Ships of the Royal Navy - 1950s Quiz

Answer: HMS ALLIANCE

ALLIANCE was decommissioned in 1973, and was then used as a static training boat at the submarine school in HMS DOLPHIN until 1979, when her hull was strengthened so that she could be lifted out of the water to become a museum exhibit.
AENEAS had a claim to fame of a different kind when she featured, in 1967, in the James Bond film "You Only Live Twice".

(Please note I am using upper case letters for all RN ships' names, as this was the standard way of writing them throughout my 34-year career, and it is also the way they are written in my principle book of reference, "Jane's Fighting Ships")

Answer: HMS RECLAIM

RECLAIM was not the speediest of ships, and the sails, when rigged, could add a little over half a knot to her top speed of 12 knots. In June 1951, at a depth of 280 feet off the coast of Alderney, her divers identified the wreck of HMS AFFRAY, the last British submarine to be lost at sea, which had gone missing two months earlier.

She found brief fame much later when she was used as the main location for the Doctor Who TV series "The Sea Devils" in 1971. PLOVER and ABDIEL were minelayers, and PROTECTOR was an ex-netlayer converted to an ice patrol ship.

Answer: HMS VANGUARD

VANGUARD was the Royal Navy's last battleship, laid down in 1941, launched in 1944, but not completed until 1946. With the increasing prominence of maritime air power she rapidly became a symbol of a bygone era and by the mid-50s she had been put into reserve. On that fateful day in August 1960, only the quick reactions of the pilot prevented VANGUARD from ramming the Still and West pub, where there were hundreds of spectators, before she ran aground by Customs House Jetty. VANGUARD too was used as a film location, with her bridge, Admiral's quarters and gun turrets being used to film parts of the film "Sink the Bismarck". ANSON, HOWE and DUKE OF YORK were all battleships, but they were broken up several years before VANGUARD.

Answer: HMS BULWARK

BULWARK flew some 600 sorties during the Suez Crisis. In 1958, she was paid off and converted in to a commando carrier, a role she continued in until early 1981, her decommissioning having been hastened by the effect of two major fires onboard in the previous year. CENTAUR was the same class as BULWARK but her major conversion in the '50s was to allow her to operate fast jets as she was fitted with an angled flight deck, steam catapults and arrester wires.

Answer: Survey ship

DAMPIER carried out hydrographic and oceanographic surveys in the Far East. She achieved some temporary fame on her final voyage back to UK in late 1967 when, with one propeller shaft broken and only three weeks remaining until Christmas to travel the 3,000 miles home, the crew made up seven sails to speed up the voyage, arriving home on 23rd December.

Answer: HMS SHEFFIELD

The first HMS SHEFFIELD was equipped as a trial with stainless steel fittings, manufactured in Sheffield, rather than the traditional brass, in an attempt to cut down time spent on cleaning, hence her nickname "The Shiny Sheff". In the '50s she served in the West Indies and the Mediterranean, and starred as HMS AJAX in the film "Battle of the River Plate".

The reason there have been so many ships called SHEFFIELD in such a short time is that her successor, a Type 42 destroyer, was sunk during the Falklands War, and she was followed immediately by a Type 22 frigate, originally to be called BRUISER, but renamed SHEFFIELD in honour of the lost vessel.

Answer: HMS CAVALIER

HMS CAVALIER, an anti-submarine escort destroyer, was part of the "Ca" class, which included CAESAR, CAMBRIAN, CAPRICE, CARYSFORT, CASSANDRA and CAVENDISH. AGINCOURT, BARROSA and CORUNNA were all Fleet Radar Pickets from the "Battle" class, which also included AISNE, ALAMEIN, DUNKIRK, JUTLAND and MATAPAN.

CAVALIER was paid off in 1972 but was preserved as a museum ship, the last RN destroyer to have served in World War II. She can be visited at Chatham Historic Dockyard in Kent.

Answer: British naval captains

The Blackwood Class of Type 14 frigates were all named after famous British naval captains, most from the Napoleonic era, and many of whom had fought at Trafalgar: BLACKWOOD, DUNCAN, DUNDAS, EXMOUTH (Edward Pellew, Viscount Exmouth), GRAFTON (Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Grafton), HARDY, KEPPEL, MALCOLM, MURRAY, PALLISER, PELLEW (Israel Pellew, younger brother of Edward, hence the use for Edward of EXMOUTH) and RUSSELL. Several of these ships featured in the Norman Wisdom film "The Bulldog Breed".

Answer: HMY BRITANNIA

BRITANNIA was designed as a hospital ship, which could be used in peacetime as a royal yacht. Built on the Clyde, she was launched in 1953 and compleeted in 1954. For her voyage down the St Lawrence Seaway the top twenty feet of her mainmast and the wireless aerial on her foremast were hinged so that they could be lowered when necessary.

Her last active duty was to take the ex-governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten, and Prince Charles, out of Hong Kong after it was handed over to China in 1997. She is now permanently berthed in Leith, Edinburgh, as a tourist attraction.

Answer: Coastal minesweeper

As HUMBER she served with the Royal Naval Reserve in the 10th Minesweeping Squadron before transferring, as BRONINGTON, to the active fleet in the 100th Minesweeping Squadron. She was converted to a minehunter in 1965 when she joined the 1st Mine Countermeasures Squadron. Preserved for posterity, she lies at Birkenhead.