Identify the Ship or Armament Quiz | War History

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. This British ship was comissioned in December 1906 and was of a revolutionary design. Armament: 10-12in (5x2) 10-12pdr Speed: 21kts Displacement: 18,110t

Answer: Dreadnought

HMS Dreadnought was first of a new and revolutionary type of battleship. She was the first capital ship to use steam turbines and reached a record speed of 21kts. She was built in 14 months, which was another record.

2. This US class consisted of two battleships. The first of ship of this class was completed in April 1941. The two were the first new US battleships since the early 1920s. Armament: 9-16in (3x3) 20-5in (10x2) Speed: 28kts Displacement: 37,484t

Answer: North Carolina

The two North Carolinas were the first battleships the US Navy built after expiry of the Washington Treaty 'building holiday'. The design was a further development of the last battleships classes.
Ships: USS North Carolina & USS Washington

3. This class consisted of two battlecruisers. The first ship was completed in August 1916. These ships were not very popular in the Royal Navy because of their weak protection. Armament: 6-15in (3x2) 17-4in (5x3) (2x1) Speed: 32kts Displacement: 27,650t

Answer: Renown

When Admiral Fisher returned to the post of First Sea Lord he insisted on building new battlecruisers after the success of the Invincible and Inflexible in the Battle of the Falklands. The Cabinet finally agreed when Fisher promised to build them as fast as the Dreadnought ten years earlier.

His influence on the ship was disastrous. In Fisher's opinion speed was the best protection and so the ships had only the scale of armour as the Invincible.

4. Known as the 'Ugly Sisters' these two German battleships (often by mistake described as battlecruisers) were completed between May 1938 and January 1939. Name the class. Armament: 9-11in (3x3) 12-5.9in (4x2) (4x1) Speed: 32kts Displacement: 31,850t

Answer: Scharnhorst

The Scharnhorst class was a compromise between various political, military and technical requirements. The displacement of the ships was in accordance the Washington Treaty. First the ships were supposed be armed with 15in guns, but Hitler didn't want to provoke the British and so the ships were finally armed with 11in guns. Often mistakenly classified as battlecruisers, these ships had in fact almost as much protection like the legendary Bismarck. Even though the Gneisenau was the first of class laid down and completed the class was named Scharnhorst class due to traditional reasons. Ships: Scharnhorst & Gneisenau

5. This class consisted of four battleships. All were completed between January and November 1912. These were the first British ships which had their main turrets in the centreline with superimposed turrets forward and aft. Armament: 10-13.5in (5x2) 16-4in

Answer: Orion

The Orion class battleships were the first to be mounted with the new 13.5in guns. A further improvement was to place all turrets in the centreline allowing the ship to fire full broadsides of all 10 guns. A weakness in these ships was that the tripod mast was between the funnels. The smoke interference with fire control was big problem.
Ships: HMS Orion, HMS Monarch, HMS Conqueror & HMS Thunderer.

6. These two battleships were the first in the world to mount 16in guns. They were completed between November 1920 and November 1921. At the time the ships were completed they were also the fastest battleships in the world. Name the class. Armament: 8-16in (4x2) 20-5.5in Speed: 26.5kts Displacement: 33,800t

Answer: Nagato

The Nagato class was the first which was designed entirely in Japan. When completed these two battleships were claimed to be the most powerful in the world.
Ships: Nagato, Mutsu

7. These two battleships were the only battleships built in the USA for a foreign country. The ships were completed between December 1914 and March 1915. Name the class. Armament: 12-12in (6x2) 12-6in Speed: 22.5kts Displacement: 27,940t

Answer: Rivadavia

The Rivadavia class was the Argentinian response to the Brazilian Minas Gerais class being constructed in Great Britain. European shipbuilders were shocked when the contract was given to Fore River Shipbuilding Corporation because the United States lagged far behind Great Britain and Germany in the Dreadnought race at this time and was not considered as a serious competitor.
Ships: Rivadavia & Moreno

8. This ship was the first German battlecruiser. It was completed in February 1911. Armament: 8-11in (4x2) 10-5.9in Speed: 24.75kts Displacement: 19,064t

Answer: von der Tann

Altough it is often stated that she was the German response on the British Invincible class she was just a logical derivative of the armoured cruiser Bluecher. She was laid down 3 months beforce HMS Indomitable was completed. She had a less powerful main armament than the Invincible and was slower but she had a much better protection then her British equivalents.

In many experts' opinion she was a considerably better fighting ship than any of the 6 British 12in gun battlecruisers.

9. This was the first Italian Dreadnought type battleship. It was completed in January 1913 and at this time the fastest battleship in the world. Armament: 12-12in (4x3) 20-4.7in (4x2) (12x1)

Answer: Dante Alighieri

The Dante Alighieri was not only the fastest battleship when completed she was also the first battleship to use triple mountings for the main armament although the Austrian Viribus Unitis had entered service a year earlier. She was also the first Dreadnought type battleship to mount some of her secondary armament in turrets.

10. This class of five battleships were the first British battleships to be completely oil fired and they were the first ships in the world to mount 15in guns. Armament: 8-15in (4x2) 14-6in Speed: 23kts Displacement: 27,500t

Answer: Queen Elizabeth

The Queen Elizabeth class was originally intended as improved Iron Dukes but rumors that the Germans were planning an increase in calibre forced the british admirality to up-gun the new battleships.
They were planned with five 15in turrets but it was soon realised that four 15in guns would give a broadside of 15,000lb against 14,000lb in the Iron Duke. The space saved was used for additional boilers giving the Queen Elizabeth's a speed of 23kts.
Ships: HMS Queen Elizabeth, HMS Warspite, HMS Valiant, HMS Barham & HMS Malaya.

11. What was the main armament of the battleships of the British King George V class (WW2)?

Answer: 10-14in & 16-5.25in

The King George V class had a main armament of 10-14in guns in two quadruple and one twin mounting. The secondary armament consisted of 16 5.25in DP guns mounted in 8 twin turrets, four on each side.
Ships: HMS King George V, HMS Duke of York, HMS Prince of Wales, HMS Anson & HMS Howe.

12. The battleships of the US Pennsylvania class had a main armament of? (when completed)

Answer: 12-14in & 22-5in

The Pennsylvania class was an enlarged Nevada class with four triple 14in mountings instead of two triples and two twin mountings. The secondary armament had one single gun more than the Nevada class the scale of armour and the speed was the same as in Nevada.
Ships: USS Pennsylvania & USS Arizona

13. The French Courbet class was armed with 10-12in and 22-5.5in guns.

Answer: False

The french Courbet class battleships were armed with 12-12in and 22-5.5in guns.
Ships: Courbet & Jean Bart & France & Paris

14. What was the calibre of the main armament of the German Nassau class battleships?

Answer: 11in

The German Nassau class was the first class of german Dreadnought type battleships and had a main armament of 12-11in guns and a secondary armament of 12-5.9in guns.
Ships: Nassau, Rheinland, Westfalen & Posen.

15. The main armament of the Japanese Ise class consisted of how many guns? (When completed)

Answer: 12

The Japanese Ise class battleships had a main armament of 12-14in guns and a secondary armament of 20-5.5in guns.
Ships: Ise & Hyuga.

16. The Italian Andrea Doria class was armed with 12-12in guns.

Answer: False

The italian Andrea Doria class was armed with 13-12in guns and 16-6in guns.
Ships: Andrea Doria & Caio Dullio

17. This ship was the last battlecruiser ever built.

Answer: USS Guam

The last battlecruiser ever built was USS Guam. She was completed on 17th September 1944 and saw service at the end of the Pacific War. Her sister ship USS Alaska was finished earlier that year, on 17th June 1944.
HMS Hood, the last British battlecruiser, was completed in May 1920 while HMS Repulse was finished in August 1916.
Ships: USS Alaska & USS Guam.

18. These ships were classified as light battlecruisers and were completed in January 1917. After World War One both ships in this class were converted into aircraft carriers.

Answer: Courageous

The Courageous class was intended to support Admiral Fisher's proposed Baltic plans. The Baltic plans were never worked out but it can be assumed that they were to provide gunfire support. But as the Baltic plans were never executed the ship were useless for the RN as they were in fact nothing more then huge light cruisers. So the ships were converted to aircraft carriers shortly after the war.
Ships: HMS Courageous & HMS Glorious and halfsister HMS Furious

19. The two ships of this class were the biggest battleships ever built.

Answer: Yamato

IJN Yamato and her sister ship IJN Musashi had a displacement of 62,315t with 9-18.1in guns and a max. armour of 25.6in. They were truly giants.

20. What calibre had the secondary armament of Yamato class?

Answer: 6.1inch

The secondary guns had a calibre of 6.1 inches. The same calibre was used in the japanese light cruisers of Mogami class. Later the some of these guns were removed and replaced by 5in DP guns.

Source: Author Pappy84

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Identify the Ship or Armament Trivia Quiz

In the first part you have to indentify the class of battleship or battleruiser. The second part is about the armament of battleships. Note! Write down the names of the classes without the prefix USS or HMS. Only the names.

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>