The Drydock - Episode 040 

Pinned post for Q&A :)

1:13:20 Classic military logic, “It’s too heavy, lets cut down on something to save weight. Alright, it’s lighter, now we can add a bunch of more stuff to make it as heavy as it was before!”

Muskets for marines often had brass (rather than iron) fittings to resist salt water corrosion, even if they were otherwise the same as the standard infantry muskets.

RN ships had a regular issue of pure rum for several years after Briton acquired Jamaica (spirits and booze of various types had pretty much always had a place on shipboard for the reasons mentioned about water quality). However, when pure rum was issued some sailors would save their ration and then go on a binge which was somewhat problematic at sea. Then along came Admiral Edward Vernon (know by his sailors as "Old Grog" because he habitually wore a coat made from grogham cloth - the RN didn't have uniforms at that time so officers wore what they pleased - uniforms for officers were an Admiral Anson idea after his circumnavigation) and he introduced mixing water with the rum ration in his squadron and the practice quickly spread to the rest of the RN. There were several reasons for the quick spread of grog (as it became to be know because it was introduced by Admiral Vernon - "Old Grog"), one - rum diluted with water spoils quicker and is less amiable to being saved for later, two - now there was more to issue (due to dilution) which meant TWO rum issues a day, also it was more difficult to get too inebriated to stand watch on the diluted rum. Also, a plus was that with two issues a day there was a nice toddy to go with the major meals of the day, which possibly may have helped make the salt beef/pork a bit more palatable at the end of a long voyage.

I've seen quotations from US officers stating that it is impossible to reconcile the combat reports with enemy torpedoes with similar speed-range characteristics to our own. They then concluded, not that the enemy had better torpedoes, but that the Japanese had submarines intervening in the night surface actions.

Flower class trivia: They were slow in part from choosing older civilian propulsion. This done as the dockyards cold be converted from small merchants to the corvettes plus the recruits coming in at this point would be people who had worked on them. Its an example of matching your mass produced war equipment with your available industry and personnel.

It's 2:01AM Pacific Standard Time in Canada and my rum *almost* went warm waiting for this week's Drydock...

Although the USN has officially been "dry" from 1914 to 1980, sailors are still sailors. Even ignoring the proliferation of "torpedo juice" stills, some skippers were very creative about sneaking beer and wine onboard and using the medicinal alcohol supply for purposes other than those intended. Eugene Fluckey, captain of the USS Barb, was famous for finding places in the limited confines of his sub for 30 or so cases of beer, with each man getting one beer after a significant sinking and two beers for Christmas and Fourth of July. Even though Fluckey was the subject of several investigations for his violation of Navy alcohol rules, it was a tribute to the love of his men for their skipper that not one officially admitted to ever having alcohol onboard until after the retirement of Admiral Fluckey in 1972. The USN did allow alcohol after the end of Federal prohibition in 1933, but only on shore. This was originally at the navy clubs on base. The Pacific war was such that many ships didn't see a proper Navy base of periods of a year or more. The rules were bent by having "recreation days" on various semi-deserted tropical islands, and one of the main attractions, in addition to swimming and baseball, was two warm beers per visit. Navy Secretary Edward Hidalgo finally allowed crews in 1980 to have two beers on board after 45 continuous days at sea. This decision was supposedly prompted by Hidalgo's experience as a young officer on the USS Enterprise. A kamikaze attack on May 14, 1945 destroyed the whole task force's supply of beer. While the attack itself was a blow to morale, that only increased when word of the destruction of the beer supply began to spread. Only an emergency run by a Navy transport put things to right before the next recreation day.

I'm tired Need to go to sleep WAIT, a New Dry Dock episode. COFFEE TIME!! Thanks for more learning and lack of sleep Drach. Your dedication to posting awesome episodes is fantastic and much appreciated. A battle between the German HSF and the US Navy would be compounded by each side's lack of bases and ability to refuel after a long voyage to just reach the enemy's coast. I have rad German ships were "famous" for the lack of comfort in their ships. This was accepted as they were designed for shout duration voyages and the crew would leave the ship and live in barracks ashore while in harbour. Despite the Kaiser and Tirpitz denying the HSF was aimed at Britain.

Thank you for the wonderful gift of your knowledge and insight , these videos have got me through bad times

When I saw “HSF,” I genuinely thought you were putting the High School Fleet against the USN. I now feel both quite stupid and vaguely cheated.

A brilliant marathon and the usual fantastic appraisal. Congratulations and much thanks. I knew nothing of rubberised carrier decks. A few points: 1. HMS Warspite’s Swordfish actually bombed and sank the U64 at 2nd Narvick. 2. During the battle between HMS Shannon and USS Chesapeake, the US marines in the fighting tops were armed with slower loading but more accurate rifles. These were devastating at long range but when the ships closed their slow-loading proved a disadvantage. 3. The British pioneered the magnetic mine in WWI though they proved far too sensitive to be practical so they should have at least some knowledge of this weapon in WWII. 4. Any US-German engagement in 1918 after April would preclude SMS Rhineland which had run aground and become an effective total loss. 5. Trafalgar marked the beginning of single power naval hegemony: the Pax Britannica 1805 to 1918/1943 and Pax Americana to date, ushering in a period of relative stability not seen since the Pax Romana era of imperial Rome. This ended the chaos of what had been effectively pirate navies, national and otherwise that had predominated from the early 3rd century to the early 19th AD.

"Giving your best gunners more alcohol" Sounds like a very Russian solution

Mines are like aerial opportunity attacks in that they force you to deploy, to scatter, to wait. This raises insurance rates, and slows the transport of goods, raising cost. Your foe can defeat a mine barrage (but it ain't easy), but the effort commands too many resources to be cost effective. Many, many, ships fell to mines after the waters they traversed were declared "mine free".

Believe it or not: Grog is also a popular drink amongst older people along the Northgerman seaboard, especially during winter time. When I was a kid my grandpa regularly drank it with his friends. They used rum, hot water and sugar. To be able to drink with them they used blueberry juice instead of rum for my grog.;-)

Another significance of the capture of the Danish navy in 1908: The loss of the navy coincided with a lack of good oak trees (used for building the now captured navy) so a massive treeplanting program was put in place. By the end of the 20th century, the national forestry service was able to announce that the "naval oaks" as they are called were now ready for the construction of a new navy. Today, the naval oaks are a significant fraction of the danish forests. Also, the expression "to Copenhagen" became a Royal navy term for bombarding a city, much as the Luftwaffe would use "Coventrieren" (to Coventry) as their shorthand for the same.

With reference to the effectiveness of floatplanes - a good example was at Java Sea, where the Allies (ABDA) landed their planes before the engagement, whereas the Japanese used theirs extensively. Who won that one again?

Warspite's floatplane also sank a U-boat at Narvik.

No mention of the Battle of Chioggia? It led to Venice securing its monopoly on Mediterranean trade, which in turn contributed to the Western European powers funding various explorers in order to find alternative trade routes, and the ultimate result of that was the first era of colonization and pretty much the entire modern world.

Seaplanes in 1942:A Japanese "Jake" was out scouting at Midway he couldn't find the American fleet and another plane was launched with his squadron cmndr and once found the jr.officer was told to go home.The senior officer found the wounded Yorktown CV5 and the rest Is history.If the second "Jake" hadn't found the first Jake Yorktown CV5 could have escaped the I68.....Maybe.

Hi, loving the vids, however I am a bit behind, having only recently discovered your channel, I am binge watching to catch up and am gathering together a list of comments and questions - some of which are being answered as I move through, but I thought I'd stop and pass a few comments on your excellent presentation on the rum ration. As the viewer asked, there were many traditions and rituals around the rum ration. At the appropriate times, the quartermaster/bosuns mate would pipe 'Up spirits' at which time the appointed person - usually a leading hand, would take a 'fanny' - which in my day (which, incidentally and sadly, was after the abolition of the Tot) was an aluminium container for fetching food, drink, the tot, etc., into which was measured the correct amount, with a small allowance for error, for all of the eligible hands in the mess - i.e. over 18, not on leave and not under stoppage. In the mess, this would be issued to each man using a special measuring cup and then the person was expected to drink it there and then, i.e. the lunchtime ration had to be consumed before turning to in the afternoon and the evening ration before 'pipe down'. Saving the ration for later was, although quite regularly done, a disciplinary offence. At the end of issuing the ration, whatever remained (see above) would be poured into a glass/cup and would normally be drunk by the person fetching/issuing the mess allowance who would toast the monarch - hence the remaining amount was called The King's/Queen's. I am not 100% sure, but 'The Queen's' may also have been given to another person if it was their birthday. Again, on someones birthday, it was common for other members of the mess to let them have 'Sippers' - or a sip, of their tot. It was also a form of currency for favours e.g. standing someone's watch for them or swapping duty days. Depending how big the favour was, the person giving the favour might get 'Sippers' or 'Gulpers', which was significantly more, or for a REALLY big favour, might get the entire tot. 'Splice the Mainbrace' was a special extra ration and traditionally came from getting that extra for carrying out a particularly arduous job. The exact term refers to the main rope which holds the mast in place on a sailing ship which could break in a particularly bad storm or during a battle if the opponent was using chain shot to destroy your rigging. If that happened then it would be vital, to prevent you from losing your mast, to splice a length of rope into the mainbrace which would be a task in itself in normal conditions, but in the midst of a storm or a battle would be worthy, in my opinion, of a damn sight more than an extra tot of rum! But that is where the saying originated. As you say, it could be used to issue a drink for any special occasion, in my own case, I was at the fleet review in 1977 for the Royal 25th Anniversary Jubilee. We were given the option of 'a tot' or a standard measure of another spirit - I wasn't into rum then, so I had vodka! As far as the actual rum - and your favourites, is concerned, it was just a plain rum blended from whatever could be obtained from Caribbean distilleries at the time, although I believe in more modern times there was a specific blend from a selection of preferred distilleries. Kraken is a spiced rum similar to Captain Morgan Spiced and a number of others which are very nice and very easy to drink, I can certainly drink either of those two without any form of mixer, but they bear very little resemblance to 'Pusser's' rum. The alcohol content was considerably greater than normal being 56% rather than the usual 40%. If you go online and google it, you will find (a) mail order supplier(s) who stock 'Pusser's Rum' blended to the original recipe, but at 40%. The same distiller also markets what they call 'Gunpowder proof' rum which conforms to the correct 56% alcohol content. According to their description of it, there must have been some tampering went on with the rum in olden days and so, if someone complained that it was being diluted, a pinch of gunpowder would be soaked in it and then a taper put to it. If it ignited, then it was pure and had not been diluted in any way. There clearly was a distinct culture in the Navy that was based around 'The Tot' which drew messdecks together - and probably also tore them apart on occasions, and I always sensed, talking to and listening to the older ratings, that the whole culture and 'atmosphere' within the service changed in 1970.

The HSF versus USN 1918 would be an interesting Special Episode when you war game it out.

Admiral Vernon wore a grogram overcoat, and was called Old Grog. He was associated with the introduction of a rum ration (I cannot be bothered to find out which); hence grog for the issue of rum. I recently read that RN sailors could demand just water, but have no reference on account of having been drinking (and now intend to have some rum).

11:00 My money is on Bainbridge, crew competence and effective leadership rule the waves. I appreciate the more casual approach to your presentation. Going from computer generated voice to extemporaneous exposition has been a fun experience to watch. Put the damn phone under your pillow. 1:15:00 a shout out to all the Maritimes fishermen who crewed those flower class frigates?

Not gonna lie I love that this episode is so long. Please keep it up

This hour and a half went by faster then expected. Great video Captain D.

Canada had two navies in WW2, the first was the Regular navy which (with only a few acceptions) contributed little to the war effort for most of the war and the second was the Reserve manned escort navy which contributed so much to the effort in the atlantic (AND NEVER THE TWAIN SHOULD MEET). The regulars would have almost nothing to do with the escort navy and were thought to be pompous overbearing and obstructionist by the reserve navy (they did not get on, can you tell). When you think about Canada's naval contributions, I would ask that you give due credit to the real heroes of the Atlantic.

A sidenote, both Dutch and British marine corps are inspired by the much older Spanish marine corps now ''Tercio de Armada'', that traces its roots back to the 27th of February 1537 with the permanent assignment of the ''Compañías viejas del mar de Nápoles'' to serve in galleys.

Absolutely fantastic video Drach, one of the best you've done. So much good material and things to think about. Thank you for all the work you put into these videos. I think two of the Japanese Navies major mistakes during WW2 were 1st) the focus on attack, dont be so bothered about defense. And the 2nd) reason, the dogged stubbornness to stick with traditional methods in pretty much everything. Lastly I don't know how much practical use a Phalanx or Goalkeeper system would have been for the Royal Navy in the tight confines of the Falklands. It certainly would have provided a morale boost for the Brits, and scared the hell out of the Argentina pilots. But trying to target fast, low flying aircraft darting out from behind hills and other ships would have challenged both systems at that time. Especially if the crews didnt have alot of time trained on them. You could have ended up with RN ships raking other ships with friendly fire. And I'm pretty sure GAU 30 fire would smash up the superstructure of a light ship or destroyer.

Of course for an impromptu Age of Sail melee weapon, there was always the random belaying pin.

Interesting analysis on the 1910-1920 strategies against the United States, German and English. The idea of choking off the trade routes for the United States... We really are talking about a country that can virtually feed the world, and at the time had more natural resources than Germany and England combined. Combine that with trying to maintain a blockade fleet across two oceans and I don't think the strategy holds up unless there are significant allies involved...

The mine voice amuses me ever so deeply!

A followup to the 'targeting superstructure' question: How common was the practice of siting the helm deep inside the hull? I've seen references here and there of RN ships following this practice, but helm on bridge has always appeared to be more common.

Regarding targeting the superstructure of a warship, a modern version is targeting the island of an aircraft carrier. If hit, you’d lose the bridge, flag bridge, primary flight control (pri-fly), all the ship’s radars, and much of the ship’s ability to communicate. It would clearly be a mission kill, The island is of course a small target, but it’s unarmored and a precision guided missile might (one day, if not now) be smart enough to hit it.

Major Strasser: - Are you one of those people who cannot imagine the Germans in their beloved Paris? Rick: - It's not particularly my beloved Paris. Heinz: - Can you imagine us in London? Rick: - When you get there, ask me! Captain Renault: - Hmmh! Diplomatist! Major Strasser: - How about New York? Rick: - Well there are certain sections of New York, Major, that I wouldn't advise you to try to invade!

Kraken is the best Rum, especially the black spiced version. Plus 1 karma Drachnifel.

Interesting trivia, no Flower class Corvette lost a single man overboard. (Obviously I exclude ships torpedoed etc.)

I've read that General Alfred Graf von Schlieffen was not happy with the Kaiser's plan to invade New York. He didn't think a German Army could be maintained that far away from home and any initial success would lead to inevitable failure.

Mainland United States is a very large country. I wonder what the Kaiser's plan would have been if he had actually been able to seize NYC? While NYC was the important financial center of the country, inland cities like Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, and Pittsburgh were much more important to the material survival of the country. This would have been like the dog chasing a car who actually catches the car. Now what?

The Battle of Trafalgar. 'Because Drake was too clever for the German fleet.'

"Shot and then your body sent to the gulag" ... now that's just twisting the knife. And like you said in the 2nd Pacific Squadron most of the higher officers had ties to the royal family quite likely a lot of the officer corps was "rehabilitated"

In one of the Sharp novel British Marines are noted as having wooden ram-rod's? to avoid rusting at sea?

Concerning the US vs Germany question: Where exactly is the German fleet in the 1910s scenario going to be resupplying and recoaling? IIRC no one really had the ability to do either underway effectively at the time. Add repairs and refit and I think the German navy has a serious problem.

I'm laughing so hard right now, I'd completely forgotten about the happy little mine voice.

The British fleet was not at the Chesapeake bay to supply Cornwallis, they were there to evacuate him.

Sea slug was surprisingly useful breaking up a raid but it resulted in the ship being hit later because the Argentines thought she was a major threat. Another amusing incident was when one was fired at the airfield British troops radioed Glamorgan asking if she had been hit? A few seconds later they messaged her to do it again!

@1:06:03 the Flowers are one of my favorites. They played a critical role at a critical point in a critical WWII battle. Their story is told well in “The Cruel Sea” by an officer who participated. Their design was done under tremendous time pressure and was a joint effort of private industry, the admiralty and the government. Lack of “kills” was due more to lack of numbers than anything else. The better and more numerous River class and DE’s only appeared after the crisis had passed and got the glory.

Excellent!

There's a quote out there somewhere about the RCN- initial training was done at inland facilities (like the current HMCS Tecumseh)- and often crews had never seen the ocean before being assigned to their vessels.

Do any of you have information on HMS Cromer (J128) WWII minesweeper? Specifically people related to the rescuers. My grandfather was on the Cromer and lost all of his friends. I recall I owe my life to a South African but can't remember where I found that information. Any information would be helpful. Thanking their children if they are no longer alive would be peace.

How is the battle of Chesapeake just “getting into” the age of sail? It’s like *two hundred years* into it. Even by a narrower definition, the ship of the line had long been fully formed.

Tsuchima is more a case of the heaviest period at the end of a sentence. That fleet lost the day Nicky decided to throw a few of the rotten apples in his barrel at the Japanese with the hope that their barrel might catch on to the trend of being rotten is the new in

I'd argue that if you were going to put the Battle of Chesapeake, I'd also add the Battle of the Saintes to that list where it reconfirmed British Naval superiority.

A competition? By jove, I cannot wait to hear the winners in a great many months!

Ow yeah.... can already one of my questions popping up in this one.

Hey, thanks for getting to my question

Awesome video Drac, but you forgot to mention at the end what the competition was about :) Or maybe it's just me that I missed it. In any case am I the only one who has missed it?

1:37:00 or about, the "Battle Of Chesapeake Bay" is not called that, it is the Battle of Cape Henry or Battle of the Virginia Capes. You however have cited a bad source as the mission of the British navy was not to re-supply Cornwallis but to evacuate him. Because they could not, he was defeated, but was never lacking for supplies.

Why does Grog make me giggle? Even the mere mention of it.

Had anyone ever experimented with smaller naval guns. I.e. 5 to 8 inch firing shells at great velocity trying to achieve ranges similar to much larger caliber guns? Advantage being rapid fire? Or do you need larger shells to achieve these ranges. ?

That sad moment you realise drachinifel doesn't watch steins gate.

I've been pondering lately the WW2 Japanese gift for snatching (strategic) defeat from the jaws of (tactical) victory. At Savo Island, Mikawa essentially swept the sea of the allies and then failed to exploit the victory by going after the transports. At First Naval Guadalcanal, Kondo comes in with an overwhelming force, crushes the US cruiser force, and then fails to conduct the bombardment mission that was his entire reason for being there in the first place. If Kirishima had bombarded the airfield, Hiei would have been in much better shape to get away rather than be harrassed and damaged by aircraft all day on the 13th and scuttled in the evening, especially if significant aircraft and fuel can be destroyed as happened the previous month. At Tassafaronga, the Japanese destroyers cripple three cruiser and sink a fourth, but fail to (IIRC) even unload the supplies they were supposedly delivering. At Samar, Kurita has overwhelming surface forces but gives up on his mission without making any serious effort to break through the es or carrier groups and reach the transports, which (again) are his entire reason for being there.

The video length is expanding by the episode

Kraken Rum!?! Lol your a better man then me. Captain Morgan preferred stock is mine. Really smooth.

My late father had a friend who served in the post war British Royal Navy, my father was in the Royal Artillery at the time so he had yet to enjoy this beverage. They were to meet up so his friend saved up his rum ration for the occasion. They both spent the evening drinking this rum and my father said he had never felt so ill. Rum was, on occasion, issued to the British Army in France in WW1. The problem could be that if the supply sergeant was a teetotaller then you could be issued with powered soup instead.

Bit surprised to look away from the screen for a bit, look back and suddenly see that german map of the Actium battlelines ngl

The argument for Tsushima isn't anything directly to do with the Russo-Japanese war; rather, the argument for the significance of Tsushima is that European observers of that action went back home and influenced their respective nations' policies in ways that lead to the dreadnought arms race. (The counter-argument is that the dreadnought would've happened eventually anyway.) For WWII, it's tempting to say Pearl Harbor. The interesting question is how much longer America would've tried to remain officially neutral, and what that would've meant in Europe.

Russia didn't focus on capital ship production simply because of priorities. They were a huge country with most of the raw materials at home, with few if any friendly overseas trade partners to have sea trade routes with that needed guarding but were not yet a superpower who could challenge much of the rest of the world for world domination. Instead they were a huge mostly pariah state that could expect a broad coalition to gang up against it from land at any moment, so powerful land army and air force were the absolute priority - and that asset can spoil any crazy Galipoli 1915 style amphibious attack since unlike during such successful foray named the Crimean War, by 1930s USSR had a powerful rail network and land vehicle industry so sea supply system could be countered by a well organized land supply system. They were also bottled up by geography with no faraway depliyment bases, so their navy had no need to be more than a coastal defense force whose old Imperial Russia era dreadnoughts outclassed the Nordic neighbor's coastal defense battleships and the Turkish Yavuz Sultan Selim (ex Goeben) battlecruiser. In the Far East - just forget about competing with Japan at the time in naval terms, better keep them in check with land power via the Trans-Siberian railway - finished, greatly modernized and double tracked since its failure to ensure land victory during the Russo-Japanese war (cough compare to Khalkhin Gol) . So there was little point in building capital ships. All that said they started getting into capital ships in late 30s but never finished them due to the German 1941 invasion (in retrospect they would have mattered little to nothing in the war that followed had they been completed)

When you consider gun sizes and plank thickness, the Constitution and her sister ships were less frigates and more "The bottom half of a ship of the line" with 32 pounders loaded in most to all positions. I concur with your assessment though, because a line ship was built to take that kinda beating and then some, and all she'd have to do is load up chain shot and dismast the Constitution, then circle about and destroy or board her at their leisure.

Can you discuss what led up to the revolt of admirals in the late 40s early 50s

You made the comment "Never underestimate the United States ability to churn out massive amounts of Destroyers." Those Destroyers that were built was practice for churning out massive amounts of capital ships plus anything & everything else that the Allies needed to win WW2: Like aircraft carriers & the aircraft to stock them, cruisers, oilers, and even merchant ships too. Pretty crazy that at the same time the US was having to make all this stuff for the war efforts, they were also having to train the sailors to man those ships, the pilots to fly the planes, & soldiers & engineers too.

In my own naval history, it was one of my jobs to dish out Rum in the New Zealand Navy (the last navy to have a tot issue). My experience was somewhat different to what you described. First ratings got a 1 to 1 issue of rum (1 water to 1 rum) once per day at lunch time or late afternoon for those on duty and senior rates had it neat. Officers never got an issued unless there was a 'splice the main brace' which came from the queen or very high authority. It is my understanding that in the old days rating got their issue neat, in a very generous amount, and was to compensate sailors for the very harsh conditions that they lived under (less likely to complain when drunk). This was changed with [Admiral Vernon’s Official Order on August 21, 1740 on Her Majesty’s Ship Burford in the Port Royal Harbor. Also known as 'Grog' because the Admiral Vernon wore a coat made of Grogram cloth, and the sailors didn't like having their rum watered down. It was a playful insult of sorts. The British Navy continued this practice until July, 30th, 1970, when rum/grog rations were discontinued - dzmowatt Redit].

"Like many other wars that America fought the idea was to show them how much stronger you were so they would seek terms" These people have never spoken with an American before, have they?

The HMS Splendid on your icons hat.

"14:00:00 - Inter-war Kongo/Fuso replacements?" The time stamp is wrong, it points at 14 HOURS instead of minutes.

Hi, I love the series of all your video's and very enjoyable and imfortive. On a tech note if you place the all your pictures into a RAR/ZIP File and while your in that RAR/ZIP File you alter the picture format form png to a jpg.

In the Falklands I was told (by one who was there) that the operators set the rapiers on manual instead of leaving it to the auto systems , the marines were not amused.

Last year at Tankfest you were not allowed to take booze in.

Ha Drach Empire strike again..I'm love it.

I have a question, what if ADM Phillips had exercised the better part of valor and withdrew Force Z, what part in the early stages of the war do you think PoW and Repulse may have played?

There was news footage during the Falkland War showed short barrelled .50 Cal Brownings strapped to ship rails shooting away at Argentinian Airforce and Navy planes. I never heard of this gun, and in the days before this here internet it took me years to find out what the hell these Browning's were (they'd been bought as British Army vehicle AA guns but never issued; but when the Agentian Junta decided to commit political suicide every weapon the UK had was taken out of warehouses and put on ships. Every man on a British ship in San Carlos Water who had a gun was shooting at Argentian planes. I bet there were handguns being shot off.

Drach was the name of the officer at the Admiralty who refused to send Harry Hinsley's warning of the Scharnhorst Gineisenau to the Glorious ever released?

Love the channel thanks . For some reason the volume of this channel is much lower that most channels. ??

German leadership was also fairly convinced that German-Americans would rise up and join the Kaiser, forcing a stop to most wars between the nations. I'm sure someone had the (insane) idea that thousands of Germans from Wisconsin and Illinois would converge on New York, closing the Erie Canal, etc. Interestingly, American leadership didn't necessarily disagree. At the start of WWI, seemingly inconsequential places like Galena, Illinois stationed National Guard troops at railroad tunnels. They were concerned that German Americans would sabotage infrastructure. The German American community did all sorts of things to prove their loyalty, like rename towns, stop speaking German, sometimes get lynched, etc. One of my favorites is from Berlin, Wisconsin. The city fathers, with typical midwestern cunning, decided it would be a pain in the neck to rename the town, what with causing Post Office problems and all. So instead of being pronounced ber-LIN, they changed syllable emphasis to BER-lin.

I'd argue (although it might be seen as a subset of your answer) that the Japanese failure to provide any meaningful aircrew replacement program is their biggest error. How much of the war did Shokaku and Zuikaku sit out because their air crews weren't ready to go to war yet?

"Third time lucky with that name" - if at the moment you said that there was a major alarm at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, it must have been Ramses II turning in his grave (i.e. his display case). :D

I think ‘razee’ means shaven, as in the the fore and aft castles have been shaved off leaving a smoother full-length deck.

Drachinifel when are the next video about destroyer is coming and are you going to do make similar video on carriers, battleship, cruiser and so on

00:33:10 Development of anti-aircraft Systems brought about by the RN’s experience in the Falklands War? The number one lesson the Royal Navy relearned was the need of large deck carriers with aircraft that could detect and intercept the enemy's aircraft at longer ranges.

God Bless Sunday mornings & Drachinifel!

Small ships with torpedos and small guns can be pretty lethal. Just ask the Japanese. Great reference to Samar.

I also love the kraken, gives you wild shits the next day though.

There should be no trepidation in naming Midway as the most significant naval battle of WWII. It was the turning point in the Pacific War. Japan lost Four of its largest carriers, which at that time was half of its carrier strength. And at that time it was known, carriers were now the new 'capital ship'. After Midway the Japanese lost their force projection and the Japanese Navy was sent reeling and on its heels ever since. And in the Battle of the Pacific, naval force projection was the name of the game. Japanese garrisons were either assaulted by sea or cut-off without a navy that could defend their various holdings. Midway was such a resounding defeat of the Japanese Navy that Tojo and the Imperial Army and basically the nation as a whole did not know of the defeat for two years after the battle. That's right, Tojo, Japan's Head of State and Army Chief did not know until two years later, the losses at the battle The Imperial Navy went to great lengths to keep the results of Midway a secret. The Kido Butai was never the same again, losing its most illustrious carriers and most of its experience pilots. There is no question about it, Midway was the most significant naval battle in all of WWII and the turning point of the War in the Pacific

Q&A Do you think any ship could possibly take the place of the aircraft carrier?? Like how the carrier replaced the battleship as the main capital ship.

Have you done any thing on the HMS Campbeltown nee Wickes Class destroyer USS Buchanan? It's a truly a heroic story.

That grog ration comes out to roughly 250ml of rum per day... that's a LOT of rum in the long run, but not really unusual for the time. Said while drinking completely un-diluted 15 year rum of course. Laughed at the end of that segment with the question of how good grog is by hearing "it all depends on" and saying "the rum" in sync with the video.

56:02 - I do with. 1/3rd part Rum. 2/3 water. Grenadine and Lime Juice to taste. A little bit of Cinnamon and a little bit of brown sugar.

The CG-47 class were the last US Navy ships to be classed as cruisers. However, they were originally supposed to be destroyers. The preceding Farragut Class DDG hull numbers ended with 46. The fear was that Congress would never fund a billion dollar destroyer so the Navy called them cruisers. Additional comments: I think Japan's biggest strategic mistake was their failure to mount an anti-SLOC campaign. This was a direct result of their big battle mentality plus the psychological demands of the bushido ethic. The IJN sought honor in fleet-to-fleet combat. There was no honor in sinking merchantmen. They say amateurs talk tactics, professionals talk logistics. The Japanese were strategic amatuers. The same can be said of German general staff. I am going to disagree on Midway. It was certainly dramatic but it did not end Japan's ability to fight at sea. The Battle of the Philippine Sea was where Japanese naval power was broken. Had Midway been decisive this battle would not have been fought.

I thought the "crow's nest" was a feature on whaling ships and naval vessels had Fighting Tops. Is this correct? Also found this: Grog: British Vice admiral Edward Vernon introduced into the naval squadron he commanded in the West Indies on 21 August 1740. Vernon wore a coat of grogram cloth and was nicknamed Old Grogram or Old Grog.

Can you explain the difference between US Navy fleet sub compare to the German long-range sub of World War 2. Which was better