Naval Tactics of the Age of Sail: Maneuvering & Firing

[@loh1945]

Please note that at 1:11 wearing is the equivalent term to jibing for square rigged vessels. The terms are seen as broadly synonymous, though wearing is certainly the more appropriate term for the context and I apologize for the mistake in my script.

[@fredharris1071]

A great video summarising the key points of this era of naval combat! In my opinion, crossing the T became much more effective with the rise of the armoured (and steam driven) battleship. Nelson's breaking of the line was successful as he was able to effectively cut the leading third of the enemy fleet out of action, as they wouldn't be able to manoeuvre back into the battle in time. Once steam ships come into play however, they would be able to quickly re-engage, meaning that 'breaking the line' becomes less of a threat. On top of that, the decline of the "broadside" (being replaced with a few high calibre cannons on turrets) meant that raking fire through an enemy's stern was no longer a devastating blow, further weakening the power of cutting the line.

[@loh1945]

Thanks! Crossing the T was certainly more effective by WWI/WWII, with gun ranges reaching out to many km. The use of AP & HE rather than just solid shot probably also played a role, as they were far more devastating at range (and up close). As you pointed out, steam power prevents any Trafalgar style defeats in detail because of the added mobility. Torpedoes are another reason to stay at range with an opponent (assuming the torpedoes work). So, by the 1910s or so, I would agree, crossing an enemies T was more beneficial than trying to break a line. Before then, gunnery was just too hit or miss, and there were still a lot of ships with non-standardized main batteries. Spotting fall of shot without shell dye would be a nightmare if all the ships of a column were focused on a lead ship of an enemy column.

[@Lion718]

Great video, your explanations are superb.

[@-VOR]

Lol im back again because i love this video. San! I just picked up Naval Warfare in the Age Sail by Brian Tunstall. Its AWESOME! It chronicles the evolution of naval strategy and tactics from 1650-1815. Including fleet vs fleet engagements, how to use fireships (wether they are windward or leeward of the enemy ships), it also goes into detail about every major battle, and the evolution of orders of battle....its epic. I promise you'll love it

[@hangaris]

You actually uploaded on my birthday. That's a pleasant surprise. I distinctly remember playing Empire and Napoleon Total War naval battles which despite being pretty complicated and not having much time to practice it was still a enjoyable experience and one of my favorite films is Master and Commander starring Russel Crowe. Edit: 10:05, From what I remember of during the Battle of Tsushima, Admiral Togo of the Japanese Navy had planned to use crossing the T but because he overshot the Russian Empires Battleship squadron, he had to commit a loop back which meant that the Japanese(!) were in a vulnerable position where they either could have had their T crossed or be cut through and had their Flagship bear all the brunt alone while most of the Japanese squadron was committing the loop. Rozhestvensky did not do either but kept his speed and distance for some reason and the rest was history. I agree with you that crossing the T is not as useful as cutting the line because the first can only be done to a enemy that will barely or not react to the actions of the initiator while Cutting the Line can help concentrate firepower on the most important ships or avoid them while you shoot up others in detail. But Cutting the Line takes good skill of the Admiral to use unless the conditions spawned themselves like the Battle of Tsushima.

[@loh1945]

Happy Birthday! Empire and Napoleon had good naval battles, but the AI did not put up too much of a challenge, and tended to just rush in from what I remember. I’ve tried to scratch the age of sail naval gaming itch with a game called “Naval Action” but the devs have more or less ruined it. Ultimate admiral age of sail is on rails, and does not have a multiplayer to my knowledge. Ahoy will never come out, and there are a couple other games that also seem to be stuck in development. Master and commander is a favorite movie of mine as well. Good point about Tsushima. If I make another video about “crossing the T” I will include that. One other thing that I need to look in to before I would make a video on that is how much the shell splashes from multiple warships firing on the lead ships would throw off the gunnery solution of the ships crossing the T. Such a concentration could make it difficult to spot the fall of shot and calculate the range.

[@hangaris]

Thank you very much! The only Naval games I have tried was Silent Hunter III (WW2 U-boats). It's interesting and I enjoy the use of calculations, management, navigation to destroy enemy merchant ships. I only fished that Maths at School had exams on how to do Angle of Bow 😅. I want to get to play it more and finally install the proper Grey Wolves mod but it's so convoluted in the installation progress and I have to adjust for this year so I probably won't touch for a while. Recently I have paid a lot of attention to Ultimate Admiral: Dreadnought with StealthGaming17's campaign for USSR campaign. I like the idea of being a Admiral who can create own doctrines, designs and play off against other fleets. Strategy games are my element. I am not quite sure about the issue of concentration of fire making gunnery solutions difficult and where to find information about it. The Battle of Tsushima was lost due to many actions of Admiral Rozhestvensky (Beginning with that he was the only one that called for it despite also saying that it will end in failure. And also asking to command the expedition. Something completely wild honestly) like trying to break through to Tsushima where were the main Japanese bases. For the actual battle the 2nd Pacific squadron was deprived of it's leadership because Rozhestvensky got injured with a concussion until he started ordering escaped ships to surrender to the Japanese after the battle had been lost.

[@phil41055]

Great stuff here, you earned my sub easily

[@-VOR]

1:11 no mention of wearing?

[@loh1945]

Very good point! Jibing is the term for non square rigged ships, and wearing is the proper term for the type of line ship talked about in this video. Thank you for the correction; I will see if I can insert corrected audio/some note.

[@hangaris]

Hi Sane & Rational History, I actually have a book by Alfred Thayer Mahan's "The influence of Sea Power Upon History 1660-1805". It's like a illustrated version with lots of interesting images and battlemaps of different naval battles. I thought if you might be interested and I could send you pictures of the different parts of the book for your Age of Sail videos.

[@loh1945]

That’s a classic, but I have seen two different titles for it, one that says “1660-1783” and some that say from “1660-1805.” The 1660-1783 one is on Gutenberg and has been a good resource. I have not read from any that are 1660-1805 and I don’t know if there is much of a difference. Could just be a little title change and the same content? I appreciate the offer, though I could likely find digitized versions of the maps relatively easily if I needed to. I know it sounds random but I have two videos in the works one on drag racing carriers (specifically the USS Independence & USS JFK off of the VA capes in 1972) and a second on actions against Somali pirates.

[@loh1945]

Could be fun to do a video on the Dutch as well; they pulled off some crazy operations against the English during the Anglo-Dutch wars.

[@hangaris]

Well that's very good that it's free in Gutenberg. The Vietnam war era is a very interesting point in naval history and I do give credit to Zumwalt for his "High-Low" naval ship doctrine. Such principles existed before hand but it was successfully reproduced with ships like the Oliver Hazard Perry-class and Ticonderoga-class cruisers. Good luck with your any of your future activities.

[@stephendegnan3016]

Good video.