The Ironclad Turret Ship SMS Grosser Kurfurst, or “Great Elector" was commissioned on May 6, 1878, just in time to participate in the Imperial German Navy’s summer training cruise. That cruise would prove disastrous for both the ship and the Navy.
October 5 represents the anniversary of what is generally considered to have been an aviation first, the first time that the crew of one airplane shot down another airplane- the first aerial victory in history.