All Hands on Deck for This Quiz on Famous Ships

In February 1898, the U.S. battleship Maine was docked in the waters of Cuba in case the island’s simmering dissatisfaction with Spain exploded into full-blown revolution, and U.S. citizens needed a hasty evacuation. On February 15, a mysterious explosion sank the ship. The resulting headlines inspired the popular slogan “Remember the Maine,” and propelled the U.S. and Spain toward war.

On December 5, 1914, the HMS Endurance, captained by Anglo-Irish explorer Ernest Shackleton, left South Georgia Island and headed toward Antarctica. Shackleton’s journey became famous after the Endurance got hopelessly stuck in sea ice and eventually sank on November 15, 1915. Miraculously, the 27-person crew survived the experience, and the Endurance was rediscovered more than a century later, in 2022.

Although it was not the first ship to circumnavigate the globe (that honor belongs to the Nao Victoria), the Golden Hind spent three years crossing the world’s oceans with English explorer Sir Francis Drake as its captain. The Golden Hind’s primary mission was to intercept gold traveling from South America to Spain (at which Drake was particularly successful), but the ship also circled the globe, traveling 36,000 miles until finally reaching its home port in 1580.

“Star Trek’s” USS Enterprise was named after the world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, which was commissioned in 1962 — four years before the show’s premiere. In fact, in “Star Trek: A Voyage Home,” the characters Uhura and Chekov even visit the eponymous aircraft carrier. Several vessels have been named “Enterprise” in U.S. history, including a Continental Army sloop and a Yorktown-class carrier that was the most decorated ship during World War II.

The ship captained by American naval officer John Paul Jones was given to the U.S. by France’s King Louis XVI in 1779, and was renamed the Bonhomme Richard by Jones. The name honors Benjamin Franklin, who was the U.S. commissioner in Paris at the time. Jones was aboard the Bonhomme Richard on September 23, 1779, when he famously declared in the face of a British demand for surrender: “I have not yet begun to fight.”

The galleon, a large sailing cargo and warship, was first used by European explorers and navies in the 16th century. The oar-powered trireme is one of the most famous ships in ancient history, used by the Greeks in the Persian Wars. The merchant junk ship is one of the most ubiquitous ships in Chinese history. A skipper, however, is not a ship, but rather a nickname for the captain of a ship.

On July 8, 1853, two coal-burning steamships spewing black smoke on the horizon towed two sloops and entered Japan’s Edo Bay (now Tokyo Bay) under the command of U.S. Commodore Matthew C. Perry. Perry’s mission, to end the island nation’s decades-long policy of isolation, would change the world. Contemporary accounts state that boatloads of artists rushed to the bay to illustrate these strange “black ships” upon their arrival in Japan.

The Kon-Tiki earned its fame by helping Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl prove his theory that early humans could have sailed from Peru to Polynesia using trade winds. On April 28, 1947, Heyerdahl, and his crew of five men set sail on the small wooden vessel from Callao, Peru toward Polynesia. After 101 days in the South Pacific Ocean, the crew reached the Raroia atoll in Polynesia, proving Heyerdahl's theory.

The HMS Victory is best known as Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar on October 21, 1805, during the Napoleonic Wars. Nelson was mortally wounded during the battle but was posthumously hailed as a war hero for his success. After the ship returned home, it was restored by King George V and opened as a public museum, retaining its status as a fully commissioned ship in the Royal Navy’s fleet.

The Flying Cloud was the fastest of its kind for over 130 years. It debuted in 1851 when it sailed from New York to San Francisco in just 89 days. This was less than half the time it took comparable ships. The route was desirable due to the California Gold Rush, as buyers needed a way to transport gold from coast to coast quickly and efficiently.

The luxury vessel Britannic — sister ship of the Titanic — was converted into a hospital ship during WWI and was on its way to pick up wounded soldiers near the Gulf of Athens when disaster struck. On November 21, 1916, a massive explosion resulted in extensive damage to the ship, killing 30 passengers, and sinking within an hour. Luckily, over 1,000 were rescued from the sea.

Famous 18th-century pirate Blackbeard captured the French ship La Concorde in 1717 near the island of Martinique in the Caribbean. Renamed Queen Anne’s Revenge, it became the flagship vessel in his small fleet of pirate ships. Blackbeard continued to use the vessel to raid Atlantic shipping lanes until it ran aground in 1718. A few months after the incident, the notorious pirate was killed in a battle.

On September 2, 1945, forces from both sides of World War II boarded the USS Missouri “Mighty Mo” to sign documents officially confirming the Axis Powers’ monumental surrender. The ceremony occurred on the deck of the ship and lasted only 23 minutes. It included a speech by General Douglas MacArthur, who called for justice, tolerance, and rebuilding.

The Essex was a real American whaling ship that was rammed by a sperm whale on November 20, 1820. This event inspired Herman Melville’s 1851 classic novel “Moby Dick.” The ship was in the South Pacific Ocean when it encountered the whale, which was estimated to be 85 feet long. For unknown reasons, the whale attacked the ship, causing it to sink, but a few members of the crew lived to tell the tale.

The USS Constitution is the oldest commissioned ship in the United States Navy; it has been in service since 1797. Its nickname, Old Ironsides, comes from its great success in the War of 1812 when it defeated four British frigates. The enemy ships’ cannon fire could not penetrate its strong oak hull, leading a sailor to allegedly exclaim, “Huzzah! Her sides are made of iron!”

The HMS Beagle was the vessel that took a young Charles Darwin on his now-famous expedition to South America. Darwin’s expedition, which lasted five years, included a circumnavigation of the globe and many stops along the coast of South America, including the Galápagos Islands. The information that Darwin gathered on this trip formed his future theory of evolution by natural selection.

Often seen wearing a red beanie aboard his ship, the Calypso, Jacques Cousteau sailed the world, conducting valuable oceanic research along the way. The Calypso was a former Royal Navy minesweeper that had been converted into a ferry. Cousteau purchased the ship in Malta, believing that it was perfect for his future missions. He was right: Cousteau, who died in 1997, famously sailed the Calypso for 46 years.

The Titanic set sail from Southampton, England, on April 10, 1912, and then made stops in Cherbourg, France, and Cobh, Ireland, to pick up more passengers for the transatlantic journey. The ship was on the final leg of its voyage to New York City when tragedy struck in the early morning hours of April 15. The Titanic hit an iceberg during the night and sank to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

On May 7, 1915, less than a year after the beginning of WWI, a German U-boat torpedoed the RMS Lusitania. The ship was on its way to Liverpool, England with 1,900 passengers and war munitions for Britain. The captain of the ship was cautioned to avoid the area but did not heed the warning. Despite the loss of American citizens, the U.S. pledged to remain neutral. But two years later, the U.S. did cite Germany’s submarine warfare as one reason it entered the war.

On possibly the most famous journey of the 17th century, the Mayflower sailed from England to the Americas to establish the New England colony in 1620. After 66 days at sea, the ship landed on Cape Cod in present-day Massachusetts. One month later, 102 settlers disembarked from the ship at the nearby settlement of Plymouth.