The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those? by Drachinifel - Reaction 

Fun fact: They found the wreck of the USS Johnston a few years back, and saw that all her guns were pointing at the surface. As if the ship was still ready to continue the fight after being sunk!

Drach is enough research and information to be educational, and enough dry British wit and references to keep it interesting. Love his stuff.

The USS Johnston is the epitome of the saying “I’m not locked in with you, you’re locked in here with me!” I can’t remember exactly if it was the Johnston or the Sammy B Roberts but when she was sinking a Japanese destroyer pulled in close and passed by. The men all thought the Japanese destroyer was going to finished them off as they abandoned ship. In a rare moment of respect between enemies the Japanese Captain came to the window on the bridge and rendered a salute to the US crew and then turned away to re join the fleet.

You should definitely watch the Mark 14 Torpedo Failure is like Onions!

What makes the story of the Sammy B even ballsier is that ,as you may or may not know, were *RESERVISTS*. That's right, a bunch of weekend warriors clowned on ships that were more than 50 times its size. Also, the story of what the aircraft from all of the escort carriers did is movie-worthy in itself.

"The Loss of HMS Hood - But why did it blow up??" is another interesting video by Drachinifel. It examines the theories of where the killing blow actually landed, and what most likely happened.

To quote a different RU-vidr who has covered this battle “ taffy 3 was the largest naval task force ever assembled by displacement 90% of that displacement be the shear testicular fortitude of the men in it”

Ah, yes. The Battle off Samar. There's a hilarious DOOM parody poster depicting it featuring anthropomorphized versions of the vessels involved. Death rode a destroyer escort that day and reaped a vicious toll.

Here's a neat fact for you my grandfather was part of this battle he was on the Gambier Bay not a fun time for him the compartment he was in took an almost direct hit. When he came to someone was urging him to get up and trying to take him to medical station unfortunately his best friend who is also in the same compartment had both his legs blown off and The guy helping my grandfather could only help him and not his best friend. So he had to leave him behind he ended up being in the water for almost 24 hours so he was one lucky ones to be picked up first he got wounded shrapnel in his back but he survived. Maybe not so much neat fact but he was there. I rewatch this video from drach at least once a year

Drachinifel and Dr. Alexander Clarke are the two best naval historians on RU-vid

Drachinifel is great when it comes to naval vessels my dad and I listen to him all the time!

If you're going Drach -- _Voyage of the Damned_

i am surprised the US ships could stay afloat with the weight of the crews balls in this fight especially the USS Johnston🤯

Drachinifel's three part series about the salvage of Pearl Harbor is amazing. It is an area of WW2 history most don't study.

Drach also has a video covering the damage of the USS Johnson. Taken from the ROV film when they found the wreck.

'Damn it, boys, they're getting away!" unknown sailor, USS Fanshaw Bay during the Battle Off Samar.

It's always struck me as strange how if the Japanese had been more clear-eyed in this war (an impossibility, given their culture at the time), they would have recognized an almost Bushido spirit in the US sailors. High morale (relatively speaking), a willingness to fight and even die against impossible odds, and even a sense of honor and loyalty to their nation (and fellow sailors and soldiers) - that reads to me like something that can be fairly interpreted as "Bushido" or at least Bushido-adjacent, if you will.

Drach does a LOT of content on all things naval. To narrow it to battles, I would suggest his Battle of Cape Matapan video (Royal Navy vs Italian Navy). It is similar to this one in delivery and wit, plus he has access to the Royal navy’s archives for his research.

It was not the torpedoes that exploded but the tanks of pure Oxygen stored below decks to inject into the weapons before launching.

American military will default to aggression when put into a desperate circumstance. History has shown that a fierce fight gives you at least a chance of living through it, and even if you die you've done your best to take the enemy with you. Win-Win. And occasionally you catch an opponent so unawares of the situation that they lose the picture and decide not to push anymore. Another win. Training, equipment, and determination will almost always take the day.

Drach’s videos when he first started was around the5 minute mark. And he used the computer voice over predominantly. As he got more viewers and likes and subs and all that sort of stuff he started to include more information in his videos and the five minute mark was exceeded somewhat. Then they went to 10 minutes, and then 20 minutes, depending on the video; on the big ones like the cleanup at Pearl Harbor, there’s three videos each one between 30 and 40 minutes in length. At this point, the fact he calls his video still the five minute guide to warships. It’s just hilarious.

With the sheer size and weight of the balls on those destroyer crewmen I’m amazed they could float at all. Also both Johnston and Sammy B didn’t sink… they engaged submarine mode and tried to go for another round.

Drach’s videos on the channel dash and the Mk 14 are also great and if you want something a little more serious his video on the west Africa squadron Britain’s naval campaign against the African slave trade

Failure is like onions will make you so mad.

Drach has an entire video dedicated to the USS Johnston.

As a follow up to this from Drachinifel I highly recommend his video on Admiral Willis Lee.

Drach's channel is so good, been a subscriber for a long time.

If you want a couple of hilarious Drachinifel videos, check out the pieces he did on the Russian 2nd Pacific Fleet during the Russo-Japanese War and the follow up piece he did on the Kamchatka. EDIT: SH4 was one of my favorite submarine games as well. The sad thing is that I lost the disc some time ago, tried to buy the game on Steam and for some reason the game wouldn’t work

Fuck yeah a drach video, this is fantastic

Oddball recommendation for Drach's Typhoon Cobra video. Also, your cat's behavior isn't atypical by any measure I've seen.

The escorts are just full on 'RANDOM BULLSHIT GO' while everyone else was trying to haul ass outta dodge. They thought they were dead but they were DETERMINED to spit in their enemies eye on the way out

I like history channel version about this. They have the men that actually fought and ended up swimming from the battle.

I remember a documentary of History channel in the 2000's were one of the veterans that survived from the USS Johnston and he said at that time to his commander: "Please don't let us sink with our torpedoes"... On which th commander answered: "Then let's do our torpedo run"

My grandfather served on Admiral Sprague's flagship (Fanshaw Bay) during this battle.

At 14 years old I sat down to do a book report for my social studies class on ww2. I chose the liberation of the Philippines as the center piece. It was in that school library where I read a half dozen books or so on the Battle of Leyte Gulf, including the Battle of Samar. I became so engrossed in the actual facts, interviews of survivors and so on, that I spent every study hall and up to an hour after school everyday reading. Commander Evans and the Johnstons story would become the driving force behind my enlistment in the US Navy in 1988.

YES YES! A THOUSAND TIMES YES! THIS IS AMAZING!

Fun Fact: USS: Jhonston lost steering options and the engine crew were manually turning the rudder with a set of pressure release valves. They have low light conditions as the engine isnt connected to the power system and they were working on electrical issues to return turrets to fighting conditions. They lost turrets closest to the center, they had a forward turret which was down hydraulics, and the rear turret was being hand cranked. Power kicked up and they charged back into the fray because they saw the Gambeir Bay ablaze and listing. They sailed right into the battle lines and suffers from 8 more hits, Jhonston is believed to be resting on the bottom with less then 10% of her total munitions on board and her turrets are basically deleted, the guns are all pointed at the upper angles facing the sky even though when she was slipping under her guns were locked by shrapnel and bent metals and dead hydraulics. Jhonston Marred 12 ships in a gunfight and critcally damaged another with torpedoes, her battle lasted from 7:29 AM to 9:30 AM after suffering 3 hits from 18 inch guns, 12 hits from 15 inch guns, 12 hits from 8 inch guns, and 4 hits from 6 inch guns. She slipped under before her defense targets did. She did her job well. Samule B. Robberts on the other hand set for an all in approach and looked at the biggest bastard within view and just started raining hell. The crew fired anything that came up the loading block. It was ammunition at random, she also went down with most of her ammunition depleted. Accuracy ass whoop delivery system. Turret 1 & 2 legit changed targets based on ammunition load, AP was aimed at armored structure they could identify, Aircraft was aimed at the gun nets and AAA mounts, the firepower of the HCAP (HE) shells pounded on the superstructure to rain the shrapnel around the deck piecing it apart. The Icing on the cake was lighting the deck on fire with White Phosphorous "Star Shell". If you want a fair good view of the Battle off Samar ( which is Samule B. Robberts while the other video is called USS Johnston's Last Stand), you can look at the tale as told by Yarnhub who told the story of Taffey 3 from the Retrospective of the crew of the Jhonston, and the following video featuring the mighty Robberts. Jhonston was awarded the title "The Destroyer that saved the day" while Samule B. Robberts was given a title akin to calling it a battleship for brawling with the big guns at point blank range. This battle was akin to David vs Goliath, while there was another battle, mentioned in this video in the southern Task force that ran 1 battleship and 3 cruisers, and a set of destroiers into a choke point in front of 3 American heavy cruisers, 3 battleships, and 4 destroyers (Promptly ending in the damage of a destroyer of the US fleet while the enemy fleet was obliterated by a hail of accurate fire)

I really like Animarchy’s description of the events of this based on how the way he discussed what the naval aviators were doing

"I'd love to see a movie of this" I've been saying that for YEARS! It's MIND BOGGLING to me that there's never been a movie made about this.

The RU-vid channel Yarnhub, has a video on the battle of Taffy 3 and another on the USS Johnston’s final stand. And both videos actually feature 2 ships crossing their paths, one heading into the battle and another coming back from the battle, which is implied to be the US Johnston in the Taffy 3 video, and its mentioned in the Johnston video that it’s the focus vessel of the taffy 3 video the Samuel B. Roberts.

Funny thing about the Yamato; its big guns had a limited amount of ammo since no other ship used shells that big. As a result, its gunnery crews didnt get enough training.

I think that Drach underplays the role of the Sammy B. After all, it was gifted the title "Escort destroyer that Fought Like A Battleship". Also, the aviator that "found a wing somewhere" KNEW the donor plane was nearby, having crash landed there earlier.

This is - IMO - Drach's best video. I'm glad you got around to it.

"Stop blowing holes in my ship!!"

22:34 Best quote ever!!!

Yay i love drach

Glad you discovered Drach. His content is amazing and he has good sense of humor too.

I would recommend The Operations Room videos about the battle of the Leyte Gulf. The visual top down animation of his battle of Samar video particularly helps explain a lot of the absurd decisions of the battle (and shows how ballsy the Johnston is), and the whole context that makes Kurita retreat despite being winning the battle

Others are suggesting videos by Drach but the one I'd recomend for peak wit in the face of military grade levels of stupid and burying ones head in the sand is his video on the Mk 14 Torpedo or the Russian second pacific squadron.

Oh. I love this story.

The USS Johnston made me think of the end of episode 1 of the legend of vox machina: "You do know we'll die a truly horrible death right? Maybe, but we'll die gloriously and we'll kill a fucking battleship."

Yes! Drach is jokingly/affectionately called "Ship Jesus"

I like to think that those lost in this battle were met at the Pearly Gates by Admiral Nelson, with a respectful salute, and compliments for living up to the craziness levels established by the Destroyer commanders of the Royal Navy.

Silent Hunter IV:Wolves of the Pacific is sooo much fun. I still play this a few times a month.

USS Johnston: f*** this runnin sh**. LEROOOOOY!!!!.....

The Battle Off Samar - the day even God lost $20.

Ernest Evans, prime candidate for the title "Lord Iron Balls" Btw, if I may suggest? The video Drach did on the Russian 2nd Pacific Squadron is an informative riot.

MAD LADS! Say all you want to about how uneven the ship weights. Considering how big every American testicle was in that small group of ships, I would say that the weights were about the same.

one thing that was not mentioned is that the gun of one of the Destroyer fired so fast the then the put in the 2de last round exploded

They forgot to mention "One of IJN destroyer didn't open fire to kill off survivors of USS Johnston. IJN Captain standing on the bridge and salute the brave sailors".

Johnston and Samuel B.Roberts were welcomed to Valhalla that day.

During the commissioning of the Johnston, Earnest Evans as part of his speech to the crew, "This is going to be a fighting ship, I intend to go into harm's way. Anyone who doesn't want to come along had better get off right now."

agreed on the fat Electrician to do this I've even suggested it a time or two on his videos lol. thank you for looking at this video though i loved this one and always enjoy peoples reaction to the Jhonston.

His videos are a tad long, but someone I cannot recommend enough, (in addition to Drachinifel), is Animarchy’s History’s history videos about the history of the enterprise, history of the Bismarck, and history of the tiger! At first look, yes the reason for the topic is pointing to anime games/shows. However, I never expected the videos to be some of the very best, as far as combining entertainment and information. The history of the enterprise series of his could be a small watch series you could do.

YEEEEEEESSSSSSS! I love this video! Insane Destroyers added to skillful seamanship and the Japanese improperly identifying their opponents are the important things that let Taffy 3 come out victorious!

Roses are red The Kamchatka was a disaster *THE JAPANESE ARE FAST BUT THE JOHNSTON IS FASTER*

I am sure others have suggested it, but you need to review the 2nd Pacific Squadron.

Later exploration of the wreck has determined that the killshot was a bomb, the on-board torpedoes never detonated. So, all credit to the 5-inch crew of the budget carriers, because, dear lord, those lads were in for business, but they didn't get the actual kill shot.

Imagine if USS Jhonston is heavy cruiser, they can take out the entire of Japanese navy by herself

To be fair to Halsey, he didn’t actually have intelligence about Japanese losses until about four days after this battle. Logically he would have to assume that the carriers were fully loaded.

I think I linked this in the discord a year ago.

The Johnston and Sammy B are the US Navy equivalent of Pavel Leforto!

The IJN developed their own tanks, and had airborn units of their own ... becaus the army would absolutely not share! 🤣

I mean who would actually think a destroyer would engage with the strike group of Yamamoto, American leadership didn't even understand what was happening lmao.

Imagine flying above that battle trying to land somewhere, you look down. You'd probably say something along the lines of "F*** THAT!" and just keep flying around using machine guns whilst evading fire. This was some grade A s***storm! Yikes! 😒

At 36:50: I think Japan has a lot of pride to swallow before they'll let anyone show their beloved battle ship being humiliated. The '05 Japanese YAMATO movie barely eve touched on Leyte Gulf at all, only allowing enough time for one of the main characters to lose an eye before switching to Tenichigo.

Hear me out...Orlando Bloom as Copeland, Vince Vaughn as Evans. I think they have the acting chops to do it...

Welp here goes an hour of my life

22:33 37:55 39:08

And so Goliath has fallen to David 😏

If this started from "Poorly Summarizing the Battle Off Samar" then I'm 100% here for it. If not, GO WATCH "Poorly Summarizing the Battle Off Samar". Yeah, drach is fantastic, he's wonderful, knowledgeable, my voice doesn't rise high enough to do his praise justice. His review of this is factual, in depth, amazing, but the video I referenced above is...somehow better, in many ways. Watch it.

I could swear that I left a comment on this video, but it’s nowhere to be found… again. Are there some channel-specific guidelines for comments that I’m not aware of?

Audio is strange

The US was equally lucky that Adm. Kurita was so overcautious that it bordered on cowardice. If he'd pressed his attack at any point, Taffy 3 and the invasion fleet would have been SOL.

I like to think the USS White Plains killed the IJN chokai by outgunning her.

Ya know, if other countries looked at American history, especially instances like this, they’d be far less inclined to FA, which means we would have far less reason to make them FO. Granted, I doubt we have people with that much determination and grit nowadays. The wwii generation truly was the greatest generation in American history.

Yeaaaa... my country qualifies as a Red Alert 2 map. :/ Edit: All your 5ish Min. Lore vids all last exactly 5 minutes. -Lord Frieza. 😂

This is some Looney Toons shit.

Until I want to say Vietnam... The dress code for the military was you wear the cloths of your post and have the items on your person. when you present in dress uniform you must have your uniform to X standard. This was military uniforms in the US across the board until circa 1980. Then the Dress code Nazis took control and drained the freedom from the troops. Want to know why from WW2 till Iraq freedom why the veterans kept getting worst? This change in unreasonableness and the Presidents letting this Unreasonableness fester is one of the reasons.

First

Yeah, too bad their BB’s Imperial Japanese ran from the fights that coulda happened against our Iowa class, they were terrified to face them, and ran everytime a BB duel could’ve happened. Because their stupid 26” “armor” was made out of garbage that couldn’t stop our super heavy 16” shells. They next to useless radar and fire control our 16” super heavies, equaled or beat 18” shells we could, most times pen their heaviest armor, and they could only sometimes pen ours. Plus we would actually hit, with freakish accuracy for then. Even in the gulf war the electro mechanical fire control computer out performed our best modern smart weapons, almost 60 years newer, the Missouri’s now ancient. Almost 60 year old American electro mechanical fire control computer out performed all modern solutions in accuracy they actually started using her fire control calculations at times. All based on a gear driven. Finely and lovenly made mechanical computer from the mid 1930’s over gps and electronics.