Ship Trivia Quiz

Was it Albert L. Kaiss of the Battleship USS Missouri ?.

How about HMS Victory on a technicality - still in commission and commanded by Lt. Cdr. John Scivier.

Rick

Just my two cents worth here -

We should keep our minds open to the possibility that sometimes there may be an answer that is correct, even though it is not the one we framed when we wrote the question.  Sometimes words have more than one definition, that we hadn't realized until after we have heard other folks start to intepreting the questions through their own set of ears.

Rick Heinbaugh 

You sure have that right, Rick. Just follow this topic from the first page and you'll see a multitude of examples of multiple correct answers.

subfixer, I was working on the ship but can't find the Commander.

24 Oct 1956: Jean Bart sails for Algiers, to take part in Suez operations.

Don't worry runk, the question was already answered.

Sorry no,

She was the Gunboat PETEREL , stationed at Shanghai until Dec8th 1941 when she rejected Japanese demands to surrender.

Her crew fought a one-sided battle ! against the cruiser IDZUMO , a destroyer , a gunboat and various shore batteries.

When the ship cought fire , the crew set off the demolition charges and she sank.

There is a very good book on the China station called,The Royal Navy and the Sino-Japanese incident  1937-41 by Martin H Brice

Would someone  else like to post a question?.

Duke Maddog wrote:

I think I have a question that might work. If no one else wants to post one.

I have no objections. Do any of us object? It's up to Shannonman to decide I would suppose.

And congratulations to shannonman for completely skunking us.

Thank you for the compliment subfixer,

Let Duke Maddog have the next question.

Thanks guys.

What was the US Navy's 'first' battleship?

The first USS Maine, a second-class armored battleship, was laid down at the New York Navy Yard 17 October 1888; launched 18 November 1889; sponsored by Miss Alice Tracy Wllinerding, granddaughter of Secretary of the Navy Benjamin Tracy; and commissioned 17 September 1895, Capt. Arent S. Crowninshield in command.

I know the Texas was commissioned first.

Good answer but not the one I'm looking for. This Battleship never sailed an ocean.

Maybe I should try a clarification: First battleship, not first 'commissioned' battleship. 

Does that make it a bit more confusing? 

I don't know a lot about the US Navy, but I smell a rat here. Are we talking real ships, or something else? Didn't they build a battleship out of bricks for the Worlds Fair in Chicago in the 1890s? I think it was called USS Illinois.

Rick

Congratulations RickF You got it! That was billed as the US Navy's 'first' battleship to show off the Navy's prowess at the World's Fair.

USS Illinois it is. You got the next question. 

Ok, here's a quickie - neither RN nor USN!

Which battle saw the first ship to be sunk by gunfire?

Rick

Not according to the "Guinness History of Sea Warfare", which I am using as a reference here.

Rick

I don't have the Guiness book, but Peter Padfield's Guns at Sea chronicles Vasco de Gama's fight against an Arab fleet off of the coast of India in about 1500 AD.

He executed the first recorded "standoff" fight, 88 years before the Spanish Armada, dismasting and sinking several Arab vessels by gunfire and avoided being overwhlemed from boarding by his numerically superior opponent.

Once again this illustrate the fact that, depending on which reference you have in front of you,  the answer to any particular question is not always clear cut.

The Guinness book states categorically that the Battle of Lepanto - 1571 - saw the first sinking of a ship by gunfire. As Jim is the first to mention Lepanto and regardless of any other claimants, I award the honour of asking the next question to him and rapidly duck out of any controversy!

Over to you, runkel.

Rick

RickF wrote:

As Jim is the first to mention Lepanto and regardless of any other claimants, I award the honour of asking the next question to him and rapidly duck out of any controversy! Over to you, runkel. Rick

Coward!

Nope, this illustrates the fact that you can't trust historical research coming from a bunch of guys in a brewery.