The Drydock - Episode 265

00:00:00 - Intro
00:01:04 - Did the English govenment leave its sailors to die?
00:07:13 - The scuttling of HMS Implacable
00:12:42 - How did the boilers get air when the ship was locked up for battle?
00:14:45 - Could the spanish fight the french republic/empire on equal footing at sea if things had been different?
00:18:15 - If the british had managed to tow Santissima Trinidad into a port and later commission her, would they have left her as she was or razeed her down to a more manueverable and thus feasible first or second rate?
00:19:21 - What was the design role of the Chester class cruisers?
00:22:45 - During the Guadalcanal campaign: When the Japanese were bombarding Henderson Field area. Was there night air fighting?
00:25:38 - USS Yorktown (CV10) flight deck material?
00:27:39 - What would be result of an engagement between larger ship of one era (say top predreadnought battleship) and smaller, but more advanced ship of later era (say treaty cruiser)?
00:30:47 - Did other nations apart from the British/French/Spanish build 1st rates?
00:33:11 - How would the Anglo-German Naval Arms Race go without WW1?
00:35:58 - USS O-Bannon and the Potato Incident
00:40:44 - Were merchant ships over-crewed?
00:43:31 - How would you make the F2A Buffalo a better aircraft, without basically just making its subsequent replacments?
00:47:15 - What was the French reaction to the Battle of Tsushima, given that much of the fleet that had just sunk was either built by them or based on their designs?
00:49:41 - How many Royal Navy submarines operated in the Pacific/Indian Oceans and how much tonnage did they sink?
00:54:25 - When did clenched nails become popular in ship designs, and why?
00:56:11 - British post-war carrier doctrine?

[@obitime1994]

I never knew I needed to know about warships until I stumbled on this channel. Thanks drach.

[@TrickiVicBB71]

We are glad to have u

[@adenkyramud5005]

Welcome aboard sailor! Your bunk is that way.

[@jsmith6145]

I somehow went from a warthunder video to this. Many years later and a career change to working on ships and it is still just as addicting

[@thouseinthehouse]

Drydock is best sleeping material.

[@carlhull8276]

Unfortunately Drac is a CCP AI CREATION designed to distract smart ish westerners

[@mikeynth7919]

HMS Implacable "I'm not dead yet!"

[@mbryson2899]

She was obviously a witch and therefore should have been burned.

[@treyhelms5282]

Demolition team: "Well, he will be soon, he's very ill."

[@jackray1337]

I look forward to your Drydock episodes each week. Thank you.

[@staffanlindell4309]

They are amazing

[@ahuels67]

Agreed, I and I'm sure many others, look forward to a peaceful Sunday morning watching these shows every week. THANKS drach

[@73Trident]

Ditto same here.

[@craigfazekas3923]

No better way to build a 1:700 scale ROCN NING HAI replica than while listening to our guide thru all things naval !! 🚬😎👍

[@--Dani]

Same here 👍 Watch with coffee then cut the grass...great start to Sunday

[@michalsoukup1021]

Drach tearing government to pieces is... Amazing!

[@a2rgaming863]

Someone needs to learn necromancy, so that we can bring back all those responsible for those terrible decisions and for Drach to choose between: front hand, backhand, or high five in the face with a chair; for each and everyone of them.

[@michalsoukup1021]

@@giupiete6536 for what? For saying thwt people who got rid of all the history so that they can do their pet projects? Well those people were cunts.

[@davidbrennan660]

At this rate Drach will have worn out his Machinery and he will have to go in for a full refit, maybe swapping out his casemated Secondary battery for a few Aircraft signalling guns. “Engaging a Third Rate with Melee Weapons” is today’s Drachism I feel. Looking at French Pre-dreadnoughts... you have to for this ... is a close second.

[@marckyle5895]

27:28 When I toured the USS Hornet, the docent proudly pointed out the wooden beams on the flight deck. I think the port and starboard elevators were all metal from what I saw.

[@Andy_Ross1962]

'One of Our Submarines' by Edward Young is a good account of submarine operations in WW2. He commanded a sub in the North Sea, Med and Far East. His account of coastal operations in the Pacific is very good.

[@hugod2000]

Thanks for recommendation

[@stanleyrogouski]

If the BBC made a mini-series about Lord Huffington, Americans would watch it. British sailors on a raft: "Well we're out here in the middle of the Atlantic dying of the plague but it's worth it if it lets Lord Huffington buy Downton Abbey." Americans: "Why can't we be civilized like that?"

[@thestonedabbot9551]

19:21 Fun fact about the USS Chester, she served as the escort ship for the Carpathia on 17th-18th April 1912, when she was bringing the survivors of Titanic into NYC

[@Charliecomet82]

Maybe they could have gotten the public to support saving the Implacable by printing it's picture on their ration books...

[@donaldcarey114]

Nitpick: it's is the contraction of it is, its is the possesive of it. (Free English lesson.)

[@mkaustralia7136]

It’s the fault of autocorrect which add’s 😂😂😂😂 the apostrophe to almost anything ending in “s”

[@donaldcarey114]

@@mkaustralia7136 Just goes to prove ya gotta keep an eye on AI.😎

[@giupiete6536]

Getting public support in and of itself costs time & money, at least if a government office respects that every hour it puts people to work on a project it is costing money. The trouble with many people's attitude to money in general of course is that in reality spent money is not lost, it is just somewhere else than where it was before it was spent.. if you trap water it cannot return as rain.

[@lilidutour3617]

Regarding metal cladding on top of the wood on Essex class carriers. Memoir from a S-2 Tracker pilot on USS Hornet in 1965 stated and pictures confirm that the flight deck was wood with metal cladding over the wood in the location of the arresting wires.

[@SCjunk]

Best fix for the F2-A would be to reduce the weight - the Finns used them to great effect for point defence well into the continuation war by running them light, as did the KNIL in Bornio Sumatra by only loading out to 50% so half fuel and ammunition -evidently in that configuration the F2-F was well cabable of giving a Claude a run around and probably even a partial match (no cannons) for a Zero but most Zeros encountered were in fact A5Ms. So as a refit, relatively simple rebuild, the answer would have been just like the Zero -fit a drop tank or even two drop tanks, maybe reduce the ammunition stowage -even for fleet use with a drop tank it could then serve effectively as long as the pilot was trained well enough husband his range -but for a CAP fighter this wouldn't matter much, get to patrol altitude run on reserve and then drop the tank (s) on engagement. One of the good things about F2-A which no-one mentions is the comparatively good cockpit visiblity which was on a par with Zeros and the open cockpit of the Claude, but alot better than an F4 -f wildcat.

[@chpet1655]

Yes indeed weight was a problem. The Fins tossed out everything and many were armed with 2 or 4 rifle calibre machine guns rather than 4 Heavy M2 50 cal’s. And of course there was no naval equipment like tail hooks or life rafts etc etc. So whatever changes they made had to be good enough because they shot down an awful lot of Soviet aircraft

[@sam8742]

I love watching these as I go to bed, it’s just the right combination of calming and information it makes my brain shut up enough for me to sleep easily Please don’t interrupt this as your videos being boring

[@stevewindisch7400]

Thanks for the great video, as always. Regarding those large cowl air vents, they were often called "Dorades", because they had a "dorade box" to keep water from getting below. They can be recognized by this box built around the base of the cowl, inside it has the air input shaft from below raised several inches and offset from the cowl base which is raised a bit from the bottom of the box. A hole in the box allows water coming down the cowl to drain out before it reaches the actual vent's input level. A ship may have had several of both types with the non-dorades usually being able to be blocked in bad weather. The down side is since the air flow is rather serpentine they were less efficient in calm weather and often required forced air of some type to be really effective, although a vessel's speed does have a "ram air" effect.

[@hektor6766]

I was always bemused at scenes in movies showing people using them for ashtrays or waste receptacles.

[@backinblack03]

HMS Implacable was clearly a witch

[@nozdormu89]

16:30 so in other words in order for the Spanish Empire to fight the French, the French navy would to need to cease to be the Unofficial Unpaid Strategic reserve of the Royal Navy . I am sure the RN would object rather vehemently.

[@slightlyshabby9226]

Drach, my grandfather was an interwar USN sailor. According to him, bluejackets regarded the deck locker potatoes as weapons from a cultural perspective, to include heaving them at unsuspecting misliked officers. This completely supports the o’bannon’s enlisted men.

[@stevevalley7835]

wrt the question on the F2A, as Drac said, the first problem was weight. The early models were quite agile. "Pappy" Boyington praised it's handling. But the Navy wanted armor, self-sealing fuel tanks, more guns, more ammo, and weight grew. Besides a disastrous impact on performance, the increased weight lead to more landing gear failures. In Aussie hands, the planes were put on a diet: all the armor, except that directly behind the pilot, was removed. The wing 50 cal machine guns were replaced with .303s. Besides the reduced weight of the .303 guns and their ammo, putting the weight reduction out on the wins would also reduce rotational inertia, which improves roll rate. The life raft and Brewster provided radio, which did not work worth a hoot, were also removed. As modified, the Aussie Buffs apparently pretty much held their own against the early Japanese army fighters. Another problem was the engines installed on the Aussie and far east RAF Buffs. There was apparently a shortage of Wright Cyclones, so the planes built for export were fitted with worn out airline castoffs (the DC-2 used the Cyclone) that had been 'refurbished" by Wright. Whether due to the engines being refurbs, or the fundamental design of the engine, I don't know, but the Buffs in far east service also tended to overheat and blow out their oil. Given that the Cyclone was also used in the SBD and B-17, I would lean toward laying the engine's ill temper in the export Buffs on their state of wear, in spite of being "refurbished". Best moves to improve the Buff, besides the weight reduction program the Aussies gave them, would be actual, new, Cyclones, or Pratt Twin Wasps, like the earlier, Grumman-built, F4Fs had. Or, take the entire program away from Brewster and give it to someone who knew how to run an aircraft factory, and had capacity available.

[@johnshepherd9676]

The Buffalo was an effective fighter in the hands of the Finns. They also lightened the aircraft.

[@stevevalley7835]

@@johnshepherd9676 indeed. According to Wiki the Finns had a variation on the F2A-1, with no armor, no self-sealing fuel tanks, and the life raft and tail hook removed. The cooler weather in Finland also helped with the Cyclone's tendency to overheat, and improved reliability. The Wiki article cites a kill ratio in Finnish hands of 26:1, vs other sources giving a kill ratio of 6.9:1 for the F4F in US hands.

[@jimmahon3417]

I think you nailed the F2A question with your initial comments about Brewster's poor production capability (ignoring the persistent tales of supposed production line sabotage) and the fact that the design had little capacity for easy upgrading. On your Merlin 20 idea, I think that the USN was VERY strongly inclined against liquid cooling for their carrier aircraft at this time and Brewster's questionable general competence at this point would quite likely have manifested in a poor engine installation.

[@Drachinifel]

Oh absolutely, the Merlin idea is more now a wild shot in the dark to claw some power back using a contemporary engine that is in theory available, almost certainly unworkable in real life 😀

[@tonym480]

Apparently the Finns quite liked the Buffalo. I think one of the main things they did was reduce the weight by de-navalising them and removing some of the guns. Some Finnish pilots flying against the Soviets ran up large numbers of kills.

[@HansLasser]

What was the reason for USN aversion to water cooling?

[@CharlesStearman]

@@HansLasser Water-cooled engines were very vulnerable to damage to the cooling system (they tended to overheat and seize or catch fire quite quickly afterwards) whereas air-cooled radials often kept running even with large holes blown in them, so had a better chance of making it back to a distant carrier..

[@antoninuspius1747]

What interesting to me is the F2 had the highest kill ratio of all WWII fighters at 26:1. However, that's because once the war got going most were relegated to secondary theaters such as Finland against Russia, a theater where Russia was mostly using outdated aircraft.

[@frankbodenschatz173]

Glad you made it safely home, if not a bit confused. 😂

[@leogazebo5290]

What another good episode

[@hughgordon6435]

Never had a "bad" one😅😅😅

[@232pk]

So i have a question. The Dutch had the worst luck when we tried to procure capital ships. Like the battleship plan of 1913 or the battle cruiser plan of 1939. What would the effect have been if either of these plans had been realized. Were the plans strategically sound? And what kind of navy would you have advised the Dutch to build to protect Indonesia against the Japanese? If this has already been answered in which video did you do so?

[@tomdolan9761]

Given the obvious disparity in size and the enormous distance to the home country the only rational choice for the Dutch to defend the East Indies were large modern fleet submarines supported by a large number of fast tenders. It probably wouldn’t have worked but the Japanese would have paid a much higher cost

[@user-hw1qo2mu9e]

The US Government isn't innocent when it comes to scrapping things that shouldn't be scrapped either. The fact that CV-6 was scrapped is criminal!

[@TheJuggtron]

If I was a trillionaire, my personal yacht would be either a Hood copy or an Enterprise clone.

[@alanhughes6753]

@@TheJuggtron give me a Warspite clone. She may not be fast, but you can guarantee that she would scare the colly-wobbles out of any hostile customs launches 😄

[@user-hw1qo2mu9e]

Preferably all three but if I had to choose one it'd be CV-6 although that's certainly my American bias talking.@@alanhughes6753

[@admiralrover74]

I think it's also Worth to Mention that one of the Royal Navy Submarines in patrol at the Pacific is HMS Trenchant sunk the Japanese Heavy Cruiser Ashigara with the score of hitting 5 Torperdoes out of 8 Torpedoes Fired.

[@joshkamp7499]

Re: Merlin F2A, the USN was completely against any engine but air cooled radials, especially at that point.

[@calvingreene90]

Brewster Buffalo performed competitively well before the USofA Navy armored it without a matching power increase. As for replacing the radial engine with a V-12 that is how the USofA Army had Curtiss turn the P-36 into the P-40.

[@aker1993]

The problem of drachs proposal for the buffalo upgrades is will smash the a walls called the Navys BuroAir and the the army air corp

[@Zarcondeegrissom]

25:38 interesting that even Drach mentions the '27' having the straight flight deck that appears to be what most text and blueprints also indicates, as when I was looking for photos of explicitly "SCB-27C" I kept seeing pics of the later SCB-125 modified angled deck on the Essex carriers erroneously being called SCB-27C. I do not know if the wood deck is still there, yet I had seen several references to the metal being added to strengthen the deck for experimentation with much heavier jet craft. I'm not sure exactly when that was done and I don't think any documentaries say when that I can recall.

[@Zarcondeegrissom]

ok, CV-11 Intrepid note. I have found a modern pic of a wood planked elevator on the intrepid, yet nothing indicating if the wood was original, was restored by removing a metal covering, or if the planks are all new replacement for a former all metal decking. Also there appears to be a KZbin "Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum" vid of some one talking about the elevator while standing on it, yet they never mention the surface of the thing, only other aspects in the short vid.

[@saoirseewing4877]

Just admit the Implacable was a witch.

[@timengineman2nd714]

@ 43:41, the Buffalo was also produced at Naval Air Station Philadelphia, the problem in additional to the wing loading, was that they added self-sealing fuel tanks, and armor. And easy solution would be to use a higher performance of the R-1820 than what she had. Then perhaps Lengthen the wing a bit by inserting a constant cord section. Re: Merlin, look at the FW-190D .vs. FW-190A, they had to put "a plug" into the fuselage behind the cockpit to adjust both the Center of Gravity and the Center of Pressure....

[@staffanlindell4309]

So so so curious to know whether the wooden flight deck is still there on Yorktown. 😁 I would not be surprised if it was.

[@brucefelger4015]

which is why they couldn't gual planes with afterburners on Lex@@enterpriseone6116

[@marckyle5895]

When I toured the Hornet last month, the wooden deck was still there.

[@DavidBrown-yd9le]

It was great to meet up with Drach last Sunday on the Niagara. Thank you for visiting the US Again

[@grahamstrouse1165]

Did you use the same trick to get Drach’s attention that Lois Lane did to try & out Clark Kent in Superman 2?

[@asuka7309]

I'll have to make some objections to the first-rate ships answer. Specifically about Spain. They didn't have a single ship that could be called a first-rate until the Nuestra Señora de la Concepción (which "only" had 94 guns) was launched in 1687. That one was scrapped in 1705 and no other first-rates were built thereafter until the Santisima Trinidad in 1769. Only in the 1780s, a whole century after the Nuestra Señora had been launched, did the Spanish finally start building first-rates in any noteworthy numbers. The Dutch were actual early adopters of first-rates as they built well over a dozen of them in the late 17th century. They just had to give it up after the golden age came to an end.

[@jameskilpatrick7790]

Clenching a nail is also known as "killing" it. This was commonly done in doors, for the same reasons as Drach identifies for ship's nails, and is the origin of the term "Dead as a doornail". Once "killed" a nail can be straightened, but is really susceptible to bending at the former bend location, and the nail is thus difficult or impossible to use, thus "dead"

[@bertbaker7067]

I didn't know that, thanks for the info 👍

[@TokuTaisho]

Surprisingly, the French did not draw many parallels between their ships and the Russian's ones. That is not to say that they were not interested, but they were a lot less informed about the Russian ships than one might think. It seems that the French were not well informed even on the specifications of the Tsesarevich, which was built in France. Armour was not the principal focus of French analysis. They fought that armour on both sides had proven to be quite sufficient. They were quite impressed by the lack of heavy damage caused to the Tsesarevich, which was the subject of numerous reports after being interned in German-held Qingdao. The only major failure that the French reported concerning Russian battleship armour was that, at Tsushima, the main armour belt was submerged and only a fraction of the upper belt was above the waterline. The French mainly blamed Admiral Rozhestvenskiy for overloading his ships with coal, based on the visit and report on the Oryol, the only Borodino class who survived and was captured by the Japanese. It will be a bit long to explain here all French remarks and analysis on the Russo-Japanese naval War, but concerning the question and Drach's answer, it seems that armour was not one of the major concerns and did not bring massive changes into French thinking.

[@oleran4569]

So (quite too) many of these military channels consistently reinforce the continual relevance of the term "cluster ****" throughout history.

[@GrahamWKidd]

Bit of Abbott and Costello - Who's on First ... to begin with 😂😂😂

[@Thirdbase9]

And I approve.

[@conradswadling8495]

plus, brewster buffalo, Finn version did well. it was kept as light as possible.

[@joshthomas-moore2656]

00:18:15 See i think the British would have just done what they did with the rebuilt HMS President and just sailed her around Spain just to troll the Spannish.

[@stanleyrogouski]

Three British Sailors on a raft: Sailor 1: "So the crown has left us here to die of the plague just to save a few quid?" Sailor 2: "It's the violence inherent in the system." Sailor 3: "Maybe we should have a revolution like the French, storm Buckingham Palace, drag the King down to the public square and chop off his head." Sailor 2: "We tried that back in 1649. All we got was a military dictator who wouldn't let us celebrate Christmas or go to the theater." Americans: "God I love British humor. Nothing like those cheese eating guillotine monkeys."

[@Dave_Sisson]

Except the Crown continued to pay sailors in their employ after their ships were sunk. It was the private shipping companies that stopped paying crew when their ship went down.

[@jonathanj8303]

7:31 The picture of HMS Implacable appears to have a distinctly tumblehome appearance, years before I'd understood it became fashionable on French pre-dreadnaughts. Does it taper in more than say, HMS Victory, and if so, was this also typical of age of sail MN vessels?

[@keithplymale2374]

The two biggest problems the Buffalo had was it came into service after one major jump in aircraft tech (enclosed cockpits, monoplane, monocotyledon fuselage and retractile landing gear) but before the sudden jump in engine power that began and then accelerated just before W W II and during it. Most monoplane all metal aircraft of the 1935-1939 time period got caught the same way. In USN terms this also covers the Devastator and the Vindicator. If the Pacific war had started when these three aircraft were first introduced, before the A6M in all three cases, there history today would most likely be different. Brewster's problems were three, management, the over ambitious sales team and the location of the factory. From a manufacturing stand point the biggest issue for the Buffalo was having a one piece wing. Which caused huge issues with building the plane given the cramped nature of the factory again caused by being in a city.

[@brucewilliams1892]

I believe the egg-shape was considered optimum design for aero performance at some time in the thirties..

[@mikolajgrotowski]

The radial engine was a requirement imposed by the US Navy. The idea was that such an engine would be more reliable and resistant to damage in combat. Liquid-cooled engines have an additional weak point, the cooling system, which was often the reason why Bf 109s were unable to return to France after combat. Even minor damage to the system could result in coolant leakage and engine seizure. This was confirmed in the case of the P47 and P 51 planes, the former tolerated damage much better, to such an extent that the pilots asked to replace the P51 with P47 in Korea, because there these planes mainly attacked ground targets and damage to the radiator was a common problem. Therefore, all U.S. Navy aircraft had radial engines until the jet age.

[@RonJohn63]

The US Navy did _not_ like in-line engines: one hit to the radiator and down you go, whereas multiple radial cylinders could be knocked out and the plane still flies.

[@hughgordon6435]

I heard / read somewhere that the four stackers that were "land leased" to the UK ,left America stacked to the gunnels with fancy goods foodstuffs as a goodwill gesture, but when they were handed over ,the navy high command ordered all the goodies were removed? So gotta ask have you heard of this?, and also why??

[@brucewilliams1892]

I read somewhere that the 'Campbeltown', famously wedged in the lock gates, was stocked (wardroom?) to pre-war standards. This was attracting the interest of visiting seniors when she exploded, raising the number and ranks of the victims. I don't know the truth of it.

[@napalmholocaust9093]

Please humor me with my modern question;- What would you do about the illegal fishing fleets? They have sonar for fish so not sure if a sub would work. Maybe a merchant with concealed deck torpedo tubes and a panel hiding a 5 inch 50 or something. Start with the refueling tanker. I'm getting the distinct feeling that if we don't start sending them to the bottom we'll all get dragged down to it if we let it continue. Some are under the military as support despite being fishing vessels Can a military claim a ship in peacetime with hooks down as their own anyway?

[@benchan16]

Another Sunday another dry dock ❤

[@tommasobalconi]

A form of clenched nail was used as far back as the 1st century AD, at the very least. Thousands of examples were used in the Nemi ships' hulls to keep mainly ribs in place, but their application was somewhat different: first a hole was bored through the planking, then a treenail of soft wood was driven into it, and the nail was hammered in afterwards from the outside, once the rib was in position. This was done to prevent splitting in the plank occuring as the nails were square-bodied (and some rather hefty, 1-2 cm thick, about 1/2 to 1''). They were then hammered in back again, probably first bending the tip 90° and then folding the rest back in to create a stronger joint. In the shell first construction the ribs served mainly to keep the outer shape given to the hull, therefore the use of metal nails (as opposed to the planking which was dowelled). This use probably goes back even further, but I would have to look it up, I can't remember off the top of my head, but certainly clenched nails have been around since at least Roman times in shipbuilding.

[@philipgadsby8261]

Picking up on your points about Implacable, Colossus class and by implication, Audacious and Malta Class carriers. Obviously the Light Fleets Colossus, Majestic and Cenatur Class, where designed to be basically disposable carriers that could be produced quickly, to merchant marine standards, to provide decks for the invasion of Japan, they did not have armoured decks or the speed of the Fleet Carriers. After the war, taking the lessons learnt from working with the USN in the Pacific, there is a, in my opinion, good argument that the Audacious Class should be scrapped and the Malta Class be built, these were to be far bigger than the Illustrious and Implacable class, with decent sized hangers etc, the RN version of the Midway class. If due to the Sunk Cost is Sunk Cost argument, this strategy was not adopted, I have always thought that being realistic in the 1950s, that doing a Victorious type conversion on the much newer and larger Implacables would have given the RN two far more fit for purpose carriers. A Carrier fleet of Eagle, Ark Royal, Implacable and Indefatigable, with the remaining light fleets as helicopter carriers etc would have been far more balanced than two Audacious, in different trims, Victorious and Hermes. To be frank the Illustrious class carriers were worn out by the end of WW11, as was found out when they were surveyed for modernisation and confirmed when it becoming apparent that Victorious needed its engines swapped out whilst undergoing modernisation, extending the time and cost in dock in Portsmouth.

[@johnfisher9692]

Thanks Drach Which weeks Dry Dock is this? I think you lost me at that sharp turn at Albuquerque.

[@KPen3750]

RE boiler air: from what I have seen spelunking on New Jersey, during the WWII period ships had double skinned funnels where the inside gab between the funnel uptake and the skin is where the air for the boilers, the boiler rooms and engine rooms is sucked down. You can see in some photos of ships in service a massive gap between the black funnel top and the funnel skin which is where air is drawn down. At least this was done on most inter-war and wartime USN designs, your mileage may vary nation to nation

[@sadwingsraging3044]

Can Lord Huffington, along with his ducks, be stuffed into a 16" barrel and fired into the sun?🤔

[@rootbeerpoptart]

Perhaps that was the end goal of Project HARP

[@Dave_Sisson]

He's too fat to fit into a 16 inch barrel.

[@lordsheogorath3377]

8:11 I am convinced that the primary requirement for being in charge of British finances to be some kind of gremlin that derives joy from unnecessarily destroying nice things.

[@lozestephane1291]

48:44 Speaking of the République class, could you make a video about it ?

[@TheJuggtron]

On the photo of implacable, i noticed the gun shield of the octuple mount. Were these mounts able to be used against any surface targets the same way a modern CIWS or bushmaster can be used?

[@jonathanjackson4026]

I live in Charleston and have been on the Yorktown 6-7 times a year since I was 6. I do remember the foreword part of the flight deck still being painted wood up until the steel was put over it about 20 years ago. They sold some pieces of the flight deck (I do have one) but I am not sure if they removed the wood under the new steel. Hope that helps.

[@hazchemel]

Yes indeed, your blithely jubilant negation of all (damned) plots to pose you insurmountable existential challenges, is shared. Hi 5s. The response to the final and excellent question was fascinating.

[@stephenwoods4118]

Nicking their ships... Crikey It's the Rozzers

[@ronaldfinkelstein6335]

Apparently, the USN has an impaired sense of humor. The O'Bannon potato story should be 'stuck to' if only for its humorous content! It is right up there with the anonymous wag in Taffy 3, who, during the Battle off Samar, said, "We're suckering them onto 40mm range!"!

[@coco-ry8jg]

00:40:44 - Were merchant ships over-crewed? At an initial glance it may appear so, but ships have to be crewed 24/7 @ sea so at the very least a day and a night "watch" is required which would make the size of the crew seem bloated.

[@robertbrodie5183]

id be facinated with your outlook on mine warfare during 1st and 2nd WW

[@curtshelp6170]

the buffalo would convert to a 2200 hp double cyclone more easily than the Merlin 20 and was more powerful than any Merlin. though not as aerodynamic and may be too much for the f2a. This installation would probably require a distance piece in the rear fuselage ala the TA 152. more wing as Drach suggested would be necessary. Viola new aircraft.

[@kkupsky6321]

I love it. Best theme song on KZbin.

[@Thirdbase9]

Ducks also float.

[@treyhelms5282]

So if a ship weighs as much as a duck.....

[@lilidutour3617]

As a volunteer on USS Yorktown the current flight deck is covered by either metal plates or a roofing material forward. The comment regarding the metal was to allow the support of the display aircraft on the deck. The roofing material is simply there for preservation. Regarding the status of the wood underneath. I've heard that some was removed and disposed of in years past. Was all of it removed? I don't think so and believe most of it is still there underneath.

[@mbryson2899]

One of my favorite things about Uncle Drach's channel is the sharing of information in the comments. It's a double whammy of facts and history because of posters like yourself. Thank you!

[@Sublette217]

This is not a technical answer insofar as I have no official source to cite, but my impression walking on the flightdeck of CVT-16 Lexington in Pensacola in the late 1970s, it appeared to my untrained eye that the wooden deck still underlay whatever kind of non-skid surfacing that was installed. I recall remarking on that to myself at the time.

[@frednone]

Considering sailors, you would probably would not lose a bet if you figured the tonnage was overestimated than underestimated.

[@magnemoe1]

38:00 why not have some cheap small arms like grease guns ready for these situations. Was it so rare not thought of it but see it being useful if you rescue lots of enemy sailors to.

[@Sublette217]

A question for a future dry dock session: How did the deforestation and the scarceness of quality woods in Great Britain affect the Navy’s build plans/programs? I know that they were sourcing tall mast timbers from the New World, the claims on some colonial land being one of the grievances that led to revolt.

[@brucewilliams1892]

One tangential comment - I read somewhere that Victorian landowners planted oaks as a patriotic duty and anticipated source of profit. The timber would go to the navy, the bark for tanning leather, to make saddles and harnesses for the army. Unfotunately, however, steel ships and mechanisation came along.

[@zstewart]

40:15 Apparently getting at the potatoes would have been extremely easy, Ryan at Battleship New Jersey just released his video on this subject (kzbin.info/www/bejne/jn6ppHStfKadbMk), and apparently WWII US ships just stored potatoes outdoors in special spud lockers. So potatoes would have been quite ready to hand for anyone on deck in the right part of the ship.

[@RedXlV]

If Santisima Trinidad had been captured intact and razeed down to a normal 112-gun 1st rate, what would the Royal Navy have called her? Would she have just been HMS Santisima Trinidad, or would they have changed the name? For that matter, is was there any set rule for how that works, since I've noticed that many captured ships kept their foreign names in British service, while others did not. (And only sometimes can that be explained by another ship of the same name being already in active service.)

[@SlinkyTWF]

I remember reading American accounts of night interceptions of Japanese land-based bombers by Henderson-based F4Fs.

[@robertmills8640]

Time Team did an episode about late medieval shipbuilding, where the talked about clench nails

[@plasmaburndeath]

If Rocks can't be found out on the deck while on the ocean, how does Star Fleet come up with all their rocks for spaceships? :P

[@frankbarnwell____]

Seems like some RN and USN sink-Exs, disposal of old ships post-WW2, might have them ask if the IJN had a few type 93s squirreled away somewhere?

[@conradswadling8495]

easy now, being critical of authority. might catch on. then where would we be?

[@johnshepherd9676]

Aircraft development was the Royal Navy's biggest deficiency for the post war environment not the ships themselves. The Sea Fury was the RN's main fighter in Korea. The Sea. Fury was a great aircraft in 1945 but it was obsolete as a fighter in 1950. The Sea Vixen was the last CTOL carrier fighter to enter service in 1959, two years after the the US Navy introduced the F8 Crusader which was arguably the worlds's best air superiority fighter into the early 1970s. The RN would have been better off building US Types under license which would have given them a much more effective force than putting the same aircraft on a couple more Implacables

[@coco-ry8jg]

I'd say the opposite, post war RN carriers were to small for jets hence the need to create the angled deck. The Royal Navy Air Arm had several fighter jets in service in the early 50's including the Hawker Seahawk and the Supermarine Attacker.

[@johnshepherd9676]

@@coco-ry8jg The A4 was a contemporary to both. The angled deck was required to safely operate heavier, faster aircraft. A bolter or missed hook would crash into the forward deck park even on a Midway.

[@coco-ry8jg]

@@johnshepherd9676 Must be why the new UK carriers haven't bothered with an angled deck! The Vought F-8 / F8U Crusader was an entirely different aircraft to the subsonic MK2. Fortunately the UK went for the F4 Phantom which on reflection was probably the better choice.

[@johnshepherd9676]

@@coco-ry8jg The Sea Vixen was more akin to the F3H. The FAA went with what the US had. If the BuAir went with the F8U-3 then so would RN. The RN would have better off with the F8/A4 combination like the SCB-125 Essex Conversions. The F4 was too big an aircraft for the size carrier used by the RN. The QE class doesn't need an angled deck because they operate STOVL aircraft.

[@coco-ry8jg]

@@johnshepherd9676 While the A4's longevity has proven it a great aircraft, the F8 was not, statistics don't lie. During Vietnam more F8's were lost in non combat than combat sorties.(When the norm was a 3 to 1 loss rate) As far as Korea is concerned the US also deployed mostly propeller driven aircraft and like the UK were given a bloody nose by the MIG-15's. And where as the US deployed the Sabre to counter the MIG's the UK chose not to deploy it's frontline jet the Sea Vampire which would have been a match for them. Oh and HMS Ark Royal flew F4's for eight years without issue.

[@wesleyfoster1967]

is here, gave you a 👍! My notifications are on. I am a subscriber. I have received notification of your video 🙂. Audio video is good.

[@TrickiVicBB71]

Nice ending 😂

[@friedrichweitzer3071]

Nah I would prefer if he would sucked into the past and recruited into the navy because of his personal skills - his skills wielding a sword and wearing a futuristic suit of armor to oppose the pesky normannic invaders of Duc Guillaume le Conquérant.

[@Kevin_Kennelly]

1:03:04 "Because, you know, if you're gonna die overseas, at least make it dramatic."

[@johnjephcote7636]

Good Heavens!...short-term thinking by governments, even then as now...I'm shocked!

[@robertslugg8361]

Concentric air intakes also extracts lost heat energy that would go up the funnel otherwise. Boilers don't benefit from cool air the same way an ICE does.

[@brucewilliams1892]

@12:42 - the same applies with a ship closed down for severe weather, I'm sure.

[@trevorfulcher4070]

Nice opening….can it get any more James May ish?

[@Alex-cw3rz]

56:29 Drach do you agree the Implacable carrier was the pinnacle of WW2 Carriers?

[@mattblom3990]

The scuttling of Implacable is troubling because there appears to be malice and a sneer behind Britain's choice to eviscerate it.

[@tomdolan9761]

What malice? They offered her back to the French, were refused and disposed of her hulk. They were incompetent in the disposal and suitably embarrassed so the deployed additional assets to remove the source of embarrassment.

[@hughgordon6435]

Drach, sir ? Where can an ordinary person get access to your wonderful photo coloection?

[@Drachinifel]

A small but growing part of it is uploaded on my website, Drachinifel.co.uk

[@hughgordon6435]

@@Drachinifel jeez the man himself?? Thanks , you sir are a modern marvel!

[@didongobongo]

38:55 but rocks are found in vast quantities on starfleet ships, much to the detriment of their crews

[@bertbaker7067]

@~5:45, reminds me of the duke of Wellington calling his own soldiers ~"the scum of the earth."

[@iankerridge5720]

wrt 1st question: just because USS Indianapolis is on a special mission, who cares if she gets sunk on Her return, and sharks decimate the survivours?

[@grimley1971]

the start was like whos on first

[@dougjb7848]

10:10 We’ll build a bridge out’a her!!

[@brendyngilmore579]

So I had a question I don’t know if this you type of content but do you know types sailing ships in most fantasy settings such as dnd and pathfinder as primary example. If be cool if you could talk about. Or if anyone reads this point me in the right direction to find on my own please and thank you.

[@VintageCarHistory]

Kinda like time travel...

[@Skipsul]

So, the Implacable was treated the same as the Warspite. Ugh.

[@SuperchargedSupercharged]

2 years since I was this early.

[@greypatch8855]

10:20 she's a witch! Oh umm wrong movie

[@timengineman2nd714]

35:58 Dogging wrenches?

[@marcusfranconium3392]

On the submarines its a bit funny how Drach would constitute the British and Dutch submarines being smaller , and could operated in shallow waters . As the german Type VII submarines where on a whole the smallest in the water . with the Type IX c was similar is size as the British and Dutch submarines . Only japanese and a handful american submarines where larger. Plus the doctrines of all of these navies where different . American used fleet submarines . to escort their fleets and scout ahead . Where doctrines of the dutch had purpose build submarines for a doctrine that was extremely aggressive. when they lost the bases in the dutch indies , malaya singapore they where pushed to australia and cylon .

[@Drachinifel]

The question was about Allied subs in the Pacific, in that context the Britosj and Dutch subs were smaller than the American ones, so were sent into shallower waters. The Type VII is irrelevant to the question as the Type VII was not an Allied sub nor in the Pacific. 😀

[@marcusfranconium3392]

@@Drachinifel True but it was a size reference . As only the americans of the allies had larger submarines as mentioned before fleet submarine doctrine . But here is a question which country made the most aesthetic pleasing submarine hulls ? As construction between nations is quite different .

[@Drachinifel]

@@marcusfranconium3392 I'm actually quite partial to some Italian hull forms :)

[@marcusfranconium3392]

@@Drachinifel i agree with your there they where actually together with the dutch leading submarine designers . Very tidy lines . As there was a memorial of the USS Cod on its Rescue of O19 he said in my opinion one of the most beautifull designed submarines. What i like about the dutch submarines is the rounded bow and verry flushed sides instead of the clipper bows you see on so many other submarines . or sadle bag ballast tanks.

[@danhammond8406]

Ready use potato locker........

[@hughgordon6435]

Re the British subs in the pacific?? How come the american subs operated out of Australia so much and ( most of) the British were still based out of Ceylon? Is there a diplomatic reason, or some other dibs? I would of thought, being a British colony the boat yards in Oz were more empire oriented and the American measurements would take some getting used to?

[@Dave_Sisson]

Not sure about it being a colony. Most Australian states were *effectively* independent by the late 1850s, but bickering between Melbourne and Sydney delayed federation until 1901. With more steps such as the Statute of Westminster in the 1930s, there was almost no British influence over Australia by World War II. Unlike America, places like Australia and to a lesser extent, Canada, gradually attained independence, rather than all at once like the USA.