Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/News/October 2016/Articles


 * Paul Palaiologos Tagaris (Constantine) : The latest installment in Constantine's series on the Byzantine Empire, this article tells the story of, in the nominator's words, "a minor noble who by various deceits managed to advance from a simple monk to the Roman Catholic Patriarchate of Constantinople, switching back and forth between Orthodoxy and Catholicism and the Roman and Avignon popes, and generally making a splendid career out of it". As one reviewer commented, "the sheer gall of this chap!"


 * Vladimir Lenin (Midnightblueowl) : This article focusses on the founder of the Soviet Union and its leader until his death in 1924. A major undertaking by any standard, the article went through two Good Article Nominations, two Peer Reviews, and two Featured Article Candidatures before finally achieving the bronze star last month.


 * J. R. Kealoha (KAVEBEAR) : This is the latest article in KAVEBEAR's series on Native Hawaiian and Hawaii-born combatants of the American Civil War. Kealoha fought in the Union Army between 1864 and 1865, and was present at the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. However, little is known about his life and his grave did not receive a marker until 2014. The article passed GAN and ACR before its recent FAC.


 * Yugoslav monitor Drava (Peacemaker67) : Part of Peacemaker's series on Yugoslav warships, Drava was built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy at the start of the First World War. After serving on the Danube against the Serbian and Romanian armies, the monitor was transferred to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia) during the inter-war years. She saw service during the Second World War with the Yugoslav Navy and was sunk by Luftwaffe dive bombers during the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941. Peacemaker took the article through GAN and ACR before it achieved featured status.


 * Chicago Pile-1 (Hawkeye7) : Continuing Hawkeye's series on the Manhattan Project, this article covers the first-ever nuclear reactor. The reactor was assembled in November 1942 at the University of Chicago's main campus and moved to a facility in the outskirts of the city in 1943. It was used for research purposes rather than weapons production, and was operated until 1953 when it was dismantled and buried. Both the original site of the reactor and the location it was buried are marked with memorials. The article passed GAN and ACR prior to FAC.


 * 38th (Welsh) Infantry Division (EnigmaMcmxc) : The 38th Division fought in several major battles of the First World War, including the initial attack on Mametz Wood in July 1916, at the start of the Battle of the Somme. It continued to lead attacks during 1917 and 1918. Disbanded in 1919, it re-formed in 1939 and was employed for home defence and training during the Second World War. It was finally disbanded in 1945.


 * Yugoslav torpedo boat T1 (Peacemaker67) : Peacemaker's second nautical FA for the month, this small warship belonged no less than five different navies, entering service with the Austro-Hungarian Navy in 1914, seeing combat in both world wars, and being retired by the Yugoslav Navy in 1959. The article went through GAN and ACR before gaining featured status.




 * List of destroyers of India (Krishna Chaitanya Velaga) : Krishna Chaitanya Velaga's first A-class article is a summary of the 16 destroyers which have been operated by the Indian Navy. Ten of these ships are currently in commission, and six others have been decommissioned.


 * SMS Geier (Parsecboy) : Described by Parsecboy as "another old German cruiser article", this article describes an Imperial German Navy warship which spent most of her lengthy career on foreign stations, including tours in the Americas, East Asia, and Africa. After spending years in colonial and "flag showing" roles, Geier briefly operated as a raider in the first months of World War I, before being interred in the United States. She was seized by the US Navy in 1917 and commissioned into service as a convoy escort, but sank the next year after colliding with a merchant vessel.


 * Dick Cresswell (Ian Rose) : Ian's latest biography of a senior RAAF officer covers the only airman to command one of the force's flying squadrons during wartime on three occasions. Cresswell did this while leading No. 77 Squadron, earning himself the apt if rather unimaginative nick-name "Mr Double Seven" in the process. His remarkable career included air combat against Japanese forces from 1942 to 1945, and an eventful tour of duty in the Korean War.


 * McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II in UK service (Hammersfan) : The British Royal Air Force and Royal Navy operated 181 F-4 Phantom fighters between the 1960s and early 1990s. While initially purchased due to difficulties in developing British-designed aircraft, the Phantoms proved successful and were deployed around the world. Three different models of Phantoms were ordered for the British military, with most of these aircraft including significant modifications from the standard US variants.


 * Osvetnik-class submarine (Peacemaker67)
 * Yugoslav submarine Osvetnik (Peacemaker67)
 * Yugoslav submarine Smeli (Peacemaker67) : Peacemaker has scored a very rare hat trick by bringing all three articles on this class of submarine to A-class standard within the same month. The Osvetnik-class was a class of two French-designed submarines built for the Royal Yugoslav Navy between the world wars. Both boats were captured by the Italians during the April 1941 Axis invasion, and after modernisation, they were utilised as training and experimentation boats. They were both scuttled in September 1943. Peacemaker nominated the three articles simultaneously after initially developing them to GA standard, and they form part of a series he's been working on covering vessels of the Royal Yugoslav Navy.


 * Siege of Kamarja (Constantine) : Constantine described the topic of this article as "one of the most dramatic and famous (and hence well described) battles of the Umayyad era". The Siege of Kamarja was fought in 729 between the Arab Muslims of the Umayyad Caliphate and the Turgesh khaganate, along with its Soghdian allies, and ended in a tactical victory for the Arab defenders who were able to withdraw following negotiations with their opponents.


 * SMS Seeadler (Parsecboy) : Parsecboy's second entry in the list covers one of Geier's sister ships. Seeadler also spent most of her career paroling regions distant from Germany, and saw service off East Africa, New Guinea and China. Seeadler was used as a mine storage hulk during the final years of her service, which ended when she exploded while at anchor in 1917. The ship is also the subject of one of Wikipedia's featured pictures, and Parsecboy stated that this nomination was "perhaps inspired" by the photos's recent appearance as Wikipedia's picture of the day.