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Instructions
Requesting a review

To request the first A-Class review of an article:

  1. Please double-check the MILHIST A-class criteria and ensure that the article meets most or all of the five (a good way of ensuring this is to put the article through a good article nomination or a peer review beforehand, although this is not mandatory).
  2. If there has been a previous A-Class nomination of the article, before re-nominating the article the old nomination page must be moved to Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/Assessment/Name of nominated article/archive1 to make way for the new nomination page.
  3. Add A-Class=current to the {{WPMILHIST}} project banner at the top of the article's talk page (e.g. immediately after the class= or list= field).
  4. From there, click on the "currently undergoing" link that appears in the template (below the "Additional information" section header). This will open a page pre-formatted for the discussion of the status of the article.
  5. List your reason for nominating the article in the appropriate place, and save the page.
  6. Add {{Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/Assessment/Name of nominated article}} at the top of the list of A-Class review requests below.
  7. Refresh the article's talk page's cache by following these steps. (This is so that the article's talk page "knows" that the A-class review page has actually been created. It can also be accomplished in the 2010 wikitext editor by opening the page in edit mode and then clicking "save" without changing anything, i.e. making a "null edit". )
  8. Consider reviewing another nominated article (or several) to help with any backlog (note: this is not mandatory, but the process does not work unless people are prepared to review. A good rule of thumb is that each nominator should try to review at least three other nominations as that is, in effect, what each nominator is asking for themselves. This should not be construed to imply QPQ).
Restrictions
  1. An article may be nominated a second (or third, and so forth) time, either because it failed a prior nomination or because it was demoted and is now ready for re-appraisal. There is no limit on how quickly renominations of failed articles may be made; it is perfectly acceptable to renominate as soon as the outstanding objections from the previous nomination have been satisfied.
  2. There are no formal limits to how many articles a single editor can nominate at any one time; however, editors are encouraged to be mindful not to overwhelm the system. A general rule of thumb is no more than three articles per nominator at one time, although it is not a hard-and-fast rule and editors should use their judgement in this regard.
  3. An article may not be nominated for an A-Class review and be a Featured article candidate, undergoing a Peer Review, or have a Good article nomination at the same time.
Commenting

The Milhist A-Class standard is deliberately set high, very close to featured article quality. Reviewers should therefore satisfy themselves that the article meets all of the A-Class criteria before supporting a nomination. If needed, a FAQ page is available. As with featured articles, any objections must be "actionable"; that is, capable of rectification.

If you are intending to review an article but not yet ready to post your comments, it is suggested that you add a placeholder comment. This lets other editors know that a review is in progress. This could be done by creating a comment or header such as "Reviewing by Username" followed by your signature. This would be added below the last text on the review page. When you are ready to add comments to the review, strike out the placeholder comment and add your review. For instance, strike out "reviewing" and replace it with "comments" eg:

Comments Reviewing by Username

Add your comments after the heading you have created. Once comments have been addressed by the nominator you may choose to support or oppose the nomination's promotion to A-class by changing the heading:

Support / Oppose Comments reviewing by Username

If you wish to abstain from either decision, you may indicate that your comments have been addressed or not addressed. For instance:

Comments Reviewing by Username addressed / not addressed

This makes it easy for the nominator and closer to identify the status of your review. You may also wish to add a closing statement at the end of your comments. When a nominator addresses a comment, this can be marked as {{done}} or {{resolved}}, or in some other way. This makes it easy to keep track of progress, although it is not mandatory.

Requesting a review to be closed

A nominator may request the review be closed at any time if they wish to withdraw it. This can be done by listing the review at ACRs for closure, or by pinging an uninvolved co-ord. For a review to be closed successfully, however, please ensure that it has been open a minimum of five days, that all reviewers have finalised their reviews and that the review has a minimum of at least three supports, a source review and an image review. The source review should focus on whether the sources used in the article are reliable and of high quality, and in the case of a first-time nominator, spot-checking should also be conducted to confirm that the citations support the content. Once you believe you have addressed any review comments, you may need to contact some of the reviewers to confirm if you have satisfied their concerns.

After A-Class

You may wish to consider taking your article to featured article candidates for review. Before doing so, make sure you have addressed any suggestions that might have been made during the A-class review, that were not considered mandatory for promotion to A-class. It can pay to ask the A-class reviewers to help prepare your article, or you may consider sending it to peer review or to the Guild of Copy Editors for a final copy edit.

Demotion

If an editor feels that any current A-class article no longer meet the standards and may thus need to be considered for demotion (i.e. it needs a re-appraisal) please leave a message for the project coordinators, who will be happy to help.

Current reviews

[edit]
Please add new requests below this line

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Instructions for nominators and reviewers

Nominator(s): Hawkeye7 (talk)

Scott Carpenter (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)

I am nominating this article for A-Class review as the third in the series on the Mercury Seven astronauts after the more famous Alan Shepard and John Glenn. He is not nearly as famous as those two, although his name was a household word for a time. He only flew in space once, on a single Mercury mission, but I think he was a pretty interesting guy. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 20:40, 17 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Support by Nick-D

[edit]

I'd like to offer the following comments:

Nick-D (talk) 04:26, 19 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Support Those changes look good, and I'm happy to support this nomination. Nick-D (talk) 09:12, 20 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Image review

[edit]

The joys of link rot, eh? Parsecboy (talk) 15:33, 21 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

It's really sad. What I would really like to use is this Hawkeye7 (discuss) 00:09, 22 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Ooh! found it on Commons! Added to the article. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 20:31, 22 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

HF

[edit]

I hope to be able to get to this this weekend. Hog Farm Talk 19:24, 21 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Wehwalt

[edit]
  • "She recovered sufficiently to become chief medical librarian at Boulder Community Hospital in 1945. His father remained in New York, and he seldom saw him. He found it hard to find work during the Great Depression, but eventually secured a good position at Givaudan. His parents divorced in 1945, and his father remarried.[3]" Requires a lot of parsing to figure out who the "he"s are.
    checkY Re-worked to make it clearer. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 20:01, 25 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
  • "and earned the rank of Second Class Scout.[7]" This is far from exceptional. Is it worth the mention? Or does it contrast against other astronauts who became Eagle Scouts?
    Another editor thought is was, and even suggested adding this image to the the article. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 20:01, 25 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
  • Since his high school is mentioned in consecutive sections, you might want to clear up when he graduated. He attempted to join the service before graduation? I notice he was under 18.
    checkY The English-speaking countries are notorious for their use of boy soldiers. Added that he graduated in 1943, so he would have been 18 years old. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 20:01, 25 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
  • "University of Colorado at Boulder." I might delete "at Boulder". It is the principal campus and Boulder is mentioned earlier in the sentence.
    checkY Done. This required a piped link. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 20:01, 25 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
  • "The first astronauts intake" I'm not sure, but consider "astronaut" instead of the plural.
    checkY Deleted the plural. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 20:01, 25 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
  • I guess a lot of the interest of this is going to be about the overshoot, but I'm not sure we get the full sense of what you call a "simmering" controversy. We get the views of Kraft, Kranz and Cernan but very much in retrospect. What went on, what was said, at the time? Did this affect Carpenter's willingness to go do something else, and NASA's willingness to release him to do it? Also, he was injured in a motorcycle accident. Was he supposed to be doing that (remembering NASA's later reaction to Cooper's car racing)?
    checkY The Kranz issue was very much a struggle for control between the astronauts and the ground controllers. The release had more to do with the end of Project Mercury, with no more missions from 1963 until Gemini started in 1965. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 20:01, 25 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
  • I guess that's about it. A good read.--Wehwalt (talk) 15:03, 25 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
  • Just was reading his NY times obit, it says "The uncertainty over his fate was only one problem with the flight. The equipment controlling the capsule’s attitude (the way it was pointed) had gone awry; moreover, he fired his re-entry rockets three seconds late, and they did not carry the anticipated thrust. He also fell behind on his many tasks during the flight’s final moments, and his fuel ran low when he inadvertently left two control systems on at the same time." From here. Some of that may be a bit more succinct than what you've stated.--Wehwalt (talk) 15:11, 25 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
    Thanks for that. I have added a few bits from the obituary. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 19:31, 27 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

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Instructions for nominators and reviewers

Nominator(s): Hog Farm (talk)

Battle of Arkansas Post (1863) (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)

Vicksburg-related, but a bit off the beaten path. In late 1862, Union political general John A. McClernand convinced Lincoln to allow him to recruit troops and then take that force down the Mississippi River to operate against Vicksburg. Neither Grant nor Henry Halleck (the Union general in chief) particularly trusted McClernand, so they engaged in some machinations that resulted in Sherman taking command of McClernand's force and leading it downriver while McClernand was still in Illinois. By the time McClernand is able to rejoin the army, Sherman had already been repulsed at Chickasaw Bayou. Indepedently, Sherman and McClernand had decided to reduce the pesky Confederate position at Arkansas Post, also known as Fort Hindman. There is a meeting with Admiral Porter, who also loathed McClernand, and the force is off up the Arkansas River. The Union forces began landing on January 9, 1863, formed into position the next day, and a combined naval bombardment and land assault occurred on January 11. Surrender flags began to appear over parts of the Confederate line in uncertain and unathorized circumstances, and after a confusing set of events, the Confederates surrendered. Grant did not approve of the operation (although Sherman and Porter later changed his mind) and ordered McClernand back to the Mississippi River. Grant took command from McClernand on January 30, setting the stage for the better known stages of the Vicksburg campaign. Hog Farm Talk 02:43, 3 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Nick-D

[edit]

I find articles about this period in the US Civil War to be very interesting. I'd like to offer the following comments:

  • In general, the lead seems a bit wordy. Some specific examples are below, but I'd suggest simplifying this more broadly.
  • "a fort known as Fort Hindman" - do you need "a fort known as"?
  • "and machinated start the riverine movement" - the grammar seems off here
  • "However, Major General Henry Halleck," - say what position Halleck held when he's introduced.
  • It would also be desirable to have a description of the Union chain of command, as the current material is confusing. An organisation chart showing who reported to who might be a good way of summarising this (and could be used across multiple articles).
  • The description of the battle is very detailed. I'd suggest not adding further detail before this goes to FAC, and you could look for opportunities to streamline the text a bit. Nick-D (talk) 00:34, 25 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
    • I've made some cuts to the lead. I'll take a look at streamlining the body this weekend; I imagine that some of the references to individual sub-units by name are not necessary. I'll see what I can do with some sort of organizational explanation. Hog Farm Talk 01:53, 25 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Parsecboy

[edit]

Image review:

That's it for images. Parsecboy (talk) 15:22, 21 January 2025 (UTC) « Return to A-Class review list[reply]

Instructions for nominators and reviewers

Nominator(s): Ashmedai 119 (talk)

Battle of Meligalas (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)

This article was translated from Greek Wikipedia, where it is a FA, a while ago from Cplakidas, the undersigned having been the editor who contributed most to its original version. It has passed a GA review, without many critical comments from the reviewer. I am nominating this article for A-Class review, because I think it fulfills the A-Class criteria and I would also greatly appreciate comments by encyclopedia editors who have concerned themselves with military matters, hoping that there will be improvements that will eventually lead the article to being a Featured Article. Ashmedai 119 (talk) 08:59, 2 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Image review

[edit]
  • File:Borci na ELAS.jpg - this needs a US licensing tag as well, since Wikimedia servers are in the US
  • File:BRAVOS-1940.jpg - same as above
  • All other images check out, either Bundesarchiv photos or works of current users
  • Please remove periods from captions that are not full sentences
  • In terms of placement, you have some MOS:SANDWICHing going on in the "German takeover and the establishment of the Security Battalions" section, which should be avoided.

That's it for images. Parsecboy (talk) 14:30, 21 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hawkeye7

[edit]

Most of the issues with this article seem to be in the translation.

Lead
  • Mention that the ELAS was a (mainly communist) left wing resistance organisation, as this knowledge is necessary to understand the last paragraph
  • "from 1942" no comma
  • "remains a point of reference and an antifascist rallying cry for the far-left in Greece" I have no idea what is meant here
Political and military background
  • " the wing commander Dimitris Michas" -> Wing Commander Dimitris Michas
  • " in the mountainous areas of Messenia" Where is that?
  • " was established as a Resistance group", " the local Resistance groups" lower case R
  • " after forging ties with royalist networks chiefly in the area and in Athens" In what area?
  • " but these failed" -> " but these efforts failed"
  • "such as Dionysios Papadongonas and possibly also Tilemachos Vrettakos, respectively " Delete "respectively"
  • " the German major general Karl von Le Suire" capitalise "major General" (link to Generalmajor)
  • "Apart from the "Evzone Battalions" (Ευζωνικά Τάγματα) established by the collaborationist government of Ioannis Rallis, in late 1943 independent "Security Battalions" (Τάγματα Ασφαλείας, ΤΑ) began being raised" What do we mean by "Apart from" Is "In addition to" meant?
  • "After a request of the collaborator prefect of Messenia" -> "request from"
  • " ordered in February" -> " ordered in February 1944" ?
  • "the Security Battalion under the command of Major Panagiotis Stoupas, that arrived" Delete comma
  • "After a request of the collaborator prefect of Messenia, Dimitrios Perrotis, the Rallis government ordered in February a municipality-supported Security Battalion to be formed in Kalamata, which merged in March with the Security Battalion under the command of Major Panagiotis Stoupas, that arrived from Athens in Meligalas, a location that controlled the road from Kalamata to Tripolis and the entire area of the south." This entence is too long and very confusing. Break it up.
  • "a town held by a German garrison at Meligalas" This doesn't make sense.
  • " sent there Aris Velouchiotis" -> "sent Aris Velouchiotis there"
  • "Velouchiotis' task was to reorganize the 3rd ELAS Division, with a total strength of some 6,000 men" He is trying to reorganise it, reducing it to 6,000 men?
  • "Following the assassination of Georganas by the OPLA of Kalamata" Who were they?
  • " members of the collaborationist governments" There is more than one?
  • "proscribing the death penalty for high treason to those who" -> "for those who"
  • "The British desired the maintenance of the status quo until the arrival of their forces and the Papandreou government, and above all wanted to avoid German arms and equipment from falling into the hands of the partisans." Italicise "status quo"
  • " British lieutenant general Ronald Scobie", "Greek lieutenant general Panagiotis Spiliotopoulos" capitalise and link "lieutenant general"
  • " Walter Blume, the head of the German security police (SD)" add "in Greece"
  • "Colonel Papadongonas" Delete "Colonel"

more to come... Hawkeye7 (discuss) 21:56, 24 January 2025 (UTC) « Return to A-Class review list[reply]

Instructions for nominators and reviewers

Nominator(s): Hog Farm (talk)

USS Varuna (1861) (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)

My first nomination here since I nominated CSS General Earl Van Dorn back in May. Varuna was being constructed as a merchant ship when the US military bought the unfinished vessel for use on the blockade during the war. At the Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip, Varuna got ahead of the other Union ships and was involved in a bloody fight with Governor Moore, a gunboat operated by the state of Louisiana. Governor Moore rammed Varuna twice, and a third blow from another Confederate vessel (sources disagree as to which one) was enough to sink her. Clive Cussler found her remains in the 1980s, by then mostly under the riverbank. Hog Farm Talk 03:04, 25 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Support by Nick-D

[edit]

I'd like to offer the following comments:

  • The lead seems a bit short - a couple of paras would be better given the length of the article
  • "against Confederate positions at Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip " - I'd suggest saying where these forts were located
  • Was the design of the ship altered after the USN bought it? (presumably yes, to add weapons and facilities for the crew, etc)
    • @Nick-D: - I haven't seen a source that says much about this. Charles Swasey, one of the ship's officers, wrote in his post-battle report Here let me pause for a moment while we reflect upon the inadaptedness of a merchant-built vessel for war purposes, particularly such as the Varuna was called upon to take part in. Had we been built with that strength which all the other vessels possessed, and the need of which becomes more apparent to the mind of the naval officer each day, we would yet be afloat off the city of New Orleans. So whatever they did evidently didn't work very well. Hog Farm Talk 03:23, 22 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
      • I'm not sure what the literature on the USN of this era looks like, but are there reference books on ship types that would provide this? For 20th Century ships there's a vast specialist literature that provides these types of details, sometimes at obsessive levels of detail. Nick-D (talk) 09:51, 22 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
        • @Parsecboy and Sturmvogel 66: - Are either of y'all aware of a good source for such information? The two reference-type books that come to my mind for this period are Silverstone (who doesn't have much for Varuna) and then Canney's The Old Steam Navy which is mostly focused on the purpose-built ships rather than the civilian conversions. Canney's work on the Confederate navy has this sort of details for the civilian conversions, though. Hog Farm Talk 03:24, 23 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
  • "The crew of Varuna burned barrels of pork in an attempt to raise steam" - was this instead of burning coal in the boilers?
    • I've clarified that this was to raise additional steam - there's not much to work with in the source, but I think the implication is that they're throwing in whatever will burn hot. Hog Farm Talk 03:23, 22 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
  • A map of the area where the ship's final battle took place would be useful Nick-D (talk) 03:53, 19 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Support My comments are now addressed - great work with this article. Nick-D (talk) 00:51, 25 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Parsecboy

[edit]

Image review:

General comments:

  • I may have missed it, but I thought the DMY style for American military articles was for 20th century topics - not a huge deal (and I'm an American who prefers that style) but I was surprised to see it
  • This is a little nitpicky, but I don't generally use the "Out of service" field if the same date is in the Fate field directly below - seems redundant to me
  • "January or early February, 1861" - I think you don't need a comma there
  • Dunno how nitpicky we want to be, but 8 inches is 20.3cm
  • "The lead Union ship was USS Cayuga, who" - think you mean "which"?
  • On that note, what type of ship was Cayuga? Ditto for Oneida further down
    • I've added this, although it requires another citation to Silverstone. I've added a hidden comment to explain why these seemingly unrelated pages of Silverstone are being cited. Hog Farm Talk 02:36, 22 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
  • Another minor nitpick, but I'd invert the order of the images in the sinking section, so it shows ramming first, and then sinking.
    • Parsecboy - I've actually removed the sinking image to make room for a map of part of the action with Governor Moore. Hog Farm Talk 03:24, 22 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
      • It's a shame there isn't more room - there's also a pretty nice illustration of Governor Moore shooting through its own hull on page 448 of the magazine the ramming image is from. Might be worth moving the illustrations to a gallery? But this is just an idea, not mandatory.

Overall, very nice work! Parsecboy (talk) 13:34, 21 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Everything looks good now, happy to support. Parsecboy (talk) 12:21, 22 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Comments by Pendright

[edit]

Placeholder - Pendright (talk) 01:53, 23 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Lead

  • One of the vessels purchased was Varuna, who was still under construction when the sale occurred on 31 December 1861.
The pronoun who is primarily used to refer to people
  • During the action, Varuna ran ahead of the other Union ships, and was engaged in a chase with the Louisiana gunboat Governor Moore.
  • Add ensuing between the and action
  • Add she between and & was

Construction and characteristics

  • When the American Civil War broke out in April 1861 the Union adopted the Anaconda Plan.
Add a comma after 1861 - it's an introductory phrase
  • Many of the existing active ships were too large to enter the ports that would need to be blockaded.
Drop the second the - ports are not specific
  • She was a steamship[4] and was powered by a single screw propeller.
  • The lead refers to Varnua as a "screw steamer"?
  • She was powered by a "steam-engine" and propelled by a single screw, or driven by a single propeller.
Screw and propeller have the same meaning. Propellers
  • Info Box may need tweaking

Service History

  • Encountering three Confederate gunboats, Varuna fired at them, and continued upriver.[15]
Why the comma after them?
  • Varuna was now the leading Union ship, and was spotted by the State of Louisiana gunboat Governor Moore.
and it was spott6e
  • The commander of Governor Moore ordered lights similar to those on Varuna displayed on his ship as a ruse.
Is the first on necessary?
  • The gunboat CSS Jackson briefly fired into the melee, but then continued upriver to New Orleans.
but then it continue(d
  • At this point, the two ships were about 10 feet (3.0 m) apart, but could barely see each other due to dense smoke.[18]
but they could
  • Governor Moore's deck,[18] but Governor Moore rammed Varuna, knocking out the Union ship's engines.
engines or engine?

This is it - Pendright (talk) 05:10, 26 January 2025 (UTC) « Return to A-Class review list[reply]

Instructions for nominators and reviewers

Nominator(s): Simongraham (talk)

AN/APS-20 (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)

I am nominating this article for A-Class review because I feel both that it meets the criteria and the topic of radars have insufficient coverage in the encyclopedia. The article passed a GA review some time ago so hopefully it is now ready for promotion. simongraham (talk) 01:37, 19 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Support from Hawkeye7

[edit]

Looks fine to me. Some suggestions:

  • "At the same time, 31 large Boeing PB-1W aircraft were converted from B-17G Flying Fortresses to become the first land-based aircraft equipped with the radar. They were especially designed to combat the increasing threat of Japanese Kamikaze attacks" Are the Flying Fortresses or the Avengers the ones designed to meet the Kamikazes? The latter seems more likely to me. (Although I checked the details of Project Cadillac II with Airborne Early Warning and Control: A Piece of the Puzzle (pp. 12-13) and it does seem right.) I would separate them, as all the rest of the paragraph is about the Avenger and Cadillac II is already mentioned in the Design and development section above, so maybe you don't need to mention it here at all.
  • This source also talks about the limitations of the radar. "The APS-20 gave a bearing to the target, but could not determine the exact altitude of the target, so its radar ‘fix’ was two dimensional. The target might be at low, medium or high altitude... Another limitation of the APS-20 was that it did not perform well over land. The radar could not pick out low flying aircraft from the ‘ground clutter’ of trees, hills and moving land vehicles."
  • There is still a dubious-discuss tag
  • The aircraft are not listed in alphabetical order - F comes after D
  • What were Warning Stars?
    • The derivative of the Lockheed Constellation that mounted the radar. There were two versions, one designated sequentially PO-2W, WV-2 and EC-121, the other WV-3 then WC-121, used by a number of US operators. simongraham (talk) 13:22, 22 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
  • Link authors Norman Friedman and Norman Polmar

Hawkeye7 (discuss) 19:50, 31 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Image review

[edit]

That's all. Parsecboy (talk) 14:42, 21 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Comments by Nick-D

[edit]

I'd like to offer the following comments:

  • I've split the lead into 2 paras.
  • "Subsequently, the airframe was adopted by a range of operators, from the Argentine Navy to the Republic of China Air Force" - naming only two operators here is a bit unclear given that the Neptune was widely used. Why not say how many countries used Neptunes fitted with this radar instead?
  • "commissioning Grumman to use it in the design which eventually became the Grumman S2F Tracker" - this doesn't seem to have been the standard radar fitted though? (the Australian Trackers used the AN/APS 39 radar) Nick-D (talk) 01:01, 25 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

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Instructions for nominators and reviewers

Nominator(s): Parsecboy (talk)

SMS Berlin (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)

After quite a bit of time away from formal review processes, I'm getting back into it (I think we both know you missed seeing the stream of German warships passing through ACR). Berlin had an interesting career across three German navies, and was one of the few larger ships to survive World War II (though simply as a barracks ship). Thanks for taking the time to review the article! Parsecboy (talk) 12:30, 24 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

HF

[edit]

I'll review this over the coming week. Hog Farm Talk 03:10, 9 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

  • As a bit of a comprehensiveness check, I've consulted Halpern's A Naval History of World War I and the only information about Berlin in that work is already well-represented in this article (towing the torpedoed Munchen)
  • Infobox says she was recommissioned on 1 August 1914 but the body says 17 August 1914. Is the infobox just missing the second digit?
    • Yeah, just a typo
  • "when he was briefly replaced by KL Hans Walther" - the rank abbreviation KL is never given its full name in the article
    • Good catch
  • " and she was transferred to Wilhelmshaven, where she was decommissioned on 10 June " - had she ever be recommissioned after the 1917 decommissioning?
    • Not until 1922, as far as I'm aware
  • I would recommend in long place names lists such as "She visited Ponta Delgada, Hamilton, Bermuda, Port au Prince, Haiti, Colón, Venezuela, Puerto Madryn, Argentina, Guayaquil, Ecuador, Callao, Peru, and several ports in Chile, including Valparaiso, Corral, Talcahuano, and Punta Arenas" to consider ending each individual City, Country name with a semicolon instead of a comma, such as Port au Prince, Haiti; - I think this is recommended at time for lists containing indiviudal items with commas within them to make it clearer which sets in the list are individual items
    • Good catch - I wrote this article a few years ago before I knew that was a thing
  • The infobox says she was scuttled in 1947, is this an error for 1946 which is what the body and lead have? The article is also in a category for maritime incidents in 1947
    • 1947 is a commonly cited date (presumably originating with Groener, which is also where the claim that she was used to dispose of chemical weapons originated), but Dodson & Cant correct it - apparently when I updated the article with their book a few months ago, I forgot to fix the infobox.

I think that's it from me. Hog Farm Talk 04:11, 14 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for your review! Parsecboy (talk) 15:23, 18 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Looks good; supporting. Hog Farm Talk 21:01, 18 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Support by Nick-D

[edit]

This article is in good shape. I have the following comments:

  • "("His Majesty's Ship Berlin")" - I don't think that this is necessary, especially in the article's first sentence which should be kept as crisp as possible per MOS:FIRST
    • Works for me
  • The sentance starting with "She was used to support" is over-complex
    • Split and reworded
  • "She had a crew of 14 officers and 274–287 enlisted men" - why the range in the number of enlisted men?
    • Explained in the article
  • I'd suggest adding a sentence or two about what the Agadir Crisis was about
    • Added a bit on this.
  • Do we know why this ship was selected as one of the 6 CLs Germany was able to retain after World War I? Nick-D (talk) 03:45, 19 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
    • It was one of the few that were left. Article 185 of the Treaty of Versailles specified 8 cruisers to be surrendered (in addition to what were interned at Scapa), leaving five more modern cruisers that could have been kept by Germany. But those were added to the list to replace ships that were scuttled at Scapa, leaving Berlin (and Hamburg) as the most modern cruiser available. I've not seen this explicitly stated however, so to spell it out in the article is probably tiptoeing closer to SYNTH that we'd like. Thanks for reviewing the article! Parsecboy (talk) 16:13, 20 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Support Those changes look great, and I'm happy to support this nomination. Nick-D (talk) 09:48, 21 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Comments Support by Pendright

[edit]
  • The design for the Bremen class was derived from the preceding Gazelle class, utilizing a larger hull that allowed for additional boilers that increased speed.
that would increase speed or to increase speed
Done
  • Berlin served with the main fleet's scouting forces for the majority of her early career; during this period, she conducted unit and fleet training exercises, visits to foreign countries, and in 1908 and 1909, several long-distance training cruises into the central Atlantic.
  • during this period, -> usually means during a specified time period
  • Mix of tenses -> conducted (past), visits (present)
  • Drop the comma after 1909 and add the ship made
  • Atlantic Ocean
  • Reworded this sentence to address several of the above comments:
  • She was used to support German coastal defense forces and to scout for the High Seas Fleet; on two different occasions, she had to tow her sister ship Danzig back to port after the latter struck naval mines, and she had to tow her sister München after that vessel was torpedoed by a submarine.
  • Substitute Berlin, the ship, or the cruiser for one or more of the three she(s)
  • This was already reworded based on Nick's comments above
  • after this vessel
  • As above
  • She thereafter served as a training ship for naval cadets, and over the course of the mid-1920s, embarked a series of long-distance training cruises.
Drop the comma after 1920s and add Berlin embarked on a
I think the comma is needed there
  • She was decommissioned in March 1929 and kept in reserve until 1935, when she was converted into a barracks ship, a role she filled through World War II.
  • the role since it is specific
  • I don't think that's right in this case
  • Three she(s)-same as above
  • Fixed

Design

  • Her propulsion system consisted of two triple-expansion steam engines driving a pair of screw propellers.
Boilers are an essential part of steam propulsion systems. -> include Berlin's boilers as part of its steam propulsion system.
Reworded
  • Steam was provided by ten coal-fired Marine-type water-tube boilers, which were vented through three funnels located amidships.
  • steam was generated
  • Drop comma [,] which and replace with that: -> comma which tells readers what follows is additional information while that tells them the information is essential to the meaning of the sentence.
  • Reworded per your comment above
  • The ship was armed with a main battery of ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/40 guns in single mounts.
on single mounts?
Done
  • For defense against torpedo boats, she carried ten 3.7 cm (1.5 in) Maxim guns in individual mounts.
on individual mounts?
Done

Construction 1910

  • The ships went to a series of sailing regattas over the course of the next few weeks; the first was in the Elbe river, followed by Kiel Week, and finally Travemünde Week.
on the river?
Fixed

Agadir Crisis

  • She had to stop at Portsmouth, Britain, to coal and repair some of the storm damage.
for coal and to repair -> for modifies nouns and to modifies verbs
Coal can also be used as a verb
  • The rest of Berlin's crew took the ship to Wilhelmshaven, where she was decommissioned on 29 October and placed in reserve, where she remained through mid-1914.[11]
a comma is not used before where when Where introduces essential information
I don't think that's right - the two subsequent clauses are all dependent on the first, which requires commas to offset them

World War I

  • The next day, the ships were transferred to the German Bight, where they supported the patrols guarding the German North Sea coast.[12]
A comma is not used before where when Where introduces essential information
Same as above, you always need a comma before a conjunction joins two clauses
  • Berlin emerged from the shipyard on 8 June.[11][14
Berlin left or departed the shipyard
Done

Later career

  • She was initially used as a training hulk for boiler room crews; she was moved to Kiel on 16 December 1919 for this role, which she filled for the next year and a half.
The pronoun she is used three times in this sentence?
Fixed
  • She was reassigned on 1 October, and she began her furthest training cruise on 1 December.
Change one she to a noun
Done
  • Berlin arrived back in Cuxhaven on 7 March 1929; from there, she was moved to Kiel, where she was decommissioned for the last time on 27 March.
Drop the comma before where -> same as above
Same as above, the comma is required there

This is it - Pendright (talk) 01:33, 21 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks Pendright! Parsecboy (talk) 13:05, 21 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Supporting - Pendright (talk) 02:41, 22 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Image review - pass

[edit]

Six images:

Hawkeye7 (discuss) 18:39, 24 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Source review

[edit]
  • Do we have a source for footnote b?
    • Added, along with some additional context
  • Dodson is linked in Further reading but not in the references
    • Fixed
  • Spot checks: 22 - okay
  • 11, 21 I may have a different edition of the book. In mine the cited entries are on pp. 132-134 [2]
    • Interesting, it must be a different edition, since the cover of that version is entirely different from the one I have.

Hawkeye7 (discuss) 18:39, 24 January 2025 (UTC) « Return to A-Class review list[reply]

Instructions for nominators and reviewers

Nominator(s): Hawkeye7 (talk)

Project Pluto (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)

Introducing one of Wikipedia's stranger articles, an artifact of the Golden Age of Mad Science, which ran from roughly 1945 to 1970. It was fun to write. The project aimed to use a nuclear engine in a supersonic cruise missile. It would operate at Mach 3, or around 3,700 kilometres per hour, be invulnerable to interception by contemporary air defenses, and carry up to sixteen with nuclear weapons with yields of up to 10 megatonnes of TNT. What could possible go wrong? Hawkeye7 (discuss) 22:21, 12 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Support from Gog the Mild

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Marking a spot. This will probably be a bit episodic. Nudge me if I seem to have forgotten about it. Gog the Mild (talk) 20:11, 13 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

  • "The need to maintain supersonic speed ... meant that the reactor had to survive high temperatures and intense radiation." I can see how "The need to maintain supersonic speed at low altitude and in all kinds of weather meant that the reactor had to survive high temperatures and intense radiation" but why should the low altitude and the kind of weather raise the reactor temperature and radiation levels? Similarly in the main article.
    checkY Added an explanation. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 19:19, 25 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Nice.
  • The second half of "Development" is probably not in summary enough nor non-technical enough terms for FAC, but it scrapes by my personal ACR threshold.

Down to "Test facilities" and so far it is an excellent read with very little to pick at. Gog the Mild (talk) 20:54, 14 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Bleh! You wouldn't get away with that at FAC.
It will do. You don't have to use the converter "in line". You could insert "$2 billion" by hand and keep the same cite.

That's it from me. Gog the Mild (talk) 16:01, 25 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Matarisvan

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Hi, ran the IA Bot on the page, will post my comments soon. Matarisvan (talk) 16:37, 20 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Matarisvan: - Are you still hoping to review this? It would be the last needed review for this one barring the source review. Hog Farm Talk 23:29, 28 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

HF - support

[edit]

I'll try to review this one first and then McCain. Hog Farm Talk 02:24, 26 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

  • Does the R Division stand for "Rocket Division", or does it have some less obvious significance?
    Yes. This was the usual practice at LLNL. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 12:00, 28 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • "It would carry sixteen nuclear warheads with nuclear weapon yields of up to 10 megatonnes of TNT (42 PJ) each" - I don't think this is quite right. The text of the source reads It could carry more nuclear weapons, and larger weapons if desired, than a Polaris submarine, which has a normal complement of sixteen missiles each with a warhead of under ten megatons. In the source, the count of sixteen missiles appears to be a reference to what was on the Polaris submarine. Our article at Submarine-launched ballistic missile does mention the early US nuclear missile subs carrying sixteen warheads. Elsewhere in the source, it mentions the rockets potentially carrying dozens of smaller nuclear warheads
    You're quite right. Re-worded. (You may also be concerned at how few warheads a submarine has. Fear not! A modern Trident has up to 24 missiles, each carrying up to eight warheads, although fewer are usually carried.) Hawkeye7 (discuss) 12:00, 28 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • Can it be clarified more what a MW-day is? The MW is megawatt, but I'm struggling to figure out what that would signify? Enough fuel to produce one megawatt of energy continually for a day?
    Yes. It is actually a unit of energy. A million joules per second each day. As the fuel is burned up in the reactor, power generation will fall off. We can offset this effect by ... never mind. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 12:00, 28 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • "The uranium was in the form of oralloy: uranium enriched to 93.2 percent uranium-235)." - I'm not seeing where the accompanying open parenthesis is
    Deleted. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 12:00, 28 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • Is it relevant to briefly explain what Tory III would have been?
    My understanding is that Tory III was an improved version, but was still in the design phase when the project was cancelled. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 12:00, 28 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I think that's it from me. Hog Farm Talk 03:55, 28 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Image review
  • File:Tory-IIC at Jackass flats.jpg - source link no longer works
  • File:Pluto-SLAM.png - source link no longer works and there needs to be some way to verify that this artist's impression is actually accurate
    Added archive links. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 12:00, 28 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Except the archive link is for an article from 2021, while this file was uploaded in 2012. It looks like that archived website just took the file from Wikipedia. Also - is there any way to have a source that verifies that the artist's impression is actually an accurate depiction of the missile? Is Greg Goebel who made the image someone who is known in this field? Hog Farm Talk 17:02, 28 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Oops, wrong link; replaced with a different archive reference. I did not add this image to the article. Greg Goebel is a prolific author of books about US bombers and missiles. See [3]. The image looks correct; compare with those at Vought (I think that is where I got the sixteen warheads figure from.) But I have doubts about its copyright status. Replaced with a NASA image. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 20:07, 28 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The other images seem fine. Hog Farm Talk 04:06, 28 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Support on the content review and pass on the image review. Hog Farm Talk 23:29, 28 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]


Zawed – Support

[edit]

Picking this one up to get it across the line instead of waiting for Matarisvan. The article looks in good shape, just some nitpicks:

That's it for me. Cheers,Zawed (talk) 09:31, 13 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Zawed, thanks for chipping in. I am currently occupied with 1 GA rewrite and 2 FA rewrites, so I wasn't able to commence my review. I'll have to wait till this article is nominated for FA in some time. Matarisvan (talk) 10:27, 13 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
This all looks good to me, I have added my support. Zawed (talk) 04:54, 20 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Parsecboy

[edit]

Source review:

  • Footnotes and citations all appear to be formatted uniformly
  • Nickpicky, but "required. [42]" needs to have the space removed
  • I'm a bit concerned about Harkin and Centurion Publishing - I can't find much on them, and it seems like they haven't published a whole lot of books (and what they have published is almost entirely books by Harkin, who is cited in this article). Apparently, they went out of business in 2019, which doesn't inspire confidence. I also don't see anything in Worldcat by this Hugh Harkin, nor can I find anything he's published that wasn't with Centurion, which also doesn't make me confident in his reliability as a source.
    Hugh Harkins is an author of books on aeronautical and historical subjects. See [4]. He has published books with other publishers eg [5] Centurion has published books by other authors. eg [6] Hawkeye7 (discuss) 19:01, 21 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
    I scanned through all 91 books listed here and all but the book on the Tornado were published by Centurion, as far as I could tell (with the exception of Ladies of the Mist, but that's fiction). The Tornado book was published by Pentland Press according to Worldcat, another seemingly fly-by-night publisher that was in operation for less than 15 years. I had a trawl through Google Books and only found this one that cites one of Harkins' books. There are a handful of citations here, here, and here. I think this one is marginal at best - as far as I can tell, he's not a trained historian, which is not automatically disqualifying, but he's basically only been published by a single company that operated for a fairly short period of time. We may need to seek further input at WP:RSN. Parsecboy (talk) 20:28, 21 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
  • What makes https://www.vought.org/ reliable? From what I can tell, the authors are either former employees or enthusiasts
    Removed the sole reference to this source. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 19:01, 21 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

That's all. Parsecboy (talk) 14:21, 21 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Current reassessments

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Please add new requests below this line