Ship Trivia Quiz

Would it have been Lt Cmdr Max Horton. He commanded HMS E9 who in September 1914 sank the German Battlecruiser Hela...???

Thanks Subby, here's one you ought to know....

Royal Navy submarines - and I guess other navies too - have a tradition of flying a Skull and Crossbones flag on returning from a successful  patrol. Often said to derive from senior officer's opinions of submariners as "pirates", which commander, of which submarine,  sank which ship and is generally credited with originating the tradition?

Rick

You've got it, the other wonderful thing about it was that it was wooden.

Here is a link that refers to the candle:

http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2008/08/submarines-1.html

Do you mean Ictineo II, designed  by the Spaniard Monturiol. in 1864 and  converted from hand-power to steam in 1867?  On the surface it ran on a steam engine, but for underwater  Monturiol invented a peroxide-powered  air-independent engine, which as a by-product  released oxygen into the hull for the crew and an auxiliary steam engine. Sorry but I can find no reference to the candle!

Rick

Sorry for the delay.

This submarine was steam powered, double hulled and way ahead of its time. The candle it used for illumination  used up vital oxygen but also let the crew know when to surface. What else was unique about her?

telsono

Bump!

I second that!  Bump!

Bump!

Wait- I'm really confused. What is a fresh water aircraft?

I thought they flew, not swam?

Oh, brother, next thing you know there'll be electric boats!!! That'd be grotten!

Just my toobits.

Correct.

All you Mr. Subfixer!

USS Wolverine  and  USS Sable. They were paddlewheel steamers.

What were the names of the only two freshwater aircraft carriers ever built, and what unusual propulsion characteristic made them unique?

joeviz - I'll pass it on to you.

The additional structure on the crane was used to drop torpedo warheads to simulate the speed of impact. The Mk 14 torpedo had problems early in the war with both depth and detontation. The Mark V detonator was found to be the problem with the later. Tests were conducted in many areas to find the problem wioth too many duds. The old John Wayne movie "Operation Pacific" shows it being used for such. That point in the movie is supposed to be back by historic fact.

Mike T.

Replacement of battleship gun turrets was one of its previous uses. I will pass on the movie however.

Joeviz  - I was looking for a previous use of it. When I transfered to San Francisco and worked at SFO, seeing it brought back memories of watching an old war film produced in the 1950's in B&W.

Mike T.

It was used for Polaris missile tests, located in Hunter's Point Shipyard.  As for the movie... I have no idea.

What was the use of the red and white painted structure on the crane pictured below? Where is it? And what movie was it used in?

Mike T.

Simple enough, right?  It's all about learnig somn' new.

Over to you telsono!

It'll be the USCGC Tahoma

 a 165' patrol gunboat, was re-designated as the examination vessel (her hull designation was changed from WPG-80 to WAGE-10) on 1 May 1952.  Her hull was painted in "canary yellow" and the word "GUARD" was painted on both sides of her hull in black, while her superstructure remained white.  She then took up station outside of the Chesapeake Bay after being recommissioned on 16 July 1952.  Her crew size was augmented with special boarding teams and more radio and radar operators

http://www.uscgauxfremont.org/coast_guard_trivia.htm

Mike T.

Good question telsono; it made me do quite a bit of research.  I learned a lot too.

Now for a simpler one...

We are all familiar with the white hulled Coast Guard Cutters (both with and without racing stripes), and also with red hulled and black hulled cutters -- with the colors associated, rather loosely with their duties.

There were, of course, grey hulled cutters during several wars -- and it's hard to say what color some of the smaller rescue boats (the 47 footers) are.

But there was once a Coast Guard Cutter with a hull painted bright canary yellow.

What was her name, and what was her mission?

Over to you joeviz,

I would have taken Mare Island as the location as well. I used to belong to the San Francisco Model Yacht Club (rc boats) and a potential member brought in a static model of this vessel that he scratched built. It was a beautiful rendition and he was quite knowledgeable about its history. If I remembered correctly, he had access to the archives on this vessel at Mare Island which was a great help.

The USS Monadnock (BM-3) first served to surpress Filipino insurgents by coastal bombardments, afterwards she was sent to the China Patrol which is probably the reason for her long service.

http://www.navsource.org/archives/01/monadnock.htm

Mike T.

The vessel is the Monadnock and the shipyard is Vallejo.

I'll summarize the hints I gave so for:

1) US Navy vessel, post civil war

2) Built on the west coast of the US, name the place

3) It took 22 years from laying down to commissioning due to Congressional funding being frozen then re-opened.

4) From a class of 4 vessels that served in the Spanish-American War

5) This class of vessels were a new design, but subterfuge was used. They took the names of vessels that were authorized for upgrading, but intsead were scrapped to provide part of their funds to build.

6) This vessel was scrapped 27 years after entering service.

Are these enough hints?

Mike T

Re. ABCD squad, Interesting stuff. Damn ugly ships though, that mast/funnel arrangement is a real abomination!

Keeping in the same era.

Ok, I am looking for a US Navy vessel that was built on the west coast of the United States. It took 22 years from laying down to commission and she served 27 years before being scrapped. It belonged to a class of 4 vessels and they all served in the Spanish-American War. Subterfuge was spent in their building as they took on names of a previous set of vessels that were scrapped instead of being modernized. Even with this, money from congress ebbed and flowed that it took 22 years to commmission her fromher initial laying down. Also, where was she build.

Mike T.

ABCD was the one I was looking for. Congrats Telsono. It is over to you now for the next one.....Cheers Mark

This article has a different go on it.

ABCD Squadron (1886) to Squadron of Evolution (1889)  to White Squadron.

http://www.cityofart.net/bship/atlanta.html

Mike T.

From Wiki:

The ABCD ships proved to be excellent vessels, and the three cruisers were organized into the Squadron of Evolution, popularly known as the White Squadron because of the color of the hulls

Looks like Rich nailed it, it appears ABCD was only a collective name for the ships, we'll have to wait for surfs up reply.

The US Navy was authorized to build 4 vessels in an act of 1883, their names confromed to the first four letters of the alphabet. ABCD which was also the squadron name (edit). some say this was the beginning of the establishment of the modern US Navy.

"World conditions made our Country aware that the

Navywas small. Therefore, in 1882 and 1883, Congress

authorized the construction of the “protected cruisers”

Atlanta, USS Boston, and USS Chicago and the

dispatch boat USS

Dolphin, which had both masts for

sails and stacks for smoke. They were steel hulled and

signaled the end of the ironclads introduced only

40 years earlier. These new cruisers were in the 13- to

14-knot class. They sported new guns, new types of turrets, and armor."

http://compass.seacadets.org/pdf/nrtc/bmr/14325_ch5.pdf

Mike T.

I may be mistaken. The`Yorktown may not` be one of`them.

You are close but not quite there.