8 Bells Lecture | David Jourdan: USS Nautilus and the Battle of Midway

[@ozysjahputera7669]

It wasn't Max Leslie who lead the dive bombers from the Enterprise, it was Wade McClusky who led the air group from Enterprise. Max Leslie led the air group of dive bombers from Yorktown.

[@richardware6439]

UK hugh 5tiy y t

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

Tales of some outstanding, dedicated and honourable people; so impressive!

[@wayned4271]

I would have been nice if the photos shown on the screen in the lecture hall could have been inserted into the video somehow like other lectures. Otherwise his talk is just a talk.

[@wbradburn8871]

Or at least re-frame tighter on the presenter and screen. Not much of interest in the backs of the heads of attendees.

[@oceanhome2023]

@@wbradburn8871 Mega upvotes !!

[@exilfromsanity]

@ 1:47 - B24s attack from Midway on June 4? That's the first I (Or anyone else) ever heard of that! There were no B24s at Midway in June 1942.

[@CatWithBagOnHead]

He may have meant the B-26's, which were there.

[@MrChickennugget360]

or B-17s. But he makes a lot of mistakes- he says Max Leslie carried out the Dive bombing attack from the Enterprise Leslie flew from the York Town it was Wade McClusky who flew from the Enterprise

[@wbradburn8871]

@@MrChickennugget360 There were B-17's present on Midway and they participated in the 4 June, morning attacks on the Japanese.

[@MrChickennugget360]

@@wbradburn8871 i know. i said as much.

[@theBaron0530]

There were B-24s that attacked Wake Island from Midway, but it was on the 7th, after the naval action was over. AAF General Clarence Tinker had had a plan to lead a mission to bomb Wake from Midway, and executed it at the end of the battle. He lead 4 LB-40s (export versions of the B-24) on the mission. But shortly after takeoff, his plane was seen to spin out of control and crash in the sea. It was never recovered.

[@petersouthernboy6327]

Four Army B-26 Marauders armed with torpedoes took off from Midway at 5:30am on June 2, 1942 and attacked Akagi. The torpedoes missed, but the strafing caused casualties to AA crews. Two of the B-26’s were downed. One of the returning Marauders had 500 bullet holes and was scrapped.

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

They contributed to the ultimate success, even if easily forgotten.

[@joelmccoy9969]

American Kamikazis were refered to as Torpedo Bombers. They had to slow to 100mph to drop their torpedo 600 yards away from their prey.

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

Outstanding dedication and bravery, above and beyond . . .

[@joelmccoy9969]

@@EllieMaes-Grandad Suicidally self-destructive pilots with 80% probability that their Torpedoes if successfully dropped (slow and low) within 800 yards of a carrier would, go too deep, fail to explode on impact, explode prematurely, swerve off in the wrong direction, or fail to explode due to magnetic ignition failure. MICs' F35s are also too expensive to test. The Fairey Swordfish (Bi-plane) torpedo bombers (known as the 'Stringbag') were the most successful Allied Torpedo bombers of the war. The IJN attack on Pearl Harbor was inspired by the Swordfish attack on Taranto. The Torpedoes were so slow the ships could dodge them easily during daylight. The technically repaired Torpedoes were not available for 22 months after the war began. Torpedoes from planes were most successful against stationary targets at anchor.

[@TheBods666]

I played this scenario in Silent Hunter 4. I had set it up for ‘no dud torpedos’ so the realism was a tad reduced. My initial attack was slightly before the Dauntless attack but I sank Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, a light cruiser and a destroyer.

[@WildBillCox13]

Interesting and worth watching. A small correction, sir, to aid in future presentations: A "Decimation" is a specific act: the killing or scourging (as punishment) of one in every ten men in a Legion or subunit thereof. Decimation is 10% losses. What you are talking about is catastrophic losses, near 90%. A very big difference.

[@CatWithBagOnHead]

It is true, as you define the word, in regards to a Roman Legion. In the current vernacular, however it is taken to mean the killing or destruction of a large proportion of a group.

[@patriciabelchiere9688]

decimation comes from the word decimal i.e. 1/10th - so say one in 10 of the Roman soldiers would be punished for failure by that particular force etc by pushing them off a cliff etc. I doubt this happened in practice but the word would have certainly got around. Decimation nowadays means the virtual destruction of that fighting body.

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

Decimation means reduction by one tenth of the original number; it's very specific. Please don't abuse the term, or the language.

[@GH-oi2jf]

“Decimate” means to reduce by one-tenth, not to one-tenth.

[@rabbi120348]

It was a punishment the Romans exacted on a legion that showed cowardice. They would be lined up and every tenth man killed by their officers.

[@spikespa5208]

An overused and misused phrase.

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

@@rabbi120348 Not so; the legionaries drew lots, in groups of ten. He who drew the short straw was beaten to death by his fellow soldiers . . .

[@rabbi120348]

@@EllieMaes-Grandad Here's what Wikipedia says: "Decimation (Latin: decimatio; decem = "ten") was a form of Roman military discipline in which every tenth man in a group was executed by members of his cohort. The discipline was used by senior commanders in the Roman Army to punish units or large groups guilty of capital offences, such as cowardice, mutiny, desertion, and insubordination, and for pacification of rebellious legions. The word decimation is derived from Latin meaning "removal of a tenth".[1] The procedure was an attempt to balance the need to punish serious offences with the realities of managing a large group of offenders." So it depends on what "members of his cohort" means. Either the officers or the men. It says "The discipline was used by senior commanders in the Roman Army to punish units or large groups" but that doesn't necessarily mean that the senior commanders did the executing.

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

@@rabbi120348 Isn't that what I said . . . ?

[@misterjag]

The Camel cigarette ad that featuring Brockman claims that the USS Nautilus sunk a Japanese carrier at the Battle of Midway.

[@theBaron0530]

He thought he did sink the Kaga, because after the lapsed interval, when his torpedoes should have hit her, there were renewed explosions. So it was natural for Brockman and his crew to think their hit caused them. In reality, the one that hit failed to detonate and broke in half. Some of Kaga's sailors used the flotation flask as a float till they could be picked up. The explosions were just part of the ongoing fires that the bombing ignited and which burned with varying intensity till she was scuttled.

[@daneershen4138]

I agree withe Wayne D. A lot of these smaller audience Naval War College lectures make the same mistake. The large ones, with a stage and podium, do a better job. But the inability to see the slides what should have been an A+ lecture a C, C-.. Why bother with video at all???

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

Post-WW2, Nautilus was the first nuclear-powered submarine; shades of twenty-thousand leagues under the sea . . .

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

John Ford, director of many John Wayne cavalry movies [there's a trilogy of them] went to Midway to film the attack on the island, specifically requested to do so. He came home OK . . .

[@joelmccoy9969]

He came back with PTSD.

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

@@joelmccoy9969 Not surprising - I've seen some of the footage . . .

[@theBaron0530]

Wasn't Ford injured by a piece of shrapnel or other flying debris while filming from atop the post? It wasn't severe and he continued filming. I think Walter Lord mentioned that in "Incredible Victory."

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

@@theBaron0530 Just as well it all turned out OK . . .

[@johnferguson7235]

I hope that this gentleman takes a few physics classes before attempting to lecture on depth charges. The speed of sound in water is much higher than the speed of sound in air because the water is much denser than air. The pressure wave from the exploding depth charge is a sound wave.

[@thekinginyellow1744]

Actually Mr. Ferguson, it is you who needs to study more physics. By definition, a shock wave is created when a disturbance moves faster than the speed of sound of the medium.

[@thekinginyellow1744]

let me clarify. I did not hear the speaker saying that the damage to the sub was caused by the shock wave, but rather that the shock wave caused a click in the microphone, and that the actual damage was caused by the pressure wave that soon followed. If you disagree with this statement, can you please indicate the timepoint in the video that provides evidence to support your argument?

[@F_Tim1961]

www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/underwater-explosions does not appear to say a depth charge explosion causes a shock wave but since the speed of sound is 1530 m/s in sea water and " several times the limiting value of ~ 1440 m/s in water. " , we know that a TNT charge must be generating a shock wave. Ie propagation speed GT the speed of sound in the medium. In fact the physics of depth charging are even more complex, as the gas bubbles created by the initial explosion will implode. Thus the plate being pushed in by the shock wave is then pulled out a few milliseconds later, this effect making it more likely that welds and fitting s will rip.

[@franklinkuhn482]

Max Leslie led the Yorktown dive bombers ...

[@kenreibel4715]

My uncle was a gunner on the Nautilus.

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

If he fired the gun, did he hit anything?

[@Milwauken65]

@@EllieMaes-Grandad He was on board during the Makin Island raid and at Midway, but that’s all I know.

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

US submarines contributed most effectively to the eventual defeat of Japan - they did what the German u-boats failed to do. Such success came at a price.

[@mrkengeneral3679]

Leslie or Wade McCluskey commanded the Enterprise Dive Bombers?

[@franklinkuhn482]

Which sank IJN Soryu

[@thekinginyellow1744]

26:26 "one atm. per every hundred feet"? No! One atm. per 33 feet.

[@F_Tim1961]

He's full of crap technically ain't he. Decimate mis-used. One atm per 33 ft (actually slightly less in salt water ) . Incorrect information regarding depth charge action below. Wrong type of aircraft called up.... Pronounces Sub- marin-er incorrectly... it goes on...

[@davidwatson2399]

As near as poo is to swearing.😁 10m per atm. 10 kpa per metre. (9806.65) Now isnt that so easy.

[@oceanhome2023]

Good things happen when you ambush an ambush !!!!

[@brucenadeau2172]

b 26 not b 24

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

Nautilus wasn't a ship, she was a 'boat' . . .

[@timf2279]

I really have to say confusing Leslie for McClusky is a big mistake. Also to say no one has any photographs of the damaged aircraft carriers is completely false. I'm not going to pick apart his lecture however parts of it are not factual and misrepresented. I think if he stuck with submarine operations during the battle would have been more advantages.

[@ИринаКим-ъ5ч]

Perez Angela Garcia Kenneth Martinez Lisa

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

Not a second class radioman, more likely a radioman, second class. Words matter . . .

[@dptoohey]

Some very basic facts got wrong, ( B26;s not B24's,, McCluskey not Lesley) ruined the whole event. The credibility of everything he said is rendered is cast into doubt. Shame.

[@alganhar1]

To be perfectly fair mistakes like that are common while giving a live talk, even for experts. It is sometimes very difficult to keep all the facts in line even if reading off cards, and doing as some do and reading from a prepared speech is altogether too monotonous. Sometimes it is as simple as something I refer to as a brain fart. I once got the distributions of Cthalamus and Semibalanus balanoides the wrong way round (two species of barnacle) during a lecture despite having worked with those two organisms for over 2 decades. Believe me, it is possible and it does happen. Of course, the information would likely have been on the slides as well (it was in my lecture) and they would likely be correct (as they were in mine). Just brought that up to illustrate that simple errors in lectures do not negate the point of the lecture, nor do they cast into doubt everything said. What DOES do those things is if those mistakes are constant and consistant.

[@thekinginyellow1744]

Apparently you stopped watching too soon. at 24:03, he corrects himself on the McCluskey vs. Lesley statement.