Ship Trivia Quiz

OK, heres a clue.

Revenge

HELLO,

Is this question too hard ?

Sorry guys,

I've been a bit busy this last couple of days [ the boss has had me out on the garden ].

OK, We know that Capt. Lawrence said   " Don't give up the ship" , but , who said " Save thyself, my friend, and leave me to my fate. !!!!! "

Absolutely!!  Good job Shannonman!!  I thought this would be an easy question, as the very first thing you see as a WW1 British capital ship looms up on the horizon is a tripod mast but, i guess sometimes you never know!

SMS Blucher was indeed a 'ship built by mistake,' in that a clever misinformation campaign by the British fooled the Germans into believing HMS Invincible would be armed with 9" weapons, when of course it was actually equipped with 12" guns.  'Blucher' was first built with the then-standard German pole-mast arrangement, but was refitted in 1913 with the experimental tripod arrangement that was later installed on SMS Derflinger after Jutland, and also the BC Hindenburg and the Baden class of battleships as well.

SMS Blucher, although something of a failure as a battlecruiser, was quite an excellent model for the future family of 'heavy cruisers,' which largely replaced both the battlecruiser and armored cruiser after WW1 as a result of the various treaty conferences.  In only one feature was Blucher lacking, and that was speed, a problem that could have been repaired at a later date through either conversion to turbines, or lengthining the hull (as was done to the Japanese 'Kongos').  Further, if the Germans had operated 'Blucher' as an armored, or heavy cruiser, or 'commerce destroyer' (she had quite 'long legs' with a range of close to 7,000 km)) rather than as a battlecruiser, it is quite possible she would have had a much longer and more successful career both as a prototype, and as a cruiser as well....... 

And with that final note, the next question is yours Shannonman!

Still only halfway there!  What was the 'unique' feature?

By the way, SMS Blucher actually dished out a fair bit of punishment herself before going down, hitting HMS Lion several times.  She also didn't go down easy either, receiving more than 50 direct hits from 12" and 13.5" shells from the entire British battlecruiser squadron before finally capsizing and sinking (which is a pretty amazing performance for any ship, cruiser, battlecruiser, or battleship for that matter!)....

It sounds like the armoured cruiser (near-battlecruiser) SMS Blucher to me; it was essentially a battlecruiser, but seriously undergunned (12 8.2" guns) compared to its British equivalents, as at the time it was built the Germans did not realise the British battlecruisers were being built with 12" guns, rather than the 8"-9" usual for armoured cruisers.

But I've no idea what its unique feature was!

Right!  Here's the question.... This ship was the first in the fleet with a feature that was invariably used on capital ships of the opposing force, but early on was the sole representative with this feature in its fleet.  It was built on the basis of misinformation, and that flaw eventually contributed to its loss.  While often considered a failure for that reason, in fact it can very much be seen as a precursor to a whole class of ships built by most navies, and if it had been used in such a fashion, it most likely would have had a very good career.

What is the unusual feature, and what was the name of the ship?

That's the man, one of my personal heroes - but he must have been a so-and-so to work for! Well done. Your go.

Rick

I got my initial sourcing from the New York Times at:  http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=980DE3DA163AE532A25750C1A9679C946996D6CF

Obviously, Admiral Scott knows the name of his command best!!!

No - the man we are looking for had been retired, but was brought back on the outbreak of war.

Rick

Well done, searat - nearly there. It is, of course, one of the dummy battleships of what my book calls the Special Coastal Squadron, commanded, as you say by Commodore Haddock (what a splendid name - good job he was promoted from Captain, else Tintin might have been involved!). However, who was the admiral who was the driving force behind the squadron?

Rick

Thanks, George. I did get it early on, but I was trying to tie in "Chateau". I was going to submit this in the "Identify This" thread, but since I don't know the name of the ship.... here it is.

It's a very poor picture - but it is from a book over 90 years old.

It shows an un-named Royal Navy vessel, a member of a squadron that existed for only a short period during World War One, that was the brainchild of an exceptional but controversial officer who retired as an admiral.

Who was the admiral and what was name and purpose of the squadron?

Rick

Well, I guess I was on the wrong track with the assumption that the movie/book was Lord Jim. 

Wow, George - that was a doozy.  Not a bad doozy - it was a real poser.  Questions like that, which tie in things like books & movies, are good for us lesser nautical types.  Not that I had a chance with this one - but I'm definitely not complaining.  I love a good challenge!

I think it is time to perhaps draw this one to a close after Five days.

Here's the answer.

The device on Victory is the ‘D' block. (a question perhaps in its own right)

It is below the second and third Poop hammock cranes in the Longridge model photo.

The iconic film is ‘IF', set in an English Public school, the title being taken from the Poem by Rudyard Kipling.

Put together you get D and if or  D´if, as in Chateau D´if the famous Island fortress off Marseille.

Here is a more expansive photo of the Island Fortress.

The most famous fictional inhabitant of Chateau D΄if is Edmond Dantes, better known as The Count of Monte Cristo. He was Captain of the ship Pharaon which is the reference to the ancient kings of Egypt.

This is such a famous work by Alexandre Dumas with at least two movies of the book, I felt sure that someone would make the association, and indeed Rick I believe had this a while ago, with his references to Old enemy, Malcolm Mcdowell, and French castles, and his hint using the word IF in capitals.

I therefore think he is deserving of the baton for the next question. Over to you Rick if you want it.

Hi surfsup, whether the site was used in the the El Cid film I don't know, but I can see the similarity. It will not however lead to the correct answer.

In my initial post I indicated that the period was Napoleonic, and that the name of the location was central to identifying both the Captain and his ship. To identify the place without actually knowing it by sight, it is helpful to know both the name of the device on Victory, and the 1960s film title, the combining of which will lead to the location.

If the film title cannot be brought to mind, it is taken from a much earlier work by a famous Edwardian writer.

My wife never believes me - my bad jokes never translate well over the web.

 And that definition does nothing for me - mizzen schmizzen, but I DO know what a square is!

It's not a question of stupidity or otherwise Don, I'm lost when you guys start talking about DDs CVNs etc;

The Cro'jack (Cross jack) yard incidently is the lowest of the yards on the Mizen mast of a square rigged ship. It generally doesn't bear sails but is used to spread the foot of the Mizen Topsail.