Ship Trivia Quiz

I'm not interested in answering the question - I couldn't come up with another one so soon after plumbing the depths of my limited resources for the past one.  But it never ceases to amaze me what can be found on the internet.  As of May 2008 the HMS Excellent in question still existed, albeit just barely - I'm including two links I came across with infor mation and photographs.  The second one also includes very interesting results of a survey taken recently to determine the most famous Briton.  The piece on the Excellent is about halfway down on that page; the first link references only the HMS Excellent in question.

http://nationalhistoricships.org.uk/index.cfm/event/getVessel/vref/16/pic/5

http://www.historytoday.com/MainArticle.aspx?m=32749&amid=30255996

Rick, I don't believe that either of these links give away your answer, but let me know if you want me to remove either of them and I will.

Thanks Don - good to see this thread staggering on.

Thomas Cochrane is one of my heroes. Stubborn, unconventional and always looking for a battle - and willing to fight for anybody! He used kites in a similar way on other occasions.

The subject of the next question is another personal hero. Identifying him should not be too difficult.

Which often controversial RN officer served under Jackie Fisher in, and later became the most famous captain of, HMS Excellent?

Rick

There you go - Happy New Year!

Rick, you're up!

Not all of us are out celebrating - some saddos are still surfing!

In 1806 Lord Thomas Cochrane launched kites from the 32-gun frigate Pallas in order to drop leaflets on the French coast. The bundles of leaflets were attached to the kites with slow match, which burnt away and released them as they drifted shorewards.

Rick

Alright - this should be easy - at least I hope it is, to ring in the new year.  And it has to do with the Royal Navy - so theoretically it should take a bit, since our brothers across the ocean are already celebrating the New Year.

The Royal Navy could be said to have introduced naval aviation to Europe in 1806 with this particular device.  What device was it, what person executed the mission, and what was the mission?  Sorry this is rather vague, but I wanted to get a question out here for everyone before I took off to celebrate.

 HAPPY NEW YEAR to one and all!!

You've got it Don. Actually I had bridge of boats in mind but pontoon bridges evolved out of those so that's also correct. Tom, your explanation was perfect, to bad Don beat you to it!

I'm glad you guys guessed it; last night I had a nightmare about rotten fruit and vegetables coming out of my computer

Don, you're next!

Cryptic ships-of-the-line could possibly be the same as ships-in-a-line.

Ships in a line could be a convoy?  But I don't see how not moving an inch figures into it. 

Or, Herodotus writes that Xerxes of Persia (520-465 BC) tried to cross the Hellespont but the bridge he built for the purpose was destroyed by a storm.  Xerxes then ordered the sea to be lashed as a sign of his displeasure.  After venting his anger with the sea, Xerxes lined up his ships to form a bridge and his army walked across the Hellespont using the ships as a sort of a pontoon bridge. (alumni71's answer, which I think is right).

Tom Shema

*holds his nose and dives in*

Pontoon bridges?

subfixer wrote:

These are ships and not barges?

You're getting closer! Another hint:

- Armies have been using them since ancient times.

Hmmm, I think a few hints are needed here:

- They can transport huge amounts of vehicles and personnel.

- They are unarmed and have to stay together to fulfill there purpose.

Well, I'm not to sure about that. I don't know if it has been tried before in this thread but I was thinking about a CRYPTIC question this time.

So, bend your mind for this one!

These "Ships of the Line" can decide the outcome of a war without even moving an inch!

Well, one learns something every day.  I'm used to thinking of the two islands as "Minorca" and "Majorca" (easily remembered for English speakers:  "major" and "minor").  But I see (via Wikipedia) that "Mallorca" is indeed an alternative, Spanish and Catalan spelling for "Majorca."  Most interesting.

I really think the next question is yours, Bryan - and I suspect I'll be utterly unable to answer it. 

crackers wrote:

Excellent Bryan01! You are correct!

Well Crackers, as I'm a Dutchman, that question was a real easy one for me! I think that almost everyone in the Netherlands/Holland, even the ones with no interest in nautical history, knows Piet Hein

I think you are right on three counts Mr. Tilley.

1. Admiral John Byng must be the person Mr. Crackers is looking for. It certainly is quite a story. I particularly ‘like' this part (from Wikipedia):

The court martial condemned Byng to death. However its members recommended that the Lords of the Admiralty ask King George to exercise his prerogative of clemency.

William Pitt, then Leader of the House of Commons, told the king: "the House of Commons, Sir, is inclined to mercy", to which George II responded: "You have taught me to look for the sense of my people elsewhere than in the House of Commons."

The royal prerogative was not exercised and John Byng was shot on 14 March 1757.

2. The island in question was indeed Minorca (Mallorca , Ibiza & Formentera being the other islands of the Balearics).

3. I wouldn't mind if you continued with the next question, I have the feeling however that you would be grateful if I took that burden from you

Assuming there's a typo in the name of the island (I've only seen it spelled Minorca), the officer in question was Adm. John Byng.  There's a considerable amount of misunderstanding of this incident; I strongly recommend Dudley Pope's book about it, At Twelve Mr. Byng Was Shot.  Mr. Pope expertly sorts out the complicated political situation in which Byng found himself - and which probably had more to than anything else with his execution. 

But if I understand the rules of this game correctly (maybe I don't; so far as I know they've never been written down), the next question should go to BryanO1 - shouldn't it?

  Excellent Bryan01! You are correct! Although he is not as well known as Admirals de Ruyter and Tromp, Pieter Pieterzoon Heyn, popularly and affectionaly known as Piet Hein, is very properly honered in Holland as one of the first in their long series of naval heroes.

   Now, who was the 18th century British naval commander who was shot by a firing squad on the quarter deck of his ship, for failing to capture the Spanish Island of  Mallorca ?

  Montani  semper liberi ! Happy New Year and happy modeling to all and every one of you.

                                            Crackers

Piet Hein, Holland!

  OK, I'll take the challenge.

                   This individual, born in 1577, the son of a North Sea fishman, was captured by the Spanish, while a young seaman on a merchant ship. Serving four miserable years as a galley slave, he escaped and made his way back to his native country, nurturing raging hatred against his captors.

            Years later, as a commander of a small flotilla of ships, he intercepted 4 great galleons and 11 merchant ships carrying a vast treasure off the coast of Cuba. Looting most of the ships of treasure worth about 4,000,000s ducats of gold, silver, silk from the orient and rare woods and indigo, this individual became a national hero in his homeland.

             The admiral of the treasure fleet was executed for cowardice and incompetence, while the hero was killed a year later, when a cannon ball took off his head while attacking another Spaniash fleet.  

            Can you name this bold leader and his nation of origin ? 

  Montani semper liberi !  Happy New Year and happy modeling to all and every one of you.

                                                    Crackers 

Very well done Crackers!

The original London of 1656 was one of a couple of 64-gun, later 80-gun, Great ships for the Commonwealth Navy. After the Restoration she escorted King Charles II from the Republic back to England. At the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Dutch War in 1665 she was selected as flagship of Sir John Lawson, Vice-Admiral of the Red. On 8 March an accidental explosion of her powder room blew out her bottom and she sank with the loss of 300 men.

In a moment of, later regretted, generosity the City of London offered to donate a new London. The delighted king decided that the new ship would be named Loyal London. The new 92-gun Loyal London of 1666 fought as flagship at St James' Day Battle and proved to be an excellent ship.

During the Raid on the Medway in June 1667 the Loyal London, together with the Royal James and the Royal Oak, was set on fire and burned to the water line. Unlike the latter two the underwater part of her hull seemed to be in good enough condition to be rebuilt into a new ship. The costs of this rebuilding proved however to be much higher then estimated. Naturally the king approached the City of London for financial help as this was after all 'their' ship. Due to the Great Fire of 1666, the blockade of 1667 and the war in general the City was not able to raise any money. They had in fact not even been able to completely pay the debts for the previous ship!

Despite this the rebuilding of the new 96-gun London was completed in 1670, the prefix Loyal however struck by an angry Charles II.

You're next Crackers!

  I'm taking a guess off the top of my head. Was it King Charles II of England and the ship, Loyal London ? 

    Montani semper liberi !  Happy New Year and happy modeling to all and every one of you.

                                                        Crackers

navypitsnipe wrote:

Bing, Bang, Boom!! impressive, figured it would take longer, on to you

Sorry, but I already knew the story

Ok, next QUESTION, a case of Royal Prerogative:
This ship of the line of the Royal Navy was built with fundings from her namesake. The monarch, delighted with this unexpected case of generosity, altered the name of the ship to express his gratitude.

After an uh...unfortunate accident the monarch understandably approached the namesake again for financial help. This time however they came up empty handed (they were in fact still behind on payments for the original ship). As a punishment the disappointed monarch undid the earlier name change.

What was the name of this ship and who was the monarch involved?

bryan01 wrote:

USS Wisconsin & USS Eaton, May 6, 1956. USS Kentucky. Nauticus, Norfolk, Virginia. WisKy.

Bing, Bang, Boom!! impressive, figured it would take longer, on to you

USS Wisconsin & USS Eaton, May 6, 1956.

USS Kentucky.

Nauticus, Norfolk, Virginia.

WisKy.

 it took a while to get that last one because i kept looking at his final voyage instead of the others for some reason. Here's my question:

 On 6 May 1956 there was a collision between 2 US Naval vessels in heavy fog near Norfolk, both suffered extensive damage and the captain of one was relieved of command.

The bow of the other was so damaged that the bow of it's still-under-construction sister ship was removed and grafted on, instead of reconstructing the bow. (the sister ship was subsequently scrapped).

1. Name the ships envolved in the collision.

2. Name the sister ship that was cannibalized.

BONUS POINTS:

1. Name the current location of the repaired ship.

2. What is the nickname the repaired ship received after the repairs?

The Snipe has it.

Cook and the crew of Resolution spent the Christmas of 1774 at the tip of South America, amongst the hundreds of scattered islands that lay to the south of the Strait of Magellan in a stretch of water that he christened Christmas Sound.

"...and however ‘awful' the surroundings, gloomy, sterile, savage - the adjectives are forbidding - the festival celebrated here was an agreeable one; for in addition to the excellent wild celery that was found, excellent mussels, a few ducks and shags, there was an abundance of geese, and goose pie, roast geese, boiled geese made glad the day: some Madeira wine remained.."   J.C. Beaglehole  (Cook's biographer)

"our friends in England did not perhaps celebrate Christmas more cheerfully than we did".

                                                                   James Cook

Merry Christmas!  Happy modeling through the New Year!

Christmas Sound Terra Del Fuego

The Snipe has all of the details but one. 

Where is Cook's third Christmas spot?

schoonerbumm wrote:

A Christmas nautical question, eh?  Ok, here it is... Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen sailed in 1721 with a small flotilla consisting of the Arend, the Thienhoven, and Afrikaansche Galey, with the intent of Pacific Exploration. In 1722 he discovered an Island and named it Easter Island for... guess what? discovering it on Easter. Another explorer followed suit, naming Christmas Island in similar fashion. He also named two other geographic features on other Christmases. Who is the explorer? What was the ship? What are the two features? Edit: Since this is the Christmas season, I will be generous and disclose... it is the other Christmas Island, not the Wikipedia one in the Indian Ocean. I just discovered that this could have been a very sinister question.

James Cook

HMS Resolution

so close to the international dateline that it's the first inhabited place to experience christmas, also the Bay of Wrecks because of how most people feel the day after due to partying

*edit* misunderstood the question--  Christmas Harbour, Kerguelen Islands

A Christmas nautical question, eh?  Ok, here it is...

Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen sailed in 1721 with a small flotilla consisting of the Arend, the Thienhoven, and Afrikaansche Galey, with the intent of Pacific Exploration. In 1722 he discovered an Island and named it Easter Island for... guess what? discovering it on Easter.

Another explorer followed suit, naming Christmas Island in similar fashion. He also named two other geographic features on other Christmases.

Who is the explorer?

What was the ship?

What are the two features?

Edit: Since this is the Christmas season, I will be generous and disclose... it is the other Christmas Island, not the Wikipedia one in the Indian Ocean. I just discovered that this could have been a very sinister question.