Make the Right Matches in Tom Clancy's Navy Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. First frigate commanded by Ed Morris in "Red Storm Rising".

Answer: USS Pharris FF-1094

Commander Edward Morris and USS Pharris have Atlantic convoy duty in the 20th century's third European war, sometime in the '80s. He adeptly leads his crew in the prosecution of a CHARLIE class sub and assists friendly vessels against a NOVEMBER and a FOXTROT. An expertly led VICTOR III class sub nearly sinks Pharris with a torpedo, her bow is almost severed. Pharris is towed stern first to Norfolk, Virginia. For Pharris, the war is over.

2. U.S. Coast Guard vessel playing key roles in the beginning and end of "Clear and Present Danger".

Answer: U.S.C.G. Panache

The Panache intercepts the hijacked motor yacht Empire Builder. Two of the crew have murdered the owner and his family, even raped his minor daughter. Interrogation of the killers and a search of the yacht owner's home uncovers a web of money laundering for the Medellin drug cartel. Toward the end of the book, the Panache is the only landing site for survivors of four teams of Spanish ancestry U.S. Army soldiers covertly dispatched to Columbia.

Their CH53 PAVE LOW chopper can't clear the Columbian mountains and must land on the Panache, which unfortunately is in the eye of a hurricane.

3. Ohio class ballistic missile sub sunk in "The Sum of All Fears".

Answer: USS Maine SSBN-741

The Maine has a promotion hungry captain willing to take risks to gain the attention of his superiors. He believes his "boomer" sub can easily detect the newest Soviet attack sub class, the "Akula" (shark). After a terrorist nuclear bomb is detonated at the Super Bowl held in Denver, tensions are high.

The U.S. believes the Soviets are behind the attack. Things get out of hand and the Red Navy Akula sub "Admiral Lunin" attacks USS Maine, believing Maine is about to launch her 24 ICBMs at the Motherland. Before the torpedo strikes Maine, the facts emerge, and Lunin does its best to rescue most of the crew from the sinking Maine.

4. Sturgeon class sub in "The Hunt for Red October".

Answer: USS Pogy SSN-647

USS Pogy has just been refitted and is off the U.S. coast when several nuclear powered Alfa class Soviet subs come barreling toward America, looking for Red October. The Alfa sub E.S. Politovsky has a coolant failure and is lost. Pogy rescues the sole survivor and marks the spot where the Alfa sank. Later, Pogy escorts Red October along with USS Dallas after Soviet Captain Marko Ramius offers the Red October to the U.S. Navy.

5. Soviet barge carrying cargo ship central to the capture of Iceland in "Red Storm Rising".

Answer: MV Julius Fucik

The Fucik is disguised to appear as a U.S. cargo ship. Near Iceland, Fucik launches four hovercraft packed with airborne infantry troops and weapons. Eventually Iceland falls and the Red Navy subs have a passage to the Atlantic with minimal risk of detection.

There they can raid convoys destined for Europe loaded with weapons, ammo, fuel, everything necessary for NATO to fight the ground war against the Warsaw Pact armored formations.

6. Ironically, this ship ends up defending the U.S. coast while those one would expect to do that job are instead hunting for the "Red October".

Answer: HMS Invincible RO5

Jack Ryan first flies to the USS Kennedy, and then the HMS Invincible. He briefs the commanding admirals of the possible defection of Red October. Invincible was intended to be the primary contact ship for Red October.

7. "Red Storm Rising" aircraft carrier hit by two Soviet "Kingfish" missiles, causing 800 casualties.

Answer: USS Nimitz CVN-68

The carriers Nimitz, Saratoga and the French carrier Foch engaged what they thought were supersonic "Backfire" bombers, but were actually "Kelt" target drones. The real Backfires had circled around and attacked from the flank. With their jet fighters out of position, the allied ships were vulnerable. Foch was sunk and Nimitz damaged badly enough to retreat to England for dry dock repairs. Most of the aircraft survived to perform vital duties alongside the overworked allied air forces. Like the old Yorktown CV-5 after the WWII Coral Sea battle, Nimitz would return patched up but ready to fight.

8. In "Cardinal of the Kremlin" this Los Angeles class attack sub was pressed into service to safely remove the KGB Chairman's wife and daughter while he defected.

Answer: USS Dallas SSN-700

The same Dallas from "Red October" returns with Captain Mancuso still at the helm. Retired Captain Marko Ramius assists with his familiarity of the Baltic and John Clark lands in Estonia to bring out Chairman Gerasimov's family. The Chairman escaped on a flight filled with U.S. arms negotiators. Colonel Filitov, the "Cardinal" is with him.

9. The lead ballistic missile sub of its class, she is about to be decommissioned. Instead, she is destroyed to make the non-defecting crew of the Red October believe Captain Ramius scuttled the October.

Answer: USS Ethan Allen SSBN-608

A skeleton crew evacuated the Allen after readying four fuel-air explosive Pave Pat Blue bombs. They transferred over to the sub USS Scamp via the DSRV-2 Avalon (deep-submergence rescue vehicle). The October's crew sadly believed their captain and senior officers sacrificed their lives to keep the Red October from falling into the hands of the U.S. Navy.

10. In "Debt of Honor" this Japanese destroyer, named after a Nagato-class dreadnaught battleship "accidentally" fires live weapons at two U.S. Navy carriers during an exercise.

Answer: Mutsu

Mutsu maneuvered between the carriers John Stennis and Enterprise. Six anti-submarine torpedoes are fired, three at each carrier. ASW torpedoes are no threat to a warship the size of a fleet carrier. But these torpedoes are guided directly at the "screws" or propellers of the two carriers. Both vessels lose the use of three of their four screws. No longer able to reach the speed needed for flight operations, the carriers are no threat to a Japanese nation which has just become a nuclear power with ten new land-based ICBMs.

Source: Author pointluck

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor looney_tunes before going online.
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Questions		Choices
1. First frigate commanded by Ed Morris in "Red Storm Rising".		Mutsu
2. U.S. Coast Guard vessel playing key roles in the beginning and end of "Clear and Present Danger".		U.S.C.G. Panache
3. Ohio class ballistic missile sub sunk in "The Sum of All Fears".		USS Maine SSBN-741
4. Sturgeon class sub in "The Hunt for Red October".		HMS Invincible RO5
5. Soviet barge carrying cargo ship central to the capture of Iceland in "Red Storm Rising".		MV Julius Fucik
6. Ironically, this ship ends up defending the U.S. coast while those one would expect to do that job are instead hunting for the "Red October".		USS Pogy SSN-647
7. "Red Storm Rising" aircraft carrier hit by two Soviet "Kingfish" missiles, causing 800 casualties.		USS Ethan Allen SSBN-608
8. In "Cardinal of the Kremlin" this Los Angeles class attack sub was pressed into service to safely remove the KGB Chairman's wife and daughter while he defected.		USS Pharris FF-1094
9. The lead ballistic missile sub of its class, she is about to be decommissioned. Instead, she is destroyed to make the non-defecting crew of the Red October believe Captain Ramius scuttled the October.		USS Dallas SSN-700
10. In "Debt of Honor" this Japanese destroyer, named after a Nagato-class dreadnaught battleship "accidentally" fires live weapons at two U.S. Navy carriers during an exercise.		USS Nimitz CVN-68

Keep in mind this quiz is about the books, which don't always have the same plot, characters, or ships as the several movies based on the books. Even if you didn't read all the books, understanding the ship's designation numbers will be helpful.