Answer: George Washington
On November 1, 1958, the U.S.S. Scorpion was cut in half and a new 130 foot long missile compartment was inserted at the Electric Boat Shipyard in Groton, CT. She was renamed the U.S.S. George Washington SSBN 598. She was 382' long with a beam of 33'. She was launched on June 9, 1959 and shortly thereafter launched the first Polaris missile while submerged. She was affectionately called the "Georgefish" by her crew and remained in service until January 24, 1985. The name "Scorpion" was later assigned to SSN 589 which was lost at sea on May 22, 1968 with all hands on board.
From Quiz: "41 For Freedom": The FBM Submarine
Answer: Operation Little Vittles
Brig. Gen. Joseph Smith, Commander of the Wiesbaden Military Post, dubbed the U.S. portion of the airlift Operation Vittles because "We're haulin' grub," he said. Lt. Gen. William H. Tunner, Director of Airlift Operations, followed suit when the candy drop started and named it Operation Little Vittles. The Berlin Airlift ran from June 27, 1948 to May 12, 1949. May 12th was the day the Soviets quit the blockade. It officially ended on Sept. 30, 1949. The West Berliners called it the "Air Bridge."
From Quiz: The Sweeter Side of the Berlin Airlift
Answer: Soviet Union
The Soviet Union and USA were embroiled for decades in what US presidential adviser Bernard Baruch coined the term "cold war". From 1947 to 1991 no formal large-scale combat waged between them, yet they were frozen toe-to-toe in significant military and political tension. In 1991 the Soviet Union broke up, the Communist Party and KGB ceased operation and Boris Yeltsin became President of Russia. The US and the new USSR signed a treaty first drafted in 1982 but heretofore unsigned, to reduce and limit all massively destructive weapons.
"Let us not be deceived: we are today in the midst of a cold war". -Bernard Baruch April 1947
From Quiz: Resentment Harbor
Answer: T-54/55
Developed in the Soviet Union in 1947, it remained in active service (mostly with third world countries) even in 1990. The T-72 also saw export success, although it was a lot more expensive to manufacture than the T-55, and thus was ordered in smaller numbers.
The T-64 was the least exported among all major Soviet tank families.
From Quiz: Cold War Tanks
Answer: Thresher
USS Thresher (SSN-593) was conducting post-maintenance dives off of Cape Cod, MA when she was lost on April 10, 1963. Her later sister ships were first known as "593s" or "Thresher-class"; after her loss, the class was called "594s" or "Permit-class".
From Quiz: Famous Submarines of the Cold War
Answer: Krakatoa, Tsar Bomba, Castle Bravo, Mount St. Helens
The 1883 eruption of Krakatoa was the largest at 200 megatons, or 200 million tons of TNT. The Soviet Union's Tsar Bomba (1961) was 50 megatons -- the largest nuclear detonation of all time. Castle Bravo (1954) was 15 megatons and the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens was 10 megatons.
From Quiz: U.S. Nuclear Weapons Tests: 2
Answer: The moon
Two years before President Kennedy's challenge for NASA to put a man on the moon and bring him back alive by the end of the 1960s, Heinz-Hermann Koelle decided that by the middle of the decade the United States could send dozens of missions to the moon for the aim of keeping men there for the long-term. The main building would be only ten feet by twenty feet, and was supposed to hold up to twelve people at one time. It also included two nuclear reactors, two lunar rovers, and eventually a bioscience and physics laboratory.
From Quiz: Crazy Cold War Projects, Part 3
Answer: A fission device rips apart atoms while a fusion device smashes them together.
Fission involves smashing atoms into one another, causing them to rip apart. Fusion involves forcing atoms together. Both methods release a tremendous amount of energy, but fusion is more powerful, especially when "boosted" by fission. The most powerful nuclear weapons are fission-fusion devices.
From Quiz: U.S. Nuclear Weapons Tests
Answer: British Army of the Rhine
The British Army of the Rhine was the largest group of British forces grouped anywhere in the world during the period known as the Cold War.
From Quiz: The British Army in Cold War Germany
Answer: he offered them his services
Aldrich Ames became a spy for the Soviets because he needed money after a costly divorce. Offering to sell them classified material was a sure and quick way to obtain money.
From Quiz: More Cold War Spies
Answer: nuclear secrets
After WWII, the number one interest of Soviet intelligence agents was the acquiring of nuclear secrets. That included development, delivery systems and the location of nuclear sites.
From Quiz: The Cold War: Spies and Spying
Answer: Implanting cats with microphones and antennas to spy on Soviet agents
The actual procedure used in Acoustic Kitty was described by a former CIA agent and sounds quite gruesome, especially to cat lovers. Not only were surgeries done on cats to have the microphones and antennas (along with a battery to keep them functioning) implanted, but also they put in a wire to override the cat's sense of hunger to keep it from wandering off on the job. Details were not given as where the microphone and battery were placed, but the antenna supposedly ran up the cat's tail. Massive training was done so that the cats could be controlled and actually knew what to do, but the operation ended up not lasting very long.
From Quiz: Crazy Cold War Projects, Part 2
Answer: 1969 to 1989
This was one of Africa's longest conflicts, lasting 23 years.
From Quiz: The Cold War Gets Hot in Africa
Answer: Dieudonne Saive
Eugene Stoner designed the M16 or "Little Black Rifle" as it is otherwise known. Rudolf Amsler designed the Sturmgewehr 57, and Iwashita designed the Howa Type 64 Rifle.
From Quiz: The FN FAL "Right Arm of the Free World"
Answer: 1918
Julius Rosenberg was born in 1918 in New York City. His wife, Ethel Greenglass, was three years older. The couple married in 1939. The children of Jewish immigrants, Julius, Ethel, and Ethel's younger brother David grew up in the Lower East Side, an area populated with immigrants from many nations. During the Depression the Lower East Side was a center for left-wing causes, particularly labor organization.
From Quiz: Atomic Spies - Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
Answer: A Soviet jet bomber
The "Badger" was in fact the Soviet Tupolev Tu-16 medium jet bomber. All Soviet aircraft were given a NATO codename. Broadly, the initial letter of the name gave the aircraft's role (F - fighter, B-bomber, C-commercial, H - helicopter, M- Miscellaneous) and the number of syllables gave its means of propulsion (one syllable for propeller-driven, two syllables for jet-propelled, although this does not apply to helicopters).
Hence the "Bear" (Tupolev Tu-95) is obviously a prop-driven bomber, while the "Foxbat" (Mig-25) is a jet fighter.
From Quiz: Cold Warrior
Answer: Douglas MacArthur
MacArthur made this comment at the time of the Korean war on March 20th 1951. The American military never expected China to enter this war and were dismayed when they eventually did.
From Quiz: Cold War Quotes
Answer: NATO
NATO saw a new balance of power created following the cooling in relations between the US and Soviet Union - the need for such resolve was highlighted when China became Communist (1949) and the Soviet Union had developed its first A-bomb (and carried out its first test in 1949, too).
From Quiz: Cold War: One World, Two Armed Camps
Answer: Bernard Baruch
The term 'Cold War' had an American origin and was used for the first time by Bernard Baruch who observed thus on 16 April 1947, 'Let us not be deceived today. We are in the midst of a Cold War.' The term was picked up by Walter Lippmann who through his book on the Cold War, popularised it.
From Quiz: History of the Cold War
Answer: Yalta, 1945
At Potsdam in 1945 Stalin, Truman and Attlee agreed on the specific details and decided to allow France to have a zone.
From Quiz: Cold War 1945-1961
Answer: Yalta
The Yalta Conference was quite a success, but it made Stalin jealous.
From Quiz: Cold War Fun
Answer: The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
It is widely rumored that, in the Gulf of Tonkin incident, North Vietnamese boats did not actually attack US ships passing by. Instead, it could have been other US ships that mistook the others as being part of the enemy fleet.
From Quiz: Cold War under a Microscope
Answer: Patrick Henry
On May 27, 1958, the keel was laid on the 382' long U.S.S. Patrick Henry. She was launched on September 22, 1959 and commissioned on April 11, 1960. The Patrick Henry was built at the Electric Boat Shipyard and remained in service until her decommissioning on May 25, 1984.
From Quiz: "41 For Freedom": The FBM Submarine
Answer: Col. Gail S. "Hal" Halvorsen
Halvorsen, a First Lieutenant at the time, completed his military career as a Colonel in the USAF. He was born on a farm near Garland, Utah into a family of the Mormon faith on October 10, 1920. After Halvorsen earned his private pilot's license in 1941, he joined the Civil Air Patrol. In the spring of 1942 he joined The U.S. Army Air Corps and was sent to train as a fighter pilot with the Royal Air Force. He was ultimately assigned as a supply transport pilot and volunteered for the Berlin Airlift duty. He was the most recognized pilot of the operation and became known as "The Berlin Candy Bomber", "Uncle Wiggly Wings" and the "Chocolate Flier". The alternate choices were WWII flying aces.
From Quiz: The Sweeter Side of the Berlin Airlift
Answer: To retaliate against any attack upon the United States
The presence of fleet ballistic missile submarines assured that the United States would possess a "second strike" capability in the event that a surprise attack was launched that wiped out all land-based missiles and aircraft equipped to deliver nuclear weapons. This was a major deterrent against any enemy aggression, and a major factor in maintaining peace throughout the Cold War era.
From Quiz: 41 for Freedom: America's SSBNs
Answer: Vietnam was freed from French control.
The battle was a big victory for Ho Chi Minh and the Viet Minh forces. The withdrawal of France from Southeast Asia resulted in the division of Vietnam into two states, a communist North Vietnam, and an American-backed South Vietnam.
Obviously, this victory over the French was as much part of an anti-colonial war as part of the Cold War.
From Quiz: Cold War Battlefields
Answer: Neutral bloc
The US "Western Bloc" had NATO and other allies. The Soviet Union "Eastern Bloc" had its allies in the Warsaw Pact. But other countries were neutral during the cold war, that is, officially non-aligned with either side. Neutral status carried specific rights and duties. Countries neutral (or claiming to be) during the cold war included Sweden (1918-1994), Finland (1956-1994), Austria (1955-1995) and Cambodia (1955-1970). Switzerland had become a "permanently neutral power" in 1815. The Pope and Vatican City entered "perpetual neutrality" in 1929. Oddly, a neutral country may provide training, intelligence and support to others, and they can defend themselves from invasion as well. But once occupied, they are no longer neutral.
From Quiz: Resentment Harbor
Answer: M60
The M60 was designed with the primary purpose of countering the Soviet Union's new T-62 tank. Throughout its time in service, the tank received numerous modernizations in competition with the Soviets' similar programs.
From Quiz: Cold War Tanks
Answer: K-19
K-19 was the first nuclear submarine that could carry ballistic missiles. Because of the reactor incident, portrayed in the 2002 film "K-19: The Widowmaker" (and the other incidents), K-19 was known in the Soviet fleet as "Hiroshima".
From Quiz: Famous Submarines of the Cold War
Answer: Gemini 2
Project Horizon was in no way short of daring in its aims. In 1964, it planned forty Saturn rocket launches followed by stocking and manning missions the following year. By late 1966, the entire outpost was meant to be operational after nearly 150 launches, all of which would land on the moon. However, the project was deemed not feasible and was scrapped early on.
From Quiz: Crazy Cold War Projects, Part 3
Answer: Hiroshima, Trinity, Nagasaki, Ivy King
Hiroshima was 12-15 kilotons, the equivalent of between 12,000 and 15,000 tons of TNT, Trinity was 20 kilotons, Nagasaki was 21 kilotons and Ivy King was a whopping 500 kilotons, the largest pure fission device ever exploded.
From Quiz: U.S. Nuclear Weapons Tests
Answer: his sudden unexplained wealth
The most glaring sign that the CIA did not investigate was Ames' sudden and unexplained wealth. His purchase of a $500,000 house with cash, his luxury automobile(a Jaguar) and designer clothing. All on a $60,000 salary.
From Quiz: More Cold War Spies
Answer: the KGB
The Committee for State Security is better known as the KGB. During the Cold War it was the United States' chief adversary in the spying game.
From Quiz: The Cold War: Spies and Spying
Answer: SWAPO
Swapo stood for the South West African Peoples Organisation. ZANLA and ZIPRA were involved in the Rhodesian Bush war, and COSATU is a South African Trade Union.
From Quiz: The Cold War Gets Hot in Africa
Answer: 1947 & 7.62x33 Kurz
Although the 7.62x51 NATO was the eventual caliber selected, the initial prototype was chambered for the 7.62x33 Kurz round pioneered by the Germans during WWII for use in the StG44 assault rifle. The round was considered to offer an excellent compromise in terms of low-recoil and stopping power at typical combat ranges.
From Quiz: The FN FAL "Right Arm of the Free World"
Answer: Electrical Engineer
Julius Rosenberg studied electrical engineering at City College in New York, and graduated a semester after the rest of his class. His political and social activism apparently interfered with his studies. His brother-in-law, David, dropped out of college and trained as a machinist. Ethel, who once aspired to be an actress, worked as a secretary. None of those accused of stealing atomic secrets had any training in physics or any other field that would allow them to understand the workings of the Manhattan Project.
From Quiz: Atomic Spies - Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
Answer: Winston Churchill
In a speech at Fulton, Missouri (March 5, 1946), Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister during WWII, said "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an Iron Curtain has descended across the Continent."
From Quiz: Cold Warrior
Answer: The Tonkin Gulf Resolution
This resolution was the result of the alleged attack on the USS Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin.
From Quiz: The Cold War in East Asia
Answer: Curtis LeMay
He said this in April 1956. LeMay was the commander of Strategic Air Command. He was a dynamic figure, rarely seen without a cigar.
From Quiz: Cold War Quotes