Trivia!

Yep, Kolchak. That was a tough one, judging by the response (or lack thereof). You also got the bonus question. As a reward, you get... a bonus point! You can trade it in for an ice cold bucket of smack, or you can keep it in your collection to show off.

 

Gunther Prien
Scapa Flow
Royal Oak
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

JM

 

Commissioned 22-November-1919, the only (?) US battleship to never touch American shores was USS______.

JM

 

USS Zrinyi and USS Radetzky

 

Pick one.

JM

 

Both were commissioned in the US Navy, but I'll go with Zrinyi as I know she was towed to Italy to be scrapped. I am pretty sure the story on Radetzky is the same, but I am not positive.

 

I'll take that. I can find numerous less-than-reliable references (that all seem to be copied from the same source, whatever that might be) to RADETZKY being actually commissioned, but nothing that I'd consider reliable (i.e. a USN source; our usual reference - Conway's - doesn't say). ZRINYI, though, was commissioned on 22-November-1919, according to DANFS.

JM

 

I earned 16 battlestars in World War two, and fought my way across the Pacific from Midway to Okinawa, and from the Aleutian Islands to the Coral Sea. I was involved in 4 of the 6 carrier duels and twice I stood toe to toe with enemy capital ships at night, and twice when the sun arose I remained on the field. What ship am I?

 

USS Portland

 

correct

 

YAY! Ok, ok, here I go:

What was the real-world analogue of HMS Thunderchild, why was she so interesting, and why were no more ships of the type built?

 

HMS Polyphemus - A protected torpedo boat, with a ram. A type of torpedo boat combining a ram with torpedo tubes.

Concept:
Once it reached the harbor, the torpedo ram was to smash its way through any seaward harbor defenses and make straight for the ships lying at anchor, firing its torpedoes before they could get underway. Once this was done, the torpedo ram would exit the harbor and make a high-speed escape to waiting friendly forces.

Polyphemus launched a simulated attack on 30 June 1885, evading around ten torpedoes fired by 6 torpedo boats during her 2 mile run-in and easily smashed through the booms and a 5 inch steel hawser holding them in place.

Uniques:
She had bow rudders
She was an early torpedo boat
She had a bow ram
the ram acted much like a bulbous bow
first Royal Navy vessel to be fitted with 80 volt electric lighting

No other ships were made because development of quick traversing and quick firing guns as she entered service had rendered the concept behind her design less practical

 

Right on, Justin. Take it away!

 

My basic design carried over into a later monster, which caused Churchill some famous grief.
I was sacrificed for another who would never put to sea.
My own crew tried to scuttle me, but they failed.. thanks to my enemy.
Twin British monitors lead my execution.

 

SMS Baden

 

You the man, Mike!

Tag, Your it!

 

I attacked both the Bismarck and the Tirpitz, and served in every major naval theatre of the WW2. I operated an airgroup composed of naval pilots from two different navies, and was for a while known as the USS Robin.

What ship am I?

 

HMS Victorious