Ship Trivia Quiz

Alas....I can't find any other detail on the Creole:

However, I submit the  SS Governor Cobb as the first steam turbine ship built in the US.  It was built in the Roach Shipyard in Chester Pa for the Eastern Steamship Company and launched on April 21, 1906. The link below is from page 340 of the MIT Technology Review IX  from 1907.

http://books.google.com/books?id=UQ4AAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA340&lpg=PA340&dq=tests+on+the+ss+governor+cobb&source=bl&ots=_kmrBxdkgk&sig=-MovYdgQzJ5GK1RHWNVY92v7fSI&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result

I also have a reference from the NY Times archive with a column headline concerning the SS Governor Cobb dated April 22, 1906 that announces FIRST TURBINE LAUNCHED Built for the Eastern Steamship Company in Pennsylvania, but you have to access the NY Times website via a password to view it.

Tom S.

How about Westinghouse's engine for the collier USS Neptune, launched in 1911.

Rick

Creole is not the vessel I'm looking for... though that doesn't mean it isn't the correct answer.

Do you have a launch date and particulars on her construction? 

I'm back after a long time with out a PC. But I will just throw out a tidbit of info. Not related to the question.

60AD Hero's Engine (aeolipile) - apparently Hero's steam engine was taken to be no more than a toy, and thus its full potential not realized for centuries.

This is a long shot because I can't find any information about this ship but it's name.

The Creole, in 1906.  Was closely followed by the two passenger ships Harvard and Yale in 1907.

Tom S.

Continuing the ship tech thread...

What (and when) was the first tubine powered vessel launched in the United States?

schoonerbumm wrote:

The first vessel to cross the Atlantic under continuous steam power was the paddle steamer Sirius, steaming from London to Cork to New York in April, 1838.  Sirius had been fitted with Samuel Hall's surface condensers which allowed the use of fresh water in her boilers. Previous vessels had to shut down their engines periodically and proceed under sail power while the crew cleaned accumulated salt from their boilers.

You have it, schoonerbumm.  Sirius  was a coastal packet and didn't have quite enough coal to make it the entire way which forced the crew to burn furniture and the like. Next question to you.

The first vessel to cross the Atlantic under continuous steam power was the paddle steamer Sirius, steaming from London to Cork to New York in April, 1838. 

Sirius had been fitted with Samuel Hall's surface condensers which allowed the use of fresh water in her boilers. Previous vessels had to shut down their engines periodically and proceed under sail power while the crew cleaned accumulated salt from their boilers.

Once again, the facts have got in the way of what I thought was a straightforward question! I based my question on single-handed circumnavigations, but overlooked the fact that both Magellan's expedition and Slocum (in Spray) took "just over three years". So, the prize goes to Subfixer -again!

Rick

Well, I would have said the USS Nautilus for the fastest, but I haven't followed records like that, so it's probably hopelessly out of date.  the net only gives back hits on solo ventures, it seems.

This is assuming that the first is, indeed, correct - which I think it is, since the Trinidad never made it back to Spain but the Victoria did.

Sorry - only half way there!

Rick

RickF wrote:

OK, let's get away from warships and battles this time.... The first took just over three years. The fastest just over fifty-seven days. Name the two vessels. Rick

The first circumnavigation of the globe using sail was achieved by Victoria, one of Ferdinand Magellan's ships, piloted by Juan Sebastion Elcano. The fastest was achieved by Francis Joyon in the IDEC.

OK, let's get away from warships and battles this time....

The first took just over three years. The fastest just over fifty-seven days. Name the two vessels.

Rick

Sorry for the delay - it was our high school's homecoming game this evening (we won).

Rick, you got it - batter up!

And for anybody interested, the website that subfixer linked to has some excellent-quality film footage of the incident and a very detailed account of the events both at home and in China. It even has a filmed interview with the last living member of the Panay.  The narrator, however, seems to be of the opinion tht Panay should be pronouced differently from how I always felt it would be pronounced - which is how the crewmember pronounces it (the second 'a' should be a long a, as in razor, as opposed to the narrator's pronunciation, which is 'ai', as in Saigon.

Those are the ones that I found, I think Ladybird was hit by artillery with the loss of one sailor and four wounded.

Here is the link I mentioned before:  http://www.usspanay.org/

As far as I am aware, no other gunboats were involved in the actual incident, just Panay and some oil tankers.

Three days after the crew had made it to shore, they were rescued by the gunboats HMS Bee, HMS Ladybird and USS Oahu. Bee and Ladybird had earlier come under Japanese artillery fire.

Rick

alumni72,

You are correct!

I try to take-off the pressure of thinking up a new question on-the-spot by having a new question standing-by in the ready question locker before I answer the last question.  I write it up on Microsoft word at my leisure and save it.  When I need it, I copy it to the reply page.  I find it much easier this way and it makes the thread go faster.

Tom S.

Okay, okay - his name was Daniel Frazier.  Nobody at the time was sure if it was Frazier or James who threw themselves in front of Decatur to protect him - it is known that James was certainly vocal about having done so, but both were wounded during the battle.

DD602, USS Frazier (Benson class), was named after him - earned 12 battle stars in the Pacific in WW2, and was credited with sinking 2 Japanese subs, one by ramming.

The problem with me isn't answering the question (although that's hard enough), so much as it is coming up with a new one afterwards.  But here goes:

When the USS Panay was sunk by Japanese aircraft in December 1937, three gunboats from two different nations came to her aid - one of which was herself holed below the waterline by Jap artillery at the same time the Panay had been attacked.

What two nations were these ships from, and what were their names?

alumni72,

I'll second that.  Please post an official answer and let's move on.

Tom S.

alumni72 wrote:

I had to look it up, but it wasn't too hard to find. However, I shall hold my tongue (or my fingers?), because I dropped the ball last time.  Sorry about that.

Go ahead and answer it Alumni72, we're not mad! All is forgiven, but just ask a question no matter how simple you think it is. It keeps the thread moving.

I had to look it up, but it wasn't too hard to find.

However, I shall hold my tongue (or my fingers?), because I dropped the ball last time.  Sorry about that. 

ahoy subfixer,

In my enthusiasm to write this question I can see how I failed to be specific and how the question could be interpreted differently from my intention, so......

I am referring to the single act of heroism attributed to Reuben James; that is, the act of putting his body between a pirate blade and Stephen Decatur, thus, saving Decatur from injury or death.  A different sailor is also reputed to have performed this particular act instead of Reuben James.  The name of the sailor other than Reuben James is the one I am looking for and was a ship ever named for this 2nd sailor.

Hope this helps.

Tom S.

New QUESTION:

Most everybody knows about Reuben James.  He was the sailor who threw himself in front of a Barbary  Pirate blade to save the life of Stephen Decatur during the raid into Tripoli harbor in 1804 to burn the USS Philadelphia.  The USS Reuben James, DD-245, named after the heroic sailor, was the first US warship sunk by enemy action during WWII.  The U-552 torpedoed it on October 31, 1941 while the ship was escorting convoys as part of the neutrality patrol.

What was the name of the other US sailor accredited with the same act of heroism for which Reuben James was honored?  Was there ever a ship named after him?

Give yourself an extra five points if you don't have to look this one up.

Tom S.

schoonerbumm,

Could it be the USS DeLong, DD-126?  The DeLong jumped the rocks in the fog and landed in Half Moon Bay California on December 1, 1921.

Half Moon Bay is where Sam Spade went on a wild goose chase while looking for the Maltese Falcon.

Tom S.

Delphy's commander and on duty navigator, Lieutenant Commander Donald T. Hunter was court martialed and found guilty of culpable inefficiency and negligence, and lost 100 numbers on the list of Lieutenant Commanders... and later served as the navigator on Nevada and First Lieutenant on Oklahoma.

But Delphy wasn't the first four stack destroyer to play chicken with the west coast.

Which one was?