'Free' Navies of World War 2 - Small but Deadly (and a little crazy)
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- čas přidán 28. 08. 2024
- Today we take a brief look at the various 'Free' navies that operated with the Royal Navy and how that interaction played out across the years of conflict.
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Pinned post for Q&A :)
Drach does the Royal Navy have an Equal to the US navies NCIS also are you aware that the third ship of the Kongo class the Haruna isn't pronounced (HA-RUNA) the Japanese was is all one word no space between the A and the R (Sorry had to put this as my cousin who speaks japanese was moaning at me to add this)
what are some of your favourite "what if?" scenarios to think about and why? In relation to the navies of ww2 of course
Well done....As always....Thanks..!
Drachinifel QA . In reading, Battlecruiser HMS Renown, l came across this passage, that perhaps you might develop more, i After Hood was sunk the Admiralty issued orders for the Renown to be modified so that 167 valveless penetrations of the main deck (the armour deck) would have heavy duty valves installed. These penetrations were principally for ventilation ducting and the added valves would be closed in action in the belief that flash from an enemy shell might have penetrated the magazine and caused the explosion that broke up the Hood. This modification was carried out with classification Top Secret. Equally secret was the order that Renown should not engage a German battleship of the Tirpitz class on her own.
Drachinifel QA . In reading, Battlecruiser HMS Renown, l came across this passage, that perhaps you might develop more, i After Hood was sunk the Admiralty iss After Hood was sunk the Admiralty issued orders for the Renown to be modified so that 167 valveless penetrations of the main deck (the armour deck) would have heavy duty valves installed. ued orders for the Renown to be modified so that 167 valveless penetrations of the main deck (the armour deck) would have heavy duty valves installed. nstalled. These penetrations were principally for ventilation ducting and the added valves would be closed in action in the belief that flash from an enemy shell might have penetrated the magazine and caused the explosion that broke up the Hood. This modification was carried out with classification Top Secret. Equally secret was the order that Renown should not engage a German battleship of the Tirpitz class on her own.
Yeah I think charging bismarck in a destroyer whilst flashing at it I AM A POLE is a bit crazy....
I would have gone with “Poland is not yet lost!”
Charging to Bismarck, with a destroyer
Happens everytime in WoWs
Not really. This is called sledging, a time-honoured tradition on British and Commonwealth sporting fields. Now, of course, it is referred to as a hate crime. If it throws the other team of its groove, more power to it.
@@willdsm08 Sledging is not called a hate crime now, calm down
He was just doing a Vian and Bismarck...wait...
I get the impression that the Poles would have boarded the Bismarck if permitted to do so.
Kyle Glenn Knowing the Poles, they’d have captured her through the use of flares, hand guns and sheer rage, later re-naming the ship ORP Zjedz Gówno.
Probably couldn't agree who got first dibs.
Now that you brought it up, sinking the Bismarck seems like a mercy kill.
This guys had balls. No doubt about that. But I'm wondering what where the secondary gun crews of the Bismarck doing during that engagement? Where they all asleep? 6x150mm and 8x105mm on each side. How can a Destroyer drive that close without beeing shot to pieces several times over?
@@Ork20111 Maybe they couldn't depress the turrets low enough to fire at them?
Charge the Bismarck going ‘I am a pole’ is brilliant. They will never see it coming, even as they see it coming.
There's a Blackadder sketch in there somewhere
They'll see it coming, but they'll be so shocked by the audacity that they won do anything about it, instead watching in awestruck amazement.
“ what are they saying ? “
“ I’m a pole sir “
“ you’re a pole ? “
“ no sir not me , them “
“ who ? “
“ I believe it is whom sir “
KABOOM
“My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die!” But shorter.
Bismarck's officers meanwhile going "North pole or south pole? These British are weird...."
As an American, I laughed my ass off at the "sorry I'm late again" picture in the intro. As Churchill said, "America can be counted on to do the right thing. Once she has completely exhausted every other option."
Drags on a smoke.
"Let's crank this shit out!"
As an American, that may be the best statement about the United States I have ever heard. Churchill was a smart man.
just like right now with aid to Ukraine... pogue republicans..
In 1939, the US Vice President stated: If the USA will join WW2, Britain, France, and The Netherlands, all will lose some colonies.(Antony Beevor)
@@doce7606 Stupid RAT... it was Joe Biden's fault NOT the Republicans. A little matter of allowing the southern boarder to be wide open AND giving aid to Ukraine BEFORE doing anything about the massive F*CKup that Biden himself created was the last straw. The Republicans had to draw the line and they DID ! Pogue doucheRats and the imbeciles who support and vote for them.
Polish commander: "Action stations! Kowalski, standby to attack the Bismarck. Nowak, report to damage control. Pawalak...let the Germans know who's coming!"
The Polish Navy was parlty manned by ancestors of the "Madagascar Penguins"!
czcams.com/video/zZU19dk7HVo/video.html
"Pawalak,what are you doing?!?!"
"Just telling them who we are."
" *flips the bird at Bismarck*
keep going."
@@whateverthisis389 really ??? .. thanks I just spit some of my wine reading that lmfao !!!
@@williammontroy9024 based on a true story
Where is Marcinkowski
... allready sunk Bismark alone ... several times in WOWS with Blyskawica :)))
Polish Navy be like: "These are my warships Typhoon, Hurricane, and Dave."
Makes you think what Dave did... (in this case it was just a polish-british writer Joseph Conrad)
Sigh ... not Dave ..... Danae, the mother of the hero Perseus, renamed Conrad for the writer of Joseph Conrad whose novel Heart of Darkness should be familiar to anybody who has watched Apocalypse Now.
Insert a picture of giggling Jingles here.
@@Defenestrationflight from heart of darkness?
@@timvanrijn8239 The same guy. Born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski. He considered to become a citizen of several countries and tried some before settling on the british, because he also wanted to go to sea with their mercantile navy. It was the only way for him to get rid of his russian citizenship, which he not only despised as the occupying force in Poland, but made him a target for compulsory military service, hard labour and other punishments, because he came from a family of known active polish independence seekers.
He always made a point of beeing polish first, even declining a british knighthood, because he was already a polish nobleman, by blood.
He was a polish mariner, with his country occupied, working for the brits, a very fitting name for a polish ship during WW2.
I think people forget the human element in the whole story of ORP Piorun harassing the bismarck so much during the night. Think about it, how german crew had to feel, being constantly scrambled into battle stations throughout the night, harassed by a light fire with a flashing, incessant message: "I'am a Pole" - 'I'm doing this to you. I keep you on your legs, I don't let you sleep. We're here to kill you together with the Royal Navy". And have in mind that bismarck had been already damaged and crew knew that their chances for making it back to france were dodgy at best. To me it was torment. Retribution. Calculated harassing effort to damage their morale and exhaust the crew even by little if possible.
Piorun was part of Vian's flotilla of Cossack, Maori, Sikh, Zulu, & Piorun (originally a British N class destroyer, Nerissa) which had been escorting a troop convoy, WS8B, when diverted to search for Bismarck. The four Tribals all made (unsuccessful) torpedo attacks during the night. Piorun, however, after exchanging gunfire for a time, actually lost contact and was unable to use her own torpedoes.
I am hardly an expert, but it seems to me that people drastically underestimate just how difficult naval gunnery is. A small, quick little vessel constantly changing course in choppy North Atlantic seas? The only hit you'll get is a very lucky one. But hey, for that Polish boat, one hit is all it would take!
You reap what you sow
Its even better...
According to officers and crew members who made full reports of the action, she closed in close so she'd NEVER miss with the order to fire being "Trzy salwy na cześć Polski" ("Three salvos in honour of Poland")! The other destroyers, as noted, just stood around and watched it go up against the most powerful warship in commission at the time. In the end, after regaining contact, Piorun was very low on fuel, so at 05:00 she was ordered home before she had used her torpedoes. Captain Pławski was reluctant to leave the area and ignored Captain Vian's order for an hour before returning to the United Kingdom - legend is she only just made it in under her own power...
Helping us to avenge the Hood's loss is why there will always be a place at my table for a Polish naval crewmember
Pioruns job was to keep contact with the Bismarck so the British planis will find him in the morning. Piorun was constantly reporting its position, therefore had to be close to Bismarck all the time. Not easy job to do.
Even as a Dutchman I did not know about the Dutch submarine campaign in the pacific. We only learn about the disastrous battle of the Java sea. I had heard a Dutch navy officer once tell me that if it wasn't for the Dutch navy, Australians probably would talk Japanese now, but I had no clue what he was talking about.
@jeremy ray Yeah there's no way the Japanese could've held Chocolate Sundae Mountain or the vast Pie Fields of the Outback...but yeah I do agree with you lol
The Dutch sub operating out of Perth WA are relatively unknown in Australia too, except among naval historians, and deserve more recognition for their bravery and dedication, with old and technically inferior subs (well, inferior to the Gato class, anyway).. We should also not forget the NEI Naval Air Service, which flew mainly Do. 38 flying boats, and were removed from their proper role of fleet scouting to evacuate civilians. A number of these aircraft, together with RAAF Catalnas, were machine-gunned and sunk on the water at Broome WA by Zeros from ADM Nagumo’s carriers in early 1942, with heavy loss of of life among the mainly women and children refugees on board.
Yeah I feel like the average Australian doesn't know much more than the ANZACS, the Pacific theater being under-recognised. I was quite surprised to recently learn there was carrier groups fighting in the Coral Sea during the height of Japanese extension. Ironically I now speak Japanese as an Australian anyway, we seem to enjoy each other's cultures.
John Kolmer You beat me to it
When I was still in school, a certain Dutch author K. Norel was renowned for writing adventurous books about the Second World War, based on actual accounts of real Dutch fighting men although he changed the names.
From his books, I learned about life onboard a submarine, especially while it was being hunted and depth charged by enemy destroyers.
His descriptions of the entire submarine being banged and moved violently in all directions, with rivet heads being launched like deadly bullets, ricocheting along the sub and cutting through the limbs of unfortunate crewmembers was exactly as shown in the German movie "Das Boot" (The Boat, boat and German boot same pronunciation).
From his book, I learned first about the incredible tale of Dutch quartermaster Cor de Wolf, who was among a handful of survivors after their sub, O-16, hit a mine and sank. Out in the open sea, with no raft or even life vest, the small group started swimming to the nearest island. Four of the five men sank into the depths but Cor de Wolf managed to reach a nearby island after having been swimming and floating for 35 hours!
On the Island he encountered a native who could not understand him but the village headman spoke Malay, which quartermaster Cor de Wolf also spoke. And thus he was brought into contact with Australian forces.
My grandfather, age103 on the 1st October this year (ie, still with us!) is arguably the world's leading authority on the Section Belge being the 1st Lt. on the first ship of the 'Belgian Navy', HMS Quentin Roosevelt (formerly the French Fisheries protection vessel FPV Flamant) under the command of Frank Allen, another RNVR officer. His name is John Shannon, Lt, RNVR, retired and can not only tell you stories about the Section Belge, but about the Royal Navy throughout WW2, as he signed up before war broke out and ended his active duty after the war ended. One such story is that he was the second to last to leave the sinking HMS Dunvegan Castle, a 15,000 ton armed merchant cruiser sunk by U-46 in August 1940. I still have the key to the 'Dunvegan Castle 6" magazine aft' which my grandfather pocketed after relieving the sailor on duty who would not leave his post until relieved even though the ship was sinking. One of the last acts of Captain Ardill was with my grandfather to go to one of the ships safes and thinking they were going to remove some important documents...but no, a bottle of whisky and a bottle of brandy saying to my grandfather, "we might need these later". Many many stories and as he's still with us, he can still tell them as first hand reports. He might be 103 but he has not lost his marbles in the slightest!
Would he be open to an interview?
GOD BLESS HIM !!!!
That would be fantastic on so many levels. I pray you get the opportunity.
God Bless him.
Both of my Grandfathers were also in WWII and in the US Army and both until their Deaths 74-88 could "recall with advantages the feats they preformed" in those days. Shakespeare seems to have known what he was talking about.
I hope he can be persuaded to help write a book...
And I wish i could meet him. There's a continent and a pond in the way, alas, and more tellingly I'm on an American college student's lack of a budget...
Whenever I hear or read about the actions of the ORP Piorun against the Bismarck, for some reason I always imagine a very angry little destroyer running around this massive battleship with its chest puffed out, hurling abusive language, dishing out middle-finger salutes and telling the hapless battleship to 'come and have a go if it thinks it's hard enough' while kicking the snot out of it.
Which is followed by every other Free Navy ship shouting "hold my beer", "watch this" or "I'm gonna have him!" every time they went into action
Nope, ORP Piorun was the ship that found Bismarck, they were ordered to be escort for HMS Rodney but captain of ORP Piorun heard report from catalina about Bismarck spoting, so he made decision to ignore the orders and asked other ships to join him in his hunt for Bismarck. ORP Piorun found Bismarck and reported his position to the British fleet. At 22:49 Bismarcks opens fire at ORP Piorun, ORP Piorun captain after that orders to fire back, at 23:50 last shot from Bismarck at ORP Piorun, after that visual contact with Bismarck is lost. At 5am British orders ORP Piorun to get back to port as they claim that the ship is low on fuel... ORP Piorun was ignoring that order until 7am.
British was most likely afraid that ORP Piorun gonna torpedo Bismarck and sink it without British help... heh
And don´t forget the sabres prepared for abordage!
Ship-a-day Admiral Helfrich also signed the Japanese instrument of Surrender, still on display on the USS Missouri, representing the Dutch government.
@walt7500 How do you know that, or are you just relying on other peoples opinions?
@walt7500 Well, in the twenties he predicted a war would break out between Japan and the USA and that Japan would strike first at the Philipines, Pearl Harbour and California. He was reprimanded for say this on diplomatic events has well. He might not have been subtle, but he was smart. Rather Dutch.
@@martijnb5887 He was also never to be found when the check for dinner arrived...
@@Simonsvids The Dutch had been heavily involved with keeping an uneasy peace between the US and Japan after the US's display of literal gunboat diplomacy during the Perry expedition to force Japan to open up trade with the US and break the Dutch monopoly.
The Dutch actually wanted Japan to concede as to not see the region de-stabilized as that would be, very Dutch, bad for business.
@@martijnb5887 smart? What the fuck else would they do besides attack the closest thing they have?
ORP Conrad wasn't a less inspiring name. It was name to honour Joseph Conrad, one of the most important naval novelists in the world, author of the Heart of Darkness. If you wonder why a Polish ship was honouring a British novelists I think it's enough to say that his real name was Józef Korzeniowski and he was a Pole who emigrated to England
To be fair, if you heard it out of context and along side two other ships with the names Hurricane and Tempest, conrad wouldn't sound that impressive.
I know, but to English ears (on people who don't read nautical literature) it sounds a bit like "we shall dispatch Tempest, Hurricane, and Brian."
Drach is never late, nor is he early. He uploads precisely when he means to.
Drach once said to a enemy fleet "you shall not pass" while defending the isle
Wizards and naval historians... bring a jug and some pipe weed.
@@JamesSavik Old Toby, the finest weed in the south Farthing.
6
@@CSSVirginia The salted pork is extremely good.
The polish navy had some other highlights. Their submarine branch was superb. ORP Orzel sunk the transport Rio de Janeiro during the norwegian campaign, hampering the early german efforts for the invasion. ORP Sokól and Dzik made a name for themselves in the Mediterranean as the Terrible Twins and deserve a video all for themselves.
That's funny, the Dutch Sloops Soemba and Flores (Flores-Class Gunboats) also became known as the terrible twins in the Mediterranean sea supporting naval landings in Italy, Southern France and eventually at Normandy. Their fire was extremely accurate and were known to slighltly recklessly charge in to give fire support to troops on the coast. At one point a British destroyer was personally attached to Soemba so they wouldn't go charging of again, the Soemba also engaged a Tank Company where their bridge was hit by an 88 wich caused the loss of their Captain. The following day after repairs they came back with a vengeance and destroyed multiple trains.
Really cool story in my opinion, it makes them my favorite ships of WW2 despite them being relatively small
I like that kind of videos reminding why the Allies are called the Allies.
@john smith Its less can be, and more are almost always more dangerous than your enemy during a war. As the worst an enemy can do to you is kill you in combat, allies can and will do much worse.
I guess the Dutch subs started with torps that actually went boom
yup. The Dutch ships and weapons were a combination of Dutch and mainly German designs and equipment.
There was pretty strong cooperation between Dutch and German shipbuilders in the 1920s and '30s.
Little detail: the Polish Orzel class submarines which were also pretty successful were Dutch designs and built in the Netherlands by the same shipyard and designer responsible for the K.XXI/O21 class.
www.tracesofwar.nl/articles/2241/Onderzeeboten-van-de-O-21-klasse.htm?c=gw
Nigel Withers deffinatly needs something for it, first I’ve heard about it.
I've heard that these successes were "overblown" but info on it has been somewhat hard-to-find.
@@constantdrowsiness4458 Providing cover for the Normandy landings, against the nazi S-bootes, the Royal Norwegian Navy destroyer Svenner sacrificed herself.
Well that helps, just a tiny little bit.
9:10 A ship pretended to be an island to escape the Japanese? Is there a longer video there? That sounds really interesting.
Hr. Ms. Abraham Crijnssen
It'll get one eventually
@@Drachinifel Thanks!
There is one, I viewed most of it a year or so back. Very dry and subdued as I recall. Dare I say boring?
Best wait for Drach to get it done, he won't spend 20 minutes boring us to death with non-essential details like how many tons of fuel it carried.
It covered itself in branches and vines and would sit at anchor during the day and only move during the night
I got the absurd mental image of the Greek navy installing a small bench at the sternmost portion of each ship’s deck, potentially with a small awning to keep the sun off, for the sole purpose of allowing the crew to comfortably take twenty-minute shifts exposing their naked buttocks to the oncoming Axis forces as a gesture of contempt.
Your videos never fail to deliver when it comes to bringing a smile to my face. 😁
A hero of the 1821 revolution did expose his hind to the retreating Turkish army whereupon one of them took a shot at him which stopped him from sitting for some time. Unfortunately in ww2 there was no time for such pleasures. It has been a horror throughout.
Metaphorically though I believe that every one of the allied fleet did it.
ORP Conrad was named after Joseph Conrad, author of "Lord Jim" and "Heart of Darkness". His born name was Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski.
jeremak Which considerably raises the significance of an otherwise bland name...
A brit writer with polish roots. It actaully is quite poetic in this case.
This is the sort of interesting facts that you only pick up through CZcams comment sections :)
Also in beginning it was supposed to be a "ORP Lwów" (Lviv), which was annexed by Soviet Union, but British were not pleased too much by this idea.
@@BotanixB And to ice that cake Lviv, Lwów was Lemberg before. Welcome to Central-East Europe.
we need a t-shirt of a Greek officer flashing rude gestures off the stern of a ship.
Hilarious!
This needs to be a thing
Papparazzi bound to have pics of Prince Phillip doing that lol
I wonder if that's where Monty Python writers got their ideas...
Ah, the good old Greek moutza...
A bit late, I know. Just wanted to add that arguably an even more important contribution of the Norwegians was basically handing the Allies the 4th largest merchant navy of the world, comprised of relatively new ships
My Grandad fought along a lot of the army equivalent of these and said they where simply the bravest men he ever saw and would not have a bad word said about any of nations in exile men.
If you think about it, by simply being someone who wanted to continue to fight when most of your peers agreed to surrender, these guys had already self selected themselves.
@@MrRugbylane Well, in case of Poland they did not, as the government did not surrender, it evacuated, and so did the soldiers - they were ordered to evacuate through Romania to France and then to Great Britain. Nevertheless, they were driven by the grim news about the German occupation coming from home, as already in the beginning of the occupation Germans started executions of our elite.
Sneaking out of Japanese controlled waters disguised as an island... the Abraham Crijnssen was a special ship.
It still exists and is on dispay at the Dutch Navy Museum in Den Helder after being retrofitted into her WW2 outfit.
Abraham Crijnssen: "Toot toot."
Japanese Navy: "Did that island just say 'toot toot'?"
@@GeorgHaeder I sure hope her WWII outfit includes the island disguise!
@@DrThunder88 Sadly not, it is her late war outfit about 1944.
@@DrThunder88 just for a few joke.
IJN: I think I saw an island moving away from us, I hope that is my mistake.
Dutch navy: oh boy your right.
Gotta love the Poles, yes the other countries got some punches in, but yeah, between the Polish squadrons in the air and flashing “I am a Pole” says everything you need to know!
The Poles are the most under appreciated military in WWII. Unlike the French, the Poles never stopped fighting. The Home Army was established almost immediately.
In Italy, after The US and British forces failed to take Monte Casino, they send in Poles more or less as a throw away. The Poles took Casino.
There is a difference in mentality, seen for example in WW1 movies. Western ones show trauma and pointlessness of the war. Polish ones show hope and our soldiers actually smiling as they go over the top, because they feel a chance for independence at their fingertips.
(A bit late ... I know)
Another occasion where the Poles distinguished themselves was on 4-5 May, 1942 when the Polish destroyer ORP Błyskawica was moored in East-Cowes and defended the town against German air raids, laying a smoke screen across the town and putting up such a barrage it overheated the guns - which had to be hosed down to remain functional - thus forcing the Germans to fly higher and decrease their accuracy. Afterwards they assisted in the rescue and recovery efforts and provided medical assistance. The town was still hit hard, but no-one doubts it would have been much worse without the Poles.
Poles always announced themselves to the Germans in style as the Luftwaffe found out to their chagrin in British skies in 1940.
PolakInHolland reminds me of the countryballs with Poland charging saying die Kurwa die.
@@franzbranntwein3722 This is because we have sent you our entire social pathology and now we have peace and quiet in Poland ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
@me hee They did manage it. 126 shot down German planes despite flying in antiquated fighters which were slower than German bomber. Before you try being clever, do some basic research.
@@franzbranntwein3722 "Poles only steel cars" heh and Germans like to steal everything even kids... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidnapping_of_children_by_Nazi_Germany
Even you capital "The name Berlin has its roots in the language of West Slavic inhabitants of the area of today's Berlin, and may be related to the Old Polabian stem berl-/birl- ("swamp")."
"Repeat please!"
also would be interesting to see an episode on the early Dutch sub campaign against Japan
Agreed. My dad is currently dating a descendant of Admiral Doorman, but let's face it, the story of the Dutch surface fleet in WW2 is a bit on the nasty-brutish-short side.
bificommander F for ABDA force
Yes, I would find that interesting as well.
@@bificommander The whole of the Netherlands was complacent and late in trying to get ready for war, given the industrial capacity it had. But the focus was very much on the recovery from the Great Depression, although the Dutch government wasn't doing too good of a job at that either.
And a lot of Dutch doctrine was stuck in the 19th century, as we had been neutral in the Great War. I think part of it, was also betting on being able to stay neutral again. But I think especially Dutch intelligence should have had more resources, and been much more active in monitoring Germans and Japanese.
Yes I would very much like to see that, sounds like they had a lot more succes than the surface fleet.
"They managed to escape japanese territory by pretending to be an island"
How he said that just kills me
Thank you for covering navies of nations other than the big half dozen. This was a WORLD war, after all.
And who is not European there?
@@Neithan02wat? The free navies are of those nations invaded, Germany didn't quite get to invade outside Europe.
@@cardozoluciano8362What about Thailand? Their situation was complicated, and they were invaded by Japan.
Though everywhere else Japan invaded was either a colony (ie Indonesia) or not taken over completely (China).
16:51 Even in the MN today the CVN Charles de Gaulle and all ships bearing the same name as one that served in the Free French navy fly the Free French ensign instead of the Tricolour.
Cool.
Actually, they have been given the right to fly the Free French Ensign as a bow Ensign at moorings or in Naval Pageants. At mooring (and at sea), they fly the Tricolor aft (or in the mast).
True .................. but they have white flags close to hand.
@@3vimages471 Funny how the old same stupid jokes keep going...
@@khaelamensha3624 A well deserved joke. Now get back to work and don't be sassy
This is a great idea for a WWII naval series. I'm looking forward to the late entering allied naves and neutral navies. One small correction however. The introduction to the British of the Hazemeyer stabilized 40 mm Bofors mount was when the Dutch minelayer Willem van der Zaan arrived in Portsmouth after the fall of the Netherlands. She was newly commissioned at the time, and the Hazemeyer mounts weren't yet fully developed. In particular, the Dutch version of the later British Type 282 radar wasn't mounted at the time of her escape, and the Dutch crew had to do the mounting and integration of the radar to the mounts with no written specifications, those having been left behind at the Dutch dockyard that was going to do the work just before the country was overrun by the Nazis.
The cruiser De Ruyter did have a fully developed battery of five twin Hazemeyer mounts, certainly one of the most effective light antiaircraft systems of 1940. The RN was duly impressed with the performance of the guns during practice with the Dutch navy in the prewar period, and the plan was to have her system fully documented while De Ruyter was in refit at Singapore in February, 1942. We now know the fate of both De Ruyter and Singapore during that disastrous month. Some of the details of the Hazemeyer mounts still weren't known to the RN even postwar, since the plans of both the Hazemeyer company and its German parent, Siemens-Halske, were destroyed in the ensuing fighting. Hazemeyer had planned to move the radar and the optical sights to an off mount director somewhat similar to the US Mark 51 director, but the war was over for the Dutch before that advanced beyond the planning stages.
The RN struggled for years with the STAAG and Buster systems, but by the time the mounts themselves would operate reliably, the 40 mm gun was considered obsolete. A few were hastily repossessed from museums for use aboard British landing ships during the Falklands war. Several Argentine aircraft were claimed damaged or destroyed by these guns, but I've yet to find confirmation of this. The gun crews used the weapons enthusiastically, firing off hundreds of rounds during the air attacks, so it's certainly possible at least one aircraft was hit by one of them.
I guess CZcams decided to release a day early....
Never mind about that sir Drach as long as we are able to watch it. Tqvm!!!
“Damn the schedule! Jouett, full speed! Four bells, Captain Drach!”
I don't see anyone complaining. New stuff from Drach is always appreciated.
I'm glad CZcams did. I've had a horrible day that actually started at 9am yesterday. And as I've collapsed into bed I saw this...
It's one of my favourite parts of the history of ww2. And this is officially my new favourite Drachinifel video* My grandfather who I now live with** is 93 and is a genuine great man. The men (and women) of this generation were incredible. As exemplified by your comment about men choosing to actively carry on the fight when it actually looked pretty dam hopeless to many in the dark days of late 1940. They may have been fighting for a lost cause. But if they were fighting for it, they were dam well prepared to die for it if needs be.
The idea that so many people could work together, in such extreme ways, towards a common goal, really shows what this generation were like... And they are all so humble about it! Eisenhower said it well on D-day and it applies to the war as a whole. It truly was a "great undertaking". That it was accomplished by so many nationalities is something I find oddly comforting.
Thank you for making my day(s) Drach' :)
* and I've watched them all multiple times now, bar the latest marathon drydocks. Sorry. Only watched them once!
** we look after each other
@@AdamMGTF Except De' gaulle who when he was elected president of France and ordered ALL Non French troops to leave France. I like Eisenhower's response to the order, It goes something like this " Does that include the American dead at Normandy ?" And how the French people responded to that by forcing De' Gaulle to exclude the war dead and resigned from office. At that time even French pride acknowledged the cost that the Americans paid for their freedom and over ruled their President .
God I love that story of the Polish ship vs the Bismarck! It's such a huge in your face to the Germans.
5 minutes guide to warships, the video is almost 5 times longer
*I see this as an absolute win*
Lol winning
I guess it's because it was about 5 navies ;)
It's worth mentioning that Norway also had a large number of merchant vessels which were, in most cases, willing participants in the war effort either as part of the convoys or operating behind enemy lines in various covert capacities. Nortraship, the organisation set up to coordinate the efforts among the Norwegian merchant fleet, controlled some 1000 ships at the time crewed by 30 000 men.
PS: While not technically warship related the whole way in which Nortraship was created and how much bureaucracy they had to spin to ensure that the ships could enter neutral harbours in the early stages of the war is pretty interesting.
I for one,
Would love to hear or read about that.
Especially since,
You win battles with tactics,
You win wars with logics.
The free French corvette Aconit (a former royal navy Flower class corvette) became the first allied ship to sink two U-Boots in a single trip (and in a single day for good measure), ramming u-444 and then damaging with cannonfire and ramming u-432. 24 out of the 96 german crew members were rescued by the crew of the Aconit.
You can see a picture of the Aconit after that trip on the 15:36 mark.
During one action, perhaps this one, a free French flower-class cracked her thrust block and required a tow. This happened while she was charging all over the ocean dropping depth charges firing her weapons and generally raising hell. Admiralty response? Court of inquiry as to how this could happen.
Such admirable little ships.
What an incredibly interesting video, and nicely delivered. I had so little knowledge of the Polish navy during WWII until now, thank you.
I knew about the exiled soldiers serving in ground forces, I knew all about the RAF taking thousands of exiled and commonwealth volunteers, but I had no idea about the Royal Navy having attached formations and ships from the ‘free navies’. Thankyou for a very informative video!
This is an often underrated aspect of navies in national strategy. Unless a nation is landlocked naval power can preserve a degree of national resistance and maintain it against an enemy occupier. A principle of guerrilla warfare then applies: for as long as resistance is kept up, even from afar by a fleet in exile, the nation has not yet really lost.
And a sizeable merchant marine can keep the govt-in-exile afloat financially.
Got to love the Greek's. Putting a officer on the stern to flip the Axis off as they drove away. Classic.
"Sorry, I'm late again...." LOL love your dry sense of humor! Another outstanding presentation, good sir!
Indeed.
I think it is safe to say, that if you would taking a bunch of PT boats and give them to the Polish, and said over there is a German warship get it! That said shift, would not exist anymore. Keep up the great work.
1:10 "Sorry I'm late again..." - US, as an American, I find that funny! I literally laughed out loud. :)
grondhero I didn't catch that on first watch. As another USA citizen I am also much amused. Sadly I know some of our quite vocal fellow citizens are narrow mindedly jingoistic enough not to appreciate the joke.
Late again? Or Just in time!? All a matter of how many dead young men your nation will tolerate.
You know I am not one of these Americans that does not recognize that we were late both times. However.
Given the sheer quantity of American blood and American gold and American valor spent I am quite sure that you can find it in yourself to recognize that you were lost and would have lost without that blood and gold and valor.
it took until almost 1942 until we Americans had more divisions in the field but even the Russians might have some succumbed without us.
Churchill is far and away my favorite leader of the war and the Battle of Britain was the stunning success of the invention on the fly of radar controlled real time air response system and to my mind the most impressive invention out of thousands.
And the world would have STILL fallen without America.
@@veloway Churchill gets more praise than he's deserving... remember, he declared war on a MASSIVELY superior nation (Germany) that otherwise wasn't going too fuck with England, and he got a lot of his own citizens killed for it -- and he would've succumb to Germany, if the US hasn't been supplying Britain with tanks, Jeeps, guns, ammo, food, aircraft etc.
Britain was, and still is a tiny island, and they had no remaining allies on mainland Europe by the time Germany started bombing them. They didn't have the resources or money to build enough new supplies, nor have enough men to sustain a war with Germany, and there were no more allied nation's in Europe (that weren't under German control) to give them anything significant.
Churchill nearly eradicated his whole country, and he would have, if the US didn't get involved.
@@morteparla6926 it is time like these that men must ask themselves "What is the price of freedom?"
That photo of the Richelieu leaving New-York is astonishing! Love those Norwegian designs. What a great video! As a former member of the "Marine Nationale"- my two legs and left arm will always remember the trip if you get the very messy picture I can tell you- and being eager to learn more about Polish forces during WW2 I applause if my left elbow decides it's the right time to do so of course!
ORP Conrad was named in honour of Józef Konrad Korzeniowski, known as Joseph Conrad, Polish maritime writer and author of Lord Jim for example :) Great channel, love to hear all those stories. Thanks
I live in the Netherlands and I am happy to hear that a Dutch ship escaped Japan by discussing itself as a island
God I still love Churchills quote regarding the greeks. It instills such a feeling of heroism and bravery, even for someone who isn't even from Greece. Just hearing that someone so prominent say something so powerful about a people is absolutely amazing.
Have you ever considered doing an episode on the "Shetland Bus" operations?
It was a link between the Shetland Islands & Norway which ran for pretty much the duration of the War & were involved in some extremely interesting operations. Even towing the Chariots which were intended to place explosives under the Tirpitz.
They operated Norwiegen trawlers to start with but were gifted 3 American Sub Chasers around 43/44.
It would be worth looking into & I would love to see your perspective on it.
In total, 250'ish ships manned with trained, experienced and hacked-off crews. Up against the "master race(s)"? A salute to these brave and victorious fighters.
+ the 250 of the Royal Navy and you wonder why Germany never put a fleet to sea.
Now even the Iranians think they’re big boys.
Left out the “Terrible Twins” i.e. ORP Sokol and ORP Dzik. Both boats sank a lot of shipping while operating in the Mediterranean.
I thought you meant these: www.netherlandsnavy.nl/Special_twins.htm
I was not aware of Polish ships with the same nickname, but apparently these are two submarines?
Sokol was written on the conning tower of the sub seen in the video at 6:47
Terrible Twins = TT
TT+ORP=TTORP
TTORP=Torpedo!
There’s a picture of Sokol in here
@@rogerwilco2 Yes, british type U: Sokół (Falcon)-(planned HMS Urchin) and Dzik (Boar)-(unknown british planned name)
Greetings from Poland :)
Greek destroyer Adrias (Hunt Class) has an awesome story. You can visit the Averof in Faliro, Athens - on of the only pre-WWI cruisers still in existence.
The History Guy published an episode about the submarine Orzel
Yeah? Good for him. Ask him what happened to the USS Liberty. Seems as though he doesn't think it deserves to be remembered.
@@Alex-uy7pc The Liberty at is a well-known story, with plenty of vids about the incident. The History Guy focuses on little-known history--as explained in every one of his videos.
@@thedevilinthecircuit1414 very few people I've talked to ever say they've heard about it (unless they were service men at the time.). And nobody understands it was done by Israelis in an attempt to lure us into war with Egypt. (Which turned into the 6 day war)
Dear God... Still haven't finished my Drydock marathon yet!
That is really interesting I hadn't heard about the Dutch submarine campaign against the Japanese deffently something I will look into.
During WW2 both my father and my uncle were wireless operators. My father would join the RAF and spend the war as one of Bert Harris's "Old Lags." He never talked about his war.
My uncle joined the Royal Navy. He too wouldn't talk about his war. I did meet him after I spent three day in the National Archives researching the Special Operations Executive (SOE). He then opened up about his war. After training he was assigned to the Royal Norwegian Navy and put onto the MTB 709. The reason for the transfer was that the Admiralty insisted that the wireless operators were native English speakers, to avoid problems with transmitting orders, it was bad enough having to translate coded Morse messages without the added problem of another language.
The summers were spent into the Channel chasing Germans, mostly E-Boats. His boat was shot up quite badly on one occasion.
In winter they went to Shetland, where they were to run supplies in Norway bring and SOE agents in both directions to support the Norwegian Resistance as part of the "Shetland Bus." Because the Resistance couldn't always meet the ship as schedules they would cover the vessel in camouflage netting and hope the Germans didn't spot them. Supporting the resistance put the crews firmly with Hitler's "Commando Order." They did manager to bag a U-Boat running on the surface on one trip.
Now the northern North Sea in winter is one of the worst places to operate MTB's so his war was far comfortable.
In May 1945 the ships went to Norway with Gerry on board. They ended up in Fosnavåg, (midway between Bergen and Trondheim). The locals arranged a p[arty for the returning heroes. Now my uncle is an introvert. He decided to sit out the festivities and catch up on some paperwork and look after the vessel. Later in the evening one of his shipmates brought a girl on board the ship for some privacy. During their encounter an oil lamp was knocked over and the ship caught fire. The resulting explosion sank MTBs 709 and 715. Naturally my unle was somewhat miffed. "I survived the war, only to be sunk in peace time, in harbour, by one of my shipmates!" Gerry was left with the cloths he was dressed in and without papers (which really concerned him.
Uncle Gerry was always sorry that he had never seen anything in print about his war, fortunately before his death I was able to get him a copy of "The Waves are Free" by James Irvine (1988) which is a great study of the "Shetland Bus"
Fascinating explanation of a little-known part of the naval war; thanks for your work on this - I really enjoyed it.
Discovered you last week and have watched several of your naval vids; you do a good job with these; well-researched and interesting . . . but KILL the mechanical drone at the end! (I know, I know - you're giving employment to the Less Fortunate, and I shouldn't carp. [Speaking of carp, did you see the John Oliver segment on salmon? Query CZcams John Oliver salmon cannon and see what comes up! Very naval, it is, what with cannons and all!]) Cheers.
Thank you. By now most people know about those psychoti....I mean highly motivated Polish seamen, pilots, and soldiers but i didn't kn ow about most of these other countries bringing in their ships to fight alongside the British.
Living in Poland under German occupation during WW2 was certainly not "peaceful"... I think charging Bismarck with destroyer was much better option and many Poles living under occupation would prefer to do that rather than living in constant fear of being shot, burned alive or sending to concentration camp...
as a Norwegian american and from a naval family, I must say it made me smile to see Stord mentioned, The poles are brave but we couldn't let them out do us!
Excellent video. I knew about the contribution of the Poles in the battle of Britain, but the naval contributions of all these nations were new to me. Thanks.
Love the discussion of the Polish Navy :)
Yes, you should do a video on the Polish submarine Orzel. As a submariner and lover of history, I've studied submarine history for years, and I never heard of this story until I saw a recent video from CZcamsr "The History Guy."
When the Germans invaded the Netherlands, they captured some of their submarines and pressed them into service. What is ironic is that some of the Dutch submarines had snorkels, which the Germans saw as useless and ordered them removed. The Germans would begin installing snorkels on their submarines in 1943 due to the high danger of recharging their batteries on the surface. Today, all military submarines have snorkel masts installed for ventilation and diesel purposes.
yup, The snorkel is a Dutch invention.
IIRC The british navy also promptly ordered the snorkels (snuivers) to be removed from the submarines for some reason.
The "Richelieu" was modernized in the US and then served with its full french crew in the British pacific fleet as the main boat. She was in Singapore to receive the Japanese surrender.
I knew about free infantry from many of the countries represented in this video, but this is a topic I never even thought to ask about. Thanks!
America is never late, Drachinifel Baggins.. She arrives precisely when she means to!
True and well said!
"You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else."
I'm in the middle of an extended viewing of LOTR! Literally just finished The Two Towers last night, coincidence? I think not!
In 1940 RAF commanders of Polish maned fighter squadrons often wrote of how almost uncontrollable when Luftwaffe aircraft came into visual range.
"oh im sorry, i was under the impression the goal is to shoot at the enemy?"
@@Defenestrationflight The commanders would try to be using tactics and planning and the Polish pilots would go charging at the Germans screaming in Polish. Many of them were not only veterans of 1939 Poland but 1940 Norway and France. Many of them were already ace's before joining the RAF.
@@keithplymale2374 in, I think it was the film 'Hurricane!' a Polish pilot says to his RAF Commander,"you are treating us like children! we know how to kill Germans we've been doing since the war started! and the CO turns around and says "and you lost!"
16 squadrons of Polish in the RAF, with 303 Squadron (Polish) having the highest number of enemy kills for a Hurricane squadron in the Battle of Britain.
I forget the book... :(
CO of a Polish Hurricane Squadron in BoB, takes his pilots into battle and comes out alive, no kills, almost has a few but others get them. On landing he complains his Poles were unsporting, stealing his kills. The Senior Pole then explains how many times the squadron saved his arse, and explains they have been keeping each other alive for a while longer than the RAF had been in the fight.
Might the Polish 'Conrad' have been named for Joseph Conrad? Quite a life he led.
That was exactly the case.
Nice job, perhaps a separate one on the various merchant navies as well? I know some for example Norwegian tankers where particularly useful
Absolutely. In 1940 Norwegian tankers accounted for nearly 20% of the world's total tanker tonnage, and with the Norwegian entry into the war accounted for nearly half the Allied tanker tonnage
Wrote a post about it, but it's worth noting that in Europe the Norwegian merchant fleet was among the biggest of it's kind even though the tankers naturally was the crown jewel in terms of direct military value. Still with Britain isolated every ton across the Atlantic helped. Not to mention that a lot of Norwegian ships were crucial to a lot of covert military operations.
@@aBoogivogi And the various free merchant marines were able to support their various govts-in-exile economically, not to mention in the case of the Dutch, provide troopships and liners for conversion to hospital ships.
The Dutch merchant lines based in the East Indies were a major asset in the SWPA fighting in support of the Americans and Australians, especially logistic support for the New Guinea campaign, keeping Port Moresby supplied and transporting Allied reinforcements in support of the counteroffensive to drive back the Japanese.
One example was the ex-German train ferry Karsik, which was used as a tank transport, carrying US M3 Stuarts from Australia to New Guinea to reinforce the Allied counteroffensive to clear the Buna/Gona peninsula.
dutch subs in the pacific mostly operated out of Western Australia along with US ones they are well remembered
One mistake regarding the fate of the Yugoslav navy during the invasion was that the fleet was captured by the Italians. The truth is that the provisions of the surrender of the Yugoslav armed forces (not the country) stipulated that the surviving ships (very few were sunk by enemy action during the brief war) are to be handed over to the Italians - which was carried out with exception of the ships mentioned in the video to have defiantly escaped to Alexandria and the destroyer Zagreb which was defiantly scuttled in the Kotor Bay by two junior officers, who went down with the ship.
The Dutch high command agreed to similar terms at the surrender, nevertheless the crew of the ships that could leave, left the Netherlands for the UK to fight on and others crashed or scuttled their ships.
This video has reminded of the story of Dutch destroyer HNLMS Tromp. A ship that kept being listed as sunk but never was.
Great overview. I'll be looking forward to any individual ship guides for those that were particularly outstanding.
Well....that entrance was dramatic. We all know Drach has a flair for it.
Loved this video, so good.
Five bucks says the Officers and Crew of ORP Piorun painted wings on the funnels of the ship and welded a spare mast to the bow. The Bismarck is lucky she wasn't assaulted by a sudden storm of pierogies, that would have ended the battle right there.
Nice work Drach on an overlooked topic. And interesting to see them grouped together like that.
Trolling Bismark with a destroyer..... Legendary stuff ! Now, I do understand why you didn't speak about the Royal New Zealand Navy and your very good reasons for not doing so, but it would be super if you could do an instalment about the Kiwi sailors and the serious ass kicking they gave their enemies. It would be ever so nice to see that ! Cheers...
When you were covering the Free French Navy, I noted the Submarine Surcouf on the chart. Have you done a history of this Sub and if not, how about a program on this unique vessel?
Tune in this weekend :)
One another sub we'll know is the Casablanca who did escape from Toulon
Again, love your vids. I didn't know about this aspect of the war and it's a interesting watch to say the least. When I'm not chucking up hair balls I love to learn new things about the past and this is one aspect that hasn't been shown about WW2. Thanks for the effort and time putting this out....
I've read in a number of discussions that in war-time the smaller vessels (MTBs, mine-sweepers, destroyers) represent a value much higher than their size, especially since the smaller crews make experienced crews more important, and more hulls give you increased options for action.
I love that America is a latercomer to Pellenor Fields, because there are actually canonically a significant portion of Gondor’s levies who aren’t able to get their troops to Minas Tirith in time
wonderful work - love the vid. Never heard about the anecdote about the Poles, that is f'n awesome.
Right after the Free French ship accidentally runs around, the captain happily announces that they are the first Frenchman to "land" on France.
Meanwhile the Allied crews are wondering why the French insist on making unmovable fortifications on every damn advance!
Poles be like "we'll take those warships you're not using tyvm"
Honestly, Britain built ships fast than we could train their crews so they were hand freely to the Free allied forces navies.
Bear in mind that just 20 years before there was no Poland, it was divided, so to have any fleet at all is a miracle......
Great cideo.
Not enough is said about the service men who defied the Germans and continued to fight for their country's freedom.
I had no idea these 'minor' navy's had so many ships.
Dutch defence strategy:
1. Create Navy.
2. Ensure Navy survives after surrender.
3. Turn much of country into ocean.
"but de Gaulle being who he is..."
insert unreasonable and unwarranted demand and somehow (miraculously, don't ask me to do it again) proceed to get it
That's my boiii!!!!
Great video, the poles flashing I am a pole before charging like a madlad to the Bismarck, coolest thing ever.
I will apologize in advance to all the brave French Mariners now. Sorry. But de Gaulle was an absolute cock knocker.
Xenophobic, arrogant and a coward. Then, after the filthy Americans liberated his country for the second time in a decade had the de Gall to act as if he had received no help at
all. "How dare you arrogant Americans expect gratitude from zee French????" " Yoo deed nussing too asseest us een our valiant stroggle against zee Bosch!!!!"
@@bassmith448bassist5 You have to be a hell of a moron to write such a thing. Totally permeated with Anglo-Saxon propaganda. So I invite you to open a real history book and learn a little bit about the character. And seriously a coward or so that's how you name the soldiers who stand out on the battlefield.
Clément Bastien Not a coward but a real arrogant a-hole. He wanted to stay in the high stakes game of war and dictate policy. Kind of like the poker player sitting at a 1K minimum bet table and had about 1.00 to his name.
@@supersami7748 we can debate his value in the war effort (though if he was this worthless it begs the question of why the allies even bothered with him in the first place) but his contribution to France and the way he was able to preserve as much of the power pre WW2 France had makes him a hero for any french person today.
Now if it came with the cost of a little headache to the allies good that means they're listening.
Polish ship You are ordered to turn to 2,3,0. 'Repeat Please!
And how many don't get that?
@@scottgiles7546 Didn't get what? Ripit plis.
🍹😂👍
Here's the clip: czcams.com/video/yXf1bhEEXd0/video.html
"Are you deaf as well as blind?" "Oh gawd strewth..."
I like the name "Conrad" for the cruiser. Joseph Conrad is a great example of the ties between Poland and Britain as he was born and educated in Poland but spent most of his life in the UK, or to be more precise, sailing around the world in British ships, and then writing in English even though he only learned the language in his twenties. So the name brings together the maritime tradition of both countries, which I think is nice. Plus, Conrad is a great writer.
He also wrote better English prose than most British writers!
Only drach would cover this. He is the best.
5:45 Initially they wanted to name the ship as ORP Wilno (Vilnus, capital of Lithuania) or ORP Lwow (Lviv, city in Ukraine) but this hasn't landed successfully with the Royal Navy. So Poles settled on ORP Conrad after Joseph Conrad, English writer and sailor of Polish origin.
List of the Polish Navy @2:50 is wrong in some places. The sister ship of Burza (Tempers) is Wicher (Gale), not witcher! The sister ship of Grom (Thunder) is Błyskawica (Lighting) - there written with some spelling errors. There are also some spelling errors among the smaller vessels (like Warszawa and Jaskółka and Żuraw).
The Dutch thing is wrong as well, not sure what his source is. It seems Afrikaans, not Dutch or something.
Do it correctly-we only accept signals of Polish communiques on official blinkerlight.🚢
I mean, with a ship named Witcher, it can either be joke or a serious mistake.
Not to mention it omits the Hunt class escorts completely.
Excellent, I would suggest one more benefit from these forces. Politically they enforced the idea that WWII was the world against the Axis and not the UK against Germany.
The segment about De Gaulle being De Gaulle reminded me this Churchill quote about "the heaviest cross [he] had to bear was the croos of Lorraine."
If you want to know, he was flagged at the military academy for his "King in Exile" Attitude. The examiner was a good judge of character.
Thanks again for your work.
I'd love you to make a video covering stories like for example ORP Orzel escape from the baltic, Dutch ship that escaped by pretending to be an Island and simillar crazy stories
The Mighty Jingles narrated the story of the Orzel in one of his 'Mingles with Jingles' videos a few months ago. Worth searching for even if Drach gets around to doing his version.
"Sorry, late again"...very droll Sirrah. Well done :)
My dad served in the RCNVR and served on corvettes and a frigate during the battle Of The Atlantic. A Polish destroyer served in the same escort group and he remembered that the RCN had a high opinion of the Poles.
I just finished the dry dock and had a suggestion for making answering questions easier.
You could release some of the questions to viewers and let us submit answers or do research so you don’t have to.
Obviously you would have to check for accuracy, but that might speed up the process.
Keep up the good work
Damn i'm happy to be subbed to this channel. Drachinifel, if it interests you, do a video on the fateful 1943 mission of the Hunt Class Destroyers, Hurworth and Adrias.
If all the Free Naval Forces at their greatest strength were combined they would equate to an entire medium sized Navy with every class of ship except for possibly a carrier.
They had a CV, MNS Bearn - not a great one, she served in the valuable role as an aircraft transport under the Cross of Lorraine, not a carrier, but it was a job that needed to be done and she freed up a CVE or two.....en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_aircraft_carrier_Béarn
Also you could count the MV Macoma and Gadila from the Dutch, wich was a converted transport to give some ASW air support to fleets but not have to use entire carriets
Slight point of order.
Royal New Zealand Navy did not exist at start of WWII.
New Zealand division did until October 1941. so it was still in the war longer than the US
@@thepolishnz not hard though lol
The Graf Spee begs to differ.
The New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy was, the NZ Navy. Its genesis goes back, to before, WW1. In fact NZ, as a gift to Britain, and as a, contribution to the defence of the then, British Empire, funded a Dreadnought Battle cruiser, HMS New Zealand, commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1912. Anyway, in October 1941, simply, in recognition of the reality, the name officially became, the Royal New Zealand Navy. And yes there was, at the time, and still is, a Naval base at Auckland NZ, also called Devonport. Although i think the reference in this thread, perhaps, refers to British dockyards. And no, the cruisers were not just donated. They were part of an agreement with Britain, where in exchange for a healthy financial contribution to the upkeep of the Singapore Naval Base, 2 modern light cruisers, would be made available, to be, stationed in NZ. Under this arrangement, NZ took full responsibility, financially and otherwise, for the, provisioning, maintenance and upkeep of these ships, and for providing and maintaining the majority of their crews. Under the same agreement, and this also applied to the Royal Australian Navy cruisers, at the time, these ships were to be placed under direct British Admiralty jurisdiction in times of war. All of these agreements were part, of the then, British Commonwealth Defence arrangements, hammered out in London. One of those Cruisers HMS/HMNZS Achilles fought, along with other British Warships, in the Battle of The River Plate, in 1939, against the German Pocket Battleship Graf Spee.
@@tomsemmens6275 One of my favorite bits of WW2 trivia, HMS Achilles from the Battle of the River Plate was part of the New Zealand division, later to be HMNZS Achilles and then finally INS Delhi, played itself in the 1956 movie The Battle of the River Plate. So it fought the battle and took part in the reenactment of it.