00:00:00 – Intro
00:00:37 – Did anybody try to make a fast battleship (in the sense of a big-gun capital ship that doesn’t sacrifice either firepower or armour for speed) in the predreadnoughts era?
00:05:13 – Would it have made sense for the USN to forward deploy older battleships or second-line cruisers in the Philippines to deter Japanese aggression, especially as Japan ramped up their war in China as a show of force and as a deterrence/first line of defense against a naval invasion of the P.I?
00:10:06 – What was different about USS Delaware that allowed her to steam ahead longer than other dreadnought class ships of her time in the US Navy
00:14:09 – If Hitler had sent the first wave of V-1 Bombs against the invasion fleet at Normandy how effective would it have been?
00:18:56 – You mentioned that Delaware’s turret 3 was unable to fire rearward for fear of damaging turret 4’s sights with the blast wave. Why is this not a concern for other super firing turrets, are there preventative measures that could not be taken on Delaware’s rear turrets for one reason or another?
00:22:17 – Torpedo head vs Fast Fish head?
00:25:51 – Drach will you at some point talk about the risks of transporting certain cargos such as grain and coal?
00:31:07 – You mentioned subs getting maintenance on a slip way, how was that done? A massive winch and rollers? Why wasn’t this used for larger ships as an alternative to drydocks?
00:35:08 – If USS Yorktown was raised, could she be preserved?
00:41:31 – Is the early commander performance issues with the US Navy in WWII a result of no real sustained combat since the Civil War?
00:49:16 – Is there any particular reason why foreign-procured warships would have not only the ship name changed, but the class name as well?
00:52:25 – There is a quote attributed to Dwight D. Eisenhower: “The sergeant is the Army.” Could the same be also be said of a navy’s non-commissioned officers, in terms of their relative importance to both commissioned officers and ratings alike?
00:55:47 – Operation Wunderland?
00:59:13 – What was considered the worst generic, at-sea assignment for a RN Officer during the Napoleonic era?
01:01:53 – We see a lot of information about torpedo defense systems designed into Battleship hulls, and to a lessor extent Aircraft carriers. Were there any efforts to design some sort of mitigating defense into any other classes hulls?
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That dry, powdery, shifting cargo can also build up a huge amount of static electricity, just waiting for a chance to discharge amid all that flammable dust.
Regarding forward basing in the Philippines, Look at Port Arthur.
They would have done the same thing, but thrown in aircraft.
WRT the NCO/petty officer question, any young officer who does not listen and learn from his subordinates is a moron headed for a quick end. As a career Army officer, I can state, without doubt, NCOs will teach you what you need to know, keep you reasonably safe, and make you look good if you give them the respect they deserve.
41:43 Another way of looking at some of the "racist" attitudes can be attributed to differences in historical development.
Western military thinking is even today, largely influenced by Napoleonic thought, Jomini, Von Clausewitz, etc.
Asia in general, and Japan in particular didn't care.
They had a completely different view of attacking your enemies will to war, rather than strictly attacking his armies.
The ideas of Sun Tzu.
If a British soldier switches to thinking like a German he's still going to be wrong, because as a European the German is just a reflection of himself.
It is my opinion, for the nothing that's worth, that fast battleships (27+kts on roughly 35k tons) would not have come about without the naval treaties of the 20's and 30's. I believe that the 10k ton cruiser was what lead to the engineering innovations that made it possible.
49:16 Would the fact that all the labels, manual's, and logs are in different languages matter in the ships class ?
Would original English language remain a Fletcher class, German language becomes Z-1 class, etc ?
52:00 The ship pictured has it's hull number on the forward deck.
Is that a quick reference for the bridge crew ?
They are in the best position to read it. LOL
Regarding the V-1s, they were only first used on June 13th, a week after D-Day, when the Allies were already firmly ashore. They were fired from the Pas-de-Calais area, which is just northeast of Normandy, but they were mostly launched from fixed launchers that were built to aim at London, and they were guided by crude time-and-distance calculations to when their engine cut out and they plunged to earth. So new launchers would have to be built to aim at Normandy, and new forms of guidance developed to improve the dismal accuracy they were getting in hitting a huge target like London. Once Calais was overrun, they were fired from ramps in Holland and Germany, both of which are too far away from Normandy, and air-launched from bombers, which were vulnerable to interception over France and thus often flew very low over the North Sea, again out of range of Normandy.
44:00 Could you check for anyone who is a foreigner who had served in another navy during a war and has good advice to give?
47:00 A group of people wargaming? Hopefully, you will pick out the tactic that your enemy will use among the possibilities.
Regarding NCOs and trying to explain how things really work – your example of "no one really knows why that works," reminded me that chicken bones are necessary for the safe, and effective operation of nuclear powered warship. We kept chicken bones in the RPCP. The new leadership found out and wanted them cleaned out before a traveling Nuc training team visit.
The day after they were removed, the plant had scrammed 3 times. The last time it brought down #1 plant as well, because the breaker cross-connecting the electrical plants chose to close while the electrical plants were out of phase. And when the safety interlocks tripped the breaker, it would attempt to close again, as soon as the safety interlocks reset!
The chicken bones were replaced within 24 hours.
Listen to your NCOs when they say something is important. Perhaps particularly when they warn you that no one really knows why something may be necessary.
Sort of like the US Army types got angry with Patton when he did not follow the playbook during "warm games" in the US before the war!
(1) Coal has impurities that form corrosive biproducts when wet. In the long term it can weaken the hull causing the ship to brake up under stress
(2) You could build a new Yorktown for less money than the cost of salvage, preservation and restoration.
Regarding US officers in the lead-up to WWII you have to realize that peacetime breads administrators. Conservative and cautious officers that stay out of trouble ascend in rank. When war starts where boldness and willingness to take aggressive risks is required, it takes a while shuffle the deck while letting the new stars rise. This also reminds me of an article in which they, tongue in cheek, described the traits and skills of officers like this:
brilliant and lazy = strategist
brilliant and energetic = tactician
stupid and lazy = harmless
stupid and energetic = dangerous
52:25 In the USN the Chiefs make the Navy work.
On grain one risk you failed to mention (More so with wood hauls) if that grain is rice ships have been sunk due to the rice getting damp and expanding thus splitting seams.
re " sgts are the army. " true and no different in the navy. my dad was a chief gunner's mate, enlisted 1939, richmond, calif. they drilled with wood guns in the post office basement. then to fort ord, then off to san pedro. he served 24 years in pacific, including CV-1, and the med. no tattoos, all business.
Thank you Drach for Indulging my curiosity
Not all Heroes wear capes, some talk Ship. Thank you for all that time you have shared with us recently. Always a pleasure.
Regarding the V1 question, HMS Warspite, in the extremely unlikely instance that she actually took a hit, would probably just say ouch, not again, there were some tanks that you wanted to go away?
Slipways are used for smaller craft like fishing boats (at least in Scotland). The paddle steamer Maid of the Loch was recently slipped as well. There are videos of it not going to plan on YouTube
I would very much like to hear a more extensive video on the South Dakota class U.S. battleships. Growing up in Alabama, the U.S.S. Alabama has always been a source of pride, and since I've heard you mentioned in the past that the South Dakota class was commissionedv in part to fix issues with the North Carolina class and ended up being more protected and more maneuverable, I've always seen that as technically meaning the South Dakota class were the second most powerful American warships ever built, only eclipsed by the Iowa's. Is that wrong? I never have heard anyone put it that way, but would love to hear your opinion on the under-mentioned penultimate class of battleships.
Hey, that could even be an interesting future video, going through and sharing your thoughts on each major nations' second most powerful battleships or heavy cruisers or whatever. Most people know about the famous ships, the big girls, but the silver medals deserve some love!
If I get Musk money, it's a toss up between a new Iowa and a Hood
I have spent way too much time listening to Drach. He's now become the default youtuber I listen to when I'm going to sleep, doing chores around the house, or when I'm playing Ultimate Admirals Dreadnaughts.
About cargo shifting in the hold – i believe it is called "free surface effect". No small aamount of bulk carriers and RoRo were done in by that.
51:00 I think another point is that countries name and categorize ships for their own needs, not to benefit historians.
For example, the Royal Navy's Town Class destroyers of WWII. There is no real benefit for the Royal Navy to differentiate the Wickes and Clemson class vessels from each other, they all have about the same capabilities and utility along with the same big caveats (particularly their being American will have implications on maintenance and crew training).
Similarly the Germans dont care what a "Fletcher" is, they care about classifying the Zerstorers for their own purposes.
I think the same is also a big part of the same class vs subclass vs separate class debate, its all about what makes sense for the navy managing its fleet.
Video Suggestion: Do a video on the past, present, and future of the torpedo boats and automated jet ski bombs. Peter Zehin (Zehin on Geopolitics) has a recent video out predicting how automated jet ski bombs are the future (at least for smaller nations) of naval warfare. I think it would be good (if you haven't already done so) to put out a video that puts these "new" weapons into historical context and uses real, rational, informed analysis to predict their future. (I.e., something that Peter DOES NOT do!)
Question for drach: why was there not an amphibious major landing(s) in europe during WW1?
Hi Drach I recently when to leigh on sea where I saw HMS Wilton. It appears to have been turned into a sailing club. Do you know anything about these ships or are the past the period the channel covers ?
Marine Ecologist here. When looking at the body plan of many of those fast fish, especially things like the Marlins and Swordfish, IGNORE THE SPIKE. They are NOT, I repeat NOT part of the animals hydrodynamics.
If you remove the 'sword' of a swordfish for example and take a look at the cross section of the animal without the 'beakiness', you will notice its a more or less oval shaped. The entire cross section is, with the thickest part usually being a little behind the head near the gills and the frontal and dorsal fins, which you could see quite well in the picture Drach put up.
The beak or sword is how these fish catch their prey, it is nothing to do with increasing hydrodynamics.
In fact if you actually look at the cross section of all the fastest fish in the world, INCLUDING the Mako, the 'point' referred to is never due to locomotion. In the case of the Mako its where the majority of its Ampullae of Lorenzini are located. These are the organelles that detect the electromagnetic field put out by other living organisms. Just to put this into perspective, the sharks with the most Ampullae of Lorenzini are the Hammerheads, which are generally bottom feeders and hunt prey usually covered partially or completely by sand or mud. The very REASON their heads are that hammer shape is to stuff as many of these organelles as possible as far forward as possible because all sharks use these to a greater or lesser extent in their final attack. So thats why the Mako has a pointy nose, and its NOTHING to do with hydrodynamics.
Again if you look at the cross section f the Mako without the forward part of its nose (where most of the Ampullae of Lorenzini are), its again roughly oval shape, again with the thickest part being just around where the gills and pectoral fins are located.
I could literally go on for hours…. But I think I made the point well enough.
Isn't Zerstorer just German for Destroyer? That particular renaming seems to not be a renaming at all.
Regarding your design for the HMS Thunderchild, is it really that accurate to have casemates in the hull? Asking because i am interested in making a design inspired on it and I can't tell if it should have casemates in the hull that close to the waterline