictured) following his performance during the 2022–23 season. The club's all-time top scorer, Thierry Henry, has won the award a record four times, with Liam Brady and Tony Adams following close behind with three awards each. As of 2023, English players have won the most awards, having won 26 times. Only four goalkeepers have won the award: Bob Wilson (1971), Jimmy Rimmer (1975), David Seaman (1995) and Jens Lehmann (2006). (Full list...)

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Tim Peake (born 1972) is a British military officer and astronaut. On 15 December 2015, he embarked on a mission to the International Space Station (ISS), becoming the second astronaut wearing the British flag in space, after Helen Sharman. After graduating from Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Peake served in various military roles between 1992 and 2009, accumulating 3,000 flying hours. He was then selected to join the European Space Agency's astronaut corps where he was trained and took part in missions such as in the Aquarius Reef Base, in which he spent twelve days underwater. During his mission to the ISS, Peake supported a spacewalk by two American astronauts before carrying out a spacewalk himself to replace a faulty sequential shunt unit on the station's solar arrays. He also participated in several UK events from space, such as delivering a new year's message broadcast on the BBC and remotely presenting an award to singer Adele in the Brit Awards 2016. Peake returned to Earth in June 2016, having completed 3,000 orbits of Earth, and retired from active service in 2023. This official NASA photograph of Peake was taken in 2013.

Photograph credit: Robert Markowitz

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