1. to kill single soldiers
2. to deliver warheads
3. to deliver messages

Missiles have messages, all right -- deadly messages. They deliver explosive warheads meant to destroy both men and machines.

1. Spanish Civil War
2. American Civil War
3. World War II

It was the Confederates that opened the era of submarine warfare. In 1864, the H.L. Hunley sank the USS Housatonic. But then the Hunley immediately sank, too.

1. powerful fans
2. hot gases
3. flames of fear

Missiles typically rely on explosives gases for motion. Those gases push missiles through the air at incredible velocity.

1. China
2. France
3. United States

There is no definitive record of the first military rocket. But most historians say Chinese troops used them all the way back in the 13th century.

1. explosive kite
2. spar torpedo
3. grenade launcher

The Hunley rammed the Housatonic with a spar torpedo, essentially an explosive-tipped spear. Five men on the Housatonic were killed. Then Hunley then sank … taking with her a crew of eight.

1. 13th century
2. 18th century
3. 20th century

The concept of explosive missiles spread quickly from China in the 1200s. Europeans began using them to attack their enemies in that century, too.

1. U-boats
2. B-boats
3. S-boats

In both World Wars, Germany made good use of U-boats. They were Unterseeboots, which stood for "undersea boats," and they roamed the seas in so-called "wolf packs," sending Allied ships to early ends.

1. American Civil War
2. American Revolution
3. World War II

Commanders tinkered with missiles in World War I, but the technologies were still primitive. In WWII, though, missiles shredded the skies in countless numbers.

1. It doubled as a weapon.
2. It had four times as much energy as regular coal.
3. It doesn't produce smoke.

The CSS David was perhaps the very first sub used in the Civil War. It used anthracite coal as fuel. This kind of coal produces almost no smoke … and thus made the David very hard to see in dim light.

1. laser guidance
2. pods that fired many rockets at once
3. chemical warheads

After WWII, many designers began mounting pods of missiles onto the wings of aircraft. These pods didn't have accurate guidance … but their incredible volume of fire savaged ground forces large and small.

1. individual soldiers
2. tanks
3. bombers

In WWII, tanks were a common (and terrifying) threat. Bazookas were rockets that measured about 20 inches … and with an accurate hand, could disable heavily armored tanks.

1. damaging aircraft carriers
2. destroying coastal cities
3. sinking merchant ships

U-boats have a reputation as fierce offensive weapons of WWII. But in reality, they were most effective in sinking merchant ships and conducting blockades of critical ocean routes.

1. to destroy enemy bunkers
2. to shoot down planes
3. to blast submarines

SAMs are surface-to-air missiles. Modern SAMs can automatically track enemy planes and then blast them out of the skies.

1. big magnets
2. heat-seeking technology
3. trained rabbits guide them

Sidewinder missiles are heat-seeking missiles. And because enemy planes produce a lot of heat … boom.

1. American Revolution
2. Gulf War
3. World War I

Sub-on-sub attacks are incredibly rare. In 1914, during WWI, German U-27 managed to torpedo a British sub named the HMS E3, killing 28 British crew.

1. Vietnam War
2. Russian Civil War
3. World War I

In World War I, warplanes took to the skies by the tens of thousands. Primitive air-to-air missiles also debuted, but they had no guidance system outside of the pilot's trigger finger.

1. "Sobbing Sally"
2. “Moaning Minnie”
3. "Happy Harold"

Germany shot countless missiles in WWII. Those numbers included the “Moaning Minnie” or "Screaming Meemie," which made terrifying and distinct noises as they approached their doomed targets.

1. once
2. six times
3. countless

In February 1942, Britain's HMS Venturer attacked and sank German U-864. It's the only (revealed) time in history that one sub has has successly destroyed another sub while both were deep underwater.

1. bunkers
2. large targets like balloons
3. small fighters

Sans guidance systems, WWI air-to-air missiles were nearly impossible to use against other planes. But they were useful against large reconnaissance balloons and similar targets.

1. mine
2. torpedo
3. ballistic missile

The British HMS Pathfinder is a sad historical footnote. It was the first ship ever sunk by a self-propelled torpedo, one fired by the German U-21.

1. to end communism
2. to shoot down Soviet nuclear bombers
3. to spray confettie on WWII victory parties

The AIR-2 Genie was incredible concept -- it was a missile with a nuclear warhead, meaning to destroy Soviet bombers loaded with nuclear bombs. The U.S. developed the AIR-2 Genie due to a lack of effective air-to-air guidance technologies.

1. Seattle
2. Washington D.C.
3. Tampa Bay

It was a day of infamy in 1814, when British troops captured America's capital. And they did so in large part thanks to rockets that devastated the U.S. army's flank.

1. a fictional tale
2. a submarine with a detatchable warhead
3. a suicide vessel

During WWII, human torpedoes came of age -- they were akin to small submarines with detatachable warheads. As the small crew approached a target, they'd release the torpedo in hopes of destroying an enemy ship.

1. radar
2. crossed fingers
3. very fast bald eagles

The AIM‐7 Sparrow is guided by Doppler radar. First deployed in 1958, they found decades of operational use, finally ending in 1990.

1. They are operated solely by peopler under four feet in height.
2. They aren't armed.
3. They don't really have living quarters.

Midget submarines are small attack craft, and they've been used by many countries. They have very little in the way of living comforts, and that's OK because you're probably going to die if you set so much as one foot into these death traps.

1. It was Bluetooth-guided.
2. It was wire-guided.
3. It was guided by hate.

The Henschel Hs 298 was wire-guided. More advanced versions were also radio-guided, marking a major evolution in missile technology.

1. satellite intercept rockets
2. land-attack missiles
3. cannons

Advanced subs can shoot land-attack missiles at targets around the world. The U.S. used just these kinds of attacks in recent Middle East conflicts.

1. 200 yards
2. 6 miles
3. 2,000 miles

U.S. fighter pilots knew the AIR-2 Genie had a range of about six miles. Fortunately, America never had to try these powerful devices in real combat.

1. about 15%
2. about 45%
3. about 85%

In the Vietnam War, America blew tons of money on air-to-air missile technologies … with dismal results. Sidewinder missiles had a probability-of-kill ratio of just 15%.

1. It has not changed.
2. It has declined precipitously.

Since WWII, submarine warfare has slumped to very low levels. Some countries, like the U.S., use subs for spying missions and for potential future wars.