Question of the Hour

[BDG.CalgHighrs]

June is the anniversary of the first time that English infantry wore the red coat in battle. Name the battle and the year in which it took place

1640s during that Cromwell thing IIRC. The name of the battle escapes me.

 

[Bill Smy]

The infantry of Cromwell's new model army wore red coats at the Battle of Naseby in June 1645. Red dye was the cheapest dye they could buy, so we have the historic Redcoat.

 

[BDG.CalgHighrs]

The infantry of Cromwell's new model army wore red coats at the Battle of Naseby in June 1645. Red dye was the cheapest dye they could buy, so we have the historic Redcoat.

Cheers, that was driving me crazy.

 

[Bill Smy]

There is a morse code message along the rim of the Canadian 1943 victory 5 cent piece. What does it say? The message is not reproduced on the 2005 victory nickle.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

"We Win When We Work Willingly"

 

[Spr.Earl]

In WW 2 ,which service suffered the most casualties per capita?

 

[Acorn]

In WW 2 ,which service suffered the most casualties per capita?

In general, or specifically Canadian? If the latter it was the Merchant Marine. If you don't count them as a "service" it was the RCAF.

Acorn

 

[Bill Smy]

OK! Recceguy. You got it in less than an hour of my posting the question. 

You must have been working on your Queen's Scout badge back in the 1950s when I was. :warstory:

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Bill,

Your showing our age! 

 

[Spr.Earl]

In general, or specifically Canadian? If the latter it was the Merchant Marine. If you don't count them as a "service" it was the RCAF.

Acorn

My hat off to you Acorn.

 

[Spr.Earl]

This is the 200 Anniversary of Trafalgar heres some questions for you;

Where was Lord Nelson born?

What was Nelson's first ship called?

How did HMS Victory get her name?

How much did she cost to build?

 

[Joe_McSweeney]

1) Bernham Thorpe, Norfolk.
2) His first ship was the Raisonnable.
2a) His first command was HMS Boreas.
3) The HMS Victory was so named for the"Year of Victories" in 1759 in Quebec, Minden, and the naval engagements of Lagos and a couple others.
4) It cost approx. 64,000 pounds, and used 6,000 trees. Mostly oak, but some elm and pine as well.

Here is a bonus question for you...

At the battle of Trafalgar, the HMS Victory was able to fire three broadsides in under two minutes.
What was the average load time for a gun crew of the era???

 

[Spr.Earl]

3 min? I  forget the rate of fire of gun crews.
Heres a site with a list of wounded,killed among the 1,600 names listed with trade,it's neat reading on the far left gives there campain service.

http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/Trafalgar/

 

[Joe_McSweeney]

I thought it was closer to 5 minutes, however, 3 full broadsides in under two... that is impressive.

Neat link.

Joe.

 

[Acorn]

3) The HMS Victory

At the battle of Trafalgar, the HMS Victory

Your post was good Joe, but this is like scratching a blackboard for me:

"The HMS" = "The His Majesty's Ship"

"The" in front of HMS (or HMCS) is just wrong.

Acorn

 

[Joe_McSweeney]

The offending 'the' was an affect of a post at 1:30 in the morning...

And I found that HMS Victory without a the in front was also refitted in the late 1780's for approx. 74,000 pounds on top of the original 64,000.

As for interesting history, wasn't the Royal Newfoundland Regiment annihilated on this day back in 1916? 900+ men went from their own secondary trenchworks to the front line and lost half of their numbers. Then went over the top again and were decimated.

If I remember correctly, 65 reported for duty the next day. Also as a point of "honour", when the commander was asked why the attack had failed, he answered, "Dead men can take no ground."   Then another quote from an eyewitness on how the men carried themselves; "They went on into the fury of shells and bullets with their chins tucked to their chest as if they were merely guarding themselves from a blizzard snow."

 

[Danjanou]

You're right Joe. The Regiment was decimated that day which is why in Newfoundland July 1st is also Rembrance Day.

Incidentally they were just the Newfoundland Regiment then. The Royal prefix was earned a year later at Cambrai.

 

[Spr.Earl]

And the only Regiment to earn the Honour of " Royal " in time of War.

 

[Bill Smy]

In what campaign did British regiments carry the Brown Bess into battle?

 

[Fishbone Jones]

From the National Army Museum website:

Who or what was 'Brown Bess'?

The 'Brown Bess' is the popular, but inaccurate, name applied to several different models of smooth-bore flintlock musket, which were used by the British Army from the late seventeenth century to the early nineteenth century.

'Brown' may relate to the 'browning' of the barrel (a process which helped to prevent rusting), or to the colour of the musket's walnut stock (earlier weapons commonly had their stocks painted black). 'Bess' may derive from 'buss', a shortened form of 'harquebuss' (arquebus), the predecessor of the musket.