Military Miscellany Trivia Quiz

Answer: Mimi and Toutou

Their commander - Lt Commander Spicer Simpson - originally called them "Cat" and "Dog", but the Admiralty objected.
The journey started in July and ended in October, though the vessels were not launched until December 1915. They sank one of the German vessels and captured another, though Spicer Simpson appears to have carefully avoided the third and major warship.
Spicer Simpson appears to have been a very odd fellow. His insistence on wearing a skirt was only part of it!

Answer: He was blind

John the Blind lost his sight from opthalmia in 1336. To guide him his men tied the reins of their horses together and "they were there all slain, and the next day they were found in the place about the king, and all their horses tied each to other." Legend states that his badge and motto "Ich dien" were adopted as a mark of respect by the Black Prince. They are now part of the badge of the Prince of Wales.

Answer: PLUTO

The Pipeline Under The Ocean project was first planned in October 1941. Hugely optimistic when you consider that the Germans were advancing on Moscow at the time, and it was two months before Pearl Harbor and a year before El Alamein.
The first two pipes were in fact codenamed "Dumbo" and "Bambi".
Between August 1944 and the end of the war, the various pipelines delivered about 172,000,000 Imperial gallons of fuel.

Answer: It was nuclear powered

Health and safety were not big issues at the time, but Eisenhower cancelled the project in 1961 after substantial expenditure. The Soviets also worked on such an aircraft, and cancelled it for similar reasons.
I gather that the two experimental GE engines together with their reactor systems are still intact in Idaho.

Answer: Cochrane

The remarkable exploits of Admiral Thomas Cochrane were a source for C. S. Forester, Patrick O'Brien and Captain Marryat (who sailed with him as a young man).
He was commissioned in 1793, but was expelled from the Navy in 1814 following conviction in the Great Stock Exchange Scandal of 1814. (Many believed his conviction was a miscarriage of justice, and he was granted a pardon by William IV in 1832). He was a Member of Parliament from 1806-1818.
Restored to the Royal Navy List in 1832 after commanding with impressive results in South America and to a lesser extent in Greece. He was still considered for command in the Crimean War, but it was felt that he might be too rash even in his eighties!

Answer: America

Used by Confederate troops at the Battle of Yorktown in 1862 and known as "land torpedoes". By the first World War all major participants were using them. Most countries nowadays have signed the Ottawa Treaty banning such mines.
Unfortunately, China, Russia and the USA are not among them.

Answer: Wellington

It was "Old Nosey" himself. Sadly, I believe that Churchill never actually said "The heaviest cross I have to bear is the Cross of Lorraine".

Answer: H. G. Wells

The full title was "Little Wars: a game for boys from twelve years of age to one hundred and fifty and for that more intelligent sort of girl who likes boys' games and books."

It sounds surprising as Wells was a known pacifist, but it developed from a game played after dinner with his friend Jerome K. Jerome, who is well known for "Three Men in a Boat".

Answer: Graf Spee

"I was Graf Spee's Prisoner" was written in 1940, and the film appeared in 1956.
Dove was played by Bernard Lee, though he himself had an uncredited role as one of the prisoners. Of the ships, HMS Achilles was played by herself. Graf Spee was played by the USS Salem. (If you ever see the film, the American helmets are there because the US Navy forbade the wearing of German ones!)

Answer: Biggles

Bigglesworth, hero of nearly a hundred books as well as the 1986 film, was created by W. E. Johns (1893-1968).
Worrals was a female equivalent created to encourage more women to join the WAAF, whilst Gimlet was the army hero of another ten books.
W. E. Johns joined the RFC (later the RAF) in 1917, and retired in 1927.
His first 'Biggles' book appeared in 1932.
One other claim to fame is that as a recruiting officer, he rejected T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia) for obviously giving a false name!