as a person who has fairly close friends in the Japanese Coast Guard, I can say that the culture of treating a ship as something with a strong spiritual component is very much a thing, not so much even among the naval sailors, as among traditional fishermen... when preforming a rescue, there is always a kind of understanding of balancing the need to safely get everyone off a sinking boat and the need to allow them to honorably preform the last rites due to a vessel... it is something spoken about with an amazing, quiet and somber respect.
Regarding the Japanese practices while abandoning ship, think of the reverence and sacrifice that went into protecting Roman legion symbols, Napoleonic War regiments’ colors, guns in artillery units, etc.
There’s a legend that Richard III’s standard bearer held his king’s colours aloft even after having his legs cut out from under him. The specifics of the tale may not be true, but I’ve no doubt the enemy only captured the standard after prying it from cold dead hands.
(43:30) The bypassed islands and bases were essentially POW camps, the seas around them acting as wire and some left-behind units as distant guards. As Drach mentions they were used as live-fire training opportunities for new or transiting units, and they were patrolled to prevent resupply attempts. Food was the biggest problem they had, a number of them developed extensive gardens to try to feed the remaining garrisons. Unfortunately tropical islands do not grow rice (or many other crops) very well.
What you are talking about at 1:29:02 is a clutch. It's not protecting your wrist or the electric motor. Its purpose is to give you more control on how much torque you want to impart onto the work, which is more commonly desired for a drill (versus, say an impact gun). If you are screwing into a harder wood with something like a Phillips head, the clutch can help keep the bit from camming out and rounding the interior of the bolt head. If you are running a screw into something softer like drywall/sheetrock, it can help you from over torquing the screw and stripping the "threads" of what you are screwing into. Every drill I have used that has a clutch also has a "direct-drive" mode where the clutch system isn't used at all, if in case you wanted to make sure you were able to get maximum torque out of the drill. After writing this, I feel like it probably comes off as an extremely pedantic correction. Personally, I just like to know how things work, or why they are implemented in the first place, and just assumed you or other viewers are of similar mind.
The fictional engagement in HMS Saracen (around 2:08:00) was one that stuck in my memory - digging the book out of a box it can be summarised along the lines of the following:- Saracen was part of a Malta convoy escort including a cruiser and at least one destroyer which encountered the Littorio class with 2 cruisers just after dawn at a range estimated as 28,000 yards. Owing to haze an effective range of 10,000 yards was estimated. The primary target of the Italians was the merchantmen and the battleship took out 2 of these before the range closed enough for the cruisers to come into play. The Saracen seems to have been ignored with the focus on the more modern escorts but after opening fire at just over 12,000 yards she drew attention taking multiple hits (necessitating flooding of a 4" magazine and at least temporarily disabling the steering) before achieving a hit with a single 15" armour piercing shell. That was a plunging hit (it's a few years since I read the whole book, but I think reference was made earlier in the story to the guns being badly worn and shooting significantly short) on the roof of the A Turret which set of the 3 shells being loaded at the time which in turn blew off the A turret and disabled the B turret. At that point the Italians disengaged and the remaining convoy and escorts completed the journey to Malta. Somewhat improbably, HMS Saracen appears to have had a significant refit after this as her eventual fate was being sunk in the Pacific Ocean as part of a nuclear missile test.
As far as "Captains cannot enter the wardroom" - as a former USN officer, let me just say "Bullshit". The commanding officer on *some* ships maintains his own mess (i.e. kitchen and serving area), and thus eats by himself in his cabin (although he often invites other officers to join him). On many other ships (small combatants such as destroyers and frigates) the commanding officer is a member of the wardroom mess and sits at the head of the table when he's present. This can be a bit awkward as it is customary for all present to stand and come to attention when the commanding officer enters a space, usually accompanied by the verbal command "Attention on deck!". On ships I served on where the CO was a member of the wardroom mess he'd generally come through the door with the words "Seats, gentlemen!" on his lips as he entered, thus eliminating the requirement that we all stand, etc - or there might be a standing order that the wardroom mess *not* come to attention when the CO enters. (I never saw that but I imagine it could be done). The CO being a member of the wardroom mess may be an economic decision - it's probably cheaper for the CO to be a member of the wardroom mess (where expenses are shared) rather than maintaining his own mess - or it may be a practical decision if the ship is built so that the CO's quarters do not feature a separate galley. However, under no circumstances would any officer with any degree of sense ever chastise their commanding officer for dropping by the wardroom.
Shigeru Mizuki was one of those soldiers in a bypassed garrison on New Guinea. When he lost his left arm in a bombing attack he was ordered to go die so as not to be a burden. He was taken in and saved by the natives and was grateful for the rest of his life.
i have repaired 5"-38's and the stops are like gear teeth welded on deck. They can Sheer off or the turret jumps over the top. It happens with Ships with the ship motions increased inertia. You slow it down by running it in reverse like a steam engine. Stops are bumpers to protect the superstructure. Like the end of train tracks. You don't run full speed into those either.
An interesting ship build that I would like to see you cover would be the USN Wolverine and USN Sable. Amongst their “records” is between them they had around 15,000 pilots qualify as carrier pilots on them during WW II.
One of the other "naval history channels" has a video on the training of aircraft carrier pilots in the Great Lakes. Another such channel has a video on the USS Wolverine and USS Sable.
On the subject of pistols and metal plates at the end of the grip, I (as a carpenter) guess that it's there to prevent the wood from splitting. Constant changes in humidity is not a friend to wood etc.
That is the reason, you put a plate on the end of the grain so that the grip or stock is less likely to split if it takes a knock or is in a non-permissive environment. It also has a secondary (although not officially endorsed by command) function of making the butt end of the weapon a slughtly more efficient cudgel and hammer for when you're pounding in tent stakes or trying to unstick stubborn equipment or people.
As an American the Chamberlain idea of Imperial Federation was unknown to me but at a quick glance makes a lot of sense. If it could have covered India and South Africa, with out its racial Ideas, that union would be the dominant power in the world today. Let us extend the idea further back. What if the King and Parliament had used a similar idea when dealing with the American colonies rather than trying to beat them into submission can you imagine what the result would be. What an ideas for a set of alternative history books.
I wish the question about which WW2 battleship fired the most rounds at the enemy would've excluded shells fired during shore bombardment. Which WW2 battleship fired the most shells at other ships?
When it comes to American declarations of war prior to 1950, it is important to remember an ironclad rule: IF CONGRESS AGREES TO APPROVE AND FUND IT. The United States did not go to war over the IJNAS sinking of USS Panay in 1937 or, more significantly, U-552 sinking USS Reuben James in October 1941. There is much speculation why the Administration did not go to war over the 100 American sailors killed by Erich Topp's torpedo attack, but often overlooked is whether Congress would have declared war if they had been asked in early November 1941... ...so the question wasn't one of Administration policy. FDR pushed an extremely robust naval policy during the entirety of his presidency (which wasn't surprising as he served as the Assistant Secretary of the Navy from 1913 to 1920 and was rebuffed by Wilson when FDR requested in 1917 to resign in favor of serving as a naval officer during WWI after Congress declared war). This culminated in the Two-Ocean Navy Act of 1940 (which essentially authorized the fleets that eventually smashed the Axis). If the 1940 buildup had been completed by 7 December 1941, the Administration perhaps could have gone to war without an explicit Congressional declaration of war (as has been the case in every American conflict after 1942), but with most of the ships authorized having yet to hit the water the risk that the highly-isolationist Congress in 1941 wouldn't fund the continued mobilization was just too high. But the Japanese were also very aware of the buildup unleashed by the Two-Ocean Navy Act, and thus the IJN likely saw 1941/42 as do-or-die in regards to beginning a war against the Americans...
Your evaluation of what might have been if Germany had followed what Bismark wanted rather then doing what the Kaiser wanted makes a lot of sense. What a different world we would have if it had happened that way.
From the German stand point, an alliance with the British makes no sense since it wiuld likely mean fighting the Russians and enduring huge losses just for the UK sake... People always fail to see that what the UK did before WW1 was basically Entente appeasement.
(37:45) From what I've read, the portrait of the Emperor was the "embodiment" of the Emperor possessing His Imperial Ship, and was considered the most treasured item aboard the ship. Part of the ceremony of transferring the portrait was an "apology" to His Highness for the failure of the officers and crew to protect the ship, conquer the enemy and bring glory to His Highness. It was a very sad ceremony, and officers would sometimes promise to go down with the ship as a sign of their recognition of their own failure and their devotion to the Emperor. The Imperial flag was a secondary sign of the nation and the Emperor, so lowering that was another sign of failure. Loss of life due to the delay in evacuation would not be considered, because they were already dishonored by their failure and were trying to make amends by reverently preserving His portrait.
Fun fact: the hydrophone is just the detector part of a sonar, and not some other sort of device. I just learned that, I had used them interchangeably too, I thought that'd be useful to know
My understanding is that a lot of bypassed Japanese garrisons turned to farming as a means to survive. The success of that would, I suppose. depend on how much more-or-less arable land was available. If it's volcanic or desertified, they would be out of luck. Spending a lot of time in an area renowned for tropical diseases and horrific arthropods without access to medical supplies is also not conducive to mental or physical health.
38:08 no prizes for this photo as that’s from Zuikaku. But when Zuikaku was being abandoned and the crew was gathering on the flight deck. One of Enterprise’s Avengers flew past and did their own “final honours”. Specifically sticking the finger up at the crew. Zuikaku’s crew weren’t happy with that.
@@bkjeong4302 Both her's and Shokaku's sinking at Philippine Sea were celebrated by the Big E. That being said, I'm still of the view that Cape Engano should've been a one on one against Zuikaku and Enterprise.
On the subject of radar in the Pacific theatre, the Allies had conducted a massive back-and-forth campaign against Germany. Japan was using systems at least one generation behind. Alfred Price in 'Instruments of Darkness' quotes: "Initially there was no call for electronic jamming and we did not want to give the Japanese any advance warning for what was in store for them". Once the decision was made to throw systems designed to jam Germany in late 1944 against Japan in 1945, all indications are that the Japanese systems largely collapsed. Not that they would have helped much even if 100% effective.
The Norway question on 1 hour and 50 minutes. I recall Dr. Clarke did a video on various nations 1938-1941 on a month or year basis. How they could have a better outcome in WW2. Norway has aggressive neutrality to everyone and invests more torpedo boats, frigates or corvettes, and submarines. But I would have to watch it again to confirm
00:13:09 My nominee, although not a battleship, DE USS Samuel B Roberts fought like a battleship at Samar. The Sammy B expended every round including firing star shells at the enemy battleship.
The German, and Russian/Soviet fleets could both be considered as ultimately self defeating. Both spent large sums on Fleets that were immediately bottled up as soon as war were declared.
43:10 it actually doesn't just apply to ships to my knowledge, it applies to many things and still happens today! (though, much like with most religion it has mellowed out somewhat), this is also why in some manga/anime when characters enter a messy room they'll sometimes say something to the extent of "this room is crying!". also, a bit of trivia: in the anime "Space Battleship Yamato" they do reference this, and, as far as they are concerned, the space battleship is still the same spirit as the WW2 vessel.
Well the main religion in Japan is Shinto which has shamanistic/animistic aspects like pretty much everything having their own soul. People obviously but also animals, trees, rocks, rivers and indeed ships probably other stuff like rooms/buildings.
Thanks for another informative episode! With regard to the Japanese reverence for the spirit of their ship, I think another western parallel is something like a regimental battle standard, which soldiers would often try to save or prevent the capture of, even at the risk of their own lives. Roman eagles as well.
Internal security. I once dated a girl who was a USAF brat. Her dad had spent a career as an aerial gunner (including missions over North Vietnam) and was supposed to be a senior NCO when he retired. So, she was stunned to see her dad wearing the insignia of a Chief Warrant Officer at his retirement ceremony. (USAF had WO's back in those days). After several years as a gunner, he had been recruited as an undercover investigator by the Criminal Investigation Command and become a warrant officer after training. So no one - not even his wife - knew that he was living a dual life, mainly working fraud, bribery and black market cases while flying as a gunner.
Re Japanese radar, the valves (vacuum tubes) they manufactured had a high failure rate and another problem was acquiring nickel needed to produce them - as I understand it to prevent overheating. Their source of supply ended up being Hong Kong coins for their nickel content. BTW, there's a channel here that somehow obtains ordnance from as far back as WWII and opens them for examination. He has a good one about GE's VT radio proximity fuze used against kamikaze attacks by the USN. Most of his videos are shorts.
Being an American (and a Pennsylvanian), it's obvious that the Angry Sister fired more rounds at the enemy than any other Battleship. You can't have it all, Warspite. ;-)
... the "Angry Sister" was always expending her ammo and emptying her Magazines ... I read somewheres that she was reloaded more times then any other American Battleship ... she would steam in and just let loose hence her other nickname ... ol' Parts & Pieces ... and she fought from Pearl Harbor and basically through the whole war ... (from) Newtown Square Pa
Short Sunderland's Rube Goldberg bomb loading equipment "The ordnance was stored inside the fuselage in a purpose-built bomb room and was winched up to racks, under the wing centre section, that could be traversed out through doors on each side of the fuselage above the waterline to the release position." Why underwing bomb racks weren't good enough is a mystery.
hi Drach. hope you had a good one in the colony. First season listener you dont want to know how many years. i wanted to say THANK YOU Sundays would not be the same without some naval history. also your the bestes historographeeer on youtube their tube any tube also thanks for investing in all us navy nerds. Cheers
patching sails work, just as ell as well as new sails. Yacht Whisper, home port Dinner Key Florida, won the Palm Beach Yacht Club, 5 year Gold Coast Cup winner. Defeated skippers during this period; Dennis Conner, in his catamaran, " Capt. Courageous" Ted Turner driving a Cal 40. Whisper was the last Cal 40 to race the SORCE Racing Championship. Race was won By Robin 2 built in 1958. The only boat we gave time too. "Whisper as built in 1967, Found abandoned, on the dock behind Monty's Trainer Restaurant, Monty's dock open and owing storage. Rebuilt by local professionals to show the yachty' How to sail a 'California 40' lightning 17' class, dingy lines came from Bluebird 14' sailing dingy.
The Mattox took a 4-6" sell just forward of the center of the turret about 3' below the deck line SBD-AFT, into the traverse mech. She as pulled out of mothballs and served as a reserve training ship in the President Regan's 600 ship navy. he was home ported in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA. She was retired the third failure of getting an "E" rating '
Well on a mid 30s pre war hood refit it's probably more plausible than you think because the one R class that got a partial modernization Royal Oak got it's work because it was damaged by an air raid during a Spanish Civil War neutrality patrol, so if a butterfly flaps it's wings and the Admiralty had Hood doing Spanish Neutrality patrol instead of Royal Oak a bomb damaged Hood presumably gets Royal Oaks time in drydock for an upgrade
I remember drydocks one through ten. It started off around 20 minutes, then the just got longer and longer. Which I think surprised Drach a bit as the channel was starting to morph into something beyond Drachs wildest dreams.
Amazingly enough, Drach actually made sense in his recommendations as to the Royal Norwegian Navy with his ideas of torpedo boats and minelayers. The Norse had begun a modest naval rearmament program in the late Thirties TT Sleipner Class (3 ships 1936-39) 597 tons 30 knots 3X4 inch 2X21inch TT 24XMines Odin Class (3 ships authorized, 1 completed 1939-40) 632 tons 30 knots 3X4 inch 2X21 inch TT 24XMines Compare to the RN's R class DD's of 1916 975 tons 36 knots 3X4 inch 4X21 inch TT DD Two authorized, none completed 1220 tons 34 knots 4x4.7 inch 4X21 inch TT ?XMines CM Olav Tryggvasson (1934) 1596 tons 23 knots 4X4.7 inch 1X3 inch DP 280 mines A defensive minelayer/sloop - offensive mine laying would be carried out by torpedo craft As far as Norway's readiness and slow response to the invasion, a Royal Commission was formed post war to investigate the incompetence and treasonous behavior involved. Its findings were so scandalous that they have never been made public as the King ordered them suppressed.
Compare the DD's to the RN Modified W Class of 1918 1120 tons 34 knots 4X4.7 inch 6X21 inch TT The CM to the USS Terror 1942 8840 tons 20 knots 4X5 inch DP 875XMines, also a defensive minelayer
Also treating the ship as it's own person and giving it last rites increases the moral. I mean especially in a emergency situation it helps a lot to have rites and procedures you can hang on to when you want to panic. Also the surviving sailors may tell about how they treated the ship with respect to the very end, which might inspire new recruits to give they best too since it's they family now.
Humans live and die by Rituals, it is deep in our placing worth to existence, a bond with your Ship as you live and could die on is important, People give a structure a soul we feel within ourselves, all the better to fight to keep it afloat and fighting to save you is just part of being human. As an Engineer I get such foolishness 🥺 with building and some machinery I look after,...... if it held mentally so...... it keeps working, as it wants too.🤪 Machines and structures with no soul just fall to pieces for no reason.. it seems.... 🥺 and and I know what I have written is nonsense yet it works...🤪
Cold War USN ships crews were drawn from all over the country. Technical ratings tended to draw more from the north and traditional ratings more from the south but even they weren't deliberately segregated. Mid-Westerners were surprisingly heavily represented even though they grew up nowhere near the ocean. In WWII a greater part of the American population was concentrated in the North-East but there was no policy to segregate ships crews by region then either. The last of the Civil War veterans had died off in the 1930's and regionalism in the military was traditionally discouraged because of that experience.
Alternative history question, what if Yamato and center force would have came through Surigao stait where 7th fleet had their trap set and crossed the T
Belatedly catching up - it is also possible that in situations where the ship isn't actively engulfed in flames or exploding a more formal abandon ship ceremony might actually /reduce/ losses. Panic in abandoning ship, when seconds don't yet count, might lead to more casualties than standing around saluting a flag if doing so give the collected sailors a moment to calm down and leads to a more orderly abandon ship drill.
On your example about a drill with a clutch or similar function, on most drills I've worked with, there is a setting that overrides the clutch. And yes, it definitely tries to break your wrists. Many a drill has been thrown across the job because of it lol
I used one of those aftermarket ketchup or mustard squeeze bottles to squirt water on the light bulb to get the hiss, er, bulb pop. My parents were similarly un-amused. As for boiler explosions, wasn't that the real reason for loss of the USS Maine in Havana? "You furnish the pictures, and I'll furnish the war."
Waterspouts 😀 When my Dad was in the RFA, they used to drive the ship directly at waterspouts as a game to pass the time. Yes, they were bored, and no, they weren't worried about damage. I reckon cruise ships would only be worried about discomoding some promenading passengers, or perhaps don't want a few tons of sea water to get dumped into the open air water park that often graces the top deck.
2:36:00 seems unlikely that crews would regard some-one from another State as spies - most US States had NG and Naval Reserve for call up Federalisation in time of war, but the ideal of closer community -such as city or towns pre-dominating in a ships crew seems unlikely, even the loss of casualties from NG units -for example in the Solomans campaign caused consternation. So the idea of large scale losses if a BB or cruiser went down would have on a township or community would not be acceptable. US authorities knew what happened in British and Irish towns because of the Pals battalions of WW1 and knew what happened to communities when commercial vessels went down on the Great Lakes or off New England and in those cases were often little more than a few score of men. (that US authorities were aware what do you think the movie "Saving Pte Ryan" was about?). so the story of gov't implanted snitches is probably a latrine rumour.
The Forestry Commission was set up in 1919 to ensure a strategic supply of timber after the shortages (mostly of pit props) during WW1. Italian POWs were used for planting trees during & shortly after WW2 & I found a couple of rock faces in Ennerdale valley carved with Italian names & dates from 1942-1946.
02:55:25 - Flintlick pistols as clubs in boarding actions? I remember this being depicted in a really cool old painting of a Maori boarding party ambushing a sailing ship, and just as a warrior is climbing up over the side there is a member of the crew desperately swinging the pistol butt at his head.
"HMS Saracen" by Douglas Reeman, published under his own name in 1966 by G.P. Putnam's Sons. He also wrote the Bolitho series under the pen name Alexander Kent. It's a nostalgic read on my bookshelf next to "The Cruel Sea". Both volumes were discards from the Columbus Public Library in Ohio, in the mid 70s.
Yup the German name for Gdynia is Gdingen/Gotenhafen while Gdańsk is Danzig. And indeed afaik the main reason the former grew a lot in the Interwar Era was because the latter was a free city so Poland built up Gdynia to serve as its primary port.
German "windage" is exactly that, for example the famous land service weapon the (Matterhorn) 17cm K18 in Mörserlafette is 173mm, but significantly the German (and Austro-Hungarian = Skoda) 15cm calibre is actually 149 mm, the earilier K73 = a 9cm calibre field gun but it was surprise surprise 88mm and historically the WW1 German field gun was classed as 8cm = 77mm but by 1930s re-armement it became 75mm. And just to really upset everyone as to how deep the mad calibre and inability to use a ruler goes, the Mauser 8 mm (7.92 x 57 mm) rifle cartridge has two bullet sizes the original bullet side was the (round nosed) 0.312 in. (7.9248mm) but the Spitzer (pointed bullet) was 0.323 in. (8.0204 mm) so don't put modern Spitzer rounds into your unmodified Gew 1888.🤥 German calibre had a tendency to by all of the place because of lack of a firn industrial mass production basis as opposed to a pre - industrial guilds, for example the Blücher class Cruiser guns were 203 mm = 8 inch, but the accepted German calibre in the Army (Heer) was 21cm (211mm), so when the Navy magnanimously allowed the Heer the use of spares from Blücher which was deep in Oslofjord as Eisenbahn (Railway) 20cm K(E) guns it caused logistic problems, there were manufacture of new barrels prepared to re barrel them as a 21cm bore piece but by the time they were completed six of the eisenbahn guns had been captured / destroyed in Normandy and the two remaining were not readily available to be returned to the factory / field facility.
You forgot the 10cm (10.5cm) FK which used the same calibre but different ammo from the 10.5 cm le.FH. 🙂 When you have a certain standard calibre, let's say 76.2mm, in three different guns (as in 17pdr, US 3" and 76mm), each of which uses different ammo, you might consider re-naming some of the guns to avoid logistical nightmares, as in "77mm" gun of Comet. The British are very good at hiding their own inability to standardize behind a wall of "pdr" and inch ...😛 The famous German 88mm calibre IIRC originated from a naval gun calibre which for some reason is veeeeery similar to British 25pdr calibre. If I'm not wrong, England set new standards for gun calibres in late 16th century and most people copied it. Then the French invented the metric system and those who adopted it found themselves with very "uneven" calibres. There were/are also national differences in measuring calibers, especially with rifled guns. Another reason might be deliberate misinformation to leave potential opponents in the dark.
@@ottovonbismarck2443 Yes I didn't want to make a dissertation out of it it was already getting into TL:DR, but so true the 10cm is 105 mm, - if you get into the 8 cm Austro-Hungarian calibres 76.5mm -this is what happens when you allow unemployable aristocrats as technologists (if you want proof look up the Salvator Dormus M1893 Machine Gun). but as to British 77mm - which started life as a 75 High velocity gun of Vicker/Armstrong design - completed as "hush" weapon at ROF Barnlow, it used the shot and shell of a 17pdr fitted with the cartridge of the 3 inch 20cwt A/A gun, but further proof that British nomenclature was completely mad, weighing ordnance in CWT.😆.
@@SCjunkFrom my point of view, somebody -YOU 🙂 - should do a dissertation on the topic. I'm ptretty sure the Russians although being "metric" used the imperial system on their guns as well, as in 76,2mm, 122mm, 152mm.
@nbismarck2443 But Russians only became metric fairly late,(1899 and generally for academia) probably because after 1812 they didn't really like the French The Russians had their own nomenclature which happily probably because of Armstrong Wittworth had a lot of connections with UK so Russian calibre were often noted in 0.1 inch so a 3 inch field piece like Model 1900 was 30 lineynaya (a Mosin Nagant rifle M 1891 was 7.62mm so 3 lineynaya) and this carried through with other guns bought from elsewhere be they American 4.2 lineynaya Berdan rifle -which is 0.42 inch (so 10,7 mm) or the Russian version of the Krupp 9 cm K 73 which the Russians classed as 3.4 lineynaya or (because they had aristocrats 87 mm rather than German nominal 88 mm -so very close to the Brits 25 pdr calibre). They also use a straight copy of inches (seemingly pre revolutionary France nomenclature of pounces) so 6 Pounces (152 mm) and 8 Pounce (203 mm) M1877 mortars, howitzers and siege guns and to differentiate one piece from another with the same design date they then used the barrel weight so there are two 8 inch M 1877 mortars one designated 70 pud and the other 200 pud. 1 pud is 16.38 kg Same applies with 6 inch siege gun 1877 in two weights there is a 120 pud barrel (light) and an 190 pud barrel (heavy) siege gun, The weight of 16.38 Kg seems to be a French weight (called Livres) prior to adoption of the metric system - as I said Russians hated Napoleon so didn't like metric. As to other weirdo measurements the Russians used a pace called Arshin invented /standardised by Peter the Great and is 28 inches 71.12 cm So I imagine Peter the Great was quite small. But as I said artillery (and my specialty tends toward the Belle Epoch prior to WW1 in France and Austro-Hungary in Land warfare) it is a very very wide discipline with the naval side in addition to land service and lots for people to study, Significantly people like Othias at C&R Arsenal (really worthwhile following) is only fairly recently finding that the internal mechanisms of revolvers don't conform top accepted history with lots of work to do in Liege Belgium and most people think wheel guns are simple cowboy side-arms - and I'm still trying to work out the previously mentioned Salvator Dormus M1893 Machine Gun method of operation -but trying to track down 'patents' in Austro Hungary is very difficult. So I'll now go for a lie down. 🙂
One WWII building program I'd change - ditch Vanguard. I love her, but she was just a waste of money. Alternatively, actually make her construction an actual top priority until she was finished, not the on-again, off-again silliness that eventuated.
With regards to sailcloth, Linen is stronger when wet, and is in almost all physical properties superior to cotton. However once the Cotton Gin is invented cotton is significantly cheaper and easier to get your hands on.
2:55:44 There is a specific term for that, which is "clubbing", ie to wield as a club. It applies to both pistols and muskets. Matt Easton of @scholagladiatoria has an entire video on the technique entitled "Clubbing The Musket".
@myparceltape1169 Not likely. My .45 cal Kentucky Rifle has deeper grooves than that. Our state capitol lawn sports a couple Krupp naval guns from the Battle of Manilla Bay (1898), and each groove is at least two or three millimeters deep.
Related to the question on waterspouts, are there many instances of riverine craft (warships or not) being destroyed by tornados? I'm aware of one such instance: the 1840 tornado in Natchez Mississippi, which to this day rates as the 2nd deadliest tornado in American history, due in no small part to the fact that it destroyed over 100 flatboats in the river and at 2-3 larger riverboats tied up alongside the shore.
A lesser known Murphy's law: If necessity is the mother of invention, then sheer desperation must surely be the father! (a minor grammar correction & I added the: surely, so the quote is now correct.)
@@comrade_commissar3794 Drach's quoting of Edison, and Murphy's variation of it..... Plus, the German Radar Detectors were, at least in part, born of Desperation!
As far as I can recall, the only open 5-inch 38s would be on the USS Texas. All other battleships have twin 5-inch in inclosed positions. All of the destroyers have single or twin 5-inch enclosed. Because they are enclosed, they have an auto stop by the turret itself. Some escort destroyers had open 5-inch guns. I believe the Essex-class carriers had open single mounts. I don't know if they were taken off when the angled flight deck was added.
Sorry but no. The batteries at the end of WW2 were Arkansas, New York and Texas = 6X5/51 singles in casemates, 10X3/50 singles New Mexico and Colorado = 6X5/51 singles in casemates, 8X5/25 singles Mississippi = 16X5/25 singles Idaho = 10X5/38 singles in turrets Nevada, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, California, Maryland, West Virginia = 16X5/38 in turrets The 3 inch and 5/25 were in open single mounts.
2:16:30 The ship in question is the Tier IX light cruiser Neptune, being WG’s attempt at the Neptune-class cruisers. Nevermind the fact that the twin Bofors AA are in STAAGs instead of BUSTER mounts, but I think the problem WG has made for Neptune is by them copy-pasting Edinburgh and Fiji's turrets for Neptune and calling it the “6"/50 BL Mk XXIII in Mk XXV mounts”. The Mk XXV mounts used the same 6"/50 QF Mk V (later redesignated as Mk N5) as the Tiger-class and 1947 Minotaur-class, the only planned DP mount for the BL Mk XXIII was the Mk XIV turrets intended to arm the cancelled group of the 1943 Minotaur-class, which was similar to the Mk XXIII mount used by Edinburgh and Fiji but was a bit roomier. After their cancellation they took that design and developed it further into a far more complex turret design and using the new, autoloading QF Mk V gun and were a bit larger with a more prominent, curved room compared to the simple flat roof of the Mk XXIII as well as having the guns in a conventional arrangement and spread further apart as opposed to the center gun being set back 2.5 ft back as per the Mk XXIII mount. Oh and the Mk XXV had an elevation of 80° (higher than the Tiger/'47 Minotaur twin Mk XXVI) while the Mk XXIII was only 45°. Yeah, by all forms of logic the turrets they gave Neptune would actually not be DP on the slightest. WG basically simply misinforms players about their main-battery purely because they couldn’t do a new turret model for Neptune, meanwhile a new fictional turret design is used for Seattle instead of copy-pasting Cleveland turrets.
The Mattox Of Gulf of Tonkin fame, Aft turret would jump the stops if fired at full traverse. This as due to battle damage after it was repaired. The rear alignment wasn't good. The STBD an Port Alignment at the transom wasn't level. STBD side as 2.5" high. Not uncommon in ships that dropped a lot of depth charges.
Re: 01:35:59 - Captains cannot enter the wardroom? In the current US Navy I don't believe the Ship's Captain, or any other Officer, can enter the Chief Petty Officers Mess unless invited.
Railroad locomotives are almost always fire-tube boilers, but how many fire-tube boilers are on ships versus water-tube boilers? Water-tube boilers when they pop will often spill lots of water directly on the fire, but fire-tube boilers pop with more propelling force.
For Flintlocks, using the pistol in a reverse grip as a club is generally a pretty bad idea. For one, it assumes you already shot the pistol, since I doubt anyone who used a black-powder weapon would be stupid enough to try that loaded. Secondly, it concentrates a lot of force on the weakest point of the pistol, where the wood is cut out to accommodate the firing mechanism. Thirdly, you have to reverse the grip from shooting position , which would be a bad idea in a pell-mell shipboard melee. Lastly, it’s not a good club… those guns were barrel heavy. It probably has been done, but the more common method was to hold the gun normally, and whack them with the barrel, called “buffaloing” in later times. You can generate a lot more force, and it’s more intuitive in a stressful situation when you had just discharged the pistol and need to hit someone. As for the metal cap, I’m pretty sure that was just to prevent wood grain from splitting, just like how many rifle stocks have a metal plate on the butt.
CO access to the wardroom: in Commonwealth navies at least, it's a matter of courtesy to seek permission to enter *any* mess, not just the wardroom. Given there's very little privacy to begin with, it's just plain bloody rude for senior people in particular to simply barge their way in. Think of each mess as a bit like a house, albeit with up to 80-odd family members and the mess killick in charge acting as Dad :-) Having said that, it's pretty difficult for whoever's answering the door to say no (which puts the onus on the officer to have a good reason), and it clearly isn't necessary at action stations or fire/flood/other emergency. Usual practice is to ask to speak to whoever you need to talk to, and either do so in the passageway, or if it's going to take a while, back at their / your normal workplace.
In response to US Navy Sailor question at 42mins Japanese had built 12 L1 class supply subs and 4 L2 Class small supply subs. These subs supplied garrisons of bypassed atolls. The occasional merchantman would run the gauntlet out to Marcus or Wake after 1943. It is very true these islands were live practice targets. But if the troops lived on Bougainville or near Wewak in New Guinea they were being whittled away by Australian army patrols or pointless counter-attack against the Aussies. Humiliating for MacArthur, the 3 US divisions that guarded New Britain/Rabaul were replaced by newly commissioned Australian 5th Division in late 1944 and like Salonika in WW1, guarded the biggest non PoW camp in WW2 while 150,000 Japanese troops all began farming to survive the war
You used a can to explode light bulbs. I used a squirt gun. Dispite that I stupidly tried to boil water in a glass jar while in college. My sister-in-law was following a recipe I gave to melt a stick of butter in the bottom of a lasagne dish. Rather then metal She used a Pyrex (glass) dish on the stovetop, I laughed when my wife told me.
47:07 I wouldn't count the "Nelson Style" the same as the various cruisers (Takao, Myoko, and Helena/Brooklyn) seeing as the Nelsons' guns all would swing forward, where the cruisers the 3rd turret would swing aft, so 2 different styles. this is also why I don't regard the Izumo in WoWs as a true "all forward" ship, as not all the guns swing forward, but they get the same, or better, armor benefits
Concerning the XO running the officers ward room, part of the reason is that the XO ran the ship while yhe captain planned combat of the ship. The day to day running of the ship is all the XO. Particularly, the assignment of officers is controlled by the XO. So it follows that the XO would run the officers ward room. Then it becomes a tradition thing.
Concerning the 5"/38 stuck at the stops- I was told by a WWII sailor that the stops were not very strong and a high speed traverse and elevation change from one limit to the other could bend the stop creating a situation of gun is past operating range, so system would not operate. He said hydraulic jacks and big levers were needed to pry the gun off the stop and back into normal operation range. Sea story or actual experience?
I noticed that When you talked about changes to the aircraft carriers in for interwar and early war you didn't mention the poor designs that were pushed on the navy by the RAF and given the RN better designs such as a navalised Hurricane or Spitfire or the development of better versions of dive bombers. I leave out torpedo bombers as the swordfish did very well in the early war and updates weren't really needed until after the war.
Re the reversed pistol ass off hand weapon, is it more likely its used in a similar way as off-hand daggers in rapier combat, as much for parrying than as an offensive "weapon" in the simple sense?
Concerning the out-of-state sailor being considered an informant is more a matter of regional difference than actual spying. This was an issue in all services during WWII and resulted in a major effort to mix soldiers and sailors from all regions as opposed to filling the South Carolina with sailors from that state. Naval intelligence was smart enough to get someone from the correct region.
Trying to see a signal light on a lit up cruise ship is very difficult. The background lights destroy your night vision and it is which light not what light signal.
Ironically, releasing this whilst standing in Heathrow Terminal 3 and rebooting a cab after the taxi company I prebooked with lost the booking!
Welcome back to Blighty 😊
Hope you got home safely 😮
Out of curiosity on the entire shock absorption on older ships, did any Nation think about using thick rubber coating?
I just see drack waiting for his cab and throwing his binoculars. Sorry I know the joke is getting old but u had too.
@@robertstone9988 and throwing them a la Russian adrimal??😅😅😅
as a person who has fairly close friends in the Japanese Coast Guard, I can say that the culture of treating a ship as something with a strong spiritual component is very much a thing, not so much even among the naval sailors, as among traditional fishermen... when preforming a rescue, there is always a kind of understanding of balancing the need to safely get everyone off a sinking boat and the need to allow them to honorably preform the last rites due to a vessel... it is something spoken about with an amazing, quiet and somber respect.
Regarding the Japanese practices while abandoning ship, think of the reverence and sacrifice that went into protecting Roman legion symbols, Napoleonic War regiments’ colors, guns in artillery units, etc.
There’s a legend that Richard III’s standard bearer held his king’s colours aloft even after having his legs cut out from under him. The specifics of the tale may not be true, but I’ve no doubt the enemy only captured the standard after prying it from cold dead hands.
I just commented mentioning Lieut. Matthew Latham during the Peninsular War.
(43:30) The bypassed islands and bases were essentially POW camps, the seas around them acting as wire and some left-behind units as distant guards. As Drach mentions they were used as live-fire training opportunities for new or transiting units, and they were patrolled to prevent resupply attempts. Food was the biggest problem they had, a number of them developed extensive gardens to try to feed the remaining garrisons. Unfortunately tropical islands do not grow rice (or many other crops) very well.
I recall reading about a seabird that was hunted to extinction by a Japanese garrison. I think it was endemic to Wake Island
What you are talking about at 1:29:02 is a clutch. It's not protecting your wrist or the electric motor. Its purpose is to give you more control on how much torque you want to impart onto the work, which is more commonly desired for a drill (versus, say an impact gun). If you are screwing into a harder wood with something like a Phillips head, the clutch can help keep the bit from camming out and rounding the interior of the bolt head. If you are running a screw into something softer like drywall/sheetrock, it can help you from over torquing the screw and stripping the "threads" of what you are screwing into. Every drill I have used that has a clutch also has a "direct-drive" mode where the clutch system isn't used at all, if in case you wanted to make sure you were able to get maximum torque out of the drill.
After writing this, I feel like it probably comes off as an extremely pedantic correction. Personally, I just like to know how things work, or why they are implemented in the first place, and just assumed you or other viewers are of similar mind.
Welcome home Drach.
Saturday night.
One Drydock closer to 300.
Drach does not disappoint !! Over three hour Drydock session even while he is on a field trip !!
The fictional engagement in HMS Saracen (around 2:08:00) was one that stuck in my memory - digging the book out of a box it can be summarised along the lines of the following:-
Saracen was part of a Malta convoy escort including a cruiser and at least one destroyer which encountered the Littorio class with 2 cruisers just after dawn at a range estimated as 28,000 yards. Owing to haze an effective range of 10,000 yards was estimated. The primary target of the Italians was the merchantmen and the battleship took out 2 of these before the range closed enough for the cruisers to come into play. The Saracen seems to have been ignored with the focus on the more modern escorts but after opening fire at just over 12,000 yards she drew attention taking multiple hits (necessitating flooding of a 4" magazine and at least temporarily disabling the steering) before achieving a hit with a single 15" armour piercing shell. That was a plunging hit (it's a few years since I read the whole book, but I think reference was made earlier in the story to the guns being badly worn and shooting significantly short) on the roof of the A Turret which set of the 3 shells being loaded at the time which in turn blew off the A turret and disabled the B turret. At that point the Italians disengaged and the remaining convoy and escorts completed the journey to Malta.
Somewhat improbably, HMS Saracen appears to have had a significant refit after this as her eventual fate was being sunk in the Pacific Ocean as part of a nuclear missile test.
Always stuck in my mind too
There is a great BBC drama version of it from, I think, the 70s that often shows up on youtube that really sells it
Douglas Reeman. Read that back in 1976. Corresponded a few times with Reeman via email not long before he died.
43:24 B-29 units that landed in the Marianas would usually have a shakedown mission to Truk.
The Royal Navy even got in on the action by sending Implacable there in May 1945.
As far as "Captains cannot enter the wardroom" - as a former USN officer, let me just say "Bullshit". The commanding officer on *some* ships maintains his own mess (i.e. kitchen and serving area), and thus eats by himself in his cabin (although he often invites other officers to join him). On many other ships (small combatants such as destroyers and frigates) the commanding officer is a member of the wardroom mess and sits at the head of the table when he's present. This can be a bit awkward as it is customary for all present to stand and come to attention when the commanding officer enters a space, usually accompanied by the verbal command "Attention on deck!". On ships I served on where the CO was a member of the wardroom mess he'd generally come through the door with the words "Seats, gentlemen!" on his lips as he entered, thus eliminating the requirement that we all stand, etc - or there might be a standing order that the wardroom mess *not* come to attention when the CO enters. (I never saw that but I imagine it could be done). The CO being a member of the wardroom mess may be an economic decision - it's probably cheaper for the CO to be a member of the wardroom mess (where expenses are shared) rather than maintaining his own mess - or it may be a practical decision if the ship is built so that the CO's quarters do not feature a separate galley. However, under no circumstances would any officer with any degree of sense ever chastise their commanding officer for dropping by the wardroom.
As I recall, post-war exercises lead the RN to conclude that in heavy weather the Iowas were little, if at all, faster than the KGVs.
I remember hearing something about Vanguard handling rough seas the best of all the final battleships
Sure it wasn't Vanguard?
Shigeru Mizuki was one of those soldiers in a bypassed garrison on New Guinea. When he lost his left arm in a bombing attack he was ordered to go die so as not to be a burden. He was taken in and saved by the natives and was grateful for the rest of his life.
i have repaired 5"-38's and the stops are like gear teeth welded on deck. They can Sheer off or the turret jumps over the top. It happens with Ships with the ship motions increased inertia. You slow it down by running it in reverse like a steam engine. Stops are bumpers to protect the superstructure. Like the end of train tracks. You don't run full speed into those either.
My bad for asking my question twice, i'd forgotten I asked it in patreon when I asked in the live, but thanks nonetheless Drach ❤
The Imperial Federation idea, mainly involved Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
An interesting ship build that I would like to see you cover would be the USN Wolverine and USN Sable. Amongst their “records” is between them they had around 15,000 pilots qualify as carrier pilots on them during WW II.
One of the other "naval history channels" has a video on the training of aircraft carrier pilots in the Great Lakes. Another such channel has a video on the USS Wolverine and USS Sable.
@@williestyle35maybe state the channels. I highly doubt Drach worried about loosing supporters.
On the subject of pistols and metal plates at the end of the grip, I (as a carpenter) guess that it's there to prevent the wood from splitting. Constant changes in humidity is not a friend to wood etc.
It also helps with preventing the gun from destroying the wooden grip due to its recoil.
That is the reason, you put a plate on the end of the grain so that the grip or stock is less likely to split if it takes a knock or is in a non-permissive environment.
It also has a secondary (although not officially endorsed by command) function of making the butt end of the weapon a slughtly more efficient cudgel and hammer for when you're pounding in tent stakes or trying to unstick stubborn equipment or people.
As an American the Chamberlain idea of Imperial Federation was unknown to me but at a quick glance makes a lot of sense. If it could have covered India and South Africa, with out its racial Ideas, that union would be the dominant power in the world today. Let us extend the idea further back. What if the King and Parliament had used a similar idea when dealing with the American colonies rather than trying to beat them into submission can you imagine what the result would be. What an ideas for a set of alternative history books.
I wish the question about which WW2 battleship fired the most rounds at the enemy would've excluded shells fired during shore bombardment. Which WW2 battleship fired the most shells at other ships?
My bet, WARSPITE
When it comes to American declarations of war prior to 1950, it is important to remember an ironclad rule: IF CONGRESS AGREES TO APPROVE AND FUND IT.
The United States did not go to war over the IJNAS sinking of USS Panay in 1937 or, more significantly, U-552 sinking USS Reuben James in October 1941. There is much speculation why the Administration did not go to war over the 100 American sailors killed by Erich Topp's torpedo attack, but often overlooked is whether Congress would have declared war if they had been asked in early November 1941...
...so the question wasn't one of Administration policy. FDR pushed an extremely robust naval policy during the entirety of his presidency (which wasn't surprising as he served as the Assistant Secretary of the Navy from 1913 to 1920 and was rebuffed by Wilson when FDR requested in 1917 to resign in favor of serving as a naval officer during WWI after Congress declared war). This culminated in the Two-Ocean Navy Act of 1940 (which essentially authorized the fleets that eventually smashed the Axis).
If the 1940 buildup had been completed by 7 December 1941, the Administration perhaps could have gone to war without an explicit Congressional declaration of war (as has been the case in every American conflict after 1942), but with most of the ships authorized having yet to hit the water the risk that the highly-isolationist Congress in 1941 wouldn't fund the continued mobilization was just too high.
But the Japanese were also very aware of the buildup unleashed by the Two-Ocean Navy Act, and thus the IJN likely saw 1941/42 as do-or-die in regards to beginning a war against the Americans...
Your evaluation of what might have been if Germany had followed what Bismark wanted rather then doing what the Kaiser wanted makes a lot of sense. What a different world we would have if it had happened that way.
Someone should write an alt-history series where it’s Britain’s and Germany and Austria-Hungary vs. France, Russia, and Italy.
From the German stand point, an alliance with the British makes no sense since it wiuld likely mean fighting the Russians and enduring huge losses just for the UK sake...
People always fail to see that what the UK did before WW1 was basically Entente appeasement.
All of Drachs DDs are great, but this one was absolutley brilliant. Thanks Drach.
(37:45) From what I've read, the portrait of the Emperor was the "embodiment" of the Emperor possessing His Imperial Ship, and was considered the most treasured item aboard the ship. Part of the ceremony of transferring the portrait was an "apology" to His Highness for the failure of the officers and crew to protect the ship, conquer the enemy and bring glory to His Highness. It was a very sad ceremony, and officers would sometimes promise to go down with the ship as a sign of their recognition of their own failure and their devotion to the Emperor. The Imperial flag was a secondary sign of the nation and the Emperor, so lowering that was another sign of failure. Loss of life due to the delay in evacuation would not be considered, because they were already dishonored by their failure and were trying to make amends by reverently preserving His portrait.
Fun fact: the hydrophone is just the detector part of a sonar, and not some other sort of device. I just learned that, I had used them interchangeably too, I thought that'd be useful to know
True, but hydrophones were used as standalone passive detectors before the invention of active sonar, and after as well. :)
Yay! I love the 3 hour long dry docks, I listen to them every night as I fall asleep for the month :)
My understanding is that a lot of bypassed Japanese garrisons turned to farming as a means to survive. The success of that would, I suppose. depend on how much more-or-less arable land was available. If it's volcanic or desertified, they would be out of luck. Spending a lot of time in an area renowned for tropical diseases and horrific arthropods without access to medical supplies is also not conducive to mental or physical health.
I would equate the American Civil War obsession with battle flags to the Japanese custom of saving the Emperor's portrait from a sinking ship.
You could compare it to the Roman Legionary Eagle standards as well.
Or the Kings colors/Queens portrait by the clock.
38:08 no prizes for this photo as that’s from Zuikaku. But when Zuikaku was being abandoned and the crew was gathering on the flight deck. One of Enterprise’s Avengers flew past and did their own “final honours”. Specifically sticking the finger up at the crew. Zuikaku’s crew weren’t happy with that.
Given how much grief Zuikaku caused to Enterprise….
@@bkjeong4302 Both her's and Shokaku's sinking at Philippine Sea were celebrated by the Big E. That being said, I'm still of the view that Cape Engano should've been a one on one against Zuikaku and Enterprise.
her crew is lucky that Avenger only gave the highway salute and not a few strafing runs.
On the subject of radar in the Pacific theatre, the Allies had conducted a massive back-and-forth campaign against Germany. Japan was using systems at least one generation behind. Alfred Price in 'Instruments of Darkness' quotes: "Initially there was no call for electronic jamming and we did not want to give the Japanese any advance warning for what was in store for them". Once the decision was made to throw systems designed to jam Germany in late 1944 against Japan in 1945, all indications are that the Japanese systems largely collapsed. Not that they would have helped much even if 100% effective.
The Norway question on 1 hour and 50 minutes.
I recall Dr. Clarke did a video on various nations 1938-1941 on a month or year basis. How they could have a better outcome in WW2.
Norway has aggressive neutrality to everyone and invests more torpedo boats, frigates or corvettes, and submarines.
But I would have to watch it again to confirm
USS Tennessee did get a Naval Unit Citation for shore bombardment. Interestingly, it had something to do with accuracy in support of landing troops.
00:13:09 My nominee, although not a battleship, DE USS Samuel B Roberts fought like a battleship at Samar. The Sammy B expended every round including firing star shells at the enemy battleship.
The German, and Russian/Soviet fleets could both be considered as ultimately self defeating.
Both spent large sums on Fleets that were immediately bottled up as soon as war were declared.
43:10 it actually doesn't just apply to ships to my knowledge, it applies to many things and still happens today! (though, much like with most religion it has mellowed out somewhat), this is also why in some manga/anime when characters enter a messy room they'll sometimes say something to the extent of "this room is crying!".
also, a bit of trivia: in the anime "Space Battleship Yamato" they do reference this, and, as far as they are concerned, the space battleship is still the same spirit as the WW2 vessel.
Well the main religion in Japan is Shinto which has shamanistic/animistic aspects like pretty much everything having their own soul. People obviously but also animals, trees, rocks, rivers and indeed ships probably other stuff like rooms/buildings.
Thanks for another informative episode! With regard to the Japanese reverence for the spirit of their ship, I think another western parallel is something like a regimental battle standard, which soldiers would often try to save or prevent the capture of, even at the risk of their own lives. Roman eagles as well.
Internal security. I once dated a girl who was a USAF brat. Her dad had spent a career as an aerial gunner (including missions over North Vietnam) and was supposed to be a senior NCO when he retired. So, she was stunned to see her dad wearing the insignia of a Chief Warrant Officer at his retirement ceremony. (USAF had WO's back in those days). After several years as a gunner, he had been recruited as an undercover investigator by the Criminal Investigation Command and become a warrant officer after training. So no one - not even his wife - knew that he was living a dual life, mainly working fraud, bribery and black market cases while flying as a gunner.
Re Japanese radar, the valves (vacuum tubes) they manufactured had a high failure rate and another problem was acquiring nickel needed to produce them - as I understand it to prevent overheating. Their source of supply ended up being Hong Kong coins for their nickel content.
BTW, there's a channel here that somehow obtains ordnance from as far back as WWII and opens them for examination. He has a good one about GE's VT radio proximity fuze used against kamikaze attacks by the USN. Most of his videos are shorts.
Being an American (and a Pennsylvanian), it's obvious that the Angry Sister fired more rounds at the enemy than any other Battleship. You can't have it all, Warspite. ;-)
... the "Angry Sister" was always expending her ammo and emptying her Magazines ... I read somewheres that she was reloaded more times then any other American Battleship ... she would steam in and just let loose hence her other nickname ... ol' Parts & Pieces ... and she fought from Pearl Harbor and basically through the whole war ... (from) Newtown Square Pa
Short Sunderland's Rube Goldberg bomb loading equipment "The ordnance was stored inside the fuselage in a purpose-built bomb room and was winched up to racks, under the wing centre section, that could be traversed out through doors on each side of the fuselage above the waterline to the release position." Why underwing bomb racks weren't good enough is a mystery.
Light bulb explodes, engineer is born.
YESSSS ❤ I’m in bed full of flu … feel so crap… and just saw this upload 😊 brilliant ! Many thanks 🎉
Weekly relapses to you.❤
Hopefully you have recovered in the meantime. 😊
hi Drach.
hope you had a good one in the colony.
First season listener you dont want to know how many years.
i wanted to say THANK YOU
Sundays would not be the same without some naval history.
also your the bestes historographeeer on youtube their tube any tube also thanks for investing in all us navy nerds.
Cheers
patching sails work, just as ell as well as new sails. Yacht Whisper, home port Dinner Key Florida, won the Palm Beach Yacht Club, 5 year Gold Coast Cup winner. Defeated skippers during this period; Dennis Conner, in his catamaran, " Capt. Courageous" Ted Turner driving a Cal 40. Whisper was the last Cal 40 to race the SORCE Racing Championship. Race was won By Robin 2 built in 1958. The only boat we gave time too. "Whisper as built in 1967, Found abandoned, on the dock behind Monty's Trainer Restaurant, Monty's dock open and owing storage. Rebuilt by local professionals to show the yachty' How to sail a 'California 40' lightning 17' class, dingy lines came from Bluebird 14' sailing dingy.
The Mattox took a 4-6" sell just forward of the center of the turret about 3' below the deck line SBD-AFT, into the traverse mech. She as pulled out of mothballs and served as a reserve training ship in the President Regan's 600 ship navy. he was home ported in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA. She was retired the third failure of getting an "E" rating
'
Well on a mid 30s pre war hood refit it's probably more plausible than you think because the one R class that got a partial modernization Royal Oak got it's work because it was damaged by an air raid during a Spanish Civil War neutrality patrol, so if a butterfly flaps it's wings and the Admiralty had Hood doing Spanish Neutrality patrol instead of Royal Oak a bomb damaged Hood presumably gets Royal Oaks time in drydock for an upgrade
USN Bu ships has a spec for everything, from alloys to dock timbers and a long list of coating specs.
I remember drydocks one through ten. It started off around 20 minutes, then the just got longer and longer. Which I think surprised Drach a bit as the channel was starting to morph into something beyond Drachs wildest dreams.
Amazingly enough, Drach actually made sense in his recommendations as to the Royal Norwegian Navy with his ideas of torpedo boats and minelayers. The Norse had begun a modest naval rearmament program in the late Thirties
TT
Sleipner Class (3 ships 1936-39) 597 tons 30 knots 3X4 inch 2X21inch TT 24XMines
Odin Class (3 ships authorized, 1 completed 1939-40) 632 tons 30 knots 3X4 inch 2X21 inch TT 24XMines
Compare to the RN's R class DD's of 1916 975 tons 36 knots 3X4 inch 4X21 inch TT
DD
Two authorized, none completed 1220 tons 34 knots 4x4.7 inch 4X21 inch TT ?XMines
CM
Olav Tryggvasson (1934) 1596 tons 23 knots 4X4.7 inch 1X3 inch DP 280 mines
A defensive minelayer/sloop - offensive mine laying would be carried out by torpedo craft
As far as Norway's readiness and slow response to the invasion, a Royal Commission was formed post war to investigate the incompetence and treasonous behavior involved. Its findings were so scandalous that they have never been made public as the King ordered them suppressed.
Compare the DD's to the RN Modified W Class of 1918 1120 tons 34 knots 4X4.7 inch 6X21 inch TT
The CM to the USS Terror 1942 8840 tons 20 knots 4X5 inch DP 875XMines, also a defensive minelayer
Also treating the ship as it's own person and giving it last rites increases the moral.
I mean especially in a emergency situation it helps a lot to have rites and procedures you can hang on to when you want to panic.
Also the surviving sailors may tell about how they treated the ship with respect to the very end, which might inspire new recruits to give they best too since it's they family now.
Humans live and die by Rituals, it is deep in our placing worth to existence, a bond with your Ship as you live and could die on is important, People give a structure a soul we feel within ourselves, all the better to fight to keep it afloat and fighting to save you is just part of being human.
As an Engineer I get such foolishness 🥺 with building and some machinery I look after,...... if it held mentally so...... it keeps working, as it wants too.🤪
Machines and structures with no soul just fall to pieces for no reason.. it seems.... 🥺 and and I know what I have written is nonsense yet it works...🤪
@@davidbrennan660 Praise the Omisaiah.
Cold War USN ships crews were drawn from all over the country. Technical ratings tended to draw more from the north and traditional ratings more from the south but even they weren't deliberately segregated. Mid-Westerners were surprisingly heavily represented even though they grew up nowhere near the ocean. In WWII a greater part of the American population was concentrated in the North-East but there was no policy to segregate ships crews by region then either. The last of the Civil War veterans had died off in the 1930's and regionalism in the military was traditionally discouraged because of that experience.
30min, live notification,set to ALL received , subscribed, given 👍, Audio, Video is Good.
Alternative history question, what if Yamato and center force would have came through Surigao stait where 7th fleet had their trap set and crossed the T
USS Arkansas? Six twin turrets.
Belatedly catching up - it is also possible that in situations where the ship isn't actively engulfed in flames or exploding a more formal abandon ship ceremony might actually /reduce/ losses.
Panic in abandoning ship, when seconds don't yet count, might lead to more casualties than standing around saluting a flag if doing so give the collected sailors a moment to calm down and leads to a more orderly abandon ship drill.
Welcome back, Drach! 🤗🫂
On your example about a drill with a clutch or similar function, on most drills I've worked with, there is a setting that overrides the clutch. And yes, it definitely tries to break your wrists. Many a drill has been thrown across the job because of it lol
I used one of those aftermarket ketchup or mustard squeeze bottles to squirt water on the light bulb to get the hiss, er, bulb pop. My parents were similarly un-amused. As for boiler explosions, wasn't that the real reason for loss of the USS Maine in Havana? "You furnish the pictures, and I'll furnish the war."
Damn! Only a three hour Drydock!
Expect severe withdrawal symptoms.
Hope part two alleviated the symptoms somewhat 😅
Imperial Federation... sounds like a Star Wars / Star Trek crossover episode...😂
Waterspouts 😀 When my Dad was in the RFA, they used to drive the ship directly at waterspouts as a game to pass the time. Yes, they were bored, and no, they weren't worried about damage. I reckon cruise ships would only be worried about discomoding some promenading passengers, or perhaps don't want a few tons of sea water to get dumped into the open air water park that often graces the top deck.
2:36:00 seems unlikely that crews would regard some-one from another State as spies - most US States had NG and Naval Reserve for call up Federalisation in time of war, but the ideal of closer community -such as city or towns pre-dominating in a ships crew seems unlikely, even the loss of casualties from NG units -for example in the Solomans campaign caused consternation. So the idea of large scale losses if a BB or cruiser went down would have on a township or community would not be acceptable. US authorities knew what happened in British and Irish towns because of the Pals battalions of WW1 and knew what happened to communities when commercial vessels went down on the Great Lakes or off New England and in those cases were often little more than a few score of men. (that US authorities were aware what do you think the movie "Saving Pte Ryan" was about?). so the story of gov't implanted snitches is probably a latrine rumour.
Drach, could you expound more about the War of 1812? That has some great meaning and battles your followers will enjoy.
The videos' length is increasing to accommodate the hillariously ever-increasing viewers' names length!
Thanks Drach for answering my Japanese radar question!
The Forestry Commission was set up in 1919 to ensure a strategic supply of timber after the shortages (mostly of pit props) during WW1.
Italian POWs were used for planting trees during & shortly after WW2 & I found a couple of rock faces in Ennerdale valley carved with Italian names & dates from 1942-1946.
I read many decades ago that the discharge of a cannon - the shock wave that is, would cause a waterspout to dissolve into rain.
02:55:25 - Flintlick pistols as clubs in boarding actions?
I remember this being depicted in a really cool old painting of a Maori boarding party ambushing a sailing ship, and just as a warrior is climbing up over the side there is a member of the crew desperately swinging the pistol butt at his head.
"HMS Saracen" by Douglas Reeman, published under his own name in 1966 by G.P. Putnam's Sons. He also wrote the Bolitho series under the pen name Alexander Kent. It's a nostalgic read on my bookshelf next to "The Cruel Sea". Both volumes were discards from the Columbus Public Library in Ohio, in the mid 70s.
Gdynia is a different place to Gdańsk.
Yup the German name for Gdynia is Gdingen/Gotenhafen while Gdańsk is Danzig.
And indeed afaik the main reason the former grew a lot in the Interwar Era was because the latter was a free city so Poland built up Gdynia to serve as its primary port.
German "windage" is exactly that, for example the famous land service weapon the (Matterhorn) 17cm K18 in Mörserlafette is 173mm, but significantly the German (and Austro-Hungarian = Skoda) 15cm calibre is actually 149 mm, the earilier K73 = a 9cm calibre field gun but it was surprise surprise 88mm and historically the WW1 German field gun was classed as 8cm = 77mm but by 1930s re-armement it became 75mm. And just to really upset everyone as to how deep the mad calibre and inability to use a ruler goes, the Mauser 8 mm (7.92 x 57 mm) rifle cartridge has two bullet sizes the original bullet side was the (round nosed) 0.312 in. (7.9248mm) but the Spitzer (pointed bullet) was 0.323 in. (8.0204 mm) so don't put modern Spitzer rounds into your unmodified Gew 1888.🤥
German calibre had a tendency to by all of the place because of lack of a firn industrial mass production basis as opposed to a pre - industrial guilds, for example the Blücher class Cruiser guns were 203 mm = 8 inch, but the accepted German calibre in the Army (Heer) was 21cm (211mm), so when the Navy magnanimously allowed the Heer the use of spares from Blücher which was deep in Oslofjord as Eisenbahn (Railway) 20cm K(E) guns it caused logistic problems, there were manufacture of new barrels prepared to re barrel them as a 21cm bore piece but by the time they were completed six of the eisenbahn guns had been captured / destroyed in Normandy and the two remaining were not readily available to be returned to the factory / field facility.
You forgot the 10cm (10.5cm) FK which used the same calibre but different ammo from the 10.5 cm le.FH. 🙂 When you have a certain standard calibre, let's say 76.2mm, in three different guns (as in 17pdr, US 3" and 76mm), each of which uses different ammo, you might consider re-naming some of the guns to avoid logistical nightmares, as in "77mm" gun of Comet. The British are very good at hiding their own inability to standardize behind a wall of "pdr" and inch ...😛
The famous German 88mm calibre IIRC originated from a naval gun calibre which for some reason is veeeeery similar to British 25pdr calibre.
If I'm not wrong, England set new standards for gun calibres in late 16th century and most people copied it. Then the French invented the metric system and those who adopted it found themselves with very "uneven" calibres.
There were/are also national differences in measuring calibers, especially with rifled guns.
Another reason might be deliberate misinformation to leave potential opponents in the dark.
@@ottovonbismarck2443 Yes I didn't want to make a dissertation out of it it was already getting into TL:DR, but so true the 10cm is 105 mm, - if you get into the 8 cm Austro-Hungarian calibres 76.5mm -this is what happens when you allow unemployable aristocrats as technologists (if you want proof look up the Salvator Dormus M1893 Machine Gun). but as to British 77mm - which started life as a 75 High velocity gun of Vicker/Armstrong design - completed as "hush" weapon at ROF Barnlow, it used the shot and shell of a 17pdr fitted with the cartridge of the 3 inch 20cwt A/A gun, but further proof that British nomenclature was completely mad, weighing ordnance in CWT.😆.
@@SCjunkFrom my point of view, somebody -YOU 🙂 - should do a dissertation on the topic. I'm ptretty sure the Russians although being "metric" used the imperial system on their guns as well, as in 76,2mm, 122mm, 152mm.
@nbismarck2443 But Russians only became metric fairly late,(1899 and generally for academia) probably because after 1812 they didn't really like the French The Russians had their own nomenclature which happily probably because of Armstrong Wittworth had a lot of connections with UK so Russian calibre were often noted in 0.1 inch so a 3 inch field piece like Model 1900 was 30 lineynaya (a Mosin Nagant rifle M 1891 was 7.62mm so 3 lineynaya) and this carried through with other guns bought from elsewhere be they American 4.2 lineynaya Berdan rifle -which is 0.42 inch (so 10,7 mm) or the Russian version of the Krupp 9 cm K 73 which the Russians classed as 3.4 lineynaya or (because they had aristocrats 87 mm rather than German nominal 88 mm -so very close to the Brits 25 pdr calibre). They also use a straight copy of inches (seemingly pre revolutionary France nomenclature of pounces) so 6 Pounces (152 mm) and 8 Pounce (203 mm) M1877 mortars, howitzers and siege guns and to differentiate one piece from another with the same design date they then used the barrel weight so there are two 8 inch M 1877 mortars one designated 70 pud and the other 200 pud. 1 pud is 16.38 kg Same applies with 6 inch siege gun 1877 in two weights there is a 120 pud barrel (light) and an 190 pud barrel (heavy) siege gun, The weight of 16.38 Kg seems to be a French weight (called Livres) prior to adoption of the metric system - as I said Russians hated Napoleon so didn't like metric. As to other weirdo measurements the Russians used a pace called Arshin invented /standardised by Peter the Great and is 28 inches 71.12 cm So I imagine Peter the Great was quite small.
But as I said artillery (and my specialty tends toward the Belle Epoch prior to WW1 in France and Austro-Hungary in Land warfare) it is a very very wide discipline with the naval side in addition to land service and lots for people to study, Significantly people like Othias at C&R Arsenal (really worthwhile following) is only fairly recently finding that the internal mechanisms of revolvers don't conform top accepted history with lots of work to do in Liege Belgium and most people think wheel guns are simple cowboy side-arms - and I'm still trying to work out the previously mentioned Salvator Dormus M1893 Machine Gun method of operation -but trying to track down 'patents' in Austro Hungary is very difficult.
So I'll now go for a lie down. 🙂
The original Blucher had 21cm guns, the latter one had a caliber that kept in line with the British due to the AGNA.
And it was the Hipper class.
One WWII building program I'd change - ditch Vanguard. I love her, but she was just a waste of money. Alternatively, actually make her construction an actual top priority until she was finished, not the on-again, off-again silliness that eventuated.
I’d extend this to basically the entire WWII generation of battleships, but if I had to do just one, I’d go with Vanguard.
A hard decision. But yes. Cancel building it. Get all those workers and the drydock to be used for other things
Hope your trip went well stay healthy.
With regards to sailcloth, Linen is stronger when wet, and is in almost all physical properties superior to cotton. However once the Cotton Gin is invented cotton is significantly cheaper and easier to get your hands on.
Thanks!
The picture of the Yavuz is immediate post WWII. Note the the US aircraft aboard a carrier with F8Fs aboard.
Th speed and inertia can cause a turret to over run the stops and jam. Extended firing at extreme rotation can cause to jump the stops an freeze.
2:55:44
There is a specific term for that, which is "clubbing", ie to wield as a club. It applies to both pistols and muskets. Matt Easton of @scholagladiatoria has an entire video on the technique entitled "Clubbing The Musket".
The Swedish gun is essentially identical to the German Krupp guns but if you’re wanting to maintain the fiction of neutrality……..
Could it then be that the extra .003 is because the measurement was taken between the grooves of the barrels rather than the lands?
@myparceltape1169 Not likely. My .45 cal Kentucky Rifle has deeper grooves than that. Our state capitol lawn sports a couple Krupp naval guns from the Battle of Manilla Bay (1898), and each groove is at least two or three millimeters deep.
Related to the question on waterspouts, are there many instances of riverine craft (warships or not) being destroyed by tornados? I'm aware of one such instance: the 1840 tornado in Natchez Mississippi, which to this day rates as the 2nd deadliest tornado in American history, due in no small part to the fact that it destroyed over 100 flatboats in the river and at 2-3 larger riverboats tied up alongside the shore.
A lesser known Murphy's law: If necessity is the mother of invention, then sheer desperation must surely be the father!
(a minor grammar correction & I added the: surely, so the quote is now correct.)
Tim, I have been saying that since I was an undergrad (40 years ago). :)
How is this at all related to Murphy’s law?
@@comrade_commissar3794 Drach's quoting of Edison, and Murphy's variation of it.....
Plus, the German Radar Detectors were, at least in part, born of Desperation!
As far as I can recall, the only open 5-inch 38s would be on the USS Texas. All other battleships have twin 5-inch in inclosed positions. All of the destroyers have single or twin 5-inch enclosed. Because they are enclosed, they have an auto stop by the turret itself. Some escort destroyers had open 5-inch guns. I believe the Essex-class carriers had open single mounts. I don't know if they were taken off when the angled flight deck was added.
Sorry but no. The batteries at the end of WW2 were
Arkansas, New York and Texas = 6X5/51 singles in casemates, 10X3/50 singles
New Mexico and Colorado = 6X5/51 singles in casemates, 8X5/25 singles
Mississippi = 16X5/25 singles
Idaho = 10X5/38 singles in turrets
Nevada, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, California, Maryland, West Virginia = 16X5/38 in turrets
The 3 inch and 5/25 were in open single mounts.
2:16:30 The ship in question is the Tier IX light cruiser Neptune, being WG’s attempt at the Neptune-class cruisers. Nevermind the fact that the twin Bofors AA are in STAAGs instead of BUSTER mounts, but I think the problem WG has made for Neptune is by them copy-pasting Edinburgh and Fiji's turrets for Neptune and calling it the “6"/50 BL Mk XXIII in Mk XXV mounts”. The Mk XXV mounts used the same 6"/50 QF Mk V (later redesignated as Mk N5) as the Tiger-class and 1947 Minotaur-class, the only planned DP mount for the BL Mk XXIII was the Mk XIV turrets intended to arm the cancelled group of the 1943 Minotaur-class, which was similar to the Mk XXIII mount used by Edinburgh and Fiji but was a bit roomier. After their cancellation they took that design and developed it further into a far more complex turret design and using the new, autoloading QF Mk V gun and were a bit larger with a more prominent, curved room compared to the simple flat roof of the Mk XXIII as well as having the guns in a conventional arrangement and spread further apart as opposed to the center gun being set back 2.5 ft back as per the Mk XXIII mount. Oh and the Mk XXV had an elevation of 80° (higher than the Tiger/'47 Minotaur twin Mk XXVI) while the Mk XXIII was only 45°. Yeah, by all forms of logic the turrets they gave Neptune would actually not be DP on the slightest.
WG basically simply misinforms players about their main-battery purely because they couldn’t do a new turret model for Neptune, meanwhile a new fictional turret design is used for Seattle instead of copy-pasting Cleveland turrets.
Thanks Drach.
The Mattox Of Gulf of Tonkin fame, Aft turret would jump the stops if fired at full traverse. This as due to battle damage after it was repaired. The rear alignment wasn't good. The STBD an Port Alignment at the transom wasn't level. STBD side as 2.5" high. Not uncommon in ships that dropped a lot of depth charges.
Re: 01:35:59 - Captains cannot enter the wardroom?
In the current US Navy I don't believe the Ship's Captain, or any other Officer, can enter the Chief Petty Officers Mess unless invited.
Railroad locomotives are almost always fire-tube boilers, but how many fire-tube boilers are on ships versus water-tube boilers? Water-tube boilers when they pop will often spill lots of water directly on the fire, but fire-tube boilers pop with more propelling force.
23 min. Wow, never seen Lord Charles without Ray Alan before.
@30:48, conditions elsewhere were worsening besides the threats from Japan. Perhaps you need to look up the USS Reuben James' story.
For Flintlocks, using the pistol in a reverse grip as a club is generally a pretty bad idea. For one, it assumes you already shot the pistol, since I doubt anyone who used a black-powder weapon would be stupid enough to try that loaded. Secondly, it concentrates a lot of force on the weakest point of the pistol, where the wood is cut out to accommodate the firing mechanism. Thirdly, you have to reverse the grip from shooting position , which would be a bad idea in a pell-mell shipboard melee. Lastly, it’s not a good club… those guns were barrel heavy.
It probably has been done, but the more common method was to hold the gun normally, and whack them with the barrel, called “buffaloing” in later times. You can generate a lot more force, and it’s more intuitive in a stressful situation when you had just discharged the pistol and need to hit someone.
As for the metal cap, I’m pretty sure that was just to prevent wood grain from splitting, just like how many rifle stocks have a metal plate on the butt.
CO access to the wardroom: in Commonwealth navies at least, it's a matter of courtesy to seek permission to enter *any* mess, not just the wardroom. Given there's very little privacy to begin with, it's just plain bloody rude for senior people in particular to simply barge their way in. Think of each mess as a bit like a house, albeit with up to 80-odd family members and the mess killick in charge acting as Dad :-)
Having said that, it's pretty difficult for whoever's answering the door to say no (which puts the onus on the officer to have a good reason), and it clearly isn't necessary at action stations or fire/flood/other emergency.
Usual practice is to ask to speak to whoever you need to talk to, and either do so in the passageway, or if it's going to take a while, back at their / your normal workplace.
In response to US Navy Sailor question at 42mins
Japanese had built 12 L1 class supply subs and 4 L2 Class small supply subs. These subs supplied garrisons of bypassed atolls.
The occasional merchantman would run the gauntlet out to Marcus or Wake after 1943.
It is very true these islands were live practice targets.
But if the troops lived on Bougainville or near Wewak in New Guinea they were being whittled away by Australian army patrols or pointless counter-attack against the Aussies.
Humiliating for MacArthur, the 3 US divisions that guarded New Britain/Rabaul were replaced by newly commissioned Australian 5th Division in late 1944 and like Salonika in WW1, guarded the biggest non PoW camp in WW2 while 150,000 Japanese troops all began farming to survive the war
You used a can to explode light bulbs. I used a squirt gun. Dispite that I stupidly tried to boil water in a glass jar while in college.
My sister-in-law was following a recipe I gave to melt a stick of butter in the bottom of a lasagne dish. Rather then metal She used a Pyrex (glass) dish on the stovetop, I laughed when my wife told me.
47:07 I wouldn't count the "Nelson Style" the same as the various cruisers (Takao, Myoko, and Helena/Brooklyn) seeing as the Nelsons' guns all would swing forward, where the cruisers the 3rd turret would swing aft, so 2 different styles. this is also why I don't regard the Izumo in WoWs as a true "all forward" ship, as not all the guns swing forward, but they get the same, or better, armor benefits
Drach, you're getting quite good at dealing with the various tongue-twister Patreon names!
Concerning the XO running the officers ward room, part of the reason is that the XO ran the ship while yhe captain planned combat of the ship. The day to day running of the ship is all the XO. Particularly, the assignment of officers is controlled by the XO. So it follows that the XO would run the officers ward room. Then it becomes a tradition thing.
Concerning the 5"/38 stuck at the stops- I was told by a WWII sailor that the stops were not very strong and a high speed traverse and elevation change from one limit to the other could bend the stop creating a situation of gun is past operating range, so system would not operate. He said hydraulic jacks and big levers were needed to pry the gun off the stop and back into normal operation range. Sea story or actual experience?
I noticed that When you talked about changes to the aircraft carriers in for interwar and early war you didn't mention the poor designs that were pushed on the navy by the RAF and given the RN better designs such as a navalised Hurricane or Spitfire or the development of better versions of dive bombers. I leave out torpedo bombers as the swordfish did very well in the early war and updates weren't really needed until after the war.
Re the reversed pistol ass off hand weapon, is it more likely its used in a similar way as off-hand daggers in rapier combat, as much for parrying than as an offensive "weapon" in the simple sense?
Concerning the out-of-state sailor being considered an informant is more a matter of regional difference than actual spying. This was an issue in all services during WWII and resulted in a major effort to mix soldiers and sailors from all regions as opposed to filling the South Carolina with sailors from that state. Naval intelligence was smart enough to get someone from the correct region.
Trying to see a signal light on a lit up cruise ship is very difficult. The background lights destroy your night vision and it is which light not what light signal.