Trivia!

Correct, and congratulations on your promotion Admiral Anachronus!

Here is a nice article about the Victoria:

http://www.cdnn.info/industry/i040903c/i040903c.html

 

Thanks. I am getting a 404 error on the link.

My turn.

What Spanish prize was in service until the 1950's and what role did she serve?

NB I have not been following this board until recently so I apologize if this has been asked.

 

Fixed.

 

Is the answer to the new question Reina Mercedes? Used as a barracks ship at the Naval Academy.

It actually has been asked about before! See pages 46-47.

 

HMS Victoria, survivor was John Jellicoe

 

Correct.

 

I'm running low on question ideas, but let's try this one:

What is the world's largest naval base by number of ships homeported there? What is the world's largest naval base by land area?

 

norfolk va ?

 

Naval Station Norfolk, VA, answers the easy part of the question--largest base in terms of ships.

The largest in terms of area is the hard part. Most people have probably never heard of this place.

 

No guesses? Maybe I need to give some clues on the largest naval base...

It is located in the United States.

Despite being a Navy base, it's over a hundred miles from any coastline with barely a drop of water to be found!

 

Sounds like a naval bombing range.....

 

I'd quess it's something like El Toro naval airstation. Think a marine base somewhere, they are owned by the navy too.

I think I found it but I looked it up, so I will wait a while.

 

There is a Yuma, AZ MCAS forgot the name of it. But I would say Twentynine Palms if it is a Marine Corps base or Fallon Naval Air Station.

 

Fallon NAS is my best guess. If it is indeed Fallon, you can take it garden, liek I said, I looked it up and you actually said it first. I didnt think to check 29 palms

 

You're all in the right part of the country but no one's got it yet. This place is not a Marine Corps base.

 

The base in question is twice as big as 29 Palms, 13 times bigger than NAS Fallon, and over 200 times bigger than El Toro!

El Toro is also closed. Guess Will Smith's exploits in Independence Day were its last hurrah.

 

Darn, I have misplaced my military instalation map.

 

I would have to guess China Lake Naval Ordnance Test Station:

The Navy established China Lake as the Naval Station (NOTS) in November 1943. Its mission was defined in a letter by the Secretary of the Navy, ".... a station having for its primary function the research, development and testing of weapons, and having additional function of furnishing primary training in the use of such weapons." Testing began within a month of the Station's formal establishment. The vast sparsely populated desert with near perfect flying weather and practically unlimited visibility, proved an ideal location not only for test and evaluation activities, but also for a complete research and development establishment.

The early Navy-CalTech partnership established a pattern of cooperation and interaction between civilian scientists and engineers and experienced military personnel that, in the ensuing six decades, has made China Lake one of the preeminent research, development, test and evaluation institutions in the world.

In 1950, NOTS scientists and engineers developed the air-intercept missile (AIM) 9 Sidewinder air-to-air, which has become the world’s most used and most copied air-to-air missile. A few of the other rockets and missile development or tested at China Lake have included the Mighty Mouse, Zuni, Sidewinder, Shrike, Joint Stand-off Weapon (JSOW) and Joint Direct-Attack Munition (JDAM).

In July 1967, NOTS China Lake and the Naval Ordnance Laboratory, Corona, California, became the Naval Weapons Center. The Corona facilities were closed and their functions transferred to the desert in 1971. In July 1979, the mission and functions of the National Parachute Test Range in El Centro were transferred to The Lake.

In January 1992, the Naval Weapons Center and the Pacific Missile Test Center Point Mugu were disestablished and joined with naval units at Albuquerque and White Sands, N.M. as a single command - the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division. At the same time, the physical plant at China Lake was designated as a Naval Air Weapons Station - currently NAWS - and the Station became host of the Weapons Division, performing the base-keeping functions.

 

Knight4hire, you are the winner!

It hasn't been called the Naval Ordnance Test Station in decades though. The current name is Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake. NAWS China Lake occupies 1.1 million acres in the Mojave Desert of southern California and represents nearly 40% of the total land held by the US Navy. China Lake is the Navy's primary facility for research and development as well as testing of missiles, bombs, rockets, and components thereof.

 

You should see the date on my Military installation map! 1975!