Ship Trivia Quiz

Well, what you are looking at is part of the rigging of a sailing ship model. The large line is the anchor cable and the smaller line below it is the messenger cable that led to the capstan. The large cable was too large to wind around the capstan so it was tied off to the smaller one that in turn was would around the capstan.

Yuo're right there, amphib. That short length of line is the nipper, a series of which were tied to the cable/ messenger as the cable came aboard, and untied further up the deck as the messenger went around the capstan and the cable disappeared into the cable locker.

Legend has it, maybe true, that the ships boy's had this risky job, hence the term "little nippers".

Since its my turn here goes:

One of the largest drydocks in the western hemisphere was built for the US Navy but never used and is now essentially abandoned. Where is it located and what was rumored to be it's intended use?

The Hughes drydock that was built to outfit the Glomar Explorer. Oh wait, that was for the CIA.... ssshhhh.....Currently it's up in Suisin Bay.

Bondo

A good guess but not right. Besides I think the Glomar drydock actually was used for its intended purpose. The one I have in mind is about three thousand miles (plus or minus) east of Suisin Bay and is not a floating drydock. It's a permanent concrete drydock.

Try again

Amphib

Is it at Newport News?

Sub, help.

bondoman

Is it at Newport News?

Sub, help.

Really, bondo, I haven't got a clue. But I believe the dock at Harland & Wolff in Ireland is supposed to be huge. Maybe it's the one in question.

The largest drydock in the US is the one at Newport News but it is where all of the Nimitz class CVNs have been built and thus would seem to disqualify it from the second part of the question.

From amphib's last clue it sounds like East Coast USA.  Query: When the Montana was being built, would it have fit one of the regular dry docks?  Or did the Navy build a new one to service it, and then the line was canceled?  Where was the Montana started?

I don't think so, these ships were to be built at the Norfolk, Brooklyn and Philadelphia Navy Yards. Nothing special were built at those locations that could qualify as "largest". Drydock 8 at Norfolk Naval Shipyard (Navy Yard) is large enough to contain  Nimitz class CVNs which are a bit over 200 feet longer than a Montana.  Essex class CVs were only about 50 feet shorter than the BBs. Drydock #4, which I know existed during WWII, would have fit a Montana with about  30 feet to spare.

I found this link on the net:  http://www.wbdg.org/ccb/DOD/UFC/ufc_4_213_12.pdf

Use the table of contents to find  drydocks  #4 and #8 (pages 16 and 22, I think) and scroll down. There is a lot of interesting information in that publication.

Edit: After referring to that source above, I found that Drydock #8 was finished in 1942, so I guess that it would cancel it out as well.

I didn't think this question would be so hard. So here is another clue. This drydock is in US territory but not the Continental US. To the best of my knowledge it was never used and the last time I saw it, there were palm trees growing in the bottom. As of a couple of years ago the gate was removed and it was flooded.

Remember there is a second part to the question. What was rumored to be it's intended use?

BTW The Montanas never got beyond the drawing stage before they were cancelled although I think Philadelphia Navy Yard may have started ordering steel for the lead ship.

Amphib

I think I know part one, but can only guess at part two.

There was a large drydock constructed at Guantanamo Bay starting in 1903, on South Toro Cay. Problems recurred with flooding, shoring and a sense that it was poorly located and vulnerable to attack from the sea.

BTW getting satellite pics on Google Earth etc. for Guantanamo is kind of hard.

The purpose of the whole enterprise was to provide a winter home for the Atlantic Fleet, and a coaling station.

Maybe it was built to contain tarpon for TR to fish for.

Sorry, best I can do.

Well Bondo

I see a sense of frustration and a lack of interest in this trivia thread so I'm going to cut it off and pass the ball to you as the only one who seems to have tried.

The answer is Roosevelt Roads near Ceiba Puerto Rico. When FDR was a secretary of the Navy he conceived the idea of a Caribbean Operating Base with an airfield and the industrial capacity to maintain 60 percent of the atlantic fleet under wartime conditions. Work progressed until 1943 when it was obvious that the focus of the war would be Europe and the Pacific. Work was halted and the base reverted to caretaker status. However it was close to Vieques Island and provided support for the amphibous training grounds on the island. Fast forward to the 1990s and it became politically correct to close the finest amphibious training beaches on the east coast. Roosevelt Roads now became redundant and under the base closing act was closed and turned over to the Puerto Rican government in 2003.

The drydock was constructed as part of the base and was intended to support the largest ships at the time in the Atlantic fleet. I mispoke when I said it was never used as there is an aerial photo taken in the 1940s with a ship in it. I saw it sometime later when it was no longer in use and I was told it was never used.

As for its rumored intended use, there was a very real threat around 1940 that Germany would take over the British Isles. If that happened the British government in exile would move to British islands in the Bahamas and the fleet would move to Roosevelt Roads. Whether that would have really happened, who knows.

So Bondo lets see what you can come up with.

Amphib

Subfixer said: "Drydock 8 at Norfolk Naval Shipyard (Navy Yard) is large enough to contain  Nimitz class CVNs which are a bit over 200 feet longer than a Montana.  Essex class CVs were only about 50 feet shorter than the BBs"

According to NavSource the Nimitz is 1088 OA Length.  Montana Schemes 3 & 4 were 860 & 870 at the waterline, respectively, and both were underpowered for a Fast Battleship at 28 knots.  Scheme 8, however, was for a ship with a waterline length of 1050 (which puts it right there with Nimitz) and a propulsion system of 320,000 SHP for a speed of 33 knots.  With the Navy's preference for speed at the time, I think they would have gone with Scheme 8.  Amphib is correct, however, they were canceled just before the keel for BB-67 was laid.  So Drydock #8 would have fit the longer Montana, but its the only one that would if #8 is the only one that fits the Nimitz Class.  And the Nimitz wasn't even a dream back in 1940 when the Montana plans were being drawn.

bondoman

tucchase

Keep in mind that the Iowa class battleships constructed at Philadelphia were constructed on shipways not  in drydocks. If Philadelphia had constructed the Montanas they probably would have been constructed on the shipways as well.

Amphib

subfixer

 

bondoman:

 

 

Bondo, what is the question?

 

Hint #1: the ship is aground in the photo, permanently, at Cape May.

Vessel is made of concrete.

There you go. Felix, your turn.

http://www.concreteships.org/

Kindly name the largest warship sunk by Russian or Soviet submarines as a result of hostile torpedo attack.

I suppose the sinking of the Graf Zeppelin wasn't "hostile".

No. That is why I phrased it to close out loopholes.

MV Wilhelm Gustloff  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Gustloff_(ship)

ddp59

MV Wilhelm Gustloff  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Gustloff_(ship)

This vessel was a transport and prior to that a hospital ship. (And a liner prior to that) Would she count as a "warship"? She did have anti-aircraft guns.

I think we would agree an auxiliary cruiser or armed merchant cruiser is a warship but an armed transport is not.

The Kursk sank itself during a torpedo firing exercise, but I suppose that wasn't hostile either...

Arrrgh.

Felix, I think we need a little more definition. Soviet submarines sank all kinds of German sub hunters, patrol boats and armed auxiliaries. Also Romanian destroyers and damaged a number of German destroyers and two battleships, which were towed off never to fight again. If there's one really significant sinking, there must be something about it I for one am missing. Help please.

Ok. It has been cited in a few books as the largest warship torpedoed by Russian/Soviet submarines. E. Bagnasco, J.Meister. Perhaps a few others.

Unexpected adversary or unexpected nationality. Unexpected conflict as well.

Sank as in slipped beneath the waves not total loss.

The hard part is that there are no BBs,CVs,etc on record as being sunk.

 It will appear ironic once revealed when one considers how large the Soviet submarine fleet has always been in relation to other navies.