Royal Navy Trivia.

[Simon F]

Okey dokes, probably not well worded, it was a late night and I am a couple of brain cells lighter.....

V & W-class Destroyer

[Taz]

Okey dokes, probably not well worded, it was a late night and I am a couple of brain cells lighter.....

V & W-class Destroyer

K, well there was the HMS Vimy and the HMS Verdun,

Was she the Vimy because of her renaming from the Vancouver to enable the name to be used by the Royal Canadian Navy?

The choice of the new name was especially significant as it commemorates the capture of the Vimy Ridge by the Canadian Army in 1917.

Or the most probable answer, HMS Verdun, had the honour of being used to bring the body of the 'Unknown Soldier' from Calais to Dover in 1920 prior to burial in Westminster Abbey as part of the Armistice Remembrance ceremonies that year.

So i'll tip HMS Verdun?

Regards Eddie

[Simon F]

Right on the money, HMS Verdun wins it for the reasons you have already stated

Well done

[Taz]

Ta Simon,

Next question: A little cryptic

I was stung by a GNAT!!! But not because of this I was a first.

Did those who did it have trouble breathing?

Regards Eddie

[Taz]

Ta Simon,

Next question: A little cryptic

I was stung by a GNAT!!! But not because of this I was a first.

Did those who did it have trouble breathing?

Regards Eddie

Clue 1:

There were only five survivers, from a crew of 97 on this Flower class Corvette

[Taz]

Clue 1:

There were only five survivers, from a crew of 97 on this Flower class Corvette

Clue 2:

She was escorting convoy SL-150, which was combined with convoy MKS-41. The attack was at 0154 hours on 10th March 1944.

[Taz]

Clue 2:

She was escorting convoy SL-150, which was combined with convoy MKS-41. The attack was at 0154 hours on 10th March 1944.

One last Clue.

The survivers were rescued by the HMS Clover and the attack took place 750 miles NNW of Cape Finisterre.

I'll solve this one later today if there are no takers ;)

[Taz]

One last Clue.

The survivers were rescued by the HMS Clover and the attack took place 750 miles NNW of Cape Finisterre.

I'll solve this one later today if there are no takers

The answer is: HMS Asphodel (K 56) Flower Class Corvette

She was Part of an escort for combined convoys SL150 from Freetown and MKS141 from Gibraltar with HMS Bayntun and HMS Clover, air cover was provided by HM Escort Carrier Striker.

They came under attack by U-575, 750 miles NNW of Cape Finisterre during which HMS Asphodel was sunk by a GNAT homing torpedo fired by this submarine. HMS Clover rescued the only five survivors from HMS Asphodel.

She was the first allied ship to be sunk by a Snorkel fitted U-Boat but this device was not in use during the attacks.

HMS Clover took part in eighteen hour search for U-575 and carried out depth charge attacks which were unsuccessful.

I was stung by a GNAT!!! But not because of this I was a first. -

The G7es or Zaunk?nig T-5 (wren in German) was a torpedo employed by German U-boats during World War II. It was known as the GNAT (German Navy Acoustic Torpedo) to the British. The torpedo was electric and had an effective range of 5700 meters at a speed of 24 knots (44 km/h). This torpedo employed acoustic, passive homing to find its target after a straight run of 400 meters. The 400 meter limit was employed for safety reasons, even though there were at least two instances of U-boats (U-972 in December 1943 and U-377 in January 1944) sinking after being hit by their own torpedo. This risk was later mitigated by requiring submarines to dive to 60 meters and go completely silent after launching acoustic torpedoes.

The first 80 T-5s were delivered on 1 August 1943, and the weapon was first used in September. A total of 640 were fired in combat, sinking 45 ships. The T-5 was countered by the introduction by the Allies of the Foxer noise maker.

The T-5 was nicknamed Zerst?rerknacker (destroyer cracker) by the German submariners, as it was especially used against convoy escorts.

There were two main variants:

A flat-nosed version which contained two sets of magnetostriction hydrophones.

A round-nosed version which contained two magnetostriction hydrophones inside a funnel-shaped baffle.

Did those who did it have trouble breathing? -

She was the first allied ship to be sunk by a SNORKEL fitted U-Boat

A submarine snorkel is a device that allows a submarine to operate submerged while still taking in air from above the surface. It was invented by the Dutch just before World War II and copied by the Germans during the war for use by U-Boats. Its common military name is snort.

I'll defer for now and let others post a few questions,

Regards Eddie

[Simon F]

Thanks Eddie for taking the time to post, it is appreciated.

I deferred from answering hoping that someone else would answer the question.

I invite any interest to pose the next question.

If not I will post a suitable teaser on your behalf tomorrow if you agree?

Regards Simon

[Taz]

Thanks Eddie for taking the time to post, it is appreciated.

I deferred from answering hoping that someone else would answer the question.

I invite any interest to pose the next question.

If not I will post a suitable teaser on your behalf tomorrow if you agree?

Regards Simon

Sure Simon,

I will be offline from Wednesday till at least next Monday so I hope more members respond to this interesting thread.

Best regards Eddie.

[Simon F]

Can anybody tell me why the Royal Navy is sometimes, and still referred to as the "Andrew" Hint: A couple of possible answers!

[Taz]

Can anybody tell me why the Royal Navy is sometimes, and still referred to as the "Andrew" Hint: A couple of possible answers!

The "Andrew"

The origin of this Royal Navy nickname is obscure; some sources, including the Admiralty Manual of Seamanship, say that it derives from one Andrew Miller (Press-gang), a zealous officer of the Impress Service during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, who 'recruited' so many men to His Majesty's ships that the navy was said to belong to him.

Earlier (19th century) sources variously suggest that Andrew was a slang name for a man o' war, that Andrew Miller was a supplier of provisions to the Royal Navy, with such an apparent monopoly that he was said to own the Navy, or that the Press Service officer was named Andrew Walker.

The most reliable list of Royal Navy officers does not mention either an Andrew Miller or an Andrew Walker.

There is no absolutely conclusive answer to the derivation of the nickname.

Regards Eddie.

[Simon F]

Absolutely right and well done, looks like your question next Eddie :jumping:

[Taz]

Hi Simon,

ok here is the next question.

What ship was so revoulutionary?

She was narrower than her predecessors, fast and highly maneuverable. She cost only ?4,000 pounds. The experiment proved so fast and weatherly, that all the following Royal Ships were built along her lines.

Regards Eddie

[Simon F]

The Galleon, HMS Revenge?

[Taz]

The Galleon, HMS Revenge?

Thats right Simon the HMS Revenge, well done

I was waiting to see if there were any others interested on answering before trying a clue.

In 1577, a new design of warship slid down the ways at Her Majesty?s Royal Dockyard at Chatham, England. The ship, the 400 ton REVENGE, carried 46 guns and was the first of the new race-built galleons. As ships go, she wasn't very big (hardly the size of a modern day fast torpedo boat) but she would revolutionize 16th century naval warfare. Narrower than her predecessors, with the towering poop and foc'sle of the older galleons cut down, the ship was fast and highly maneuverable - in fact for her size she quickly outclassed the lumbering galleons that had come before. The ship's cost was a paltry ?4,000 pounds - a fantastic sum in those far off days but hardly amounting to anything at all in today's dollars ( a mere $5,800 US ). The experiment proved so fast and weatherly, that all the following Royal Ships were built along her lines. And her builder, Master Shipright Matthew Baker, a man of uncommon ability who, unlike most of his contemporaries, was also a skilled draftsman - in an era when most ships were built by eye and the skill of the builder and drawings of ships were mostly fanciful or at best rudimentary.

In 1588, Revenge was Sir Francis Drake's flagship during the battles with the Spanish Armada but the ship's claim to fame rests with the action at the Azores in 1591. Part of a small English fleet lying in wait off the islands for the returning Spanish Treasure fleet from the New World, Revenge was separated from the remainder of the fleet when her commander, Sir Richard Grenville, paused to embark his fever-stricken men who were resting on shore. Even then, cut off as he was, he might have got away, but he chose instead to stand and fight.

Out-gunned, out-fought, and out-numbered 53 to 1, the ship and her crew battled on though the night and into the next day. Ship after ship came alongside and tried to board but were beaten back with savage gunnery. Two of the Spanish ships were sunk, and the Revenge, battered and broken, with half the crew dead, staggered on. Fighting still. Finally, a desperate Sir Richard, gravely wounded himself, ordered the ship blown up. But saner heads prevailed and the ship, on assurances of good treatment, was surrendered to the Spanish - the only English ship so lost during the Elizabethan wars.

So, Revenge became a Spanish ship and the surviving crew were taken off and well tended on the Spanish ships where Sir Richard died several days later. The ship, however, lived up to her name. For she never reached port. Instead she was cast up against a cliff in a vicious gale with only the 200 man Spanish prize crew on board, where she foundered with all hands.

Regards Eddie.

[Christophe]

(...)

I was waiting to see if there were any others interested on answering before trying a clue.

(...)

Regards Eddie.

Hi Simon and Eddie,

Looks like people are a little bit bored with Quiz nowadays... I experiment a similar situation with my Soviet and Eastern Block Quiz in the Soviet sub-forum... Maybe we all have less and less time... I nevertheless try to "reactivate" it from time to time.

Cheers.

Ch.

[Simon F]

Hi Christophe, thanks for your post. I have been very busy with some resettlement stuff recently and it is a pity that this thread has been a little neglected.

Here is a new teaser for you all, a gentle breaking in

I was built by the John Brown and Company Ltd at Clydebank, and launched on the 22nd of August 1918 and weighed in at 42,000 tons. My design was influenced by the events at Jutland in 1916.

Who am I?

Who was I named after?

Can you name the famous/infamous operation that I was involved in?

What happened to me?

[Taz]

Hi guys,

Has to be HMS Hood, named after Admiral Samuel Hood (Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood (12 December 1724 ? 27 January 1816)

She was involved in the Battle of Denmark strait on the 24th May 1941 and was sunk by the Bismark.

At about 06:00 (06:01 in German reckoning), as Hood was turning, she was struck by one or more shells from Bismarck's fifth salvo, fired from a range of 15 to 18 km (about 8 to 9.5 nautical miles). Almost immediately, a huge jet of flame burst out of Hood from the vicinity of the mainmast. This was followed by a devastating explosion that destroyed the after part of the ship. Hood's stern rose and sank rapidly, then her bow section reared up in the sea and sank. Its forward turret fired one last salvo, possibly from the doomed gun crew, just before the bow section sank.Hood, the pride of the Royal Navy, had sunk in 3 minutes. From Hood's first salvo to her disappearance beneath the waves, only eleven minutes had passed.

Of the 1,418 crew, only three men (Ted Briggs, Robert Ernest Tilburn (1921-1995) and William John Dundas (1921-1965)) survived;they were rescued about two and a half hours after the sinking by the destroyer HMS Electra.

Regards Eddie

[Simon F]

Well done Eddie

I wasn't strictly clear on the infamous Operation?

Clue: 1940

[Taz]

Well done Eddie

I wasn't strictly clear on the infamous Operation?

Clue: 1940

Maybe this?

The destruction of the French Fleet at Mers-el-Kebir in July 1940.

Or.

On 28th October she sailed to intercept the Admiral Scheer and Admiral Hipper on 24th December, Hood failed to find either ship.

Regards Eddie

Edited October 4, 2008 by Taz

[Simon F]

Close to the date.

Clue: July

[Taz]

Close to the date.

Clue: July

Opps sorry Simon, i edited my previous post

Regards Eddie

[Simon F]

Spot on Eddie, well done!