The Battleships of WWII Trivia Quiz

Answer: Armored ship

The Graf Spee was known as a "Panzerschiff" in Germany, or armored ship. In the order of battle on both the Allied and Axis side, the "Panzerschiffe" were classified as battleships, but in reality, they were heavy cruisers of an exceptionally powerful type.

Answer: Royal Oak

The Royal Oak was sunk shortly after the war began. Günther Prien, commander of U-47, manuevered his U-boat into Scapa Flow (primary anchorage of the British Home Fleet) and fired two torpedoes. The Royal Oak sank in minutes with the loss of over 900 men. Prien and his crew received a hero's welcome in Germany.

Answer: Nevada

Answer: Schlesien, Schleswig-Holstein

Though both were sunk during the war, both ships survived until early 1945. Both were "pre-Dreadnoughts" and not considered to be of any real value, but they were retained in service because the Germans had nothing to replace them with. They were mostly used to bombard targets, the most prolific of which was a Polish fort in Danzig on September 1st, 1939 when the Schleswig-Holstein fired the first naval shots of the war, bombarding the fort.

Answer: Yamato and Musashi

The Yamato and Musashi never got to fulfill their potential in a big gun engagement. Even though they were armed to the teeth with anti-aircraft weapons, both ships were eventually sunk in different actions by US carrier aircraft. The Musashi, for example, was on a last-ditch suicide mission to destroy the US fleet at Leyte Gulf when it was attacked by Hellcats and Corsairs from TF1, and sunk with the loss of over 2000 lives.

Answer: Shinano

Unfortunately for the Japanese, the Shinano never got to prove its worth. As it was leaving harbor, the carrier (the world's largest at the time) was torpedoed by the submarine USS Archerfish and went to the bottom. It is thought that she had the shortest career of any major naval unit of the war.

Answer: Gneisenau

The Scharnhorst was feared by the British, and therefore they put in a lot of effort into finding and sinking her. Though she escaped destruction a few times, she finally came to grief when she was destroyed by a British naval task force. It is said that it took 10 torpedoes and 21 large calibre shells from the British force (composed of Duke of York and 13 destroyers) before she finally sank!

Answer: Cerberus

During Operation Cerberus, the British demonstrated the weakness of their naval air power, their planes. Of the 14 Fairey Swordfish bi-plane torpedo bombers that attacked the German ships, all were hacked out of the sky by German fighters and AA guns. The only thing the Germans complained about was that their fighters could barely fly as slow as the antiquated Swordfish.

Answer: Prince of Wales

The Prince of Wales participated in the hunt for the Bismark and was with the Hood when she blew up. The Prince of Wales was hit several times and forced to withdraw from the battle. At the time of the engagement with the Bismark she still had construction crews on her!

Answer: Baden

The Bismarck was struck astern by an air-dropped torpedo from a Fairey Swordfish of the HMS Ark Royal. The Bismarck was consequently forced into a circle, a set-back from which it never recovered.