00:00:00 – Intro
00:00:43 – I-19 hit on USS North Carolina
00:06:11 – What did ironclads do in the US Civil War?
00:08:39 – Pretty much all of the RFA fleet oilers and tankers of WW2, with the exception of the smaller Ranger-class, had a superstructure with funnel in the back and another superstructure in the middle of the ship. What were the main reasons for such a consistently split superstructure?
00:11:28 – During the Solomon Islands campaign when the IJN tried to run supplies in oil drums hoping to float them ashore, would they have in the short run been more successful if they made the oil drums look like contact mines to delay any USN approach to the barrels?
00:13:39 – I’m curious if you’ve read this paper (https://direct.mit.edu/isec/article/43/3/141/12218/Why-China-Has-Not-Caught-Up-Yet-Military) that examines the Britain vs. German naval arms race? It makes the claim that the rising states will find it harder to take the “advantage of backwardness” as military weapons systems become increasing complex.
00:19:38 – 3 best/worst DD classes of WW2?
00:24:53 – Ships not being what you think they are?
00:28:41 – There are several famous examples of ships ‘running away’ to avoid their fate, such as HMS Warspite, HMS Vanguard and what was left of USS Oregon. Of all the breaks for freedom from the breakers yard that you know off, what would be your favorite?
00:30:59 – Human scale to battleship shells?
00:32:03 – If you could command one type one ship (eg Ship of the Line, Pre Dreadnought, Aircraft Carrier Etc) from any era or navy what would it be and why?
00:33:27 – USS San Diego recognition?
00:37:36 – How was the Laffey able to be put back into action after being nuked?
00:38:56 – Is it true that one of the early Lexington-class battlecruiser designs was similar to the British splendid cats?
00:43:07 – Give us a selection of the worst jobs any sailor had, civilian or military.
00:47:06 – Machine shops on USN ships?
00:54:00 – How would the Ise hybrids actually work?
00:57:01 – Which was more lethal to the battleship, Air power or Victory?
01:01:54 – Has a group of capital ships ever combined their reconnaissance floatplanes into a makeshift airgroup and conducted an airstrike in the fashion that we more typically see from carrier-based aircraft?
01:04:50 – USN FCS in WW2?
01:10:16 – Renaming ships after ships lost in the same conflict?
01:12:57 – Just how survivable was a battle ship if a shell managed to bypass the armor and nothing like a magazine exploded?
01:16:22 – What are your thoughts on the Ship of Theseus and and what type of refit or rebuild would constitute a new ship?
01:23:39 – What Carrier was a match for the Bearn?
01:26:02 – Sabaton’s song ‘Dreadnought’
01:29:56 – USN escorts and the attack on ON-92
01:34:26 – USS Arizona original name?
01:38:25 – Smoke shells for ranging?
01:41:32 – How were battleship turrets assembled?
01:45:39 – Hood/Iowa BC/BB debate?
01:47:04 – Can you elaborate on some of the preservation and anticorrosion measures used on museum ships?
01:53:07 – Suction when a ship sinks?
02:06:23 – Had Wasp (CV-7) survived the Guadalcanal Campaign. (Assume the torpedo salvo from I-19 either missed or hit other US Navy ships) Would it later join Saratoga and Enterprise as part of Task Force 38/58. Or would it be reassigned as a training carrier along with Ranger?
02:08:15 – Which weapon system was most successful in sinking capital ships in the European theatre during WW2? And was there a significant change during the war?
02:10:03 – How important was capturing Norway to the German Naval effort in WW2?
02:12:10 – The racing yacht America was pressed into service and served both sides of US Civil War. Were there any other racing and other unusual vessels that were converted to warships?
02:14:19 – Has there ever been a 1 v 1 action between ships that resulted in a boarding action and both sides suffered extreme to near total casualties ? Ie neither side wanted to give in or surrender.
02:17:07 – How did a nations ships get insurance?
Pinned post for Q&A 🙂
Do you have à concrète story to tell about a boat from ww1 or ww2 found somewhere?
Drach, brilliant job discussing the reason for split superstructures on tankers. The reason that it died out has less to do with modern technology than with safety. They stopped putting the helm and deck department’s quarters forward because of a number of accidents in the postwar era where vapors in the tanks underneath the deckhouse exploded, causing massive casualties to the people inside. It also meant that getting from the forward deckhouse to the aft to reach the lifeboats required crossing the open deck, which could be an issue if the section between the two was on fire or the ship had broken in half. The added expense of having to build the aft deckhouse much higher to accommodate the extra personnel and to obtain the same field of view was the price of improved crew safety.
Yes, razee frigates were brilliant.
It's called war there are no guarantees.
For the sunken ship (around 2:01:00) simulation, there is a possibility that the initial food dye being dragged up and out may have been due to interaction with the water molecules as they are slightly attracted to each other, same principle used when sucking up a liquid in a hose or a tap when used to move the water along, due to intramolecular forces so any initial contact would pull any water or food dye towards the water hence the blob that started to appear near the start of the bottle caps sinking. This effect would be much less obvious with a large vessel.
Thanks for going the extra nautical mile to demonstrate the downward current created by a sinking vessel. Superb. 👏👏👏
Command any ship, from any era? Easy choice: HMS Beagle in 1831. Her crew included a young gentleman serving as a naturalist in a supernumerary position and he would go on to publish some intersting ideas as a result of the voyage.
How big of an issue is asbestos abatement on museum ships?
I KNEW IT, Drach's flagship would be a square masted Frigate ❤️
One time, me and 3-4 friends had a lively, alcohol lubricated, discussion on the whole "Ship of Theseus" concept regarding heavy metal bands.
(Specifically Judas Priest VS KK Downing's new band.) It did sync well with Drach's ideas.
As a tie in to the machine shop question, I'd point out for anybody who might have missed it the Ryan's Battleship New Jersey video on her overhead rails included a bit on the hatches and chain hoists you could use to lift machinery up to broadway, and then from their up again to the machine shop deck, and onto the shop's overhead rails.
Interesting that at least on the Iowas you had some assistance in maneuvering broken things though the ship to the machine shops and back.
"I love the Yorktown class CV's. I mean the Hornet and Yorktown took so much punishment and they would refuse to go down. I have tried to find what made them so durable in there design. Was it compartmentalized really well?" Love the channel
The ship of Theseus, remained me of only 'Fools and Horses' – Tigger getting an award for using the same broom 20yrs, its was well maintained in that time in hand 17 brush heads, and 14 handles.
If your coming to Canada pack for a Scottish winter with a chance of not needing any of it.
I'm sure someone will have told you before but I'll make the message too. While you're in Hamilton touring the Haida, take a moment to visit the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum. They have a few naval aircraft like an Avenger and a Firefly and the sight (and the sound) of a flying Lancaster sure is something you don't want to miss. In fact they have plenty of flyworthy warbirds. I've been there and they're great people, easy to talk to and have a good chat with. Folks working there are volonteer and they're doing an amazing job of preserving our national aviation history. Maybe not directly linked to the usual naval content but surely worth a visit. (If I'm rembering correctly, takeoffs starts around midday).
Listening to Drach's opinion on the ship of Theseus after having watched Leo "rebuild" Tally Ho (replacing 95% of the original in 1 go) for the past several years… 😬
Cap ship named "Subscribe": I know you're clogged with video demand, but your take on suction might make an excellent short in its own right. If you can squeeze in a primer on Reynolds Number, you might be able to expand your demonstration to different fluids (and time scales). Any broadly popular video needs proper ship names, of course. Thank you either way, and welcome back!
I was just on the North Carolina and the guide said it wasnt smoke but something from the AC unit.
If you were trapped ina compartment on a sinking ship wha would kill you first? The pressure or the cold?
Paint Store. Ok. If a paint store was that explosive, why would you have any paint concentrations on the ship? I can't see it contributing the ships ability to fight, so why wouldn't it be dumped on day 1 of hostilities?
I was traveling this past weekend and missed the release of the episode. Unfortunately, my travels also brought me in contact with COVID, and now I’m stuck in isolation. I really appreciate having this and previous episodes to help me pass my time while symptoms allow me to watch/listen. Thank you!
Ship of Thesesus debate: Occurs
HMS Unicorn: * Sips tea while being 90% original* You're all replicas compared to me!
All joking aside, it's an interesting, and very tough, debate, and especially something like Constitution, it's a fairly existenital one; do we keep the ship in sailing condition on the basis it will eventually have few original components left, or keep it as original as possible in the knowledge that will eventually mean she has to be permanently dry-docked. Bovington face the same debate with Tiger 131 and the museum staff seem to have made a soft admission they're currently not sure what the "right" answer is.
Ships like Victory, Trincomalee and Cutty Sark all face the same problem and HMS Unicorn even more so, given how original she actually still is; do they preserve the original wood, or replace sections in order to get her into a much more presentable condition? It's a tough one.
1:16:00 trigger and his broom thats had new heads and shanks on but hes had it for years 😂
Given the shear number of different machines on a battleship a machine shop would be very useful (and a full set of spares completely impractical) I would suggest that most of the problems were wear, corrosion, fatigue not bomb damage. So rather than making new parts, I would expect it was mostly used for repair, things like sleeving worn bearings and those sorts of things.
The idea that the "advantage of backwardness" has declined in value seems to be a denial of the philosophy "the pioneers take the arrows." R&D toward a technology that may be impossible is markedly more risky than R&D toward a technology that your opponent is fielding: you start with a positive answer to the question "is it possible?" and only need to answer the question "how?" How can be a quite daunting question to overcome, but the ability to direct resources at known achievable targets vs a variety of potentially impossible ones makes the R&D resources of a less advanced power potentially far more efficient. While the FLOOR for such advancement may rise with increasingly advanced global technology, the cost of cutting edge research also rises, possibly even exponentially. Thus some nations may be left behind entirely, but the technological delta between those above the resource/knowledge base floor should concurrently SHRINK.
The optimal strategy in such an environment might be deliberate surrender of technological superiority in some arenas with the understanding that sufficiently good intelligence will allow a state to focus resources on a few fields of risky, novel research while allowing competitors to use their resources on other technical arenas where the gap can be relatively easily made up once the most basic questions are answered.
Human salsa. First a lolz, then an eew. Then another lolz.
If i had the magical ability to make a ship appear and everybody aboard has to follow my orders because I have the magic captain hat I'd really love to try tokyo-drifting the Enterprise (ww2), it looked really fun in the film
That picture of the KGVs quad turret being assembled blows me away, really gives a sense of scale and complexity of Battleships. Also it’s incredibly that they had work shops large enough to accommodate that kind of construction
32:00 love it
1:41:32 I think this question could go for a whole video of its own?
We have never seen a major naval battle since WW2 where missile armed fleets clash. Is modern naval warfare far to dangerous and needs to be avoided. Or is t due to political stability and free trade on the seas. How vulnerable are modern ships to missile attacks. Is the Russian navy inept or are missiles much more dangerous than people would like to admit. The Falklands was only a small sample and featured minimal use of anti ship missiles. In a modern major battle both sides could launch hundreds of missiles to overwhelm enemy defences. Is modern naval warfare just to deadly. How deadly are submarines and how vulnerable are they. Are submarines a major factor in preventing modern naval conflicts with their threat alone. If Argentina did not known the locations of Royal Navy subs would they have invaded the Falklands.
whats the name of the intro music?
gutted wanted to watch but cant stand the rising inflection 🙁
Science!
Drach, you brought up some great points about spare parts, machine shops, and repair capabilities on larger ships. I served exclusively on Nimitz class carriers. The machinist would make a lot of components for the machinery on-board. As it was explained to me it took up less room to carry different types of metal and then make the parts rather than trying to carry every possible consumable part. Occasionally they even welded up titanium and steel tubing for our aircraft. You also mentioned how they would make parts for the other smaller ships, which is also accurate. As for hatches and such, they could, if needed, build one, but it's seldom an entire door that needs to be replaced. It's usually the dogs, the hinges, and seals on those that need replacing; and there were a few spare watertight doors onboard as well.
1:11:00 gurkha is a pretty cool name
Regarding the question about machine shops onboard warships. Take a look at this channel to get a better idea of what's involved. You hit upon all the points that my brain came up with, but this channel does highlight why people machine parts instead of buying them off the shelf. I wonder if Curt can turn out a large caliber gun for you?
https://www.youtube.com/c/CuttingEdgeEngineeringAustralia
Drach on the part for heat treating and forge work they could have very easily used the ships boilers and fuel oil for that.
Regarding the Germans seeing the Grand fleet's battle line and saying "nope" I wonder how much of that is the Germans lack of a real naval tradition like the the RN.
Were the rolls reversed I believe Jellico would have felt compelled to fight it out "If Jervis did it at St Vincent, I must make a go of it here" even though Churchill described him as "the only man on either side who could lose the war in an afternoon"
Worst job a sailor ever had that I have heard of? Cr@p burning detail. Add 5 gallons of diesel fuel to the 55 gallon drums they used in the latrines, ignite, and stir until contents of drum were burned off.
Hi
The differences between damage control in WWII on US ships vs Japanese and even German have always been startling. You're expounded brilliantly on the different abilities and training of sailors of the different navy's. I wonder if in addition to formal training, a deliberate effort at 'enculturation'' by Sr ratings and officers isn't part of every new sailors training in the US Navy. To hammer home life at sea is far less forgiving than on land. That running away isn't a viable option as on land to survive. That fighting to save their ship is as important as fighting the enemy. That indeed living to fight another day is more important than as the warrior cultures of Japan and Germany taught, dying for your country.
Do you know if such passing on stories, lore, etc. is common in the US Navy, even to the point it might be deliberate?
I wonder if these realities, that their survival was linked to their ships survival and that winning the war relied on their survival, isn't what motivated, even inspired damage control, and all crew to their extra ordinary even super human efforts to save their ships.
Equally
I wonder those involved in procuring and designing US war ships were not also similarly motivated, to design ships MORE likely to survive damage, more easily fight off damage, fight to survive. I can easily imagine Japans and Germany's military shaving costs on ships by skimping on survivability as it was not just the duty of every soldier and sailor to die for their countries, but ultimate reward, ultimate honor.
Do you know if there is a such efforts are part and parcel of the design of every element of a ship. That everyone involved hasn't always at the back of their minds, what happens if this fails, what do I have to do to make sure the ship still survives to fight another day?
similar
So you're saying the answer is yes, there was a point when the US was the only country with that cability in their fire control systems? Christ