Trivia is dead, Long live Trivia! To get this started off, a pic of some ships in port, their national ensigns thoughtfully blacked out If only someone would I.D. them for us!! (Class is close enough)
What were the main functions of the "box-like" structure installed atop the foremast seen in the picture of Schlesien & Schleswig-Holstein?
I don't think it's a "battle bridge," since you don't want to put heavy armor high up on a mast, and you don't want your admiral and captain in an unarmored room exposed to enemy fire. The French put enclosed gun mounts up on some of their masts, but they looked really funky (I think one was even nicknamed the "spaceship"). I think "crows nest" is a bit closer. I'd put spotters up there to watch the fall of shot and call in corrections for the fire control computer.
I'll give it to Gascan as he is the closest. Its actually the rangefinder & firecontrol station mounted atop the foremast.
Wouldn't want to let this thread go stale so soon. This ship served long and hard through two wars with the French, under several famous commanders and in several famous small-ship actions. In her most famous action, she displayed remarkable seamanship in a battle during a storm at night against a vastly superior opponent. The well-known song "Heart of Oak" immortalized this battle with the line "if they run, why we'll follow and run them ashore; for if they won't fight us, we cannot do more." What ship do I refer to? What else is this ship well known for?
BZZZZT!!!! Incorrect. "Heart of Oak" is a British shanty extolling the virtues of the Royal Navy and their glorious exploits. The line in the song refers to a battle wherein the mystery ship attacked a vastly superior ship-of-the-line at night in the middle of a storm and drove it aground, then escaped from a lee shore. There are, of course, other famous incidents this famous ship was involved in. The book Post Captain describes one such famous incident involving four Spanish frigates laden with gold, although not from the perspective of the mystery ship.
Ding ding! We have a winner! I was indeed thinking of the Indefatigable. She was originally a 64-gun ship-of-the-line, but was considered too small to stand in the line any more when the French Revolutionary Wars came around. Instead, she was cut down a deck to become a frigate, which were desperately needed at the time, and carried 38 long guns and 6 carronades. Early on, she was commanded by Captain Sir Edward Pellew (who went on to become the Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom). Her most famous action at this time was when she intercepted a French ship of the line returning from a failed attempt to invade Ireland. Indefatigable, in company with Amazon, took advantage of a storm to attack the French 74-gun Droits de l'Hommes. After a running gun fight through the night, Amazon and Droits de l'Hommes ran aground and were wrecked. Indefatigable, however, displayed excellent seamanship and escaped. According to one book I read, this is the origin of the line about driving the enemy ashore in the old song Heart of Oak. Indefatigable later led three other frigates in detaining four Spanish ships transporting gold. This would have been one of the largest prizes ever captured, but because Britain and Spain were not yet at war, the money was claimed by the Crown. In fiction, Horatio Hornblower was a midshipman on the Indefatigable under Pellew's command. In the Jack Aubrey series, Aubrey participates in the capture of the Spanish frigates, commanding the Lively.
That took alot of reading to find that. USS Wasp CV-7, USS North Carolina BB-55 and USS O'Brien DD-415 all have something in common (other that being US warships in the Pacific Theatre). What is it? J
True, but there is something different or unique about it. I didn't word the question good enough I think. J
