Portal:Malta

The SS Ohio was an oil tanker. When built for the Texas Oil Company (now Texaco), she was the largest oil tanker in the world. She was launched on April 20, 1940 at Sun Shipbuilding Yard in Chester, Pennsylvania, United States. SS Ohio was capable of doing over 16 knots (30 km/h) at sea.

Ohio was the most important survivor of Operation Pedestal, a convoy sent to Malta in August 1942 during the Second World War.

During the convoy's journey she was torpedoed by Italian submarine Axum and hit several times by bombs, and by a Junkers Ju 87 dive-bomber which crashed onto her deck. With a wrecked engine room and nearly broken in half, she was abandoned and reboarded twice but was eventually towed into Grand Harbour whilst sandwiched between two destroyers (HMS Penn and Ledbury) to deliver most of her original cargo of 12,000 tons of diesel and kerosene to the beleaguered island. Her captain, Dudley William Mason, was subsequently awarded the George Cross. After Ohio reached Malta, the ship broke in two from the damage it had sustained. There were insufficient shipyard facilities to repair the tanker, so the two halves were used for storage, and later barracks facilities for Yugoslavian troops. On 19 September 1946, the two halves were towed ten miles (16 km) off the coast, and sunk with naval gunfire. The aft section sank first, followed by the forward half. (more...)

Valletta, population 6,315, is the capital city of Malta. The whole city was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980. The official name the Order of Saint John gave to the city was Humilissima Civitas Valletta — The Most Humble City of Valletta. However, with the building of bastions, curtains and ravelins, along with the beauty of the baroque buildings along its streets, it became known as Superbissima — 'Most Proud', amongst the ruling houses of Europe. In Maltese it is colloquially known as Il-Belt, simply meaning "The City". Benjamin Disraeli visited Valletta in August 1830, on the recommendation of his friend, Lord Byron. He described Valletta as "a city of palaces built by gentlemen for gentlemen", and remarked that "Valletta, equals in its noble architecture, if it does not excel, any capital in Europe." (more...)

Ġgantija (also Ggantia) is a megalithic temple complex on the Mediterranean island of Gozo (part of Malta). The two temples of Ġgantija on the island of Gozo are notable for their gigantic Neolithic structures, which were erected during the Neolithic Age (c. 3600-2500 BC). At more than 5500 years old, the Ġgantija temples are the world's oldest free-standing structures, and the world's oldest religious structures, pre-dating the Pyramids of Egypt and Stonehenge. The temples were possibly the site of an Earth Mother Goddess Fertility Cult, with numerous figurines and statues found on site believed to be connected with that cult.

• ...that Malta gained independence in 1964?

• Ġgantija
• Ħaġar Qim
• Hypogeum of Ħal-Saflieni
• Mnajdra
• Megalithic Temples of Malta
• Valletta