What does this line from Ian Fleming mean?

Cafe Society
1

Okay, Fleming lost me on this one. In ON HER MAJESTY`S SECRET SERVICE (1963), M is entertaining 007 with tales of the old Royal Navy. Included is this tidbit:
“…neatly worded signals, as when Admiral Somerville, commanding the battleship QUEEN ELIZABETH, had passed the liner QUEEN ELIZABETH in mid-Atlantic and had signalled the one word ‘SNAP!’”

Anyone get the significance of this? Was the Admiral saying that commanding a passenger liner was a snap? Was he snapping his fingers (figuratively) at the other ship? Or is this some bit of 20th century slang long since lost?

The James Bond books started in 1953, far enough back that some of the topical references are getting a bit obscure. Any enlightenment would be appreciated.

2

Snap is a card game suitable for children. Deal the cards to the two players, half the pack each, held in a single deck face down. Take turns to place a card on a stack in the middle, turning the card face up as you do so. If the two cards are of the same rank, whichever player calls “Snap!” first takes the stack and adds it to the bottom of his deck. So in this context, it’s just a humorous observation by the Admiral occasioned by the fact that the two ships have the same name.

3

…Thank you! Another nagging mystery cleared up, and within minutes.

   I love the Straight Dope Message Board and its denizens.
4

Played a similar card game as a child, it was called WAR.

5

Except with war you have a battle of three cards to see who gets the pile.

At least the version I played :slight_smile:

6

I only ever played War with two people. It’s really a rather simple-minded game, and can take forever.

That’s a great joke now that we know what “snap” meant!

7

I think whatami means when both players turn over the same card, you both then lay down 2 cards face down and 1 face up. The winner of that war keeps all the cards that were just laid down.

Oops…sorry about the derailment. How bout that Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?

8

I think that these posts about the game “Snaps” require a little more background. This event actually happened during WWII, and much as Fleming describes it. The RMS Queen Elizabeth had been pressed into service as a troop transport. The HMS Queen Elizabeth was a battleship and name ship of a class originally constructed shortly before WWI. It was the first ship built to a greatly-improved design. Both ships were, obviously, named after Queen Elizabeth I. Being named after a sovereign, however, other RN ships usually saluted the HMS Queen Elizabeth. One source I have says that both ships saluted each other, but that HMS Queen Elizabeth was faster (by hoisting the signal above). Which is very close to the childhood game.

9

Minor nitpick:

The battleship may have been but the liner wasn’t.

The passenger liner was named after George VI’s wife (the late Queen Mother) cite.

The battleship was launched in 1913 and so cannot have been named afte rthe Queen Mother as she would only have been twelve at the time.

10

Where’s that smackie when I need it? I started to say that both ships were not named after the current queen, and then left it like that when I revised it to be in positive mode. Bah! :frowning:

Anyway, kiwiboy is, of course, correct.

In my defense, I used to work in naval history, not maritime history.