Dive! Dive! by Perry Scope Trivia Quiz

Answer: Red October

"The Hunt for Red October" was written by Tom Clancy and published in 1984. It was made into a film with the same name in 1990. The game-changing technology was a new propulsion unit undetectable by sonar and Marko Ramius was the Soviet submarine captain wanting to defect.

The story is said to have been inspired by a failed mutiny on a Soviet frigate (the Storozhevoy) with the sinking and partial recovery of the Soviet submarine K-129 also contributing. The K-129's story is itself interesting: the Soviets losing touch with their vessel in 1968 and the CIA (America's Central Intelligence Agency) mounting a secret deep recovery operation six years later to acquire Soviet technology.

Answer: Lusitania

All these ships were sunk by German U-boats although the Lusitania's sinking caused much uproar in the US and led to the Germans ceasing attacks on passenger liners for nearly two years. The announcement that U-boats would resume such attacks in January 1917 is said to have tipped public opinion in the US in favour of joining the war.

In 1912 the Carpathia was first on scene following the sinking of the Titanic. U-20, a diesel-electric submarine of the German navy, had three months earlier caused controversy by firing on a hospital ship.

It ran aground on the Danish coast in 1916 and was destroyed to prevent it falling into British hands.

Answer: Fantastic Voyage

The film script was based on a story by Otto Klement and Jerome Bixby reminiscent of Jules Verne. Isaac Asimov was then asked to turn the film script into a book which was also called "Fantastic Voyage" and appeared before the film was released. The 1987 comedy "Innerspace" was a re-working of the film.

Answer: France

"Plongeur" is French for diver and also dishwasher. The submarine used a compressed-air engine supplied from onboard tanks, with a support vessel accompanying her to resupply her with compressed air as required. She was armed with a spar torpedo (or bomb fixed on the end of a pole) and a ram. She was withdrawn from service in 1872 and converted into a water tanker.

Answer: Aircraft

The Sen Toku I-400 class of submarine had a hanger housing up to three aircraft. Planes were launched using a compressed air-powered catapult. The hull was an unusual figure-of-eight shape to strengthen the hull and provide stability for the aircraft. Eighteen were originally planned although only three were completed towards the end of the war and, although planned and trained for, no missions were carried out.

Answer: Nautilus

The book was written by Jules Verne and has been translated, adapted and made into films many times. Jules Verne named his submarine after another Nautilus made by American inventor Robert Fulton for the French and trialled from 1800. It is said to have been the world's first practical submarine. The 20,000 leagues referred to in the title of the book is the distance covered rather than the depth gone to. Different countries have different definitions for a league. In Jules Verne's book, a league is about four kilometres.

Answer: Nautilus

The USS Nautilus reached the North Pole on 3 August 1958. One of the main problems was navigating under the ice at such high latitudes. This was achieved using an inertial navigation system. Magnetic compasses and normal gyroscopes are inaccurate at such latitudes.

In 1959 the USS Skate was the first submarine to surface at the North Pole and in 1977 the Soviet nuclear-powered icebreaker Arktika was the first surface vessel to reach the North Pole.

Answer: Nuclear

USS Nautilus, launched in 1954, was the world's first nuclear-powered submarine. Seaview also featured ballistic missiles, one of which was used to snuff out a fire in the Van Allen radiation belt and save the world. In the real world, USS George Washington was commissioned in 1959 as the world's first nuclear-powered ballistic-missile submarine.

The Seaview film spawned a television series which ran from 1964 to 1968.

Answer: Colombia

Costing typically $2 million and a year to make, they are considered virtually disposable as their cargo typically has a street value of $200 million dollars or more. They are designed to minimise detection and have been made of wood, fibreglass and Kevlar, and steel.

They normally sail from Colombia to Mexico. To give an idea of scale, there were estimated to be over 80 shipments north towards the United States during 2008. They are not just limited to the Americas. For example, a submarine suspected of being used for drug carrying was found abandoned on the Spanish coast and a submarine intended for the Italian Mafia was intercepted in Colombia, both during 2006.

Answer: Exploding ammunition from the ship being sunk

In September 1917, U-28 fired a torpedo at the British armed cargo ship Olive Branch. It surfaced and closed in to finish the ship off by gunfire. The gunfire resulted in the cargo of munitions exploding, sinking the ship and severely damaging the submarine in the process.

The whole submarine crew were lost. All but one of the cargo ship's crew survived. The 'truck' story is that the exploding munitions send a truck, which was deck cargo, skywards and on to the submarine.