Trivia!

Manitowoc

 

BIngo, You're up. I love seeing the Cobia. I thnk I took 100 or so pictures of her the last time I was there.

 

Two British ships are known to have fired practice ammunition at enemy ships in combat.
Name the two ships.
Mikey

 

I'm not sure if these are the ones you're thinking of, but they satisfy the question!

HMS Canopus at the Falklands during WW1
HMS Achilles in the battle with Graf Spee in WW2

 

Those are indeed the two.
You are up.
Are you familiar with the story behind them firing the practice rounds?
Mikey

 

I know more about the battle in the Falklands than the Graf Spee.

 

OK, here's a new question:

What is the American ship Itasca famous for?

 

That sounds familure.....
Something about a radio transmission...
"I am flying North and South......"

 

according to wiki it was the last ship to have radio contact with Amelia Earhart

 

Yes, the US Coast Guard cutter Itasca was stationed near Howland Island in 1937 to provide radio beacons and guide Amelia Earhart in for a landing. This was the most difficult leg of Earhart's journey around the world since the tiny island was nearly impossible to see from the air and Earhart's plane had little fuel by the time it arrived in the vicinity. Unfortunately, there is little evidence that Earhart could hear the Itasca's radio transmissions even though the ship could hear her. The last verified message the ship detected was Earhart indicating she was flying a search pattern along a north-south navigation line, but no trace of her, her fellow crewman Fred Noonan, or their plane was ever seen again.

There are a variety of theories about what became of the historic aviators, which you can read in this article I wrote:

http://www.aerospaceweb.org/questio...0299.shtml

Another interesting bit of trivia concerns the airfield on Howland Island. This strip was built especially for Earhart who needed somewhere to land and refuel between New Guinea and Hawaii. The field was never used again, so despite all the effort the US took on to construct a runway on this remote island, no plane ever landed there.

You're up, moose.

 

What is the longest battleship in the US navy?

 

Completed, planned, designed, or what? The USN had different ships at different levels of design and construction, each of which could meet that requirement.

 

If you mean completed ships, then the Iowa class.

 

For completed, I agree it's probably the Iowa class. For designed/ordered/were-going-to-build-it, Montana takes the cake. For designed-(but-no-way-in-hell-it'd-ever-get-built), I think one of the Tillman battleships was bigger than Montana.

 

I've always heard the USS New Jersey was the world's longest battleship, being slightly longer than the rest of the Iowas.

 

To clarify, the longest to be completed. According to what I have the New Jersey is not the one, But you are getting close.

 

I heard that it was the Wisconsin.

After that accident, they removed the Wisconsin's bow and attached the bow from the USS Kentucky. (One of the two Iowa class that were started but never finished).
Thus makint the Wisconsin the longest of all the Iowa Class ships.

 

Yes, it is the Wisconsin. She had her bow replaced after the collision with the Eaton. Your next.

 

Lets see now.
How about some Chicago History and the question will be: How does it connect to WW2 naval combat?

Al Capone had a Lawyer called Slick Willy.
Slick Willy was a darn good crimmial lawyers.
He was always able to beat any charges that the Fed's brought against Capone.

One day Slick Willy turned against Capone.

Now then, how does this connect to WW2 Naval Combat?

 

Sounds like someone bypassing treaty limitations, then getting turned in by someone who helped hide it. I can't think of any specifics at the moment, though.