MV San Demetrio - Guide 323

The San Demetrio, an oil tanker of the Eagle Oil Company, is today's subject.
Read more about the the ship here:
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[@Drachinifel]

Pinned post for Q&A :)

[@baileyd5210]

This reminds me of the story of the oil tanker Ondina and HMIS Bengal (November 1942) that I hope you will cover at some stage.

[@timonbergmann4602]

Please make a video about Heavy Cruiser Admiral Scheer. This ship is unknown to most of us, yet it was the most successful of the 3 deutschland class pocket battleships

[@brendonbewersdorf986]

I know you have already mentioned concrete ships in one of your previous drydocks but i was curious if you could do a bit more of and in depth look at some individual designs and perhaps even a explanation of the origin of ferrocement ships as well

[@bkjeong4302]

How do warships dispose of waste while at sea?

[@AdelineLowry]

In his letters to Churchill, Roosevelt heavily implied that once America was ready for war, it would join the war on Britain's side. If the Japanese had thought war with America was avoidable and/or unnecessary, and allowed America to prepare for war and then declare war on both Germany and Japan, how would the battle of the Atlantic and the Pacific war differ from what happened in reality?

[@Paludion]

Considering the ship was burning for three days, it's beyond a miracle her cargo didn't catch fire earlier. Given all the stories about aviation fuel from WW2, one would expect it to explode at the slightest inconvenience, like an Englishman who didn't have any tea the entire day. It's even more astonishing anything could be repaired on board. MV San Demetrio's survival is one of the more incredible stories of this war.

[@bytesback.]

I believe you mean an Englishman who hasn't had tea in the past hour.

[@jerry2357]

It was probably escaping vapour from the cargo that was burning, with evaporation of the cargo keeping the liquid cool enough not to catch fire. If the oil tanks were filled with vapour in the headspace above the liquid, then there wouldn’t have been enough air in there for the contents of the tanks to burn. A heavier oil might not have behaved the same way.

[@Seraphus87]

@@bytesback. Damnit, I knew I had forgotten something while shopping earlier, I'm running low on teabags.

[@leotoro51]

That was probably "lack of drop of milk" what, at least, triggered Gentlemen You are write about. 🧐

[@NexusReload]

You should read about Ohio during operation pedestal, how they managed to keep that tanker afloat is a miracle

[@khaelamensha3624]

Sea stories are sometimes so amazing that reality is above fiction. Nice looking ship by the way.

[@John.0z]

A fact that I wish a LOT more film scriptwriters would wake up to. Most amazing yet real events at sea need absolutely no embellishment, yet that does not stop to Hollywood lot.

[@jeebusk]

Usually they need to dumb it down to make it "believable", I often say you know it's real as we aren't creative enough to make that up.

[@murrayscott9546]

Mayb4 do one St. Roch

[@northerncaptain855]

As a young Merchant Marine Officer, I worked with many older seaman whose ships had been lost by being torpedoed, broken in storms or sunk by German surface raiders. Amazing stories of amazing young men. My grandfather and uncles tanker “Esso Boston”was torpedoed and sunk by U130 which surfaced alongside their lifeboat and spoke to them quite civilly.

[@thelogicmatrix]

Surfaces, "sorry about all that, the fühers orders it was."

[@RexsHangar]

Considering I am more used to reading about age of sail ships, having a vessel burn for three days is almost beyond comprehension!

[@jeebusk]

That was one of the theories on Titanic, apparently a coal bunker was burning for days (and it wasn't considered that big of a deal).

[@lordwintertown8284]

Ohh goodie a merchant ship video, What an absolutely splendid surprise. G'day Drachinifel, Still this reminds me that my great great grandfather of my father's size was a merchant navy captain for the royal navy an through the likely thousands of crossing his merchant ships made he only lose two vessels to U-boot attacks and survived the war and passing away peacefully in the 1960's Glasgow. On the odd side his name was similar to a British Admiral of the second world war just shy one letter heh.

[@bigblue6917]

I've seen the film several times, usually on a Saturday afternoon when there was nothing worth watching on the other channels. This was long before KZbin where I am now spending time watching a video about the San Demetrio,

[@royvogel2023]

I served on the Neosho AO 143 in 1967, we had twin 3” 50 gun mounts, two on the bow, two on the stern, the 5” gun mounts fore and aft had been removed later gaining a helo flight deck on the stern parallel to 3” gun mounts, which was interesting when having live ammo fire drills and the helo on the deck 🦑

[@Knuck_Knucks]

A tanker vessel? Well. If Drach is posting it. Must be worth a listen...

[@timonbergmann4602]

The German ship responsible for the damage was the "Admiral Scheer". I would appreciate a 5 minute guide for that ship. Arguably she was the most successful of the 3 "Deutschland Class" heavy cruiser.

[@fullsalvo2483]

Thanks for the clarification, I was a little confused on how a ship built in the 30s was damaged by a man who died in 1928

[@vikkimcdonough6153]

@@fullsalvo2483 "Braaaaaaains" -Zombie Reinhard Scheer

[@tokul76]

guide 74 covers all deutschlands and I would argue that Spee deserves individual guide more than Scheer. Drach did promise details for each.

[@Calum_S]

Good film about this ship, well worth a watch.

[@Paladin1873]

I watched the movie version years ago. It's a great story of courage and desperation, probably driven in part by the fact British merchant seamen were docked pay when their ships went down and they were left adrift.

[@gwtpictgwtpict4214]

Correct, though that was changed at some point during the war. I do wonder at what point in the journey back one of the lads on the San Demetrio went "hang on, we abandoned ship as per the Captain's order, now that we've re-boarded her and got her under way that's got to mean salvage rights? Woohoo! Beers all round when we get home lads!"

[@Paladin1873]

@@gwtpictgwtpict4214 My sentiments exactly.

[@benwilson6145]

Not docked, they were off pay.

[@Paladin1873]

@@benwilson6145 That's what I meant, but your statement is more accurate.

[@--Dani]

A tanker on the channel...with an awsome story. Great content as always 👍

[@stevemolina8801]

I served aboard a Cimarron class fleet oiler USS Manatee AO-58. AO's were named after rivers in the US Navy. She was launched in 1944 and I served on her 71-73. We used to laugh as the joke was if somehow we were hit we would just burn our way to Valhalla.

[@Survivor00]

I first read about the San Demitrio in a book of famous ships I found in our high school library, and it's one of those stories that sticks with you. Thank you for doing a video on it!

[@matthewrobinson4323]

Thank you so much for making this video. I had an uncle in the Merchant Marine, who survived being torpedoed by U Boats TWICE. if I remember correctly, he worked for the White Star Line, but I could be mistaken about that. I love your droll sense of humor in commenting, and am so glad you dropped the robovoice.

[@Seraphus87]

Eagle Oil Company operated a long list of tankers names "San Something-o" during the war, and a lot of them got sunk during the "Second Happy Time". One of my great-grand-fathers got sunk on one of them (San Delfino) less than a month after San Demetrio went to the bottom.

[@neptunenavalmods4420]

I designed the Merchant Fleet Mod for submarine sim Silent Hunter 3 years ago .... basically a bunch of cargo ships typical for WW2 convoys - I added lots of tankers in Eagle Oil Co. paint schemes. I love Eagle Oil colors and flag. Also did ships for Esso, British Tanker Co, etc.

[@davechalmers640]

My brother, Don, was a radio officer on the Delfino when she was torpedoed. Luckily he was one who survived. Dave Chalmers, Manchester

[@magecraft2]

Always good to here stories of heroic groups of people who normally do not get a lot of attention!

[@andysmodelandstuff4306]

There is also a huge fantastic model of the ship in the Imperial War museum in London. It was made for the movie, and looks incredible.

[@kemarisite]

A burning tanker full of aviation gasoline (100 octane by this point?) continues floating and burning for days before being boarded, salvaged, and sailed to her destination. Kind of a testament to the adage that you sink ships by blowing holes in the bottom to let water in, not blowing holes in the top to let more air in.

[@davidjordan9759]

Tell that to HMS Hood.

[@kemarisite]

@@davidjordan9759 Hood had an explosion in the 15" magazine under X turret which tore open the side below the waterline. This was worsened by the fact she was doing well over 20 knots and in a turn to port, so the stresses on the hull were enormous and basically tore it apart. That's part of why Hood's wreck is in several major pieces, with the bow and surviving portion of the stern completely separate from the amidships section.

[@christopherreed4723]

Not so much a matter of blowing a hole in the top or bottom of the ship. More one of designating a volume of space as "hole" and arranging bits of the ship around it.

[@HrothgarHeavenlight]

@@christopherreed4723 You cant really design part of ship to survive magazine of 15 inch around 870kg weight shells and sufficent supply of propeler chargers going into flames. This can throw turrets weighting almost 900 ton flying through air hundreds of meters high.

[@bholdr----0]

Wow. What a fascinating and compelling story: this goes to show that it isn't just the warships that have an important and dynamic part of the grand narrative of war and the sea... Great vid, Drach! Cheers! -B

[@McRocket]

Interesting story. Which I knew nothing of previously. Thank you. ☮

[@Claymore5]

Wonderful little piece about a strong ship and a very brave crew - truly heroic and also the film is a damn good watch too!

[@Trek001]

The film that was based on her is a classic - although the ship herself could not appear, her Chief Engineer was a consultant on the production. Parts of her still exist oddly and most fittingly enough, in the Imperial War Museum

[@emmabird9745]

The film was shown on "talking pictures" (a wonderful TV channel) the year before last. It was a good film.

[@gyrene_asea4133]

Thanks for this story Drach. Says much about the vessel and the sailor-men who crewed her. My dad was a merchant sailor from the 1930's to the 80's.

[@wwmoggy]

Thank you I requested this one 2 years ago

[@johnlansing2902]

Courage on occasion has a shining example . Thank you all who fought for the world .

[@michaelcampin1464]

Ive got that black and white film on DVD. A truly remarkable story.

[@Dave_Sisson]

Most of those quick and cheap wartime propaganda films were so awful that no one ever watched them after the war ended. That must be one of the few that was actually a good film if it was released on DVD.

[@Segalmed]

@@Dave_Sisson It has its weaknesses* but is still worth watching. Imo the British propaganda films done during the war (unless produced for export to the US**), at least those that I had a chance to see, are not that bad, some actually quite good (and some true jewsls like "The way to the Stars"). But there are some true stinkers, admittedly. "A Yank in the RAF" comes to mind. Comparable US films on the other hand - both during and after the war - are often unwatchable these days. The British ones had to keep a certain level of realism because major parts of the audicence had first hand experience. And they were capable of self-irony at times by making fun of bad British wartime propaganda movies (with WW1 topics). There were differences between production companies too. San Demetrio London was an Ealing production and I have to watch a really bad Ealing film yet. * Imo the greatest being the addition of a truly annoying Yankee character. **49th Parallel is an example of a first rate director and crew delivering a dreadful movie for the US that would have looked much different, if the British public had been the target.

[@michaelcampin1464]

@@Dave_Sisson yes i agree it was a good film better than most. M

[@johnd2058]

Thanks for this lovely little story, Drach.

[@johnfisher9692]

A point that is too often ignored in war stories is the heroism of the thousands of Merchant Seamen who repeatedly put to sea and went into danger without any true means of defence.

[@benwilson6145]

Those same men when there vessel was captured or sunk were then off pay.

[@robertguttman1487]

Nice to see a video concerning a merchant ship for a change. They and their crews rarely receive much attention. Drachinifel compared this tanker with the USS Cimmeron which, it should be noted, was one of the large and fast T3-type tankers powered by a powerful twin-screw steam turbine plant generating a total of 13,500 hp, which was far more than most tankers had. The Cimmeron was, in fact, somewhat similar in design to the famous tanker Ohio which saved Malta. In addition, during 1942 four T3 tankers were rapidly converted into emergency aircraft carriers (USS Sangamon, USS Santee, USS Chenango and USS Suwannee) which had very successful careers during WW-II. Those T3 tankers were considerably larger and faster than most oil tankers of the day including the far-more-numerous T2 tankers, of which 533 were constructed during WW-II.

[@WALTERBROADDUS]

Not to be nitpicky, actually the term should be, "Oiller" rather than "Tanker."

[@stanstenson8168]

@@WALTERBROADDUS What is an oiller?

[@empath69]

@@stanstenson8168 A 'replenishment oiler' is a fast fuel tanker that's designed to keep up with a military fleet/squadron and refuel them as needed.

[@empath69]

To be factually correct, Drach compares MV San Demetrio to the Cimarron-class of fleet oilers, and gives an example of the class as the USS Neosho (AO-23)

[@stanstenson8168]

@@empath69 I was looking at some speling.

[@roykliffen9674]

"It's so cold here in the lifeboat" "I wish we could warm up somewhere" "Well the ship is afloat and seems to give off some warmth" "Yeah ..... let's board her"

[@davidjarkeld2333]

Thank you for this video, I had a family member on this ship

[@michaelkinsey4649]

Seeing that crew photo, it's rather nice that the (non Hollywood!) movie recreated their appearance and dress to a very great extent.

[@gonotgone1]

Wonderful timing for me I literally just finished reading about the blockade runner MV Gay Viking in Operation Moonshine. The stories of the merchant ships can be fascinating.

[@benwilson6145]

Yo u wwould be interested in the "Shetland Bus" Norwegians escaping Norway and running agents back from Shetland to Norway.

[@johnarcher8156]

Model of ship from the movie is at imperial War museum on show

[@HMSFord]

The Imperial War Museum has a large scale highly detailed model of the ship, showing all the battle damage.

[@leotoro51]

Brilliant, Abandoned than salvaged by the same group of people, money taken. Win-win scenario :) And as a cherry on top movie was made to honor those heroic efforts 🤣 ! Have a nice day mate !

[@Kevin_Kennelly]

How nasty is the North Atlantic in winter? Bad enough for a crew to man a burning tanker filled with 11000 tons of aviation fuel.

[@jonathanlong6987]

Thanks. Good to learn about merchant ships and especially their crews.

[@stevenyouel8614]

Nice comparison between the USS Neosho and the San Demento. This provided a good look at the differences between military and civilian oilers.

[@gth042]

That's when you know the weather sucks. I'm no mariner and just assume all naval stories need to get cut by 1/2 to 2/3rds. Willingly boarding a flaming avgas tanker provides significant perspective, color, and credibility to accounts of the weather. ...or they simply realized the beer, still aboard, would not have caught fire and desperately needed rescue. Back to square one for me, I guess. Darn Occam...

[@theokamis5865]

Wrong nation...Americans would have saved the beer...the British would have saved the Rum Rations and the tea 🤣

[@gth042]

@@theokamis5865 Ahh yes, my mistake. 'Twas a wee late for them to find tea still floating around after Boston. You know how things just float in across entire oceans.

[@robbabcock_]

A great tale! Thanks.

[@user-dg9pu4pe9d]

Says a lot about how miserable the lifeboat was when getting back on board a burning ship full of aviation fuel was the better option.

[@stuartbowlerwell2845]

My grandpa was first mate on the Arctic convoys for Eagle Oil. Brave men, those merchant sailors.

[@Shadooe]

Other than the ending, that was a fantastic story.

[@cameron25795]

The wreck of the San Tiburcio, one of its sisters that struck a mine in 1940, lies a couple of miles from the entrance to the Cromarty Firth.

[@MatthewChenault]

6:34 Norfolk, Virginia, to be specific. Also, you should do a video covering the U-boat campaign off of the east coast of the US.

[@gerald5344]

The short 1942 HMSO book, "The Saga of 'San Demetrio'" is available as a download from the Internet Archive.

[@benwilson6145]

Thank you I found it.

[@davefrench3608]

Darned good film too.

[@kimbledunster]

Thanks! The movie about her is one of my all-time favourites.

[@Chris-San]

Must have been a quite sturdy ship to keep on burning for 2 days until salvaged and brought back online to some degree.

[@greenseaships]

"I'm not dead yet." "I'm feeling better actually."

[@HarborLockRoad]

Off topic, but did everyone see its been confirmed this week by rov that the American sub Albacores wreck was found off the coast of Japan?

[@Colt45hatchback]

I didnt, but thats interesting 😊

[@ThomasHendrix-ir1om]

the movie was exactly accurate as a film buff myself I happen to watch it numerous times for historical piece you did an excellent job in this one and they did have tea .

[@anoninunen]

It's not every day you make bank by legally pirating your own ship

[@brianwhite387]

Interesting episode. If you're going to be doing episodes on merchant ships. How about the ss Ohio. And some of the ships on the Atlantic and Russian convoys. A dedicated convoys episode would be great

[@John.0z]

I _really_ have to finish watching the movie of this incident. I did not know it was based on a real event when I first started to watch it.

[@elcastorgrande]

The film is a classic.

[@Niels_Larsen]

Not gonna lie, I first heard gross register tons as grocery rated tons, and my first thought was "well, they are kind of huge shopping carts"

[@jonrolfson1686]

That’s an honorable misheard phrase, Mr. Larsen. The maritime provision of provisions to the UK was an vitally important task in World War II.

[@tomlindsay4629]

Thanks for the note on tons and tonnage, I've read too many books where authors confuse displacement and volumetric tonnage, sometimes using them interchangeably.

[@John-ci8yk]

If I would have seen this subject matter on one of those animated channels I would have assumed they exaggerated and made stuff up. But I know you do your homework, so thank you for the interesting fact that I did not know before. Also thank you for debunking some claims and verifying other claims about the William D Porter that one of those animated channels made in one of their videos. Thumbs up, have a nice day.

[@ThomasAnderson]

I literally click on any Drach post because my knowledge of military history just gets that much instantly better.

[@hirisk761]

wow nice story. I'd love to know what the crew was thinking. gee to we stay in the lifeboat and freeze or board a burning tanker with 11000 gallons of avgas. 😆

[@Colt45hatchback]

Probably, lets get close enough to warm up... Its still cold bill, lets go on board... Right while we're here, wanna have a go at putting the fire out? Yeah ok, should keep me warm

[@GasPipeJimmy]

No one ever froze to death onboard a burning tanker 😂

[@jlvfr]

Heck of a story!

[@benwilson6145]

San Demetrio had an interesting voyage immediately pre war. Rotterdam 6/8, Pernis 11/8. Brunsbuttel12/8. Hammershus 13/8. Helsinki 17/8. Tallinn 18/8. Riga.18.8. Tallinn 21//8. Riga 23/8.Falmouth 28/8. Tampico 17/9

[@theblackbear211]

One of my favorite stories.

[@michaelkovacic2608]

U404 was a very successful uboat, commanded by Otto von Bülow, who would win the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves for his exploits. He sank 15 ships for over 70.000 tons, including a destroyer, HMS Veteran (D72). This ship was one of the escorts for convoy RB-1 in September 1942 and sank immediately with the loss of her entire 235-man crew when U404 managed to hit her with a torpedo spread - a rare achievement. U404 also carried out an attack on one of the CVEs escorting a convoy in April 1943 and Bülow claimed to have hit and sunk the USS Ranger, but in fact all torpedoes missed and Allied propaganda called him a coward when German propaganda made claims about the sinking of the ship. This incident led to Bülow's Oak Leaves decoration, after which he left U404 and took a position on shore.

[@mikehall4121]

To round out the story, she was one of the many U-boats that didn't make it through 1943, being on the wrong end of an encounter with three B24s in the Bay of Biscay. Lost with all hands on 24 July.

[@bigblue6917]

@@mikehall4121 The ultimate fait of so many U-Boats.

[@augustosolari7721]

@@mikehall4121 if she sank in July how could she Attack a CVE in fall 1943?

[@Deipnosophist_the_Gastronomer]

@@augustosolari7721 The assumed sinking of Ranger was in April '43.

[@K9TheFirst1]

There's something I find amusing about this, given the infamy the number 404 has in internet circles.

[@Woody8654]

What is known of the crew? British? American? Who took charge after the re boarding and got the ship going and to its destination? Did he get a medal?

[@RonGardener4142]

IIRR, the crewmen who salvaged the ship were mostly British, under command of 2nd officer Hawkins.

[@petergraves2085]

Try to find a copy of "San Demetrio" by Calum Macneill (1957). Details are there - it's well written and very readable. He was a seaman aboard it, abandoned it after it was hit by the German raider that sank the HMS Jervis Bay, then re-boarded it and was part of the repair crew that got it to Ireland.

[@andrewfanner2245]

If you get to see the film its well worth it, the ship model used is in the Imperial War Museum.

[@Karagianis]

I actually found out about this ship when I found the 1943 movie as part of a war movies DVD box set. It's not what you'd call a classic movie. But it's interesting and does, I think, a pretty good job of covering the story of it's run in with the Scheer and subsequent voyage home with a minimum of embelishment.

[@gnosticbrian3980]

Only in Hollywood films do oil tanks explode when hit. For aviation fuel, the stoichiometric air-fuel mixture is about 14.7:1. To explode this means the 11,000 tons of aviation fuel would need to be vapourised and uniformly mixed with just over 160,000 tons of air. 160,000 tons of air occupies approximately 5 billion cubic feet - a cube with width, height and depth of about 570 yards. Vastly larger than the tanks of the San Demetrio.

[@weebananalord5200]

I always do love videos about merchant ships.

[@ramseybarber8312]

Drac this story reminds me of the OHIO tanker in Operation Pedestal when Malta was on it's knees and with one months fuel left she had to get through as the locals were running out of Parafin for cooking , Drac just thinking could you make a programme about the Ohio, Thank You.

[@korbell1089]

Dayum!! Old girl was tough. Now talk about a flex move, salvage rights claimed by the crew that abandoned her!😂🙂

[@dwightbrown2808]

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Mexican_(ID-1655) Any chance of doing a video on the SS Mexican? My father was on this ship in WWII. The stories of taking a cargo of 750 mules to Calcutta were particularly fragrant😂

[@petergraves2085]

If you can, find a copy of "San Demetrio" by Calum Macneill (1957). Well written and very readable. He was a seaman aboard it, abandoned it after it was hit by the German raider that sank the HMS Jervis Bay, then re-boarded it and was part of the repair crew that got it to Ireland. He was personally awarded one thousand pounds (sterling) as part of the crew's salvage rights (they had refused a tow from Ireland). He subsequently went to sea again aboard a tanker and survived yet another sinking. He migrated to Australia in about 1950 and got a job at Kurnell oil refinery in Sydney. If you go to the Bulletin of the Liverpool Nautical Research Society (Vol 45, Number 1 of June 2001), there is some very interesting speculation by the crew afterwards, as to why it did not blow up from either the initial German shelling or the subsequent fire on board. When petrol was sloshing around very freely - they had eventually delivered 1,000 tons of the initial 1,200 tons.

[@jonny-b4954]

5:50 That's a funny part of the story. Abandoned the ship. Came back and claimed it as salvage. Haha. Nice little schtick.

[@robertibert9269]

What a story.

[@Paludion]

Weird, I wanted more information on U-404 but I can't find anything. 😉

[@PhantomP63]

404 error, U-boat not found

[@DutchBlackMantha]

@@PhantomP63 Which is kind of the point of a U-boat.

[@TheWareek]

Thanks for this. Not all heroes were war ships.

[@thomaskositzki9424]

The bleak, unforgiving nature of war: having a miracle survival and becoming a hero doesn't save you from just getting killed another time...

[@charlesmoss8119]

I have heard that merchant marine crew were often not well treated - one story I heard was that if captured there was no requirement to pay the crew. I’d be interested to know the reality of such issues if anyone knows?

[@bobfry5267]

A video on the SS Ohio, the hero of Malta, might be a good one to follow this.

[@paulsullivan3291]

Thanks!

[@ericdickison7995]

The Ohio, you need to do a history of Ohio’s Pedestal convoy journey

[@austinblack7991]

Drach have you heard the news they found the wreck of the albacore!

[@ruypavancardim7512]

Miracle or mere war propaganda, it's a good story anyhow. Made my day.

[@benwilson6145]

People interested in this story may be interested in the MV Ondina a Royal Dutch Tanker. The ship had been damaged in an action with two Japanese Merchant Cruisers the Aikoku Maru and Hokoku Maru. The MV Ondina with assistance from the HMIS Bengal had sunk the Hokoku Maru was hit by a 4 inch shell from the MV Ondina causing the Long Lance Torpedo's to explode and eventually sink the ship. The Aikoku Maru shelled the MV Ondina causing fires to break out, The crew abandoned the tanker in lifeboats and were machine gunned by the Japanese. The HMIS Bengal having used all its shells sailed off. Aikoku Maru rescued the crew from the sunk sister Hokoku Maru and also sailed away. The survivors from the MV Ondina reboarded the tanker, put out the fires and sailed to Fremantle.

[@Cbabilon675]

Couldn't they have made mock-ups of cranes so that from a distance it would look like a regular cargo ship?

[@weldonwin]

Even with the cranes, the funnel being right and the back and the ship's overall profile would still be a dead give away

[@Cbabilon675]

@@weldonwin I understand that, but I was just thinking out loud on fake funnels and everything. Especially early morning, or late night they might be able to get away with it a couple of times if they're in a convoy.

[@weldonwin]

@@Cbabilon675 Well, in that case you could always call Jasper Mescaline, the guy who made the entire Suez Canal disappear. Seriously, the guy was a stage magician in his civilian life, who brought his skills in stage magic to war, by being an absolute master of camouflage

[@userofthetube2701]

Although tankers were a priority target, realistically, being misidentified as a regular large cargo ship would have offered very limited protection.

[@benwilson6145]

There were pretty much no cranes on Merchant ships at that time, Cargo ships had derricks.

[@11buster1000]

My mother-in-law has dementia now and is fading fast. She lost her father during the war, he was a sailor on HMS Heckler when she went down. I took her 25 years ago to one of the last Heckler reunions. It was her first and last, it was moving for her even though no one there remembered her dad. Maybe you could do what you do on Heckler? And I can show her, maybe?

[@aldenconsolver3428]

Well, now there's a bunch that deserved their salvage rewards. I hope that they made it through and could retire successfully at the end of the war. My greatest respect for that usually unsung and often belittled group, the merchant marine.

[@musoangelo]

Interesting that this was a motor ship. Would be curious to know what type of main propulsion she had.

[@genericpersonx333]

According to the Lloyds of London registers who insured her, her class used a Kinkaid diesel engine set up. Most all large "motor" ships of the era used diesels because they were really the only kind of internal combustion engine that could operate on the common fuel oils available. Gasoline engines required good gasoline, which basically no ports cared to provide facilities to supply as ships' fuel, hence no one built ships to use it, which further discouraged ports from developing the infrastructure to supply it, which fed into no ships trying to use it. Meanwhile, you could almost run a diesel on tar if you had the patience to tune things, so you could pretty much always get some viable fuel oil no matter where in the world you were.

[@benwilson6145]

@@genericpersonx333 The reason for diesel will also be economic, diesel is cheaper than petroleum. Graf Spee had less capable diesel engines apparently.

[@yb5515]

I wonder if any of the 19 men who died when she sank were the same ones who salvaged her the first time.

[@jonathanbarnes5324]

hi if we doing tankers then we need to do SS Ohio

[@tony-leebrizzell2654]

By comparison to modern tankers , these tankers were tiny ; and to my eye , quite pretty

[@mathieu4432]

Can you do a video for post WW1 and WW2 RCN. The RCN went from 3 largest navy to well nothing.

[@MapletreePaper]

He already has! It's called "The Royal Canadian Navy - Sinking you, but politely".

[@WALTERBROADDUS]

He's already done a video on the Canadian Navy.

[@EricDaMAJ]

When it’s so damn cold you’d rather climb aboard a flaming bomb…

[@johnforsyth7987]

Thank you for the informative video. How about reviewing the USS Kansas. Part of Theodore Roosevelt's great white fleet.