Ship Trivia Quiz

Lion was never a helicopter cruiser.  Her appearance when scrapped in 1975 was nearly identical to appearance as first commissioned in 1960, less the parts pirated for upkeep of her two sisters during ten years in Reserve.

 DeRuyter...   I wasn't counting the Otomat SSMs as a significant ship conversion, just because I was accustomed to US & European navies slapping Harpoon or Exocet canisters on ships throughout the 70's and 80's without any significant reconstruction.  I wouldn't have argued it with you if it would have been your third candidate.

However, further study of the 87-88 Jane's Fighting Ships  and Combat Fleets of 98-99 shows that the former De Zeven Provincien, the ship that caused this question in the first place, lost her Terrier guided missiles when she was sold to Peru and had a big helicopter hangar and flight deck added, very similar to Tiger and Blake. Peru also switched names around, so that first the ex DeRuyter was named Almirante Grau, and then changed to Proyecto 01, then back to Almirante Grau while De Zeven Provincien started as Aguirre and was later renamed Almirante Grau, and then back to Aguirre...

 aargh - what's next?

hmmm.... you've just given me an idea for a question.

HMS Drake and HMS Raleigh never sailed on their assigned mission.

Why not? 

If your are referring to the current Drake and Raleigh, it's because they are "stone frigates" - shore establishments. They are the Devonport Dockyard and Torpoint Training Establishment respectively.

Rick

Rick has one of two possible answers, shore establishments obviously can't sail, and the other answer...

Possibly the birth of political correctness. Two vessels were to be sent to the Pacific for a voyage of exploration, HMS Drake and HMS Raleigh. Based on someone's concerns of offending the Spanish, the vessels were renamed HMS Resolution and HMS Adventure. (Not to be outdone, and in the spirit of the New Zealand version of multi-culturalism, the native Maori held a barbeque in honor of the Adventure's crew.)

Rick, the floor is yours.

I feel as though I have won by default - I completely forgot about Cook, Resolution/Drake and Adventure/Rayleigh - if I ever knew in the first place - but having been reading about Devonport only last night that immediately sprang to mind. However....

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In the later half of the 19^th Century two Royal Navy battleships collided and one sank after she was holed by the ram of the other, midships on the port side. Over 100 years later the wreck was rediscovered. Name the ship and her final resting place.

Rick

Not sure what's happened - but there's a question in there somewhere!

Rick

Not this time - try again.

Rick

Rats.  Victoria was rammed on the stbd side.

You must be referring to  HMS Vanguard, rammed by Iron Duke in 1875.  She rests off Kish, in Ireland.

You fell into my cunning trap, but now you've got the right answer.

Over to you.

Rick

Friends - I apologize for my inactivity.

I don't have any good questions off the top of my head, and my work is precluding any chance to poke into interesting reference books for an odd question. 

Please make this one a toss-up - first person who wants to present a question should do so.

Rick

Okie-Dokie, I'll put this one out. If you can answer this, you are indeed a deep delver in Wikipedia's abyss. Who is this guy, where was he when the picture was taken, what was his claim to fame, and what (this is a hint) US vessel was the picture taken by during a record breaking cruise?

searat12 wrote:

I don't remember all of the details, but I believe this was a Phillipino fisherman photographed through the periscope of USS Nautilus on her first round the world underwater cruise.....

I suppose if "you knew your stuff", like you are fond of telling me (  ), then you'd figure out that little bit of info that you are lacking to land the whole answer. You've got the wrong boat.

You've got the boat, ddp, now just complete the rest of the question and she's all yours! It' all accessible on the net.

Later that same day, April Fool's Day, the Triton was sighted by the only unauthorized person to spot the submarine during her secret voyage - a young Filipino man in a small dugout canoe about 50 yards (46 m) off the Triton's beam. The noted photographer Joseph Baynor Roberts of the National Geographic Magazine was able to snap several photos of this unexpected interloper through the ship's periscope before the Triton moved out of range. The November 1960 issue of National Geographic Magazine would identify of the fisherman as then 19-year-old Rufino Baring of Punta Engano, Mactan Island, who believed that he had encountered a sea monster: "I was very frightened. I tried to get away as fast as I could.

The next question is a toss up. Whomsoever wants to ask it, may go right ahead and do so.

Nice to see this topic resurface. If I knew what USNS meant, I might even try and answer the question!

Rick

USNS=United States Naval Ship. Usually an auxilliary, like an oiler, with a US civil service crew and sometimes a Navy contingent (communications section, for instance). They are identified with blue and yellow stripes on their stacks.

Wikipedia definition:

United States Naval Ship or USNS is the prefix designation given to non-commissioned ships of the United States Navy. These are usually auxiliary support vessels owned by the US Navy and operated by Military Sealift Command that are in service and crewed by civilians rather than Navy personnel. In comparison, US Navy ships commissioned into service have the designation USS and are crewed by US Navy personnel.

Here is the USNS Comfort:

Here is the USNS Lewis & Clark:

Thanks - a bit like our RFA (Royal Fleet Auxiliary) then.

Rick

A bit, but the crewmen don't wear uniforms and aren't under naval disciplinary rules. (Can't flog 'em.) Just merchant marine types under government pay. Now, what was the question again? What US ship name has been used the most?

Navypitsnipe:

What Ship Name has been used more than any other by the US Navy? How many ships have held the name? and how did the name originate (why was the first ship named this)?

We're needing a guess here. 

 So I will offer up USS Wasp as it appears that the current LHD must be the tenth to bear the name.  She must be considered by her crew to be about 40,000 tons of diplomacy.

And the first Wasp was a small schooner that was a member of Esek Hopkins' first squadron that raided the British forts at Nassau in the Bahamas.  Other vessels in that squadron included the schooner Fly (wonder why that name wasn't reused nine times), the flagship Alfred, the Providence, Cabot, etc, etc.

Rick