The Drydock - Episode 204 (Part 1)

[@Drachinifel]

Pinned post for Q&A :)

[@BHuang92]

Which ships do you think is the worst for an engineer to be working on?

[@themightynanto3158]

Were there ever any cases in ww1 or in ww2 of environmental disasters such as an oil spill caused by a sinking ship?

[@theodoresmith5272]

How about how naval air power on ships in ww2 changed as the war progressed?

[@Someone-wj1lf]

What could had stopped the Japanese from using a surface fleet to attack Pearl harbour following the air raid? Near immediately after or during the following day or days.

[@robertillston2350]

Q& A: Why are carrier conversions all seemingly so bad? I understand that a purpose-built carrier will likely be more efficient, is it the tradeoff decisions that make so many of these so bad, if so, are there a common set of tradeoffs across designs, how did the few 'moderately successful' designs avoid or negotiate those trade offs?

[@frankfeitoza6211]

Back in the 1970's I was helping the fund raising for the Schooner Ernestina-Morrissey project to get the Schooner back to the US from Cape Verde. While we wore fund raising the head the project gave my Uncle a set of magazines decade to maritime restoration projects. one of the articles was ago the Eppleton Hall. It was about it nearly foundering in a storm out of San Diego on the final leg to San Francisco. In the story they were taking on water and had lost power. Someone on the boat you had never got his hands dirty in his whole life jump into the engine room waste deep water and fix the broken item. Thus save them all. Now I read this over 45 years ago, it was so nice to here it's full history. thanks

[@josephpicogna6348]

Best description of this topic ever for me. Although I have read the British land casualties significantly exceeded those of the ANZAC troops, that same reading has pointed a most critical finger at the British generals and their staff, for their over the top and just one more push approach to fighting on the peninsula. Some years ago, I met the grandson of the Ataturk, Mustafa Kemal Pasha. We were on a cruise together and once we got to know respective backgrounds, I mentioned that my grandfather was a Bersaglieri in the Italian Turkish war in 1912 and how much he admired both the Turkish troops as well as the great leader who was to emerge at the close of World War I. The grandson told me he learned from his father, that Mustafa Kemal never thought they would be dislodged from the Gallipoli peninsula. I had heard all of the stories of him disguising himself as a sergeant, pretending not to understand English, and moving freely, during the cease-fire periods, among the British troops, eagerly soaking in their descriptions of privation.

[@crichtonbruce4329]

The first segment on the treatment of the Reliant reminded me depressingly of my own experience: I went to collage in Toronto in the late 1970's and my favorite place was the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). It had wonderful, extensive, well displayed collections, and as both an art student and history nerd it was heaven to me. About 10yr's after collage I returned to Toronto for a visit knowing the ROM had received a multi-million dollar expansion and renovation so I was greatly looking forward to visiting again. What an almost traumatizing disappointment!! Gone to some dark basements or warehouses was seemingly 90% of the collections. Where there used to be multiple examples of particular types of object you found one. It was all SO much more "User Friendly" though. I've never gone back. A great victory for the interior decorators and bureaucrats over the curators, historians, lovers of knowledge and beauty!

[@blilov]

9

[@TheCsel]

I would have liked to see it back then, I've visited Toronto from the States a couple time in the last 5 years and really enjoyed the Royal Ontario Museum, so it must have been even better in the 70s. I did see quite a few ship models, that were sort of in a basement. Some of them were explained to actually have been models that french prisoners would make to sell or trade while waiting around waiting for the war to end, so maybe not completely accurate but interesting none the less. The York Fort also had an interesting collection of cannons, one back from Cromwell era. The various governors I guess kept trying to get rid of the obsolete guns but they always just tucked them away instead just in case they needed them later.

[@MarkJoseph81]

How do you only have 400k subscribers?!? People don't know what they're missing!

[@robinstevenson6690]

WHAT A WONDERFUL STORY - THE SUNDERLAND - ONE OF THE BEST EVER !

[@TrickiVicBB71]

Glad you broke this up in parts cause I fell asleep listening to Royal Navy going broke to waking up to effectiveness of smoke screens

[@nakhlehmattar6687]

Did anyone else just wake up to this playing on auto play ?

[@johnd2058]

0:10 BWAAAAA

[@XRapids118]

This is how I found this channel 😂 now I’m a fan 😂

[@calummackay8330]

I put them on at bedtime.

[@XRapids118]

@@calummackay8330 same as me

[@Alex-cw3rz]

1:40:28 I think we should also point out that the movie of the Darkest Hour is total fiction, and even in that scene they disrespect the sacrifice as they say "25,000" casualties when in total it was 250,000 casualties on the Entente side alone. My great grandfather (British contingent) was at Gallipoli and was injured four different times once seeing his best friend blown up next to him and another time getting his finger shot off. Luckily he survived that somme and won a military medal at Passchendale for taking out a German machine gun nest.

[@lifeindetale]

He received the medal. No one wants to win medals. You win trophies

[@georgewnewman3201]

At the rate he gets questions, I would not be surprised at Drach going to have weekly 5-hr drydocks.

[@SPR-Ninja]

Hey mate, I'm the question-asker on that one. Im aware that movies are generally fairly terrible, my question was more around getting Drach's view on the campaign as a whole. Kiwis (especially those who served) are generally pretty aware of the actual events :)

[@Alex-cw3rz]

7:42 Aristotle Onassis superyacht was not a US Destroyer it was a Canadian river-class frigate called HMCS Stormont, renamed Christina O. It's a beautiful ship now and definitely had a more notable post war career as a superyacht, such as the wedding reception of Grace Kelly and the prince of Monaco was on the ship. Other visitors include Winston Churchill, Kennedy, Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor, and the list goes on, it's so long it has a seperate section in the Wikipedia page.

[@kavemanthewoodbutcher]

Loved the Sunderland story. That had me hooting and hollering on my tractor. Thanks Drach!

[@michaelmeszaros6982]

Coal dust explosions here in West Virginia coal mines are fought against vigorously by having adequate air circulation and other procedures to reduce dust BUT they are STILL much more common than the old kind of underground explosions in mines caused by methane gas. I hear than in the Midwest, grain storage elevators can explode with great force when grain dust in the air is ignited inadvertently. RockOn, Drach.

[@DERP_Squad]

Grain silos and elevators still explode on a semi-regular basis. A few a year, rare enough to make the local news when it happens, often enough for the national news to only cover it on a slow day. You're right about the force, they can go off with quite the bang.

[@wierdalien1]

They can indeed

[@allangibson2408]

Coal dust explosions are controlled by spreading limestone on the mine floor to prevent flammable dust being raised. Limestone doesn’t spark unlike silicates and absorbs energy by being converted to calcium oxide. Ventilation only helps with “firedamp” (methane / hydrogen / carbon monoxide) explosions. I have cleared up after grain explosions - and they frequently cause the silo to cease to exist…

[@michaelmeszaros6982]

@@allangibson2408 Yep. And wetting down surfaces and removal of accumulated dust also helps. Many people here in West Virginia could carry on a reasonable conversation on the topic of mine safety. OH, and the complete banning of cigarettes, lighters and other smoking materials. That's why chewing tobacco is so popular here.

[@AsbestosMuffins]

that's also why your midwest grain elevator is built tougher than most military bunkers because a lot of them predate climate controls so worst case they contain any explosion and prevent it from igniting any other individual silos. that's also why they never bother to tear down disused elevator complexes because they're too tough to blast or demo

[@mbryson2899]

Thank you for reading the Sunderland's action report, your narration combined with the epic understatement by the author was riveting. "Now things became completely chaotic..." Criminy, was what preceded only deemed to be _somewhat_ chaotic?

[@johnfisher9692]

This account proves the nickname of the Sunderland was accurate "The Flying Porcupine"

[@BleedingUranium]

Of all the fantastic and incredible stories on this channel, this Sunderland one is quite possibly my favourite. Wow.

[@gerald5344]

My favorite ex-naval ship is the Soya, built by the Japanese as an ice-strengthened cargo ship for the Russians but never delivered and requisitioned as an auxiliary for the IJN, where she survived a number of Allied submarine and air attacks, including Operation Hailstone, the attack on Truk. Her guns removed, she served as a repatriation ship after the war, and became famous as an Antarctic research vessel around the time of IGY. She survives as a museum ship at Tokyo.

[@AnimeSunglasses]

I just looked her up, and oh boy is she a beauty!

[@TomSedgman]

That bit about reliant reminded me of a story about the last complete preserved dodo in the National History Museum. For “space saving” reasons they cut off the head and the feet and then burnt the rest. Apparently the catalog today lists the rest of the bird as “lost in a fire”

[@Darth.Fluffy]

Really?

[@TomSedgman]

@@Darth.Fluffy I can’t link the source because KZbin, but it was one of Adam Savage’s TED talks

[@Darth.Fluffy]

@@TomSedgman . Jeeze! Bureaucrats!

[@Darth.Fluffy]

@@TomSedgman . I just watched that Ted Talk. Thats an interesting guy.

[@kgs42]

The same applies to the IWM at Lambeth, turned into a 'tourist destination' with a huge amount of the former fascinating contents removed and just a few arty exhibits retained. It is now 'a museum of the effects of war', having gone all disapproving of military historical items and artifacts. It's a tragedy - a peacenik attitude to history.

[@MonkeyJedi99]

Someone should tell them how much they could have saved by leaving the museum intact and just publishing a picture book of their "new ideas" and then sell it in the gift shop.

[@craigfazekas3923]

Kudos to Mrs. Drach....surely, you've got someone who understands you, Drach; and deals with your indulgences. As usual, a team is in place to make the lead a success. And she deserves recognition among the Drach faithful.... (Btw, does she have a sister ?....) 🚬😎

[@r.gilman4261]

With Nitrocellulose, the alcohols ( typically ethers, ethyl ether being popular, but acetone will work) are solvents and allow you to form form consistent geometric shapes that regulate burn rate, by not removing these sufficiently you will have inconsistent burn rate and quite possibly high pressure problems up to and including barrel or breech failure. The expiration issue with Nitrocellulose is caused by a reverse esterification where you get a self catalysing reaction that accelerates with heat ( why old film is stored very cold).

[@davidpnewton]

Erm ethers are NOT alcohols. Neither is acetone an alcohol. All hydrocarbons of this type have specific functional groups which give them their names. For alcohols it is an oxygen and hydrogen at the end of a carbon chain. So for example methanol is H3C-OH and ethanol is H3C-CH2-OH. Ethers by contrast have the oxygen in the middle of the carbon chain. So for example ethyl ether is H3C-CH2-O-CH2-CH3. Acetone on the other hand is an example of a ketone. Ketones have a carbon double-bonded to an oxygen in the middle of a carbon chain. So acetone is H3C-CO-CH3. Ethers, alcohols and ketones are all examples of oxygenated hydrocarbons but they are different molecule types with different properties and different uses.

[@TrickiVicBB71]

I heard about that Ju 88 vs Sunderland report before in war magazines. Not first time it has happened either. I've also read about Coronados taking on Bettys

[@GrahamWKidd]

Glad you liked it. Always a challenge coming up with solid original questions.

[@vonskyme9133]

@@GrahamWKidd well done, it was a great question. I'm still partial to Drach's rendition of my undead admiral Beattie question as my favourite question (just the question, though, this answer is better), but I've yet to come up with another good one.

[@michaelimbesi2314]

Drach, that was a very good discussion of the considerations as to why planing hulls weren’t used. Thank you. Also, it’s worth noting that our knowledge about them at that time was almost nil. They only really became a thing with the rise of flying boats, so they were still a fairly new technology And on a slightly more comical (but still a slight concern) note: if most of your hull is out of the water while planing, you can end up in water that is deep enough for you while planing, but not when you stop and sink back down. This means that your ship can end up accidentally dry docking itself on a mudflat with no way of refloating itself.

[@jamieknight326]

Funny story. Some plonked on a power boat was loudly and annoyingly blasting around near the swimmers beach at Weymouth a few years back. He did exactly this…. When he slowed down he got stuck. In the very British way, the beach laughed and then offered a sarcastic round of a applause.

[@jeffbybee5207]

There were some pre aviation flat bottom boats that made 18 knots on 11 horse power. Source naval architect Phil bolger on his sneek easy design 16 foot that lead to the tennesse design 31 foot the idaho 39 foot and wyoming 52 footer designs. Also my own derivative mini aircraft carrier 104 foot by 16 foot beam design

[@seanmalloy7249]

36:55 The Type A Ko-hyoketsu midget submarine used by the Japanese Navy at Pearl Harbor had an almost uncontrollable tendency to pitch nose-up from the shift in buoyancy when its two torpedoes were fired. If a Type A submarine was traveling at periscope depth in Pearl Harbor when it fired its torpedoes, it could easily have porpoised to the surface, causing the propellor splashes as the bow submerged again.

[@andrewcox4386]

The story of EJ134 - "the local people met us with hot cocoa and cake". I can't imagine anything more typically British unless they'd brought tea 🇬🇧😆

[@vonskyme9133]

Really? Tea? You should know that tea is for LAND VEHICLE crashes. Cocoa is for ships, and as flying boats the Sunderland is an honorary ship. British tradition moves so slow they haven't figured one out for planes yet.

[@conradswadling8495]

steady on, cocoa at that time of night.

[@TheCsel]

My favorite post war conversion is the Lee A Tregurtha. It was originally the USS Chiwawa, an oiler that received 2 battle stars for its numerous convoy missions. Today it's completely different, having being lengthened and converted to be a bulk freighter. Its mainly just my favorite because I will still see it once in awhile sailing on the Great Lakes.

[@KPen3750]

a fun contender for "Former Military Vessel thats more famous than their Military Roles" is the Wizard from Deadliest Catch. It was a former USN yard oiler from 1945 to 1974 and it was converted to a crab boat.

[@airplanemaster1]

Really?!? I've watched a *Lot* of Deadliest Catch over the years and I never knew that! Granted, my favorite ships of the show are the Time Bandit followed by the Northwestern.

[@KPen3750]

@@airplanemaster1 When I was a religious follower of the show, it was the Northwestern for me. I've kinda fallen out of watching Discovery

[@davidwelsh829]

the one boat I wouldn't go out on is the Wizard, the hull is nearly rusted thru in places. I could tell it was ancient

[@andycrawley1961]

my favourite for a ship's post military career overshadowing it would be the Calypso... formerly a British minesweeper, it became Jacques Cousteau's base for 35 years and the star of numerous documentaries. I seem to recall making a model of it many years ago.

[@Tuning3434]

I see where this is going... 5 hr. Drydocks 2x month.

[@mortuideum]

There you go, threatening me with a good time.

[@mattblom3990]

Which is awesome. Great information the first time, excellent sleep aid the second time. Not a joke nor insult to Drach's content but several other people here have commented they fall asleep to Drydock's as white noise. Drach's voice is quite good for that as it turns out :)

[@davidbryden7904]

@@mattblom3990 it's the sleep aid that I have to listen to again in the morning

[@josephaskins1996]

This is the 5hr drydock, just split in two

[@Warentester]

@@davidbryden7904 that's Drach's secret to get twice the views...

[@benrochelle9301]

20:56 Regarding the Mulberry Harbours, one of the major components which comprised them were known as 'Whales'. These were the roadways which vehicles drove along to reach the shore. These however you could argue did float. They were physically attached to the concrete blocks however were allowed to rise and fall depending on the depth of the tide, as well as the roughness of the sea itself. The D-Day Haynes manual has a very good illustration of this if anyone is interested on page 91.

[@smokeonthewater5287]

Speaking of conversions, I have worked on a corvette, HMS Kilchrenan (US PCE-842) converted for passenger use after it participated in the D-Day

[@jaredthehawk3870]

Fun fact one of the two ships that was primarily responsible for the Fort McHenry Bombardment, the nomb ship HMS Terror, was later repurchased for Polar Exploration and was lost in the ill fated Franklin expedition to force the Northwest Passage. The successor to the other bombardment ship, HMS Erebus, was converted to the same purpose, served exclusively with Terror, and was lost in the same expedition.

[@BB.61]

57:18 PBY Catalina. It did a lot of the unglamorous behind the scenes work; patrol, anti submarine, search and rescue, etc. But versatile enough to be offensive like the Black cat squadron.

[@thevictoryoverhimself7298]

Was the HMS Erebus present at ft mchenry the same ship later converted to an arctic exploration vessel and lost during the Franklin Expedition? I remembered that ship being converted from a bomb ship as well, as it’s more sturdy hull to deal with the shock of firing massive mortars also helped it survive icy conditions. If so wow that is an incredible thing to be a part of two major events in naval history

[@DanielsPolitics1]

Two different ships. Although the Fort McHenry one did also repatriate British rounded after Waterloo, and then brought French prisoners to the UK. It was therefore tangentially involved in a great land battle too.

[@TheRAFlemingsMr]

With regards to military conversions, the quintessential American hero, John Wayne bought a Navy tug to become his yacht. He was proud of preserving it and had it till his death, I believe.

[@tomdolan9761]

I believe Wayne’s yacht was a trawler which had been converted into a patrol vessel in WW2. Wayne lavished attention on this vessel for the balance of his life. After his death the yacht was sold and moved to the Pacific Northwest where about a year ago it struck a rock and sank in the San Juan Islands. The owners, after a survey, determined it could not be salvaged for restoration.

[@nla27]

As far as American standardization of equipment during WWII, a good example was the M1 carbine. Dozens of non-firearm companies made them but all of the parts were still interchangeable. The methods of creating jigs, tools, and gauges allowed the porting of manufacturing to any machine shop.

[@allangibson2408]

The same was true of the M1911 pattern pistols and M1 rifle (as distinct from the M1 Carbine (they were quite different)). The Americans got badly burnt with the M1917 rifles not having interchangeable parts between the ones manufactured by Winchester and Remington (or even the two Remington plants). (Remington continued to manufacture them until 1940 (as the model 30)).

[@davidmurphy8190]

Even IBM got in the act of making M1 Carbines.

[@mikemullen5563]

Re standardization. Another big advantage of US standardization was the improved crew efficiency. Much simpler training, and the advantage of swapping crew between ships and classes easily.

[@AtomicBabel]

Happy Sunday morning! Glad we yanks have a long weekend to enjoy this.

[@georgewnewman3201]

This week, how will you handle it at the end of the month?

[@benwilson6145]

An interesting use of civilian ships was the use of Norwegian owned and operated fishing vessels on the Shetland Bus. This was the transport of refugees and volunteers from Norway to Shetland and the transport of weapons and saboteurs from Shetland to Norway.

[@dmcarpenter2470]

15 odd years ago, when BB55 was reteaked, the teak was up over summer. The messdecks were bake ovens. We also found how much sound-deadening the teak provided.

[@courtman007]

Christina O for the win

[@twrecks4598]

2:10:41 ... was a good opportunity to give a shout out to Submarine Tenders... a very overlooked class. I served on the USS Orion (AS-18) which was commissioned in 43, I think

[@jeffbybee5207]

T Wrecks did you ever meet up with the uss pelious. My dad was a n electricianswlon her 43 to 45

[@twrecks4598]

@@jeffbybee5207 nah.. I was on Orion 89-92... I'm not THAT old, lol

[@gabrielf2432]

I started having a sudden hankering for ice cream around the 2:32:30 mark...

[@jonathanhill4892]

The Sunderland was a magnificent plane - and here clearly more than magnificently fought.

[@JCWatz1]

When USS Wyoming's 12 in guns and turrets were replaced by the much lighter 5in/38 mounts did Wyoming's speed increase.

[@michaelmoorrees3585]

1:40:30 - Though Istanbul was used since shortly after the Ottomans took the city (1453), it was still officially named Constantinople until 1926. "Istanbul" was a nickname, of a Turkish bastardization of Greek, roughly meaning, "to the city".

[@wierdalien1]

Bul being the city

[@robertmatch6550]

Cue that early, ahead-of-its-time bit of rap "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)".

[@richardschaffer5588]

@2:51:16 The turn of the century USA was practically invulnerable to sea blockade. It had all the natural resources and the industrial base it needed without ANY trade! During WWI it was a huge supplier of materiel to the Allies largely in exchange for money. The trade surpluses created were a big problem for the world economy post war. Flipping the coin the Jejune Ecole might work as a defensive strategy for the US. The Atlantic and Pacific would strip the torpedo craft from an attacker, making the attacker vulnerable to torpedo craft (which would have been built instead of battleships)

[@agesflow6815]

Thank you, Drachinifel.

[@arjovenzia]

Dont normally comment on these rants, but vertigo and a will to climb things. Dang bro... thats gotta suck. Only time i have ever experienced vertigo was at at the top of a phone tower i broke into. In a monestary, proper top of the hill. I was mad chuffed, wish i had brought a radio or better whiskey. Only took 10 minutes to get up there. About 2 hours to get down. It was very, very high, and it dosnt look precarious going up. Coming down, oooh. Its a looong drop. Thats an actual cliff. I still have a habit of climbing things i probably shouldnt. Survived that one, and asked for Gods blessing at the top of it. Im good. And if i have to sign off, thats how id like to. Please, continue the rant.

[@jtpenman]

My weekend guilty pleasure.

[@bertofnuts1132]

About "Axis technology exchanges": You cannot have large freight trains going from Germany/Italy/France to Spain because Spanish railways have a different gauge.

[@DanielsPolitics1]

When did they change?

[@bertofnuts1132]

@@DanielsPolitics1 See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Track_gauge_in_Spain recent high speed lines use the standard 1435mm, the rest of the network is still the "Iberian gauge".

[@jeffbybee5207]

2.36.08 love and amazed your mass of information . However a clarification attu was not evacuated and was farest west island was retaken first. Then kiska was attacked latter after evacuation . The seabirds you mentioned was called the battle of the pips and some beleave was a distraction diversion by a squadron of Japanese subs towing barge balloons. Wonder if you've considered this and dismissed it. The targets were not seen just reported by one battleship radar and not the other. A very thick book I read to peices called the 1000 mile war. Thankyou for you wonderful work and kudos to Mrs Drachinifel

[@onkelblaa08]

I'm not even a native, but come on.."beleave"????

[@johnshepherd8687]

It is fire control radar that gives the advantage to the side laying a smoke screen, not search radar. I could see Admiral Lee ordering his escorting destroyers to lay a smoke screen in a theoretical battle against the center force as it came through the San Bernardino Strait. The Japanese ships equipped with search radars would know where Lee's forces were but they could not get a fire control solution. That would give Lee's force the ability to at least mission kill the two Kongos and the Nagato before they could clear the smoke scream and thius allow him to go 4 v 1 against the Yamato.

[@Archie2c]

My dad and I snuck up to the Yorktowns Weather Bow and looked out the porthole in 1988

[@camenbert5837]

Re Captain's biscuits (or whatever), I am now imagining a Drachinefel of biscuits doing a drydock (biscuit tin?) on biscuits. Imagine a 3hr Q'n'A on biscuits...

[@NathanOkun]

As to working in many different environments, the length of time spent there and the things that you were doing resulted in sometimes unexpected side-effects. For example, when the US Navy had to fight in the Pacific near the Equator for lengthy times, they found out that they started to get rather more duds in their shells than they had expected. Examining their ammo, they discovered that the fuze primer (hit by the firing pin when the shell went off at its target, either by mechanical time, impact, or other method) was the problem. This primer was made up of tiny pellets of either fulminate of mercury or lead azide, depending on the manufacturer pre4ference. It seems that the average high heat and moisture content in the storage facilities for ammo on various islands being used for this was causing the fulminate of mercury to chemically degrade into a rather inert material over time, rendering the fuzes blind. This was fixed by using lead azide exclusively and either throwing away or remaking any fuzes using the fulminate of mercury primer. It seems that even after many years of experience, surprises can still "come out of left field" to give you problems.

[@Griz1231]

If the Lusitania was burning bituminous coal, the sulphur content could have made the coal dust even more volatile.

[@HMSFord]

I can relate to your reaction regarding the fate of the Reliant. I had visited the Maritime Museum in 1989 and 1990 and enjoyed touring the Reliant a whole lot. I was dumbfounded when I came back in 2010 and found it gone. What the hell were they thinking?

[@jeffbybee5207]

Using the term thinking quite loosely

[@panniertankboy8751]

In regards to the Naval vessels turned civilian, I have a fondness for the Lake George Steamboat Company’s “Ticonderoga II,” formerly the LCI(L)-1085. She was converted in 1949 and sailed cruises on the lake until 1989 and was eventually broken up in ‘93. There’s a great series of photographs showing the sections of the ship being hauled through small Upstate New York towns on their way to the Steamboat Company’s slipway for conversion.

[@kemarisite]

@2:02:04 the US Army was a separate service and had its own equipment. In particular, the standard 90 mm AA gun was utilized with the M7 or M9 directors, the later of which could be tied into the SCR-584 radar system to provide automatic laying and direction, so the gun crew was merely responsible for feeding ammunition to the gun.

[@ottovonbismarck2443]

Interestingly the Luftwaffe used a similar system for their heavy (i.e. 8,8 cm and bigger) Flak batteries, reducing gun crews to loading only. Some 10,5 cm batteries in fact had autoloaders, a similar system which was to be used on naval vessels. Don't know if the Kriegsmarine ever used the system operationally at all, but a fully radar guided and autoloaded 10,5 cm DP batterie was at least planned for the latest torpedo boats (type 1941, none of which was completed).

[@thevictoryoverhimself7298]

What is the UK museum ship industries obsession with cutting apart priceless ships? They go to the trouble of raising a very rare u boat from the sea and “I know, let’s cut it into sections for display!” Nobody else does this, really.

[@benwilson6145]

The submarine was raised by a Treasure hunter, not a museum. The San Francisco Maritime Museum carried out a act of vandalism took the 4 masted barque Fennia from Port Stanley in the mid 70's "to save her". They hired a tug from Uruguay and the ship was towed to Montevideo for repair. The museum did not pay for the tow, the Fennia was sold at auction and scrapped in Montevideo.

[@thevictoryoverhimself7298]

@@benwilson6145 I added the modifer "... ,really" because i knew another example outside the UK would exist on earth and someone would bring it up :) I stand by my statement, the UK loves to cut up museum ships.

[@Alex-cw3rz]

@@thevictoryoverhimself7298 money, cash poor museums (managed by people who's job isn't to do with history itself) have to do what will be manageable and affordable, as mad as it seems to us. Espcially in the 20th century, it has changed recently. But do remember the US has 330 million people to visit their ships and even then half of them are falling to pieces, we have 66 million people, so there is less money to go around.

[@CharlesStearman]

It may be worth pointing out that the position of 'stoker' did not disappear with the transition to oil firing - ratings who served in the boiler rooms continued to be called stokers.

[@benclark3621]

Happy Rowdy Colonists Day to you former Imperial Overlords!!!

[@markrobinson9956]

Keep up the good work! I like the new format, but will listen to what ever you produce.

[@greenseaships]

40:16- that's actually a well-known photograph taken by RF-8 Crusader launched from U.S.S. Nimitz the day before the actual attack.

[@danwilliams4051]

The Final Countdown... well played.

[@christopherconard2831]

Three hours, and it's Part 1. Thankfully my boss doesn't actually expect me to get anything done.

[@cliffordljacksonjr8020]

Sounds like a naval history junkie!

[@CharlesStearman]

Regarding splicing or replacing ropes, I understand that a rope that is properly spliced actually loses very little of its strength.

[@benwilson6145]

You are right, from memory about 10% loss was used in calculation.

[@tomdolan9761]

Eppiton Hall is thankfully in pristine condition at the San Francisco Maritime Museum

[@karlheinzvonkroemann2217]

Well done.

[@gerardmdelaney]

John Wayne yacht, M/V Wild Goose, started life as a USN minesweeper.

[@hanuman3527]

49:49 Critical hit, roll again. 😎

[@kidmohair8151]

the Konigsbergs section contains another word that I haven't heard used since the 1970s issuing from my mom...skewif(fy)

[@timengineman2nd714]

@ 2:29:21 The only way prior to 07DEC1941 I could see large scale transfer of tech would be for Germany to ship it to Italy,, in perhaps having only a third of the cars with tech, and the rest of the cars being for Italy & Africa. Yes this would mean 3 times the total of trains, but that way it would be hidden by sheer numbers of other boxcars. Load aboard a Japanese Register ship, and then fly the biggest (you can find) Japanese flag from the main mast, and maybe even the bowsprit and fantail flagstaff, and definitely a big flag on top of a forward & aft cargo holds' hatches. Aboard a Japanese ship that also has a large flag painted on each side amidships. Yes it will get inspected going to Italy, but I don't see it getting inspected on the return trip to Japan. You may even be able to use the Suez Canal going in both directions! Especially if you have Port of Calls in both Mediterranean Spanish and French ports.

[@allangibson2408]

Prior to June 1941 equipment was shipped through Russia to Japan from Germany…

[@SCjunk]

Coal dust explosions in coal mines is a terrifying fact, but if anyone wants an example of coaldust causing problems even when exposed to the elements -the problems of fire on the 2nd Pacific Squadron at Tsushima. Also Lusitania has a lot of eplosive demage from WW2 (possibly even WW1) -targeting with A/S weapons -quite a few Hedgehogs bombs were pulled up during various wreck reasearch diving operations

[@thunderhead180]

5:26 Minesweeper YMS-328 is another good one.

[@williamlloyd3769]

Expeditionary sea base USNS John L. Canley (ESB-6), a Military Sealift Command ship, is a modern version of a floating harbor and specialized expeditionary staging base.

[@jlvfr]

Side note on the _Liberte_ : that article is in portuguese! Is that from a newspaper of the era, I wonder?

[@SSSeTEDS]

The phrase "Quantity has a quality of its own" was actually a pretty late addition to military jargon. It was coined in the 1970s in the US when it was clear that anti-air weapons technology was outstripping aircraft countermeasures. A reasonable approach was instead of building all these expensive super jets would be to built smaller cheaper jets so to overwhelm air defenses or have a greater number of surviving assets after a first strike. The clearest example in US would be the development of the F-16 as a supplement to the F-15.

[@timengineman2nd714]

@ 34:48 From what I've read (from reliable sources) is that the IJN's midget subs used 100% oxygen without any starting compressed air. Therefor they would have left no wake... Therefor the big splash at the start of the torpedo run is probably disturbed water that has come back down (with just a hint of spray still in the air) from plane dropping torpedos.

[@timengineman2nd714]

Note: the reason why IJN started using compressed air to start the Type 93 & 95 torpedos is that they had several explosions when firing one with 100% Oxygen at startup or soon afterwards! This might have happened to the mysterious sub that they never found a trace of... Let's face it, one more explosion in the middle of that confused situations would hardly have been noticed!!!

[@conradswadling8495]

epic sunderland story!

[@scottygdaman]

Hi Drach A question asked concerning Great Britain's financial state Made me wonder what was the state of Germany's finances say in 1936-1940? How did Hitler take a country up to their wastes in financial ruin to the point he could build up such forces in a few short years?

[@benwilson6145]

By invading and plundering other countries.

[@camenbert5837]

Germany is a fundamentally-sound economic entity. It was actually recovering before Hitler came to power as the world economy kicked off. Clemenceau's original plan at Versailles was to link the French and German economies, as he knew it would always outgrow France. The kneecapping strategy came about later.

[@saintadolf5639]

Hitler kicked the international bankers out of Germany. The international banksters had been printing absurd amounts of Reichmarks nonstop. This caused hyperinflation which created a Depression in Germany and widespread poverty and desperate conditions for the average German. While working class Germans lost their homes...the banksters and their ilk were the ones buying those homes and living in luxury- they DID have access to as many Reichmarks as they wanted...even if the Reichmark was becoming increasingly worthless. Once the banksters were out of Germany Hitler stabilized the Reichsmark through prudent monetary policy. All he did was ensure that the German government maintained an appropriate amount of Reichsmarks in circulation. It is simple supply & demand that controls the value of a currency. The more of that currency that is put into circulation=the less value the currency has. With a stable currency and a very low tax rate (From 1933-1945 the only taxes Germans paid was a 2-3% sales tax. The 2-3% sales tax was enough to maintain the entire German government AND finance the cost of the entire war!) Germany experienced an economic boom and became the economic powerhouse of Europe. Germany became extremely prosperous. Germans were allowed to keep 97% of their earnings AND they re-invested it in their businesses and the German economy which creates more of an economic boom. This continued all the way up until the (international bankster-controlled) Allied powers crushed Germany from all sides and hunger, poverty, and oppressive taxation was forced on Germany yet again. And the international banksters have been at the helm ever since. Today they own the central banks of every country in the world except for TWO.

[@brucewilliams1892]

Re - 46:34, might that explain the petalled gun barrel on Bismarck's aft turret?

[@DavidBrown-yd9le]

Lol enough beatings with a frying pan!

[@jayfelsberg1931]

I admit I cried at the part when Eppie sailed into San Francisco Bay

[@tinfoilhat3268]

Thank you for the convenience of two parts

[@kyledean4512]

Can someone link me to the rope video?

[@tomdolan9761]

Wasn’t Jacque Cousteau’s Calypso a French naval vessel before he made her world famous with his explorations? I often wondered how the naval ratings and officers reacted to seeing their old home being repurposed

[@samsignorelli]

1:59:58....eventually his name will be longer than your answer!

[@SCjunk]

Aircraft smoke screen was used at Dieppe - obviously not to hide the attacking TLC but to hide the support and rerserve vessels.

[@RonJohn63]

54:15 Is that written is Portuguese?

[@williamlloyd3769]

Re conversions - For many years John Wayne owned yacht, named the Wild Goose, was moored at Newport Harbor in SoCal. Wikipedia: USS YMS-328 is a decommissioned US Navy YMS-1-class (YMS-135 subclass) Yard Mine Sweeper (YMS), built in Ballard, Washington at Ballard Marine & Railway in Ballard, Washington (Seattle). She was classified as a Mark II design and her hull is constructed completely out of 3" vertical grain Douglas fir. Sister ships include Jacques Cousteau's RV Calypso. After serving in the Navy in World War II the boat was converted to a private yacht.

[@loh1945]

41:00 They actually found that last “missing” mini sub in a dump of debris outside of the harbor. It launched its torpedoes and got stuck in a specific place in the harbor where a bit later there was some kind of accident that sent amphibious vehicles to the bottom (West Loch Disaster). So it definitely got in and fired off some shots.

[@vikkimcdonough6153]

2:32:40 - Or like what _Komet_ did, sailing through the Arctic Ocean behind a Soviet icebreaker.

[@graulus8986]

Military turned civilian? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Liemba SMS Goetzen on Lake Tanganjika, salvaged in 1918 after being scuttled in 1916, still in operation as a ferry today, also the inspiration for African Queen by C.S.Forester and the movie of the same title starring H. Bogart, K. Hepburn.

[@matismf]

Does the UK have any nuclear submarines? If so, what is the career path for THEIR engineers?

[@20chocsaday]

UK has had nuclear submarines since not long after 1963 to carry Polaris. However, the country has a Monarch, not a President.

[@wierdalien1]

Does we have boomers? Only ones that the Yanks salivate over

[@allangibson2408]

The UK ONLY has nuclear powered submarines (no diesel boats at all).

[@thunderhead180]

17:14 Don't forget that there is a difference between a stoker and an engineroom articifer. Stoker=Boilers Articifer=Engines

[@kuroinamida4630]

about that odin class coastal defense ship, what was the name? cause i cant find anything about it and the only ones i can find sth are Odin and Ägir

[@eddierudolph8702]

There is a five minute guide on that class.

[@notshapedforsportivetricks2912]

We have a new hunter/killer group to win wars; HMS Warspite, USS Enterprise and Sunderland EJ234. Broken up on the beach, you say? Bah! 'tis but a flesh wound.

[@stuartwald2395]

For civilian use of a formerly military asset, consider this. A celebrity waterfront resort wants to keep airborne paparazzi (drones, helicopters et al.) away, so it buys a retired Ticonderoga-class cruiser and parks it offshore. Offer memberships to keep a skeleton radar and missle crew (you're not facing a full Backfire regiment bearing down on your carrier), and trade autographs for just a few Standards. The skies are now clear.

[@marcusfranconium3392]

At the section german pre-dreadnoughts 01:24:08 you are correct about that 11" guns are not like other 11" guns. where the pre dreadnoughts had 40 calibere. guns even the Zeven provincien (coastal armourded defense ship cruiser well unique ship ) had 42.16 caliber 11inch guns. making it a big difference.2 less guns butfurther reach.

[@rcwagon]

Yes, the British only chased of U-Boats. that is why so many were sunk and why only the British retrieved Enigma components, because they only chased the U-Boats away - that is away from the surface, and toward the bottom...

[@bullnukeoldman3794]

You made mention of the paddle-wheel tugs that were somewhat mishandled as historic artifacts. This brings a question to mind that I've had for quite some time that I believe rates some discussion - the "preservation" (and I use this term somewhat loosely for some of the efforts) of old historic warships and the positives/negatives of such efforts. I've visited a few here in the USA, most recently the ex-USS Little Rock and the recently distressed ex-USS The Sullivans and noted that there were noble efforts to preserve these vessels but those efforts are far less than necessary to maintain a steel box floating indefinitely. I speak from some experience - I spent three periods between 1974 and 1992 on the same ship, a ship commissioned in 1961 and noted that even with a full crew and meticulous preservation efforts (and continuously ongoing efforts at that), this vessel still suffered degradation from steel floating in water. It still floats to this day in Inactive Ships at Bremerton, though somewhat reduced in length, 27 years after decommissioning with a large amount of funding needed annually just to keep it afloat there - much more funding than historic "preserved" ships receive. You're still doing good, Drach. Keep it going, my friend.

[@AdamMGTF]

@2:00 this has really pissed me off. My defense to Americans who say 'why didn't you limys save Warspite or Dreadnaught' has always been. "Well that's because the only country that left the world wars with huge profits and no debt was the USA. We couldn't afford museum ship's. So the more appropriate question is, why didn't you use your riches to preserve the world's most significant ship's!?" In this case the USA actually wanted to do just that! Use the profits from ww2 to save said ship(s) and the UK threw a spanner in the whole deal. This makes me angry in many many ways.

[@nickdanger3802]

Where did these "profits" come from?

[@AdamMGTF]

@@nickdanger3802 from the arms, armaments and materials sold to allied powers. The debt Britain owed to the USA was only paid off about 10 years ago. Both the us as a country and its large companies made a fortune from the war. There's nothing wrong with that. It's the way the world works. But it's important to remember what actually happened.

[@AdamMGTF]

@@nickdanger3802 ironically, as drach has said. The UK government post both world wars did do their very best to pay off the lones ahead of time. But the fact that it still took 80+ years gives you an idea how much money we are talking about. The remaining money that the UK had was spent largely on social welfare and literally rebuilding the country. Remember the destruction to houses and businesses went way beyond the blitz of London. This is largely why much of our armements companies closed. Inspite of the UK leading the world in jet technology, radar, sonar, having been responsible for a big part of the creation of the atomic bombs.... The country just couldn't justify big arms purchases, there was no more empire to defend and the only sea power that could challenge the RN was the US and she was our closest ally. Throw in the massive lack of an export market and lots of big names in UK defence died or were bought out.

[@nickdanger3802]

@@AdamMGTF As of 2006 Britain still owed the USA 4.4 billion 1934 USD in WWI debt. BBC Whats a little debt between friends? "As stated in the second paragraph of the Report on Mutual Aid published in November, 1943 (Cmd. 6483), we had, up to that date, spent some £1,500,000,000 (6 billion USD, ND) in the United States since the outbreak of war on supplies of all kinds." Hansard British War Purchases, U.S.A. HC Deb 14 December 1944

[@nickdanger3802]

@@AdamMGTF In 1945 21 billion USD of Britains Lend Lease debt was written off and the USA and Canada loaned Britain almost five billion USD for 50 years at 2 per cent with the first payment deferred to 1951. Those loans were paid off in 2006. Anglo American Loan of 1945 Under the Marshall Plan (ERP) Britain received 2.7 billion USD 1948-1952, West Germany 1.7 billion. BBC Wasting Marshall Aid Radar was patented in the USA in 1934. Post war Britain owed Commonwealth and neutral nations billions but had funds for aircraft no one wanted, the NHS and peanut farming. Apologies if this seems harsh or terse. That Time the British Tried to Save Its Empire with Peanuts kzbin.info/www/bejne/gKLTlIiDiKygb80