Ship Trivia Quiz

Too cryptic, huh? OK - they are ship names, not places.

Rick

During World War I the Royal Navy decided to convert a select number of merchant ships, particularly ocean liners, into imitation capital ships. Fourteen ships in total were selected for the task, each re-modelled individually with mock turrets, guns and other sham devices made of wood and canvas, and specially ballasted, to enable them to masquerade as the capital ships of the Grand Fleet.

City of Oxford ( Ellerman ) as HMS St. Vincent
Michigan ( Warren ) as HMS Collingwood
Montezuma ( Canadian Pacific ) as HMS Iron Duke
Ruthenia ( Canadian Pacific ) as HMS King George V
Tyrolia ( Canadian Pacific ) as HMS Centurian
Oruba ( Orient ) as HMS Orion
Mount Royal ( Canadian Pacific ) as HMS Marlborough
Montcalm ( Canadian Pacific ) as HMS Audacious
Princess ( ex- Kronprinzessin Cecilie ) as HMS Ajax ( Hamburg Amerika )
Perthshire ( Federal SN ) as HMS Vanguard
Cevic ( White Star ) as HMS Queen Mary
Manipur ( Brocklebank ) as HMS Indomitable
Patrician ( Harrison ) as HMS Invincible
Merion ( American ) as HMS Tiger

Is this now our own private playground? You're up, Jim and I promise to let someone else have a go - if they're interested!

Rick

Well , you are about to lose a member of our small? band of triviaites [ new word? ] as I am off to Australia for my holidays.

But not to worry as I will be back in time for Christmas.

Have a nice time, Alan. I'm off myself soon, too - Canada at the end of the month, but only for a couple of weeks.

Rick

Who was the first ship firing the first 16-inch shells fired by the U.S. against the European Axis Powers?

Thanks, I will give it a try.

 What was the last signal made by an American vessel to the Bismark?

I'll take a guess:

 "Where are you?"

I like that answer. LOL

Not quite. But not far off.

Perhaps they wanted a courtesy vessel examination. Or "We need to inspect for contraband. Let's see your papers" Maybe the thought there was a party going on. LOL

Close again, but not what happened

oh boy! another Bismarck question!

That would have been the US Coast Guard cutter Modoc signaling "AA" to Bismarck by light and wireless signals requesting that she identify herself.

About that time, the Royal Navy's Swordfish flew over Modoc as they lined up on Bismarck.  

Modoc got her "AA", but not the kind she was expecting.

schoonerbumm, you've got it!

I always get a chuckle out of this story. It was rude of the German navy not to reply to our Coast Guard!

Here is one version of the story. http://www.a-bsp.org/ Then go to Coast Guard History and then to Sinking of the Bismark.

schoonerbumm, you are up.

hehe - never read about the Modoc before.

I was actually thinking it might have been before the war, during a courtesy visit by the US Navy.

As a Brit, it would be nice to find a Nelsonian connection - "the Wooden Walls of England" -  but I believe it predates Horatio by a couple of millenia!

When the Greeks were fighting the Persians, they consulted the Delphic oracle, who gave the usual garbled and mysterious answer which included "safety promised in a wooden wall".

Thermistocles interpreted this to mean the Greek ships in the Bay of Salamis, where a decisive battle was fought in September, 480 BC, resulting in a Greek victory and eventual defeat of the Persians under Xerxes.

However, some Athenians interpreted the prophecy literally, barricaded the entrance to the Acropolis with a wooden wall, and fenced themselves in. The wooden wall was overrun, they were all killed, and the Acropolis was burned down by the Persians.

Rick

The buildings on the Acropolis have been built, destroyed and rebuilt over the centuries. In fact, the Greeks were going through a rebuild when the Persians attacked in 480BC. After that war, the Greeks buried all the remains of the temples etc and started again. Most of what remains visible today was built between 450-400BC, although there have been many alterations in 2500 years.

Rick

As a retired structural engineer, I'm fascinated by the architectural (both on land and sea) accomplishments of prior civilizations. All they had were ingenuity, wind water and muscle power. (Of course they did have the advantage of not relying on computers  I read a recent article in technical magazine bemoaning the death of intuition. As one of my former colleagues put it, "data, data everywhere, and not a thought to be thunk")

A couple of books that I enjoyed on the subjects were "The Ancient Engineers" by L.Sprague deCamp and "Brunelleschi's Dome" by Ross King.

Once again, Rick has the correct answer, Themosticles's interpretation of the Oracle's doubletalk saved western civilization from the Persians.

This election cycle shows how things never change. Nearly 2500 years later, western civilization is still locked in conflict with the middle east and politics is still locked in conflict between the sexes....

"Themosticles said "The Athenians govern the Greeks; I govern the Athenians; you, my wife, govern me; your son governs you" -
  --  Plutarch

Thanks Alan - here goes with another one...

The Royal Navy's largest single-screw fighting ship (possibly the world's largest?) was scrapped in 1960. She was unusual in several ways and in her long career had many names. What was she called when she was launched?

Rick

How about the HMS Agincourt?  This ship was laid down at Birkenhead in 1861 as the HMS Captain.  The Agincourt displaced 10,800 tons and had a single shaft.  She was broken up in 1960.

Tom S.