Ship Trivia Quiz

GeorgeW wrote:

Best not to tempt fate, particularly when you are about to take the worlds largest liner out on her maiden voyage, eh Captain Smith.

He made that statement about five years prior to his last voyage as captain of RMS Titanic. Ye be correct, sir. Next question is yours, try to make it easier than your last one.

An easier question eh? try this one.

If you subtract One hundred and sixty six from One hundred and eighty one what ship do you get?

The Flying Fifteen!?

Ok, this might be a little far-fetched but I get really annoyed when I don't know the answer

181-166=15     15=fifteen     In French fifteen=quinze

So, it could be the French ship Louis Quinze!

Good lateral thinking Bryan, you're on the right lines in thinking beyond the arithmetic, but Louis Quinze is not the answer.

Perhaps you should concentrate on the numbers 181 and 166 to determine the identity of number 15.

The USS President?

DD-181 (USS Hopewell) was named for Pollard Hopewell, a sailor aboard the USS Chesapeake, commanded by Captain James Lawrence, both killed when their ship was taken by the HMS Shannon during the War of 1812.

DD-166 (USS Bush) was named after William Sharp Bush of the USS Constitution, a US Marine killed while trying to board the Guerriere during the War of 1812.

The USS President was captured by four British frigates in 1815, technically after the signing of the Treaty of Ghent, but before word of the end of the war reached the US.

Hey, it's a long shot, but I have no idea who DD-15 was named after, or if there even WAS one.  DD-8 was the USS Lawrence (Captain James Lawrence).

Correction: DD-15 was the USS Whipple, but Abraham Whipple was active in the American Revolution.

Looking as far north as the RCN, Flower-Class corvette K181 (HMCS Sackville) minus K166 (HMCS Snowberry) leaves us with K15. As far as I can tell, no RCN ship had that pennant number - but there was HMS Heartsease (K15), an RN Flower-Class corvette. She served with both the RN and the USN, as USS Courage (PG-70). Or did you mean K15, the ill-fated steam-powered submarine.

Rick

You're there Rick -or as close as makes no difference.

I had thought that 166 would have been a giveaway on a ship modellers forum given the widely known Matchbox/Revell model of Snowberry, and of course Sackville is famous as the last Flower, now a  museum ship in Canada.

Once you have those, a search on the net for Flower Class Corvettes (Wikipedia) brings up a full list of Flowers with pennant numbers; K15 is HMCS Atholl, a modified Flower of 1943.

The number has been used before but not on Canadian Flowers.

My reference to ‘North American' as opposed to 'American', and my use of an ‘incorrect' capital K in the word ‘known' were also intended as subtle clues.

Still, you got there Rick and the floor is yours.

Thanks George, but I think you are being overgenerous, since I did not get the correct ship. Still, here goes with another question, which is a little different.

At the time of the Battle of Trafalgar, what order would be conveyed by this single flag - in RN ships, of course?

Rick

Got it in one (and in under 15 minutes!). Next question, George.

Rick

I seem to be an unfortunate place, I am located 54 degrees 33 minutes North latitude, and 3 degrees  30 minutes west longitude.

 In the space of 137 years I have received on two occasions unwelcome attentions firstly by a returning local and secondly by means of which the returning local could only have dreamed .

A third local who also had notoriety was associated with me, but in the end all was forgiven.

Where am I?

What were the two events?

Who were the locals.?

I think the place is Whitehaven, Cumbria, England.

The two events are:

1. In 1778 John Paul Jones launched an attack on the port of Whitehaven.
2. In 1915 the German submarine U24 did the same, if only Jones had one of these.

The locals are:

1. John Paul Jones, he left the port of Whitehaven in 1760 when he first went to sea.
2. Mildred Gale, grandmother of George Washington.

Well Bryan what do I have to do to stretch your eclectic knowledge bounds!

Three out of four ain't bad, but was George Washington's Grandmother notorious? a seaman I am looking for, whose mother incidently also lived in Whitehaven.

Care to have a stab at the full set?

GeorgeW wrote:

...but was George Washington's Grandmother notorious?

Well, her last name was gale; quite notorious to most seamen I would think

Then it must be Admiral Sir Baldwin Wake Walker you're looking for.

I think the notorious person is Peter Heywood. One of the sailors sentenced to hang for the Bounty mutiny. He was pardoned so that would count as forgiven, I think.

Here is a link to the story.

http://www.whitehaven.org.uk/information-historical.html#anchor13389

As Bryan has got most of the answer; if I am correct I think he should set the next challenge.

Well done David, that is the final answer. Didn't take very long between yourself and Bryan to solve this one, I can see I will have to stiffen up the questions!

I had expected the U boat and Peter Heywood elements to present the most difficulty.

Well done to both of you.

Thanks George!

Next QUESTION:

In 1897 the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse of the German Nortdeutscher Lloyd won the Blue Riband by crossing the Atlantic with an average speed of about 22.5 knots.

In 1938 RMS Queen Mary did the same by crossing with an average speed of about 31.5 knots.

Despite being the major connection between Europe and The United States it took 41 years to gain an increase in speed of only 9 knots!

What was the cause of this disappointing achievement while other technologies seemed to make giant leaps?

PS Just to make a comparison: 1897 was still six years before the first flight of the Wright Brothers. In 1939 however the Messerschmitt Me 209 broke the air speed-record with 470 mph!

Hmmn that's a tricky one Bryan,

I can't believe it's anything to do with technology.

Is it something to do with the Two Way Rule. Prior to the 1930s a ship had to beat the highest average rate of knots of both east and west crossings in a single voyage to win the trophy, this would presumably bring down the average prior to the 1930's.

from wikipedia,"In August 1936, Queen Mary captured the Blue Riband from Normandie, with average speeds of 30.14 knots (55.82 km/h) westbound and 30.63 knots eastbound. Normandie was refitted with a new set of propellors in 1937 and reclaimed the honour, but in 1938 Queen Mary took back the Blue Riband in both directions with average speeds of 30.99 knots (57.39 km/h) westbound and 31.69 knots eastbound, records which stood until lost to the SS United States in 1952."

does it have to do with her turbines?

It was a technological issue. The Two Way Rule isn't the key to the solution.

You have to concentrate on this part of the question: "...it took 41 years to gain an increase in speed of only 9 knots!"