U.S. Navy Frequently Asked Questions

Answer: Starboard

Aft is towards or near the stern, stern is the back part and port is the left side.

Answer: F6F Hellcat

The F6F Hellcat was only flown from June 15 to August 25th - about two months - before the team began using the F8F Bearcat.

Answer: Eastern Fleet

Ranger was the first purpose built aircraft carrier in the US Navy. Commissioned in June 1934, she was closer in size to the pioneering USS Langley than the much larger Lexington and Saratoga, and was also significantly slower, also lacking torpedo protection. Although Ranger served in the Pacific during the pre-war period, in January 1939 she left San Diego to undertake operations in the Caribbean based at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, before proceeding to Norfolk to take up station with the Atlantic Fleet. It was while based in Virginia that Pearl Harbor was attacked - the loss of almost all of the Pacific Fleet's battleships led to a need for more aircraft carriers to be sent to Hawaii. However, Ranger's limitations in terms of size, speed and protection led to her being left in the Atlantic Theater.

In April 1942, Winston Churchill sent a message to President Roosevelt requesting reinforcement of the Royal Navy's Eastern Fleet, at the time stationed in Ceylon, following the Indian Ocean Raid, in which the Japanese had attacked British shipping and bases in the region. This had resulted in the loss of three major British warships, the heavy cruisers HMS Dorsetshire and HMS Cornwall, and the aircraft carrier HMS Hermes. Churchill requested that the US send Ranger, plus the battleship USS North Carolina, to reinforce the Eastern Fleet. Admiral Ernest King, the US Chief of Naval Operations, was adamant that no major US fleet unit, especially Ranger, be sent to the Indian Ocean, and drafted a response to Churchill's request bluntly stating this. In an effort to maintain diplomacy, President Roosevelt amended this to play up Ranger's deficiencies, with instead the ship being used to ferry fighters for the 10th Air Force based in India.

Answer: USS Langley

Langley was also the Navy's first electrically-propelled ship, capable of speeds of 15 knots. On October 17, 1922 the first plane was launched from the Langley's decks. On February 27,1941 the Langley was sunk by Japanese warplanes (with a little help from U.S. destroyers), and all of its 32 aircraft were lost.

Answer: John Paul Jones

Jones is better known for his reply to the commander of HMS Serapis: "I have not yet begun to fight." He was born in Scotland but moved to Virginia at an early age. He later volunteered for the Navy, where he raised the Continental ensign on the flagship in the Navy's first fleet.

Answer: John Quincy Adams

President Adams' request was not acted upon until twenty years later in 1841. The naval academy was established without congressional funding in 1845.

Answer: Approximately 30,000 tons with 12-inch guns

The Alaskas were similar in size and armament to the first U.S. Dreadnought-type battleships from the early 1900s, weighing in at close to 30,000 tons and carrying nine 12-inch guns. Because of this, they have been considered as battlecruisers by many naval historians.

Answer: 1920

After more design studies and changes, the first of the ships were finally laid down in 1920.

Answer: USS Nevada

How the Nevada came to be known as the "Cheer Up Ship" seems to be a question with various possible answers. According to some reports it was the fact that she did manage to get underway during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Others suggest that "cheer up" was the slogan of her first captain.

Answer: USS Hornet

The Hornet launched 16 B-25 "Mitchell" medium bombers for a raid on the main Island of Japan. Though little damage was reported, the lift to American morale was enormous.

Answer: Aden

An ancient seaport, the Port of Aden rests on the crater of an extinct volcano. Aden became the capital of the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen in 1970 until north and south Yemen were unified in 1990 and the capital was moved to Sana'a.

Answer: ADM Arleigh Burke

At the Admiral's own request, only one word is inscribed on his tombstone it is the word, "Sailor". ADM Arleigh Burke was a 4-star Admiral, all the others listed held the 5-star rank of Fleet Admiral.

Answer: USN - Unity, Service, Navigation

Ask any Chief. Or, for a more formal explanation, here is what the leading online resource for CPO's - www.goatlocker.org - has to say on the subject:

The "U" stands for Unity, which reminds us of co-operation, maintaining harmony and continuity of purpose and action.

The "S" stands for Service, which reminds us of service to our God, our fellow man and our Navy.

The "N" stands for Navigation, which reminds us to keep ourselves on a true course so that we may walk upright before God and man in our transactions with all mankind, but especially with our fellow Chiefs. The Chain is symbolic of flexibility and reminds us of the chain of life that we forge day by day, link by link and may it be forged with Honor, Morality and Virtue.

Answer: 1900

John Philip Holland was born in a Gaelic-speaking area of County Clare, Ireland, in 1840. He did not learn to speak English until he went to school. He seems to have been a born engineering genius. He was a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the forerunner of today's Irish Republican Army. He originally became interested in designing submarines as a way to sink British warships. Holland emigrated to the United States in 1873, and worked as a teacher while perfecting his designs for a workable submarine. On May 17, 1897 a submarine called Holland VI was launched at Elizabeth, New Jersey. The boat had gasoline-powered engines for surface cruising, and used electric batteries for submerged propulsion. She carried a reloadable forward torpedo tube and a deck gun. The Navy was so impressed that it purchased the boat, which had been built using private funds, and on October 12, 1900 she was commissioned USS Holland (SS-1). Holland spent her career as a training vessel and was decommissioned in 1910. In 1913, she was sold as scrap for a mere $100. John Philip Holland died August 2, 1914, assured of a prominent place in submarine history.

Answer: USS North Carolina (BB-55)

North Carolina suffered from vibration aft and was in and out of the yard frequently to try and fix that, her nickname was given to her by other crews due to her showboat trips in and out of the harbor.

Answer: water keg

During the days of sailing ships, water was stored in kegs also known as butts. Sailors would gather around these kegs to get a drink of water and then, much the same as now, they talked. Rumors of current events were shared here, and eventually the term scuttlebutt came to mean rumor.

Answer: Participating in an after-dinner drinking ritual.

British naval officers originated the custom of "passing the port" by passing the port from "port to port" - that is clockwise. The precise details of the ritual vary, but in most messes the decanter of port is placed in front of the president of the mess who first serves the guest to his right and then passes the decanter to the guest on his left. The port is then passed to the left all the way back to the president. In some variations, the decanter may not touch the table until it is empty.

Answer: Reenlisted

It's a sailor's prerogative to complain about life at sea and to dream of the day he goes ashore, forswearing he'll ever go to sea again. But once the sea is in your veins, it's hard to leave. Eventually many return to that which they hate, and love.

Answer: USS Texas

Fresh from commissioning, the USS Texas (BB-35) was sent in addition to the USS Utah to Vera Cruz, Mexico to help support U.S. Army and Navy actions against Mexican bandits raiding across the border into the U.S. The Mexican government claimed it did not support the bandits and so the Vera Cruz Incident remained a police action and did not escalate into war. There is evidence that the German government was involved in an attempt to keep the U.S. out of WWI.

Answer: She was oil-fired and fuel oil was scarce in England

Although she was too late for the Battle of Jutland and may not, in hindsight have been needed, she was plenty fast for the Grand Fleet and quite reliable. She was indeed one of the first oil-fired battleships and that was not that common a fuel in England and was plenty scarce. She could have refueled there for a return Trans Atlantic trip but not operated there on a continuous basis. Most ships were coal-fired at the time.

Answer: The Invasion of Okinawa

The last major battle of World War II was the invasion of Okinawa and USS TEXAS was right there off the beach bombarding Japanese gun emplacements, and providing called fire support. She also provided antiaircraft fire against the kamikaze attacks, claiming one solo kill and three assists. After the Japanese surrendered she made three trips back to the states ferrying troops home in Operation Magic Carpet. She participated in the invasion of Iwo Jima earlier, but was not in the Pacific for Tarawa. Although Honshu was bombed by USAAF and U.S. Navy planes, the planned invasion of the Japanese Main Islands never took place due, in part, to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Answer: Dreadnought Battleship

Even though there were other similar battleships introduced around the same time, HMS Dreadnought (1906) was the ship remembered for changing battleships forever by being among the first of the "all big gun" battleships. USS TEXAS (BB-35)was designed around the concept of HMS Dreadnought, was a contemporary of HMS Dreadnought, and although she was more modern and more powerful, she is classified as a Dreadnought era battleship. Super-Dreadnoughts were generally a decade or so newer than the Dreadnoughts and therefore would have fallen in the 1916 - 1920 range.

Answer: Naval Hospital Great Lakes

The Great Lakes' and San Diego's RTC and HM "A" school are closed. Many sailors have stood cold, winter watches at this base in North Chicago.

Answer: Oliver Hazard Perry

In a dispatch to Major General William Harrison, Perry reported that "We have met hte enemy and they are ours--two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop." This engagement took place at the Battle of Lake Erie on Sept 10 1813 during the War of 1812.

Answer: Subsequent awards of the same Navy decoration

It's commonly seen on the Navy/Marine Corps Achievement Medal.