Ship Trivia Quiz

Re. ABCD squad, Interesting stuff. Damn ugly ships though, that mast/funnel arrangement is a real abomination!

I'll summarize the hints I gave so for:

1) US Navy vessel, post civil war

2) Built on the west coast of the US, name the place

3) It took 22 years from laying down to commissioning due to Congressional funding being frozen then re-opened.

4) From a class of 4 vessels that served in the Spanish-American War

5) This class of vessels were a new design, but subterfuge was used. They took the names of vessels that were authorized for upgrading, but intsead were scrapped to provide part of their funds to build.

6) This vessel was scrapped 27 years after entering service.

Are these enough hints?

Mike T

The vessel is the Monadnock and the shipyard is Vallejo.

Over to you joeviz,

I would have taken Mare Island as the location as well. I used to belong to the San Francisco Model Yacht Club (rc boats) and a potential member brought in a static model of this vessel that he scratched built. It was a beautiful rendition and he was quite knowledgeable about its history. If I remembered correctly, he had access to the archives on this vessel at Mare Island which was a great help.

The USS Monadnock (BM-3) first served to surpress Filipino insurgents by coastal bombardments, afterwards she was sent to the China Patrol which is probably the reason for her long service.

http://www.navsource.org/archives/01/monadnock.htm

Mike T.

Good question telsono; it made me do quite a bit of research.  I learned a lot too.

Now for a simpler one...

We are all familiar with the white hulled Coast Guard Cutters (both with and without racing stripes), and also with red hulled and black hulled cutters -- with the colors associated, rather loosely with their duties.

There were, of course, grey hulled cutters during several wars -- and it's hard to say what color some of the smaller rescue boats (the 47 footers) are.

But there was once a Coast Guard Cutter with a hull painted bright canary yellow.

What was her name, and what was her mission?

It'll be the USCGC Tahoma

 a 165' patrol gunboat, was re-designated as the examination vessel (her hull designation was changed from WPG-80 to WAGE-10) on 1 May 1952.  Her hull was painted in "canary yellow" and the word "GUARD" was painted on both sides of her hull in black, while her superstructure remained white.  She then took up station outside of the Chesapeake Bay after being recommissioned on 16 July 1952.  Her crew size was augmented with special boarding teams and more radio and radar operators

http://www.uscgauxfremont.org/coast_guard_trivia.htm

Mike T.

Simple enough, right?  It's all about learnig somn' new.

Over to you telsono!

What was the use of the red and white painted structure on the crane pictured below? Where is it? And what movie was it used in?

Mike T.

It was used for Polaris missile tests, located in Hunter's Point Shipyard.  As for the movie... I have no idea.

Joeviz  - I was looking for a previous use of it. When I transfered to San Francisco and worked at SFO, seeing it brought back memories of watching an old war film produced in the 1950's in B&W.

Mike T.

Replacement of battleship gun turrets was one of its previous uses. I will pass on the movie however.

joeviz - I'll pass it on to you.

The additional structure on the crane was used to drop torpedo warheads to simulate the speed of impact. The Mk 14 torpedo had problems early in the war with both depth and detontation. The Mark V detonator was found to be the problem with the later. Tests were conducted in many areas to find the problem wioth too many duds. The old John Wayne movie "Operation Pacific" shows it being used for such. That point in the movie is supposed to be back by historic fact.

Mike T.

What were the names of the only two freshwater aircraft carriers ever built, and what unusual propulsion characteristic made them unique?

USS Wolverine  and  USS Sable. They were paddlewheel steamers.

Correct.

All you Mr. Subfixer!

Wait- I'm really confused. What is a fresh water aircraft?

I thought they flew, not swam?

Oh, brother, next thing you know there'll be electric boats!!! That'd be grotten!

Just my toobits.

Bump!

telsono

Bump!

I second that!  Bump!

Sorry for the delay.

This submarine was steam powered, double hulled and way ahead of its time. The candle it used for illumination  used up vital oxygen but also let the crew know when to surface. What else was unique about her?

Do you mean Ictineo II, designed  by the Spaniard Monturiol. in 1864 and  converted from hand-power to steam in 1867?  On the surface it ran on a steam engine, but for underwater  Monturiol invented a peroxide-powered  air-independent engine, which as a by-product  released oxygen into the hull for the crew and an auxiliary steam engine. Sorry but I can find no reference to the candle!

Rick

You've got it, the other wonderful thing about it was that it was wooden.

Here is a link that refers to the candle:

http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2008/08/submarines-1.html

Thanks Subby, here's one you ought to know....

Royal Navy submarines - and I guess other navies too - have a tradition of flying a Skull and Crossbones flag on returning from a successful  patrol. Often said to derive from senior officer's opinions of submariners as "pirates", which commander, of which submarine,  sank which ship and is generally credited with originating the tradition?

Rick

Would it have been Lt Cmdr Max Horton. He commanded HMS E9 who in September 1914 sank the German Battlecruiser Hela...???

That's the man!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Horton

Your go

Rick

OK here we go. Which WW2 warship portrayed herself in a 1950's Movie after being loaned from the Navy she was sold to to ? Clued...She was an Allied Warship.

The "Pursuit of the Graf Spee" - You have the INS Delhi (HMS Achilles 1933-41, HMNZS Achilles 1941-46) as HMS Achilles

Mike T.

You have it Mike. Over to you for the next round.........Cheers Mark

Thank you Surfsup;

For my next question, I'll stay with the Graf Spee oriented question.

What happened to the prisoners that the Graf Spee captured but handed off previously?

a) What vessel transported them?

b) Where and when was the vessel halted?

c) Who ordered the boarding?

d) What was the name of the vessel conducting the operation?

Mike T.

a) Altmark

b) Jossingfjord, Norway, February 16, 1940.

c. Winston Churchill, First Sea Lord.

d. HMS Cossack, Philip Vian commanding.

Good job John, and the phrase "The Navy's Here" came from this action as well.

Mike T.