Ship Trivia Quiz

Comte de Grasse and Comte De Barras, both  French Naval Commanders.

One down... de Grasse was the senior commander that I had in mind.

De Barras did not arrive on the scene until after the decisive encounter and his participation was largely ceremonial, filling in for an incapacitated de Grasse at Cornwallis' surrender  -  and as far as I know, he has not been associated with a common, modern namesake.

Still looking for de Grasse's accomplished subordinate commander.

Louis-Antoine, Comte de Bougainville?  still guessing!

good guess... de Bougainville led the van of the French fleet during the pivotal battle of the Chesapeake, in the 80 gun Auguste. His agressive leadership and British Admiral Graves' inept signaling resulted in the repulse of the Britsh fleet off Yorktown and allowed de Barras to arrive from Newport unmolested.

At the time, de Grasse gave de Bougainville credit for the victory, but the two would have a falling out after the the debacle at the Saintes.

Unsupported by sea, Cornwallis was forced to capitulate to Washington and Rochambeau.

Rochambeau and Lafayette got statues in Washington, DC. Although overlooked by American bureaucrats, a tribute of sorts exists in most American neighborhoods - Bougainvillea is a common species of garden plant which originated in South America. It was first scientifically classified by a french naturalist in 1768, during a circumnavigation led by de Bougainville. 

Joeviz, the floor is yours.

this one should be quick and painless...

Name America's favorite carrier?

A google search taught me America's favorite airline, pizza and airport.

But I have no clue, so I'm guessing CV-6 Enterprise.

Ha!  The question was posted in a way where Google will not return a quick answer. 

No, its not "The Big E" . (hint)

USS Carl Vinson

Thats the one!  The USS Carl Vinson's nickname is "Americas Favorite Carrier." 

All yours Rich!

joeviz, why is it called that as i would have thought it would have been enterprise or america?

What was the name of the cruise ship lost with all hands in a 1998 hurricane, and what was uncommon about her.

Hint: No passenger was lost.

The Fantome, lost with 31 crew during Hurricane Mitch. She was a sailing ship.

282-foot schooner called the Fantome, It was built for the Duke of Westminster 71 years ago, and Aristotle Onassis later bought it as a wedding for Princess Grace and Prince Rainier. But the princess, foolish girl, left the mogul off her guest list and never got the boat.

http://www.fortogden.com/fantommiamiherald.html

Interesting sidebar on her. She was built for the Italian navy, intended at first to be a destroyer, before she was converted for the duke.

I have such a poignant feeling about her. I took my son on her for a 2 week cruise in 1990. He fell in love with her and wheedled a place on the crew. He crewed on her from 1991 until 1997; a year later she was gone. He lost several good friends. She was a beauty; I still have many photos.

joeviz

Thats the one!  The USS Carl Vinson's nickname is "Americas Favorite Carrier." 

All yours Rich!

That nickname sounds like one that the ship gave itself. It is a fairly common practice.

How many folks know who Carl Vinson (or John C. Stennis, for that matter) was and why he deserved to have a nuclear powered supercarrier named after him in the first place? No heroic precedent to build on there so they make up morale building slogans like that. Carrier naming is pure politics these days. All the good names go to the amphib flattops now.

I agree with you subfixer.  I have searched high and low for the back-story on how the Vinson came across that nickname.   I have yet to find anything remotely interesting other than what you said a "morale building slogan".  The funny thing is though... somehow that name stuck because everywhere you look the Vinson is attached to "America's Favorite Carrier."

I had no idea who Carl Vinson was, and kinda still don't, and I've been researching the Vinson, sorry, America's Favorite Carrier.

Rich, I'm sorry for the loss of your sons friends. It kind of reminded me of the movie "White Squall". You should declare a "winner".

Bill, you won, of course.

Carl Vinson ... courtesy of our good friend, Wikipedia. (I didn't know who he was either).

Vinson served as a Representative from November 3, 1914, to January 3, 1965. During his tenure in the U.S. House, Vinson was a champion for national defense and especially the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps. He joined the House Naval Affairs Committee shortly after World War I and became the ranking Democratic member in the early 1920s. He was the only Democrat appointed to the Morrow Board, which reviewed the status of aviation in America in the mid-1920s. In 1931, Vinson became chairman of the House Naval Affairs Committee. In 1934, he helped push the Vinson-Trammell Act, along with Senator Park Trammell of Florida. The bill authorized new warships as they were required by the age limits of the naval limitation treaties (Washington Naval Treaty, 1922 and London Naval Treaty, 1930) and appropriations to build the USN to its Treaty limits. This was necessary as during the previous administration, not a single major warship was laid down and the US Navy was both aging and losing ground to the Japanese Navy, which would repudiate the Treaties in late 1934. He later was primarily responsible for additional naval expansion legislation, the Second Vinson Act of 1938 and the Third Vinson Act of 1940, as well as the Two-Ocean Navy Act of 1940. The ambitious program called for by this series of laws helped the U.S. Navy as the country entered World War II, as new ships were able to immediately match the latest ships from Japan.

So ... I guess he rates having a carrier named after him after all.

Q:

First submersible to shoot out a fish while completely underwater?

That would that be the Turkish sub Abdülhamid.

Correct, the two Nordenfelt class submarines Abdulhamid (1885) and Abdulmecid (1886) were built by Vickers and Des Vignes. The former was the first to fire a torpedo while submerged. The Greek Navy had one, and the Russian Navy another. Otherwise during the latter half of the 19th Century the Ottoman Navy was largely inactive, bottled up in the Black Sea.

Over to you Davros

Finally a nice easy (for me) question. Boats built by Vickers here in Barrow have always interested me. Now to my question.

Prabably an easy one but here it is. Ships in a class often have minor differences. This ship differed from its sisters in a line up, with stellar connections,  This ship's main armament were the main differences. Can anyone  name the ship, the differences and an unusual reason its construction was unlike its sister ships?

bump

davros

Finally a nice easy (for me) question. Boats built by Vickers here in Barrow have always interested me. Now to my question.

Prabably an easy one but here it is. Ships in a class often have minor differences. This ship differed from its sisters in a line up, with stellar connections,  This ship's main armament were the main differences. Can anyone  name the ship, the differences and an unusual reason its construction was unlike its sister ships?

What kind of a dumb question is that? It's much too easy. I knew the answer immediately, oh yes I did!! But I'm not going to dignify this with my answer. Oh no, absolutely not! Forget it! 

Well, I have no idea... Google search for "star ship" goes all over the place...

Perhaps a little hint is required.

Try thinking of the name of a star to get the class of this ship.

Shirley Temple

star as in a sun or as an actor\actress?

There was a class of AKA named in part after stars:

Andromeda · Aquarius · Centaurus · Cepheus · Thuban · Virgo · Achernar · Algol · Alshain · Arneb · Capricornus · Chara · Diphda · Leo · Muliphen · Sheliak · Theenim

All these ships were built on the same standard hull design, but there were some differences from ship to ship. The armament varied, as did that of the other ships of the day. During 1944-1945, the 5"/38 was recognized as the best gun for the dual role of antiaircraft and naval gunfire support, and the 40 mm was seen as the best antiaircraft gun. The older 20 mm and .50 caliber guns had been recognized to be of limited value, and were being phased out, though they appeared on some of these ships. The 20 mm's were later removed from all of them, but it is not clear just when this happened.