Ship Trivia Quiz

sure doesn't look like a ship's bell to me?

It's not a "bell", but you're on the correct path.

Gong ?!?

Yes, it is a fog gong. During heavy fog it is sounded immediately after the forward fog bell is rung. No less than five seconds every two minutes.

The next question is yours, Tom.

Lee

An ultra large crude carrier (ULCC) supertanker was the longest ship ever built. After its decommission in 2009, it was intentionally beached for demolition in India. Hint: five names!

Is the question what the ship was named?

• PORTHOS
• OPPAMA
• SEAWISE GIANT
• HAPPY GIANT
• JAHRE VIKING
• Knock Nevis

Right! Next question?

From: http://www.aukevisser.nl/supertankers/id23.htm

Laid down for Greek owners, who refused delivery, caused by steamturbines vibrations, launched unnamed & laid up on completion, she was first shown in Loyds Registers as PORTHOS, then OPPAMA. Sold and commissioned 12/1979
1979 - SEAWISE GIANT
1980 - Lengthened to 458.5/440.0m : 238557grt : 564739dwt : carried out by Nippon Kokan, Tsu shipyard
14/05/1988 bombed by Iraqi aircraft at Hormuz Terminal (3 dead) & declared CTL.
Sold as a hulk
1989 - HAPPY GIANT (Norman Intnl A/S - NO)
1991 - rebuilt as a tanker : 260851grt
1991 - JAHRE VIKING (K/S Jahre Viking - NO)
2004 KNOCK NEVIS, FSO, (First Olsen Tankers- NO)
2010 MONT, for breaking up at Gujarat’s Alang-Sosiya shipyard, India

GRRRRRR! TOPIC POST GLITCH !!!

GMorrison ??? You‘re up.

How did the Decima Flotiglia frogmen mine the British ships at Alexandria? In particular, where did they place their charges?

Riding astride torpedoes! On December 3, 1941 the MAS Decima Flottiglia raided Alexandria Harbor with riding astride three manned electrically propelled torpedoes, magnetically attaching mines to the battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth, the cruiser battleship HMS Valiant, the Norwegian tanker Sagona and the destroyer HMS Jervis.

yes that's correct and Italeri makes a wonderful model of one, with two guys.

Only a minor point- the way the charges were attached. The warhead was detachable by means of a big wing nut on the nose. The two frogmen attached a cable with special clamps to a bilge keel on either side of the ship and hung the charge on the cable under the center keel.

Final score, two battleships, a destroyer and a tanker with some loss of life, vs. six Italians captured.

Two of the Italians were imprisoned in the hold of Valiant, where they attempted in vain to convince the Captain that the ship was doomed. They were able to save themselves during the explosion and ensuing panic, but remained captured.

Go, Tom!

That the two frogmen were so brave and to pull off an heroic feat such as they had done for their country, and then, when they found out that they were about to go down with their target, start singing like a couple of canaries is so stereotypically World War II Italian. And to top it off, they remained captured. That is too rich!  I am sorry, I have to laugh. 

What was the United States Navy’s first atomic-powered, atomic-missile-carrying submarine? (Hint: NOT the USS George Washington)

Was it the Thomas Jefferson?

littletimmy

Was it the Thomas Jefferson?

Not even. Think fish.

The first Navy Nuke was the Regulus; Mach .9, 500 mile range, and that was first deployed on USS Los Angeles CA-135.

The first four Regulus submarines; USS Tunny SS/SSG-282 (a converted Gato), USS Barbero SS/SSG 317 (a converted Balao), USS Grayback SSG-574 and USS Growler SSG-577 (both new construction), were diesel electric.

Regulus II; Mach 2, 1,200 mile range needed a "bigger boat".

USS Halibut SSGN-587was built at Mare Island and commissioned in 1960.

SSBN-598 was commissioned in the same year, and spelled the end for Regulus.

Halibut then served in a series of DSRV tests, although details are sketchy. With their large hangars, these boats were used as AP's and LP's for all kinds of shady stuff.

TomZ2 , was not the cruiser HMS Valiant but the battleship HMS Valiant, sistership to the battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth.

Right. Up to you, GMorrison.

ddp59

TomZ2 , was not the cruiser HMS Valiant but the battleship HMS Valiant, sistership to the battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth.

Sorry, ddp59, wiki-oopsy.

LEO (Jul 23-Aug. 22)

When you accept an idea as the truth without ex­amination, you are in a hypnotic state of sorts. In some sense you will hear the snap of fingers and wake up, realiz­ing that the situation you’re in requires a different level of awareness.

GMorrison

The first Navy Nuke was the Regulus; Mach .9, 500 mile range, and that was first deployed on USS Los Angeles CA-135.

The first four Regulus submarines; USS Tunny SS/SSG-282 (a converted Gato), USS Barbero SS/SSG 317 (a converted Balao), USS Grayback SSG-574 and USS Growler SSG-577 (both new construction), were diesel electric.

Regulus II; Mach 2, 1,200 mile range needed a "bigger boat".

USS Halibut SSGN-587was built at Mare Island and commissioned in 1960.

SSBN-598 was commissioned in the same year, and spelled the end for Regulus.

Halibut then served in a series of DSRV tests, although details are sketchy. With their large hangars, these boats were used as AP's and LP's for all kinds of shady stuff.

Up to you, GMorrison.

Submariners returning from spy ops regularly turned over the results of their patrols to their agency contacts at a popular watering hole in Vallejo, California, right across I 80 from Mare Island.

What was the name of that establishment and what is the meaning of the name? That'll give me a little leeway for hints later, but you shouldn't need any.

Not the infamous Horse and Cow!! That was a dive so bad that it never found the bottom.

And this is what I managed to find about the name:

"Horse and Cow has a mythological pedigree. Neptune, god of the sea, is often portrayed as accompanied by a small horse and a small cow (or bull). In World Wars I and II, merchant sailors, terrified of being sunk by submarines, tattooed a horse on one ankle, a cow on the other, in hopes of ensuring safe passage."

Yep thats the one. The SS 33 1/3. I must have passed the place one hundred times, but never went in. There was a submarine model of sorts on the roof, looked like it was made in an air conditioning shop, about 30 feet long. The crews of boats returned from patrol would get up on the roof and paint their hull number on it.

Your turn, Subbbie.

Where would you find the Navigator's Balls?  And what is their proper name?

They are usually found somewhere on the bridge...

The iron balls mounted on the binnacle are called quadrantal spheres and are, along with the heeling magnets etc. part of the system to correct magnetic compass errors caused by a steel ship's influence on a magnetic compass.  I refer the questioner to Bowditch's American Practical Navigator and to Dutton's Navigation and Nautical Astronomy.   They are commonly called, "The Navigator's Balls" perhaps inferring somehow that his manly attributes contribute to the accuracy of the magnetic compass and his effacy in ensuring safe navigation of the vessel.   My guess as to its origin is that cadets and midshipmen awash in nautical terminology and the mystery of compass calibration and arcane terminology coined the name to relieve academic pressure and inject a little humor into the learning process.

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Yachting-2264/navigation.htm

You've got it ddp. Ask away.

Before the clue about being on the bridge, I was thinking about those old shore signals that drop at noon. A large ball on a cable, which no doubt is where someone got the idea for Times Square at New Years. Navigators set the chronometer before leaving port, knowing the deviation from GMT.

I read about those, too. They were dropped at precisely noon in order for the ships' navigators to get, what we would call now, a time hack for their chronometers.