The Drydock - Episode 255

[@Drachinifel]

Pinned post for Q&A :)

[@bkjeong4302]

In regards to that Barham question: how would you design a ship that could actually stand up to this type of hit seeing as none of the WWII-gen battleships can actually survive that amount of damage?

[@michaelkovacic2608]

Can you recommend a good book about the German Mediterranean Division? I'd be really curious about how this squadron was created, a detailed description of what it did in the Mediterranean and where it was based/how it was supplied, and of course, its numerous actions during the war in the Black Sea. Also, with the benefit of hindsight, if you could add another modern German unit available in 1914 to the Mediterranean Division, which one would it be? If a Kaiser-class battleship had been operating alongside Goeben and Breslau in the Black Sea, how much could they have achieved? Could they have won the battle of Cape Sarych, and what would have been the consequences?

[@themanformerlyknownascomme777]

in Azur Lane, the player can construct a flotilla of up to three "Vanguards" (anything from a Destroyer to Heavy cruiser/super cruiser) and up to three "backline" (almost exclusively just battleships or aircraft carriers) were such formations ever a standard practice? what would be a more accurate ratio of capital ships to escorts?

[@metaknight115]

At 7:50, the battle off Samar, why did USS Johnston record being hit by three 14-inch shells from the battle cruiser Kongo at 12,000 yards, when Kongo was much farther than anticipated and blinded by a rain squall, unable to fire her guns, while battleship Yamato conveniently hit a US “cruiser” at 20,300 yards numerous times.

[@spark5558]

If heat shaped warheads were ever developed for Naval Artillery in the Battleship age how would Battleship Armor have evolved?

[@SSSeTEDS]

Shinano, Yamato carrier conversion with a lot of its armor, took the better part of 8 hours to sink after having 4 submarine torpedoes completely slip through its anti-torpedo defense in 3 compartments. It was lost mostly because of typical Japanese damage control. I think many later battleships would have have survived such a tripple hit.

[@mojorasin653]

Drach, I would love to see something on the USS Forest Sherman DD 931. It was the last of the all gun steam turbine destroyers built by the US in the 1950's. I know it's a little beyond the era that you usually cover but they embodied all of the lessons from WWII and I think it would be in the spirit of your work.

[@grahamstrouse1165]

Forest Sherman, I think, was fielded close enough to the Drach’s 1950ish cut-off date to remain viable for channel consideration.

[@kemarisite]

13:31 note that the US Mark 13 is a fairly fat torpedo at 22.4", allowing it, by the end of the war, to have a warhead about as large as the German G7a, both just over 600 pounds.

[@stevevalley7835]

The British 18" torp was developed though the war too. The Mk XII had a 388lb warhead, but the MkXV, in service in 43, had a 575lb warhead, and the MkXVII. in service in 45, had a 600lb warhead. In the back of my mind is the thought the US Mk13 had it's short, fat, dimensions due to the TBD's eccentric way of carrying it's torp.

[@chpet1655]

God I hate the endless mark 13 torpedo talk 😂

[@bluemarlin8138]

@@stevevalley7835On top of the larger warhead, the USN and RN also switched to using Torpex during the war, which increased the explosive power by about 50%.

[@justin3415]

I think upscaleing and Enhanced footage is great,but I also belive we can persevere old photos and footage with out changing or enhancing it. its nice to have that old feel that grit,sometimes the Enhanced stuff takes away that feel of being transported to the past and watching something that is old.I like both processes and belive they can coexist.

[@KronoGarrett]

Plus you potentially risk generating details that weren't there, and that's a...problem.

[@harrykoppers209]

Re: landing craft - an excellent novel about the USS Belinda, an attack transport. It discusses how Higgins boats were carried. Book was 1954, and was made into a movie in 1956. Both are worth your time.

[@carsonagenic6285]

"Away all Boats' was the title

[@fredhannum4015]

I worked at the same shipyard my Grandmother worked in WWII (Todd Shipyards in San Pedro CA) during that time my Uncle Bill Evans was welding supervisor on the drydock, some interesting things happened in the drydock; they were scrapping an old "Liberty Ship that had been built at our yard during WWII, when cutting open an odd offset in the corner of a compartment they discovered a skeleton in a welding suit behind the steel, and during that time, when "The Love Boat" would come in for maintenance, we would replace all the waste lines (sewers) because of how much food people would eat, it was quicker than trying to clean them out !

[@hazchemel]

The Ottoman navy explication really enjoyable thanks and, perhaps due to the slide-rule rule, though describing the broader socio/economic, political herbs and spices of the Mediterranean High Renaissance, your word thrift serves very well.

[@onenote6619]

It should also be pointed out that both HS239 and Fritz X were radio guided - and at this point in the war, Germany was on the back foot radio wise. Once they were discovered, both types were subject to heavy jamming. Alfred Price discusses this in the book Instruments of Darkness. Interestingly, the only self-guided naval weapon with reasonably accurate (non-human) guidance in WW2 would have been the American Project Pigeon, which never took off.

[@allenparmet1016]

After August 1943, the Allies realized that the Fritz X was the guided weapon that Heddy Lamar had warned them about years earlier and initiated jamming/electronic countermeasures, primarily the UK with the Type 650 transmitter. But crews on ships used anything available to make radio "noise" including electric shavers with reports of success (or at least the Germans missed). The US guided bombs were the USAAF's Azon (AZimuth ONly) radio-guided and the USN's Bat (Mk 57) which were radar guided and both were fairly successful.

[@MayaMediated]

Upscaling: DaVinci Resolve 18.5 will ship around the end of July 2023, and it does upscaling. It's the editor I use anyway. Resolve is in late beta now, so you can even download that and do upscaling today - if you've got the time. You do so much! The full version of the software is $300.

[@RonJohn63]

58:43 Would any of the compartment doors have been closed during peace time?

[@redactedredacted4080]

27:40 this is intriguing

[@darwindemartelaere3195]

A good reference for transporting land craft, watch the movie Away All Boats.

[@stevewyckoff6904]

Great topic for a future Wednesday Special.

[@lycossurfer8851]

@57:52 Well one difference would be you couldn't have that cool scene with Leonardo & Kate on the bow of the ship....... I hope..

[@Aelvir114]

57:25 Yeah, right off the bat there, whoever claimed the short-sighted engineering part most likely either isn’t a historian or claims to be one without doing any research on the Olympic-class. While there was a flaw in the watertight bulkheads design, the flaw was something no one at the time could’ve ever foreseen happening, and even then the chances of that flaw being exploited was an extremely rare chance in hindsight. The flaw in the original bulkhead design came as even more of a shock with Titanic’s sinking when Olympic survived the collision with HMS Hawke. Saying the design of the Olympic-Claas was short-sighted engineering when it was better built and had superior engineering to Lusitania and Mauretania is like saying Hood was terribly designed because Bismarck sunk her with a chance hit or that Vanguard was a short-sighted design because she, an early-1940s design, served in the postwar environment or that the Lord Nelsons are a short-sighted design because she entered service in the age of dreadnoughts. It’s nonsensical. Furthermore, the Olympic-class their design was sound and the only critical design flaw was the bulkheads didn’t extend to deck level. Just a huge case of overexaggeration.

[@dougjb7848]

“The watertight bulkheads didn’t extend to deck level” is a pretty big damn flaw in something that is supposed to keep flooding confined to the compartment(s) open to the sea. It’s like saying “Ark Royal did not have a major design flaw because nobody expected flooding could reach the boiler room fan flat.”

[@bisteveski]

Were you able to keep the original intro music?

[@edwinsalau150]

You never cease to amaze with your depths of knowledge! Thank you

[@nathand.9969]

You are correct on flame throwers in the U.S., mostly. They are not federally regulated because they are considered farm equipment, and are this legal in at least 48 states.

[@michaelhitchcock9255]

Re: Flamethrowers in the U.S. Federally, flamethrowers are considered to be an agricultural tool and not a weapon. As far as I can find, only California and Maryland have tight regulations on them. They are readily available through most home stores, garden suppliers and farm stores. You can order them online from the world's favorite online retailer and there is even a drone equipped with a flamethrower available thru that online retailer. So, on your next visit, try your experiment.

[@Dave_Sisson]

Coming from Australia where guns are almost completely banned (although I spent some time in the infantry, so I know how they work), that absolutely terrifies me. I can't believe you can just walk into a shop and walk out with a flamethrower! As the saying goes, "only in America".

[@michaelhitchcock9255]

@@Dave_Sisson Mostly, agricultural flamethrowers are like blow torches, they don't spew out jelled fuel. Look them up on that famous online site. The drone surprised and shocked me. I can't believe that thing is legal anywhere.

[@StuartLegomanLittle]

Could you do a video on the naval involvement during the Normandy landing

[@chpet1655]

The question regarding the German “guided bombs” also needs to address that these were technologies far ahead of anything anyone else had at the time not to say that the Allies couldn’t have made such weapons they just didn’t because they were winning without them and were already spending enormous amounts on the Manhattan Project.

[@MARGATEorcMAULER]

Colorized Drydock intros? Blasphemy!

[@jame3shook]

@46:35 about strange weapons... I have heard in the early 1800s, an American merchant fired fresh French cheese and hardtack out of their cannons, as they did not have cannonballs available (ie in the hold), at a British man-o-war. The Americans were accused of violations of articles of war because the hardtack was actually doing grotesque wounds... Of course, I do not know of any documentation per se, but its a nice story if not true.

[@grahamstrouse1165]

Frits X was also notably limited by the range limitations of contemporary RC/guided weapon technology & the rather elaborate set up required to make TV-guided weaponry viable. The American use of RC B-17s laden with explosives as crude guided missiles never panned out for similar reasons & ultimately resulted in the loss of JFK & RFK’s older brother Joe.

[@martinhill486]

In the United States, flamethrowers are broadly legal for personal ownership and use. California requires a permit for the possession of a flamethrower, and only Maryland has outright banned their ownership and use. No federal laws exist regarding flamethrowers, as they are not defined as weapons under the National Firearms Act. The United States is a signatory of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, protocol III of which limits military use of flamethrowers; this does not extend to civilian use.

[@Thumpalumpacus]

Why not shorten the fuse on the Fritz x? Set it to instantaneous or microseconds?

[@JessWLStuart]

"... Son of R-Class." - Drachinifel, 2023

[@nowthenzen]

31:46 Bombarda sounds a lot like how a Chinese Fire Lance may have worked.

[@thevictoryoverhimself7298]

9:43 (insert image of Hans Rudel with glowing red eyes meme here)

[@ians.1746]

Maybe Ordnance Lab would be willing to help you! They do call kinda of explosive stuff and much more. Of course they are out of the US.

[@keithmoore5306]

hey Drach in the US a flamethrower is legally NOT a weapon at least as to federal law! they're perfectly legal to own! you might want to talk to the model makes Richard Windley/Liindley who did the ancient discovery's series he seems to have experience with ancient flame weapons and is in the UK!

[@timmeinschein9007]

@ 0:46:32 You forgot Dogging Wrenches! (fair sized hunk of metal)

[@stephenrichards339]

The son of the R class subs, surely could be affective in the med,

[@BountyFlamor]

Thanks for answering my question :)

[@hw97karbine]

Footage of the "toilet airstrike": kzbin.info/www/bejne/rJKZqIp5bcdkm80

[@jeffhawley2441]

Damage control crews also in regards to the last question

[@Knot_Sean]

Do know anything about the Soviet 57mm Quad mount for destroyers?

[@Alex-cw3rz]

In the alternative history of the R-Class I like to imagine there official class name was The Son of R-Class.

[@bryansmith1920]

I moved to Peterborough Camb's to find the A15 junction on the A1 in those day's possessed the name Normans Cross name, It turns out we had a large Napoleonic War POW camp outside our City, One of the reasons given for the camp being here is its distance from the coast but if a seagull were to fart at Lowestoft, Me thinks one may notice, But I digress, Time Team had a look and in 3 days 😂😂😂

[@AtomicBabel]

Improvised projectiles: Do seem to remember a few cans of made in USA tomatoes being returned to the USN by the IJN off of Samar😂

[@ARose-ik2mi]

I have seen quite a few of your videos covering American, Japanese, and German submarine operations, but very little in depth content regarding British, Italian, French, and Soviet submarines. Is there any particular reason as to why this is?

[@tombuchanan379]

Good call on leaving the intros alone.

[@paulpeterson4216]

In the picture of the battle of Lepanto, bottom right corner, we see that it was the Ottoman Turks who originated the square barcode.

[@zddxddyddw]

Your should make a video on Argentina's ARA Rivadavia and Mariano Moreno, from the dreadnought race.

[@magnemoe1]

30:00 Yes Greek fire worked very well before gunfire as the only other ship killing tools was ramming and boarding.Then you get guns they outrage it.

[@egoalter1276]

Naval torsion artillery actually outranged early cannon. There just wasnt enough of it, because the engines were too large.

[@keithrosenberg5486]

Maybe differences in gunpowder recipes could have made the bombardier viable.

[@leftcoaster67]

What's wrong with black & white? :(

[@WALTERBROADDUS]

Nothing.... it's a generational thing. Tech Geeks get hung up on video pixels.

[@TheWareek]

in relation to the ottoman navy. How badly were the slave rowers treated on the galleys. It would seem obvious that you wouldn't want them in bad condition in order to move your ships around in battle.

[@Jaysqualityparts]

My uncle recently passed away and they found tons of Korean War footage on VHS tapes he had made and my aunt tossed it all out.

[@sadwingsraging3044]

😭

[@bskorupk]

Better go Dumpster-Diving then! Good Luck! :)

[@timwilliamanderson]

39:30 just go for PA luty

[@philiphumphrey1548]

On Lepanto, it must have been not just a terrible psychological blow for the Ottomans, but a revelation that Christendom or Europe had drawn technologically ahead with better guns and better ships. They had long taken for granted that Europe was backward, there was nothing much to learn from it and it would eventually fall to Islam. That was suddenly all in doubt.

[@BountyFlamor]

The Ottomans got their cannons and engineers from Christian Europe for the siege of Constantinople. Not sure the Ottomans had such a condescending attitude overall.

[@captainreed4593]

As to unusual projectiles, have been told by aircrew in Europe that bombers would often drop cardboard boxes with the "droppings" of the crew during the flight. More a morale boosting thing, but still. From 10k feet plus... Since those aircraft sometimes targeted shipping and harbors, may technically part of your answer.

[@nla27]

Bombarda sounds like a roman candle. Something everyone is aware that it will explode if it ever got wet.

[@backinblack03]

Isn't it HS293 ?

[@MaximMachineGun]

Man, Drach has to go rubbing it in that I live in one of the two stupid states to outlaw flamethrowers! It sucks! Otherwise, I would have one for him to try!

[@mikeynth7919]

USS Borie for the "throw whatever you got" championship round!

[@adamcarriere4465]

Son of R-Class sounds like movie title.

[@stevewindisch7400]

Regarding landing craft in WW2, by far the most common was the LCVP... better known as the "Higgins Boat" of which 23,000 were built. Its predecessor was the LCP(L), which did not have the bow ramp. But Drach is correct in that they were carried to the assault on the decks of ships.

[@stevewindisch7400]

My great uncle was a bosun mate on LCVP's, seeing combat in several invasions in the Pacific including Saipan... where he witnessed the horror of Japanese civilians jumping or being pushed by their own soldiers from coastal cliffs. He also told me that several times he was forced to pull a .45 pistol and threaten to shoot scared boys unwilling to exit at the beach... sometime he would then see them killed a few seconds later. He came to that duty as punishment; before he worked in a boiler room of a transport until he got in a fight with a petty officer. He suffered for the rest of his life in many ways... in an age when PTSD was not a thing. My Grandmother told me, that for six months after returning to Ohio, he would wave his arm and hand in front of his face as if swatting away insects every few seconds.

[@Rico_______]

I'm going to have to strongly disagree with your answer for the first question about "Why did the Ottoman navy stop winning battles after Lepanto?" Your explanation was correct on why the Ottomans lost naval battles in the 30 or so years after Lepanto, but does not explain why they lost battles in the 300 years following. The answer is simply that the Ottoman Empire stagnated while European states greatly advanced in terms of technology, economic growth, tax revenue, and meritocratic promotion.

[@Andy_Ross1962]

Don't forget they had alcohol that could have been added, it burns very well.

[@riverraven7359]

Burns too fast. Pig fat would work as a thickener but olives are more practical in the Mediterranean region.

[@Andy_Ross1962]

@@riverraven7359 But alcohol would get the burn going quickly and generate the heat needed to get fat or oils burning

[@riverraven7359]

@@Andy_Ross1962 it just seems unnecessary if the main component is raw petroleum, with sulphur and some kind of thickening agent you have the main materials. If you want to exploit the psychological warfare aspect copper powder or some other mineral to colour the flame could be a consideration. Look up kawah ijen blue lava.

[@Andy_Ross1962]

@@riverraven7359ITT an alternative to raw petroleum which seems quite speculative

[@riverraven7359]

I could see some potential for trolling with a successor to the R class in harassing ore shipments from Norway and Sweden. Get an arctic convoy to drop an R over the side off Norway, torpedo a bunch of cargo ships and run for Skapa Flow, possibly with a refuelling ship lingering under air cover for a top up. Likewise in Guadalcanal the Japanese resupply effort would have major trouble if ASDIC subs were north of Savo island.

[@donaldrobertson117]

Can you please expand on submarine warfare? Thinking the technical challenges. Interplay between the crews and firing solutions. Thank you Drach.

[@calvingreene90]

Celebrating last time someone entered the House of Parliament with honest intentions.

[@notshapedforsportivetricks2912]

It isn't the 5th of November already, is it?

[@bigsarge2085]

✌

[@leftcoaster67]

As you pointed out in another video. UK warships at the time might get near the same top speed. But they don't go full out when cruising. The Orion class had top speed of 21 knots, but it's cruising speed was 10 knots. They were almost 2/3'rds the length, and 1/2 the displacement. So if it was a Battleship, it's doubtful it would hit. Blonde Class cruisers. (Yes that was a real class) was 1/2 the size of the Titanic, only 3, 350 tons displacement. Had a top speed of 24.5 knots, but had the same 10 knot cruising speed. Pretty sure any Warship would have avoided the iceberg completely.

[@mikeynth7919]

And the factor that there are no women and children or other passengers aboard the warship (unless a few government types, etc.) which means it is all crew dealing with the damage and no other distractions to keep a few hundred men from doing damage control right off the get-go.

[@backinblack03]

A flamethrower is a prohibited weapon in the UK, meanwhile; in America

[@napalmholocaust9093]

I'd like to see what a.i. can do with a blurry photo I took years ago of an albino stag coming out of a cemetery.

[@rogersmith7396]

Oh well, come to the US. We have flame throwers in grade schools. Easy peasy.

[@janwitts2688]

100th like.. comment for the algorithm

[@napalmholocaust9093]

America requires that you make a flamethrower here.

[@captainreed4593]

You are mistaken as to landing craft and long distance travel. In the pacific smaller landing craft most definitely made long journeys in groups of LCMs etc, without being on a landing ship.

[@keithrosenberg5486]

Nuts bolts and nails could be shot from cannon.

[@mikeynth7919]

Required aboard HMS Blunderbuss.

[@salty4496]

:)

[@Andy_Ross1962]

Please don't use any colourised footage No matter how well it's done it's always terrible.

[@WALTERBROADDUS]

It's a techno-geek desire. THEY can't stand living in a World that's not high-definition and in stereo or something? They can't believe we used to live in a universe where you had to go to a drugstore to develop a picture. Or that you had to turn a knob on a television.

[@teddyboragina6437]

a flamethrower licence is so british

[@GregDaniels-e7b]

Anyone who needs to see a colorized version of your intro needs to invest in an imagination upgrade.

[@merlinwizard1000]

4th, 16 July 2023

[@chloehennessey6813]

Hi Drach! Please come play WoWs:Blitz and Legends with me! I have just about every premium ship. If I could gift ships in Blitz my fleet would be ballin.

[@Archie2c]

I got legends on Xbox and play it listening to Drachinifel.

[@drewhardin3992]

The use of AI is not really an interesting topic in the details. If you enjoy a lot of mathematics it can be pretty interesting, but comparing models and techniques is a rather dry topic most days.

[@anatolib.suvarov6621]

Algorithm Engagement Comment.

[@Joe-Dead]

greek fire...build a small version and call it a table lighter, that's not a flamethrower just a novelty lighter ^_^

[@devobronc]

We need a no more Titanic Questions rule. So many of us are just SO sick and tired of the Titanic, and we don't want to hear anything more about it. Leave the mess to James Cameron and the dreamers, not the Historians and Analysts.