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M 120, sister ship to the Galeb class

The six Galeb-class minelayers were originally built as minesweepers for the Imperial German Navy. In July 1921, they were purchased for the Royal Navy of the newly created Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (from 1929, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia). Re-armed, they were mainly used for training and "show the flag" cruises. Reclassified as minelayers by 1936, they laid mines off the Yugoslav coast just before the April 1941 Axis invasion of Yugoslavia, which probably resulted in the sinking of two Yugoslav merchant ships. All six were captured and put into Italian service escorting convoys in the Mediterranean Sea. All but one were lost or sunk during the war. The last escaped into Allied hands in September 1943 and was returned to the Yugoslav navy-in-exile at Malta in December. It was transferred to the new Yugoslav Navy after the war and helped clear thousands of mines laid in Yugoslav waters, being finally disposed of in 1962. (This article is part of a featured topic: Ships of the Royal Yugoslav Navy.)

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Did you know ...

Genghis Khan

... that the Baljuna Covenant, an oath sworn by the future Genghis Khan (pictured) in summer 1203, encapsulated his ideals of social equality and personal choice?
... that Wallachian statesman Radu Golescu, who worked with Russian occupiers in 1806, was described as "immeasurably thirsty for wealth, and mean-spirited"?
... that the song "Money" by the Drums was certified gold by the RIAA over a decade after its initial release?
... that German cyclist Antonia Niedermaier won a stage on her first UCI Women's World Tour event, then crashed out of the event the next day?
... that a minute's silence was incorporated into the opening ceremony of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup after a deadly shooting in a host city earlier that day?
... that Charles F. Gumm Jr. was the first aviator to score an aerial victory in the P-51 Mustang?
... that Hurricane Heather caused the normally dry Santa Cruz River to reach a 100-year flood stage?
... that 15 U.S.C. § 68 contains provisions to prevent pulling the wool over consumers' eyes?

In the news

Mohamed Bazoum

In Niger, soldiers stage a coup d'état, detaining President Mohamed Bazoum (pictured).
The Israeli Knesset approves a judicial reform bill after months of protests against it.
In golf, Brian Harman wins the Open Championship.
In cycling, Jonas Vingegaard wins the Tour de France.

On this day

July 29

Battle of Kleidion, depicted in the Madrid Skylitzes

1014 – Byzantine–Bulgarian wars: Byzantine forces defeated troops of the Bulgarian Empire at the Battle of Kleidion (pictured) in the mountains of Belasica near present-day Klyuch.
1900 – Italian-American anarchist Gaetano Bresci assassinated King Umberto I of Italy in Monza.
1914 – The Cape Cod Canal, connecting Cape Cod Bay and Buzzards Bay in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, opened on a limited basis.
1954 – The Fellowship of the Ring, the first part of J. R. R. Tolkien's high-fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings, was published by Allen & Unwin.
1981 – An estimated worldwide television audience of 750 million watched the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer at St Paul's Cathedral in London.

Offa of Mercia (d. 796)
Francisco Rodrigues da Cruz (b. 1859)
Nancy Kassebaum (b. 1932)
Oliver Dragojević (d. 2018)

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Today's featured picture

Officer and Laughing Girl is an oil-on-canvas painting by the Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer, produced around 1657. Created during the Dutch Golden Age, the painting has dimensions of 50.5 by 46.0 centimetres (19.9 in × 18.1 in). The main subject is a woman in a yellow dress, light is coming from the left-hand side of the painting from an open window, and there is a large map on the wall. Each of these elements occur in some of his other paintings, although this painting differs slightly with the man also sitting at the table. Art historians, who have suggested conflicting interpretations of the work, believe that a painting by Gerard van Honthorst inspired the composition and that Vermeer used a camera obscura to create the perspective. The work is now part of the Frick Collection in New York.

Painting credit: Johannes Vermeer

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