Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/News/May 2015/Articles


 * HMS Illustrious (87) (Sturmvogel 66) : The latest in Sturmvogel's series on British aircraft carriers, this covers the career of a vessel commissioned early in World War II, which saw very extensive combat around the world. She participated in operations in the Arctic and Mediterranean Seas, Indian and Pacific Oceans, and was heavily damaged on two occasions. Following the war she soldiered on until 1955 as a training and test carrier, and occasional troopship. The article went through GAN and ACR on the way to FA status.


 * Mark Oliphant (Hawkeye7) : Another in Hawkeye's series of articles on scientists involved in the development of nuclear weapons, this covers the life of an Australian physicist and humanitarian who played a significant role in Manhattan Project. Following World War II he became one of the key figures in the history of the Australian National University. The article passed both GAN and ACR before achieving Featured status.


 * Texas Revolution (Maile and Karanacs) : This article is about the war that led to Texas independence from Mexico. As the nomination statement puts it, "In one corner, we have a grandiose dictator, convinced his honor depends on wiping out American vermin... In the other, a group of ill-disciplined volunteers - some of whom had been in Texas only five minutes - who couldn't agree on what they were fighting for or whether the orders their commanders issued really needed to be followed after all." Maile and Karanacs were inspired to improve this to FA status following a request through WMF from The History Channel for the article to be on the main page when their new miniseries Texas Rising premièred.


 * Castell Coch (Dr. Blofeld, Hchc2009 and KJP1) : This team effort, involving one of our resident castle experts, is about a Gothic Revival structure situated north of Cardiff that was built in the 1870s by William Burges, on the site of an 11th century Norman castle.


 * Stephen I of Hungary (Borsoka) : This article is about the first King of Hungary, venerated as a saint by both the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox Churches. Special congratulations are in order, as it's Borsaka's first Featured Article.


 * Hermann Graf (MisterBee1966) : This article provides a biography of the first fighter pilot to claim more than 200 "kills". Graf eventually claimed 212 aerial victories during his service with the German air force during World War II and survived the war.


 * Clinton Engineer Works (Hawkeye7) : The latest article in Hawkeye's series of articles on the Manhattan Project covers the huge, but highly secretive, facility which produced enriched uranium for the first atomic bombs. The works remain a central part of the US nuclear weapons program as the modern Y-12 National Security Complex and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.


 * Yugoslav monitor Sava (Peacemaker67) : Sava served with the Austro-Hungarian, Yugoslav and Croatian navies, and fired the first shots of World War I on 28 July 1914. She was scuttled and raised twice in her long career, and remains existent as a lowly (but heritage-listed) gravel barge.


 * SMS Körös (Peacemaker67) : This article also covers the history of an Austro-Hungarian river monitor which later served with the Yugoslav and Croatian navies. Körös served alongside what became Sava at the start of World War I, and was eventually deployed to Odessa on the Black Sea. She was scuttled by her crew in 1941, and later raised only to be sunk by a mine in 1944.


 * R. V. C. Bodley (Freikorp) : Freikorp's first A-class nomination is a lively biography of a British Army officer, author, journalist and all-round action man. Bodley saw combat on the Western Front in World War I, travelled widely between the wars, escaped from occupied France, wrote 18 books and was married three times.


 * Battle of Labuan (Nick-D) : The Battle of Labuan was among the last engagements of World War II, and was fought between a veteran Australian Army brigade and a greatly outnumbered Japanese battalion on an island in Brunei Bay. The Japanese force put up a determined resistance, but was defeated by the Allies' firepower in eleven days of fighting.