OT - WWII quiz

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Froonp

ORIGINAL: warspite1

ORIGINAL: micheljq




HMS for Her Majesty Ship.

Warspite1

Poland was a Republic...[;)]

So, in "ORP", "RP" must mean "Republic of Poland".

Does "ORP" mean "Of the Republic of Poland" ?

Warspite1

Not quite...close though.

CLUE: The O in ORP does not have the same starting letter in its English translation.

[warspite1]

Apologies Extraneous - I appear to have hijacked your question by taking it upon myself to give out a clue.

It is a good question though[;)]

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Apologies Extraneous - I appear to have hijacked your question by taking it upon myself to give out a clue.

It is a good question though[;)]

With no disrespect intended, how about "Oh, Really! Please!"

[Extraneous]

RP or “Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej” does mean “Polish Republic”.

As Warspite1 said close but what does the "O" stand for [&:]

[Extraneous]

The traditional ship prefix in the Polish Navy is ORP.

RP or “Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej” does mean “Polish Republic”.

O stands for Okrêt or Ship.

ORP stands for "Polish Republic Ship" or "Ship of the Polish Republic".

[composer99]

Who served as a crewmember on the German battleship Bismarck, the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Cossack, and the carrier HMS Ark Royal, surviving the sinking of all three vessels?

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: composer99

Who served as a crewmember on the German battleship Bismarck, the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Cossack, and the carrier HMS Ark Royal, surviving the sinking of all three vessels?

Warspite1

[X(]

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: composer99

Who served as a crewmember on the German battleship Bismarck, the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Cossack, and the carrier HMS Ark Royal, surviving the sinking of all three vessels?

A carrier pigeon named Lucky?

[composer99]

Clue: Steve is on the right track. Getting warmer, so to speak.

[Josh]

An unbelievable story; "Unsinkable Sam", or "Herr Oscar"



Yes that's the actual cat.

" Herr Oscar / Mr. Unsinkable Sam: Named Oscar at birth, this brave warrior feline served as a ship’s cat on the infamous German battleship Bismarck. When his battleship was sunk on 27 May 1941, only 116 out of a crew of over 2,200 survived. Luckily, Oscar was picked up by the destroyer HMS Cossack. Cossack herself was torpedoed and sunk a few months later, on 24 October, killing 159 of her crew, but again, Oscar survived to be rescued, and was taken to Gibraltar. He became the ship’s cat of HMS Ark Royal, but she too was torpedoed and sunk in November that year. Oscar was again rescued, but it was decided at that time to transfer him to a home on land. By now known as Unsinkable Sam, he was given a new job as mouse-catcher in the Governor General of Gibraltar’s office buildings. He eventually returned to the UK and spent the rest of his life at the Home for Sailors. To our knowledge here at E-Verse, no cat has had more ships blown out from under him. Unsinkable Sam should be the most decorated of all war cats. He died peacefully in 1955. A pastel portrait of Sam (titled “Oscar, the Bismarck’s Cat”) by the artist Georgina Shaw-Baker is in the possession of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.

Shows cats *do* have nine lives.

[composer99]

Josh has it.

I leave it to everyone else to quibble whether the 'ship's cat' is a crewmember or not. [:)][:'(]

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: composer99

Josh has it.

I leave it to everyone else to quibble whether the 'ship's cat' is a crewmember or not. [:)][:'(]

Warspite1

Amazing story! I'm glad someone made the decision after Ark Royal's demise to put the cat ashore; Unsinkable Sam was obviously the feline version of Uncle Albert in Only Fools and Horses.

I suppose a more cunning use of said cat would have been to launch a commando mission and sneak her aboard Tirpitz in early 1942 [;)]

I was completely on the wrong track and thought it must be an actor who had appeared on all three ships in various films....nice question Composer 99.

[Extraneous]

ORIGINAL: composer99

Josh has it.

I leave it to everyone else to quibble whether the 'ship's cat' is a crewmember or not. [:)][:'(]

The Ship's Cat could be a crew member...

Ship's Cat Convoy earned his name after escorting the crew members of HMS Hermione on numerous convoy missions across the Atlantic in the Second World War. Convoy was duly listed in the ship’s book and provided with a full kit, including a tiny hammock so he could sleep with the crew. He stood by his ship to the end and was lost along with 87 of his crew mates, when they were torpedoed and sunk on 16 June 1942.

But...

Some serious researchers of the matter believe that the tale of Oscar as given above, while it makes a marvellous story, is what would probably today be called an 'urban myth', and is highly unlikely to have happened in that way, or even at all.


The Royal Navy has disallowed ship cats since 1975. [:(]

[Extraneous]

We’ve done cats so it would be remiss not to mention dogs.

At the time of Pearl Harbor in December 1941 only 50 dogs were assigned to military stations by 1945 this had risen to nearly 10,000 dogs.


At the time of Pearl Harbor what was the only type of working dog in the Army?

(A) Guard dog.
(B) Explosives sniffing dog.
(C) Messenger dog.
(D) Lookout dog.
(E) Sled dog.

[terje439]

I know there were sled dogs in Alaska so guess that must be the answer.

Terje

[Extraneous]

ORIGINAL: terje439

I know there were sled dogs in Alaska so guess that must be the answer.

Terje

In December 1941, at the time of Pearl Harbor, the sled dog was the only working dog in the Army. About fifty were assigned to military stations in Alaska, and another forty were used by the U.S. Army Air Corps Ferrying Command to rescue airmen forced down in Newfoundland, Greenland, and Iceland. As World War II started in Europe, and the U.S. Army began to prepare for its coming role, an estimate was made that 200 dogs might be needed. In actuality, about 10,000 dogs were trained for the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard by the time the war ended in 1945.

War Dogs in WW II

[Extraneous]

What was Unternehmen Nordpol (Operation North Pole)? I will accept the German or English name.

This was played by the German Abwehr (military intelligence) and the British Special Operations Executive (SOE).

[Extraneous]

The operation took place in the Netherlands from 1940 - 1944.

The operation finaly shut down when Major Hermann Giskes (of the Abwehr) sent a clear text message to the SOE on April 1, 1944.

[Extraneous]

RECAP:

What was Unternehmen Nordpol (Operation North Pole)? I will accept the German or English name.

This was played by the German Abwehr (military intelligence) and the British Special Operations Executive (SOE).

The operation took place in the Netherlands from 1940 - 1944.

The operation finaly shut down when Major Hermann Giskes (of the Abwehr) sent a clear text message to the SOE on April 1, 1944.

Final clue: Spiel means game. Yes, Major Hermann Giskes of the Abwher was playing a very serious type of game with the English Special Operations Executive (SOE).

[Extraneous]

Das Englandspiel or English Game, also called Unternehmen Nordpol (Operation North Pole), was an enormous counter intelligence operation launched by the German Intelligence Organisation (Abwehr) during World War II. German forces captured Allied resistance agents operating in the Netherlands and used the agents' codes to fool the Allies into continuing to provide the agents with information and supplies. About fifty Allied agents were identified, captured, and executed.

Apprehended radio operators continued broadcasting encrypted messages, but without the required "Security Checks" that should have alerted the SOE that they had been compromised. Further, SOE's head of codes Leo Marks claims to have soon realised that unlike all other coded messages, the Dutch messages contained no errors which made them indecipherable. He reasoned that this was because they were not coded in the field, but by German cryptographers. Finally, he sent them a deliberate indecipherable of his own, which was replied to. He reasoned that no ordinary agent could have resurrected his message. However no action was taken.

When it became apparent that the penetration had been uncovered, Major Hermann Giskes sent the following message in clear to London on April 1, 1944:

To [the SOE section chiefs] Messrs Blunt, Bingham and Successors Ltd. You are trying to make business in Netherlands without our assistance. We think this rather unfair in view of our long and successful co-operation as your sole agent. But never mind whenever you will come to pay a visit to the Continent you may be assured that you will be received with the same care and result as all those who you sent us before. So long.