Ship Trivia Quiz

Surface-Line,

Correct!

Capt Edward L Beach Jr, winner of the Navy Cross, Aide to President Eisenhower, Captain of the USS Triton (SSRN-586) during it's underwater circumnavigation of the globe (Presidential Unit Citation) and author of best selling book Run Silent, Run Deep was the son of Capt Edward L Beach Sr who was the captain of the armored cruiser Memphis (originally USS Tennessee ARC-10) when, at anchor in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic in Aug 1916,  it was hit by a Tsunami and driven ashore.  The wave was so tall that seawater came in down the stacks. The ship was a total loss.  Capt Beach was convicted at court martial of not keeping up enough steam to get underway in time to avoid the disaster.  Editorial: The buck stops with the Captain no matter what the circumstance!

Beach Jr. also wrote a book describing the disaster which is good reading for anybody interested in naval literature.

Sorry to be so windy.  Surface_Line, you've got the conn!

Wow, I love when there's a good run of questions and answers like this! This is great! And Eagle, I don't mind at all the extra 'wind'. Sometimes I don't think enough history is provided with many of the answers here.

This is great! I love reading these questions and answers!

alumni72 and Duke Maddog

 Yes, Captain Beach asked the Admiral who was onboard if he could keep up more steam but the Admiral refused, citing concerns for the cost of fuel (coal).  The wave that engulfed the Memphis was a true Tsunami and in an era without radios and broadcast weather warnings, there was no way it could have been predicted.

The Chief Engineer, a Lieutenant, who, several years later, was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroic action in standing by his duty station trying to get up enough steam to manuever.  The wreck, minus guns and other removable equipment, remained on the rocks in Santo Domingo until 1927 when it was finally broken up for scrap.

History is great stuff.  That's a little bit of why I build models.  It's my way of connecting to the airplanes and ships and men that shaped civilization.

Tom S.

This is a very tricky question, but I have two nominees for this honor, because they were both sunk on the same day.  I think the Greek battleship Kilkis can claim the dubious honor in this case:  

The Greek Battleship Kilkis was sunk at Salamis on April 23, 1941 by Stuka dive bombers.  The Kilkis was the ex US Battleship Mississippi BB-23 that was purchased by Greece in 1914.  It was built in Philadelphia Pa.

The Greek Battleship Lemnos , ex USS Idaho BB-24, was also sunk on that day at Salamis, but as it's guns had been removed to serve as shore batteries, it was not much more than a hulk at the time.

Tom S.

Well done!

My understanding was that the Kilkis was sunk (in shallow water) by the bombs, but the Lemnos was intentionally beached - a difference that gives the splitting of hars to the Kilkis, ex-Mississippi.  I was not aware of the main gun battery being removed, and don't have my Warship Profile for those two ships close at hand.

Rick Heinbaugh

Ahoy Surface_Line,

Here's a couple of pics.  In the picture taken from ground level, that's the Kilkis in the foreground and the Lemnos in the background.

Sweepers, sweepers man your brooms!

Tom S

New Question:

Before the advent of the angled deck, aircraft carriers faced a problem of taking onboard aircraft if the deck was stacked ready for launch and all the aircraft were aft.  How was this problem solved?

Could be several solutions to the problem you're describing...  None were implemented on ALL straight deck carriers, as far as I know.

 The arresting gear at the bow?  I thought that was  not really for aircraft on deck but rather a damaged deck back aft.

The outriggers for getting the parked aircraft out of the way?   This does require moving the birds, so it's only a partial solution.

Hangar deck catapult? Likewise, still requires respotting to allow recovery while launching.

 How about the wires at the bow?

I'll give you an OK pass for your first solution.

Although I can't speak with certainty of post WWII (jets), aircraft carriers built during and before WWII were required to be able to make good speed backing in order to recover aircraft over the bow and launch them over the stern.  These ships had arresting gear capability forward including LSO platforms.  Attached is a picture of USS Yorktown CV-5 making 19.4 kts backing during its sea trials in 1937.

Congratulations on your imagination.  The next question is yours!

Tom S.

Surface_Line,

 Oops.....that's 17.5 knts backing in the pic.  I read the caption wrong.

Looking forward to your question.

Tom S.

Aargh.  It's much harder to write a question than find an answer, it seems, what with wikipedia and google replacing Joe Blow's simple knowledge base of twenty years ago.

Here goes with a Sesame Street type question ("which one of these is not like the other?")

What pair of Lend Lease destroyers were significantly different from the rest and how were they different?

Ahoy Surface_Line,

You're right about answers being easier than questions.  This is a game of research more than memorizing the Bluejacket manual.

 As far as I can tell, all of the lend-lease destroyers were "flush decks", ie. they had four stacks, except for two of the Caldwell class, those being the Stockton DD-73 and the Connor DD-72.  These two ships had three stacks.  It's interesting that the Caldwell DD-69 herself, also a lend-lease ship, had been converted to a flush deck prior to transfer.

Reville, reville, all hands heave to and trice up your bunks!

Tom S.

Well, yes.  You're right.  Stockton and Connor were the pair with three stacks.

 But the term "flush decker" doesn't really fit as a distinction here, because all of the Caldwell, Clemson and Wickes classes were classic "flush deckers", in that they did not have a raised fo'c'sle like other destroyers of their day.  Indeed, Caldwell was built with four stacks.  The Caldwell class of six were experimental, built to various combinations of details - a modeler's paradise!

Besides having three stacks, Stockton and Connor had a different engine arrangement, three screws (the only in  the class) and a different hull form aft, that was shared by all of the Caldwell class.  (this stern shape is best shown by the photo on the Navsource page for USS Manley DD-74, second photo down from the top)  DD-71 Gwin also had three stacks, but only two screws, and the standard turbine arrangement.  Gwin was scrapped before the Lend Lease became a glimmer in FDR's eye.  Stockton was one of the ships with a twin 4"gun mount on the fo'c'sle, but the other twin 4" gun ships and 5" gun ships came from the Clemson class.

Bottom line: we gave Great Britain 50 flush deck destroyers, but two had three stacks and three screws.  These, as you say, were Conner and Stockton.

Your turn.

Rick

Surface_Line,

I can see that my understanding of the term "flush deck" has always been out to lunch.  Thanks for clearing that up for me.  When I looked at the classes of ships transferred, I zeroed in on the Caldwell bunch because they were built earlier than the other two classes in question and I figured they would be less standard than a larger class.  After that, it was just a matter of counting stacks!  I was completely unaware of the twin vs three screw arrangement.  As for armament, I allowed that some variation of calibres and mounts was inevitable in such a large number of ships.

 I have a new QUESTION:

Only a moron would put a screen door on a submarine.  However, it would probably be the same brainiac who would power a submarine with a steam engine (nuclear submarines excepted).  Who would do such a thing and why would they do it?

Tom S.

Here is a sub way ahead of its time for real! Icteneo II was designed to help coral fishermen (whatever they were fishing for is beyond me) in 1864-1867 by a guy named Narcis Monturio. Note the double hull. I believe it was Spanish.

Here are a couple of pictures of a model:

subfixer,

 Ask a stupid question........and see what surfaces, an Icteneo.  I am struck dumb!  This is not what I expected, but it sure does answer both parts of the question I asked.  My hat is off to you on this one.

The next question belongs to you for the same reason the scarecrow was made the governor of Oz...for your superior brain!

I was thinking in more traditional terms of the British WWI "K Class" submarines which were steam powered, full size boats built to run with the fleet on the surface and preceed it into battle.  Steam was the only way to get the speed needed.  Imagine being on a K-boat that just submerged with the fire still buring in the coal-fired boiler.  Those bubble-heads had to be tough hombres back then.

subfixer, you got it right. Very good work!

Tom S.

Pleased to see this thread is still ticking along. It is hard to defend the "K Boats", but they were fast - faster than any RN sub built before 1945 - and, no, they weren't coal-fired. Even the RN drew the line at stoking in a sub. They were oil-fired, with very sophisticated boiler rooms, probably the best-designed part of the boat. There were other steam subs about too -the French had one called "Archimede" and the RN had ordered one called "Swordfish" in 1913. It wasnot a succes, either.

Rick

RickF,

You've spoiled my illusion, I always thought they were coal-fired.  I read a book about them when I was a kid, and the rocks were still warm then, so I must have done a mental transfer.  I believe there was a total of 17 K's built and 5 were lost to accidents.  That's 29% of the total.

 Tom S.

At the risk of hijacking the thread - but no one has posted a question, so what the hell - here's a list of the "Ks" - and their fates.

According to the book "Portrait of a Shipbuilder - Barrow-built vessels from 1873" (another book well worth looking out for) K-4's collision was with her sister boat K-6. She also ran aground off Barrow during trials in 1917. Not a lucky sub.

Dave Ross.

Living across the road from where many of the K-class were built.

Sorry for the delay;

What US statesman is the only one that has been honored with two ships named in his honor that were in commission at the same time? The names of the ships?

This is a REAL trivia question because I don't think there's anyplace to go to look this one up!  Whatever his name, it sounds like double-dipping to me.

Tom S.

How about Alexander Hamilton - USS Alexander Hamilton (SSBN-617) was a submarine in service from 1963 to 1993 and the US Coast Guard has USCGC Hamilton(WHEC-715), commissioned in 1967.

Rick

ok, I've gotta ask - how different are the names?  From what you just said, it should be something like

USS George Washington    and

USS First President of the United States

because USS Washington is only partially different.

Hmmm

Would they be the carrier (later ATV) USS Franklin and the nuclear submarine USS Benjamin Franklin?