During a conversation I had with my grandmother over the sinking of the Moskva, she mentioned a neighbour of hers lost three uncles on the Hood. Was this actually true, and out of curiosity were there any situations similar to this and that of the Sullivans in any other navies in that era?
The 1942 Design Light Fleet Carrier (Colossus/Majestic class) were only expected to have a useful service life of a few years. How was it possible the service life was able to be extended to 40 (HMAS Melbourne) 50 (INS Vikrant) and 60 (NAeL Minas Gerais) years?
Hey Drach do you only cover navy stuff between the age of sail and WWII? If not is it possible if you can cover stuff from antiquities? I find that naval history in the ancient world is very underappreciated.
Re steering by propellers alone: many multi-prop aircraft have their propellers spinning in opposite directions to balance torque. Is this an issue for large ships, or does the water behave sufficiently differently from air to make this a moot point?
You don't know what you're missing until its not there! 100% agree with you, drach doing his thing,with his dulcet tones is a wonderful thing..... Mrs Drach on the keyboard just an unintended bonus😅
I don’t know why but hearing typing on audio recordings or even worse live radio (For example whenever NPR does live coverage of congressional hearings there is always so asshole typing away during the commentary. I find it as unprofessional as cleaning a restaurant’s flattop grill with a dried brick of dog and cat shit. Drach gets a pass but I can not continue viewing after I finish this completely irrational comment, lest I hatchet chop the nearest keyboard to peices.) throws me into rage completely devoid of any logic or reason. I do not know why I am like this. I have never met another human who shares my demented hatred of asmr/asmr like sounds. I do know that I am right. Oh thank god the typing stopped. I type very slow.
@@ryanrhude3256 Thats Mrs. Drach working from home! Occasionally assisting Drach with presentations of more hands on videos, including demonstrations of naval based board games. She's the best.
Actually black powder in those conditions would be as good as they day they made it. Unlike modern powders, black powder is a mechanical mix of stable compounds that really don't degrade in a dry environment. In the US we are still disposing of Civil War era munitions from time to time and they still go bang quite readily. A few years ago I had the chance to shoot some 577/450 Martini-Henry ammo made in 1879 and not only did they go bang, the chronograph showed performance right at mil spec.
Yeah, there was a story a few years ago about some Civil War enthusiast who found a cannonball from back then and decided to drill into it. It did not end well for him.
In RE: CSS Texas powder. There was an article in a firearms magazine, years and years ago, about a civil war musket that had been found in an unmarked civil war graveyard, by the writers grandfather. The writer had used the musket in a high school play by putting greenie stick-m-caps on the nipple, pointing the gun towards the audience, and dropping the hammer for a nice bang. After his father passed, he inherited the musket, and hung it above his fireplace. During the black powder firearms revival in the 1970's he wondered if the gun could be safely used, and took it to a gunsmith. The gunsmith dropped the the ramrod down the the barrel and told the writer it was still loaded! After removing the ball, he poured the powder into a dish and lit it. Poof. The powder was still combustible. The only reason the musket never actually discharged during his high school acting stint, was the the hole in the nipple had rusted shut. Sooo....... it is possible that the Texas's powder could still be viable...........maybe.
The Littorios also have a decent claim to being the most powerful European battleships ever built, with only Vanguard really being able to contest that.
@@bkjeong4302 With 9 15" guns these Italian battleships are definitely formidable but I like the French Richelieu class,, those 8 15" in 2 four-gun turrets look awesome even though they had a problem firing all 8 main guns at the same time for obvious structural engineering reasons...
@@danfruzzetti7604 ..were the French battleships completed when war started? I know the Vittorio's were,, and yeah it would have been something to watch these two classes square off and start firing... Although I'd paraphrase the same thing a confederate general said before Antietam,, what a shame to spoil with shells, such a glorious manifestation of Naval excellence...
I think Mikasa is definitely the one for Japan’s Enterprise/Warspite. She was absolutely pounded at the Yellow Sea taking 20 hits and then at Tsushima, taking like 40 hits! And then her magazines detonated in harbor! Yet she’s still here today
Hi all... yes I know I did a whoopsie in my question and said 3-rudder, not 3-screw... i did correct it in Patreon but apparently Drach grabbed it before I corrected it 😂, no need to flame me.
For the IJN ship that took the most beating and was afloat and fighting at the end of the war. That honor goes to Suzutsuki. 1st she took 2 USN torpedoes (both exploded) losing her bow and stern. Got repaired and then took another sub torpedo, losing her bow again. Got repaired and sortied w Yamato at Ten Go, again losing her bow, but this time to probably the most concentrated air attack ever unleashed on any fleet. Made it back to port and continued fighting as a stationary platform thru the end of the war. All that for a wartime destroyer!
Back in January I started watching all the Dry Docks in order. I have finally arrived here, the last one currently posted. My brain is SO full. Thanks Drach
I would nominate Yukikaze for the IJN category, as the Japanese themselves consider Yukikaze their lucky ship. Whilst she did not sustain any serious damage, she did survive many engagements with minor to no damage at all, including Operation Ten-Go.
Yukikaze is definitly the lucky ship of the IJN (with Shigure coming close but not matching her in luck). But I kinda feel like the Warspite/Seylitz/Enterprise position of "ship too stubborn to die" is something different than just being a "lucky ship". HMS "Lucky" Jervis is not as famous as Warspite after all. For IJN I am partial towards Shoukaku and/or Zuikaku for that position instead.
The Italian counterpart is Spica-class torpediniera Lupo, Italy's luckiest ship, who went 1v7 against British ships (Ajax, Orion, Dido; Hereward, Hasty, Janus, and Kimberley) during the Battle of Crete and ended in a draw (out of ammo), among other similar shorthanded battles, but ultimately sunk by Lucky Jervis. A close second is her sister Sagittario.
An argument could be made for the Battleship Mikasa, which was the primary target of the Russians in the Battle of Yellow Sea and the Battle of Tsushima and took some fairly serious damage in those battles. What counts against Mikasa is that she caught fire and detonated from a magazine explosion at Sasebo on the night of 11/12 September 1905, sinking at her moorings. She still exists today as a museum ship so the damage can't have been that bad and she's the last of the pre-dreadnoughts.
The destroyer Suzutsuki. She survived 3 total USN sub launched torpedoes (that did explode) in 2 separate actions. Then was with Yamato and Yukikazi at Ten Go, again surviving with crippling damage. She would end up in reserve, and still fighting off air raids thru the end of the war.
When I saw "Sahara", I immediately thought of the Bogart movie and wondered why someone was asking Drach about a tank movie. While I've read some Cussler, Sahara wasn't one of them.
I think theres 3 movies called Sahara, the 1943 Bogart movie and it’s remake from the 90’s, and the Matthew McConnaughey movie based on the novel from the mid 2000’s.
The sailors on a ship deployed to a combat zone would receive an additional $50 a month in combat pay. This figure remained unchanged until at least 2001. I recieved the $50 in combat pay in September 2001 for being in the Pentagon.
I’d put Shokaku in for the Japanese category. As she took 3 bombs at Coral Sea. Shrapnel damage at Eastern Solomons and 3-6 1000lbs bombs at Santa Cruz. Her sinking at Philippine Sea in many ways was the US Navy getting back at the IJN for what happened to Wasp. But at the same time it feels like a Deus Ex Machina.
@@bkjeong4302 same thing happened on Enterprise. Not to mention one of Air Group 20’s pilots gave Zuikaku “final honours” (stuck the finger up at her crew) at Cape Engano.
Just rewatched Sahara recently and there is a scene where main character was expecting a FT of armor that they would be fine from helicopter attacking.. and it was just thin wood and thin layer of metal, thus showing the armor was removed to make ship lighter.
Remember with the vanguard turrets, although the turrets come off courageous and glorious, the guns went straight into spares pool and so the guns are not those originally installed on those ships.
correct, gun barrels come and go as specialists check them , as they age they are dismounted and sent for relining or other works. At the end of their service, ships can get quite a mix of variously sourced barrels. This is true also in field (Army) artillery despite their generally longer useful life (some 6" guns used to have an expected life of thousands of rounds fired, unthinkable for much more stressed and 'powerful' naval guns in similar caliber) , mounts stay but barrels go back and forth as needed. This is precisely the reason for spares pools to exist: barrels needs attention, in an arsenal they are checked and then special maintenance is performed or they are sent to a weapon manufacturer for even more radical rebuilding or, if useful economical life is exhausted, they are scrapped. After heavy maintenance, barrels are not sent to their original ship, that ship sailed long ago, repaired barrels are sent in the available spare pool instead.
@Senna Augustus both were at 2nd heligoland bight, Courageous at least opened fire not sure on glorious but given repulse was able to close from support position and engage then I doubt glorious was that far from her sister.
I think the thing about Bismarck is that she's pretty difficult to deal with for the Royal Navy. They have no ships that can really catch and fight her on even terms, if you leave the CVs out of the question: - Hood is on paper a very powerful ship, but her outdated fire control left her at a big disadvantage. At Denmark Strait Hood fired some 40 shells at the battleship-sized Prinz Eugen without hitting her, while Bismarck scored 6 hits with 93 shells fired at 2 different targets, arguably a very good performance - Renown has the speed and pretty respectable gunpower, especially due to her modern fire control, but both she and Repulse had basically no immunity against the Bismarck's 15inch guns at reasonable combat ranges. - KGV-class is arguably a very decent BB, but in open water cannot force Bismarck to fight, due to a 2 to 3 knot speed advantage. And everything else is clearly too slow. On top of that, Bismarck is a mortal threat to any old BB she comes across, and given the experience at North Cape, she can probably outpace RN cruisers in a heavy sea. While I'm a huge fan of the British armoured CVs, their doctrine was arguably far behind IJN and later USN ones. There were quite a number of failed torpedo attacks on German BBs, such as on Tirpitz during her March 1942 sortie and against the twins during the Channel Dash one month earlier. Dealing with a Bismarck-class battleship was certainly no walk in the park for the Royal Navy.
I’d argue that getting rid of Bismarck could have been much easier had the more experienced Illustrious-class carriers been available at Denmark Strait; you probably wouldn’t even need Hood and PoW at that point. And while Bismarck was faster than the KGVs, the margin wasn’t so big as to be truly decisive, especially if the British tried to intercept the German ship from ahead (as they historically did during Denmark Straits)
@Bk Jeong well, in theory yes, but in 1941 the Royal Navy didn't have the luxury to only bring their best ships to the party, since they had worldwide commitments. History has shown that taking down the Bismarck wasn't an easy task. While Bismarck was very lucky to hit Hood in such a weak spot, the hits on Bismarck's fuel tanks and rudder were just as random. Regarding speed, you should remember that German ships in WW2 had a pretty good record of spotting the enemy first, so if the German ship makes good use of its speed, chances are the KGV will never get into range. Using capital ships for commerce raiding is arguably dumb, but they can still give you a major headache.
@Gokbay might be, but what's the point here? A miss is a miss. Prinz Eugen wasn't damaged, while Hood took 4 hits in the same amount of time. German WW2 ships had plenty of faults, but bad fire control gear certainly wasn't one of them.
Black powder has the unfortunate problem that the powder mix settles out. I have read that black powder kegs were rolled around from time to time to ensure that the ingredients of the black powder stayed mixed properly. So black powder that has sat for 150 years, even if it was chemically intact, would no longer be mixed properly, which would either render it mostly inert, or overpowered depending on how the mix settled out. Smokeless powder tends to be quite a bit more stable, but even then 150 years is a long time. I have seen some pretty old WW1 and WW2 surplus ammo being used and chronographed, and it's a mixed bag. Some hang fires, some duds, and usually a pretty wide range of velocities. Some of that is simply the manufacture wasn't as precise, but some of it's due to degradation of the powder and/or primers (for the duds and hang fires).
For the IJN, Shokaku definitely qualifies given how much of a beating she survived on several occasions (and because of the whole Shokakus vs. Yorktowns thing). And LMAO at the person who thought Bismarck was the most powerful battleship in the world when she was towards the bottom end (at least for her generation, I’d still rank her significantly above most older battleships if only due to her speed) even if you exclude the American and Japanese monstrosities (the Iowas and Yamatos).
In regards to Bismarck, it is a problem of people with a little knowledge, thinking they know it all. You get the same problem with any discussion involving Yamato. Every battleship with the possible the exception on the Iowa class, was an exercise in compromise. And people just has to accept that
Even the Iowa's have compromises. They had to fit the Panama canal at the time. If they didn't have that restriction, I can imagine they would have had slightly less on the length to beam ratio.
@@glenchapman3899 The Yamatos were actually significantly better designs than often given credit for, though not without their flaws (that garbage TDS is especially bad, and while their fire control system was a lot better than often assumed the lack of FC radar would have posed issues in poor visibility). A lot of their supposed issues have been significantly exaggerated or (in a couple cases) outright made up due to poor historiography in various secondary sources. That said, the Japanese did still have to make a few intentional compromises with the Yamatos-they were originally intended to be even larger (mostly longer) for a 30kt top speed, but this would have pushed Japanese shipbuilding capacity beyond its limits and cost too much. Still, 27-28kt is on par with the contemporary KGVs, NorCals and SoDaks.
@@bkjeong4302 When discussing torpedo protection, many people don't realize just how agile she was. And clearly that factor played a part in other design decisions. One compromise I do see was her weight. Japanese armor production was not at the same level as US and UK technology at the time. The only real other issue I see is her secondaries, which may go back to the weight question. As to FC technology. It is not really a compromise if you just dont have the technology lol
Thanks for the questions about Ranger. My dad was on this ship during training late in WWII. It was taken out of front line service by that time. They sailed in the Gulf of Mexico if I'm not mistaken.
Thanks for his service. Because of RANGER's training mission off Quonset Point, RI; Pensacola, FL; and, eventually, Pearl Harbor, HI, she had more carrier landings than any other U.S. carrier. The rationale was that if a pilot successfully completed their carrier qualifications on her slightly smaller and slower-moving flight deck, their landing approach to an Essex-class carrier for a combat deployment would seem like a welcome relief.
The screw and rudder discussion and photos was quite interesting. Seems that would make an excellent topic covering different navies and classes of ships.
24:40 I was watching another CZcams video when my attention was jogged by the presenter talking about the KMS Bismarck when I caught the phrase "most powerful"; I had to back the video up and re-listen to that audio segment to hear that they had said "...most powerful German battleship...", a classification which can be taken more at face value -- but it wasn't particularly clear on first listen, and my immediate thought was that this was some wehraboo 'Bismarck uber alles' attitude. One of the things I appreciate about your videos is that your enunciation is always clear and understandable (when you're not afflicted by environmental issues)
18:50 IJN heavy cruiser Kumano ( the thing survived limping for a month before finally going down). IJN destroyer Shigure ( sole survivor of three separate major engagements ).
Most interesting part for me was that one about patrol boats. 1st time I have ever heard of them was 90s PC game Silent Service II, where they have been pretty annoyance to war sub. Only another info was from some yt vid of US ww2 military diary, describing their manufacturing, purpose and war service. But most funny information found here was that german used 88mm flak on one of those. I can't imagine use of it. It reflects how crazy devoted their crews were and willing to get more than expected firepower for their small vessels.
There's crackling. It also showed up in another of Drach's other recent videos. In those comments he said he'd figured out what was causing it, so I hope any new recordings won't have the crackling; but presumably he'd already recorded this one before realizing the issue.
A program called NVidia Broadcast set itself as my default mic for a few weeks before I caught it, this is probably the reason for some of the audio issues in a few videos.
Hey Drach you might want to check your microphone the video has some audio interference it is especially noticeable on the question regarding Bismarck’s rudder
A few videos are like that unfortunately as NVidia Broadcast imposed itself as the default mic. I've since found and removed it but the lag between me making the video and people seeing the first one with the issue and then me correcting it means some videos have this issue :(
18:20 Yamato and Musashi for the obnoxious amount of firepower needed to put them down for sure. Even Musashi managed to cling to life a few more hours after the final attacks on her. Mind you I include sinkings after a tremendous amount of damage as valid answers.
I am commenting on the question about Bismark being the most powerful battleship in the world. I would agree with Drach's comments on this matter completely, until his Brit bias came out again, which does not happen too often, and this is partly why his videos are so good, along with his in-depth knowledge. Here are the real facts about comparing battleship gun power, and the other paramount factors when rating ships, which are their armor, followed by their speed. At 25:50 Drach stated that the "...KGV is approximately an equal match." I have a ballistics file, with all the ballistic data for most of the WW II battleships. But I do not keep track of their individual armor, but I do of their armor piercing capability of their AP ammo. The KGV's top speed was 28 knots, and the Bismark was 30, so these are relatively close (under 10% difference). But when it comes to the guns, they are no where near. The KGV with an AP round produced just 142 million ft. lbs of Muzzle Energy (ME), and the Bismark guns produced 198 million. The Bismark guns were about 33% more powerful, so I would not call this 'approximately equal' in any sense. Here are more specifics: The armor piercing capability of the KGV AP round of 1,591 lbs. was at 0 Yards - 26.9", and at10K Yards - 15.6". The armor piercing capability of the Bismark AP round of 1,764 lbs. was at 0 Yards - 29.2" and at 10K Yards - about 22.6". This is NOT close! In addition. the Littorio class ships guns produced 235 million ft. lbs. of ME, and had an armor piercing capability with an AP round of 1,951 lbs. at 0 Yards - 32.1", and at 10K Meters (not yards) - 23.9". Their max speed was that of the Bismark - 30 knots. Now you can see why Drach mentioned that he would take the Littorio over the Bismark. Unfortunately, the Italians had a severe quality control issue with the big gun ammo, as well as the big 15" barrels over heating a bit too quickly. Other than that, which was a serious lacking, the Italians made the best European battleships in WW II.
Before i say my part i wish to make clear that i have nowhere near your level of knowledge on the matter (nor drach level obviously) but saying that the littorios where better in my opinion is just him hating on Bismarck... because saying that if littorio fixed her gun problems she would be superior is basically saying " littorio is inferior to Bismarck because her shells and guns sucks, but if you remove/correct this flaws she would be superior" which doesn't make sense... it would be like saying "i believe north carolina to be better than Bismarck because if you improve her armor (which wasn't great) then she would be stronger"... that is not a valid argument, that is simply wanting to beat down Bismarck overentusiastically in my opinion. Don't get me wrong i love Drach and his content, absolute respect for him, but sometimes it feels like he's shitting on Bismarck simply because he doesn't like her, but I guess we'll have to wait for his video on the strength and weakness evacuazion of Bismarck to see what his judgement will be
I was drifting through Wikipedia looking at the 8” guns on different navies treaty class, and ww2, heavy cruisers when I thought this would make a good drachinifel video, particularly if he includes information on the gun mounts of the different marks. It would be similar to the video on main gun armaments of treaty class battleships previously made This lead to thought two on a video on the main gin armament on treaty class light cruisers And finally a video on the main gun armament of armored cruisers as differences in the 9.2” 9.4” and 9.5” guns isn’t as easily found.
19:00 Wasn't there a Japanese cruiser or destroyer which, while I don't think was badly damaged in any of them, was basically in every engagement where Japan got clobbered?
We’re there any Naval inventions immediately after the war (46’-49’?) that would of made a big difference if invented and used sooner? Anti ship missiles I imagine came later than that, besides the Fritz X obviously
Seagull landing superimposed with WW2 carrier landing in turbulence. US Navy pay in WW2 vs now, scales were flipped from 7->1 to 1->7. What does that say about the culture shift?
Weird how "Ranger" is mentioned in a few videos and it keeps making me think of the US carrier Ranger I saw in Pearl Harbor back in the mid 70's. Even though I'm pretty sure that's not the one being talked about.
I'd be happy to throw down a beer or 2 with ewe Mr Drach. There's a pub right next to the maritime museum in sydney. (It's Oztralia, there be a pub on most corners)
Good content, but there’s a distracting frequent crackle in the audio in the latter half or so. Not first vid on the channel lately with this issue. One example: the word “radar” just after 53:43
Bismarck is a good all arounjd ship , downsides would be non dual purpose secondary battery , the junk 37mm anti aircraft gun which were one shot - reload each shot manually , the Rudder arrangement . And the misuse of the Leadership - for that metals you probably could build 5 cruisers which were better for commerce raiding
All the evidence points to the Prince of Wales winning the engagement with Bismarck on points with weakest main battery and every other treaty battleship outguns Bismarck she might been a good all around ship when commissioned but was quickly surpassed within a matter of months
Drach, you might want to check if there's a problem with your microphone; there seems to be some pop/crackle distortion going on in your most-recent videos, including this one.
Drach, slightly off-line, but any insight on why ADM Jackie Fisher, RN resigned the day over the addition of two more submarines to a reinforcement of the Dardanelles campaign? Apparently, he consulted with then First Lord of the Admiralty Sir Winston Churchill on the original forces to be deployed the evening before. He found out about the submarines and left word that he was resigning and leaving London.
The straw that broke the camels' back, I suspect. Fisher was really fed up with how the war was being conducted. Not sure about why the subs were an issue. Have you watched Drach's videos on Fisher? I don't remember if this event is mentioned or not, but it's worth a shot if you haven't watched it for whatever reason.
Yeah, I'm less concerned with how a Civil War monitor made it up a river and more focused on how it crossed the Atlantic. As I understand it, you would need to have a serious death wish to get beyond sight of land in one of those.
It's a movie so it is in the script. Speaking of the script, The portrayal of Admiral Sandecker is based a real life retired US Navy officer RDML Craig Dorman who was Woods Hole Directer from 1989-93.
OK. I am obviously doing something wrong, I can neither find a community post about the Australian trip, nor can I find a funding link to help out with Dracs Antipodean trip. Can someone help an old man out? I have found the community link, but no help out link
Why is missing your target 19 times out or 20 considered not that bad? It sounds horrendous. I understand that the targets are miles away and moving, but numbers like less than 5% hits sounds like all hits are lucky hits. It all sounds pretty random.
Keep in mind, during a 1944 live fire test with Iowa, Iowa had a less than 3% hit rate on a stationary target her own size at 30,000 yards (even though her intended engagement range was supposed to be greater than that). And this was on a ship that had the world’s most advanced fire control system (albeit not by nearly as big a margin as commonly assumed) AND FC radar, in training conditions, against a big stationary target, in calm seas. Naval gunnery never got especially accurate.
Yes indeed you should keep an eye out for the dreaded Drop Bears but don’t neglect the Mud Sharks which infest the afore mentioned mud puddles preying on clumsy Drop Bears & the occasional stray tourist 😂
Ok,,, the guy that drug the 88mm flack gun, with ammo I presume, back to his boat deserves a 🍺 and the captain that said _Schnell! Montieren Sie die Kanone!_ gets a tankard as well.🤣
Which is part of the reason you get stories about massive amounts of money at stake in poker or craps games aboard ship. What else do you have to do with that money?
hi and hmm are planning to return with a kangaroo? ( do you expect your fans to fund that?) AND please remember you are a married man- so no waltzing with that Matilda lady!
Pinned post for Q&A :)
During a conversation I had with my grandmother over the sinking of the Moskva, she mentioned a neighbour of hers lost three uncles on the Hood. Was this actually true, and out of curiosity were there any situations similar to this and that of the Sullivans in any other navies in that era?
The 1942 Design Light Fleet Carrier (Colossus/Majestic class) were only expected to have a useful service life of a few years. How was it possible the service life was able to be extended to 40 (HMAS Melbourne) 50 (INS Vikrant) and 60 (NAeL Minas Gerais) years?
Hey Drach do you only cover navy stuff between the age of sail and WWII? If not is it possible if you can cover stuff from antiquities? I find that naval history in the ancient world is very underappreciated.
OMG I am from Australia I hope I bump into you!!!❤❤❤
Re steering by propellers alone: many multi-prop aircraft have their propellers spinning in opposite directions to balance torque. Is this an issue for large ships, or does the water behave sufficiently differently from air to make this a moot point?
Ah, the comforting sound of Mrs Drach clacking away in the background. All is right in the world. 😀
You don't know what you're missing until its not there! 100% agree with you, drach doing his thing,with his dulcet tones is a wonderful thing..... Mrs Drach on the keyboard just an unintended bonus😅
I don’t know why but hearing typing on audio recordings or even worse live radio (For example whenever NPR does live coverage of congressional hearings there is always so asshole typing away during the commentary. I find it as unprofessional as cleaning a restaurant’s flattop grill with a dried brick of dog and cat shit. Drach gets a pass but I can not continue viewing after I finish this completely irrational comment, lest I hatchet chop the nearest keyboard to peices.) throws me into rage completely devoid of any logic or reason. I do not know why I am like this. I have never met another human who shares my demented hatred of asmr/asmr like sounds. I do know that I am right. Oh thank god the typing stopped. I type very slow.
Is that what the typing is? I thought it was drach the whole time
😅k
@@ryanrhude3256 Thats Mrs. Drach working from home! Occasionally assisting Drach with presentations of more hands on videos, including demonstrations of naval based board games. She's the best.
Actually black powder in those conditions would be as good as they day they made it. Unlike modern powders, black powder is a mechanical mix of stable compounds that really don't degrade in a dry environment. In the US we are still disposing of Civil War era munitions from time to time and they still go bang quite readily. A few years ago I had the chance to shoot some 577/450 Martini-Henry ammo made in 1879 and not only did they go bang, the chronograph showed performance right at mil spec.
Yeah, there was a story a few years ago about some Civil War enthusiast who found a cannonball from back then and decided to drill into it. It did not end well for him.
In RE: CSS Texas powder. There was an article in a firearms magazine, years and years ago, about a civil war musket that had been found in an unmarked civil war graveyard, by the writers grandfather. The writer had used the musket in a high school play by putting greenie stick-m-caps on the nipple, pointing the gun towards the audience, and dropping the hammer for a nice bang. After his father passed, he inherited the musket, and hung it above his fireplace. During the black powder firearms revival in the 1970's he wondered if the gun could be safely used, and took it to a gunsmith. The gunsmith dropped the the ramrod down the the barrel and told the writer it was still loaded! After removing the ball, he poured the powder into a dish and lit it. Poof. The powder was still combustible.
The only reason the musket never actually discharged during his high school acting stint, was the the hole in the nipple had rusted shut. Sooo....... it is possible that the Texas's powder could still be viable...........maybe.
Vittorio Veneto has always been my favourite warship and seeing the damage she survived here put an obnoxious grin on my face :)
The Littorios also have a decent claim to being the most powerful European battleships ever built, with only Vanguard really being able to contest that.
@@bkjeong4302 With 9 15" guns these Italian battleships are definitely formidable but I like the French Richelieu class,, those 8 15" in 2 four-gun turrets look awesome even though they had a problem firing all 8 main guns at the same time for obvious structural engineering reasons...
yeah it must have been quite a decade for those Mediterranean hot rodders with both the Veneto and the Richelieu.
@@danfruzzetti7604 ..were the French battleships completed when war started? I know the Vittorio's were,, and yeah it would have been something to watch these two classes square off and start firing... Although I'd paraphrase the same thing a confederate general said before Antietam,, what a shame to spoil with shells, such a glorious manifestation of Naval excellence...
I think Mikasa is definitely the one for Japan’s Enterprise/Warspite. She was absolutely pounded at the Yellow Sea taking 20 hits and then at Tsushima, taking like 40 hits! And then her magazines detonated in harbor! Yet she’s still here today
Hi all... yes I know I did a whoopsie in my question and said 3-rudder, not 3-screw... i did correct it in Patreon but apparently Drach grabbed it before I corrected it 😂, no need to flame me.
Lol. Seems drach and most folks figured out what you meant, anyway.
For the IJN ship that took the most beating and was afloat and fighting at the end of the war. That honor goes to Suzutsuki. 1st she took 2 USN torpedoes (both exploded) losing her bow and stern. Got repaired and then took another sub torpedo, losing her bow again. Got repaired and sortied w Yamato at Ten Go, again losing her bow, but this time to probably the most concentrated air attack ever unleashed on any fleet. Made it back to port and continued fighting as a stationary platform thru the end of the war. All that for a wartime destroyer!
Back in January I started watching all the Dry Docks in order. I have finally arrived here, the last one currently posted. My brain is SO full. Thanks Drach
Have you had the time to do much else this year?
That's quite the achievement, well done.
I love the photo of the water cooled .50 cal. AA guns on USS Ranger.
I would nominate Yukikaze for the IJN category, as the Japanese themselves consider Yukikaze their lucky ship. Whilst she did not sustain any serious damage, she did survive many engagements with minor to no damage at all, including Operation Ten-Go.
Yukikaze is definitly the lucky ship of the IJN (with Shigure coming close but not matching her in luck).
But I kinda feel like the Warspite/Seylitz/Enterprise position of "ship too stubborn to die" is something different than just being a "lucky ship". HMS "Lucky" Jervis is not as famous as Warspite after all. For IJN I am partial towards Shoukaku and/or Zuikaku for that position instead.
Lucky - yes. But,in my opinion, the closest IJN ship to "too stubborn to die" was Kumano.
The Italian counterpart is Spica-class torpediniera Lupo, Italy's luckiest ship, who went 1v7 against British ships (Ajax, Orion, Dido; Hereward, Hasty, Janus, and Kimberley) during the Battle of Crete and ended in a draw (out of ammo), among other similar shorthanded battles, but ultimately sunk by Lucky Jervis. A close second is her sister Sagittario.
An argument could be made for the Battleship Mikasa, which was the primary target of the Russians in the Battle of Yellow Sea and the Battle of Tsushima and took some fairly serious damage in those battles. What counts against Mikasa is that she caught fire and detonated from a magazine explosion at Sasebo on the night of 11/12 September 1905, sinking at her moorings. She still exists today as a museum ship so the damage can't have been that bad and she's the last of the pre-dreadnoughts.
The destroyer Suzutsuki. She survived 3 total USN sub launched torpedoes (that did explode) in 2 separate actions. Then was with Yamato and Yukikazi at Ten Go, again surviving with crippling damage. She would end up in reserve, and still fighting off air raids thru the end of the war.
When I saw "Sahara", I immediately thought of the Bogart movie and wondered why someone was asking Drach about a tank movie. While I've read some Cussler, Sahara wasn't one of them.
Its a wild ride of a book
I think theres 3 movies called Sahara, the 1943 Bogart movie and it’s remake from the 90’s, and the Matthew McConnaughey movie based on the novel from the mid 2000’s.
The sailors on a ship deployed to a combat zone would receive an additional $50 a month in combat pay. This figure remained unchanged until at least 2001. I recieved the $50 in combat pay in September 2001 for being in the Pentagon.
Got to love how we don't bother inflation calculations in the US.
"hope to not be eaten by the wildlife" Drach said before getting attacked by a drop bear
Or get punched in the face by a kangaroo
I’d put Shokaku in for the Japanese category. As she took 3 bombs at Coral Sea. Shrapnel damage at Eastern Solomons and 3-6 1000lbs bombs at Santa Cruz. Her sinking at Philippine Sea in many ways was the US Navy getting back at the IJN for what happened to Wasp. But at the same time it feels like a Deus Ex Machina.
There are stories that Nimitz himself cheered when Shokaku was destroyed due to how much of a pain she and her sister had been in 1942.
@@bkjeong4302 same thing happened on Enterprise. Not to mention one of Air Group 20’s pilots gave Zuikaku “final honours” (stuck the finger up at her crew) at Cape Engano.
@@ph89787
Given the whole archenemy thing, perfectly reasonable IMO.
Perhaps Zuikaku rather than Shoukaku as she survived longer?
But yeah, those two would be the ones I would go with.
@@gokbay3057 I kinda put Shoukaku ahead as up until Philippine Sea. Zuikaku wasn’t hit.
Just rewatched Sahara recently and there is a scene where main character was expecting a FT of armor that they would be fine from helicopter attacking.. and it was just thin wood and thin layer of metal, thus showing the armor was removed to make ship lighter.
Remember with the vanguard turrets, although the turrets come off courageous and glorious, the guns went straight into spares pool and so the guns are not those originally installed on those ships.
correct, gun barrels come and go as specialists check them , as they age they are dismounted and sent for relining or other works. At the end of their service, ships can get quite a mix of variously sourced barrels. This is true also in field (Army) artillery despite their generally longer useful life (some 6" guns used to have an expected life of thousands of rounds fired, unthinkable for much more stressed and 'powerful' naval guns in similar caliber) , mounts stay but barrels go back and forth as needed. This is precisely the reason for spares pools to exist: barrels needs attention, in an arsenal they are checked and then special maintenance is performed or they are sent to a weapon manufacturer for even more radical rebuilding or, if useful economical life is exhausted, they are scrapped. After heavy maintenance, barrels are not sent to their original ship, that ship sailed long ago, repaired barrels are sent in the available spare pool instead.
Did any of the Outrageous class large light cruisers ever fire any of their guns?
@Senna Augustus both were at 2nd heligoland bight, Courageous at least opened fire not sure on glorious but given repulse was able to close from support position and engage then I doubt glorious was that far from her sister.
I think the thing about Bismarck is that she's pretty difficult to deal with for the Royal Navy. They have no ships that can really catch and fight her on even terms, if you leave the CVs out of the question:
- Hood is on paper a very powerful ship, but her outdated fire control left her at a big disadvantage. At Denmark Strait Hood fired some 40 shells at the battleship-sized Prinz Eugen without hitting her, while Bismarck scored 6 hits with 93 shells fired at 2 different targets, arguably a very good performance
- Renown has the speed and pretty respectable gunpower, especially due to her modern fire control, but both she and Repulse had basically no immunity against the Bismarck's 15inch guns at reasonable combat ranges.
- KGV-class is arguably a very decent BB, but in open water cannot force Bismarck to fight, due to a 2 to 3 knot speed advantage.
And everything else is clearly too slow. On top of that, Bismarck is a mortal threat to any old BB she comes across, and given the experience at North Cape, she can probably outpace RN cruisers in a heavy sea.
While I'm a huge fan of the British armoured CVs, their doctrine was arguably far behind IJN and later USN ones. There were quite a number of failed torpedo attacks on German BBs, such as on Tirpitz during her March 1942 sortie and against the twins during the Channel Dash one month earlier.
Dealing with a Bismarck-class battleship was certainly no walk in the park for the Royal Navy.
I’d argue that getting rid of Bismarck could have been much easier had the more experienced Illustrious-class carriers been available at Denmark Strait; you probably wouldn’t even need Hood and PoW at that point.
And while Bismarck was faster than the KGVs, the margin wasn’t so big as to be truly decisive, especially if the British tried to intercept the German ship from ahead (as they historically did during Denmark Straits)
Hood did straddle Eugen in first salvo, or so I heard at least.
@Bk Jeong well, in theory yes, but in 1941 the Royal Navy didn't have the luxury to only bring their best ships to the party, since they had worldwide commitments. History has shown that taking down the Bismarck wasn't an easy task. While Bismarck was very lucky to hit Hood in such a weak spot, the hits on Bismarck's fuel tanks and rudder were just as random.
Regarding speed, you should remember that German ships in WW2 had a pretty good record of spotting the enemy first, so if the German ship makes good use of its speed, chances are the KGV will never get into range.
Using capital ships for commerce raiding is arguably dumb, but they can still give you a major headache.
@Gokbay might be, but what's the point here? A miss is a miss. Prinz Eugen wasn't damaged, while Hood took 4 hits in the same amount of time.
German WW2 ships had plenty of faults, but bad fire control gear certainly wasn't one of them.
Still suck compares to it's contemporaries
Black powder has the unfortunate problem that the powder mix settles out. I have read that black powder kegs were rolled around from time to time to ensure that the ingredients of the black powder stayed mixed properly. So black powder that has sat for 150 years, even if it was chemically intact, would no longer be mixed properly, which would either render it mostly inert, or overpowered depending on how the mix settled out.
Smokeless powder tends to be quite a bit more stable, but even then 150 years is a long time. I have seen some pretty old WW1 and WW2 surplus ammo being used and chronographed, and it's a mixed bag. Some hang fires, some duds, and usually a pretty wide range of velocities. Some of that is simply the manufacture wasn't as precise, but some of it's due to degradation of the powder and/or primers (for the duds and hang fires).
For the IJN, Shokaku definitely qualifies given how much of a beating she survived on several occasions (and because of the whole Shokakus vs. Yorktowns thing).
And LMAO at the person who thought Bismarck was the most powerful battleship in the world when she was towards the bottom end (at least for her generation, I’d still rank her significantly above most older battleships if only due to her speed) even if you exclude the American and Japanese monstrosities (the Iowas and Yamatos).
In regards to Bismarck, it is a problem of people with a little knowledge, thinking they know it all. You get the same problem with any discussion involving Yamato. Every battleship with the possible the exception on the Iowa class, was an exercise in compromise. And people just has to accept that
Even the Iowa's have compromises.
They had to fit the Panama canal at the time. If they didn't have that restriction, I can imagine they would have had slightly less on the length to beam ratio.
@@deathhog that's a good point that I totally forgot
@@glenchapman3899
The Yamatos were actually significantly better designs than often given credit for, though not without their flaws (that garbage TDS is especially bad, and while their fire control system was a lot better than often assumed the lack of FC radar would have posed issues in poor visibility). A lot of their supposed issues have been significantly exaggerated or (in a couple cases) outright made up due to poor historiography in various secondary sources.
That said, the Japanese did still have to make a few intentional compromises with the Yamatos-they were originally intended to be even larger (mostly longer) for a 30kt top speed, but this would have pushed Japanese shipbuilding capacity beyond its limits and cost too much. Still, 27-28kt is on par with the contemporary KGVs, NorCals and SoDaks.
@@bkjeong4302 When discussing torpedo protection, many people don't realize just how agile she was. And clearly that factor played a part in other design decisions. One compromise I do see was her weight. Japanese armor production was not at the same level as US and UK technology at the time. The only real other issue I see is her secondaries, which may go back to the weight question. As to FC technology. It is not really a compromise if you just dont have the technology lol
Thanks for the questions about Ranger. My dad was on this ship during training late in WWII. It was taken out of front line service by that time. They sailed in the Gulf of Mexico if I'm not mistaken.
Thanks for his service. Because of RANGER's training mission off Quonset Point, RI; Pensacola, FL; and, eventually, Pearl Harbor, HI, she had more carrier landings than any other U.S. carrier. The rationale was that if a pilot successfully completed their carrier qualifications on her slightly smaller and slower-moving flight deck, their landing approach to an Essex-class carrier for a combat deployment would seem like a welcome relief.
The screw and rudder discussion and photos was quite interesting. Seems that would make an excellent topic covering different navies and classes of ships.
US Fleet at Santiago Bay. "We killed the most amount of fish in history". "Carry on Grisley".
Looking at the ladders at 18:15, OHS was not a thing in Italy back then!!
24:40 I was watching another CZcams video when my attention was jogged by the presenter talking about the KMS Bismarck when I caught the phrase "most powerful"; I had to back the video up and re-listen to that audio segment to hear that they had said "...most powerful German battleship...", a classification which can be taken more at face value -- but it wasn't particularly clear on first listen, and my immediate thought was that this was some wehraboo 'Bismarck uber alles' attitude. One of the things I appreciate about your videos is that your enunciation is always clear and understandable (when you're not afflicted by environmental issues)
Well to support your Australia trip I shall be purchasing one of your "Do you see torpedo boats" shirts on your store page
18:50 IJN heavy cruiser Kumano ( the thing survived limping for a month before finally going down).
IJN destroyer Shigure ( sole survivor of three separate major engagements ).
There seems to be audio glitching towards the last quarter of this dry dock.
Most interesting part for me was that one about patrol boats.
1st time I have ever heard of them was 90s PC game Silent Service II, where they have been pretty annoyance to war sub.
Only another info was from some yt vid of US ww2 military diary, describing their manufacturing, purpose and war service.
But most funny information found here was that german used 88mm flak on one of those. I can't imagine use of it. It reflects how crazy devoted their crews were and willing to get more than expected firepower for their small vessels.
Are you getting crackling in the sound or is it my lousy old computer not coping?
There's crackling. It also showed up in another of Drach's other recent videos. In those comments he said he'd figured out what was causing it, so I hope any new recordings won't have the crackling; but presumably he'd already recorded this one before realizing the issue.
Definitely some audio issues in the second half.
A program called NVidia Broadcast set itself as my default mic for a few weeks before I caught it, this is probably the reason for some of the audio issues in a few videos.
Hey Drach you might want to check your microphone the video has some audio interference it is especially noticeable on the question regarding Bismarck’s rudder
I was thinking it was only on my end. But luckily I'm not the only one who noticed the audio issues
@@AssassinAgent I used a speaker earbuds and the CZcams app on a tv to check
A few videos are like that unfortunately as NVidia Broadcast imposed itself as the default mic. I've since found and removed it but the lag between me making the video and people seeing the first one with the issue and then me correcting it means some videos have this issue :(
looking forward to seeing you here in Australia Drac just remember that it is currently winter for us so bring some warm clothes :)
June is the start of the Australian ski season, it would be fun to see Drac in the snow on the other side of the world.
18:20 Yamato and Musashi for the obnoxious amount of firepower needed to put them down for sure. Even Musashi managed to cling to life a few more hours after the final attacks on her. Mind you I include sinkings after a tremendous amount of damage as valid answers.
Excellent as always. Hope to see you Down under (Melbourne) Say G'day
I am commenting on the question about Bismark being the most powerful battleship in the world. I would agree with Drach's comments on this matter completely, until his Brit bias came out again, which does not happen too often, and this is partly why his videos are so good, along with his in-depth knowledge. Here are the real facts about comparing battleship gun power, and the other paramount factors when rating ships, which are their armor, followed by their speed. At 25:50 Drach stated that the "...KGV is approximately an equal match." I have a ballistics file, with all the ballistic data for most of the WW II battleships. But I do not keep track of their individual armor, but I do of their armor piercing capability of their AP ammo. The KGV's top speed was 28 knots, and the Bismark was 30, so these are relatively close (under 10% difference). But when it comes to the guns, they are no where near. The KGV with an AP round produced just 142 million ft. lbs of Muzzle Energy (ME), and the Bismark guns produced 198 million. The Bismark guns were about 33% more powerful, so I would not call this 'approximately equal' in any sense.
Here are more specifics: The armor piercing capability of the KGV AP round of 1,591 lbs. was at 0 Yards - 26.9", and at10K Yards - 15.6". The armor piercing capability of the Bismark AP round of 1,764 lbs. was at 0 Yards - 29.2" and at 10K Yards - about 22.6". This is NOT close! In addition. the Littorio class ships guns produced 235 million ft. lbs. of ME, and had an armor piercing capability with an AP round of 1,951 lbs. at 0 Yards - 32.1", and at 10K Meters (not yards) - 23.9". Their max speed was that of the Bismark - 30 knots. Now you can see why Drach mentioned that he would take the Littorio over the Bismark. Unfortunately, the Italians had a severe quality control issue with the big gun ammo, as well as the big 15" barrels over heating a bit too quickly. Other than that, which was a serious lacking, the Italians made the best European battleships in WW II.
Before i say my part i wish to make clear that i have nowhere near your level of knowledge on the matter (nor drach level obviously) but saying that the littorios where better in my opinion is just him hating on Bismarck... because saying that if littorio fixed her gun problems she would be superior is basically saying " littorio is inferior to Bismarck because her shells and guns sucks, but if you remove/correct this flaws she would be superior" which doesn't make sense... it would be like saying "i believe north carolina to be better than Bismarck because if you improve her armor (which wasn't great) then she would be stronger"... that is not a valid argument, that is simply wanting to beat down Bismarck overentusiastically in my opinion. Don't get me wrong i love Drach and his content, absolute respect for him, but sometimes it feels like he's shitting on Bismarck simply because he doesn't like her, but I guess we'll have to wait for his video on the strength and weakness evacuazion of Bismarck to see what his judgement will be
Great Drydock Drach. Thanks.
Re the pay for a Ranger crew member...accounting for inflation. $66/month in 1942 is a little over $1200/month today.
Looking forward to your Australian trip!
Didn't Hosho start out with swivelling funnels like Ranger?
Thanks!
Oh neat, a Sahara question, I love that movie. :)
I feel like John Cleese in Fawlty Towers. When talking to Drach "DON'T MENTION THE BISMARCK!". Previous videos he does not seem to be a fan.
I was drifting through Wikipedia looking at the 8” guns on different navies treaty class, and ww2, heavy cruisers when I thought this would make a good drachinifel video, particularly if he includes information on the gun mounts of the different marks. It would be similar to the video on main gun armaments of treaty class battleships previously made
This lead to thought two on a video on the main gin armament on treaty class light cruisers
And finally a video on the main gun armament of armored cruisers as differences in the 9.2” 9.4” and 9.5” guns isn’t as easily found.
Lots of sound issues for me. Skips, noises and jumps in places. Maddening.
19:00 Wasn't there a Japanese cruiser or destroyer which, while I don't think was badly damaged in any of them, was basically in every engagement where Japan got clobbered?
We’re there any Naval inventions immediately after the war (46’-49’?) that would of made a big difference if invented and used sooner?
Anti ship missiles I imagine came later than that, besides the Fritz X obviously
Seagull landing superimposed with WW2 carrier landing in turbulence.
US Navy pay in WW2 vs now, scales were flipped from 7->1 to 1->7. What does that say about the culture shift?
Weird how "Ranger" is mentioned in a few videos and it keeps making me think of the US carrier Ranger I saw in Pearl Harbor back in the mid 70's. Even though I'm pretty sure that's not the one being talked about.
That would have been CV-61, a worthy successor. Go RANGER!
Your videos are the best, keep ‘em coming.
I'd be happy to throw down a beer or 2 with ewe Mr Drach. There's a pub right next to the maritime museum in sydney. (It's Oztralia, there be a pub on most corners)
Anyone else getting some crackle o naudio on this video?
40:03 Why are those propellers covers in sheeting? Painting?
You should definitely do a video on Floppy the Dog :)
Hope this gets answered soo...how many tons does a u-boat captain have to sink before he is awarded a knights cross with swords?
Good content, but there’s a distracting frequent crackle in the audio in the latter half or so. Not first vid on the channel lately with this issue.
One example: the word “radar” just after 53:43
Action station Bayonne New Jersey. Its not an adventure its $98.50 a month.
Bismarck is a good all arounjd ship , downsides would be non dual purpose secondary battery , the junk 37mm anti aircraft gun which were one shot - reload each shot manually , the Rudder arrangement . And the misuse of the Leadership - for that metals you probably could build 5 cruisers which were better for commerce raiding
All the evidence points to the Prince of Wales winning the engagement with Bismarck on points with weakest main battery and every other treaty battleship outguns Bismarck she might been a good all around ship when commissioned but was quickly surpassed within a matter of months
Drach, you might want to check if there's a problem with your microphone; there seems to be some pop/crackle distortion going on in your most-recent videos, including this one.
39:22 that’s one way to call Massachusetts thicc
Wikipedia had a edit war to hide Yamato sinking itself.
Drach your channel must get the prize for having the most bizarre question posters CZcams handles
am I the only one with audio issues? cracking and lagging sound?
Thanks, diolch, ta.
Drach, slightly off-line, but any insight on why ADM Jackie Fisher, RN resigned the day over the addition of two more submarines to a reinforcement of the Dardanelles campaign? Apparently, he consulted with then First Lord of the Admiralty Sir Winston Churchill on the original forces to be deployed the evening before. He found out about the submarines and left word that he was resigning and leaving London.
The straw that broke the camels' back, I suspect. Fisher was really fed up with how the war was being conducted. Not sure about why the subs were an issue.
Have you watched Drach's videos on Fisher? I don't remember if this event is mentioned or not, but it's worth a shot if you haven't watched it for whatever reason.
Look forward to seeing you in Melbourne if I can make it. BTW dress for English weather. The wildlife will not get you but the weather might.
Idk, that wildlife is scary. Your spiders have actual feet!
@@LeCharles07 Fortunately things are much tamer here in Victoria. Up north however is a different story. Taipans, Box jellyfish to name a few.
Drach mispronounced my name as "Alexei" 💀
Yeah, I'm less concerned with how a Civil War monitor made it up a river and more focused on how it crossed the Atlantic. As I understand it, you would need to have a serious death wish to get beyond sight of land in one of those.
It's a movie so it is in the script.
Speaking of the script, The portrayal of Admiral Sandecker is based a real life retired US Navy officer RDML Craig Dorman who was Woods Hole Directer from 1989-93.
Is it just me, or can you hear him typing while he is saying this information?😊
✌
Is it just me or is the audio keep popping and bubbling?
You can tell the difference between real life, and games like Word of Warships. Could you imagine players experiencing sub 10% accurary?
Japanese versions of Enterprise, etc., are made harder by Japanese damage control.
I hope the crew got hazard pay just for serving on Ranger. Which is in addition to any combat pay.
If only the Germans had invented the bow thruster in time for the Bismarck LOL
What’s the deal? You don’t take dollars? Not seeing said support link….
American PT boats had radar for at least part of the war.
OK. I am obviously doing something wrong, I can neither find a community post about the Australian trip, nor can I find a funding link to help out with Dracs Antipodean trip. Can someone help an old man out?
I have found the community link, but no help out link
Video coming today
The small boats picked up downed air crew
Why is missing your target 19 times out or 20 considered not that bad? It sounds horrendous. I understand that the targets are miles away and moving, but numbers like less than 5% hits sounds like all hits are lucky hits. It all sounds pretty random.
Keep in mind, during a 1944 live fire test with Iowa, Iowa had a less than 3% hit rate on a stationary target her own size at 30,000 yards (even though her intended engagement range was supposed to be greater than that). And this was on a ship that had the world’s most advanced fire control system (albeit not by nearly as big a margin as commonly assumed) AND FC radar, in training conditions, against a big stationary target, in calm seas.
Naval gunnery never got especially accurate.
Yes indeed you should keep an eye out for the dreaded Drop Bears but don’t neglect the Mud Sharks which infest the afore mentioned mud puddles preying on clumsy Drop Bears & the occasional stray tourist 😂
Am I the only one who heard cracks in the audio?
Ok,,, the guy that drug the 88mm flack gun, with ammo I presume, back to his boat deserves a 🍺 and the captain that said _Schnell! Montieren Sie die Kanone!_ gets a tankard as well.🤣
So the comments think its the Shoukaku, Yukikaze and Shigureas the Japanese too stubborn to die ship.
10th, 14 May 2023
$88 a month in 1942 calculates to about $1,700.38 today. Since they get free housing, medical and food, that's pretty good.
Which is part of the reason you get stories about massive amounts of money at stake in poker or craps games aboard ship. What else do you have to do with that money?
hi and hmm are planning to return with a kangaroo? ( do you expect your fans to fund that?) AND please remember you are a married man- so no waltzing with that Matilda lady!
Does the video have a lot of clicking and popping for anyone else or is it just me?
Algorithm support comment