Ship Trivia Quiz

hornet

coreect! you get to ask the next question

what was the fate of the battleship uss arkansas bb-33?

She was sunk at Bikini Atoll during the Baker atomic test.

correct.  your turn

What's the historic significance of this drydock?

1st american drydock?

Yes, but that isn't what I was really looking for. What went in it as one thing and came out as another?

Scorpion (SSN-589) went in & George Washington (SSBN-598) came out?

This is one of the drydocks at the navy yard in Portsmouth Virgina. I think you are looking for the USS Merrimack to have been converted to the first iron clad - CSA Virgina in it. I'm not sure the dock is that old though or maybe it was extensively rebuilt.

You've got it, amphib. That is Drydock Number One in Portsmouth, Virginia, known as Norfolk Naval Shipyard. The Merrimac was converted into the ironclad Virginia in that very dock which is still in use today. It was built in 1827 and is in fine shape as the material used in its construction was granite.

If you look very closely, you can make out the upended and half buried Dahlgren guns that are utilized as bollards just out the outer crane tracks. The easiest on to see is just below the sedan parked next to the building at the top middle of the photo. Another can be seen under the derrick of the crane.

This picture seems to have been taken in the early sixties.

I guess that makes it my turn to ask a question.

What major assumption did the designers of the Montana (BB67) class battleships and the designers of the Midway class aircraft carriers make?

That they were going to have to be too big for the Panama Canal.

Well Subfixer I guess that is close enough.

The assumption was  that the canal would be widened in the near future. The third lock project was underway only to be abandoned at the end of the war when there was no longer a need to get warships quickly from the Atlantic to Pacific. I doubt the powers that be at Buships would have allowed the designers to deviate from the panamax standards if they realized it would take 70 years to complete the widening project.

Its being done now, not because of warships, but because cargo ships are getting too big to go through the canal.

Anyway its your turn

OK, this is going to be my last for a while, I'm gonna give someone else a chance to play after this.

Any idea what this thing is and what it is on?

it is a pool of some type maybe for model naval testing.

Pool, yes, but not even close on the other thing. Keep trying.

OK, OK....   Here is a hint: Try humming "Volga Boatmen" to yourself while you ponder the question in a Pacific hurricane.

Subfixer, your clue is pretty far out so I'm going for a far out answer.

During the 60s, when the cold war was at its height, there was a cruiser, the USS Northhampton. It was designed to be if an all else failed escape for the president in the event DC was bombed. To the best of my knowledge all it did was sailed in circles off the Virginia coast waiting for "The Day". Anyway it is well known that President Kennedy liked to swim  because of his bad back. Is it possible we are looking at a lap pool installed on the Northhampton for the Pres?

Ted

It's the captains bathroom of the K-129.

Didn't have a clue until your hint . A Pacific hurricane is a "Typhoon"... "Typhoon" and "Volga Boatman can only mean a Russian nuclear submarine... and  quick Google reveals it as the recreational swimming poll installed in the Akula or Typhoon class subs

Rick

Very good, Rick. Now give us one of your good ones.

Thanks - I'm thinking one up now - watch this space!

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OK, here goes...

A class of five ships was built by the Royal Navy on behalf of the Indian government during the 1860s. They were not warships, although they were lightly armed. Painted white, they each had a band of different colour round their hull for identification. What was the name of the ship with the yellow or buff band, launched in 1867.

Extra clue: The name of the ship in question appears in the first line of a Kipling poem.

The only name I see right a way in the first line of a Kipling poem is Clamperdown.

amphib

The only name I see right a way in the first line of a Kipling poem is Clamperdown.

"Clamperdown"... now that is a funny name, I think you meant "Camperdown". But the four ships named this were all built as warships. I think we need to look a bit further.

Subfixer

Well I spelled it wrong but not the way you think. The full title of the poem is: The Ballad of the Clampherdown. Don't know what Rick is looking for but this seems to be the only Kipling poem that I can find with a ship's name in the first line.

Ted

amphib

Subfixer

Well I spelled it wrong but not the way you think. The full title of the poem is: The Ballad of the Clampherdown. Don't know what Rick is looking for but this seems to be the only Kipling poem that I can find with a ship's name in the first line.

Ted

Well, right you are...  please, pardon me.   

Lee

Wrong poem, guys.... and by the way, two other ships of this class turn up in another poem in "Barrack Room Ballads"

Rick

Perhaps you are referring to the Mary Pollock? This is just  a guess as I can find no reference as to her origin but the story of this ship being derelict and how only her cargo of timber kept her afloat is intriguing.