Ship Trivia Quiz

Well done, Tom. I was getting worried that no one would answer - and I'm off to Canada for 10 days on Thursday!

Agincourt's original name when laid down at Birkenhead was HMS Captain. She was launched in March 1865. Agincourt was paid off in 1877 for re-armament, trading her outdated muzzle loading guns for new breech-loading ones. In 1889 she was again paid off and was subsequently held in reserve at Portsmouth until 1893, when she was transferred to Portland for use as a training ship. During her active career Agincourt was the flagship of no less than fifteen admirals.

Now renamed Boscawen III, she served at Portland  until 1905, when she was moved to Harwich and renamed once again, this time to Ganges II. She made her final journey, to Sheerness, in 1909. After her arrival at Sheerness the old ship was systematically stripped, and converted into a coal hulk known simply as C.109. Despite calls to preserve her she was scrapped in 1960.

Her unusual features? She had five masts. There were no transverse bulkheads on her main deck. And, of course, she was reputedly the largest single-screw warship ever built.

Over to you, Tom.

Rick

Ahoy RickF and friends of ship trivia,

Question:  The USS Langley, CV-1, the US Navy's first aircraft, carrier is indirectly associated with the mysterious voodoo of the "Bermuda Triangle."  In what way is the USS Langley connected to the Bermuda Triangle?

Tom S.

a sister collier ship, USS Cyclops went missing in the bermuda triangle March 1918.

rick, where in canada are you going to as i live in ontario, canada?

We fly to Vancouver, spend three days there, then get the "Rocky Mountaineer" to Kamloops and Banff. Then it's on to Calgary and home. Always wanted to do the train trip.

Rick

ddp59,

I think the question was too easy.  Yes, the Langley was converted from the collier Jupiter which was the sister ship of the Cyclops which did indeed disappear into the Bermuda Triangle.  The floor is yours!

Tom S.

alumni72,

Right out of the Twilight Zone.

Yes, there were four colliers in the Proteus class.  The Jupiter became the USS Langley.  The Cyclops vanished in 1918 in the Bermuda Triangle.  The Nereus vanished in 1941, also in the Bermuda Triangle, after leaving the Virgin Islands, on the same course as the Jupiter.  Her loss was attributed to U-boats, but never confirmed nor was her wreckage ever found.  The Proteus was also lost at sea in 1941, but not in the Bermuda Triangle.  Her loss was also attributed to U-boats, but never confirmed.

Your powerful memory shines more light on this dark subject!  The next question remains with ddp59.

Tom S.

alumni72,

As there has been no response in four days from ddp59, I think that in the interest moving on, you should ask the next question.

Tom S.

OK, I'll bite the bullet.

This may be simple - I believe it is pretty easy.  But without doing days of digging for a really tough one, here goes:

What was so special about IJN Patrol Boat #102?

Sounds like the former USS Stewart (DD 224), raised by the Japanese after being scuttled in Surabaya in March 1942.

Rick

Told you it was easy -

 Batter up, Rick!

Alright, let's keep it moving along.  I have an answer in mind, but someone else may come up with a different answer that is just as good, if supported with data.

This class of combatant ships (battleship/ cruiser/ destroyer type) appeared during its career with main gun batteries of three significant different sizes, differing by at least an inch in diameter.  What class?

So we are talking about a particular class, ie Cleveland class cruisers, KGV class battleships, County class cruisers, not just "all Royal Navy cruisers".

Rick

aack.  I knew there would be a different way to interpret this question.  I was intending it to mean that the largest gun on a ship of the class varied over the years.  So (hypothetically)  ship A had a 21" gun, ship B had 22" gun, and ship C had a 23" gun, but they were all generally referred to as the same class.  You managed to refer to a single ship wth three different calibers, all more or less considered to be "main battery".

 Let's take another eight hours and see if anyone can read my mind more clearly (since that's all these things are anyway), and if not, we will say that Kentucky  is a satisfactory answer, albeit not to the question that was originally in my head.

See you at 8:30 PM, PDT.

Rick

OK - I had the Clemson class of 4 stack destroyers in mind. 

A handful were commissioned with four 5"51 cal guns; most had the standard four 4"50 cal guns, (no need to count the Wickes class with twin 4"50 cal) and during WW II, the 4" or 5" were replaced by up to six 3"50 cal guns.

But I guess Kentucky with three sizes of "main battery" simultaneously is a different sort of correct answer.

 Over to you, Mr. bumm.

Rick

and now for something new and completely different...

The "favorite maritime movie" thread has completely ignored my favorite ship movie.

This ocean liner disaster film pre-dated the "Poseidon Adventure", and featured an all star cast that surpassed the "Poseidan Adventure". 

Like the "Poseidon Adventure", this movie's musical theme became a radio hit.

The film and the ship shared the same name.

It had a story theme quite relevant to our current principal crisis.

Among my my favorite characters were the head of the engine room and the engine room staff.

One of the characters in the movie starred in a role in another production that was reprised by Tom Cruise.

This movie had to watched carefully for uncredited cameo performances... including an actor known for his macho, tough guy personas in other films, who apeared in this flick as a transvestite caberet singer!

Name the film, the hit theme song, and name at least six appearing celebrities.

The Magic Christian

Come and get it

Peter Sellers as Sir Guy Grand KG, KC, CBE
Ringo Starr as Youngman Grand, Esq.
Isabel Jeans as Dame Agnes Grand
Caroline Blakiston as Hon. Esther Grand
Spike Milligan as Traffic warden #27
Richard Attenborough as Oxford coach
Leonard Frey as Laurence Faggot (Ship's psychiatrist)
John Cleese as Mr. Dougdale (director in Sotheby's)
Patrick Cargill as Auctioneer at Sotheby's
Joan Benham as Socialite in Sotheby's
Ferdy Mayne as Eduoard (of Chez Edouard restaurant)
Graham Stark as Waiter at Chez Edouard Restaurant
Laurence Harvey as Hamlet
Dennis Price as Winthrop
Wilfrid Hyde-White as Capt. Reginald K. Klaus
Christopher Lee as Ship's vampire
Roman Polanski as Solitary drinker
Raquel Welch as Priestess of the Whip
Victor Maddern as Hot dog vendor
Terence Alexander as Mad Major
Clive Dunn as Sommelier
Fred Emney as Fitzgibbon
David Hutcheson as Lord Barry
Hattie Jacques as Ginger Horton

Edward Underdown as Prince Henry
Jeremy Lloyd as Lord Hampton
Peter Myers as Lord Kilgallon
Roland Culver as Sir Herbert
Michael Trubshawe as Sir Lionel
David Lodge as Ship's guide
Peter Graves as Lord at ship's bar
Robert Raglan as Maltravers
Frank Thornton as Police Inspector
Michael Aspel as TV commentator
Michael Barratt as TV commentator
Harry Carpenter as TV commentator
John Snagge as TV commentator
Alan Whicker as TV commentator
Kenneth Connor
Graham Chapman as Oxford crew (uncredited)
Yul Brynner as Transvestite cabaret singer (uncredited)
Sean Barry-Weske as John Lennon lookalike (uncredited)
Kimberley Chung as Yoko Ono lookalike (uncredited)
George Cooper as Losing Boxer's Second (uncredited)
John Le Mesurier as Sir John (uncredited)
Guy Middleton as Duke of Mantisbriar (uncredited)
Edward Sinclair as Park attendant (uncredited)

Runkel has it.

The question could have been rephrased as "What happens when Peter Sellers, The Beatles and Monty Python collaborate on a movie?"

Sellers and Ringo starred, McCartney wrote the music (performed by Badfinger), Lennon and Oko were supposed to be in it but weren't allowed on the QE II (which doubled as the Magic Christian while on the way to the US) due to their problems with the US Government. Chapman and Cleese had bit parts, along with the long list of celebrities (including "The Manchurian Candidate's" Lawrence Harvey in a striptease, Yul Brynner in drag and Mission Impossible's Peter Graves) and even LORD Richard Attenborough.  ...apparently only George Harrison had the good sense to sit this one out. 

The movie was a sequence of short vignettes skewering human greed. Many were hilarious, but some fell flat. It was a product of the sixties that I think must have relied on the recreational chemicals of those times to help the audience appreciate it. But its message is probably more relevant now than it was then.

One of the high points (especially if you are toasted) is when a male passenger threads his way through the sinking ship's corridors trying to find an escape route.  (I think the ship hits an iceberg after the passengers have watched on a closed circuit TV, a vampire, Christopher Lee of course, having the Captain, stodgy Wilfrid Hyde-White, for a snack on the bridge) Entering the engine room, the hapless passenger finds a scantily clad Raquel Welch, yielding a whip, dominating dozens of naked female galley slaves toiling at the oars!  (let's see Tina Fey top that!)

Hmmm... by the way, how many of you guys know who Raquel Welch is?

This quiz has been slowly degenerating. When a correct answer has been submitted, the person making the correct answer is obligated to pose a new one. If you aren't prepared to ask a new question (the guilty parties know who they are), then don't answer the previous one. It's simple! Some of the questions that have been asked have answers that are so obscure that a prompt reply cannot be made. They are then left to languish in the following pages and forgotten. If you pose a question that doesn't get any nibbles, then give a little clue or ask a question that is a little more mainstream. C'mon, get with the program!

In the spirt of moving this thread along, I suggest a new question:

 On a modern US Navy Aircraft Carrier (Nimitz Class), where would you go to find the "secondary conn."  and for extra points, during battle stations, who would you expect to find there?

Ahoy subfixer,

 That was fast!  Must have been too easy.  I stumbled upon the USS Enterprise secondary conn during "zone inspection" one lazy afternoon.  Zone inspection was one of my favorite past-times, I learned a lot and got to see almost every compartment on the ship. 

You're correct on both counts and the next question is yours.

 Tom S..

Not a lot of people are aware of sec conn, a fully equipped navigation bridge and pilot house. That's why there are portholes there in the bow of carriers.

 Here is my question: What vessel holds the Hong Kong to New York sailing record of 77 days and when was it set?

I think you're talking about the US clipper "Sea Witch."  In 1847, under Captain Waterman, the Sea Witch made the trip in 77 days.  In 1849, Captain Waterman and the Sea Witch made the same trip in 74 days.  This speed record stands today.

Tom S.

Oops! 

I spoke too soon (don't believe everything you read on Wikipedia). The record was broken in 2003 by Rich Wilson and Rich Du Moulin onobard the 53ft trimaran Great American II.  The new record is 72 days 21 hours 11 minutes and 38 seconds. The Sea Witch made the trip in 74 days 11 hours.

QUESTION:  There was a WWII US Navy submarine Captain who made 12 combat patrols and, following the war, continued his navy career.  Among his accomplishments, he served as the Naval Aid to a President, was the Captain of a historic nuclear submarine, and became a best selling author.

This man's father was also a US Navy Captain, who among other events in his life was court martialed in 1917.

What was the name of the father and why was he court martialed?