Ship Trivia Quiz

No, sorry. You obviously have to look for a nautical connection; I doubt Gutenberg ever saw the sea, let alone traveled on it .

Give it another try!

Thank you Shannonman.

Next QUESTION:

Charles Darwin, Alexander von Humboldt, William Bligh, Daniel Defoe, Joseph Banks, William Paterson.

The actions & publications of these people can, more or less, all be traced back to one person. Who?

You got it Bryan.

Your question.

Admiral of the Navy George Dewey was executive officer of the USS Mississippi in 1863 when she was scuttled. He later led the US Navy to victory at the Battle of Manila Bay in 1898.

Thanks telsono,

OK, easy one.

whats the connection between the USS Mississippi 1841 and the defeat of the Spanish fleet in Manila 1898 .

Shannonman, I'll give it to you as you did get 90% of it.

The Sphynx was sold to Denmark as the Staerkodder before re-bought through surreptitious means and renamed as the Stonewall. I don't think she ever made it to Denmark. By the time she made it to Cuba, via Spain and Portugal, it was too late to see action. She was surrendered to local authorities then taken over by the US Navy and placed into storage before being bought by the Japanese as their first ironclad.

Its funny that the French Naval Minister had signed off originally to allow both vessels to be built as vessels of war with 14 guns each, but when politics interfered (the Emperor changed his mind), he had "no knowledge" that they would be armed. Some things never change. 

I saw another mention that she was sold off in 1891 to a fishing company in Japan. No knowledge of what happened afterwards.

Therefore:

Sphynx (CSS) to Staerkodder (DN) to Stonewall (CSS/USN) to Kotetsu (IJN) to Adsuma (IJN)

Cheops (CSS) to Prinz Adalbert (ISM) (broken up 1878 at Wilhemshaven)

It's your turn

Mike T.

 Sphynx (Sphinx)

The Confederate Navy ironclad Stonewall was sold to Japan in 1867, Under the name Kôtetsu, she took part in the the civil war then raging in Japan and played an important role in the naval battle of Hakodate in June 1869. In 1871 she was renamed Azuma. The ship remained a part of Japan's combat fleet until January 1888, when she was reduced to harbor service as an accomodation hulk.

Cheops

Cheops became Prinz Adalbert of the Prussian Navy.she did not last long in service as her timber hull was found to be rotten in 1871. She was paid off on 28 May 1875 and broken up in 1878.

Thank you Bryan -

In my career as an agricultural quarantine officer for the USDA, I have had the oppurtunity to board the QE2 3 or 4 times, notably, her first trans Atlantic cruise after the Falklands in New York and also when she stopped at San Francisco in the mid 1980's.

As for my question, I have an interest in Confederate commerce raiders. so here it goes.

The Cheops and Sphynx (Sphinx) were commissioned as rams for the Confederacy by the efforts of Cmdr, Bulloch and built in France in 1863. Pressure by the US government as well as Napoleon III (whose spies gauged the Confederacy as failing) caused the Confederacy to sell off these vessels. Both vessels were subsequently sold to other nations.

What nations bought and used these vessels and under what names?

Did any of them actually fired their guns in anger and where? 

Mike T.

You're correct Mike. It's RMS Queen Elizabeth 2.

She traveled over 5.6 million nautical miles, carried 2.5 million passengers, crossed the Atlantic 803 times and made 25 voyages around the world.

PS. Note the 2, it signifies that she was named after the first RMS Queen Elizabeth and not the present queen (although she did launch the ship). That's also the case with Queen Mary 2.

Your turn then!

Would that be the flagship of Cunard, the RMS Queen Elizabeth II?

Mike T.

This ship has traveled further then any other ship before her or since. What's her name?

Captain Cowper Phipps Coles, inventor of the rotating protective turret. His son Sherard Osborn Cowper-Coles invented a method of galvanizing called sherardising.

Thanks, and now for something a little different....

Who am I?

I am a Royal Navy officer with a distinguished wartime record. My father was a clergyman and my son invented a metal treatment which was named after him. I was an inventor too, and my most famous invention was revolutionary -but I didn't live to see it in action!

Rick

Yup - you got it.  I find it hard to believe that is all the USN warships that are named after women, (certainly lots of Liberty ships were), and I can't apologize for our British cousins' spelling of their Indian queen's name.  :-) 

Those two named women were pretty much giants in US military history - Chief Nurse Lena Sutcliffe Higbee led the Navy Nurse Corps during WW I, and RAdm Grace Murray Hopper was a pioneer in computer design - if you ever say you have a "bug" in the system, you are using her term.

 Your turn, RickF.

Rick H

Women - A Ranee (or Rani) is the wife of a Rajah. The two US ships were named after women - as far as I know, the only two so far.

Rick

Sorry folks.  I should have resisted the urge to answer.

 What do USS Higbee, HMS Ranee and USS Hopper all have in common?

You are correct Surface Line. Bainbridge was the second nuclear surface combatant, the first of the DLGNs (later redesignated CGN), and the smallest of all of the surface nukes. She was decommissioned and recycled in the 1990s.

It is your question, well done!

ddp59 wrote:

uss skipjack?

I am sorry, no. The correct navy, although.

Thank you, davros.

Here's one, please excuse my atrocious attempt at poetry.

I was the second of nine,

the first of my kind,

the shortest waterline.

The sea, I did grind.

But I, now, you won't find.

Once, I used fission to fulfill my mission,

Once, atoms I used, now, into atoms I'm fused.

Who was I?

(This shouldn't be too hard)

I believe that it was the Ottoman Empire's Abdulhamid.

It's always a struggle to come up with a new question but here is mine. Although it's a two-parter it will probably be fairly easy.

 A submarine of this country's navy was the first to fire a torpedo whilst submerged. So; which country and what was the name of the submarine?

subfixer wrote:

Where does the torch (flashlight) come into it?

Goodhart planned on using powerful lights (the torch) when his system was used on a real ship.

Stories differ whether or not a torch was available at the office of Cambell when he demonstrated the concept. Some say the lipstick was only used to draw a line on the mirror; others say the lipstick was used in the way described by the link Davros provided.

Either way, Davros answered the question correctly (with or without a torch).

Davros, You're the best! Well done.

You're next.