Claim your SPECIAL OFFER for MagellanTV here: https://sponsr.is/magellantv_drachinifel_0724 Start your free trial TODAY so you can watch Worlds Greatest Ships and other fascinating documentaries!
Today we take a look at the start of the British Pacific Fleet, an oft-forgotten aspect of WW2 in the Pacific.
00:00:00 – Intro
00:02:00 – British Pacific Strategy in the Interwar Period
00:04:39 – Early WW2 for the RN in the Pacific
00:06:24 – The situation in 1944
00:19:22 – The fleet starts to form
00:26:57 – New carrier paradigm
00:29:45 – First operations
Sources:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/British-Pacific-Fleet-Powerful-Strike/dp/1526702835
https://www.amazon.co.uk/British-Pacific-Experience-1944-50-Maritime/dp/0754668517
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Forgotten-Fleet-British-Pacific-1944-45/dp/B0BRZ1Q8CB
https://www.amazon.co.uk/British-Pacific-Fleet-1944-45-downfall/dp/1472856775
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sumatra-1944-45-British-campaign-Campaign/dp/1472862414
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Eastern-Fleet-Indian-Ocean-1942/dp/1526797763
Naval History books, use code ‘DRACH’ for 25% off – https://www.usni.org/press/books?f%5B0%5D=subject%3A1966
Free naval photos and more – www.drachinifel.co.uk
Want to support the channel? – https://www.patreon.com/Drachinifel
Want a shirt/mug/hoodie – https://shop.spreadshirt.com/drachinifels-dockyard/
Want a poster? – https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/Drachinifel
Want to talk about ships? https://discord.gg/TYu88mt
‘Legionnaire’ by Scott Buckley – released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au
source
Pinned post for Q&A 🙂
Excellent, so glad for this, and it being as a series 9n the BPF, I can somewhat understand the logistics, but not Adm. King not wanting them helping end the damn war. But years ago I read a book on the war at sea that covered alot of the whole war, British perspective, it spoke 9f the BPF having to supply its own equipment and such, but a story in this book spoke of the British needing 3 spare avengers, they went to the US fleet supply hoping to get some where they were told, in no uncertain terms, that they only gave out 6 at a time, and for a case of scotch they could have a dozen. This is allied teamwork. And a example of, the CNO don't need to know everything.
Drachism of the day: "Introducing German panzers to the concept of 'there's always a bigger fish' in comically unequal artillery duels during the landings in Normandy"
I’m from Leumeah Sydney Australia and have reading and watching naval stuff since the 1980’s. In one of my naval magazines it had a section of several pages of the BPF in Sydney harbour packed with RN ships in lots of bays and alongside the wharves available.
Thanks very much Drach! As a fan of WWII Pacific and USN operations, this is the FIRST detailed description I've encountered of Royal Navy Carrier/Naval/FAA operations in that theater. I'd say Meridian I & II more than validated the RN's value to existing and future Allied operations on the road to the home islands of Japan.
I can't prove it, but I suspect Admiral King hated his own mother.:o) Thanks again.
31:04 that ship's cat on the flight deck, must have been a Grumman hellcat in some other incarnation LOL
I found Andrew Boyd's "The Royal Navy in Eastern Waters: Linchpin of Victory 1935-1942 " worth a read as well.
Sorry to nit pick, but in the Magellan ad for the “13 Hours that Saved Britain”, a later type of Bf-109 that, to my knowledge, was never used in the BofB is depicted on the intro slide. The other one is “Angle of Attack, How Naval Aviation Changed the Face of War” where the intro slide shows an F-15 and F-16… Air Force airplanes. Maybe the actual documentaries are great, but there is little more off putting to me than lazy or uninformed promotional people, or worse yet producers who don’t proof their promotions and assume the viewers are not astute enough to see obvious discrepancies. It makes the viewer a skeptic from the first word that is uttered, and these two examples are only the ones I noticed immediately. Now, I’m ready for the eye rollers who say things like, ‘get over yourself’. Go ahead, but you can stuff it.
I’m from Kentucky. Due to a youthful indiscretion, I cannot partake in Rum.
Can I substitute a smooth Kentucky Bourbon while I listen?
Ooops! @35:00 you said 1944 instead of 1945.
Your comment at 28.44 that the Avenger would supplant the Barracuda needs qualification as it’s a commonly held myth. In fact four squadrons of Barracudas were in training for the four light fleet carriers to be deployed in July 45. They were to perform night dive bombing, a capability unique to the BPF at that time and required for Op Olympic. A further twelve Barra squadrons would have followed had the war gone into 1946. Pending the Mk V, the Barracuda IIs and IIIs were to operate with two rather than three crew to restore performance. Entertaining and astute commentary though, thanks.
Excellent presentation Drach.
The logistics of WW2 played such a large part in the US war effort, and you don't often hear much about it. But it was critical, and without it, the US would have been next to useless, as we were too far away from the various conflict areas. Being able to move material to where it could be put to good use, was essential.
Second to that was a very heavy emphasis on damage control in the USN. Lots of ships were saved that for other nations would have been lost. And even minor damage could usually be either made good or a non-effective on combat ability.
Great video!!
The Pacific theater has been seen as almost a sole US venture, so this provides some valuable balance showing allied effort
It's funny that King would "object" to British involvement considering the involvement of "USS Robin" in 1942 with the US & British sharing planes & CAP direction information. Which I'm sure had made a difference in '43 & '44!!
And I'm sure that all the mothers in the US that were working in factories to help supply the war effort that had husband & sons fighting would be eager for the Brits to join in and put a quicker end to the war so their families could all be home.
R.N. fuel fittings were not compatable for U.S. Navy UNREPS.
I guess that was one of the first things they had to fix if they were seeking interoperability.
+ 1 vote for Eastern Fleet video😊
The US logistics train always amazes me. everything had to be designed to operate at long distances for resupply. The Chieftain, for example, had a show on the sherman and why it was designed as it was. The slab sides meant the were easy to pack on a ship, the short barrel gun also packed better, it was reliable and easy to repair as sending back to the US for repair was impossible, etc.
Wonderful story. Thank you.
I watched Run Silent, Run Deep the other day. By and large it's a good film. However, of the umpteen torpedoes fired by the Nerka, only one failed in any way. That one circled back to the boat which dived deeper to avoid being hit. Later one of the crew says that only one in a hundred torpedoes go wrong. In 1943. The credits thanked the US Navy for its help making the film. It seems a simple conclusion to draw, right?
"Armed with working torpedoes" just hammered another nail in.
Also, with the British fleet on board in the Pacific it would mean more of a need for alcoholic beverages for sailors. Also meaning that the US sailors that prefered such would have a better chance of getting them & smuggling them to his foot locker. And so maybe the torpedo juice could be left inside the torpedoes so they worked when sent at the enemy.
It's kinda like the Brits were returning the favor for Ploesti.
At last, someone who pronounces 'homogeneous' correctly.
Finally, you get around to this video. Thank you as this topic is so very rarely covered naval historians, along with the Japanese East Indian fleet action.
i´ve been waiting for this video for several years. finally.
Just shows that Jellicoe really knew his naval strategy
Gotta Love Jellico. One of the best.
4:52 I'm an American. What is a "working torpedo"?
Can't wait for the next instalment. So interesting. Thank you
Pleas, could you tell us who made the photograph at 17:37? That is just an amazing story telling picture!
It's interesting to see how the Royal Navy came to similar approaches for striking shore facilities and resupply at sea.
That was great.
14 escort carriers then, the current RN doesnt have 14 of anything😅
As the famous quote goes "Amateurs study tactics, Professionals study logistics"
Commenting for the algorithm
Greg mentioned a great contribution of the British Pacific Fleet to the victory over Japan. Thanks for covering this largely unknown story.
7:03 to 7:12 best joke ever lol I laughed so hard also video idea! This is somewhat alternate history but what would happen if the the Royal Navy’s fleet went up against the US pacific fleet. Now obviously there are complications or it would just be unfair so take the 1941/pearl harbour fleet right before it was bombed and put that up against the RN eastern fleet so the 2 ships at the start and to make it fair the other ships that would join after they were sunk
For more vids on the BPF, viewers might want to check out the Armoured Archivist (formerly Armoured Carriers) YT channel.
This channel is a terrific resource. Thanks
In the beginning of WW2, the British obviously failed to recognize the value of aircraft carriers for effective naval war making abilities. Kind of like the current US and European (including Russian) navies' total failures to recognize the value of small remotely controlled naval drones for sinking major warships.
Imagine how effective naval logistics could be if the knowledge and procedures of the modern day Amazon operation were used.
Admiral Vian? Well that's a step in the right direction. To steal a "Lawrence of Arabia", line.
yep ONLY 2 YEARS TOO LATE
29:26 – Admiral Vian's eyebrows are impressive. Did he grow them out to reduce the light reaching his eyes from above as an alternative to wearing sunglasses or an American style baseball cap?
curious, at the beginning of the war Britain needed supplies from North America to survive, at this point in the war in the Pacific for the British fleet where were most of the supplies coming from?
‘Think western thought on Japan “sneak attacks” should look to the unannounced 1852 arrival of Perry, under orders from USA President Millard Fillmore, whose primary goal was to force an end to Japan's 220-year-old policy of isolation and to open Japanese ports to American trade, through the use of gunboat diplomacy if necessary. It could be said that memory of that forced entry against a perceived weak political entity was a lesson that striking unannounced did yield desired results. (Partly used Wiki)
One humorous bit: Initially the BPF's Seafires could only be used for CAP because of their limited combat range. Comander Evans, Implacable's air wing commander, solved this problem in June 1945 by trading a few cases of whiskey for surplus P-40 drop tanks lying around a USAAF depot in New Guinea.
I love you Drachinifel!!!❤❤❤
When you show a photograph of substantial ships in line astern, I wonder about the following. I had a lift on a tug which was towing our work barge, a flat box. The ship's Capt paid out a significant length of cable, he said to keep the barge beyond the disturbance of his tug's twin screws' wash, and reduce the drag.
This was long ago, my memory has lost the details
So, the fleet at 7:15 seems to have a combined wash extending beyond the first 8 vessels, Would it be a matter of appearance over practicality, style over sense?