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Brennus was the first pre-dreadnought battleship built for the French Navy. Launched on 17 October 1891, she was an ironclad battleship with a main battery of heavy guns mounted on the centerline and the first use of Belleville boilers. She formed the basis for subsequent designs, beginning with Charles Martel. When completed in 1893, Brennus was very top-heavy and had to be rebuilt over the next three years before she was ready to enter service. She spent the majority of her service in the Mediterranean Squadron and she served as its flagship early in her career. As newer battleships were commissioned into the fleet, Brennus was relegated to the Reserve Squadron in the early 1900s and then served as a training ship. The ship was decommissioned before the First World War began in August 1914 and disarmed in 1915. She served as a source of spare parts and equipment for other ships during the war. Her hulk was stricken from the naval register in 1919 and was scrapped three years later. (Full article...)

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The Houthis launch a series of attacks on Saudi Arabian airports, including King Khalid International Airport (satellite image shown), killing at least 20 people and injuring more than 370 others.
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On this day

October 17

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

1660 – A series of executions of the commissioners who signed the death warrant of King Charles I of England concluded; six were hanged, drawn and quartered for treason.
1771 – Ascanio in Alba, an opera composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (pictured) at the age of 15, premiered in Milan.
1860 – The Open Championship, the oldest of the four major championships in men's golf, was first played at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland.
1992 – Having gone to the wrong house in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for a Halloween party, Japanese exchange student Yoshihiro Hattori was shot and killed by the homeowner.
2001 – Rehavam Ze'evi, the Israeli minister of tourism, was assassinated in revenge for the killing of PFLP leader Abu Ali Mustafa.

Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke (d. 1781)
Childe Hassam (b. 1859)
Tarkan (b. 1972)
Medina Eisa (b. 2002)

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Today's featured picture

Alexander Gardner (October 17, 1821 – December 10, 1882) was a photographer best known for his photographs of the American Civil War and Abraham Lincoln. Born in Paisley, Scotland, he emigrated to the United States in 1856 and worked for photographer Mathew Brady before establishing his own studio in Washington, D.C. Gardner photographed the aftermath of major battles, including Antietam and Gettysburg, producing some of the earliest widely seen images of battlefield casualties. His two-volume Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the Civil War appeared in 1866. He also photographed Lincoln and documented the execution of four conspirators convicted following his assassination. This photograph of Gardner was taken by his brother James in 1863, and this albumen silver print is in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian Institution.

Credit: James Gardner; restored by Adam Cuerden

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