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USS Vicksburg (CL-86) | Construction and initial service | Construction and initial service
thumb|Vicksburg underway off the East Coast of the United States early in her career
Vicksburg was built by the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company of Newport News, Virginia. She was laid down on 26 October 1942, originally under the name Cheyenne, but was launched as Vicksburg on 14 December 1943 with the hull number CL-86. The ship's name was changed after one of her sisters, which had initially been given the name Vicksburg, was renamed to commemorate the heavy cruiser of the same name that had been sunk at the Battle of Sunda Strait in 1942. After completing fitting-out work, Vicksburg was commissioned on 12 June 1944. Work to prepare the ship to go to sea lasted into July, when she began her initial sea trials in Chesapeake Bay. On 7 August, she got underway for her shakedown cruise that took the ship as far south as the British West Indies and included training operations in the Gulf of Paria from 12 to 30 August. During this period, she was based in Trinidad. She also conducted shooting practice at the target range off Culebra, Puerto Rico, before departing to return to the United States, escorted by the destroyers and .
Vicksburg arrived in Hampton Roads, Virginia, where she participated in radar training on 9 September to familiarize her radar operators with identifying and tracking aerial and surface contacts. The next day, she conducted shooting practice with a drone off Cape May. On 11 September, she entered the dry dock at the Boston Navy Yard for an overhaul that lasted until 24 September. She thereafter took part in further trials held off Rockland, Maine, and radiation tests in Boston. From 5 October to 15 December, Vicksburg served as a training ship for crews of large warships that were awaiting commissioning. During this period, she operated in Narragansett Bay, Block Island Sound, and Long Island Sound. The ship thereafter sailed south to Norfolk for periodic maintenance at the Norfolk Navy Yard, arriving there on 17 December. She conducted a set of trials on 30–31 December, before departing on 1 January 1945, bound for the Pacific. She sailed in company with the destroyers and ; the three ships were designated Task Group (TG) 21.12. They passed through the Panama Canal on 5 January and docked at Balboa, Panama, at on the other end of the canal. There, TG 21.12 was disbanded. Vicksburg sailed for Pearl Harbor the next day and arrived there on 17 January; there, she took part in combat practice that included air defense training that consisted of drone target practice, radar detection, and coordination with defending fighter aircraft. |
USS Vicksburg (CL-86) | Pacific Theater operations | Pacific Theater operations |
USS Vicksburg (CL-86) | Battle of Iwo Jima | Battle of Iwo Jima
On 5 February, Vicksburg got underway, bound for Saipan in the Mariana Islands, which she reached eight days later. While there, she refueled from the oiler as the fleet made preparations for the upcoming invasion of Iwo Jima. Vicksburg was assigned to TG 52.19, which sortied on 14 February. The next day, Vicksburg was transferred to Task Unit 54.9.2., part of the shore bombardment unit. It included the old dreadnought battleships and , the heavy cruisers and , and several destroyers. Vicksburg, Chester, and Pensacola took up their positions at 06:51 the next morning, and at 07:09, Vicksburg launched one of her Vought OS2U Kingfisher seaplanes to help direct her fire. Firing at a range of about , the ship took Japanese positions on the north side of Iwo Jima under fire. Poor weather hampered the aircrews' ability to observe the ship's fire, but Vicksburg nevertheless carried out the bombardment for almost an hour, ceasing fire at 08:08.
After recovering and refueling her Kingfisher, Vicksburg resumed her bombardment at 09:47, but low visibility still interfered. During a third bombardment later that day, the heavy cloud cover dissipated and permitted much more effective shooting. During this period, at 14:14, a Japanese A6M5 Zero attacked Vicksburgs spotter, but another Kingfisher from Pensacola shot the Japanese fighter down, allowing Vicksburgs aircraft to continue supporting the cruiser. At around 14:45, the ship ceased fire again and recovered her Kingfisher. A fourth and final bombardment mission began at 16:18 and concluded at 17:27. Vicksburg and the rest of TG 52.19 departed for the evening. The ships continued to operate off Iwo Jima more than two weeks, providing fire support to the marines fighting to occupy the island. Later that month, Vicksburg was detached to form Task Unit 58.1.22 along with her sister ships and , the cruiser , and fifteen destroyers. The unit carried out a raid on the island of Okidaitōjima on 2 March. the On 5 March, Vicksburg left for the fleet's base at Ulithi to replenish ammunition and stores. While there, she was transferred to Task Force 58, the fast carrier task force, and was assigned to TG 58.1, one of the subordinate carrier battle groups. The task force sortied on 14 March to carry out air strikes in preparation for the upcoming invasion of Okinawa. |
USS Vicksburg (CL-86) | Okinawa campaign and end of the war | Okinawa campaign and end of the war
In the early hours of 18 March, as the carriers began their attacks on Japanese positions in the home islands, a Japanese Mitsubishi G4M1 bomber attempted a torpedo attack on Vicksburg. The cruiser turned away, narrowly avoiding the torpedo by around . Another Japanese aircraft dropped flares nearby about twenty minutes later before being driven off by anti-aircraft fire from the American fleet; shortly thereafter, it passed back through the American formation and was shot down by the combined fire of several ships, including Vicksburg. Further Japanese attacks took place through the morning. A Yokosuka P1Y land-based bomber attempted to dive on one of the carriers, but was shot down by heavy American fire. Some two hours later, a Yokosuka D4Y dive bomber flew over Vicksburg; the cruisers' light gunners scored three hits before the aircraft was shot down by 5-inch fire from other vessels—potentially Miami or the destroyer —brought the aircraft down. Over the following days, the American carriers struck many targets in Japan, prompting heavy Japanese counter-attacks. During this period, Vicksburg shot down a total of eight Japanese aircraft. She also used her Kingfisher to recover an American pilot who had been shot down off the Japanese coast.
When the invasion of Okinawa began on 1 April, Vicksburg returned to coastal bombardment duties. The ship supported the American advance across the southern half of the island, targeting defensive strongpoints, fortified caves, and other defensive positions. She fired thousands of rounds from her 6-inch and 5-inch batteries, at times engaging Japanese positions a few hundred yards from American positions. She nevertheless remained attached to TG 58.1 during the campaign. In the final stage of the fighting on Okinawa, Vicksburg was detached to escort minesweepers clearing Japanese minefields in the East China Sea. These operations concluded on 24 June, and Vicksburg thereafter went to the Philippines. In mid-July, Vicksburg was assigned to TG 95.7, along with the old battleships and , two other cruisers, and several destroyers. The unit, part of TF 95, was used to patrol off Okinawa and make raids into the East China Sea to interdict Japanese shipping in the area, though Vicksburg saw no serious action during this period. In early August, Vicksburg joined the escort for the carriers and , along with the cruiser and several destroyers, for a raid on Wake Island.
Vicksburg later returned to the Philippines, where she lay when the Japanese surrendered on 15 August. She then joined Task Unit 30.3.7, which also included the destroyers , , and , which sortied on 20 August, bound for Japan. The ships rendezvoused with the fast carrier strike force, which had by then passed to 3rd Fleet command and been re-numbered TF 38, and on 24 August, Vicksburg was assigned to TG 38.2. The unit remained outside Tokyo Bay in late August and into September, where the formal surrender ceremony was carried out aboard the fast battleship on 2 September. Vicksburg and the rest of the task group then entered the bay on 5 September. The cruiser became the flagship of Cruiser Division 10, commanded by Rear Admiral Lloyd J. Wiltse. Vicksburg and other elements of TF 38 departed for Okinawa on 20 September, where the ship embarked some 2,200 passengers bound for the United States.
Over the course of the ship's participation in World War II, Vicksburg earned two battle stars. |
USS Vicksburg (CL-86) | Post-War | Post-War
Vicksburg and the other ships arrived in Hawaii on 4 October, remaining there for five days before departing for California. The ships arrived in San Francisco Bay, California, on 15 October, passing through a naval review as they entered the port. On 26 October, Vicksburg moved to Monterey Bay, California, for the Navy Day celebration the next day. She then sailed for Long Beach, California, where she remained from 31 October to 6 November, when she departed for Portland, Oregon. There, she took part in the Armistice Day celebration on 11 November. The ship then returned to Long Beach five days later, where she remained through the end of the year. On 17 January 1946, Vicksburg was drydocked at the Terminal Island Naval Shipyard in Long Beach, California, for a thorough overhaul and modernization. After returning to service, she became the flagship of Third Fleet, commanded by Vice Admiral (VAdm) Frederick C. Sherman. The ship moved to Naval Air Station San Diego, where Third Fleet was based. In September, VAdm Alfred E. Montgomery temporarily made Vicksburg his flagship. The cruiser was decommissioned on 30 June 1947 as part of the post-war reduction in fleet strength, and she was allocated to the reserve fleet for the next fifteen years. She was stricken from the naval register on 1 October 1962 and sold to the National Metal and Steel Corporation of Terminal Island, California, on 25 August 1964. There, she was broken up. |
USS Vicksburg (CL-86) | Footnotes | Footnotes |
USS Vicksburg (CL-86) | Notes | Notes |
USS Vicksburg (CL-86) | Citations | Citations |
USS Vicksburg (CL-86) | References | References
|
USS Vicksburg (CL-86) | External links | External links
Category:Cleveland-class cruisers
Category:World War II cruisers of the United States
Category:Ships built in Newport News, Virginia
Category:1943 ships |
USS Vicksburg (CL-86) | Table of Content | short description, Design, Service history, Construction and initial service, Pacific Theater operations, Battle of Iwo Jima, Okinawa campaign and end of the war, Post-War, Footnotes, Notes, Citations, References, External links |
Grover (disambiguation) | Wiktionary | Grover is a Muppet character on the children's television show Sesame Street.
Grover may also refer to: |
Grover (disambiguation) | People | People
Grover (surname), found in India and the West
Grover (given name) |
Grover (disambiguation) | Place names | Place names |
Grover (disambiguation) | United States | United States
Grover, Colorado, town
Grover, Kansas, unincorporated community
Grover, Minnesota, abandoned town
Grover, Nebraska, unincorporated community
Grover, North Carolina, town
Grover, South Carolina, unincorporated community
Grover, South Dakota, unincorporated community
Grover, Utah, unincorporated community
Grover, Wisconsin (disambiguation), several places
Grover, Wyoming, a census designated place
Grover Beach, California
Grovertown, Indiana, unincorporated community |
Grover (disambiguation) | Other uses | Other uses
GROVER, 2013 rover prototype of NASA used for Earth-bound projects
Grover's algorithm, quantum search of an unsorted database invented by Lov Grover
Grover's disease, common skin disease
Grover Musical Products, Inc., manufacturer of accessories for guitars, banjos and other stringed instruments |
Grover (disambiguation) | See also | See also
Grover's Mill, New Jersey, part of West Windsor Township, New Jersey, and site of the fictitious Martian landing of Orson Welles's 1938 War of the Worlds radio program
Grover Shoe Factory disaster, 1905 boiler explosion and fire that killed 58
Our Town, play by Thornton Wilder set in the fictional town of Grover's Corners |
Grover (disambiguation) | Table of Content | Wiktionary, People, Place names, United States, Other uses, See also |
Isolde Kurz | Short description | thumb|Isolde Kurz.
Maria Clara Isolde Kurz (21 December 1853 – 5 April 1944) was a German poet and short story writer.
She was born at Stuttgart, the daughter of Hermann Kurz. She is highly regarded among lyric poets in Germany with her Gedichte (Stuttgart, 1888) and Neue Gedichte (1903). Her short stories, Florentiner Novellen (1890, 2nd ed. 1893), Phantasien und Märchen (1890), Italienische Erzählungen (1895) and Von Dazumal (1900) are distinguished by a fine sense of form and clear-cut style. |
Isolde Kurz | References | References
Category:1853 births
Category:1944 deaths
Category:German poets
Category:German women short story writers
Category:German short story writers
Category:Writers from Stuttgart
Category:People from the Kingdom of Württemberg
Category:German women poets |
Isolde Kurz | Table of Content | Short description, References |
Kiryu, Gumma | # | redirect Kiryū, Gunma |
Kiryu, Gumma | Table of Content | # |
Green River Formation | Short description | thumb|Heliobatis radians (stingray), Green River Formation, Fossil Butte National Monument
The Green River Formation is an Eocene geologic formation that records the sedimentation in a group of intermountain lakes in three basins along the present-day Green River in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah. The sediments are deposited in very fine layers, a dark layer during the growing season and a light-hue inorganic layer in the dry season. Each pair of layers is called a varve and represents one year. The sediments of the Green River Formation present a continuous record of six million years. The mean thickness of a varve here is 0.18 mm, with a minimum thickness of 0.014 mm and maximum of 9.8 mm.Bradley, W. H. The varves and climate of the Green River epoch: U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 158, pp 87–110, 1929.
The sedimentary layers were formed in a large area named for the Green River, a tributary of the Colorado River. The three separate basins lie around the Uinta Mountains (north, east, and south) of northeastern Utah:
an area in northwestern Colorado east of the Uintas
a larger area in the southwest corner of Wyoming just north of the Uintas known as Lake Gosiute
the largest area, in northeastern Utah and western Colorado south of the Uintas, known as Lake Uinta
Fossil Butte National Monument in Lincoln County, Wyoming, is in a part of the formation known as Fossil Lake because of its abundance of exceptionally well-preserved fish fossils. |
Green River Formation | Lithology and formation | Lithology and formation
The formation of intermontane basin / lake environments during the Eocene resulted from mountain building and uplift of the Rocky Mountains (late Cretaceous Sevier orogeny and the Paleogene Laramide orogeny). Tectonic highlands supplied the Eocene sedimentary basins with sediment from all directions: the Uinta Mountains in the center; the Wind River Range to the north; the Front Range, Park Range and Sawatch Range of the Colorado Rockies to the east; the Uncompahgre Plateau and the San Juan Mountains to the south and finally, the Wasatch Mountains of Utah and the ranges of eastern Idaho to the west.
The lithology of the lake sediments is varied and includes sandstones, mudstones, siltstones, oil shales, coal beds, saline evaporite beds, and a variety of lacustrine limestones and dolomites. Volcanic ash layers within the various sediments from the then active Absaroka Volcanic field to the north in the vicinity of Yellowstone and the San Juan volcanic field to the southeast provide dateable horizons within the sediments.
The trona (hydrated sodium bicarbonate carbonate) beds of Sweetwater County, Wyoming are noted for a variety of rare evaporite minerals. The Green River Formation, is the type locality for eight rare minerals: bradleyite, ewaldite, loughlinite, mckelveyite-(Y), norsethite, paralabuntsovite-Mg, shortite and wegscheiderite. It also has a natural occurrence of moissanite (SiC) and 23 other valid mineral species. |
Green River Formation | Cyclicity | Cyclicity
The beds display a pronounced cyclicity, with the precession, obliquity, and eccentricity orbital components all clearly detectable. This enables the beds to be internally dated with a high degree of accuracy, and astrochronological dates agree very well with radiometric dates. |
Green River Formation | Fossil zones | Fossil zones
thumb|left|Diplomystus (left) and Knightia (right), two fossil fish from one of the lake beds in the Green River Formation
thumb|Crocodile lizard (Shinisauridae) preserved as a mineralized film; Parachute Creek Member in the Uintah Basin, Utah
Within the Green River Formation of southwest Wyoming in the area known as Fossil Lake, two distinct zones of very fine-grained lime muds are particularly noted for preserving a variety of complete and detailed fossils. These layers are an Eocene Lagerstätte, a rare place where conditions were right for a rich accumulation of undisturbed fossils. The most productive zone—called the split fish layer—consists of a series of laminated or varved lime muds about thick, which contains abundant fish and other fossils. These are easily split along the layers to reveal the fossils. This thin zone represents some 4000 years of deposition. The second fossil zone, the 18 inch layer, is an unlaminated layer about thick that also contains abundant detailed fossils, but is harder to work because it is not composed of fissile laminae.
thumb|left|Diplomystus dentatus from the Green River Formation Split Fish Layer
The limestone matrix is so fine-grained that fossils include rare soft parts of complete insects and fallen leaves in spectacular detail. Some 35,000 fossiliferous rocks from the Green River Formation are housed at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
Fish fossils of Diplomystus and Knightia are found in Fossil Lake but not in Lake Gosiute. Only Lake Gosiute has fossils of catfish (Ictaluridae and Hypsidoridae) and suckers (Catostomidae). The catfish are found mostly in the deepest parts of the lake.Morton, Glenn R., 2003, Creationist Misuse of the Green River Formation , accessed May 2, 2009 Percopsid sand-roller relatives are known from all three lakes, however Amphiplaga is strictly found in Fossil lake only, while Erismatopterus is uncommon in Lake Uinta but common in certain mass mortality layers of Lake Gosiute and absent from Fossil Lake.
thumb|Nahmavis, a bird from the Green River Formation with preserved feathers
thumb|Stromatolite fossil from the Eocene Lake Gosuite, Laney Member, Green River Formation of south-western Wyoming
The various fossil beds of the Green River Formation span a 5 million year period, dating to between 53.5 and 48.5 million years old.Smith, M. E., Singer, B., & Carroll, A. (2003). 40Ar/39Ar geochronology of the Eocene Green River Formation, Wyoming. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 115(5), 549-565. This span of time includes the transition between the moist early Eocene climate and the slightly drier mid-Eocene. The climate was moist and mild enough to support crocodiles, which do not tolerate frost, and the lakes were surrounded by sycamore ( e.g. Platanus wyomingensis ) forests. As the lake configurations shifted, each Green River location is distinct in character and time. The lake system formed over underlying river deltas and shifted in the flat landscape with slight tectonic movements, receiving sediments from the Uinta highland and the Rocky Mountains to the east and north. The lagerstätten formed in anoxic conditions in the fine carbonate muds that formed in the lakebeds. Lack of oxygen slowed bacterial decomposition and kept scavengers away, so leaves of palms, ferns and sycamores, some showing the insect damage they had sustained during their growth, were covered with fine-grained sediment and preserved. Insects were preserved whole, even delicate wing membranes and spider spinnerets.
Vertebrates were preserved too, including the osteoderms of Borealosuchus, the crocodile that was an early clue to the mild Eocene climate of Western North America. Fish are common. The fossils of the herring-like Knightia, sometimes in dense layers, as if a school had wandered into anoxic water levels and were overcome, are familiar to fossil-lovers and are among the most commonly available fossils on the commercial market. There were two genera of indigenous freshwater stingray, Heliobatis and Asterotrygon. Approximately sixty vertebrate taxa in all have been found at Green River. Besides fishes they include at least eleven species of reptiles, and some birds and one armadillo-like mammal, Brachianodon westorum, with some scattered vertebrae of others, like the dog-sized Meniscotherium and Notharctus, one of the first primates. The earliest bats known from complete skeletons (Icaronycteris index
, I. gunnelli, and Onychonycteris finneyi), already full-developed for flight, are found here. Even a snake, Boavus idelmani, found its way into a lake and was preserved in the mudstone. |
Green River Formation | Discovery of the fossil beds | Discovery of the fossil beds
The first documented records of (invertebrate) fossils from what is now called the Green River Formation are in the journals of early missionaries and explorers such as S. A. Parker, 1840, and J. C. Fremont, 1845. Geologist Dr. John Evans collected the first fossil fish, described as Clupea humilis (later renamed Knightia eocaena), from the Green River beds in 1856. Edward Drinker Cope collected extensively from the area and produced several publications on the fossil fish from 1870 onwards. Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden (geologist-in-charge of the United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories, the forerunner of the United States Geological Survey) first used the name "Green River Shales" for the fossil sites in 1869.
Millions of fish fossils have been collected from the area, commercial collectors operating from legal quarries on state and private land have been responsible for the majority of Green River vertebrate fossils in public and private collections all over the world. |
Green River Formation | Oil shale | Oil shale
thumb|left|Oil Shale from the Mahogany Zone of the Green River Formation, Colorado. Weathered surface on right; fresh surface on left.
thumb|Green River Formation Oil Gas Fields within the Uinta Basin and Piceance Basin
thumb|Areas of oil shale of the Green River Formation, Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming (USGS)
The Green River Formation contains the largest oil shale deposit in the world. It has been estimated that the oil shale reserves could equal up to of shale oil, up to half of which may be recoverable by shale oil extraction technologies (pyrolysis, hydrogenation, or thermal dissolution of kerogen in oil shale).GAO: Unconventional Oil and Gas Production However, the estimates of recoverable oil has been questioned, back in 2013, by geophysicist Raymond T. Pierrehumbert, who argued that the technology for recovering oil from the Green River oil shale deposit had not been developed and had not been profitably implemented at any significant scale.
Green River oil shale is lacustrine type lamosite. The organic matter is from blue-green algae (cyanobacteria). |
Green River Formation | Notable mineral deposits | Notable mineral deposits
The unusual chemistry of the lakes in which it was deposited makes the Green River Formation a major source of sodium carbonate. In southwest Wyoming the formation contains the world's largest deposits of trona, and in Colorado, the world's largest deposits of nahcolite.George I. Smith and others (1973) Evaporites and brines, in United States Mineral Resources, US Geological Survey, Professional Paper 820, p. 206. Another unusual mineral, currently only known from the Parachute Creek member is the crystalline nickel porphyrin mineral abelsonite. |
Green River Formation | See also | See also
Florissant Formation (Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument), a similarly fossiliferous, but younger freshwater Eocene formation in the Colorado Rocky Mountains.
History of the oil shale industry in the United States
Lagerstätte
List of fossil sites (with link directory) |
Green River Formation | References | References |
Green River Formation | Further reading | Further reading
Geologic Atlas of the Rocky Mountain Region, Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists, 1972, Denver Colorado
King, Philip B., 1977, The Evolution of North America, Revised edition, Princeton University Press
Gaggiano, Tom, The Green River Formation Accessed March 18, 2006.
Carrol, Alan, 2001, Green River research project, http://www.geology.wisc.edu/~carroll/green_river.html Accessed March 18, 2006. |
Green River Formation | External links | External links
Minerals of the Green River Formation, Sweetwater County, Wyoming, Mindat
Green River Formation UCMP Berkeley website
Eocene fossils from the Green River Formation
Fossil fish of the Green River Formation
Fossil birds of the Green River Formation
Paleobiology Database: Icaronycteris Type Locality: Wasatchian, Wyoming, aka Fossil Lake, Green River
Paleobiology Database Green River Quarry: Kimmeridgian - Tithonian, Utah
Paleobiology Database: BYU Locality #712, Uintah Basin, Green River Formation, Utah: Eocene - Eocene, Utah
Green River Formation and Shale Oil, Research Brief by Rand
Category:Geology of the Rocky Mountains
Category:Geologic formations of Colorado
Category:Geologic formations of Utah
Category:Geologic formations of Wyoming
Category:Green River (Colorado River tributary)
Category:Eocene United States
Category:Lagerstätten
Category:Oil shale in the United States
Category:Oil shale formations
Category:Paleogene Colorado
Category:Paleogene geology of Utah
Category:Paleogene geology of Wyoming
Category:Paleontology in Colorado
Category:Paleontology in Utah
Category:Paleontology in Wyoming
Category:Geological type localities
Category:Eocene Series of North America
Category:Lacustrine deposits |
Green River Formation | Table of Content | Short description, Lithology and formation, Cyclicity, Fossil zones, Discovery of the fossil beds, Oil shale, Notable mineral deposits, See also, References, Further reading, External links |
Kiryû, Gunma | # | Redirect Kiryū, Gunma |
Kiryû, Gunma | Table of Content | # |
USS Miami (CL-89) | short description |
USS Miami was a light cruiser of the United States Navy, which were built during World War II. The class was designed as a development of the earlier s, the size of which had been limited by the First London Naval Treaty. The start of the war led to the dissolution of the treaty system, but the dramatic need for new vessels precluded a new design, so the Clevelands used the same hull as their predecessors, but were significantly heavier. The Clevelands carried a main battery of twelve guns in four three-gun turrets, along with a secondary armament of twelve dual-purpose guns. They had a top speed of .
Miami was commissioned in December 1943, and saw service in several campaigns in the Pacific. Like almost all her sister ships, she was decommissioned shortly after the end of the war, and never saw active service again. Miami was scrapped in the early 1960s. |
USS Miami (CL-89) | Design | Design
thumb|left|Depiction of the Cleveland class, showing the plan and profile
The Cleveland-class light cruisers traced their origin to design work done in the late 1930s; at the time, light cruiser displacement was limited to by the Second London Naval Treaty. Following the start of World War II in September 1939, Britain announced it would suspend the treaty for the duration of the conflict, a decision the US Navy quickly followed. Though still neutral, the United States recognized that war was likely and the urgent need for additional ships ruled out an entirely new design, so the Clevelands were a close development of the earlier s, the chief difference being the substitution of a two-gun dual-purpose gun mount for one of the main battery gun turrets.
Miami was long overall and had a beam of and a draft of . Her standard displacement amounted to and increased to at full load. The ship was powered by four General Electric steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft, using steam provided by four oil-fired Babcock & Wilcox boilers. Rated at , the turbines were intended to give a top speed of . Her crew numbered 1285 officers and enlisted men.
The ship was armed with a main battery of twelve 6 in /47-caliber Mark 16 guns in four 3-gun turrets on the centerline. Two were placed forward in a superfiring pair; the other two turrets were placed aft of the superstructure in another superfiring pair. The secondary battery consisted of twelve /38-caliber dual-purpose guns mounted in twin turrets. Two of these were placed on the centerline, one directly behind the forward main turrets and the other just forward of the aft turrets. Two more were placed abreast of the conning tower and the other pair on either side of the aft superstructure. Anti-aircraft defense consisted of twenty-eight Bofors guns in four quadruple and six double mounts and ten Oerlikon guns in single mounts.
The ship's belt armor ranged in thickness from , with the thicker section amidships where it protected the ammunition magazines and propulsion machinery spaces. Her deck armor was thick. The main battery turrets were protected with faces and sides and tops, and they were supported by barbettes 6 inches thick. Miamis conning tower had 5-inch sides. |
USS Miami (CL-89) | Service history | Service history |
USS Miami (CL-89) | Construction and initial training | Construction and initial training
thumb|left|Miami off Trinidad in February 1944
The keel for Miami was laid down at William Cramp & Sons in Philadelphia on 2 August 1941. She was launched on 8 December 1942, and after completing fitting-out work, was commissioned into the fleet on 28 December 1943, with the hull number CL-89. The ship began sea trials on the Delaware River on 1 January 1944, and from 21 January to 3 February, she remained at Philadelphia for modifications and to take on a load of ammunition. She got underway on 4 February to resume training operations in Delaware Bay that lasted until 7 February, when she joined the destroyer to sail for Chesapeake Bay for further training. On 12 February, Miami moved to the Norfolk Navy Yard in Portsmouth, Virginia, before departing two days later in company with the heavy cruiser and the destroyers and . The four ships steamed south to Trinidad in the British West Indies for a shakedown cruise. While en route, one of Miamis crew fell overboard and couldn't be found.
Over the next two weeks, Miami took part in drills with the other ships in the Gulf of Paria until 3 March, when she and Quincy left to return to Norfolk, this time escorted by the destroyers and . They arrived four days later, where Miami was inspected by Rear Admiral Donald B. Beary. On 11 March, the ship sailed for the Naval Research Laboratory Annex in Chesapeake Bay for tests the following day. She then returned to Delaware Bay on the 13th, and then to Philadelphia on 14 March for repairs that lasted through the end of the month. On 2 April, the ship was moved to Boston, Massachusetts, departing there on 7 April for Casco Bay, Maine, where she conducted shooting practice with her sister ship , the destroyer , and the destroyer escort . After a week of practice, Miami and Edwards then sailed back to Boston on 14 April.
The Navy thereafter ordered Miami to sail for the Pacific, and she departed on 16 April. For the voyage south, she was assigned to Task Group (TG) 27.7, which also included her sisters Houston and and the destroyers Edwards, , , and . They passed through the Panama Canal on 22 April, and the next day, the unit was re-designated TG 12.3 and Broome and Simpson were detached. The rest of the ships proceeded on to San Diego, California, arriving there on 30 April. From there, the task group sailed for Pearl Harbor the next day, arriving there on 6 May. While there, Miami joined the heavy cruiser for training exercises on 8 May. She thereafter underwent maintenance from 13 to 24 May. |
USS Miami (CL-89) | Operations in the Pacific Theater | Operations in the Pacific Theater |
USS Miami (CL-89) | Mariana and Palau Islands campaign | Mariana and Palau Islands campaign
thumb|Miami steaming in heavy seas
Miami was next transferred to TG 12.1, which also included the fast battleships and , the cruisers Vincennes and Houston, the minelayer , and the destroyers , , , , and . The unit departed on 24 May, bound for Majuro Atoll in the Marshall Islands, and arrived there six days later. They then joined the Fast Carrier Task Force, then under the command of 5th Fleet and designated Task Force (TF) 58. Miami was assigned to the subordinate unit TG 58.4, which also included the aircraft carriers , , and . The American fleet embarked on the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign, beginning with air strikes against Japanese positions on Saipan on 11 June and continuing over the following week. Miami contributed to the fleet's anti-aircraft defenses when the Japanese launched an aerial counterattack on 19 June, though she was not heavily engaged. Later that day, the ship's secondary guns opened fire on what was believed to be a Japanese submarine but was in fact merely an abandoned sampan.
Miami continued to escort the carriers as they launched air strikes in support of the invasion of Saipan until 27 June, when she was detached as part of Task Unit 58.4.5 and sent bombard Guam before American forces landed on that island as well. The unit included Houston and five destroyers. In addition to Japanese positions on the island, Miami shelled a cargo ship that was moored in Apra Harbor. A Japanese coastal artillery battery on the Orote Peninsula engaged Miami during the bombardment, and the latter eventually silenced the Japanese guns. Miami and the other vessels thereafter returned to their positions screening the carriers. On 6 July, Miami was sent to Eniwetok to replenish stores and ammunition before returning to the fleet on 14 June. By that time, she had been transferred to TG 58.3, which was centered on the carriers , , and . The ships anchored at Saipan on 31 July, by which time had been secured by American forces. The next morning, the ships sortied to carry out a raid on Japanese installations on Iwo Jima. Miami was again detached for replenishment and maintenance at Eniwetok on 11 August. She joined TU 58.2.1 on 25 August, along with her sister and four destroyers.
On 26 August, Miami left the fleet to pick up the crew from a OS2U Kingfisher from the battleship , but she was recalled before she arrived. By this time, the Fast Carrier Task Force had passed to the command of the Third Fleet, and all of the units were renumbered. Miami was transferred to TG 38.2, which included the carriers Bunker Hill, , and , the light carriers and , and the fast battleships and . She escorted the carriers that struck Japanese positions on Peleliu and Angaur in the Palau Islands on 7 September to prepare for the invasion of Peleliu. The fleet thereafter shifted its attention to Japanese airfields in the Philippines from 12 to 15 September; during this period, on the 14th, Miami picked up the pilot of an F6F Hellcat that had been shot down. The ship steamed to Saipan on 28 September to replenish ammunition and stores. |
USS Miami (CL-89) | Philippines campaign | Philippines campaign
thumb|left|Miami underway
As the fleet began preparations for the next major campaign, Miami joined TF 34, along with the battleships Washington, New Jersey, Iowa, and and the carrier for training exercises that ended the next day. Later on the 30th, Miami sailed to the fleet's advance base at Ulithi Atoll in the Caroline Islands, where she joined TG 38.2. On 6 October, Miami and the rest of the Fast Carrier Task Force sortied to conduct air strikes against Japanese installations on Okinawa and Formosa, which began on 10 October. Two days later, during strikes on Formosa, Japanese aircraft attacked the fleet, and late that day, Miamis anti-aircraft gunners shot down one aircraft and assisted in the destruction of another. In the early hours of 13 October, she shot down another Japanese aircraft. With the invasion of Leyte approaching, the fleet turned its attention to Japanese forces in the Philippines on 18 October, striking targets in Aparri and Laoag. Two days later, American forces went ashore on Leyte, leading to heavy Japanese counterattacks.
Japanese efforts to disrupt the landing culminated in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, an effort by three squadrons to attack the invasion fleet. After the American carrier task force was drawn north by a feint from the Northern Force, the main Japanese unit, the Center Force, attempted to penetrate the San Bernardino Strait. Miami remained with the carriers until the Center Force encountered a group of American escort carriers, destroyers, and destroyer escorts on the morning of 25 October. Frantic calls for support from the Fast Carrier Task Force led its commander, Admiral William Halsey Jr. to detach a group of ships, including Miami, south to stop the Center Force. By the time they arrived, the Japanese had broken off their attack, convinced they had stumbled into TF 38 itself. Miami and several cruisers and destroyers nevertheless caught and sank the destroyer on 26 October.
The following day, Miami and the rest of TG 38.2 briefly withdrew eastward before resuming operations against Japanese forces in the Philippines. These consisted of a series of strikes on airfields on Luzon from 5 to 6 November, after which Miami was detached to return to Ulithi, where she remained from 9 to 13 November. She sortied the next day to rejoin her unit, which carried out further attacks on Luzon from 18 to 25 November. Through this period, Japanese aircraft repeatedly attacked the fleet, and during one attack on the 25th, Miami shot down a dive bomber. Another brief return to Ulithi to replenish fuel and ammunition followed the next day, and she thereafter took part in training exercises there for a week. The ship next joined TG 30.4, which sortied on 9 December to wage additional attacks on Luzon from 14 to 16 December. She was present when the fleet was struck by Typhoon Cobra on 18 December, which sank three destroyers and inflicted serious damage to several ships, including Miami. The ship had serious hull damage between frames 21 and 33. One of her Kingfishers was thrown overboard and the other was so badly damaged that the crew discarded it. She remained in the area to assist in the search for survivors before returning to Ulithi on 24 December.
After repairs were completed, Miami joined TG 38.3, which sortied on 1 January 1945 to carry out the South China Sea raid. The raid was an effort to isolate Japanese forces in the Philippines by neutralizing airfields in occupied China, Formosa, and Southeast Asia. The fleet's carriers initially struck targets on and around Formosa, turned to attack Luzon once more from 6 to 8 January, before entering the South China Sea in the early hours of 10 January. The carriers then launched strikes on Japanese-occupied French Indochina before turning back north to attack Formosa again on 15 and 16 January. On the latter day, Miami shot down an A6M5 Zero fighter. The fleet thereafter passed through the Balintang Channel and then the Luzon Strait, continuing north to launch an attack on Okinawa on 20 and 21 January. The fleet thereafter returned to Ulithi to make preparations for the next major offensive, arriving there on 27 January. |
USS Miami (CL-89) | Volcano and Ryukyu Islands campaign | Volcano and Ryukyu Islands campaign
thumb|Miami preparing to depart Ulithi for the invasion of Okinawa, March 1945
On 10 February, Miami and the rest of the fleet sortied to begin its next major operation, beginning with supporting attacks for the invasion of Iwo Jima. By this time, the fleet had passed back to 5th Fleet command, and Miami had been transferred to TG 58.1. The fleet began air strikes on Tokyo on the night of 15 February, which continued over the following two days. On 18 February, the fleet sailed south to attack Japanese positions on Chichijima, followed by strikes on Okinawa from 20 to 22 February, by which time American forces had begun the invasion of Iwo Jima. Later that month, Miami was detached to form Task Unit 58.1.22 along with her sister ships and , the cruiser , and fifteen destroyers. The unit carried out a raid on the island of Okidaitōjima on 2 March. Three days later, she returned to Ulithi to replenish fuel and munitions. She got underway again on 14 March and rejoined the Fast Carrier Task Force, which raided Japanese installations on Okinawa and the main island of Kyushu between 18 and 31 March. During this period, Miami helped to defend the fleet against heavy Japanese air attacks. Still part of TG 58.1, she escorted the carriers , , and as they directly supported American forces during the battle of Okinawa beginning on 1 April. These operations continued through 11 April.
The next day, Miami took part in searches for American pilots who had been shot down during the fighting around Okinawa; that afternoon, Kingfishers from Miami recovered one man from the water and a further two from Amami Ōshima. On 14 April, Miamis anti-aircraft gunners claimed several Japanese planes shot down during a particularly heavy attack. TF 58 began attacks on Amami Ōshima, Tokuno Shima, and Kikaijima from 20 to 30 April. Miami returned to Ulithi later that day, remaining there for repairs and replenishment for more than a week. On 10 May, Miami departed for Pearl Harbor, sailing independently and arriving seven days later. There, she embarked passengers bound for the West Coast of the United States, and carried them to San Pedro, California. She reached the port on 24 May, unloaded ammunition, and then entered the dry dock the following day for an overhaul. The work lasted more than a month, and the ship re-entered the water on 7 July. She conducted limited trials on 14 July and was thoroughly inspected between 1 and 11 August. She departed for Pearl Harbor on 20 August, arriving four days later; by that time, Japan had announced it would surrender, ending the war. Miami left for Guam on 30 August, and while en route on 2 September, the formal surrender took place aboard the battleship . For her service during the conflict, Miami was awarded six battle stars. |
USS Miami (CL-89) | Post-war operations | Post-war operations
Miami departed for Okinawa on 9 September, accompanied by the destroyer escort . After arriving there on 12 September, she was used to accept the surrender of Japanese garrisons in the Ryukyu Islands. Four days later, she went to sea along with TF 55 to avoid a major typhoon; she returned to Buckner Bay in Okinawa on 17 September. On 22 September, she covered the arrival of Tenth Army to begin occupation duties in the Ryukus. Another typhoon forced Miami back to sea on 3 October. Four days later, she dropped anchor in Naze, Kagoshima on the island of Amami Ōshima. After patrolling the area for several days, she returned to Buckner Bay on 15 October. She remained there until 29 October, when she got underway to visit Yokosuka, Japan, though she remained there for only a short time before sailing south to the Caroline Islands, ultimately arriving in Truk on 11 November. Her crew conducted a survey of the damage inflicted during Operation Hailstone, a major carrier raid on the atoll during the war. Miami was ordered home on 25 November, and she arrived in Long Beach, California, on 10 December.
For the next year and a half, Miami operated off the coast of California, conducting training cruises for naval reservists. She was decommissioned on 30 June 1947 and thereafter assigned to the Pacific Reserve Fleet. She remained in the Navy's inventory until 1 September 1961, when she was stricken from the naval register. The ship was then sold for scrap to the shipbreaking firm Nicholai Joffe Corp. on 26 July 1962. |
USS Miami (CL-89) | Footnotes | Footnotes |
USS Miami (CL-89) | Notes | Notes |
USS Miami (CL-89) | Citations | Citations |
USS Miami (CL-89) | References | References
|
USS Miami (CL-89) | External links | External links
Category:Cleveland-class cruisers
Category:World War II cruisers of the United States
Category:Ships built by William Cramp & Sons
Category:1942 ships |
USS Miami (CL-89) | Table of Content | short description, Design, Service history, Construction and initial training, Operations in the Pacific Theater, Mariana and Palau Islands campaign, Philippines campaign, Volcano and Ryukyu Islands campaign, Post-war operations, Footnotes, Notes, Citations, References, External links |
1755 in music | Short description | |
1755 in music | Events | Events
In Britain, William Boyce is appointed Master of the King's Musick.
After a tour of Ireland fraught with disagreements, Thomas Arne and his wife, the soprano Cecilia Young, agree to separate.
Ferdinando Bertoni becomes choirmaster at the Ospedale dei Mendicanti in Venice. |
1755 in music | Published popular music | Published popular music
James Oswald – [48] Airs for the Spring/Summer/Autumn/Winter, for violin or flute and basso continuo (London)
Mme Papavoine – Nous voici donc au jour de l'an. Étrennes (Paris) |
1755 in music | Classical music | Classical music
Charles Avison – Eight Concertos, Op. 4 (London)
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Harpsichord Concerto in F major, H.443 Wq. 33
Keyboard Concerto in G major, H.444 Wq. 34
Flute Concerto in G major, H.445 Wq. 169
Trio Sonata in B-flat major, H.587 Wq. 159
Symphony in D major, H.651 Wq. 176
Gaspard Fritz – 6 Violin Sonatas (published in Paris as Sei sonate, Op. 3, in 1756)
Francesco Geminiani – Six Concertos, Op. 2, second edition, corrected and enlarged, with some new movements, by the author, and now published in score (London: John Johnson); originally published 1732
Carl Heinrich Graun – Der Tod Jesu
Leopold Mozart – Divertimento in F major "Musical Sleigh Ride"
John Christopher Smith – Six Suits of Lessons for the Harpsichord, Op. 3 (London: John Walsh)
Georg Philipp Telemann – Der Tod Jesu TWV 5:6 |
1755 in music | Opera | Opera
Johann Friedrich Agricola – Il tempio d'amore
Pierre Montan Berton – Deucalion et Pyrrha
Egidio Duni – L'Olimpiade
Baldassare Galuppi
La diavolessa
Le nozze di Dorina (premiered Nov. in Venice)
Carl Heinrich Graun – Montezuma (libretto by King Frederick the Great, composed 1754 first performed Jan. 6, 1755)
Johann Adolph Hasse – Ezio (Final version premiered Jan. 20 in Dresden)
Niccolò Jommelli – Pelope
Antonio Mazzoni – Antigono (Was not performed because of the Lisbon Earthquake, premiered in 2011)
John Christopher Smith – The Fairies |
1755 in music | Methods and theory writings | Methods and theory writings
Touissant Bordet – Méthode raisonnée pour apprendre la musique
Marianus Königsperger – Der wohl-unterwiesene Clavier-Schüler
Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg – Anleitung zum Clavierspielen
Christoph Nichelmann – Die Melodie
Johann Joachim Quantz – Autobiography
Jean-Philippe Rameau – Erreurs sur la musique dans l'Encyclopédie
Georg Andreas Sorge – Ausweichungs-Tabellen |
1755 in music | Births | Births
January 16 – Maria Theresia Ahlefeldt, composer (died 1810)
February 5 – Caroline Müller, operatic mezzo-soprano, actress and dancer (died 1826)
March 2 – Antoine-Frédéric Gresnick, opera composer (died 1799)
April 16 – Louise-Élisabeth Vigée-Le Brun, copyist and painter (died 1842)
May 12 – Giovanni Battista Viotti (died 1824)
June 1 – Federigo Fiorillo, arranger and composer (died 1823)
June 18 – Louise-Rosalie Lefebvre, operatic mezzo-soprano, actress and dancer (died 1821)
August 1 – Antonio Capuzzi, composer and violinist (died 1818)
November 8 – Edmond de Favières, French librettist (died 1837)
November 10 – Franz Anton Ries, violinist (died 1846)
November 30 – Agnieszka Truskolaska, opera singer (died 1831)
date unknown – John Christopher Moller, early American composer (died 1803) |
1755 in music | Deaths | Deaths
January 11 – Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer, harpsichordist and composer (born c.1705)
January 15 – Azzolino Bernardino Della Ciaja, Italian composer (born 1671)
January 19 – Jean-Pierre Christin, scientist and musician (born 1683)
April – Anastasia Robinson, operatic soprano (born c.1692)
April 30 – Jean-Baptiste Oudry, composer and painter (born 1686)
June 21 – Giovanni Porta, opera composer (born c.1675)
July 4 – John Cennick, hymn-writer (born 1718)
July 6 – Pietro Paolo Bencini, Italian composer and Kapellmeister (born c.1670)
July 9 – Gottlob Harrer, German composer and choir leader (born 1703)
September 30 – Francesco Durante, composer (born 1684)
October 4 – Sir John Clerk, 2nd Baronet, of Penycuik, composer (born 1676)
October 28 – Joseph Bodin de Boismortier (born 1689)
November 25 – Johann Georg Pisendel, composer (born 1687)
December 1 – Maurice Greene, organist and composer (born 1696)
December 8 – Jean-Baptiste Stuck, cellist and composer (born 1680)
date unknown
José Elías, composer and organist (born c. 1678)
Alexander Gordon, antiquary and singer (born c.1692)
Manuel de Zumaya, Mexican composer (born c.1678) |
1755 in music | References | References
Category:18th century in music
Category:Music by year |
1755 in music | Table of Content | Short description, Events, Published popular music, Classical music, Opera, Methods and theory writings, Births, Deaths, References |
Conium | Short description | Conium ( or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Apiaceae. , Plants of the World Online accepts six species.
All species of the genus are poisonous to humans. C. maculatum, also known as hemlock, is infamous for being highly poisonous. Hemlock is native to temperate regions of Europe, North Africa and Western Asia. The species C. chaerophylloides, C. fontanum, and C. sphaerocarpum are all native to southern Africa. |
Conium | Description | Description
Plants of the genus Conium are eudicots, flowering plants distinguished by their two cotyledons (embryonic leaves) and tricolpate (three-pored) pollen. They are typically biennial, forming basal rosettes in the first year of growth, and sprouting a rigid, hollow flower stalk in the second. Germination occurs between spring and autumn. Occasionally, plants which germinate in early spring are annual instead of biennial. These plants grow best in wet, poorly drained areas with nutrient rich soil. They grow well in nitrogen rich soil, and are able to tolerate high levels of heavy metals, such as arsenic, cadmium, and lead. Conium plants are diploid, with a chromosome number of 2n = 22 (haploid number 11). They grow from one to three meters tall, varying between species. They produce hermaphroditic flowers, which are typically insect pollinated or self-fertilized. |
Conium | Stems | Stems
Conium plants are herbaceous, growing non-woody, hollow, and hairless stems. Generally, the stem is striated and light green; however, the coloring varies by species and variety. Some express purple blotching throughout, some have purple blotching localized near the base, and others have no markings at all. |
Conium | Leaves | Leaves
The alternate leaves are pinnately compound and finely divided, with the exact pinnation patterns varying between species and leaf type. For example, stem leaves of C. maculatum plants are typically 2-4 pinnate, but basal leaves are 1-3 pinnate. The leaves and petioles are light green. Similar to the stem coloring, some species and varieties express purple blotching on the leaves and petioles. |
Conium | Flowers | Flowers
Terminal inflorescences are made up of many small flowers, colored white, yellow, or green depending on the species. The flowers are grouped together in umbrella shaped umbels. Plants in the genus Conium have compound umbels, with multiple dome shaped clusters branching out from a central point. Flowers are around 2 mm across, and the umbrella shaped umbels range from 1–8 cm in diameter. |
Conium | Fruits | Fruits
The two seeded fruit is one of the most significant distinguishing factors between species. They are relatively round, slightly flattened, and dark green or brown. Depending on the species, they range from 2.5 to 4 mm long. Some species have distinctive light brown ribs, some have ribs that are noticeably crenulate (scalloped edges), and others show relatively unpronounced rib patterns. |
Conium | Seeds | Seeds
Each plant typically produces between 1,700 and 39,000 seeds, and 40-85% will germinate in suitable conditions. However, seeds will remain viable for 3 to 6 years after dispersal. Producing a large number of seeds, and growing in a variety of locations, these plants can be considered invasive in some cases. |
Conium | Chemical composition | Chemical composition
Poisonous alkaloid compounds are present in all tissues of Conium plants. As a flower develops into a fruit and matures, the alkaloids present transform from γ-coniceine, to coniine, and finally to N-methylconiine. When ingested, these compounds interrupt the central nervous system, paralyzing respiratory muscles, and finally resulting in death through respiratory failure. |
Conium | Species differentiation from other plants | Species differentiation from other plants
Members of the genus Conium can be easily confused with edible plants of the family Apiaceae. Conium plants have leaves similar to parsley (Petroselinum crispum) and roots similar to parsnip (Pastinaca sativa). However, a few characteristics can be used to distinguish the poisonous Conium plants from other harmless Apiaceae plants. For example, Conium leaves and stems release a foul odor when crushed. Additionally, the species C. maculatum stands out with its purple blotching pattern. |
Conium | Taxonomy | Taxonomy
The genus name "Conium" references the Greek word koneios for 'spin' or 'whirl', alluding to the dizzying effects of the plant's poison after ingestion. In the vernacular, "hemlock" most commonly refers to the species C. maculatum, but it also refers to Cicuta species (water hemlock), where both species are similar in physical features, and both are highly toxic.
The genus Conium was erected by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. Several botanists, such as J.F.M. Cannon, G.H. Leute, and J.H. Ross, have historically made the argument that southern African species of Conium has few significant distinctions. Some even claim that the genus has no independent species at all. They argue that the populations in southern Africa "may be the result of the chance introduction of a few individuals which represented genetically a very limited range of the total variability of the species." Some believe that each species of Conium is synonymous to C. maculatum. Others believe that there are two to three distinct southern African species of Conium. |
Conium | History | History
Conium was known to ancient Greeks, who used it for its narcotic properties and in capital punishment. It was used for the execution, among others, of Socrates and Theramenes.
Conium maculatum, also known as poison hemlock, was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1753 publication, Species Plantarum. It was the first described species within the genus. "Maculatum" means spotted, referencing the purple blotches characteristic of this species.
Conium chaerophylloides was described by Danish plant collector Christian Friedrich Ecklon (1795–1868) and German botanist Karl Ludwig Philipp Zeyher. In 1828, they came together in South Africa, forming a partnership. For the next decade, they built their collection, describing almost 2000 genera and species.
Both C. fontanum and C. sphaerocarpum were described by South African botanist Olive Mary Hilliard and English botanist Brian Laurence Burtt. Together, they published their classifications in the South African Journal of Botany in 1985. |
Conium | Species | Species
, Plants of the World Online accepts six species:
Conium chaerophylloides (Thunb.) Eckl. & Zeyh.
Conium divaricatum Boiss. & Orph.
Conium fontanum Hilliard & B.L.Burtt
Conium hilliburttorum Magee & V.R.Clark
Conium maculatum L.
Conium sphaerocarpum Hilliard & B.L.Burtt |
Conium | ''Conium chaerophylloides'' | Conium chaerophylloides
Conium chaerophylloides, growing two to three meters tall, can be distinguished by its unique yellow-green flowers. Groups of many of these small flowers make up obconical umbels. The outer rays (individual flowers) form an angle with the point of attachment, giving the umbel a cone-like shape, which fans out from the base of the inflorescence. They produce round, 4 mm long, dark brown or green fruit, with deep, lightly colored ridges. |
Conium | ''Conium fontanum'' | Conium fontanum
Conium fontanum expresses a similar obconical umbel arrangement, but produces slightly larger fruit, and develops the white flowers characteristic of the other species in the Conium genus. The fruit is usually larger than 4 mm long, with ridges of the same dark green or brown color as the rest of the ovary. These plants grow one to three meters tall, depending on the variety. |
Conium | ''Conium hilliburttorum'' | Conium hilliburttorum
Conium hilliburttorum has not always been recognized as a distinct species within the genus. Like C. sphaerocarpum, these plants have white flowers grouped in hemispherical umbels and small fruit. However, these researchers argue that the fruit and ovary anatomy significantly distinguish them from C. sphaerocarpum. They develop similar sized fruit; however, C. hilliburttorum fruit displays prominent ribs, whereas C. sphaerocarpum fruit is relatively smooth. C. hilliburttorum ovaries are covered in tubercules, or small lumpy outgrowths, like C. chaerophylloides fruit. However, C. chaerophylloides plants have yellow or green flowers, and they grow much larger fruit and are much taller. |
Conium | ''Conium maculatum'' | Conium maculatum
Conium maculatum is distinguished by red or purple blotching along the hairless green stem. Some varieties of the southern African species express a moderate degree of blotching at the base of the stem, but most are simply green. It grows white flowers in umbrella-shaped clusters.center|thumb|295x295px|19th-century illustration of Conium maculatum(from Köhler's Medicinal Plants) |
Conium | ''Conium sphaerocarpum'' | Conium sphaerocarpum
Conium sphaerocarpum produces similarly colored, but slightly smaller fruit, less than 3.5 mm long. The ovary is relatively smooth, with almost completely flat, inconspicuous ridges. Additionally, the small white flowers are arranged in hemispherical umbels. Each umbel's outer rays protrude horizontally, forming a semi-sphere shape, with the flat edge at the base of the umbel, and the dome pointing away from the point of attachment. This species tends to grow shorter than others within the genus. |
Conium | Evolution | Evolution
Conium is a genus within the family Apiaceae. The family Apiaceae originates from Australasia in the Late Cretaceous period. Conium is specifically part of the Apioideae subfamily which split off from the other subfamilies of Apiaceae between 45.9 and 71.2 million years ago in southern Africa. |
Conium | Toxin development | Toxin development
The evolution of toxicity within Conium plants and within Apiaceae plants has several theories. Apiaceae plants contain secondary compounds which are compounds that are often limited to just a family, genus, or a species of plant that varies among those smaller groups and is unlikely to be essential to the day-to-day physiological needs of the plant. These secondary compounds are used to mediate the plants interactions with other organisms, such as the prevention of herbivory. Gottfried S. Fraenkel in 1959 called the distribution of secondary compounds within Apiaceae and other families reciprocal adaptive evolution. Ehrlich and Raven in 1964 called Fraenkel's process coevolution. They claimed that secondary compounds diversify by emerging as a novel compound that protects a plant from herbivory. Due to this protection from herbivory and mutation or recombination in an insect, the plant can become susceptible to herbivory once more if an insect evolves the means to detoxify or tolerate the toxin created by the secondary compound. With this new trait, the insect has a new adaptive zone with which it can diversify and the plant has a certain set of adapted herbivores. This is seen with Conium, where C. maculatum has an adaptive herbivore, Agonopterix alstromeriana. |
Conium | Distribution | Distribution
Conium maculatum is native to northern Europe, western Asia, and North Africa. C. chaerophylloides, C. fontanum, and C. sphaerocarpum are all native to southern Africa.
Conium maculatum has been introduced to the Americas, southern Africa, China, New Zealand, and Australia. It was originally brought to the United States from Europe as a garden plant. C. maculatum has been introduced to other parts of the world due to the transportation of grain. In many areas which C. maculatum has been introduced, it has become an invasive species. |
Conium | Ecology | Ecology
All species of Conium are poisonous to humans and several other species of mammals; yet, some serve as food sources for some insects. In addition, the invasiveness of Conium species into non-native habitats is documented. It is unknown what the spread of Conium into new environments is primarily driven by. |
Conium | Dispersal | Dispersal
Seeds of the Conium plants fall close to the parent and primarily rely on abiotic and biotic vector transmissions for dispersal. For biotic transmissions, rodents and birds have been documented to spread seeds, with them clinging to the animals' fur. Human introductions of the plants from their native into new habitats (either accidentally through seed contamination or intentional as a garden plant or medicinal herb) is also a proposed cause of the plant being invasive in several regions, but these are not common. |
Conium | Ecological relationships | Ecological relationships
As a weed, Conium plants can spread into grasslands and other areas with low vegetation and crowd out local grass species. The plants spread very quickly and are very competitive with native grasses.
Conium plants use their toxicity as a way to mediate their ecological interactions with other species. Despite the Conium plants being poisonous, several invertebrates and some insects have evolved mechanisms for avoiding toxicity of chemicals when feeding on the plants. One species of moth, Agonopterix alstroemeriana, infests C. maculatum.
The plants serve as a host for several viruses, bacteria, and insects, including the carrot rust fly, Psila rosae; the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa; carrot thin leaf virus; celery mosaic virus; and alfalfa mosaic virus. In 2015, a novel Poison Hemlock Virus Y (PHVY) was isolated from leaf samples of C. maculatum with mild mosaic and vein yellowing symptoms, collected from fields in south-east Iran. The virus was shown serologically to be related to potyviruses. |
Conium | Economic impact | Economic impact
Conium plants are poisonous to a variety of animals including cows, sheep, goats, swine, rabbits, elk, poultry, and humans. Some of the impacts of the consumption of these plants on animals include muscle spasms, diarrhea, depression, skeletal malformations, and death. In fact, the most important losses from Conium plants is through livestock toxicity. An estimated yearly loss of livestock to these plants in the western US was $340 million.
Although they are mostly found in non-crop fields, Conium plants compete with commercial agricultural plants, including several types of vegetables and grains. It has been found growing in corn, chickpea, vegetable, and orchard fields. Regions affected include Oceania, the Iberian peninsula, central Europe, and the United States. Economic losses of crops due to Conium invasion is not as widespread or severe as its affecting of animals farms, and there is little crop loss data available from those regions. |
Conium | Uses | Uses
Historically, the leaves and flowers of Conium plant species were prized for their decorative appearance, and they were bred and kept as ornamental decorative plants. Conium plants were also used as natural barriers and in medicine as treatments. As knowledge that chemicals produced by Conium plants were toxic to humans and mammals became widespread, their usage as decorative plants and as treatments have declined.
Today, species of the Conium genus have no known uses, and they are classified as a weed. However, notably, C. maculatum continues to be used in medicine as an ingredient. In addition, the production of toxic chemicals that have limited their widespread public use has instigated research in the chemicals' potential applications in agriculture. |
Conium | Pesticides | Pesticides
Chemicals produced by and isolated from plants of this genus were found to have anti-insect and anti-predator properties and have been studied for use in agriculture. Coniine was proven to be effective against aphids and blowflies. In addition, extracts of Conium plants were found to inhibit Fusarium pallidoroseum, a fungal disease causing twig blight in mulberry. However, these findings have not yet been implemented in practice. |
Conium | In medicine | In medicine
Extracts of Conium plants were used as sedatives and antispasmodics. Because of the plants' toxicities, uses as a medicine were discontinued by the early 20th century.
Today, there are no accepted uses for the Conium genus plants as a treatment. Despite severe safety concerns and a lack of supporting scientific evidence, C. maculatum has continued to be used as homeopathy or home remedy treatment for several medical conditions including anxiety, muscle spasms, bronchitis, whooping cough, asthma, and arthritis. There is little information on the plant's interactions with other drugs and on treatment doses. |
Conium | Other uses | Other uses
Conium maculatum was introduced into North America as an ornamental plant, imported into the United States and southern Canada. Plant hobbyists continue to cultivate this plant species today.
As plants of the Conium species are known to be dangerous to mammals, they are also used as natural fences between tracts of land to block predatory animals such as wolves. It is grown along streams or rivers and near fences and pastures. |
Conium | Toxicity | Toxicity
All species of Conium are highly toxic to humans, many other mammals, and birds (in larger doses). Virtually all parts of the plant are poisonous to humans, and consumption of any part of the plant can cause poisoning. In most cases, poisoning occurs from a misidentification of the plant as an edible species, such as C. maculatum root with wild parsnips or its leaves with parsley. |
Conium | Effects on humans and other animals | Effects on humans and other animals
Conium maculatum is especially known to be dangerous to pregnant and breast-feeding females and in children, where poisoning has occurred by consuming small amounts of C. maculatum. An overdose of Conium maculatum can typically produce paralysis, with a toxic dose causing loss of speech followed by inhibited respiratory function and, later, death. This plant species and others in the Conium genus are also toxic in larger mammals, including bovine, equestrian, and other domestic animals. They are also known to cause birth defects in domesticated animals. Birds do not appear to be affected as severely when consuming these seeds of these plants, but they can also be poisoned in larger doses. |
Conium | Pharmacology | Pharmacology
In hemlock, eight piperidine alkaloids, known to cause strong physiological effects, were isolated. Two of the eight compounds, g-coniceine and coniine, were measured as having the highest concentration, and they contribute to the plant's toxicity. Other alkaloids that have been identified in hemlock include methyl coniine, ethyl piperidine and .
In larger animals, acute toxicity doses for C. maculatum are lower for pigs compared to cattle, and for sheep compared to goats. Specifically, toxicity doses are 3.3 mg/kg for cattle, 15.5 mg/kg for horses and 44.0 mg/kg for sheep. |
Conium | Treatment | Treatment
Gastric lavage is performed on larger animals who have consumed Conium plants. For animals who have started to show symptoms, support respiration and treatment with activated charcoal and a saline cathartic are used. Support respiration and activated charcoal treatment is also given to human patients who have ingested Conium plants. |
Conium | As a poison | As a poison
The Greek philosopher Socrates famously died by goading a jury into sentencing him to death by hemlock (see Plato's Apology.) Conium maculatum (poison hemlock) is infamous in its use as a poison. A small overdose of extract of the plant causes paralysis with higher toxic doses causing a ceasing of respiratory function followed by death. Poison hemlock was historically used in official executions and assassinations. |
Conium | Cultivation | Cultivation
Historically, Conium species has been grown as ornamental plants. As it has attractive flowers to some plant breeders, it was introduced to the US from Europe as a garden plant. However, there have been documented cases where there was an improper cultivation of plants, where the species, notably C. maculatum, is mistaken with common edible plants such as parsnip, parsley, wild celery, and anise and is farmed for human consumption accidentally.
Today, intentional introduction of Conium plants as a garden plant or live specimen for herbal medicine into new and existing regions is less likely. |
Conium | Notes | Notes
1 Species names have Conium abbreviated as C. followed by the species taxonomy. |
Conium | References | References
Category:Apioideae
Category:Neurotoxins
Category:Plant toxins
Category:Apioideae genera |
Conium | Table of Content | Short description, Description, Stems, Leaves, Flowers, Fruits, Seeds, Chemical composition, Species differentiation from other plants, Taxonomy, History, Species, ''Conium chaerophylloides'', ''Conium fontanum'', ''Conium hilliburttorum'', ''Conium maculatum'', ''Conium sphaerocarpum'', Evolution, Toxin development, Distribution, Ecology, Dispersal, Ecological relationships, Economic impact, Uses, Pesticides, In medicine, Other uses, Toxicity, Effects on humans and other animals, Pharmacology, Treatment, As a poison, Cultivation, Notes, References |
Keihanshin | short description | is a metropolitan region in the Kansai region of Japan encompassing the metropolitan areas of the cities of Kyoto in Kyoto Prefecture, Osaka in Osaka Prefecture and Kobe in Hyōgo Prefecture. The entire region has a population () of 19,302,746 over an area of .Japan Statistics Bureau - "2015 Census", retrieved June 27, 2021 It is the second-most-populated urban region in Japan (after the Greater Tokyo Area), containing approximately 15% of Japan's population.
The GDP in Osaka–Kobe is $681 billion as measured by PPP , making it one of the world's most productive regions, a match with Paris and London.Brookings Institution report 2015, retrieved August 23, 2015 MasterCard Worldwide reported that Osaka is the 19th ranking city of the world's leading global cities and has an instrumental role in driving the global economy.Mastercard Worldwide - "Worldwide Centers of Commerce Index 2008" page 8 and 22, retrieved June 11, 2008 If Keihanshin were a country, it would be the 16th-largest economy in the world, with a GDP of nearly $953.9 billion in 2012.NationMaster.com
Prefecture Gross prefecture product(in billion JP¥, 2021) Gross prefecture product(in billion US$, 2021) Keihanshin |
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