Today we take a look at the background and thinking behind the inter-war USN Fleet Problems, with summaries of the first 7 such exercises.
Sources:
To Train the Fleet For War: The U.S. Navy Fleet Problems, 1923–1940 – Albert A. Nofi
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Testing-American-Sea-Power-Williams-Ford/dp/1603449892
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Learning-War-Trent-Hone-author/dp/1682472930
https://www.usni.org/press/books/learning-war-0
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Pinned post for Q&A 🙂
Loved seeing "new" pictures and movies!
I have many friends who were army vets. They fondly remember all the war games they took part in. Their favorite was the million dollar moments. Everyone fires everything at the same time.
Wonder if they ever had discussions like " CV too OP, plz nerf!" 😛
love that golden gate-during -construction footage
Ah, yes, I hear Brian David Gilbert in my head: „Every living creature has one hitpoint.“
I love your campaign reports. But these are sort of campaign reports, and gives us an idea of what people at the time thought would be the future war – aparently with decent accuracy. Interesting on several levels. With the risk of being myoptic, the talk of the defensive round formation is intruiging. It seems resonably similiar to the convoy tactics the Germans learnt to infiltrate by sailing inside the perimeter. Some kind of overview of various formations, their use, and history could be a future video. Perhapsa very dry subject, I trust you to be able to make it engagting.
CNO is Chief of Naval Operations. He is the Navy Chief on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Nice to know that even in the 30s that umpires fixed matches to their liking
What an interesting video!!
CNO stands for "Chief of Naval Operations" not Chief Naval Officer.
It really seems like the US Navy did everything in their power to prepare for war with the Japanese…except prepare for war with the Japanese.
I am retired US Navy civilian engineer. During the 80/90s I supported numerous exercises. After which there was an immediate lessons learned document issued. There was the normal paragraph that would state "we learned a lot and comm sucked". The thing I find amazing is that from teh 20's till now not much has changed and that lessons learned ar rarely followed. Thanks for the most excellent lesson.
Aircraft in clip:
14:16 = Curtiss N-9 1917 (model before the JN Jenny) U.S. Navy retired the N-9s in 1927
14:33 = Martin T4M torpedo bomber. Absolute delight to these in flight. 155 built, 1928 to 1938. 2nd torpedo bombers of the Saratoga and Lexington.
18:41 = Martin T3M on floats. 124 built, 1926 to 1932. Was first real torpedo bombers on the Saratoga and Lexington but was also used as a float plane.
sooooo… this is basically state sponsored LARPing.
nice
At 16:00 the Documentary starts to get quite interesting in its evaluation. Start on the "Fleet Problems": (1) 1923 – Attack on the Pacific Side of the Panama Canal. Interesting enough the Enemy would attack – by Air – the Locks prior to a Declaration of War. (2 – 4) 1924 – Pacific Battle with the Japanese as an Enemy.
(5) 1925 – Japan against the US. Islands including Hawaii were discussed. Undeclared Attack – US Brakes Enemy Code – Submarines involved – Recapture Hawaii. (6) 1926 – Philippines. Improve defenses on the Canal. (7) 1927 – Army/Navy joint operation on Panama Canal. Japan launches protest as the "Enemy". Aircraft & Submarines involved with the two US Aircraft Carriers. (8) – Included two new Aircraft Carriers. End. Not Bad once you get into exercises.
Oh I love this!
The plans the major fleets made during the interwar period are great, love that kind of content. Do you have/have plans for covering the fleet's role to play in the color-coded war plans?
No1 Polluter on Earth US/NATO Military Force….
This video was so interesting, i hope we get more about these fleet exercises soon
awesome vid – had no idea these were so specific and detailed
33:27–33:45 that fucking joke is Soo bad I love it. Your sense of humor is amazing
Nice job. I imagine reading Fleet exercises reports could be dry but you did a great job of making them sound thrilling.
May I float a suggestion: a video on the deployment of America's submarines on the day of the Pearl Harbour attack.
Good video, Drach. Interseting facts and a few giggles. Looking forward to next part!
Fascinating stuff, leaving me thinking that the USN really was the world-leader in staging imaginative, lessons-generating fleet exercises. I wonder if, today, the same service has lost that art and is, in consequence, making some shocking and expensive procurement decisions.
the pronunciation is more like lah hi (long i) na roads.
15:35 Oh they invented the dummy torpedoes, that usn used at the start of the war!
As an aside, it would be nice if you can give us sone idea of how a steam-turbine powered BB could be “Radio controlled.” ❓❓❓❓❓
Note the Golden Gate Bridge under construction (between 7:00 and 8:00 in this video).