MyWiki:Wikipedia Signpost/2011-10-17/Featured content

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{{Wikipedia:Signpost/Template:Signpost-article-start|Brazil's boom-time dreams of naval power: The ed17 explains the background to a new featured topic|By Tony1|17 October 2011}}

From the new featured topic, Minas Geraes-class battleships: this photograph is of the eponymous ship, Minas Geraes, showing its superstructure and fore main guns, with wing turrets on either side. The image was scanned from a 1910 edition of Scientific American.

This week's "Featured content" covers Sunday 9 – Saturday 15 October

Featured topic

Minas Geraes was the name of both a Brazilian ship and a class of battleships that are the subject of a new featured topic. The ship is seen here in 1910 firing what was then the heaviest broadside ever launched.

João Cândido Felisberto with journalists, officers, and sailors onboard Minas Geraes on 26 November 1910, the last day of the Revolt of the Lash

Special note. Wizardman, one of the two FTC delegates, told us that this week's promotion marks the 100th featured topic since the tightening of a basic requirement several years ago, from 1/3 to 1/2 in the proportion of articles that must be of featured status. That change led to a major reduction in the number of FTs. The Signpost congratulates all of the editorial teams that have worked to reach the century mark again.

The 100th is indeed a notable topic: Minas Geraes-class battleships (nom). It's composed of three featured articles: one on the class itself, and one each on the two ships in the class, Minas Geraes and São Paulo. The class comprised two ships that were intended to be Brazil's first step towards becoming an international power. As part of their colourful history, both ships were at the centre of a major rebellion known as the Revolt of the Lash, a revolt by Afro-Brazilian sailors who were widely discriminated against and abused in the navy.

The nominator, The ed17, is a history student at Northern Michigan University. He is a coordinator of the Military history Project, an online ambassador, and the co-editor of The Bugle. He told The Signpost that work on the component featured articles started in 2009 after a comment by a fellow editor at WikiProject Military History: "there's lots of battleships which don't even have an article at all! ... it's a classic bit of WP:BIAS. You want MILHIST to be a 'quality' encyclopedia – where's the article on the Minas Gerais then?"

Ed says, "he had a good point, so I went and created the article. This snowballed into writing most of the South American dreadnought articles over the next two years – my last was the tie-in article, South American dreadnought race. Sturmvogel 66 wrote the articles on the two ships (Agincourt and Eagle) that were taken over by Britain's Royal Navy."

The Signpost asked Ed why Brazil was such a big player in the naval world of the early 20th century. "Brazil was never a major naval power, but they had grand dreams of becoming one during an economic boom just after the turn of the century. Prominent politicians in the country wanted Brazil to become an international power, and they believed that a powerful navy was an essential in obtaining this goal. The two Minas Geraes-class dreadnoughts, two Bahia-class cruisers, and many smaller ships were ordered, but unfortunately for Brazil, the boom turned into bust in the years before the First World War. Multiple revolutions between 1910 and 1932 didn't help the situation, and nearly all of the ordered warships still formed the core of the Brazilian Navy when the Second World War began three decades later.

"Having said that, if you had been around at the time, you might have seen Brazil as a naval power between 1907 and 1910. It's all about how Brazil's dreadnoughts were perceived. The Minas Geraes class was hailed as the most powerful warship design in the world when construction began in 1907, and newspapers around the world were quick to express astonishment and disbelief that Brazil, far outside the traditional world powers, would be the third country to order one of the new dreadnought designs, a revolutionary concept in warship design which made all existing battleships obsolescent.

"When the Brazilian dreadnoughts came into service in 1910, they were the most advanced warships afloat, meaning they received more newspaper attention. Looking back, given the greater numbers of dreadnoughts being built by other countries, and the start of construction on super-dreadnoughts in the United Kingdom, we can say that the Minas Geraes class was obsolescent by 1910 – but at the time, popular perception was quite different."

Featured picture

One image was promoted from a considerable field of nominations. Please click on "nom" to view a medium-sized image:

Black-browed Albatross (nom; related article), the most widespread and common albatross; its bill is split into seven to nine tiny plates. Colonies are very noisy as they bray to mark their territory, and cackle harshly. The males use their fanned tail in courting displays (created by User:JJ Harrison).

Featured articles

A 13th-century depiction of the battle of Lincoln, 1217, from the new featured article, Rochester Castle.

Part of the Alcazaba in Almería, southern Spain. The walls provided the locale for a bazaar in the movie Conan the Barbarian, now a featured article

Two men in flying goggles talking beside an aircraft cockpit.

From the new featured article on Squadron Leader Peter Jeffrey, here discussing the new P-40 Tomahawk with Flying Officer Peter Turnbull in Palestine, 6 June 1941.

Six articles were promoted to featured status:

Rochester Castle (nom), a medieval stone building in Kent, England. The nominator, Nev1, says, "This article has something for everyone: blood and violence, intrigue and rebellion, a remarkable building, treasure hunting, and even the ghost of Charles Dickens. Its history dates back to the 11th century, since which Rochester has seen more than its fair share of fighting. The castle was held by the Archbishops of Canterbury and the Kings of England, marking it as exceptionally important. I hope that even if castles don't normally tickle your fancy, this one might; Dickens certainly found it worth his attention." picture above

Conan the Barbarian (1982 film) (nom), a 1982 fantasy film (think "Arnie") about the adventures of the eponymous character in a fictional pre-historic world of dark magic and savagery. The nominator, Jappalang, says "more than a year has gone into researching and writing this article, transforming it from a mass of fan opinions into a piece that befits Wikipedia's policies and guidelines". There were peer reviews by Brianboulton, Wehwalt, Casliber, and David Fuchs. picture at right

Ernie Fletcher (nom) (b. 1952), 60th governor of Kentucky. After a failed attempt to become an astronaut, Fletcher went to medical school and became a doctor and a lay minister. He was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives, and as Governor of Kentucky. He was mentioned as a possible presidential nominee before a hiring scandal derailed his political career. (Acdixon)

Peter Jeffrey (RAAF officer) (nom) (1913–97), a senior officer and fighter ace in the Royal Australian Air Force. Nominator Ian Rose said, "I found him more interesting and admirable as a leader the more I researched him, and I think you will too as you read it." picture at right

Stephen, King of England (nom) (c. 1092/6 – 25 October 1154): nominator Hchc2009 said, "Stephen is a fascinating subject for an article – a war-time leader, who was at one point captured by the enemy until saved through his wife's successes in battle; a devout father who ended up passing over his own son in the succession".

Bharattherium (nom), a mammal that lived in India during the late Cretaceous period, 70–66 million years ago. (Ucucha)

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