General History: German Battlecruisers 1

[@lordfarquandale]

Bro, if you keep on making videos like this, you're going to explode in popularity. Keep at it!

[@NashmanNash]

If,IF Drachinifel does not deliver a horses head^^

[@georgewallis7802]

the 'proto fast-battleship' thing is something that can genuinely be argued. as for the armour, it comes down to intended use. fisher's apparently insane assertion that speed is armour holds true provided one has more speed and longer-ranged guns (a tactical advantage beatty threw away during the run to the south), and provided one doesn't intend one's ships to be tided to the battle line i.e. limit their use to flanking manoeuvres and picking off stragglers. enjoying your vids thanks 👍

[@Th0ughtf0rce]

Exactly. "Speed is armour" is the naval equivalent of "no be there"

[@alephalon7849]

I don't know as much about the German battlecruisers as I do about the British ones, so this is very informative. I look forward to the second installment featuring the later German GKs.

[@21Jaromir]

Great channel man, you are doing it right. Dont be let down by slower channel growt, after all, we, warship enthusiasts are a (in numbers, not in spirit) group :-). Great job, please keep at it!.

[@brianomalley7501]

Absolutely one of my favorites this the first seeing it out standing the way you put this one together absolutely grade A with the variety of photos i want to thank you once again for a navel history lesson and. Your hard work and great presentation

[@PsychicalTraumaPL]

Hey, another naval (not only) history channel! You have my sub 😉

[@brucermarino]

Superb presentation! Keep "pounding"on that armor :-)

[@joachimthielker3132]

Fun fact: To finance these ships the German government raised a tax on sparkling wine. They scuttled their own ships in 1919. The tax however still exists.

[@donaldcarey114]

Taxes, like the X-rated photos your lady friend posted on Only Fools, last forever.

[@apis_aculei]

Speed is the best protection, Lord Fisher's Credo characterises the Invincible class and its successors with their much too weak armour. The Germans deliberately did not realise this development. Weight savings due to smaller size, lighter armament and machinery was invested in armour but especially in a pronounced honeycomb-like underwater protection. The North Sea was defined as the main battle area, with its poor visibility. The greater range of larger calibres could therefore be neglected, more important was a pronounced medium artillery for the medium range. Overall, a well-considered concept for a regionally deployed navy.

[@Grace17893]

Great work man God bless you

[@dougdouglas2112]

Good video, good info, thanks 👍🇺🇸

[@Wild_Danimal]

A wise man once told me it’s better to be pissed off than pissed on

[@RayyMusik]

You pronounced Großer Kreuzer and Panzerkreuzer quite well. :)

[@davidharner5865]

Thank you for the eXcellent video, but...German vessels as smaller versions of British? German capital ships were properly armoured and inadequately armed by comparison.

[@ingok7491]

Great Video! You nailed 'großer Kreuzer'-well pronounced

[@ingok7491]

Panzerkreuzer, same. No butchering here

[@joseph-sj7do]

You repeatedly refer to Jutland but not to Falkland Islands when Armoured Cruisers Scharnhorst and Gniesenau were sunk by British Battlecryisers probably an ideal battle for which Battlecryisers were invented for .

[@jayillingworth1301]

Good video, well researched. The early British battlecruisers however were little more than heavily armed armoured cruisers, until the Lion class was built. The loss of three ships at Jutland was more down to bad ammunition handling and the removal of vital safety interlocks by the British crews in the Battlecruiser force( Beatty was not a good Admiral). HMS Tiger was a brand new ship and did not carry out the removal of the turret interlocks or have the same ammunition handling regime, and she was hit several times, but survived without major injury.

[@harrylor66]

The legend of bad handling of ammunition is very popular. 25 years after Jutland, almost to the day, HMS Hood exploded after only 6 min of fighting. Was that also the bad handling of ammunition...? The HMS Tiger is more like the IJN Kongo in design and is constructed slightly different than the Lion's.

[@mikepette4422]

If only Kaiser Willy's father had not died so soon after taking the throne and Willy had some better guidance. Bismarck and Frederick III could have steered Germany into a more liberal direction as they wanted to. But Sadly the young Kaiser W II was steered in other more militant directions plus his constant inferiority complex caused a lot of antagonism. Who knows though because France was itching for war after 1871 and they tried so desperately to get everyone against Germany war may have been inevitable.

[@donaldcarey114]

Bismarck rejected a possible alliance with the United Kingdom - THAT was MUCH more damaging to the Reich.

[@anonymusum]

Sorry, I have to disagree. German authorities realized that the British industrial power was superior and so were the shipyards. So it was not possible to build as many Dreadnoughts as the British did. That led to the conclusion to build battlecruisers - not GKs - that could operate as battlecruisers and, at the same time, were able to strengthen the battleline of Dreadnoughts. Subsequently they added more armour as they had to withstand real heavy fire. Furthermore the GKs were built as cruisers serving abroad and the admiralty was aware of the fact that Germany would lose it´s colonies very quickly due to British seapower. And that means that there was no need for GKs anymore. And by the way: Blücher was a very unique GK and the pinnacle of it´s kind. In general I realize that your view is a typical angloamerican one - although not as extreme as - for example - Drachinifel´s vids. So I enjoy your vids better.

[@mikepette4422]

WW1 maybe have been a disaster for Germany.... on the other hand the 'risk theory" did come to fruition because WW1 cost Great Britain its Merchant Marine its Prestige as top world power and eventually the Empire itself. In truth Britain had no business involving itself with the continental war and should have let the French/Russian coalition and the Central Powers wear each other down.

[@caseytaylor458]

that's not right the Invincibles were 25 knots von der Tann was 27.75 knots though she sometimes averaged 28 knots

[@skyneahistory2306]

On her *trials* she made 27 knots. All ships are faster on trials than in service. One of the Invincibles managed 26-ish knots on her trials. I've never read anything to say Von der Tann could make 28 knots, let alone that she could do it on the regular. *Moltke* could make 28-ish knots on her trials, though again, that's on trials. German figures are also inflated on this because they did trials in sea conditions conducive to being faster than they would be in service. And, at any rate, sea trials figures are always with the engines pushed to their absolute limits (again, trials) and would *not* be a common things in service since that would ruin them. As a general rule, stated power and stated speed are the ones they'll do, plus or minus a bit. You can make an argument for Von der Tann being equivalent to Invincible, but I tend to fall on the conservative side there in regards to power and speed.

[@twinattorney864]

What Skynea said. The maximum speeds are the maximum speed of the engine. You never run the ship at flank speed 24/7, lest you break several things in relation to it by stressing it. Also it’s economically unviable to run a ship at flank speed for so long (The fuel costs!)

[@laryyan1358]

@@skyneahistory2306 If i do remember clearly, the Kaiserliche marine often did their ship trials in shallower waters, leading to lower trial speeds. Do correct me on this if i am wrong.

[@stevengarland697]

There was a deep water mile and in wartime a shallow mile which makes for lower speeds. VDT ran trials prior to WW1of course. I believe about 80000 shp achieved on trials for around 27.8 knots. A very good ship. @@laryyan1358

[@icefire5799]

Apologizes for his bad german proceedes to speak better german than most english history channels. Man you behave like a german exchange stundent. I really would have like to hear you go at Hochsee Flotte.

[@535phobos]

The real test is pronouncing "Schleswig-Holstein". Even Drachinifel fails at that