Q 01/05

Which admiral was shot by firing squad on the quarterdeck of HMS Monarch in 1757 for failing to relieve Minorca?

A) John Byng

B) George Anson

C) Edward Hawke

D) Thomas Graves

Answer · why

A) John Byng

John Byng's death moved Voltaire to write in Candide that in England it is good to kill an admiral from time to time 'to encourage the others'.

Q 02/05

At which 1801 battle is Nelson said to have put a telescope to his blind eye and ignored the signal to withdraw?

A) The Nile

B) Copenhagen

C) Cape St Vincent

D) Camperdown

Answer · why

B) Copenhagen

Copenhagen: Nelson reportedly told his flag captain 'I have the right to be blind sometimes', fought on despite Hyde Parker's signal, and forced the D...

Q 03/05

Which country's first aircraft carrier began as an unfinished Soviet hull, bought from Ukraine supposedly to become a floating casino?

A) India

B) Brazil

C) China

D) Thailand

Answer · why

C) China

China's navy got the hull after a Macau firm bought it as a would-be floating hotel; the hulk then took several years to reach Dalian under tow, where...

Q 04/05

Which Russian battleship's crew mutinied in 1905 after sailors refused to eat rotten meat?

A) Aurora

B) Retvizan

C) Tsesarevich

D) Potemkin

Answer · why

D) Potemkin

Potemkin's mutineers killed several officers and later gave the ship up in Constanța, Romania; Sergei Eisenstein's 1925 silent film made the revolt fa...

Q 05/05

Cast adrift after the 1789 Bounty mutiny, William Bligh sailed an open boat more than 3,500 miles to which island?

A) Timor

B) Tahiti

C) Java

D) Fiji

Answer · why

A) Timor

Timor had a Dutch settlement, Kupang, and after islanders killed one of his men on Tofua, Bligh steered straight for it rather than risk another landi...