Ship Trivia Quiz

death wrote:

Mick PS I am a Midshipman in the Royal Australian Navy and we are commisioned and to be treated as a junior officer.I didn't realise it was so different in the USN!

Arrrrgh, matey, aye that it is so. Be glad, lest you be treated as bilge water by USN squids. 

subfixer wrote:

Arrrrgh, matey, aye that it is so.

And what is your question, Mr. Death? 

No, Death, it was not HMS Magpie

Try again.

Rick

Surface_Line wrote:

subfixer wrote: Arrrrgh, matey, aye that it is so.   And what is your question, Mr. Death?

I was just responding to death's discovery that the USN treats its middies differently.

Well this has become a real toughie for me then.  I thought Mr. Death had nailed it with HMS Magpie, since that is the only frigate that I can find that he served on.

 Are we not speaking of Prince Philip, the current Duke of Edinburgh? 

"long Royal Navy career", "several months in Australia on a round-the-world voyage".  One of the reasons he spent so long in Australia was that he was recovering from an assassination atempt - he was shot in the back. And he was single at that time.

Rick

No, not "Chequer". Another clue?

The man who shot the Duke of Edinburgh was arrested at the scene, quickly tried, convicted and hanged.

Rick

AHA! Think I've got it.Very tricky Rick!! Is it HMS Galatea?

Mick

Well done Mick! HMS Galatea, commanded by HRH Prince ALFRED, Duke of Edinburgh (1844 -1900).

The full details of his long and successful RN career can be found here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred%2C_Duke_of_Saxe-Coburg_and_Gotha but briefly:

"The Duke of Edinburgh devoted himself to his profession, showing complete mastery of his duties and unusual skill in naval tactics. He was promoted rear-admiral in 1878; vice-admiral 1882; admiral 1887; and received his baton as Admiral of the Fleet in 1893. He commanded the Channel fleet 1883-84; the Mediterranean fleet 1886-1889; and was commander-in-chief at Devonport, 1890-93. He always paid the greatest attention to his official duties and was most efficient as an admiral."

Percy Scott wrote in his memoirs that "as a Commander-in-Chief, the Duke of Edinburgh had, in my humble opinion, no equal. He handled a fleet magnificently, and introduced many improvement in signals and manoeuvring."

So, its over to you for the next question.

Rick

Firstly, thank you Rick for a challenging and cleverly phrased qusetion in one of my areas of interest: the RN!

OK try this one: What is significant about the Collins-Class Submarine HMAS SHEEAN?

Named in honor of Ordinary Seaman Teddy Sheean (killed in action on board HMAS Armidale off Timor, Dec. 1, 1942), she's the only ship in the history of the Australian Navy to be named after a sailor.

YAHOO searches are indeed wonderful research tools:  http://www.navy.gov.au/ships/sheean/default.html

I haven't read the link you provided yet, Professor, but a story like this is well worth reading twice.  The link below leads to an account of Sheean's actions as related by survivors of the Armidale: 

http://www.gunplot.net/sheeanarmidale/Sheean.html

Correct Prof! And coincidently Teddy Sheean was also the answer to the question I asked when I butted in a week or so ago. Make sure you check out the Gunplot website, it's awesome!

Cheers

Mick

One aspect of this story that impresses me is that Seaman Sheean only got a "Mentioned in Dispatches."  I'd think such heroic and self-sacrificial conduct would merit a medal.  In the U.S., such a person likely would be considered for the Medal of Honor. 

Now here's a question for nautical movie buffs.  (It occurred to me as I was watching a flick on cable TV the other night.)

The famous Austrian actor Theodore Bikel has appeared in four productions in which he's played naval officers.  Name the productions and the part he played in each.  (At least one of them is a big favorite among modelers; at least one of the others may be surprising.)

Okey-dokey, here's my list:

The Enemy Below- Heinie Schaffer

The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming  (one of my favorite all time movies) Russian captain

Above Us The Waves- German officer

The African Queen- German first officer

I'm not sure about the The Enemy Below answer, I can't remember if he was an officer or not.

Hmmmm....The African Queen, The Enemy Below, and The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming are certainly right.  I'm not sure about Above Us the Waves.  I saw that one on TV many years ago, but not recently.  It's not listed in my big fat paperback "DVD and Video Guide."  I did find a used copy of it at amazon.com, but the cast list doesn't include Mr. Bikel.  (Maybe his role was a small one.)  It isn't listed on Mr. Bikel's website, either. 

Subfixer, if you've got firm evidence we'll give you the prize (such as it is), since I did specify the number four.  But the fourth one I was thinking of hasn't been mentioned yet.  Hint:  it was an extremely well-known production, but one in which ship modelers would be considerably less likely to take an interest in than any of the aforementioned movies.  And it's the only one of the four in which Mr. Bikel played an actual historical character.

A bit of additional web research has established that subfixer was right:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047797/

As I remember it, Above Us the Waves was a pretty good flick.  Unfortunately it seems to be available on DVD only in the PAL format, which doesn't work on American DVD players.  Its top-billed star, John Mills, also starred in another first-rate British submarine movie called Operation Disaster.  I'd really like to see that one again.

Subfixer - over to you for the next question.

In case anybody's curious about the fourth answer I had in mind - I was careful in the original question to use the word "production," rather than "movie."  Theodore Bikel, who has had a second career as a folk singer, "created" the role of Kapitan Georg von Trapp, Imperial Austrian Navy, in the original Broadway production of The Sound of Music.

So next time you watch The Enemy Below, think "Edelweiss, Edelweiss...."

Would you class 78 feet long as big? If so...... but I'll give someone else a chance - don't want to monopolise the thread - and anyway, I might be wrong!

Rick

Interesting.... 213 feet - it's some ship. My (wrong) guess was the replica "Matthew", Cabot's ship, built about ten years ago and moored with the SS "Great Britain" at Bristol.

Rick

How about the Discovery built on July 31st 1901 at the Dundee shipyard and is still docked there today.

Jim

The next question is the "USS Enterprise" is a recognizable name to most all of us, but in what year did an American warship FIRST bear that name Enterprise? Hope this isn't to easy.

Jim

subfixer wins

The first Enterprise, a British supply sloop, was captured 18 May 1775 at St. Johns, Quebec, Canada, by Col B. Arnold, named Enterprise, and armed for use on Lake Champlain.

Next question

Jim