World War II at Sea Trivia Quiz

Answer: Florida Class battleship

By the time of Pearl Harbor the Utah had been relegated to target practice by the US Navy. It was left sunk as a memorial, like USS Arizona. The Utah was commissioned by the US Navy on August 31 1911 and was obsolete at the outbreak of World War 2.

Answer: Revenge Class

The Royal Oak was ordered in 1914 and was sunk by U-Boat U-47 captained by Gunther Prien in 1939. It was Britain's first naval loss in World War 2. The Royal Oak was commissioned by the British Navy on May 1 1914 and was obsolete by World War 2. The loss of an obsolete ship hardly changed the balance of naval power, but it was a blow to British prestige.

Answer: False

It was actually a Pennsylvania Class battleship. The Arizona was blown up during the attack on Pearl Harbor and is a memorial to the Pearl Harbor dead. The Arizona was commissioned on October 17, 1916. It was another obsolete ship in World War 2.

Answer: False

However, there was HMS Glorious which was a British Glorious class aircraft carrier of World War 2 and originally was a light cruiser of World War 1. It was commissioned in January 1917, but was converted to an aircraft carrier between February 1924 and March 1930. It was sunk in 1940.

Answer: July 30, 1945

When the Indianapolis was sunk only 317 sailors survived. It was one of the last US ships sunk in World War 2. It was commissioned on November 15, 1932. It was also the ship that carried parts and the uranium that was destined for the atomic bomb, Little Boy.

Answer: Nearly 72,800 tonnes

These two were the heaviest battleships ever built. They had nine 18.1 inch main guns. The Yamato was sunk on the 7 of April, 1945 and the Musashi on the 24 October of 1944. The Yamato was commissioned on December 16, 1941 and the Musashi on August 5, 1942, both for the Imperial Japanese Navy. Yamato only sunk after being hit by 10 torpedoes and 7 bombs and 2,498 out of the 2,700 people on board died. Musashi took 19 torpedo hits and 17 bomb hits before sinking and 1,023 out of the 2,399 people on board died.

The loss of Yamato and Musashi dealt a crippling blow to the already weakened Imperial Japanese Navy.

Answer: Hiryu, Soryu, Akagi, and Kaga

After Midway, the Japanese never enjoyed carrier superiority again in World War II. Midway was the turning point of the Pacific War. The Hiryu was commissioned on July 5 1939, the Soryu on December 29, 1937, the Kaga on November 1, 1929, and the Akagi on March 27, 1927.

Answer: To fight the Allied troops on Okinawa

The Yamato was doing operation Ten-Go as a suicidal last ditch attack against the Americans. It only carried enough fuel for a one way trip and consequently was doomed anyway.

Answer: Bismarck

The Bismarck was pounded by the British into submission but that did not sink it. The crew scuttled it. The Prinz Eugen was damaged at the Bikini atoll atomic bomb test in the 1940s, the Scharnhorst was sunk at the battle of North Cape in 1943, and the Tirpitz was sunk by RAF 617 (Dambusters) Squadron in 1944.

Answer: The bow

Large parts of the Tirpitz armour exist, including a piece in the Royal Navy "Explosion!" museum in Hampshire, England. The Norwegians also have a few chunks of the armour. The Tirpitz was commissioned on February 25, 1941.

Answer: Interned in the Suez canel, taken by the British after the war, eventually dismantled by the Italians in 1948

The Vittorio Venito was a ship that was feared by the British. Its biggest guns were rated at 381mm/50 calibre and she had 3 of them.

Answer: Umberto Pugliese

The Littorio's keel was laid down in Genoa. She had similar armour to the Vittorio Veneto. The Littorio suffered a fate similar to the Vittorio Veneto, being scrapped in 1948.

Answer: None of these answers

The Scharnhorst had only 1 sister and her name was Gneisenau. The Scharnhorst was sunk by Royal Navy ships including the cruiser HMS Jamaica and the destroyers Musketeer, Matchless, Opportune, and Virago. Apparently the British fired 55 torpedoes and 2,195 shells at it.

Answer: Yes

The wreck of USS Yorktown was found 3 miles (5km) under the surface of the Pacific Ocean on May 19 1998 by renowned explorer Dr Robert Ballard. The photographs that he took of Yorktown's wreck show that after being underwater for 56 years quite a lot of her paint and equipment was still visible.

Answer: Battle of the Denmark Strait and by the Bismarck

She was hit by a shell fired from the Bismarck in her forward magazine and she exploded with such force that only 3 men survived. The Scharnhorst was sunk at the Battle of North Cape with 36 survivors. The Schlesien was mined and scuttled by her own crew at the end of World War 2 and used as a target by the Soviets postwar and broken up between 1949-1956.

The Schleswig-Holstein was struck by three British bombs in December 1944 and sank in 12 metres of water. After World War 2 her wreck was raised by the Soviets and towed to Tallinn and was possibly renamed the Borodino, scuttled in 1948 and then used as a target until the 1960s.