Things Nautical and Naval #3 Trivia Quiz

Answer: HMS Vanguard.

HMS Vanguard was the last and largest Battleship built for the Royal Navy. Laid down in 1941 and commissioned in 1946, she had a brief active duty career of less than 10 years during which she never fired a shot in anger. HMS Vanguard was scrapped in 1960 after being in reserve for 5 years.

Answer: 5 inch.

For current destroyers and larger ships, the 5in/54 Caliber Mk45 naval rifle is the standard "gun" weapon. This is a semi-automatic weapon with a 20 round auto-load capacity. In the auto load mode the gun is completely unmanned. For sustained fire a three man crew, gun captain, control panel operator and ammunition loader, man stations directly below the deck mount.

The projectile can weigh up to 70 lbs. The gun has a nominal range of 13 nm for unguided projectiles.

Answer: Passive sonar.

Primary contact detection and classification is almost always by passive sonar, that is by listening rather than by transmitting an active sonar "ping". For any anti-submarine platform; air, surface, or subsurface, one of the most difficult tasks is the "positive" identification of a submerged contact. If a submerged submarine is foolish enough to transmit an active ping, the opposing unit will know that the "unknown" contact is a submarine. Whales don't echo-range.

Answer: Norway.

In 1985, Norway allowed women to serve in all areas of the country's armed forces including submarines. Since then Sweden, Denmark, Australia, Canada, Germany, Spain, and Portugal have allowed women to serve in submarines. In 1995 The Royal Norwegian Navy appointed the first woman to command a submarine.

Answer: The Royal Navy.

In 1952, HMS Triumph tested the idea of angled deck landings by replacing her original, longitudinally oriented deck markings with angled ones. The tests proved completely successful and consequentially two aircraft carriers; USS Antietam and HMS Centaur were converted to include extended length angled flight decks.

All current U.S.Navy aircraft carriers have flight decks angled at about 9 degrees from the ship's center line. This allows for simultaneous launch and recovery operations as well as safer landing conditions since the landing area is angled away from the ship's "island" on the starboard side. It also provides a longer landing area.

Answer: Go to full power on his engines.

Ideally, on a good landing the plane's tail hook will pick up the third of the four hydraulically tensioned arresting wires and this, alone, will bring the plane to a full stop from the average landing speed, at full power, of 120kts. Things are not always "ideal" however. If the tail hook misses all of the wires, being at full power will enable the air craft to safely take off again and go around for another approach.

Answer: Homing torpedoes.

Homing torpedoes are almost universally the only modern weapon deployed against submarines, by aircraft, surface ships and other submarines. The torpedoes can be ship launched or air dropped from ASW surveillance and/or attack aircraft. The most effective method of attack, by a surface ship, is by using a "stand off" weapon system.

The U.S. Navy utilizes the ASROC delivery system which can effectively deliver a homing torpedo on a target several thousand yards away from the launching ship. The ASROC is not an ASW missile system but a missile system that delivers a homing torpedo.

Answer: Indicate the maximum safe draft when fully laden

Also called an International load line, the Plimsoll Mark is named after Samuel Plimsoll, a British MP, who fought against what he called "coffin ships," ships that were overloaded and usually unseaworthy. In 1876, the United Kingdom Merchant Shipping Act was passed.

This act required British registered vessels to display, on their hulls, a mark indicating the safe load line for that ship. Over the years, additional marks and letters were added to the basic mark to indicate safe load limits in various ocean areas. e.g. TF (tropical fresh water), WNA (winter North Atlantic) etc.

In 1930 an international convention mandated Plimsoll Marks for all ocean going vessels.

Answer: They were powered by two oil fired boilers driving steam turbines for surface operations.

The K class, or as they became to be known, the "Kalamity" class submarines were designed to operate with the main battle fleet at a design surface speed of 21 kts. In trials, none made over 19 kts; too slow to operate with the fleet. 18 boats were built. None were lost due to enemy action, but 6 were sunk due to accidents and several others suffered problems stemming from poor maneuverability and the difficulty in securing the steam propulsion plant for dive. Most of the class were taken out of service shortly after the end of WW1. K-28, the last of the class was highly modified and operated from 1926 to 1931 as a reasonably successful Submarine.

Answer: They each carried a single 12 inch naval rifle.

The 3 M class submarines were built between 1916 and 1919, and were originally intended to be used as submarine monitors for coastal bombardment. The 12 inch gun was considered to be their primary offensive weapon. Even though they had 4 torpedo tubes, at the time of their construction torpedoes were not considered a very reliable weapon.

The submarine carried 50 rounds for it's gun which was designed to be fired from periscope depth. In service, the large gun proved to be not very practical. None of the boats saw service in WW1. M-1 was lost in a training exercise in 1925. M-2 was converted to a seaplane carrier but was lost, probably due to a prematurely opening hanger door while surfacing, in 1933. M-3 was converted to a mine layer in 1927 and was scrapped in 1932.