Q 01/05

By naval tradition, what are submarines called regardless of their size?

A) Ships

B) Boats

C) Vessels

D) Cruisers

Answer · why

B) Boats

US submarines still carry the 'USS' prefix, and in the Royal Navy HMS can mean His Majesty's Submarine.

Q 02/05

Which Dutchman built the first submersible for which reliable construction records exist, in 1620?

A) Cornelis Drebbel

B) Christiaan Huygens

C) Simon Stevin

D) Anton van Leeuwenhoek

Answer · why

A) Cornelis Drebbel

He was in the service of James I of England, and his craft was propelled by oars.

Q 03/05

What was the name of the first military submersible, a one-man hand-powered craft built in 1775?

A) Turtle

B) Plongeur

C) Hunley

D) Nautilus

Answer · why

A) Turtle

David Bushnell's acorn-shaped device was the first submarine to use screws for propulsion.

Q 04/05

Robert Fulton's 1800 human-powered submarine shared its name with which later famous vessels?

A) Turtle

B) Trieste

C) Nautilus

D) Alvin

Answer · why

C) Nautilus

France gave up on the experiment in 1804, and the British also passed on Fulton's design.

Q 05/05

The oldest surviving submarine in the world, Brandtaucher, was built in 1850 in which country?

A) United States

B) Britain

C) France

D) Germany

Answer · why

D) Germany

It was designed by Wilhelm Bauer.