Trivia Quiz Old School

[Garufa]

The US Rifle Caliber .30 M1, commonly known as the M1 Garand was originally designed to fire a .276 caliber cartridge.

Why was the caliber changed?

.....and who ordered that change?

[roverboy]

Because the 30-06 was already in use and proven and Douglas McArthur wanted no smaller caliber change. So that was that. I guess he'd really love the 5.56, huh. Anyway thats the story I heard anyway.

Edited August 8, 2010 by roverboy

[Garufa]

Because the 30-06 was already in use and proven and Douglas McArthur wanted no smaller caliber change. So that was that. I guess he'd really love the 5.56, huh. Anyway thats the story I heard anyway.

Well, since you're close...the US had millions of rounds of '06 still left over from WWI so McArthur, who had a say in such matters (I'd need to pull a book out to know his position at the time) nixed it. In the 1930's and before, following the lead of the Europeans, the US was experimenting with smaller caliber rifles. In the teens the British originally designed the P-14 Enfield (US M1917) for a .27 caliber round, but war and inventory changed things.

[roverboy]

Alright. I knew McArthur had something to do with it. Thanks.

[R1100R]

He was Chief of Staff during the 30's. Eisenhower was his aide.

[I_Like_Pie]

There was a very interesting article in American Rifleman last year (I think) on the history of the Garand....It is worth a read if you run across it.

[Guest bchillen]

Now that is cool, Who ever said that history was boring never added lead.

[ftncityfatboy]

The US Rifle Caliber .30 M1, commonly known as the M1 Garand was originally designed to fire a .276 caliber cartridge.

Why was the caliber changed?

.....and who ordered that change?

Lets take "who changed the caliber" for $500 Garufa.........and the answer is:

[ftncityfatboy]

Ok, MacArthur.....he's the one everyone is always misquoting. "Damn the torpedo's, full speed ahead!" is incorrect. He stated: DAMN, torpedo's.....full speed ahead!!!"

[ttocswob]

Ok, MacArthur.....he's the one everyone is always misquoting. "Damn the torpedo's, full speed ahead!" is incorrect. He stated: DAMN, torpedo's.....full speed ahead!!!"

FAIL - Actually that was, ..."full steam ahead"

[TK47]

Actually, that quote comes from Admiral David G. Farragut, USN (from the Knoxville area, incidently) on the occaision of the Battle of Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864. The Actual quote seems to have been " "Damn the torpedoes. Four bells Captain Drayton, go ahead! Jouett, full speed!"

[Murgatroy]

Actually, that quote comes from Admiral David G. Farragut, USN (from the Knoxville area, incidently) on the occaision of the Battle of Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864. The Actual quote seems to have been " "Damn the torpedoes. Four bells Captain Drayton, go ahead! Jouett, full speed!"

Agreed. That is the version I have always heard.

[Guest Letereat!]

Macarthur My ass!!! This quote is on plackards on almost every Ship in the US Navy.

"Damn the torpedoes, Full speed ahead!"

Admiral David Glasgow Farragut (1801-1870). Aboard Hartford, Farragut entered Mobile Bay, Alabama, 5 August 1864, in two columns, with armored monitors leading and a fleet of wooden ships following. When the lead monitor Tecumseh was demolished by a mine, the wooden ship Brooklyn stopped, and the line drifted in confusion toward Fort Morgan. As disaster seemed imminent, Farragut gave the orders embodied by these famous words. He swung his own ship clear and headed across the mines, which failed to explode. The fleet followed and anchored above the forts, which, now isolated, surrendered one by one. The torpedoes to which Farragut and his contemporaries referred would today be described as tethered mines.

[Hearn, Chester G. Admiral David Glasgow Farragut: The Civil War Years. (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1988): 263-265. According to the book by Admiral Farragut's son, The Life of David Glasgow Farragut, First Admiral of the United States Navy, (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1879), pages 416-417,

Admiral Farragut said "Damn the torpedoes! Four bells! Captain Crayton, go ahead! Joucett, full speed!"]

Edited October 4, 2010 by Letereat!

[JAB]

The quote is also on a plaque at Fort Morgan.

[Murgatroy]

It is also the name of a Tom Petty Album.

[Guest pwhphd]

Letereat! is the closest to correct in the Bonus Round. I served on the USS Farragut (DDG-37) during the Vietnam War period. The ship was the fourth of five ships named after David Glascow Farragut, the first Admiral on the Navy. The original quote IS NOT the one that most people are familiar with, as the phrase was originally coined as a response to torpedoes that were actually "mines" in the harbor. Inspired by the attitude and bravado of Admiral Farragut, the Navy adopted a paraphrased version, variously printed as: "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead." OR "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!"

This is the registered official "motto" of the USS Farragut and many other ships and naval installations in the fleet. It was so adapted as to address the modern torpedoes, which are waterborne, not tethered as in the Mobile Bay. The adaptation also addresses the high technology of anti-submarine armament typically characterized by all of the USS Farragut vessels. Now, they are typically guided missle frigates with highly sophisticated anti-submarine and electronic warfare armament.

[gregintenn]

I wish one of you guys would have been my history teacher.

[Garufa]

If ya'll are gonna keep talking about that damnyankee...

What Confederate ironclad was left to take on Farraguts's entire fleet at Mobile Bay?

[Guest pwhphd]

Before I answer, I want to make by stake in this quiz by going "all in" - the CSS Tennessee for the game!

Ps- Our Navy also honored the captain, Admiral Franklin Buchanan, by naming three ships in his honor, all destroyers and all now decommissioned. He was also named the first Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy. Not bad for a southern sharecropper!

Edited October 4, 2010 by pwhphd

[kb4ns]

...the CCS Tennessee...

Really?

[Guest pwhphd]

CSS Tennessee - Navel history lost to a typo...that's the way it goes, first your guns and then your clothes.

[kb4ns]

CSS Tennessee - Navel history lost to a typo...that's the way it goes, first your guns and then your clothes.