The M1903 Springfield rifle was a bolt-action rifle used by the Military of the United States during both World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the early part of the Vietnam War.
The Springfield was based on the German G98 Mauser rifle. It holds up to five .30-06 Springfield bullets.
It was the US's main rifle during World War I. In 1936, it was replaced by the M1 Garand, a semi-automatic rifle. This was because semi-automatic rifles could fire bullets more quickly than bolt-action rifles. This was important because in World War I much of the fighting took place in trenches. In tight spaces like those in trench warfare, it is very important to be able to shoot quickly, and semi-automatic firearms do a better job at that than bolt-action rifles. However, it was still commonly used during World War II, and it became the main sniper rifle for the US. It was the main sniper rifle of the US until the early part of the Vietnam War.
.30-06 Springfield
The .30-06 Springfield cartridge, pronounced "thirty-aught-six", is a bullet used for guns made in the United States. It was first used for the M1903 Springfield rifle.
The ".30" means that the bullet is .30 inches (7.62 millimeters) in diameter, and the "06" means it was first used in the US military in the year 1906
The .30-06 is known for having high stopping power (meaning it does a lot of damage to a human or animal body), high penetration power (it can pierce through thick layers), and a long effective range (it is accurate for a long distance).
In the US military, it was the main bullet used for rifles and light machine guns for the first half of the 20th century. Guns that shot the .30-06 include the M1903 Springfield, the M1 Garand, the M1917, the M1919 Browning machine gun, and the BAR.
However, when the US created NATO, it replaced all the .30-06 military weapons with those that used the 7.62 x 51mm NATO bullet. This is because NATO requires the militaries of all its member countries to use the same kinds of ammunition.
However, there are still many American hunting and sporting rifles made today that fire the .30-06 because it is still very popular with hunters and competitive shooters.
Effective range
Effective range is the distance a well-aimed bullet can hit a target accurately. A bullet shot can actually travel far past its effective range, but it is not certain if it will hit its target then, even if the shot was well-aimed. Generally, bullets with a higher muzzle velocity will have a longer effective range.
Muzzle velocity
Muzzle velocity is the speed that a bullet travels as soon as it is fired. Bullets with higher muzzle velocities tend to have higher effective ranges.
Shirley Williams
Shirley Vivian Teresa Brittain Williams, Baroness Williams of Crosby, ("née" Catlin; 27 July 1930 – 12 April 2021) was a retired British politician.
Williams was originally a Labour MP - first elected to the House of Commons in 1964 - but left to found the Social Democratic Party (later the Liberal Democrats) in 1981. She served in government through the 1960s and 70s, but was defeated as an MP in 1983. She was awarded a life peerage in 1993 and retired in 2016. She was made a Companion of Honour in 2017.
Williams was the daughter of the author Vera Brittain and Sir George Catlin. She died on 12 April 2021, aged 90.
Antonia Fraser
Lady Antonia Margaret Caroline Fraser (née Pakenham; born 27 August 1932) is a British historian and author. She is best known for history books, biographies and detective stories.
Lady Antonia was the daughter of the 7th Earl and Countess of Longford. She was married to Hugh Fraser from 1956 until their divorce in 1977. She was then married to the playwright Harold Pinter from 1980 until his death in 2008. She attended the University of Oxford. Her first major book - a biography of Mary, Queen of Scots was published in 1969.
She was awarded a damehood in 2011 and was made a Companion of Honour in 2018.
Evelyn Glennie
Dame Evelyn Elizabeth Ann Glennie (born 19 July 1965) is a Scottish musician specialising in percussion.
Glennie has been deaf since the age of 12. She uses vibrations of the instruments to play during performances.
She was awarded a damehood in 2007, and was made a Companion of Honour in 2017.
Terajoule
The terajoule (TJ) is equal to one trillion (10) joules; or about 0.278 GWh (which is often used in energy tables). About 63 TJ of energy was released by the atomic bomb that exploded over Hiroshima. The International Space Station, with a mass of approximately 450 megagrams and orbital velocity of 7.7 km/s, has a kinetic energy of roughly 13 TJ. In 2017 Hurricane Irma was estimated to have a peak wind energy of 112 TJ.
Hipercor bombing
The Hipercor bombing was a car bombing by Basque separatist group ETA. It happened on 19 June 1987 at the Hipercor shopping centre on Avinguda Meridiana, Barcelona, Spain. It killed 21 people and injured another 45.
Mary Peters
Lady Mary Elizabeth Peters (born 6 July 1939) is a retired athlete and sportsperson from Northern Ireland. She won a gold medal at the 1972 Olympic Games for pentathlon, as well as three gold medals in the Commonwealth Games in shot put and pentathlon.
She founded the Mary Peters Trust which helps young people in Northern Ireland to take part in sport. She was also Lord Lieutenant of Belfast from 2009-2014.
She was made a dame in 2000, a Companion of Honour in 2015, and a Lady Companion of the Order of the Garter in 2019.
Kathleen Lonsdale
Dame Kathleen Lonsdale (née Yardley; 28 January 1903 - 1 April 1971) was a British scientist.
She got her degree from University College London in 1924, and was awarded a doctorate in 1934. She used X-ray diffraction to work out the structure of lots of chemicals, and used X-rays to study crystals.
Lonsdale was the first woman to be made a professor at University College London (1949), one of the first women to be made a Fellow of the Royal Society (1945), and was made a dame in 1956.
Tropical Storm Nari
Tropical Storm Nari was a Storm that devastated Japan.
On the afternoon of July 23, a tropical disturbance was formed in the southern waters of Japan, and the US Naval Research Laboratory gave a disturbance number of 91W. Soon after, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center rated the system "low" and upgraded to "Medium" at 10 am.
At 5 am on July 24, the Japan Meteorological Agency upgraded it to a tropical depression. At 8 o'clock in the morning, the Japan Meteorological Agency issued a gale warning, and the Central Meteorological Bureau of Taiwan upgraded it to a tropical depression, giving the number 11. At 11 am, the Hong Kong Observatory upgraded it to a tropical depression. In the afternoon, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center upgraded the rating to “High” and issued a tropical cyclone warning.
At 10 am on July 25, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center upgraded it to a tropical depression, giving the tropical cyclone number 07W. At 9 pm, the combined typhoon warning center upgraded the system to a tropical storm.
At 8 am on July 26, the Hong Kong Observatory upgraded it to a tropical storm. At 9 o'clock in the morning, the Japan Meteorological Agency upgraded it to a tropical storm, giving the international number 1906 and named it "Nari." The Hong Kong Observatory downgraded Nari to a tropical depression at 2 am on July 27 and downgraded it to a low pressure zone at 2 pm. At 6 o'clock in the morning, Nari landed in the south of Mie Prefecture, Japan. At 3 pm, the Japan Meteorological Agency downgraded to a tropical depression. On the morning of July 28, Nari completely dissipated.
The city of Wakayama recorded rainfall of 47.5 millimeters in an hour through to 9:05 a.m. A maximum instantaneous wind speed of 25 meters per second was registered at the cape of Shionomisaki in Kushimoto, Wakayama Prefecture, at around 5:20 a.m.