Re: What's a Q-ship?

[Phil Ethier <ethier@freenet.msp.mn.us>]

On Fri, 1 Sep 1995, Steven Buchholz wrote:

> Q-ship n (ca. 1919) : an armed ship disguised as a merchant or fishing 
> ship used to decoy enemy submarines into gun range.
> 

Of course, the only way to find the sub was to get it to fire a torpedo 
at you.  The problem with this is that it tended to get your ship sunk.  
The solution was that Q-ships had every available airspace filled with 
flotation material.  They were virtually unsinkable.  Sailers used to say 
they were full of ping-pong balls, but I don't know what materials were 
actually used.

Phil