My top 3: HMAS Australia (II). Saw just about everything the RAN was involved in, survived the war despite being a kamikaze magnet (and was arguably the first Allied ship to be struck by a Kamikaze), did an epic rescue mission in her retirement. Last ship to bear the name, and as a County class was utterly gorgeous. IJN Nagato, for the same reasons as other commentators. One of the Australian Tribal classes, just to make the doc happy.
I would be somewhat satisfied if we could have saved Enterprise & Warspite so they could continue to tell their stories from WW2 to future generations.
Suprised Goeben didn't get a mention. In terms of her own history, it's admittedly not the most colorful but just in terms of what she would have represented and similar to Implacable surviving for so much longer than anyone would expect her to.
1. HMS Implacable, formerly the French 74 Duguay-Trouin. Survived Trafalgar and the only French ship of the line left in the world, taken out and murdered by the postwar British government in 1949. 2. CSS Tennessee. I'm a Southerner! 3. IJN Nagato. Literally the ship where Admiral Yamamoto planned Pearl Harbor. Edit-I Got one of the three. I'd also give an honorable mention to the IJN destroyer Yukikaze which survived all of the Pacific War without a scratch despite being at the Java Sea, Midway, Santa Cruz, Guadalcanal, Bismarck Sea, Kolombangana, Philippine Sea, Leyte Gulf, and the mission that sank the Yamato off Okinawa. She sank and damaged a shitload of Allied warships and was absolutely badass, and deserved a better fate than she got.
There was an proposal to unearth/raise Tennessee's sister, CSS Arkansas as a museum ship about fifteen years ago ... Don't know if the effort is ongoing. She doesn't qualify for this list (scuttled to prevent capture) but she had an incredible albeit short career.
As much as I love Washington, she wouldn’t be in my Top 3. I’d pick Enterprise, Warspite, and one of the pre-20th century ships… ideally a quinqireme, if one could somehow be preserved. If I weren’t limited to three, then absolutely Washington. We even have a lot of waterways and piers where she could have been moored.
At least there are South Dakota classes left No Yorktowns or Queen Elizabeths left to remember the specific ships by If there were to be a 3rd one saved for posterity of which there were survivors of, I were to add either of these to the list At least one of the Pearl Harbor survivors (Probablee WeeVee since she appeared rebuilt as a phoenix, showing US resolve/capability), Rodney, or King George V And the 2 that that technically weren't scrapped but could have been saved: Nagato and Prince Eugen
If this is a personal thing... 1- Andrea Doria or Caio Duilio. They survived well into the 1950s, and had been through two world wars before finally being scrapped. In my opinion, the most beautiful capital ships ever built alongside their half-sisters in the Cavour-class and the Renown-class Battlecruisers. I may be french, but I'd be *her* Ryan, either one of her! 2- HMS Renown. The world needs a battlecruiser museum, and Renown not only survived both world wars with distinction in the latter, but is also, in my opinion, one of the prettiest ships ever built, and she has a hard-fought life in WW2 to back it up. 3- IJN Takao. My baby... Yes, she is horrendously damaged, but, uh, she survives! So did Warspite, and she should've been preserved, right? right? And it would've been an outlook into one of the most important parts of japanese naval history; their interwar heavy cruisers, their torpedo designs, their entire doctrine is baked into the ship! There are so many honorable mentions, though... Richelieu or Jean Bart, Yukikaze, Italia or Vittorio Veneto, Nagato, Katsuragi, Sakawa, Warspite, West Virginia, California, Saratoga, Entreprise...
The italian ships I did consider, but honestly felt as much as I liked them I would prefer warspite over them and I didn't want to make it just a list of battleships from that period - it was a tough one though, because as you say they are pretty and do have very interesting histories. I tried to expand the list by giving my top 15, instead of just the top 3 I was asked for in the patreon question, but there are so many which almost made it, like an East Indiaman(even though there are replicas) & a crusader galley, those all deserve it, but just didn't make top 15.
@@DrAlexClarke Yeah, I can completely understand that. The grand old lady was certainly the most deserving. I did not include ships of other eras into this list as I am more knowledgeable about 20th century warships; it is however criminal that Implacable was lost.
Scrapping the Enterprise is the greatest travesty in history, This one ship was the US Navy and it was the most decorated ship in US Navy history and the reason why we were victorious at Guadalcanal and Midway. She also was the leadership factory for the Navy aviators who served on her. So many Admirals and pilots cut their teeth on Enterprise
I spent a day at Portsmouth this summer and the actors playing the crew on Warrior emphasise the contrast with Victory and the evolution that Warrior represented. PoW was in port (along with nearly all the type 45s) and I was thinking about all of the lost links in between, and that no effort was made to preserve an Invincible.
mostly with her maintenance, the Turkish government hadn't always priortised her seaworthyness... but also as I've said in other comments, she just doesn't make my top 15, she's a worth ship and definitely on this list if I had infinite money and a tardis (money needed to set up musueum, endow museum, fund her restoration to museum quality, all in addition to purchase), but not the top 15 on this criteria
@rudolphguarnacci197 my money's on Drach although it would only be gentlemanly to allow Dr Clarke to regain his health before Drach proves he is the correct Alex
@wierdalien1 please note - I am liking the reference to Highlander not the intent. As far as I'm concerned the more the better as long as they bring us good quality (and commonly entertaining) naval history.
HMS Tiger would be one of my picks too. it would have been more useful to keep her as the training ship instead of Iron Duke, (with removed armour and weapons stored) and rearmed when war was imminent like the Japanese did with the similar IJN Hiei.
Thank you for the video Dr. Clarke. Your point on the use of "pre dreadnought" vs "Royal Sovereign" reminds somewhat of the discussion around terms like "Byzantine Empire" and "Middle Ages". They're phrases that aren't strictly accurate in terms of how people of the time would have spoken or thought about the subject, but are useful descriptors for people of later eras discussing or learning about that period of history. A modern anachronism certainly, but a valid one- or at least one that can be reasonably argued for- provided we acknowledge it as such and don't try to frame it otherwise.
top three USS Enterprise (CVN-65), SS Great Eastern, carrier Béarn but i could list on and on. the ship i wish was in a museum most is HMS Sovereign of the Seas 1637 (i know she was burn not broken up). if it was my own museum i would of had vanguard (last RN battleship) and dreadnought to book end that chapter
If Tiger had survived WW2 she would have been scrapped along with the QEs, Rs and Renown straight after. That said if she had been given KGV style square turrets I think it would have spoiled the grace of her lines
3 ships of any time or place? How about an ancient ship like Cleopatra's that carried her to Rome. The historic value would be incredible but thousands of years would be difficult.
Respect to your choices and reasoning. That said Big E will forever be my first pick. Also, I'd have put USS Kitty Hawk CV-63 on the top 15 list as the last of the non-nuclear US Super Carriers. I think her size made her too hard to preserve in the eyes of the navy.
SMS Goeben was scrapped in 1976, after the German government refused to buy her back for a Museum in 1971. The Sistership of Moltke an 11inch German Battlecruiser. The last surviving Ship of the Hochseeflotte.
My list for a total Australian perspective is this. Both HMAS Australia ships, cruisers Sydney (1), Hobart and Adelaide. Destroyers parramatta (1), vendetta (1), arunta (1), warramunga (1), DDG Perth. Frigates would be one or two type 12 river class and at least one FFG parked beside HMAS Vampire at the ANM.
As you have zero chance against Drach in a fight. As he would rock up in his plate harness with many sharp, steel items. Its down to you and Jamie for "fight Night".
I've got to disagree with you on Dreadnought. She was only special by being first of a type, and only got built first because RN had quick shipyards and spare guns. She had an amazing name but by the time dreadnoughts were fighting she was second class. The other two most definitely. For me Warspite is the biggest loss. Two world wars and being significant both. No other ship has run doughnuts (admittedly unintentionally) during the largest battleship engagement ever and also playing peek-a-boo (maybe peek-a-boom) with German destroyers in a fjord, not to mention many other actions
@@JopardBDSWell, my reason for Dreadnought is that she was a prototype. Although she was built as a serious warship, her real value to the RN was to see if several concepts worked together.
@thingsthatinterestedme7962 as a snap answer and as the question does not specify naval maybe the Great Eastern. Of her time (and a significant period after) she was the pinnacle of thinking big. Further she was found to be ideal for many roles (including cable laying) as her sheer size gave options that no other vessel could match for decades. Plus the act of constructing her with the technology of the time took ingenuity not to mention ambition. In some ways she was the Saturn 5 of the industrial revolution. Albeit the Saturn 5 wasn't as versatile.
she was number 16 on my list, Caio Duilio was 17... I do have the list worked out for a top 50, but the version recording that was in hour 3 and I was not quite half way through... hence top 15 being the ultimate list ;-)
The J-class were cool too, only 2 survivors of their class and they're so small that they'd be easy to maintain. Both Jervis and Javelin also had history and crazy feats, like ramming their sisters and losing both bow and stern. More so Jervis who tried to steal Pola and charged at Littorio.
As an Australian I would say for the RN, it would be HMS Warspite, whether she would be able to be where Belfast is now given her size overall. For the USN it’s obviously USS Enterprise CV-6. For the RAN it would be HMAS Sydney (1) , the light cruiser from WW1. Normally I’d say the Battlecruiser Australia but Sydney was our first ship to see combat.
Us scrapping Enterprise gets even worse when you learn that "unofficially", throughout the entire history of the USN, any ship bearing the name Enterprise is our flagship. I'll say that again. WE SCRAPPED OUR OWN NAVY'S FLAGSHIP
There's no flaunting your logic. When I was but a wee lad my father's idea of a nice summer holiday was to sail from the Belgian coast to the UK and see the sights. Portsmouth, Cowes and Southampton remain a wonderful memory. He ignited my love for naval history. Victory, Warrior, the submarine museum , Southampton air museum of some sorts... quite the trip to just sail in our Westerly 33, moor, and just go and visit. Love your choices, and it's obvious some of those pain you. I for one would have nominated Hms Fury if she had survived. My dad called all of his yachts Fury. I think he might have liked visiting an arctic exploration vessel bearing the same name.
I would choose HMS Tiger too. She should have been kept has the degraded training ship instead of HMS Iron Duke (but with her weapons and armour quietly stored away) and rearmed when war became imminent as the Japanese did with IJN Hiei.
While not really historically important, the Murmansk was arguably the last gun-cruiser ever built. Russians decided to scrap her/him in the 90's. while on the way to India, she/he broke loose, ran aground in northern Norway, and remained there until 2013...
My list for the RN ships would be battleship’s Warspite Vanguard plus Renown, carriers illustrious ( WW2) Ark Royal 1978, Invincible . Heavy cruiser London, a town class plus a Leander from WW2. Several destroyers, sloops from WW2. Modern era ships like a county class destroyer, type 42, type 22 batch three, type 21 and finally if it wasn’t sunk by Bismarck, the Battlecruiser HMS Hood.
I agree on Implacable, but for the others I'm going to be stricter and say they have all got to have survived into the post WW2 era, so no Michael (even though I am a Scot) and Goeben rather than Tiger (though uglier, I'd have actually had New Zealand rather than Tiger anyway). Number three is left field though, and that's Manxman, because of her surviving into the 70s, the oft forgotten importance of minefields, the "odd" things the Abdiels got up to, and that little incident in 1956 🙂
Definitely Enterprise and Warspite, for me. It's absurd that the only British-built battleship still existing is Mikasa, the Japanese pre-dreadnaught made for Japan.
Commenting again with my Top 15 in no particular order and if money and resources was no issue. 1. HMS Rodney 2. Prinz Eugen 3. Jean Bart 4. USS Washington BB 56 (I will glady trade an Iowa or Essex for Washington being preserved. She sank a Japanese battleship for goodness sake!) 5. Yukikaze (There was an attempt to save her but that Chinese commander had other ideas) 6. Oliver Hazard Perry Class frigate (I don't know much Cold War stuff. But when I think ships. People think Nimitz Class. I think OHP) 7. HMS Warspite (need I say more) 8. HMS Renown (Also my favorite battlecruiser Dr. Clarke) 9. HMS Norfolk (Fought in many battles. Best candidate for another cruiser to be saved) 10. USS Nevada BB 36 (Only pre-war battleship, survived Pearl Harbor, kamikazes, two nukes and shelling from USS Iowa. Again would trade an Iowa Class for it) 11. USS Enterprise CV 6 (They tried twice!) 12. Any Pre war US destroyer (Seriously...it is criminal none were preserved) 13. USS Saratoga CV 3 (my favourite carrier) 14. USS Minneapolis CA 36 (Would hold honor of being the only pre-war heavy cruiser preserved and having getting bow blown off and survive is pretty cool) 15. Vittorio Veneto (Italian Military Archives channel mentioned that there aren't really any ship museums in Italy. Italians have the best looking battleships in my opinion)
Warspite, The Big E, Goeben. Oh... I had repressed the treatment of the Duguay-Trouin. Raphaello over on Metatron asked yesterday where one would travel with a time machine. I would travel to wherever that decision was made, and beat the snot out of whoever was about to make it, untill they saw sense.
This list is just ships I wish were still around. Some are somewhat unrealistic but still. 1) HMS Warspite 2) USS Entrrprise Seriously, the stuff those two survived has assured me they had plot armour. 3) RMS Olympic 4) HMS Renown 5) KMS Seydlitz 6) KMS Derfflinger 7) Littorio/ Vittorio Veneto 8) HMS Illustrious 9) HMS Majestic 10) HMS Norfolk 11/12) Any of the pre war US heavy cruisers, preferably the USS Portland and the USS San Francisco 13) HMS Dreadnought 14) RMS Mauretania 15) Takao 16) HMS Bellerophon 74 gun ship of the line of Napoleonic vintage 17) RMS Aquitania 18) USS Washington 19) HMS Iron Duke 20) RMS Majestic (not to be confused with the HMS Majestic).
Dr Clarke . Three years ago , 3 5x5 , a 4x4 , 3 4x2 and a 2x2 Kallax. Now just the three 5x5. Ship of war sunk in harbor to be refloated and museumed SS Ohio. she was refloated and sunk in two pieces in Sept and Oct 1946. Museum would be in Malta Harbor possibly on dry land. Why SS Ohio. Because she may have been responsible for allied victory in Africa. Of the 3 carriers Enterprise over the other two you mentioned . 20 battle stars to seven for Saratoga. For a while the only allied carrier in the pacific. First carrier to sink enemy warship for US in Wwii. Vs Illustrious I’m American. then HMS Warspite because I’ve met Drach 3 times and don’t want him strangling me the 4th, Also a pretty impressive war record. There is my 3 ships.
@Dr Alexander Clarke what 5 "modern" (late cold [falklands] war to present) ships would you like to see preserved for future generations to study as why, which, when & where they were developed & designed for ??? Also what 5 ship classes / models do you think sould be resurrected from the annals of history for the current day in naval warfare ????
If im going British id like to keep a royal soverign or majestic, dreadnought and then 1 of warspite,renown or vanguard . That way you can have a nice abbreviated history of the battleship at portsmouth. If im saving historic choices then i include Enterpise although there are aguments that shes one of the few ships that the us has on the list of we will either have a ship of that name in commission or building at all times.
I can’t really argue with any of your points. My only reservation is your list is very Anglo/American… Except I’d ditch Tiger and replace her with Goeben/Yavuz Sultan Selim A far different story to tell and one that tends to be forgotten with a similar end to Hermes unfortunately.
The Goeben/Yavuz outlived all other Battlecruisers - wikipedia alleges the Turks offered to sell it back to the (West) Germans in 1963 as a museum ship, who declined the offer. She was ultimately scrapped in the 1970s, a quarter-century after Renown. Edit - I see someone already mentioned her.
No.1: H.M.S. Implacable, ex Duguay-Trouin - vaisseau de ligne français No.2: S.M.S. Goeben - T.C.G. Yavuz, flagship of Admiral Souchon No.3: H.M.S. Tiger, british battlecruiser
@Dr Alexander Clarke HMS Tartar survives everytime someone orders fish & chips proper with a good helping of Tartar sauce to accompany the cod or hallibat upon which it is festuned 😉👍
HMS Dreadnought, the first of the legends, would be perfect right beside HMS Victory HMS Vanguard, the last battleship ever built by Britain, she was practically brand spanking new, she was everything HMS Hood ws going be after all the upgrades, HMS Warspite, enough said, she fought the battles, earned her scars, she deserved to be preserved a museum ship, HMS Duke of York, she was cutting edge she deserved to be preserved, she was well worn but in her prime still KMS Prinz Eugen, she sailed beside KMS Bismarck, fought in the Battle of the Denmark straight, drew first blood on HMS Hood and scored direct hits on HMS Prince of Wales, blasted communist roaches to bits and provided ai to the retreating German Army, she deserved to be preserved, Hitler neo youth rallying point be damned, fully restored and returned to Germany would make a great attraction, IJN Nagato, she was the last of her forest, would have been nice to have her preserved and returned to Japan, RM Vittorio Veneto & Littorio, they were works of art and the last of Hellenic era warships, Any of the Revenge-class battleship USS Saratoga (CV-3) she was USS Iowa (BB-61) bff, why do you think she tried to commit suicide with a turret explosion, HMS Illustrious & Formidable, they were more or less half sisters,
Not really... jeans are good... ie things people always need, like housing, food, clothes, they tend to be the safe investments even for a potential disaster barter economy - gold is lovely, but by the time people have moved past the immediate issues(where focus will be on the three things above) there won't be enough gold to serve as a currency as there won't be enough people with it... honestly, you are more likely to see bottle tops, like in the computer game, as that will be in plentiful supply
@@DrAlexClarke I understand although it's refered to as "the gold standard" for a reason doctor, there's one company that's US based which is willing & able to supply credit card sized gold denomination of $50usd per piece along with tangible boulogne of both gold & silver for there clientele which I am trying to secure for myself let alone to send to those I care about (yourself included) barter is a standard go to which is why I made sure to be knowledgeable in many fields, when it comes to international currency though empires throughout time have always survived or perished by their silver & gold stocks. Jeans last a while (if not used) food even canned goods have a Julian self life, dehydrated last a tad longer but are not forever lasting. even a seed bank under the best common means of security & climate control will not last as long as refined gold or silver. A good stock pile is always a smart bet so long as you don't over advertise it to the masses whereas gold & silver in times of strife can be stretched further than a sack of potatoes, grain or even fresh water.
I hope this isn't too political comment but I'd love to see a Tribal museum. Note I suspect Dr Clarke may be ambitious thinking he be able to keep himself down to one day per week alone with his treasures. Still I'd like to see them with in addition to their military significance a multi cultural element showing what we thought of the peoples the ships were named after both at the time they were built and now
I don't know if i could pick a number 2 and number 3 ship. But even as an American, if i was stupidly wealthy, i would build a 1 to 1 replica of Warspite and give it to the UK, and tell them to not F'n lose this one
For Dreadnaught she was the ship that reset the race. It was the point where tech jumped so far ahead that it was reasonable for new countries to become part of the race and because of that treaties needed to happen when countries tried to compete. I am a little confused on your arguments on rowers. Is it you don't think you can have 3 people row a single oar or that you can't have a bank of 20 rowers or that you have multiply levels of rowers?
No I think you can have multiple people to the same oar, and so it stops at three banks of oars, and it's just rowers which go up after that... some believe that you can get up to 20 banks of oars with only one rower per oar.
I would have liked it, if some axis ships (or generaly other nations than usa/uk and ocasionaly fra but yeah) would have been mentioned for balance. In my mind Prinz Eugen would be realy interesting as such an in between ship, and as the target of a nuke i would be prety hard to glorify the 3. Reich for the wehraboos etc. especialy if it would be still a war trophy in the pacific (Bikini Atoll or posibly in one of the ex german colonies) rather than back in germany which would be extremly unrealistic.
The problem is there is a vast difference between the total list of ships I would like to have preserved, and the top 15 of those who were scrapped... this is my top 15 and as said some ships didn't make the list because equivalents already survive (like Mikasa crossing out Royal Soverigns and other ships of that period) and in the case of the cruisers you are talking about, HMS Belfast and all the US WWII cruisers sort of mean they wouldn't qualify. As said at the beginning it is quite scary to think top three from all of history, also did you miss the beginning becuase that was more about ships from Asia than europe...
3 ships?! 3?! Only 3! Dr. Clarke, you make things hard. 1. Jean Bart (Instead of scrapped in the 1970s, she would have been the only non-USA battleship preserved and on continental Europe) 2. Prinz Eugen (She would have made a great stand-in as Graf Spee in the movie Battle of Riverplate) 3. HMS Rodney (my favourite battleship) It's a bit unconventional list.
It was a patreon question... trust me it hurt me more than anyone, even now I'm seeing people list ships which made it into my top 50, but not my top 15, and honestly the difference in value between them at that point was so finite as to be entirely subjective, so I understand and feel their frustration - but I wanted to make it 15 to make it manageable and watchable, otherwise it would have been me listing ships for four hours or so.
Honestly if your talking historical significance I have to go what they did first. Enterprise has to be the most significant ship scrapped. No single ship played a bigger role in shaping the war. Physically an psychologically she held the line for the US. She should have been more next to Arizona. Warspite would be a close second. Both ships earned it. Implacable would probably be my third. Also part of the analysis here is they could have been saved. I think many of your ancient should be off the list because there's really no should there. It's would have been virtually impossible to have kept turtle ship or galley over the centuries.
No because keeping a nuclear ship for a museum would be horrendously expensive(and honestly bankrupt a museum, as much as I would love to see it, the Red Tape and sheer quantity of micromanaging that would take place would destroy that museum) & if I was going to allow Warspite who was on her way to being scrapped, then frankly Saratoga which was sunk in what was effectively a sinkex counts. Hope that answers your question.
@@DrAlexClarke Respectfully, I think there is a great deal of difference between Warspite and Saratoga. AFAIK, Saratoga was never intended to be scrapped and is still sort of intact underwater, a scuba destination. Warspite was scrapped, albeit in situ near where she sank. With respect to CVN 65, I acknowledge the impossible task of preserving a nuclear ship. However, doesn't she deserve an honorable mention at the very least? First of her kind and a long and distinguished career.
