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William II, emperor of Germany and king of Prussia

(Encyclopedia)William II, 1859–1941, emperor of Germany and king of Prussia (1888–1918), son and successor of Frederick III and grandson of William I of Germany and of Queen Victoria of England. After the out...

Sampson, William Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Sampson, William Thomas, 1840–1902, American naval officer, b. Palmyra, N.Y. After serving with Union naval forces in the Civil War, he saw varied naval service and was (1886–90) superintendent of...

Rushdie, Sir Salman

(Encyclopedia)Rushdie, Sir Salman sälmänˈ ro͞oshˈdē [key], 1947–, British novelist, b. Bombay (now Mumbai, India). He is known for the allusive richness of his language and the wide variety of Eastern and W...

scurvy

(Encyclopedia)scurvy, deficiency disorder resulting from a lack of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) in the diet. Scurvy does not occur in most animals because they can synthesize their own vitamin C, but humans, other pri...

Perry, Oliver Hazard

(Encyclopedia)Perry, Oliver Hazard, 1785–1819, American naval officer, b. South Kingstown, R.I.; brother of Matthew Calbraith Perry. Appointed a midshipman in 1799, he served in the Tripolitan War, was promoted t...

torpedo boat

(Encyclopedia)torpedo boat, small fast warship built specially for using the torpedo as a means of attack. The first modern torpedo boat was the Lightning, built for the British navy in 1877 by the shipyards of Sir...

Gravely, Samuel Lee, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Gravely, Samuel Lee, Jr., 1922–2004, U.S. naval officer, the first African American to hold the rank of admiral, b. Richmond, Va. Joining the Naval Reserves in 1942, he became (1944) the first Afric...

Lorient

(Encyclopedia)Lorient lôryăNˈ [key], town (1990 pop. 61,630), Morbihan dept., NW France, a port and naval station on the Atlantic Ocean. A great shipbuilding center, Lorient also produces textiles, furniture, an...

dredging

(Encyclopedia)dredging, process of excavating materials underwater. It is used to deepen waterways, harbors, and docks and for mining alluvial mineral deposits, including tin, gold, and diamonds. The Dutch at an ea...

Luce, Stephen Bleecker

(Encyclopedia)Luce, Stephen Bleecker, 1827–1917, American naval officer, b. Albany, N.Y. He entered the navy as a midshipman in 1841. In the Civil War he was head of the department of seamanship at the Naval Acad...