The U.S. Merchant Marine Quiz | Military Matters

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. The US Merchant Marine is a civilian cargo fleet in peacetime. It only becomes a naval auxiliary force in times of war.

Answer: True

The most extensive nationalization of the US fleet was during World War II. Naval military personnel (officially referred to as the US Naval Armed Guard) were posted to Merchant Marine ships, and mariners received special training in naval weapons systems of the day. Mariners themselves continued to be paid by the owners of these civilian ships, a fact not lost on the Civilian Review Board when mariners would apply for veterans benefits years later.

2. People who serve in the Merchant Marine can be referred to as Marines or Mariners; the terms are interchangeable.

Answer: False

The term "marine" refers to those serving in the branch of the armed forces ostensibly dedicated to amphibious warfare (though, as the US Marine Corps' recent service in landlocked Afghanistan indicates, the Marines are more versatile than this description may suggest). People in the Merchant Marine are usually referred to as mariners, though terms like seamen, seafarers, and sailors are also used. Neither the USMC nor the Merchant Marine are too crazy about mariners being called marines.

3. Many historians of the Merchant Marine trace its origins back to the American Revolution, but this force was not officially chartered until Japanese imperialism in the 1930s made large-scale maritime war an imminent possibility.

Answer: True

There is a valid case to be made that the antecedents of the Merchant Marine can indeed be found in the private fleets that were dedicated to Revolutionary service in 1775. More specifically, mariner partisans trace their origins to a group of Maine sailors who captured the HMS Margarita in the wake of the Battle of Lexington, thus the claim that this service predates the US Navy.

The Merchant Marine was not officially chartered, however, until the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, decades after cession of hostilities with Spain.

4. Though usually not included as a branch of military service, the Merchant Marine had (by most accounts) a higher percentage of war dead during World War II than any of the armed forces.

Answer: True

Out of approximately 243,000 mariners who served during World War II, the Merchant Marine had 9,497 war dead, including those killed at sea and those killed in POW camps, for a ratio of 1 in 26. In comparison, the Marine Corps had 19,733 war dead out of 669,108 serving (1 in 34), the army lost 234,874 out of approximately 11,288,000 (1 in 48) and the Navy had 36,958 war dead out of 4,183,466 serving (1 in 114).

5. During World War II, Merchant Marine ship masters were under standing orders to scuttle their ships whenever capture appeared inevitable. As a result, only one Merchant Marine craft was captured during the conflict.

Answer: True

The only Merchant Marine ship captured during the conflict was the SS City of Flint, taken by a German pocket battleship in 1939, a full two years before the United States entered the war. She was eventually released.

6. During the Battle of Guadalcanal, mariners refused to unload ships under fire. This duty was taken up grudgingly by US Marines who were too ill for combat duty.

Answer: False

This rumor was started by notoriously unreliable gossip columnist Westbrook Pegler. Following the war, Pegler and fellow columnist Walter Winchell, who had also disparaged the Merchant Marine in his columns, lost numerous libel suits over the false Guadalcanal claims, and were forced to print retractions and pay damages. These refutations were bolstered by the public affirmations of Admiral William Halsey, who praised the mariners for their cooperation and courage. Winchell in particular would further lose credibility following the war for his strident McCarthyism; his bias against the unionized mariners may have stemmed from his association of labor unions with communism.

On a related note, mariners were subject to court martial under the Articles of War all through the conflict. Though dozens of mariners were court-martialed during the war (mostly for offenses such as AWOL, assault, and theft), none were charged with cowardice at Guadalcanal.

7. All retired mariners have routinely been eligible for full veterans benefits after a requisite time of service.

Answer: False

This is a bone of contention within the Merchant Marine community. During World War II, President Roosevelt (a former Secretary of the Navy) repeatedly seemed to pledge full veteran status for merchant mariners. After the war, however, most of these sailors were denied veterans benefits by the Civilian Review Board. Some WWII-era mariners were granted veterans benefits in 1988, and another group was given this status ten years later. In sum, the veteran status of Merchant Marines can best be described as inconsistent.

More information on this topic can be found at the U.S. Maritime Service Veterans website, http://www.usmm.org

8. The US Merchant Marine Academy is governed and regulated by the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, MD, and its students share the facility with Navy and Marine officer candidates.

Answer: False

The US Merchant Marine Academy has been located at Kings Point, NY since the facility was completed in 1943. The academy boasts a full academic curriculum, and even features a lengthy roster of intercollegiate varsity sports teams.

9. The US Merchant Marine Academy began admitting female students in 1974, two years before its Army and Navy counterparts at West Point and Annapolis.

Answer: True

The US Military Academy and the US Naval Academy, as well as the Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs and the Coast Guard Academy in New London, CT, did not admit women until 1976. Unlike these other academies, however, graduates of the Merchant Marine Academy fulfill their service on their own, either with US government services or in approved private sector jobs, rather than being assigned a post.

For more information on the Academy, visit their website at http://www.usmma.edu/

10. Notable attendees of the Merchant Marine Academy include former George W. Bush Chief of Staff Andrew Card, who was stuffed in a duffel bag and run up a flagpole as a young plebe.

Answer: True

This story was related by President Bush during his commencement address at the Academy in 2006. Perhaps because of the duffel bag incident (at least in part), Card later transferred to the University of South Carolina, where he earned a degree in Engineering. Card left the Bush administration in April of 2006.

Thanks for playing! I would appreciate any feedback you can offer on this quiz, for good or for ill.

Source: Author stuthehistoryguy

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor gtho4 before going online.
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The U.S. Merchant Marine Trivia Quiz

Ten true-or-false questions on this under-appreciated force that was instrumental in fighting World War II. The answers may surprise you.

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