Date:Mon, 9 Aug 1999 11:10:37 -0500
Author:"steven grubbs" <sgrubbs@dnsonline.net>
Subject:Cruiser Trivia

Q. 1.What is the length of an 8"/55 caliber gun, muzzle face to breech?

Answer.  440" , Multiply the diameter of the barrel (8") by the caliber (55).

Q. 2. What cruiser type ship was in commission the longest?

AnswerU.S.S. Constitution

Q. 3. What is the largest Anti Aircraft gun onboard Newport News?
Answer. 8"/55 Dual Purpose Mk16 turret

Q. 4. What was the thickness of the armor belt that ran the length of the ship?

Answer. 6" It was supposed to be 8". The armour belt is supposed to be equal to the the biggest gun, but anything to save a nickel. By the way, the Navy also tried to save a nickel the Arizona. They shaved two inches off her armoured deck in 1912. You know the rest of the story.

Q. 5. What deck is the "Bomb" deck.

Answer. The Main deck is the "Bomb" deck. The thickness of the steel and wood is such as to start the detonation train of a 500 lb bomb, but not necessarily defeat it. The idea is that you cannot keep the bomb out, but you can limit its damage to the 2nd and 3rd deck. The armoured 3rd deck is to keep bomb fragments out of the vitals. If you'll remember, there is nothing on the 2nd or 3rd deck vital to the ship's war fighting capability. You might not have a place to eat, sleep, or potty. More on the armoured deck in future editions of Cruiser Trivia!

Q. 6. Which did Newport News have?
A. 3 triple 8" turrets, or
B. 3 three gun 8"turrets

Answer. B. 3 three gun 8"turrets

Q. 7. What is the difference between a triple turret, and a three gun turret?

Answer. In a triple turret, the guns are physically locked to gether in elevation. Therefore they must be loaded and shot at the same time. In a three gun turret, the guns operate independently of each other in elevation. They may be loaded and shot independently of each other.This greatly increases rate of fire. The other benefit is that if you lose one elevation drive motor, you have only lost one gun rather than three.

Q. 8. . You are assigned by your chief to tend to "Charlie Noble". One, what would you be doing and two, what is your rate?

Answer. You would be shining the ship's bell, and you would be a "Stew Burner" a.k.a. Commisaryman (CS) or Mess Specialist (MS), depending on what era you were in the Navy. For those of you who were in the Navy when Noah was an Ensign, the MS rate came about in the mid 70's when they combined CS's, bakers, and stewards into one rate. The term "Charlie Noble comes from the Royal Navy. In the 17th century (or there abouts), was a cook named Charlie Noble. Old Chuck liked to have his galley chimney shined every morning. So the tradition continued into the early 20th century until the coal fired cook stove gave way to the electric range. So needing something to shine, it became the cooks job to shine the ships' bell. And you know the Chief ain't gonna do it!

Q. 9. You are on the Foc'sl, lowering the anchor, and you see a yellow shot of chain. What does this tell you?

Answer. I don't know what it tells you, but it tells me to run like hell, as the next shot of chain is red and that's the bitter end. And when it comes out, someone's gonna get hurt!!!

Q. 10. You are the forward lookout, it is night time and you see directly ahead of you a red light, a green light, and a white light, what do you see, and what should you do?

Answer. You see another vessel coming straight at you. The red and green running lights can only be seen when you are directly in front of another vessel. The white light is the range light on the mast head. You should report this to the OOD, then get your camera ready so you can get some really cool pictures of the collision that's gonna take place.

Q. 11. You are on liberty in Olongapo, P. I. and you look at the ship in the distance and recognize that the "Papa" flag is flying. What does this tell you?

Answer. You should return to the ship. The "Papa" flag is the personnel recall flag.

Q. 12  The Newport News is tied up, Port side to, Pier 7, Berth 2 at N.O.B Norfolk. You look at the starboard yardarm on the foremast and see that "India" is flying. What does this tell you?

Answer. This means that another ship is about to nest outboard of the ship. The reason I worded the question the way I did is because Norfolk N. S. is the only place that I know of that uses the "India" flag in that manner.

Q. 13. Same question as #5. except this time "Code Able" is flying. What is going on?

Answer. "There are divers working over the side, do not cycle any rudders, rotate screws, take suction from the sea, discharge to the sea or throw any object over the side".

Q. 14.  How long is a Nautical mile?

Answer. I was told by one of our shipmates 2,075 yards. Sounds good to me. I always thought it was 2,000 yards.

Q. 15. What is an "SSTG"?

Answer. An SSTG is a Ship's Service Turbo Generator. NN had 4, one in each fireroom. They were rated at 1,500 kilowatts.

Q. 16.  What does the "ABT" do?

Answer. An ABT is an Automatic Bus Transfer. It automatically transfers the electrical load from one generating circuit to another if a problem arises.

Q. 17. This is a trick question, so pay attention.You are looking at the Newport News in drydock. The hull has been freshly painted top to bottom. What is the "Correct" name for the black stripe that circles the hull, and separates the gray from the red. "Exactly" what does it represent?

Answer. The "Correct" name is the "Fuel and Water line". The top edge of it represents the ship at a fully loaded condition, that is with full fuel, water, stores ammunition, personnel, and personal belongings. The bottom edge represents the ship in a "Standard" loading condition. The term "Standard load" is a very vague figure. It depends on which Naval Treaty you are trying to fudge on. When NN was designed (1943) there was no treaty, 'cuz we was knocking the crap out of the people who broke it in the first place, so the figure represents 3 rounds of ammunition per gun barrel, half stores, 5 gallons of potable water per man, and enough fuel and feed water to operate the ship for 3 days.

Q. 18. The steam plant has reached a "Double over load condition, how many horsepower are being generated?

Answer. 144,000 shaft horsepower. All steam driven engines were rated at 80% of their maximum capacity. This is for safety purposes, Also for the well being of the engines. Each of NN four engines were rated at 30,000 shp, for a total of 120,000. A single overload condition was an extra 10% or a total of 132,000 shp and a double overload condition is 20% over, or a total of 144,000 shp. At his point the snipes have chained the safety's down and are sweatin' REAL good!!!, the chief engineer is watching his career go down the old porcelain receptacle and the CO is mad cause there is no triple overload!

By the way do you know what the rule of thumb for figuring "Full Power" is? It is 120% of what the Chief Engineer wanted to give and 80% of what the Captain wanted.

Q.19.  GMC Robert Little USNR, 5th Division asked the question, "What are 'Elephant Ears' used for?"

Answer: They are used to manually extract cartridges from a 5/38" gun.

Q.20. . True or False. The SONAR that NN and here sisters carried was used in conjunction with her other Anti-Submarine weapons.

Answer: False Newport News had NO ASW weapons.

Q.21.
A. What is the purpose of the Armoured Belt?
B. What is the purpose of the Armoured Deck?
Give me the MOST correct usage.

Answer: A. To protect against 8" or smaller gunfire at minimal ranges.
Answer: B. To protect against 8" or smaller gunfire at maximum ranges.
Remember that Naval rifles are a high velocity, flat trajectory gun as opposed to the Army's relatively low velocity, high trajectory howitzers and artillery. Therefore at shorter ranges the projectile will travel at relatively flat trajectory and will then hit the side of the ship. =
At longer range the projectile will plunge and that is where the armoured deck comes in.
The armoured belt does not protect against torpedo's as some have suggested. The hull of Newport News has two to three layers of voids and tanks. Some tanks hold water, some fuel. It is the fuel tanks that protect against torpedoes. Remember that the fuel Newport News was designed to carry was "Bunker" grade or basically crude oil with the chunks filtered out. =
This fuel would absorb the torpedo detonation and absorb it. And the inner tank would catch the leaks. This is of course if you are torpedoed with a regular torpedo. If it were a Japanese "Long Lance" All bets are off. Chances are it would break NN's back, as happened with the heavy cruisers USS Houston, Quincy, San Francisco, Indianapolis, etc., etc.

Q. 22. What is the principle reason for the Teak deck?
A. Gives a smooth walking surface.
B. Gives the Deck Apes something to do.
C. Provides splinter protection.
D. Its traditional.

Answer: C. Provides splinter protection. When you're topside in a gun duel with another cruiser, you are most likely gonna take some hits. When middle weights fight, someone's gonna get a nose bleed! With those 350 pound brittle steel shells landing on your brittle armoured ship, you tend to have a lot of steel shards flying around, ricocheting off of everything. The wooden deck absorbs those shards and prevents some of that shrapnel from impaling itself in your big butt!
Actually the right answer should have been choice E. All of the above.

Q. 22. What is the EFFECTIVE thickness of the face plate armor on the turrets?

Answer: 11" The actual thickness is 8" of class A armor. But it is inclined 37 degrees from the vertical. And ver tical armor is measured in the horizontal plane. So in reality the projectile sees that 8" plate as an 11" plate. Pretty clever way of getting 11" of protection at an 8" price and weight.

Q.22.  What are the "Holding Bulkheads"? And approximately where are they located?

Answer: The holding Bulkheads form the "ends" of the "armoured box" You have the armoured deck on top, the armoured belt on the sides and the holding bulkheads on the ends. The forward holding B.H. is located on the forward end of Turret 1's forward magazine, and the after holding B. H. is located on the after end of Turret 3's after magazine.

Q. 23. What is:
A. The rated steam pressure of the boilers?
B. The actual working pressure of the boilers?

Answer: A. 600 psi
Answer: B. 565 psi

Q. 24. What is the common usage of the "3rd substitute" pennant?

Answer: Captain's absentee pennant.

Q.24. You are topside during a gunshoot. You see the "Bravo" pennant is flying at the "dip". You then see it raise to the top of the yard. What is happening?

Answer: When "Bravo is at the "dip" it means that firing will commence soon. When it is raised to the top of the yard, firing may commence now. Hold on to your ears and skivvies!

Q. 25. You are a "mere" enlisted man who is being given side honors. How many Side Boys do you rate?

Answer: Two Side Boys and two "Ringy Dingy's of the bell. All enlisted get two of each regardless of rank.

Q. 26.  How many rivets are there in the hull of NN? Give or take 500,000.

Answer: None. Newport News (Salem class) was the first all welded cruiser. Even if she had some rivets, she wouldn't have any now anyway!

Q. 27. What was inscribed on the plaque on the bridge?

Answer: "I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast, for I intend to sail in Harm's Way!" John Paul Jones (Sounds like a catchy name for a John Wayne movie)

Q. 28.  JA Sollee asks: What is a Fid?

Answer: A fid is for working manila and hemp line.

Q. 29:  JA Solle asks: What is a marlinespike?

Answer: A marlinespike is used for work steel cable. I am told although I can't prove it, that in the days of sail, a Marlinespike was used for sewing and repairing the sails. Which seems plausible, since they didn't have steel cable back then.

Q. 30: What "call" is sounded over the 1MC just prior to Taps?

Answer: Tattoo and sometimes the evening prayer.

Q. 31. In terms of compartment numbering, define the boundaries to the A, B, and C sections of the ship.

Answer:The A section starts at the bow and ends at the forward bulkhead of the Engineering section. The B section starts at the forward most bulkhead of the engineering section to the after most bulkhead of the engineering section. And the C section (which is not short for Cesarean Section), starts at the aft end of the engineering section and runs to the stern.

By the way, the NN was the last ship built by the Navy to use the old compartment numbering system.

Q. 32. Where would I find frames "A" and "Z"?

Answer: Frame A is the first frame forward of the forward perpendicular, the next frame forward would be frame "B", and so on. Frame Z is the first frame aft of the aft perpendicular. The next frame aft of Z is Y and so on.

Q. 33. Where would you find the forward and after perpendiculars?

Answer: The forward perpendicular is the fist frame in the bow that meets the designer's waterline. The aft perpendicular is generally the last frame that meets the designer's waterline. The length between these two frames is what determines the ships waterline length. I said earlier that the after perpendicular was the last frame that met the designer's waterline. However in some ship designs, the aft perpendicular runs thru the rudder post. But for compartmentation and frame numbering purposes, the first definition is used.


Q. 34. What were the three largest search radars that NN carried?

Answer: SG -6, air search, AN/SPS 8A height finding, and AN/SPS 29 long range surface search.

Q. 35. What is the hull number of the USS Constitution?

Answer:  IX 21

Q. 36. How many true cruisers are there in today's Navy?

Answer:  None. The last true cruiser was the USS Long Beach CGN 9 and she was decommissioned in 1994. There are a lot of "wannabee" cruisers, i.e. the Ticonderoga class Aegis ships. But they are not built to a cruiser standard. They are very large destroyers or in terms of the '60's, DLG's, Destroyer Leaders, Guided Missile. But it doesn't look good for the Navy to not have any cruisers, so we'll just change the rules to meet our current needs.

Q. 36. Which type of steel comprises 95% of Newport News' hull and structure?

Answer: C. STS or Special Treatment Steel. STS is a real  close cousin of Stainless Steel. It has a very high chromium content. Normally the rust you see on the hull are from mild steel fittings, e.g. life line stantions, port lights, mooring line reels, overboard discharge fitting, etc.

Q. 37. Exactly, how long was Newport News in commission?

Answer: 26 years, 4 months, 28 days.

Q. 38. How was Newport News launched?

Answer: NN was built in the same graving dock where the CVN's  are built in Newport News Shipbuilding Co. Therefore, she was not launched, but floated.

Q. 39. What is the difference between a turret and a gun mount.

Answer: A turret is an integral part of the ships structure. A gun mount is merely bolted on, and can be placed anywhere the deck  is strong enough to support it and where electricity and LP air can be supplied.

Q. 40. How many Float observation planes and catapults was Newport News designed to carry?

Answer: Four Seahawk float planes and two catapults. To my knowledge, no aircraft were ever carried and the catapults were removed  immediately after sea trials. If any of you who were there at the time can shed light on this I would appreciate your info.

Q. 41. Opinion Question: What was the most useless item onboard Newport News?

Answer: Other than Officers, (nothin' personal, Bob and Gunner!! ....... :)  ) my opinion is the 3"/50 guns. I never figured out what they were good for. And apparently the Navy agreed with me since they systematically removed them. If you have some suggestions, I'd love to hear them!

Q. 42. Why is the class referred to as the "Salem class" when the Des Moines was the lead ship? (if you know this, you may consider yourself a genius.)

Answer: As best I can figure out, this falls into the category of "There's no reason for it, it's just our policy"

Q.43. Here's one for you old timers. It is 1946, and you are an E-2 what is your rank?

Answer: Seaman, Second Class

Q. 44. In Naval Service the 3"/50 cal gun replaced the 40 mm gun. What gun did the 40 mm replace?

Answer: the Quad 1.1" gun, a.k.a. the "Chicago Piano Keys".  One of the more useless pieces of junk the Navy ever bought.

Q. 45. True or False, the turrets rest on barrettes?

Answer: False. The turrets rest on a supporting structure known as the "stool". The armored barbettes do not touch the turret at any point. The reason for this is that if the barbettes are damaged, that damage will not affect the operation of the turret, and it facilitates replacement of the barbette segments.

Q. 46. Bonus Question: What was the designation of Newport News camouflage scheme when she was decommissioned?

Answer: Measure 32, Mod 2. Measure 32 is Haze Gray on vertical surfaces, and Deck Gray on horizontal surfaces, small hull numbers, all gray masts and funnel cap. Measure 32, Mod 1 was same haze gray and deck gray as above with the following changes: black funnel cap and mainmast above the funnel cap, and large hull numbers. Measure 32, Mod 2 was the same as above but with black foremast above the funnel cap. Measure 32, Mod 3 is where the Navy is today or was when I  left it. Now we're back to all gray funnels and masts, but large low visibility hull numbers.

More to come.