Trivia!

Here is an easy one.
A common nautical term today that began as a War cry?

 

Your map is older than I am!

Is the answer to the nautical term question "ahoy"? I've heard speculation it was a Norse war cry, although the word origin site I checked disagrees.

 

Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead

david farragut, battle of mobile bay

the "torpedoes" he mentioned where what we call mines thesedays, they where submerged barrels filled with explosives and activated by either a contact horn or revolver style firing pin.

Krijn
OAF-ABDAfloat

 

Thank Eljefe, I needed to hear that! I was Active duty in the Military when I had purchased that map!
You are making me feel very ancient!

Buy yes, I have several sources that cite "Ahoy" as a" Viking" war cry.

I like you answer Krijn, I use it a lot my self! But I have to give this one to eljefe.

You are up Eljefe!

 

Here's a rather unusual piece of trivia I found recently.

Who was Frances Stephens and what was her unique involvement in two infamous ship sinkings during World War I?

 

She is where the quote Double Jeopardy came from. Dies on the Lusitania when the U20 sank her. Body recoved, and embalmed. Was being shipped back to Canada, and U20 then sinks the ship her body is on, the Hesperian.

 

Here a good peice of trivia.

What was the first US warship with a flush toilet?

 

I'm guessing the USS Monitor.

 

That's right. Frances Washington Stephens had the unlucky fate to be sunk by U-20 twice! Her casket must still lie on the floor of the English Channel near the Lusitania today.
Here are a couple articles about her:
http://www.garemaritime.com/features/lusitania_victim/
http://perdurabo10.tripod.com/ships/id191.html
Another interesting bit of trivia is Frances' older sister Elizabeth had been her husband George Washington Stephens' first wife!

 

You got it Gasman, your turn.

 

OK, I haven't had one in a while now. What was the Czar's initial reaction when he heard of the defeat at Tsushima Strait?

 

It's probably not easy to find this, so I'll give some hints. Barbara Tuchman used the Czar's reaction as an example of his leadership abilities in a famous book I have been reading recently.

 

that book is not "rasplata" is it ? (the reckoning)

 

No, it seems Rasplata was written by Vladimir Semenoff, not by Barbara Tuchman. I don't know if the event I am referring to is recorded in that book (it probably isn't, since the battle was Semenoff recorded the battle in a second book later). My information came from The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman, at a point where she is describing the incompetence of the Czar as a leader.

 

On the bottom of page 59 of The Guns of August, Tuchman reports that "When a telegram was brought to him announcing the annihilation of the Russian fleet at Tsushima, he read it, stuffed it in his pocket, and continued playing tennis." Alright, I'll ask something different.

This American vessel only carried four 6-pdr rifled guns, but these were not her primary armament. She never got to use her highly-unusual primary weapon, and was sunk as a target. Another ship with the same name became known for swiping 1500 cattle from Texas. What is the name of this vessel?

 

Easy. USS Katahdin.

 

I had not heard about the cattle rustling.

 

Darren's got it. USS Katahdin was designed as a ram, but ultimately the best use the Navy found for her was as a target. The earlier USS Katahdin was built and used during the Civil War. One of her actions on the Mississippi River involved stealing 1500 cattle as part of the effort to break the Confederacy in half and cut the flow of supplies.

 

Ah yes...the War of Northern Aggression.

 

The war of southern smackdown you mean!