The Drydock - Episode 060

[@Drachinifel]

Pinned post for Q&A :)

[@mikeobrien9829]

Really love to see a 5 minute guild to the HMAS Melbourne, a aircraft carrier with a really spotted history

[@nickboy3024]

Was Admiral Donitz's criticism of Admiral Raeder as an 'old navy admiral' completely justified

[@mattmopar440]

I know you don't like new stuff but Do you ever feel we will see a pocket battleship return? With that I mean rail guns and gas turbines?

[@connorcore7008]

Do civil maritime accidents, such as the Titanic, have an effect on naval doctrine, tactics, or policies?

[@nickboy3024]

Did naval traditions such as colours and sunset decline during the world wars?

[@BarryT1000]

Excellent explanation about the colliers and why they were lost. For info, when designing ship structure, it is common practice to anticipate the situation you described, i.e. one in which the ocean wavelength is equal to the ship length. When the wave crests (or peaks) occur at the ends of the ship (and the middle of the ship is in a trough) this is called “sagging.” The keel is placed under tension and the upper strength deck under compression. When the wave crest is midships, called “hogging,” the forces reverse. This cyclic bending moment causes stresses which are most pronounced midships, and higher strength steel is used in this area. Typically, the height of the wave (vertical distance between crest and trough) is assumed to be 1/20 of the wavelength.

[@darrellsmith4204]

Hello/goodbye Edmund Fitzgerald..

[@Kevin_Kennelly]

Drachisms of the Day: 16:50 (in regards to rubberized flight-decks) "And then you would have had the Kitty Hawk turned into the world's largest trampoline". 46:58 "You've just let a bunch of water into your ship voluntarily which is probably not a good idea to do in the face of an enemy battleship that's about to, possibly, let a lot of water into your ship involuntarily." 48:24 "You know what? STUFF THIS. I'm going after him."

[@arctictiger8690]

Hi Kevin!!!! I haven't seen your Drachisms for a while.

[@cvproj]

Yeah. Missed 'em.

[@garfieldfarkle]

I do not know if it predated the experiments on carriers (I suspect it did), but the U.S. Navy had a rubber runway at the Patuxent River Naval Air Test Center in Maryland after World War II.

[@AdamMGTF]

I'm glad your back Kevin! I tried doing a couple of fill in "Drachisms of the day"... But it just wasn't the same :(

[@LionofCaliban]

I have to say I take offence as the comparison of politicians to the Muppets. The Muppets provide entertainment, wit and a wonderful catalogue of movies. Not like politicians, otherwise, fair point.

[@voiceofraisin3778]

Dunno, youve got a well meaning but incompetent guy trying to maintain some sort of order amongst his chaotic team (Kermit) An overambitious hyper-neurotic egotist (Gonzo) An even more neurotic guy who thinks he's funny and is desperate to get on TV(Fozzy) A deranged over ambitious feminist attention seeker who will destroy any other woman present (Piggy) A mad science obsessed progressive with no social skills (Bunsen) An uncontrollable loose cannon with temper issues (Animal) One put upon guy who does all the actual work and gets no credit (Scooter) All of them trying schemes to get public attention with no idea what theyre doing, causing chaos and destruction and achieving nothing. Sounds like most governments i know.

[@jamespfp]

I distinguish the Puppet Politicians like this: Prostiticians, and Politutes. The Prostiticians have a Pimp (the Hand in the Puppet) and the Politutes let the Invisible Hand of the Market slap them down (or flap them around, let the demos get their coin's worth)..

[@jamespfp]

@@voiceofraisin3778 All due respect - your list is quite good! -- I don't think Fozzy is more neurotic than Gonzo. Self-awareness, doubt, and criticism ultimately bring out the best in Fozzy. He's Being Harangued By Waldorf and Statler. That might cause "neurosis" ...? Say, if they end up laughing, isn't Fozzy a bit like Pagliacci ? (Wokka Wokka Wokka )

[@jamespfp]

The Moral of my Fozzy story is, don't mix up Fozzy with Ralph Malph... but yeah, #ClassClown .

[@calvingreene90]

@Marry Christmas Boris may have a bad haircut but he is trying to carry the expressed will of the people and what he was elected to do.

[@SynchroScore]

Your story of the loss of the colliers reminds me of two American disasters, one at sea and one on land. First, the loss of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, the largest vessel ever sunk on the Great Lakes. She was a bulk carrier with a full load of iron ore (for which service she had been designed) that sank so quickly during a very strong storm that no distress signal was broadcast. One theory for the rapid sinking is that she rode up a wave and then simply dove down into the trough, shipping so much water over the bow that she couldn't recover and kept on going down. That the ship was found broken in two also leads to this belief, that with the bow under and the stern in the air, is simply broke off. The other is the San Bernardino Runaway. A freight train was loaded with trona, a mineral processed into sodium carbonate, was heading down the Cajon Pass in California on its way to the Port of Los Angeles. The trona was hauled in standard coal hoppers, but because it is more dense than coal, the cars had only been filled to about 60% of their volume, but were at full weight. The mining company didn't give the loaded weight, so a railroad clerk put the cars down at 60 tons load, when they were actually at their full load of 100 tons. This, combined with the fact that some of the locomotives had defective brakes, meant the train ran away down Cajon Pass and crashed on a curve, killing six and injuring seven. And as if that wasn't enough, a petroleum pipeline was damaged during the cleanup, so when it was put back into service, it burst and showered the neighborhood in gasoline, which promptly caught fire.

[@mattblom3990]

I commend you Drach on only doing corporate sponsorship when you believe it serves the viewers. The last thing we want is our experience to be crushed by the Corporate Structure of Doom.

[@theleva7]

In that case it will be the Corporate Superstructure of Doom. No need to throw rotten tomatoes and cold bottles of piss at me, I'm leaving already.

[@mattblom3990]

@@theleva7 Had to put my own spin on it, мой друг.

[@WALTERBROADDUS]

Wrong... "Greed is Good." -Gordon Gekko🤑🤑🤑 kzbin.info/www/bejne/jIfbioKHiJuanc0

[@shadowfire246]

*cough* google *cough*

[@nathanaelhavlik4293]

On the other hand, I am glad Drach is able and willing to benefit from his hard work. Honest capitalism is nice.

[@bigblue6917]

Baron Georg von Trapp, of The Sound of Music fame, was a successful U-Boat commander in the Austro Hungarian navy of WW1. Somewhat ironically his first wife was Agatha Whitehead, the granddaughter of Robert Whitehead the inventor of the modern torpedo. The same torpedoes which would be used to sink British ships, amongst others, during the war. Trapp's first command was the U-boat U-6 which was launched by Agatha.

[@AtomicBabel]

Yes, and they used to have vacation houses next to each other in a place call Zel Am See, Austria. A few decades later a bunch of unruly American "brothers" showed up and decided to build a bar, and named it "The Screaming Eagles". An obscure TV show was made about some of this, but somehow left out the part about the bar.

[@barryjones8842]

Interesting Austro-Hungarian submarine trivia. The second most successful U-Boat commander of the Austro-Hungarian Navy in WWI who married the granddaughter of the guy that invented the torpedo - Robert Whitehead. And when his wife passed away married a girl named Maria. He was Georg Von Trapp and he and his children and Maria were the Von Trapp Family Singers. Sound of Music, anyone?

[@checkengine5574]

His Commanding Officer's brother (who was an Officer Cadet)had in his youth sired a bastard child and then fled to America to avoid a duel, and had 13 more children. That Bastard child was gassed at the Somme, ruined his painting career, went into politics...

[@laurancerobinson]

@@checkengine5574 Hitler's father never did any of that. Not sure what conspiracy theory you are clinging to.

[@laurancerobinson]

@EFEZZE6280 think you may need to learn what is written. Mr Check Engine was very much referring to Hitler.

[@laurancerobinson]

@EFEZZE6280 OK smartarse, who else was Austrian, was gassed at the Somme, 'ruined' a painting career and went into politics? Who else could Check Engine be referring too?

[@laurancerobinson]

@EFEZZE6280 ok, let me break it down for you. Check Engine, the reply to the original comment, stated "His Commanding Officer's brother (who was an Officer Cadet)had in his youth sired a bastard child and then fled to America to avoid a duel, and had 13 more children. " Here he is referring to Commanding Officer's brother, as in Von Trapp's commanding officer's brother, So the brother, once again, not Von Trapp, not the 2nd most U-Boat guy. But the guy who had a bastard child, fled to the US to avoid a duel and had 13 more children. Hitler's father never was an officer cadet, never fled to America to avoid a duel or had 13 more children. Hitler's father was a customs official, only had 6 children and never lived in the US. Learn to read a wee bit better. Might save some embarrassment for you later on.

[@DuraLexSedLex]

Clouds over the hill (坂の上の雲) is actually a really old novel (late 60s? something like that) about the early transition of Japan from the Meiji era through its early imperialist stage and culminating with the Russo-Japanese War, through the eyes of the Akiyama brothers (1 was in the Army, 1 was in the Navy), who historically grew up to be a senior general and admiral. Tsushima was included (and part of the finale of the book) because Akiyama Saneyuki was the admiral who did most of the groundwork for the Japanese plan at Tsushima. There's actually a series of English translations for it, though the book is somewhat controversial for covering Japanese imperialism. I do recommend it if you're at all interested in the early days of of the Japanese Empire's rise to modernity though. I've never seen the drama myself.

[@Alex-cw3rz]

Just to add to the submarine vs submarine. HMS Venturer is currently the only submarine to have sunk another while both were submerged. This occurring on the 9th February 1945.

[@norwegianwiking]

and the Uboat is still down there with its load of mercury, threatening to poison half the coast of Norway.

[@Nick-rs5if]

*Insert picture of epic submarine battle* 😂

[@admiraltiberius1989]

Fantastic work as always Drach. I do love when you rage against the "political muppets" and their machinations. Makes me want to start a revolution or something. Anyway thank you for taking time and giving an engineers answer to my question. It was extremely interesting and most definitely satisfied my curiosity. Lastly, the various FRAM upgrades to the Gearing and Fletcher class destroyers I think were extremely useful. They allowed more modern destroyers to concentrate on fleet work while the older ships would have done the convoy escorting if a war had broken out. I definitely will be always be curious what an Iowa class with its rear turret replaced by a Twin arm launcher would actually look like . And how it would perform. And of course how a modernised Vanguard would look in the Falklands, bombarding enemy positions.

[@IainGalli]

The Drydock is now my default Sunday hangover treatment.

[@rare_kumiko]

Fellow engineer here and I agree with you, and from a point of view I hate Bismarck because it's a terribly inefficient design. Only from that point of view, though, it's also one of the best looking warships out there.

[@glenchapman3899]

I am glad you said that. I have never had a high opinion of the vessel as a fighting ship. But for looks............she absolutely rocks it!!!

[@TheKingofbrooklin]

Kinda get tired of this permanent Bismarck bashing. I do not think that it was the best warship of its time. That goes to the Yamato and Iowa. I also agree with the design issues but understand the reasons and ideas behind it. It was still a powerful warship and deserves some respect.

[@bkjeong4302]

HypertronDE Yamato and Iowa were arguably the best *battleships* of their time (in terms of design) but nowhere near the best warships of their time. Remember, these ships were built in the carrier era when battleships were a net strategic negative. In fact, in strategic terms both Yamato and Iowa are among the WORST warships ever built (and, to be honest, Bismarck also is up there as yet another battleship that entered service after battleships became obsolete). The same applies to the KGVs or literally any other battleship class that was new in the 1940s. I can respect them on technical merits or raw killing power, but they don’t deserve much if any respect in terms of their value as weapons of war.

[@TheKingofbrooklin]

@@bkjeong4302 During this time carriers were not that powerful. They were strongly restricted by weather conditions.

[@bkjeong4302]

HypertronDE Even then the battleships couldn’t attack carriers because the carriers would stay out of range when competently handled.

[@Aelvir114]

48:18 Britannic sunk by a mine, for clarification. 48:54 That’s odd, I recall that the consensus was that the hit U-103’s Hull and the suction of the propellers puller it in and sliced aft of the conning-tower. And yeah, to commemorate the sinking, a plaque was presented to Olympic-which was installed on one of the forward grand staircase landings following the war: “This tablet, presented by the 59th Regiment United States Infantry, commemorates the sinking of the German submarine U103 by the Olympic on 12 May 1918 in lat. 49°16´N, long. 4°51´W on the voyage from New York to Southampton with American troops.”

[@klobiforpresident2254]

With regards to the size of the USA: I hear it's the fifty colonies now. They grow up so fast, don't they?

[@lexington476]

Yep and in our teenage years we threw off the Yoke of European tourney 😀😊☺.

[@Scoobydcs]

@@lexington476 i could comment on ammericas behaviour as an adult but i wont lol

[@toddwebb7521]

m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/b17VXmihd5aGsJI

[@lexington476]

@@Scoobydcs i am being funny, note the smiley faces 🤓.

[@Scoobydcs]

@@lexington476 lol

[@mitchelloates9406]

On the loss of the three colliers, there's another factor that the true extent of wasn't understood until recent years - "rogue" or supersized waves. These were at one time passed off almost as sailor's fairy tales. Usually, a damaged ship returning to port and blaming said damage on an encounter with one of these waves, the general attitude was that the captain was coming up with a BS excuse for poor seamanship on his part and that of his crew. However, a few years back, I watched a documentary on a serious scientific study that was made of these waves, to understand how they formed, and to determine just how frequently they occurred. They used satellite radar to monitor wave height and activity in specific areas over a period of time. To their surprise, it turned out these "rogue" waves occurred quite frequently, and with what could be described as disturbing regularity to those who earn their living on the high seas. In fact, their data suggested these waves were common enough, that in the documentary itself they stated that many naval architects were already modifying their design practices, on the assumption that sooner or later their designs WOULD encounter one of these waves.

[@Bird_Dog00]

Funn fact: Rouge waves were not recognized by scientists as "a thing" until the end of the 20th century. Only after the so called draupner wave hit the Draupner oil rig in the north sea on january 1st 1995 and was recorded by its wave detector, did the world at large come to the conclusion that those rouge waves weren't just tales spunn by old alcoholic sailors...

[@darrellsmith4204]

For reference, a WW2 Gato class sub- the USS Cobia- is docked in Two Rivers, Wisconsin. They keep it in remarkable condition with the diesel engines, the radio shack, and the SJ-1 radar all still being in working order. Then a 2 hour drive to Chicago will get you into the U-505- one of only two German Type IX U-boats still around.

[@johnshepherd8687]

Been aboard both. The U-505 was the first warship I step aboard just shortly after the exhibit opened. The docent was a German U-Boat veteran.

[@davidkaminski615]

The added structure of the flight deck to Langley probably stiffened up the ship's structure reducing the bending stresses as well.

[@cvproj]

There was extensive refitting of the holds as well. Two holds were rebuilt for the elevator wells, two had weapons magazines and avgas bunkers installed, and most of the rest were subdivided into shops and living spaces.

[@garfieldfarkle]

Hey Drach, first off, you get a nice round of polite golf applause for all the videos you've posted. They are very well done and I'm trying to work my way through them all. I have a strong interest in history, and recently moved to the Chesapeake Bay, where I have been sailing for many years. One thing I've learned about history is local historians can be quite valuable. There are some sweet maritime museums here. In the little town of Deltaville, at the mouth of the Rappahannock River, the Colonial Seaport Foundation is building a replica of an 18th century sloop, fitted out to be a privateer. They already have some nice cannon and expect to launch in a couple of months. These ships were the workhorses of the colonies and in early American history. Most trade and travel was by water and these small ships would sail up rivers carrying goods offloaded from larger, square-rigged merchant ships. A quick look at a map will help explain. Ships sailing up the Potomac and Rappahannock go in a roughly west-northwesterly direction, and the prevailing winds come out of the northwest, creating problems for square-rigged vessels. They could take as much time sailing up the Potomac as it took them to cross the Atlantic. Piracy was rife on the Chesapeake Bay well into the 19th century, as well as smuggling. Here's a link to the project to build this privateer sloop: facebook.com/ColonialSeaport/

[@barryjones8842]

Drach, as per your suggestion to read The Challenge by Lambert - reading it now and it is anything but balanced. Where ever he can he casts the American view in a poor light and mitigates the British view - for instance states that an American merchant captain was "sulkey" at having his ship seized in 1811!, states that the Americans were being unreasonable in insisting that impressment stop because it was entirely justifiable as Briton was at war and that it was a small number anyway and hardly an issue (even though he states it was around 10% of the American merchant seaman population, by the way Brian Lavery says it was probably over 10,000 in Nelson's Navy) and that Briton arming the tribes on the Northwest frontier was not a big deal as it was only a few second hand muskets. He also give short shrift to the battles of Lake Erie and Lake Champlain (less than a paragraph each -merely that they happened and the Americans won). American frigates were large and therefore any fight they won was unfair while the RN ships they beat were old, worn out, damaged, etc. He seems to disregard the fact that RN frigates rather routinely engaged and outfought larger ships than themselves...Still working my way thru the book but it is a chore. And for the record I am a big fan of the RN.

[@johnfisher9692]

Thank you for another much needed fix of Naval history Another class of ships notorious for mounting their guns too close together is the Italian CL's of WW2, they appear almost side by side. And as no two guns are truly the same, mounting them in a single cradle to save weight is not a good recipe for accuracy.

[@frankhoeppel2314]

Last I checked, it was your channel. Your instincts to-date have created an excellent channel. Continue to trust them. Great Courses is a worthy sponsor, and any means for you to continue this work is (or at least should be) fine by your viewers.

[@mattmopar440]

Don't feel bad most Europeans don't understand how big the United States is. One my friend lives 33 hours away and he is only half the country away

[@lexington476]

Some of the states are big as well, in the state of Michigan ( which is actually one of the more medium size), you can drive 8-9 hours and never leave the state.

[@lars7935]

I find it so funny that europeans often don't understand the size of the us and americans are suprised to hear that we still have buildings from 600 years ago and still use them.

[@CSSVirginia]

@@lars7935 True story. Here in Virginia we are awfully proud of a church built in 1632. We consider it very old! Don't laugh to hard at me.

[@lars7935]

@@CSSVirginia I mean that's still nearly 400 years. That's old. But I am talking about buildings actually getting used for normal daily stuff. Churches tend to be empty most of the time. My cities original town hall is from the 15th century and is still used as an office besides other things, although it had to be largely rebuilt after WW2 because well strategic bombing was a thing. The University of the town I grew up in has it's own over 400 year old castle in the middle of the city. It houses lecture halls, offices, seminar rooms, libaries and even a night club.

[@lionheartx-ray4135]

In Texas we measure distance by how many hrs it takes to drive there not by miles. Houston to Dallas is 3hrs

[@Deilwynna]

regarding king george v vs bismarck, yes kgv had 2 more guns in total but the kgv did have lots of trouble with their quad turrets causing individual guns to some times become disabled

[@deonmurphy6383]

Good explanation regarding the Proteus class colliers. Structural failure makes more sense than a “magical” area. Yes, I am also an engineer (ret.).

[@TonboIV]

Find an area of trecherous waters with lots and lots of air and marine traffic, and then research it extensively looking for disappearances and strange icidents: Bam! Mysterious black hole of the ocean!

[@erikgranqvist3680]

About politicians: here in Sweden we have the Visby class corvettes from the 90's. They were modern with a design for in-hull missile launcher for anti ship work. When the blody ship was built, the politicans had come to the conclusion that europe have eternal peace, and therefore there were no need for anything else then basically patrool and policing international missions (like anti pirate patrool outside the coast of Africa). So we had fairly good ships. With no weapons other then guns that will not take on real threats. I think they went about to actually arm the things when that debacle in Ukraine went off. It only took a couple of decades.

[@raygiordano1045]

About 10 years ago I read an article in a USN oriented magazine entitled, "Sweden Eyes a new Submarine." I thought "Sweden Eyes" was the name of a new U.S. sub, which made me read the article. Subs are usually named after U.S. cities. Turned out it was about Sweden deciding to build one new sub instead of three. I should have guessed as much. Just about every article I have ever read about European military procurement was about how the order of new equipment was being reduced from the original order.

[@erikgranqvist3680]

@@raygiordano1045 yeah, and that article was kind of a dud. They are building 2 new subs and make huge upgrades on the existing. Sweden are actually fairly good on the submarine department, as long as you remember that we are not a blue water nation and therefore have more of a coastal defence thingie. The subs are extemley silent (US actually leased a Swedish sub - HMS Gotland - with Swedish crew and all for a couple of years because it was the only thing that could paint a torpedo hit on an aircraft carrier in the middle of a carrier group, and then sneak away without the Americans having a clue on what just happened or where the enemy was). Apparently they where rather keen to plug that gap i their defence. The sub was shipped to and from US onboard another ship. The subs are not made for roaming the high seas, and it would apparently have been both more expensive and more cumbersome to let the submarine paddle over the Atlantic under her own power. Also, Gotland was then only 60 meters long and 6 meter wide. Last year she was relaunched after a huge upgrade where they longed the hull 2 meter, gutted her more or less completley to put in totally new stuff. Basically, its mostly the hull thats old.

[@_DK_-]

22:45 YES!!! As a fellow engineer I completely agree with your perspective.

[@mbryson2899]

Thank you for another great Drydock. And congratulations on a sponsorship that matches your channel!

[@mattwilliams3456]

Inkerman and Cerisoles were Navarin-class French minesweepers that both disappeared on Lake Superior in 1918, although the major storm they encountered makes it a bit less mysterious.

[@michaelblaszkiewicz7283]

In the live stream, run the film " Down Periscope "

[@hobbesfan4196]

Now you've done it. Drach is going to get a long list of movies patrons will want streamed.

[@timberwolf1575]

Then McHale's Navy for the next. :) He can explain how the torpedo launhers are so efficient, they can even launch cigars.

[@scotthill2230]

Operation Petticoat

[@glennricafrente58]

Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, if you please, the best WWII submarine movie made.

[@jamespfp]

1:04:25 -- If you need an analogy to illustrate why Wave Length is an issue here, with respect to the Length and Beam of the colliers -- there's a similar situation for sailing boats, in which waves that are Higher than the Beam of the vessel may be able to capsize it. Thus, Captains need to know when to turn their sailing boats into the waves, to avoid capsizing.

[@jamespfp]

RE: "That Area" -- A Map would be nice, to show how big the Triangle's area is, and how many "Great Circle" routes go through it as a matter of routine. inm-baobab-prod-eu-west-1.s3.amazonaws.com/public/inm/media/image/2017/08/08/35541884bermudatwo.jpg

[@jamespfp]

RE: "My Personal Theory" -- If you want something else to consider, would you think that famous Clipper Ships would be roughly analogous as a type of ship which maybe didn't all sink like the colliers, but *did* have enough ship-wrecks to give us an idea of what common problems might arise for a Type of ship in a given Area of ocean?

[@dmj92002]

No worries with ads as long as they make sense to you and they support getting the content out because you obviously put a lot of thought and Research into all of the videos you do keep it up thanks

[@RedXlV]

With regard to the missile conversions of WW2 cruisers, I can't really say that the Terrier and Tartar missile systems they tested could in any way be considered a failure, since those were developed directly into the Standard missile series that the US Navy still uses almost 70 years later. The initial versions might've had plenty of shortcomings, but the potential for continued upgrades proved to be enormous. If not for budget cuts preventing them for getting the updated electronics to operate Standard ER, the Terrier conversions like Boston and Canberra could've easily stayed in active service into the 1980s. Talos did prove to be more of a dead end, but in the short run it was the first SAM to shoot down an enemy plane in real combat, and its large warhead meant it was actually a decent SSM too.

[@Zaprozhan]

Naval gunnery and gun construction, very interesting! Reminds me of, "Everything is easy, until it becomes YOUR job."

[@luisnunes2010]

Don't insult muppets by comparing them to politicians! ;-)

[@calvingreene90]

I think that the biggest problem with the Bismarck is the stupidity of placing the fire control lines outside the armor.

[@bkjeong4302]

That's the big problem with incremental armour and why it doesn't work even at closer ranges.

[@CarlosSempereChen]

As a structural engineer in the building industry I've enjoyed the materials science talk scattered throughout your videos, but those colliers and your mention of bending moments got me very excited. Thank you. Yes, I'm late to the channel and to naval history in general but I'm catching up. How do we get requests in? I'd love to see a naval perspective on the Spanish Civil War someday, or at least a look at some of the cruisers involved (especially the Almirante Cervera-class based on the Emerald-class, since the latter hasn't been covered yet).

[@Drachinifel]

Basically make a request and as long as its within reason it goes on the list :)

[@horatio8213]

In Poland governtments cause idiotic obstacles in buliding a corvett/patrol ship for 18 years (2001-2019) and still is out of service. Just look on ORP Ślązak . I think is one of longest build modern ship. Probably also a very expensive one.

[@aker1993]

wow that almost 15 years

[@kemarisite]

Regarding Bismark (and as another engineer), here here! Iowa exceeds Bismark's displacement by about as much as Bismark exceeds the treaty battleships (KGV, North Carolina, etc), but Bismark does not dominate the treaty battleships the way it is dominated by Iowa. Bismark has a weird legendary status because of the unique circumstances it found itself in. Scharnhorst and Gneisenau had sunk quite a few ships on their voyage, but withdrawn from battleship opposition, even antiques like Ramilles. With the Bismark the Germans have a ship that doesn't have to withdraw from an R-class battleship, is fast enough to evade anything except Hood, Renown, or Repulse, but outguns the later two. Then it sinks Hood and prompts the RN to pause the rest of the war to sink the Bismark.

[@bkjeong4302]

Basically, this ship became legendary simply by being one of a very small number of battleships to sink a peer opponent (something not true of most battleships that were better designed), never mind that by WWII you didn't need a big-gun ship to reliably sink another big-gun ship. As impossible as the scenario is (for various reasons), I do wonder what would have happened if all four German capital ships were built as carriers instead.

[@blainefrenette3520]

Great video again. My Sunday is not complete until I listen to your Show. What warship from any navy had the shortest career. Looking forward to your next video.

[@joearnold6881]

America is big, but some of the places you mentioned are close together. Boston to Fall River is only an hour drive, depending on traffic. You could take a Lyft or Uber. Hell, I drive for Uber on the side. 50 bucks and I’d drive you myself! Either way don’t waste time on a train (it’s twice as long) or a plane (it’s so close that direct flights aren’t really a thing and you’ll spend four hours with a layover down in like Philly).

[@peterson7082]

There's also buses near enough.

[@joearnold6881]

Nathan Peterson yup, yup. Totally an option. He could always take the good old $15 Chinatown Bus to Providence and another back to F.R. It’s how I’d get to New York in my times of poverty. (Well, I guess the actual Fung Wah shut down(?). Peter Pan buses go the route, though)

[@TheAngelobarker]

Italian cruisers and destroyers often had the guns basically touching. Caused many issues leading to them using a different charge.

[@treeshakertucker5840]

Well Drach after hearing your explanation, the stories of the Proteus, Cyclops and Nereus become less mysteries for the ages and more who thought doing this exact thing to these exact ships was a good idea, because they should have been fired for such stupidity.

[@Nyctasia]

Also, the ships only ever had canvas covers for their cargo hatches, meaning water in the form of rain or high waves, would deposit water into the cargo spaces, and the ore being transported at the time would turn to a slurry like substance, and being far denser than the coal originally carried, it had plenty of room to move about inside the cargo spaces. As such, it is possible the load could slide to one side of the ship in high seas, and make it very prone to rolling over.

[@sarjim4381]

The USN at last was concerned about a cold war version of the Washington Conference. It was going ot be easier to get permission for modifications of current vessels rather than getting new build ships approved. There were also many, many vessels that were less than a decade old with mechanical and electronic systems that were going to be reasonably modern for an additional decade with some minor upgrades. Congress had some sharp questions about putting such ships straight into reserve while they Navy proposed building new ships. It was impossible to justify to Congress building a large new class of guided missile cruisers when when we weren't even sure what kinds of missiles we needed and if they'd even work. Conversions work on some Cleveland and Baltimore cruisers into combat capable "experimental" ships was a wise move at a number of levels.

[@daleeasternbrat816]

What has always annoyed me is the sad fate of the Alaska and Guam. Those ships were scrapped in new / unused condition. Same with Vanguard. These ships were useful and yet totally wasted. Thank god the Iowas were saved from Jimmy Carters cutting torch!

[@davidfuller581]

Anyone who has researched naval history: "building a whole new ship for a new, as-yet untested weapons system is stupid" US Navy: "Oh yeah? Well look at these stealth destroyers that fire untested million dollar shells we built!"

[@kemarisite]

Except that we never did build the shells, and for some reason our 155 mm guns aren't compatible with NATO standard 155 mm shells. I was think of the Fords and their experimental ele geomagnetic catapult and new munition lifts.

[@johnshepherd8687]

While the Zumwalts certainly cost too much and are a failure in their intended role because of the cost of the ammunition, they are still useful fleet units. They are going to be used as Arsenal Ships. This could have been done on less costly DDG 51 Hull but the US Navy won't be throwing them away. I think the LCS is a much worse ship.

[@bkjeong4302]

@@johnshepherd8687 Being pointlessly expensive for what you end up doing is NOT a sign of a good weapon.

[@johnshepherd8687]

The Zumwalts are expensive but not pointless. They carry more missiles than any other ship. Naval vessels are unlike any other weapons system. Their function evolves over time. You often procure them for one purpose and they end up being useful in other roles. It's called making lemonade out of lemons.

[@bkjeong4302]

@@johnshepherd8687 That doesn't mean the weapon that was repurposed is the best weapon for its new role. Usually, it isn't (at least cost-wise) because it was never designed for it. If the weapon was built a long time ago to do one thing before being superceded in that role, it makes sense to repurpose it. But Zumwalt isn't a case of that; it's a weapon that ended up being pointless from the start. If you need to repurpose the thing immediately after or even before it's complete, that's simply a procurement failure.

[@spyrosvassilakis4212]

Run rampant with sponsorships Drach! We need vids 24/7

[@spigotsandcogs]

14:50 Build a class of ship around a weapon system that might not work? (USS Zumwalt laughs nervously)

[@TonboIV]

I mean those guns worked, it was the economics that screwed up, and the choice to reduce the order. It's still a hilarious ship though, and deservedly the butt of many jokes.

[@readingrailroadfan7683]

As soon as I heard that I thought was that targeted at Zumwalt.

[@merlinwizard1000]

Money pays the bills, do the commercials. I have a mute button and I can always open a new tab to do something else until the commercial is over. Now, if I can do this, literally ANYONE can do this. You work hard and DESERVE to get paid for it.

[@epsilon727]

Pronunciation was pretty much spot on drach!

[@cosmoflanker]

But didn't Bismarck's greater displacement give more Hit Points?

[@jean-lucrobinson5089]

What was deadlier an American submarine or German u-boat

[@johnshepherd8687]

Had the Germans concentrated their surface fleet in Norway the impact would have been in the Pacific, not Russia. As it was, Atlantic requirements reduced the number of destroyers and Cruisers available in the Pacific. If major fleet units like Washington, North Carolina or South Dakota and their supporting units been tied up in the Atlantic the Japanese probably would have won the Solomons Campaign. Most people fail to understand how events in one theater influence the outcome on the other side of the globe. As per the Bismarck. I am not sure that from a fire power and protection perspective that the Bismarck was equal to a Colorado or Rodney/Nelson. Unimpaired the Bismarck could disengage but if her speed was impaired or forced for tactical reasons to engage I don't see it ending well for her.

[@richardcutts196]

Two examples of flooding/counter-flooding would be USS West Virginia and USS Oklahoma at Pearl Harbor. One did one didn't or was unable to.

[@MultiZirkon]

Vanished sister ships: Berge Istra and Berga Vanga were sisteships that vanished just as suddenly. It was also probably a problem with cargo, or mixing two tupes of cargo.

[@kennethdeanmiller7324]

Yeah, considering the last bit you were talking about with the 3 colliers going down in the "Bermuda Triangle". You would kinda think that the Captains of these vessels would have noticed the ship rusting away & had something done about it. Especially considering that the ship staying afloat is basically his life staying afloat. But I guess some Captains sometimes don't think about such things nor consider how a simple storm in a certain part of the ocean could start bending your ship back & forth until the metal is fatigued & just breaks. And its not just the acidity of the coal but the salt water environment itself as a contributing factor too. Even if the coals acids only ate away the paint the acidity of the salt water & air makes rust spread almost like fire. And the added stress of being loaded & in a storm. The Captain & owners of the Edmund Fitzgerald could have taken a lesson from this. Unfortunately they did not.

[@CFRF13]

Could you do a video on the four strong Ekaterina II class Pre-Dreadnoughts of the Russian Black Sea Fleet?

[@WildBillCox13]

Count your blessings, Drach. At my age, all the sponsors are in the Enzyte or "Did you know that the funerary benefit won't cover today's rising costs?" class. ;-)

[@EricDKaufman]

Damn good theory about the Proteus colliers!!!!

[@jamespfp]

3:00 -- Duly Noted, Good Sir! And, if this should change in the future, I'll certainly be considering the Patreon route.

[@jamespfp]

*AND* If you should happen to be stopping over at St John's International anytime in the near future, then we'll settle up beforehand! XD #FreeAsInBeer

[@TheKingofbrooklin]

Why is the bigger displacement of the Bismarck so problematic ? It still was able to attain good speed. The only disadvantage I see is that it was more costly.

[@Drachinifel]

It's basically the equivilant of taking a heavyweight boxer into a middleweight league and only getting mixed results instead of dominating.

[@tomriley5790]

Nothing in isolation - although they were trying to pretend it was only 30000 tonnes so that gets less and less believable. Also larger docks/facilities required which limits where she can operate from and be repaired, Tirpitz couldn't have one of her turrets reseated after a visit by the RAF because there wasn't a big enough crane in Norway. Plus pure physics slower to turn/stop etc. Alternatively you could view it as having less combat power than she could have for the same weight.

[@TheKingofbrooklin]

@@Drachinifel Nice metaphor but since regulated leagues do not exist for ships I still do not see how the additional displacement is a practical problem in that comparison.

[@TheKingofbrooklin]

​@@tomriley5790 I see but I doubt the ships were planned to visit many foreign harbors and because of the lack of overseas bases I think it was considered to operate mostly within the reach of its own docks. I mean they couldnt foresee that it would end up in this situation in Norway.

[@dot-tt3mn]

HypertronDE The Richelieu had the same capabilities as the Bismarck while being 4000t lighter.

[@chrislewis8865]

Reference post war ship rebuilds, you nearly answered a question I have had floating around in the back of my mind, namely what is your opinion of the wholesale rebuild of a load of RN 'standard hulled' destroyers into type 15 and 16 anti submarine frigates? I'm guessing there must have been some merit to them (as stopgaps until ships like the Whitby's, Rothesay's, Leander's etc. were built?) as most were still around in the early to mid '60's and a couple of them lasted into the early '70's

[@abergethirty]

The coastal and Great Lake states all have at least one Destroyer or sub Museum ship. It would take a few years to visit them all.

[@CaptainCoffee37]

Drac, are you familiar with and have your played the classic 90s SSI series ‘Great Naval Battles of WW2’ ? It was actually the first serious computer game I ever bought and thinking back about how it handles ship combat it surprisingly stands the test of time, being IMO superior to both Atlantic fleet and Rule the Waves for naval combat.

[@matthewronsson]

One of the most dread things any Sailor can face is being stuck on a ship in drydock :/

[@anatolib.suvarov6621]

I like your engineer's perspective on the loss of the three colliers. Wouldn't it be great if the RV Petral could find them, and make a determination as to the validity of your theory?

[@Zarcondeegrissom]

ok, got my drink and a snack, rrr, oh, that's another KZbinr, none the less, ready for another great vid from Drach. B) FYI, take pics&vids of EVERYTHING you can when on travels, you never know when you will need a pic for something when you get back home.

[@lycossurfer8851]

@48:48.......what happens is one of the hatches becomes slightly ajar & lets in some water.

[@falloutghoul1]

*ding ding* Time for a new Drydock!

[@lexington476]

22:21 oh, what kind of engineer 😎😀?

[@kemarisite]

My guess is mechanical. Civil will also tend to have the kind of materials science knowledge, but also tend to focus more on concrete. Speaking as an industrial engineer (make for $1 what any damn fool can make for $2) who's experience is all in environmental.

[@toddwebb7521]

There was something like 46 u boats unaccounted for just from the time of Dönitz ordering the surrender of all boats at sea on into after the war.

[@adamtruong1759]

SoDak, Rilu, and KGV in my mind are best treaty battleships designed and completed.

[@jamespfp]

22:45 -- I am not even an engineer, and I still exclaimed OH NO! and dropped my hot cup of tea.

[@WildBillCox13]

Had not heard of the R class. Interesting. The WW1 equivalent of the Typ XXI or I-201 boats.

[@SeekerLancer]

Six Frigates is a wonderful read but I agree it leans in favor of the American perspective, but only just. It's one of the fairer versions of that history I've read from an American author. The Challenge is a solid companion and doesn't shy away from the truth that a lot of Americans don't like to swallow about 1812, that if the British had wanted to seriously invest in the war things would have gone far differently. It also does so without completely writing off American accomplishments during the war like other British perspectives often do.

[@armchairwarlord]

Lambert's work in The Challenge is, to my understanding, little more than a laundering of James' early 19th-century work on the history of the Royal Navy. As James' history is utterly discredited by Theodore Roosevelt's 1882 work on the subject I don't understand why people take The Challenge seriously except out of some misplaced sense of British/Commonwealth nationalism.

[@arpitakodagu9854]

Erm, discredited to whom? Roosevelt doesn't even address James' actual work on 1812 though he at least seemed to acknowledge the misplaced crowing of American nationalists as well.

[@armchairwarlord]

@@arpitakodagu9854 His work is a detailed and extensive takedown of James' "history" on practically every point, unless I have my facts very wrong and he was taking some other supposedly authoritative British historian apart point by point in every chapter. Have you actually read Roosevelt?

[@Aubury]

Yes, your comments are a fair assessment.

[@sad_sriracha2329]

I’m new to this channel but have been binging this guy for the past few days. Are The Drydock videos not available on podcast?

[@mflashhist500]

Do you have plans do do an “in depth” look at the County Class Cruisers? It would be worth exploring the various sub-types and their development over the years.

[@lexington476]

There's nothing wrong with you taking sponsorships and making money off of your channel. You're putting your time and effort into this, you should get something out of it. Just about every good history channel on KZbin that I follow has sponsorships. Don't feel guilty about making money.

[@raygiordano1045]

I agree Drachinifel does deserve to be paid for his work, but I can't stand commercials! I suppose I could revert to my old TV watching tactic, i.e. go get a snack while the commercials run.

[@lexington476]

@@raygiordano1045 commercials give you the option to skip after a few seconds. But this is the price of people getting paid, they have to sell advertising. Just like you pay the painter to paint your house, we have to indirectly pay the navy guy to give us cool videos about cool ships.

[@raygiordano1045]

@@lexington476 agreed, but my tolerance for commercials is practically nil. That's why I use the Brave browser 99% of the time on KZbin. Would Drachinifel still get paid if I skip the commercials? It's so hard to know what the petty tyrants at KZbin will do to punish content providers.

[@bkjeong4302]

I would actually question whether upgrading WWII-era ships is cheaper than building a new ship; the 1980s Iowa-class refit comes to mind.

[@daleeasternbrat816]

The Iowas were a good deal. Jimmy Carter wanted to scrap them all. Passive agressive resistance by the Navy and a lot of angry noise from the public kept the cutting torches away. The Navy always liked having them somewhere in their back pocket. Still does.

[@bkjeong4302]

@@daleeasternbrat816 Given that the Iowas were reactivated as a response to the Kirovs, which are inefficient due to being pointlessly big (missile warfare doesn't need big ships), the US made the same mistake as its enemy there. Except worse, because space is wasted due to the 16" guns which are useless in a carrier/missile engagement that takes place across hundreds of miles. Hell it's fair to say that these ships should never have been built at all, for the same reasons the Axis battleships were pointless and wasteful-obsolete on launch at their intended role due to carriers extending battle ranges far beyond what any naval gun is capable of, and inefficient for everything else. The US Navy has no interest in keeping them around anymore, but Congress is forcing them to do it.

[@TraditionalAnglican]

Bk Jeong - The Iowas’ 16” Rifles proved to be useful even as late as “Desert Storm” - Just ask the Iraqis who were unfortunate enough to have found themselves being bombarded by these things. Just that bombardment alone caused the Iraqis to believe we were going to invade Kuwait from the sea & to ignore our build-up in the deserts to the west. And, missiles didn’t really get truly accurate (especially for anti ship work) until the 1970’s (think Exocet & Harpoon).

[@bkjeong4302]

@@TraditionalAnglican The 16" were visually impressive but I doubt that they were more cost-effective at what they accomplished (a mass missile attack or a series of carrier strikes probably would have had the same effect). And the Iraqi army is NOT a good standard for judging how effective a weapon is. Also, the Iowas were refitred AFTER missiles actually became deadly to ships. You can't use hindsight as an excuse here.

[@daleeasternbrat816]

@@bkjeong4302 the Navy keeps them around because they are fast and heavily armored. One version has them with a flight deck. Their 16" guns are something the Marines really appreciate . The Admirals like the speed. And staying power. Problem is , they are expensive to operate. The Iowas bring a lot of good things to the table with them. That is why they ,even now , are still relevant. They can do many useful things. One of which is merely continuing to exist.

[@propellhatt]

Wasn't the HMHS Britannic sunk by a mine?

[@Drachinifel]

Yes, (a submarine laid mine), although at the time it wasn't clear if it had been as mine or a torpedo

[@niclasjohansson4333]

If i remember correctly, the Italian navy had the largest submarine force in the world, at the START of the war....

[@Aubury]

I am on the edge of memory here, but did not the Italians send a number of their submarines to aid the Japanese, a number made the journey successfully to Singapore?

[@niclasjohansson4333]

@@Aubury They did send a number of subs to aid the Germans in the Atlantic, but i dont think they ever tried to help the Japanese in the same way, however i do belive Italy sent subs to buy strategic materials (rubber, tin etc) from the Japanese ?

[@Aubury]

Niclas Johansson Thank you Nicolas ..

[@Thetiersofmadness]

Italian heavy cruisers definitely had spaced out gun turrets!

[@lexington476]

22:51 okay the 'sin of inefficiency', I'm going to see if I can use that at work as I do work with engineers, I am not an engineer myself I am an IT person 🤓.

[@kendog84bsc]

The TV show battle of tsushima footage is from is spelled 坂の上の雲/さかのうえのくも/saka no ue no kumo

[@williamharvey8895]

I personally liked watching you play in real time with Q and A

[@volrosku.6075]

On Statement made just before 8:42 : Will you take Cold Waters Recordings?

[@TAVSWHBIII]

Prior to WWII, American ships were constrained by the size of the locks of the Panama canal. Did the British and French use the Panama and Suez canals' locks to determine the maximum length and beam of their ships?

[@Maty83.]

Here is the thing with the livestream: You playing boats live is also a lot of fun to watch (trireme Roma..... Oh my, I was giggling like an idiot for 5 minutes straight). That being said, would you accept already recorded content shared through Google Drive? I was doing something as a favour for a friend of mine and could share the recordings if you want. Nice and easy, you do not have to record yourself.

[@Drachinifel]

Sure

[@eternalflamesolarflare3522]

converting ww2 era ships to cold war era ships.... "how can i put this politely..... MORONIC" and i lost it lol

[@daleeasternbrat816]

The Essex Class and Iowa Class upgrades worked well. The Fieet Rehabilitation And Modernization program (FRAM) worked really well for destroyers which were upgraded in stages (FRAM 1, FRAM2, FRAM3 etc.) The money saved went into other projects. The upgrade ships were utilized economically for their full design life and beyond. These programs provided ships with state of the art weapons and capabilities at a fraction of the cost of new ships. And don't forget, a lot of new ships were constructed during that period as well as the FRAM upgrades. Obsolete does NOT mean something doesn't work really well. Often the case is quite the opposite.

[@eternalflamesolarflare3522]

@@daleeasternbrat816 oh I agree. I just found the phrase itself pretty funny in the moment. But thanks for a very informative response. It is all good to know

[@johnshepherd8687]

Don't forget the GUPPY upgrades. These submarines were at least as good as the Type XXIs

[@bkjeong4302]

@@daleeasternbrat816 the Essexes yes, but the refitted Iowas were a waste of resources (they were already pointless to start with, but this took it to a new level). It would have been cheaper to build new warships from scratch to carry those Tomahawks.

[@seafodder6129]

@@bkjeong4302 While technically true, nothing says "Don't f*ck with us" like a BB. I saw New Jersey coming up the river in Norfolk bow on and was shocked at just how massive the beam on that thing was. And I was on Kitty Hawk at the time. Sure, our air wing could lay a world of hurt down on a target but there's just something very visceral seeing a BB (moving under its own power) that can chunk 9 high explosive Volkswagons 20 miles that just _feels_ much more immediately threatening. Sadly, you can't get that same appreciation seeing the same ship tied up to a pier somewhere. My former roommate (when we were both instructors at SWOS in Newport) was on Wisconsin when she came into the Philly Naval Shipyard when I was there and he gave me the nickel tour. Very cool but not nearly as impressive as seeing the beast underway. "Showing the flag" overseas is all well and good with a CV, CG, or DDG is all well and good but if you _really_ want to get someone's undivided attention, you've got to do it with a BB.

[@marmotman151]

Concerning the Italian submarine fleet. At Italy's entry into the second world war, they actually had the most submarines of any navy in the world at the time. Please take with a grain of salt that many DNE good, as Drach pointed out in his answering of the question posed.

[@animal16365]

Q&A Could you explain a bit in detail the length to beam ratio and its effect on ships. Also what do keel bulges do?

[@Arthion]

I suppose this could be a suggestion for a special episode, but how would you redesign Bismarck? Would you keep the displacement but try to make it more powerful? Would you cut down excess weight to make it cheaper and hopefully finsihed earlier? Do you have multiple different ideas how it could be made more efficient? Now that I think of it, that could actually be an interesting concept for a competition for the springsharp enthusiasts out there..

[@bkjeong4302]

I would not build the thing at all, at least not as a battleship.

[@kemarisite]

Let's start by completely revamping the armament. Three turrets each with three guns for the main battery, the 15" guns are fine and we have them designed already. Strip out the 15 cm and 10.5 cm secondaries and AA guns, along with the utterly useless 37 mm single-shot AA guns. Transport the 127 mm/45 SK C/41 through time so Bismark can have a dual purpose secondary battery. Changes to the secondary batter save almost 500 tons. Changes to the main battery save about 900 tons just from turret and giving back an extra gun, although we'll give back a little more for bigger turrets for three guns each, and we can shorten the ship and armor belt with only three turrets rather than four, so that will save some weight or allow more armor, take your pick. Still, just those armament changes have saved about 1500 of the 7,000 tons we've been talking about so far.

[@TraditionalAnglican]

Bk Jeong - The tonnage used on the Bismarcks would have been better spent building 100+ Type 7 U-boats, & most of these would have been available at the start of WW 2. It’s kind of frightening to think of what Doenitz & the Ubootswaffe would have done in 1939-1940 with 100 more U-boats & working Torpedoes...

[@bkjeong4302]

@@TraditionalAnglican that was my thought as well.

[@kemarisite]

@@TraditionalAnglican that's generally been my opinion, take the Schanthorsts and Bismarks and go to town with another 150+ u-boats. Four 30,000-ish ton carriers make four even worse targets for the British to practice on. Maybe the Brits just focus their submarine fleet on those four targets until they're gone. Not to mention that I dont think the Germans have any genuinely good options for a carrier air group. The narrow-track landing gear on the 109 has to go, and the 190 would be a much better option if they could get it into service in time anyway. The Stuka is just kind of there and the Germans have nothing that could plausibly carry a torpedo from a carrier deck. They dont even MAKE their own aerial torpedoes until late in the war, buying from the Italians instead.

[@mattioksa5116]

Finally some praise for Littorio's. You never hear anything good about them.

[@bkjeong4302]

They're one of the most underrated BB classes in terms of capability (not the best, but nowhere near as bad as often argued to be) Of course, they were built AFTER battleships in general were obsolete so proved a waste of money, but that also applies to all their contemporaries.

[@mattioksa5116]

@@bkjeong4302 I can say only one thing for that: indeed.

[@danielsummey4144]

I live in Virginia, and I’m 8 hours from the capital of my own state.

[@CSSVirginia]

I have lived in Virginia my whole life. Born in South side. Saw an article once about how many parts of the state are closer to other capitals than Richmond.

[@thomasmiller158]

22:44 Factorio players: Yes!

[@thomaslinton1001]

"Hogging" followed by "sagging." 0___0

[@Gothtecdotcom]

Why did the sister ships sink - Answer: "Old and knackered!"

[@Borep_Yano]

Not going to lie, a bit of man crush after the trifecta Colliers theory. Also 01:07:08 , pun intended?

[@jamespfp]

31:10 -- RE: Taking information from multiple sources, and what does "in balance" mean? I think that it would be probably most beneficial for anyone seriously interested in the topic matter to visit a surviving example of a frigate at this juncture, to check their own hypotheses out with a large part of the topic matter. Archived sources other than books on this period also exist -- ship's logs, cargo manifests, crew lists. I know a nearby Maritime History Archive perfect for such inquiries.

[@jamespfp]

^^ I Mean, if one were to invest themselves in the study of several books, the information contained in them won't be of much use without some investigation as to what is actually the case. Written records are graded into primary and secondary sources; and even so, the primary sources like a ship's log are themselves an intermediary between the events recorded within them, and us. Books are Secondary Sources, even the most influential, well thought out and presented ones. This intersperses another layer of Intermediary Interpretation which I notice Drach felt the need to point out, by specifically mentioning an author's perceived cultural biases. ; )

[@dougsmith7616]

Ooooh....politics. There goes all the sponsorship deals. Well (and subtly) done. Thanks for all the video.

[@ovk-ih1zp]

Since the Adpocolypse I don't begrudge very many of the content creators taking sponsorships. Most of the people are use to doing KZbin as a full time job & since I'm use to commercial TV I can tune out ads fairly easily. Also During your US trip I thing you might want to take a look at The National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg Texas(www.pacificwarmuseum.org/). If you stop at Kidd in New Orleans there is also the National WW2 museum in town as well(www.nationalww2museum.org/). Edit: A lot of "Politicians" really don't get the fact that if you farm out the ability to equip your national defense forces to foreign companies/countries those foreign entities now have the ability to break your defense infrastructure at the stroke of a pen when they cut you off & you have lost all the ability to produce the required equipment yourself.