The Secret Fuze That Helped Overcome Japanese Air Power

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Dogfights tend to overshadow our conception of aerial warfare yet AA guns also play a big role. Lets look at a secret fuze the US Navy used to prevail versus Japanese air power.
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⚜ Sources ⚜
Norman Friedman, Naval Anti-Aircraft Guns and Gunnery, Naval Institute Press
Benjamin S. Walker, The Navy and the Applied Physics Laboratory, Naval Institute Press
Ed Jennings, Crosley's Secret War Effort - The Proximity Fuze
Edward A. Sharpe, The Radio Proximity Fuze - A survey
VT Fuzes For Projectiles and Spin-Stabilized Rockets, OP 1480, 1946
NARA
⚜ DISCLAIMER ⚜
This is a sponsored video. Wargaming paid for my transport, accommodation and organized a tour of the Dutch Navy Museum & Friesland.
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[@Fronzel41]

That disclaimer about 100-year-old AA guns not being available for purchcase to avoid youtube's firearm censorship policies made me chuckle.

[@neilwilson5785]

The UK is so dangerous now. The alt-right/ISIS are towing 40mm flak guns, with their crews and ammo, to Chelmsford for the country fair massacre. Keep calm and carry on!

[@ajohnymous5699]

We need sensible antimaterial gun control. Nearly everyday in the US, some kid pulls out a Bofors forty and guns down his fellow students Fockwulfs and it wont stop until we ban Assault Anti Air Guns.

[@CaptainCiph3r]

MFW they are legal to buy in the US most likely.

[@wntu4]

@@CaptainCiph3r There are some large caliber weapons out there. Nothing worth worrying about as they are expensive as hell and in the hands of collectors that can afford to own and operate them, if they do operate them.

[@wntu4]

@Fronzel41 It should have made you sad. You Tube, Google, Twitter, FB, etc are the fascists they try to make others out to be.

[@TheGearhead222]

The pencil size vacuum tubes used in these proximity fuses were SO successful that they were made by Raytheon up to the early 1980's! Imagine the technology needed to make a tube that withstands 100's of G's! More amazingly, you can still buy these tubes and they are great for projects, as their operating voltages are quite low:)-John in Texas

[@deltavee2]

Thanks John. Tidbits like this make my day up here in Canada. Cheers.

[@88porpoise]

deltavee2 You might be interested to learn that it was at the University of Toronto that a lot of work designing the electronics that could survive being fired out of a cannon. The VT fuse really was an international effort.

[@andrewallen9993]

@@88porpoise True, British and Commonwealth design genius and engineering with brilliant US production engineering mass producing them at a reasonable price.

[@utah133]

I have a few of those tubes. I made a basic short wave AM receiver with them. Fun but impractical.

[@WilliamRWarrenJr]

When a defector flew a MiG21 to Japan, (damn ...1970's) and delivered it into Allied paws, there was great superiority amusement in the West that the aircraft was using vacuum tube technology rather than transistors. (You know what a "transistor" is, right? It's a girl who used to be your brother. I digress...) When we started understanding their systems, we realized with a chill that our transistorized electronics would be fried by an electromagnetic pulse but the heavy-duty Russian vacuum-tube equipment would bully straight through. Don't be too keen to move ever forward at the expense of lessons learned.

[@benjaminroberson1967]

When you started talking about VT shells I thought it sounded familiar... then you said it was used in the Battle of the Bulge. My Great Grandpa Whiteley was in charge of a 155mm howitzer battery. He said he got these vt shells and given very strict instructions on when they could be used (he also knew they were top secret). Then an officer he didn't know came around and began asking questions about the vt shells. My great grandpa held him at gunpoint until his identity was verified, as there were rumors of Germans dressing as Americans. And no one was supposed to know about the shells.

[@Mgl1206]

Benjamin Roberson holy **** ur grandpa is a badass lol 👍

[@WilliamJones-Halibut-vq1fs]

The Germans actually recovered some unexplored proximity fuze shells and captured others, non other then Skorenzy, during the battle of the bulge. The frontline soldiers new they were some kind of proximity fuse and thought they might respond to magnetic fields. The shells were taken away for analysis.

[@brothberg]

These were more than rumors. The Germans had a force of a couple hundred men who wore US uniforms and spoke english reasonably well. They killed many GIs and spread widespread fear. US soldiers began asking others they met things like who won the last World Series to weed them out. All of them were eventually caught and shot.

[@anthonykaiser974]

VT FUZES. The shells were still the standard HE variety.

[@johnpombrio]

@@brothberg That was such a fiasco. They did very little damage and were quickly caught and shot. Don't believe the hype that it was anything more than a stunt. It did cause a lot of consternation and confusion tho in the allied lines so I guess that counts for something.

[@joshuacollins5860]

"Variable time" refers back to a field artillery term, where the time delay fuze determines how far the shell flies before it explodes. Ideally, it should be timed to explode around 20-30 ft in the air just forward and above the intended target, so that the shell fragment spray (in a conical arc from both the explosion and shell's initial momentum at the time of the explosion) covers the area in an airburst. Getting this millisecond delay right or wrong had a telling effect, resulting in typically of three outcomes, a short airburst, a correct airburst, or miss/mine action where the shell explodes past (or in the dirt for field artillery) ineffectually. The VT fuze used radar sensing to make this incredibly sensitive timing issue just disappear since the shell would sense the ideal distance and explode automatically for the most effective shell spray.

[@Easy-Eight]

Meh... I worked gunnery on Cannons. If the pieces are registered, have proper MVVs, you have MET, good powder temps, and your target is accurately located then timed shells should not be a problem. BTW, VT shell have an MQE issue that's not highly advertised. Also, I've been around VT when the fuzes are defective. That's not an issue with mechanical.

[@wolfpack4128]

@@Easy-Eight that is a lot of variables when the front is moving hundreds of miles a day, your artillery spotters are in unfamiliar territory with no GPS, and your country's production of war materials is pretty much single handedly supplying all the western allies. Today's artillery I have no doubt could put a mechanically timed shell in an open mailbox during most engagements. But in WW2 magnetron based shells introduced after the battle of the bulge (for land based artillery) made it so the Germans would disregard orders to advance across open areas.

[@Easy-Eight]

@@wolfpack4128 ,You missed the "MQE" comment. I've fired defective VT rounds and they can blow up if they leave the tube hot and get a radar return off a tree. Next thing you know the battery is getting a good shot of its own shrapnel. I suspected this happened in WWII and they just lived with the problem.

[@Infinite_Jester]

@@Easy-Eight Could you spell out what all the abbreviations mean? I've spent years with mortars, but the comment comes out as complete gibberish because the English shortenings are lost on me (and I assume most people with no military experience).

[@hjp14]

@@Infinite_Jester MVV= muzzle velocity variation (this helps you adjust to the specificities of individual lots of powder and shells), MET is your meteorological information (air temp, humidity, air pressure, etc.), and MQE=minimum quadrant elevation, or the smallest angle to which the barrel can lowered and still safely fire rounds (min QE is different for VT than other fuses). If you want to know more, the 6-40 is the artilleryman's bible

[@WilliamJones-Halibut-vq1fs]

The Germans actually developed, and test fired a proximity fuse for the 88 in 1942 and were setting up production in 1944 before factory got over run. The fuse was developed by Rheinemental Borsig and called Kuhglockchen (Cow Bellet). there was a larger less shock hardened version for missiles called Kuhglocke (Cow Bell). The Fuse worked of detecting the powerful electrostatic field distortion around the shell and aircraft itself that came out of moving through the air. (not to be scoffed at as the US wanted to use these for its star wars anti ballistic missile program.) The German fuse worked around a type of vacuum tube (valve) called a “cold gas thyratron” or “glimmerrelais” in German. This is a very sensitive tube filled with about 50% atmosphere of pressure argon gas. Inside were three electrodes: 1 an anode, 2 a striking anode and 3 a cathode. In some tubes a small amount of radioactive material was applied to speed up the ionisation of the argon. If a voltage was supplied between the anode and cathode no current would pass, but if the striking anode had a voltage applied it would start the process of conduction. It was essentially a super precise, super sensitive super fast switch. The fuse worked like this: The shell was not powered by a battery but a capacitor that was pre-charged before loading. The 88mm shell had a 40mm (approx.) whisker aerial on the nose. As the shell rotated at about 30000rpm (500 Hertz) the aerial picked up and electrostatic field gradients. These went through an RC filter and were rectified by a copper oxide or selenium diode and presented to the striking anode. When the aircraft and shell got close enough the electrostatic field would be unbalanced and create an ac voltage that would trigger the cold cathode tube which would discharge through a fuse link that would detonate a primer and set of the shell. Note that the Germans used cold cathode tubes to create electronic arming of their bombs and variable electronic time delays for bombs. They were thus already shock hardened by 1934, well before the war. The Germans were the only WW2 nation that could transport bombs with their fuses installed so reliable was this arming feature. Germans bombers that crashed on take-off were safe. They could arm/disarm in flight. The cold gas tube thyratron was thus very solid. In fact the British recovered them from Germans bombs and thought this proved that their own proximity fuse ideas from 1933 might be possible since the tubed survived bomb drop. The British physicist Cockroft was put in charge of the program but as he had to develop the atomic bomb the details were passed to the Americans. British actually detonated their shells by remote control by radar double pulse hoping to detonate the shell when the radar return from a corner reflector in the base of the shell merged with the target remotely but abandoned as US fuse was nearly ready. The British did test shells fired successfully in 1942 but put their radar experts to other uses. The Germans test fired shells in 1942/43 that triggered at 1, 2 and finally 5m. The program was restarted and production was scheduled. Reliability was very good, around 95%, not unsurprising considering the simplicity. The shell had a backup nose contact fuse, little more than a switch, so if the proximity aspect didn’t work the shell would still detonate. There was also a program for using these devices to create electronically programmed timers for the shells. They carefully aged the components, graded in batches, assembled the batches and did a final adjustment. The electrostatic and electronic timers equipped shells would have worked together.

[@ta22stcoupe]

That is some very interesting extra information. Could you list some sources?

[@fanofboard3333]

Could you provide some sources for follow up reading, please?

[@Romanov117]

Actually, the German version of this Proximity Fuze sounds... very unreliable and costs a lot for such materials. Nazi Germany is therefore, incapable to go up against very well mobilized armed military and that will cost a lot of Materials, even materials that is needed for the Proximity Fuze. However, German Fuzed Warheads were timed fused. I heard during at the Battle of the Bulge, the German Infantry tried to storm the American defenders position near Bastogne but it never came, one American officer came up to the no-man's land and he was surprised that the German Infantry who tried to storm in were dead. The Americans started to use Proximity Fuzes on Land by Artillery during that Battle. The Allied Version of Proximity Fuze is better and reliable due to radar and it's range of sensitivity, the closer the bomb gets near the target the more deadlier the shrapnel spread is to their enemies.

[@Barabel22]

Simple my ass. That’s insanely complicated for a proximity fuse. How typically German...

[@cptant7610]

The Germans never tested proximity fuzes for shells. Those fuses were way too delicate for that, they could only be used on large calibre rockets and bombs. The true genius of the Allied proximity fuse was that they were able to make it so small and robust that they could handle the insane G forces of being shot out of a cannon. "In Germany, more than 30 approaches to proximity fuze development were under way, but none saw service.[4] These included acoustic fuzes triggered by engine sound, one based on electrostatic fields developed by Rheinmetall Borsig AG, and radio fuzes. A German neon lamp tube and a design of a prototype proximity fuze based on capacitive effects was received by British Intelligence in mid November 1939. By the end of the war, only one was actually in production, a complicated radio proximity fuze for rockets and bombs (but not designed to withstand the acceleration of artillery shells). "

[@MilitaryHistoryVisualized]

"Brown Alert" the spin-off of the Command & Conquer series I never played...

[@alexanderross8462]

XD good one. I get the joke.

[@antivalidisme5669]

Sounds like an anti-heroin GDI/ Drugs dealing Brotherhood struggle spin-off 'cause yeah unfortunately I'm old enough for having played the game in the mid nineties... But anyway nice one sir!

[@Licardss]

No joke, i thought "Brown Alert" was a code for aviation warnings or something.

[@stevenbarbara1]

I just was on the phone with Marty Martinek, a WWII sailor who served on a number of ships including yhe carrier Wasp-CV-18, and the battleship Wisconsin...he was a gunner on 20 mm AA on the Wasp...was in the famous typhoon...93 years old and still buying lottery tickets at Walter Reed!

[@ArcturusOTE]

Brown Alert is whenever I eat a Taco Bell aboard a Typhoon class or when a U-boat commander pulls the wrong lever

[@AudieHolland]

"Forgotten Weapons" did a special about the 20mm AA gun. "Four Fun Facts about the Oerlikon 20mm Antiaircraft Cannon!" It was up for auction in May 2017. Each drum magazine had two 'dummy rounds' on top, making sure no gunners would accidentally kill themselves when firing a new drum when the caps were still on the barrel or if ice had completely sealed them. Because in a war emergency, who knew they really checked before firing? Sensible thinking.

[@joeynelson4216]

He did a great video about the Bofors, as well, thoroughly enjoyed both

[@dimasakbar7668]

Sure its dummy? I thought dummy round can't be fired, like those for dry firing practice. Do you mean blanks to push the cap off

[@suspectsn0thing]

@@dimasakbar7668 In this video at some point MAH mentions the first two rounds in the magazines being standard ball, I'm guessing because it would blast right through barrel obstructions whereas contact HE could explode.

[@legoeasycompany]

All the Navies of the nations should have invested in premium DFAA consumables and invested their captain skill points wisely to deal with Aircraft

[@MakeMeThinkAgain]

You mention the use of the VT fuse during the Battle of the Bulge, this was significant because it meant that artillery shells would AUTOMATICALLY detonate in the air just before contact with the target -- what the people being shelled least want to see. They Allies had not used the VT fuse for this purpose until this crisis because they were afraid the Germans would recover duds and make their own version.

[@WilliamJones-Halibut-vq1fs]

German SS special forces under Otto Skorezeny did recover the allied fuse from duds and an over run ammo dump. The troops though it was activated by magnetic field or something like that. The fuses must have gone for investigation by German technical specialists somewhere. There are tantalising accounts of a German influence fuse supplied in test batches to Germans troops, it detonated about 1m above ground, quite a different distance to the allied one, leaving the ground pock marked.

[@GaryCameron]

The Germans actually captured some during the battle, but had no idea of their purpose or significance. Eisenhower had ordered VT fuses to only be used on his express permission, but one artillery colonel decided to ignore the standing orders to help out a unit coming under heavy German attack. The attackers were driven off with heavy casualties. The Soviets got hold of them through the same agents that leaked the atomic bomb secrets.

[@arbiters487]

I feel like the issue of the fuses falling into the other side's hands wouldn't be a fear of them being mass produced, it may have been a fear that they could have looked at those shells detonated by radio waves, and decided to mount a really powerful radio on their planes

[@GaryCameron]

@@arbiters487 The technology behind them would have been simple to countermeasure if you know how they worked. Aircraft could transmit a low power signal to jam or pre-detonate the shells before they got close. In at least one allied landing operation, Americans transmitted random signals at different wavelengths to try and mask the monotone signal being sent by these shells.

[@jnmrn4069]

I wonder who the lucky soldiers were who had to recover the “duds”? 😁

[@keithweiss7899]

A very good video on the VT fuse. My mother was a final inspector of VT fuses during WWII. She worked for McQuay Norris corporation in St. Louis Missouri. She said they were so effective that they would use only one VT fuse for every fifth round fired so the enemy wouldn’t realize we had such a weapon. The VT fuse project was one of the most top secret projects of the war, and because of that it remains fairly unknown to most people.

[@michaelinsc9724]

I thoroughly enjoy your videos. I've been watching for a few months now and your content is well researched, arranged, and delivered. You even deliver serious, informative content with a sense of humor! Keep up the great work!

[@MilitaryAviationHistory]

Thanks Michael, very much appreciated!

[@salavat294]

The best defensive systems should be designed as an “onion”, that is in layers. The carrier aircraft flying CAP missions provide the first echelon defensive ring. Nothing in war, as in life in general, is 100 percent effective, some lucky s.o.b. will always get through. For that individual, then, there should be successive rings of guns to provide a suitably warm reception. As the guns get smaller in caliber, the rate of fire increases, and as does the volume of fire. The objective is to whittle down the enemy attack, as it passes through each successive defensive ring.

[@niclasjohansson4333]

The 120 mm dubble turret in your background is also a Bofors, a post war autoloading gun with a rate of fire of 42 rpm per barrel.

[@WolfoftheAurora]

13:00 Just to add to the whole secrecy point, even though the US Navy had VT shells at their disposal, if they were going to engage enemy aircraft over land, they would go back to using the time-fuse shells to prevent the chance of a dud VT shell getting into Japanese hands. Source: Battleship Iowa Museum

[@wntu4]

Correct. And they were never introduced to the European theater at all, for the same reasons.

[@gamarus0kragh]

@@wntu4 As Bis stated, they were used in their AA role in the defense of London against the V-1's and in late war in their artillery application (from The Battle of the Bulge and forwards). The artillery use most certainly risked that the fuse would fall into German hands (even today we have duds littering modern firing ranges and if the failure rate of 30% was carried on from the testing, you would have duds from almost every fire-mission). But this was so late in the war that the risk was acceptable - Germany could not have managed to reverse engineer and produce fuses to use against the allies.

[@tedferkin]

Bugger me, that was a good video. Keep up the work.

[@lknanml]

How have I not found this channel already? Very well done with the hands on military history approach!

[@neilwilson5785]

Quality takes hard work and resources. This is quality content. Thank you!

[@1MahaDas]

Well done! A very concise and somewhat detailed report on the evolution of AA as it applied to the United States and the air war with the IJN (Imperial Japanese Navy).

[@romkedeboer7378]

For some reason I immediately recognised that building as Dutch

[@gooby8953]

Dutch superpowers

[@68walter]

Maybe because you live in one🤔

[@stephenjacks8196]

Does it have a Dutch oven and tulips?

[@jguenther3049]

I gather you've been in Dutch frequently.

[@alfonsomunoz4424]

I think the reason is because you recognized it.

[@pauligrossinoz]

I'm very impressed with two things: That the vacuum tube (thyratron) remained functional despite the g-forces of the shell being fired, plus meeting the requirement that the electronics never, ever accidentally detonated the shell while it was still in the muzzle. That's good design work by the electronic engineer, speaking as one myself. Remember that is was designed in the era _before_ today's much more reliable solid-state semiconductors were used.

[@pauligrossinoz]

@Phil Allison - thank you! That's great! Where on earth did you dig up that info???

[@eezy9872]

Excellent video many thanks. My only disappointment was lack of a mention of the Tizard Mission of Sept 1940, in which the UK gave the US its research to date on VT fuses, as well as the jet engine, research on the feasibility of an atomic bomb, designs for rockets, superchargers, gyroscopic gunsights, submarine detection devices, self-sealing fuel tanks, plastic explosives, and a much improved radar system. Perhaps one for another video?

[@whosiskid]

Book recommendation for anyone unfamiliar with it: PACIFIC WAR DIARY by James Fahey. It is an illegal diary kept by a member of a 40mm gun crew member on the USS Montpelier. Nimitz offered a blurb for the book when it was published after the war, so I guess they decided it was valuable despite being illegal. It is fascinating reading about the nuts and bolts of serving in the war. For instance, perhaps the bulk of his time as a sailor consisted of many of the sailors carrying crates of ammo onto the ship. And it is fun reading about his nightly attempt to find a place to sleep comfortably on deck. He usually slept on a case of 40mm shells. It really is a must read book for anyone interested in the Naval war in the Pacific. Nice video on a neglected subject. I'm from Arkansas and as an Arkansan I often focus on some of the ships named after the state or figures from the state (like Pappy Gunn and Jimmie Thach; NOT MacArthur, who despite being born in Little Rock told people he was born in another state, just one of a long line of nasty facts about Thach). The USS Arkansas started WW II off with almost no anti-aircraft guns, but at the end its deck had either a 20mm or 40mm gun on every available space. The Iowa battleships were valuable less for their ability to fight other navies than for the huge number of AA guns that they had. One thing I'm not clear on. What was the smallest size shell a VT Fuse could be put into? I'm thinking a 5 inch, but I could be wrong.

[@gamarus0kragh]

The post war Des Moines class of heavy cruisers had a suite of 3" AA guns in place of the 40mm Bofors to 1) use VT fuses, 2) carry a payload expected to disable a plane with a single hit and 3) to engage targets at longer range/higher altitude. The 40mm Bofors had a practical ceiling of 3.800m and a maximum range of not quite twice that, limiting its defensive "bubble". The corresponding ranges for the 3" was a 9.300m ceiling and a 13.400m range.

[@burroaks7]

the vt fuse is friggen crazy awesome for its time, like Bismark said contains a radio transmitter eceiver and amplifier all of this done before integrated circuits so that means miniature vacuum tubes miniature frequency tuner and a battery all contained in a shell getting shot out of a gun barrel the radio part doesnt turn on until its fired crazy also HNLMS Tonjin in the backround friggen badass three pressure hull designed submarine used into the 90's also you can still see the 40mm bofors in action today on the ac-130 gunship one more submarine related \aviation related thing you should do an episode on the gyro copters that were towed by u-boats for scouting Fa-330's

[@burroaks7]

also my grandfather was on a Cleveland class cruiser cl-58 uss Denver

[@WilliamJones-Halibut-vq1fs]

The shells needed about 5 vacuum tubes (valves if you're English) sometimes 6. The tubes were toughened of course. A property of mechanics is that if you make something 10 times smaller it will be 10 times more shock hardened. So if a tube could handle say 100G if you made one 10x smaller it would automatically handle 1000G. The tubes came out of hearing aid tubes and the electrodes were made planer rather than concentric cylinders. The printed circuits and tubes/valves were floated in oil this equalised the forces on the glass envelop. The circuit was very simple and actually was easy to jam.

[@kyle857]

Advanced US and British tech goes underappreciated.

[@bradyelich2745]

What about Canada? Dr. Arnold Pitt of University of Toronto invented the battery that worked inside the proximity fuse. Canada also created the GL Mark 3 C gun laying radar. Sir William Stephenson set the standard for spying.

[@gooby8953]

Nobody will stop talking about the L96 or the F35

[@kyle857]

@@gooby8953 I meant more in WW2.

[@kyle857]

@@bradyelich2745 I kinda count them as British when it comes to WW2 since they were a major commonwealth. They did have some great contributions though. Cheers from Michigan, America's Canada.

[@bradyelich2745]

@@kyle857 Thanks, Cheers. But, we do not want to be grouped with the British, as they ignore all the help they got. The British got the cavity magnetron safely to Canada out of prying eyes in September 1940 and Canada and the US got to work on all the radars, and fuses. Even though the US was not at war, they got free, very impressive technology.

[@JonathanNelson-nelsonj3]

Thank you for this video. I have been looking for information about how the VT fuzes worked for a while now. This was exactly what I was looking for.

[@SaviorCross]

Definitely signing up to support Bismark on Patreon.

[@franksmedley8619]

A very nicely done video. Nothing was said about right or wrong, who was best, who was 'evil', etc. Instead, we get a very well laid out history of the development of AA Guns and their fusing mechanisms. This video I would recommend to others that have an interest in Aircraft, Weaponry, or Ship's Guns, without a qualm and with a high assurance of having aided their quest for more data upon their preferred subject. Well done, I say. Well done.

[@davetimmer5149]

My dad worked on the controls for the drones. The fuses were not used on land or over/near land until the bulge. Desperate times demand desperate measures. It was hush-hush stuff until the 60's.

[@msimon6808]

Metal detectors were easy technology. Getting a design to withstand being shot from guns was way more difficult.

[@WilliamJones-Halibut-vq1fs]

"There is something about neutral countries and AA guns....." Its caused by Rheinmetall, Krupp and Mauser buying companies in Switzerland and Sweden to transfer development of FLAK guns developed in WW1 that would have been restricted by the treaty of Versailles. For instance the Oerlikon owes its basis to the 20mm Becker Canon developed in Germany passed into Switzerland, the FLAK 8.8 and even the Bofors 40mm via Sweden.

[@nottoday3817]

Wow, didn't know that. Thank you

[@onyxguardian1756]

I asumed it was switzerland's "hippety hoppity stay the fuck off my property" mentality, what with them shooting anything (allies or axis) that flew over their territory. I remember hearing about them shooting down allied bombers at some point.

[@longshot7590]

@@onyxguardian1756 Switzerland was actually heavily biased towards Nazi Germany due to strong local indoctrination. The "myth of neutrality" was pure political and diplomatic propaganda - Jewish prisoners were freely transported from Italy to Germany throughout the war and sent to death camps, German ME-109s were flown by the Swiss air force, lots of sympathies and support for Nazi Germany. In truth - the Swiss were there to make money and sell firearms to both sides and get lots of "bank".

[@ursodermatt8809]

@@longshot7590 yes it is a VERY LONG SHOT what you are babbling about

[@alexlucas9535]

"customize your ships" you mean spend 5mins sorting through each individual camo scheme to find the one with the highest commander/ xp/ freexp/ credits to use even though you hate how it looks because it has the bonus you need?

[@xcritic9671]

They also say you get to control an entire fleet even though you can only use one ship at a time, WarGaming has paid a lot of tubers to lie about their game for them.

[@xcritic9671]

When it comes to history it is enough to know what you're talking about, state things plainly, and acknowledge the grey areas in our information of certain matters.

[@Debbiebabe69]

WoWS is actually quite a decent game, and good on them for sponsoring youtube channels, but yea 'customise' is the wrong word here. What he should have said is 'upgrade', since each modifiable option (camo, gun, engine, radar) has a definite 'best' option and once you unlock that option there is no reason to use anything other than the 'best' option.

[@migkillerphantom]

He is almost certainly reading a script provided by wargaming word for word.

[@xcritic9671]

@@migkillerphantom Yep, its exactly the same lines from everyone I've heard it by, no legitimacy, no real opinions, just advertisement.

[@Pincer88]

Nice to see you at our national Naval Museum in Den Helder! Always good to have such good and well informed neighbours. As for AAA, my father was with the anti aircraft artillery in the Royal Netherlands Army in the 1960ies as a Fledermaus radar commander that directed 3 x Bofors 40L70 (with timefuzed munitions) that was supposed to be very effective against low flying fighter bombers (Jabos) of the Warsaw Pact, he told. Later on the RNL ARmy operated the 40L70 in tandem with the Hollandse Signaal Apparaten (now Thales NL, the same that produced the Goalkeeper CIWS) Flycatcher, which was deemed to be even more effective. But of course you guys beat us to it with the Gepard SPAAG/Flakpanzer or PRTL Cesar in Dutch livery. Very awesome piece of equipment, especially against nap of the earth flying Bo-105P/C's of the Heeresflieger (big grin). I hope you'll come to the Cold War tactics and equipment some time and spend some attention to those weapons. Anyway, thanks for another interesting video! Greetz from a Käsekopf/Pulpenbeisser.

[@jwenting]

hey, my dad served a while as a gunner on the Dutch army 40L70 in the 1960s. Small world.

[@Pincer88]

@@jwenting Nice! Small country, great army. 😁 I served in the 80ies as a M47 Dragon anti tank gunner with the armored infantry as a conscript later on. Had a great time during exercises in Germany (Sennelager, Bergen-Hohne, etc.) You too?

[@spikester]

I like, happy to see the algo is rewarding older high quality videos on this topic when newer ones get posted. I found this one very informative and includes more history leading up to the VT fuze. They say most of the AA crew didn't even know what they were firing beyond them being variable time fuses that automatically set themselves (which they were because they had variable time delay to avoid close proximity detonations), but the proximity radar itself was top secret.

[@numbersletters3886]

I’ve been to the Oerlikon museum in Switzerland over a weekend during a business trip, ~1hr drive north from Zurich. Amazing museum and people. Nice tank collection as well. If you ever get a chance go for it.

[@cgross82]

Good video! As a retired Field Artillery Officer, I can attest to the effectiveness of the VT fuse, with its standardized height of burst (HOB). An HE projectile that consistently detonates at an altitude of 7 meters is much more effective than one that detonates when it strikes the earth, and it does not need to be adjusted like a regular timed fuse.

[@DM-dn7rf]

Was on the M102 in Vietnam and we always set a time on a VT fuse. It might be because we were operating in a mountainous terrain. We didn't use them too often though.

[@cgross82]

@@DM-dn7rf Yes, that is standard gunnery. This prevents the fuse from detonating too soon if it encounters something during time of flight that might cause that. The nice thing about the VT fuse versus the regular time fuse is that one does not need to adjust height of burst (HOB). You can fire a first round battery or battalion FFE and be confident of the HOB.

[@ncktbs]

didnt mention the single most insane thing about the vt fuse it used 4 VACUUM TUBES not solid state and needed to survive acceleration force 20,000 times stronger than normal earth’s gravity and a centrifugal force set up by approximately 500 rotations per second. Once these specifications were met, it was necessary to shoe-horn all of this electronics along with batteries and detonator into a space approximately the size of a pint milk bottle. fucking nuts in 1942

[@TheGearhead222]

So correct! Again, Raytheon kept making these into the early 1980's because these tubes were so useful, even with the advent of transistors!-John in Texas

[@Calum_S]

"I'm talking about these guys here." At the time I was looking away from the screen and just heard a load of seagulls. Needless to say I was slightly confused about what Bismarck was referring to.

[@jonathanmarsh5955]

Great little documentary explaining both the scientific and tactical developments! Thank you!

[@stevendurham9996]

Good shows, Thank You. I've wondered, for some time, about the workings of the proximity fuse.

[@DennisBell-tz2sb]

When I was active duty my last unit had a Hawk battery so proximity fuse are a norm for me. You taking it back was a nice memory, thanks.

[@fulcrum2951]

"severe episode of brown alert"

[@thehiddenrelic8587]

"Nigel's going to have a very bad day"

[@OldDeadMan]

Someone needs to set Code Brown...

[@QuiteEasilyDoneSA]

"Significant Emotional Event"

[@tarasbulba3190]

My fathers PT boat had a 40mm bofors on the stern, a 20mm Oerlikon midship, 2 twin .50 brownings 1 starboard, 1 port, and 1 or 2 37mm on the bow. Additional ordnance could be bolted onto deck quickly, depending on the mission. Good firepower for a 78' boat!👊🇺🇸 Thanks for the great video!👍

[@khaccanhle1930]

"You aim for the slit." Yup, ain't that how it always works for so many things in life. 😂 Thanks for the schematic diagram for that shell. A little detail that people who are able to have an understanding can now use to understand much better. Little things like that make guys like you way better than those TV documentaries pitched to the average 6th grader.

[@jacobhill3302]

Indeed

[@pvtparts6879]

+1

[@markrowland1366]

I hear the Germans worked on four proximity fuses. The Japanese admiral who asked for kamikaze said 350 would wipe the USN off the sea. With vastly improved radar directing vastly more effective fighter protection followed up by proximity 5 inch AA and then enormous numbers of 20mm, the sum quickly changed. So many plans of the Japanese navy relied on what happened three months past. The Great Marinas Turkey Shoot cost some 400 piglets and planes. About 30 to 1.

[@dougdesrosiers4571]

Very good. Clear,informative and accurate. Well done. Thanks for the great work.

[@syncmonism]

Proximity fuses were a serious technological advantage, even if a large percentage of them didn't work properly. They were particularly powerful in artillery rounds, making artillery significantly more effective. Shells are a lot more lethal if they go off at a set height above the ground. They would create a larger blast radius and would have no trouble hitting infantry in trenches or who were hiding behind other cover.

[@marbleman52]

My late Father was on a U.S. Escort carrier and his general quarters position was as part of a crew that manned and fired some AA guns. He said the guns he helped fire were called "Pom-Pom" guns, I suppose because of the sound they made,or something like that. I think that he was referring to these Bofur's dual and triple and even quad guns. His carrier, the U.S. Lunga Point, fought off many Kamikaze attacks and even though a couple got through ( I would have to look it up to know how many ), the miraculous thing was that not one sailor on his carrier was killed from those attacks. I remember once when we were watching a documentary about the Pacific Campaign and it was showing footage of some of the Kamikaze attacks. He said that he recognized his carrier because of the way that a Kamikaze attacked from bow to stern and just barely missed, crashing into the sea just aft of the stern. To know that my Dad was actually on that carrier in that documentary was almost surreal to think about.

[@seantaylor2683]

The "Pom-Pom" was a British designed 40mm AA gun, the QF 2-pounder. Although it paled in comparison to the Bofors in effectiveness it did have an octuple mount which looks both awesome and hilarious

[@marbleman52]

@@seantaylor2683 Wow...thank you so much for that information, I never knew that. Now I have a better understanding of what my Dad did. As with most men who were in WWll, Dad never talked about his time on the Escort carrier. He had a couple of Journals; like a high school year book, about the Lunga Point that I saw only a couple of times, and that was about it. I did find out, however, that the journal is available here on the internet and I enjoyed looking and reading through it again.

[@TheNefastor]

"Witness me !" I love that Mad Max Fury Road reference 🤣

[@leemylks7600]

you're getting better, more comfortable, smoother mate - keep up the good work!

[@wwvvvvvww]

10:40 "...and once the signal level is at that correct setting, the fuse knows now it's time to go for a 'witness me' and the shell will detonate..." I understood that reference.gif

[@shan9usfc]

WITNESSED

[@mauriciomorais7818]

SHINY AND CHROME

[@CallsItLikeISeizeIts]

There was a documentary here in US that said Proximity fuses were discovered by chance at JHUAPL during a range test during the war when one grabbed wrong box of fuzes and were highly classified on the ships fighting kamikazis

[@Finglesham]

Same with the acoustic torpedo? Secrecy and fright. Could have been a brilliant breakthrough perhaps. Also what your aircraft carriers needed were armoured decks.

[@warnerjohnson1338]

Impressive report! Now, Bismark, make us another on the subject of high energy, radar directed particle beams. Their history and current development for application against artillary, aircraft, drones, and spacecraft

[@nathanokun8801]

Note: VT radar-type fuzes (as opposed to the less-widely-used optical design) had a small problem: The shells using them could not use a tracer in their base to guide the gunner along the firing trajectory, which did help in aiming guns under local control. The burning tracer caused a plasma trailing behind the projectile that in effect short-circuited the radar signal. With director and, better yet, radar control, this was not really important, but it did cause some problems until this was worked out and deleting tracers was done on "AA Common" ammo using VT fuzes. VT fuzes also had to be protected from strong electromagnetic signals during storage and handling prior to firing, so shells using them had different noses than the previous timed fuzes that had thin metal nose covers clipped or screwed on that had to be removed prior to loading (either in the handling rooms below the gun mounts or in the magazines prior to sending the shells up the ammo hoists from the magazines). Note also that VT fuzes were also widely used during late-WWII by the US Army and Navy in anti-surface target attack when air bursts over the target were desired to act like the old time-fuzed "shrapnel" shells (originally developed in the mid-1800s using black powder shells with steel balls inside them and powder timed fuzes ignited by the gun firing blast)

[@shimanopower]

Being able to see some of the AA guns used up close was amazing. Thank you!

[@felixcat9318]

I found this documentary to be interesting, informative and entertaining, with a knowledgeable and personable presenter narrating really well! Good videography completed the excellent picture.

[@klam77]

Fantastic thorough explanation!!!

[@cudathehawgjetfixer7520]

It's great that you mentioned the use of the VT fuses during the Battle of the Bulge, but it was General George Patton that pushed for the use (his nick name MAGIC FUSES) as an artillery fuse to used to soften up the German strongholds and or machine gun nests just prior to having the allied troops engage in hostilities, and it worked magnificently it routed the German defences like a hot knife through frozen butter. After Patton's use the Allied Artillery units used the VT fuses exclusively on the opening salvos before a major operation then resorted back to the normal fuses to keep the friendly fire possibilities to a minimum. The German high command realized that the Allies are now using this new fuse to great success against their troops but really couldn't come up with a counter to the VT Fuses thus the German Army began to utilize the controlled collapse retreat technique over the standard "RUN AWAY" retreat because the VT armed artillery rounds would annihilate the troops running away in retreat. GREAT VIDEO, WISHED YOU COULD HAVE GONE MORE INTO THE RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT, THEN OTHER USES OF THIS TECHNOLOGY BREAKING FUSE SYSTEM!

[@fredbloggs7131]

My grandfather was on an escort destroyer on a Malta convoy. They ran out of live ammo and were reduced to firing blank ammunition and training rounds to scare off attacking aircraft.

[@stonks6616]

Fred Bloggs oh God 😦

[@andrewmadeup7375]

I'm old and as such remember the meaning of the word bugger, which is not really appropriate in the context it is used in this video. The technical information was excellent, clear and intelligible.

[@BeamRider100]

Thanks USA for the great work back then, from Australia. The Battles of the Coral Sea and Milne Bay spring to mind.

[@gfinnstrom]

great video during the time of the vt fuses many ham radio operators under secrecy helped with the building of the system great video and outstanding dry humour keep up the great work

[@CKOD]

The craziest thing about the VT fuse is that its all miniature vacuum tubes. Little fiddly bits and pieces of wire and metal plate, ceramic and glass that could withstand getting shot out of cannon.

[@SaviorCross]

I remember when I watched a special about the man who designed the proximity fuze, I was fascinated by the full process.

[@michaelfrench3396]

I'll save you time. It's called a radio proximity fuze. The United States developed it and it saw widespread use in the Pacific from 1943 on. It would seems out radio waves and if something broke those waves the fuse woulddetonate. Meaning that instead of having to have a direct hit on an aircraft or have fuses at work on time you can shoot a bunch of these and they would get 10 or 20 feet away from the plane and explode.

[@seanhiggins978]

Amazing technology for the time in those proximity shells. All those miniturised components.

[@alwayscurious3357]

On a naval station of the Philippine Navy in Taguig, there's a pair of single 40mm Bofors guns in display on a lawn near their flagpole. I always pass by it and I wonder if it could still shoot.

[@alexm7950]

The nickel cups that were used on the shells were produced in my hometown. They were used on the shells as a way to keep the them from exploding as they left the barrels on the ships.

[@MichaelPontisso-mx1bq]

cannons have setback forces of up to 28,000 g s set forward forces up to 27,000 g s and rotational speeds up to 220,000 rpm big guns have rpm of 120,000 lots of forces that that fuze can handle for that time period is awesome.

[@msimon6808]

i believe the design specs called for 50,000 Gs on the test articles. Lots were probably tested by sampling. Some definite number of failures of those sampled and a lot was rejected.

[@MichaelPontisso-mx1bq]

@@msimon6808 50,000 g's were from 16 inch cannon requirements because later they used them for land and sea based shore attacks.

[@Emtbtoday]

The guns were used in all pt boats too! This is the only footage walk around of this 20mm. I have seen great video! And always love the Bofors that's my favourite that is! British having some weird sightings to play with on there version! It was like a tv antenna lol

[@martentrudeau6948]

The VT Fuze was a great British idea and the US spent the time and money to develop it. Good stuff Bismarck, thanks.

[@aidenb3069]

Your mom is gay

[@WilliamJones-Halibut-vq1fs]

Many people in many countries had the idea going back to WW1. Infrared fuses, optical fuses, radar fuses. In 1940 the British started coming across shock hardened electronically programmed time delay fuses in some German bombs. This reawakened their interest in their own 1932 attempt at infrared fuses but now using their new radio and radar techniques. The Germans went on to try and develop their technology into an electronically programable time delay for FLAK and an electrostatic fuse. The allies also developed an optical fuse but it was only good for anti personal air to ground rockets

[@markedwards3647]

Interesting! In order for VT fuses to cause detonation at the correct time, they would have to compare the graph of the RF returns to a set of criteria. When the slope either reached a value consistent with very close approach, or began decreasing as the shell approached a miss, the detonation would have to be triggered, when the shell was at or near its closest approach. When a shell was on a trajectory for a direct hit, it had to begin detonation _before_ the moment of contact, or it would be departing, or perhaps destroyed at the calculated moment of contact. Lots of calculus involved in the programming.

[@nssherlock4547]

Brilliant commentary style, subbed you in 1:40 sec into your video. Quickest sub ever !!

[@markhonerbaum5789]

Slovenia this is a very interesting episode about the proximity fuse,right on target to.

[@Titus-as-the-Roman]

Not sure how I missed this video? I too am a fan of the BOFORS 40mm, when deployed it was a real game changer. One thing you missed on the BOFORS is the Swedes developed a very high tech design of fire control which was incorporated into the ships early radar which increased it's already good kill rate. In short, the BOFORS simply shot down aircraft. Vannevar Bush, the presidents science adviser, was quoted saying the VT fuse was probably the most important development during the war.

[@DahvPlays]

For further watching, I recommend Forgotten Weapons videos on the Orlikon, Bofors, and more. Ian has videos on most of these big boys.

[@srdahl]

My late father was on the Alfred Cunningham # 752 destroyer the Pacific and he cleverly found a use for the proximity fuse by turning the 5 inch guns into mortars. Japanese put their command post behind hills to avoid the flat shooting naval gunfire. My father designed the five inchers to fire at a high arc so that the proximity fuse would explode behind the mountain right off the ground. I asked him how well it worker, he told me that they were approaching a Japanese base, they fired the rounds and he said"before we got in binocular range the dead bodies were floating on the tide."

[@michael7324]

A great video. Well written and well produced.

[@stevenschofield8518]

the shell goes “ witness ME!!” lol that made me laugh : ) you the man Bismark i love your channel, always fantastic information.

[@butchrubright1801]

WITNESS MEEEEE !!!!!!!!!

[@jamesleon457]

I ride to valhalla, shiny and chrome!

[@pjacobsma]

Mad Max!

[@Custerd1]

It was “Museum Day” in the US today. Coincidence: I got free admission into the National Electronics Museum - and there was a display on the proximity fuze.

[@MilitaryAviationHistory]

Awesome

[@glennschemitsch8341]

A very correct presentation on only missing the development somewhat on the scale of the Manhattan project.

[@garethgriffiths8577]

Booom! Nice humor matey

[@LittleMacscorner]

I'm a retired FA Officer. VT Fuse are the go to fuse for soft targets on the ground, as well. Assuming the 5 requirements for accurate and predictive fires are met it pretty much guarantees explosions at the optimal height to cause the most pain, even into dug in positions.

[@tolpacourt]

I love how World of Warships depict battleships cruising at 80 knots.

[@tolpacourt]

I really don't like it. It looks ridiculous if you've ever been on a boat, let alone a ship.

[@powellmountainmike8853]

For Your Information: When referring to naval guns the word "caliber" refers to the barrel length in relation to the bore diameter, NOT to the bore diameter itself. The most common heavy anti aircraft gun in the U.S. Navy during WW2 was the 5 inch 38, usually in a twin mount, but sometimes in single mounts. Here the "5 inch" refers to the bore diameter, the "38", the caliber, refers to the length, which was 38 times 5 inches.

[@grizwoldphantasia5005]

It depends on the size of the gun. The M2 .50 inch gun is commonly referred to as "50 caliber". Describing the barrel length in calibers is a specific notation.

[@primary012]

Hey Bis, Great video and thx for the oppertunity to say hello while you where walking in between takes for this video.

[@donf3877]

First time commenting on one of your videos. I figured by the title it would be some type of prox fuse, but thought it would be about the fuses on bombs used in attacking air bases. So, besides the radar targeted anti-aircraft weapons, there was also prox fusing. The Japanese, happily, didn't have much of a chance getting through. Without all this, the damage by the death squad pilots would have been much much worse. Oh and I, for one, liked the lead-up in the video as to why this type of fusing was wanted and designed. And, like the bomb sights, they were and should have been well guarded secrets. It was bad enough the U.S. provided much of the metals for the production of Japanese ships.

[@marcelOberauer]

Introduction ends at 9:41 and the Secret Fuze talk begin.

[@rockets4kids]

The VT fuze used vacuum tubes. Acceleration of the shell was on the order of 20,000 Gs and spun at 25,000 RPM. Just let that settle in.

[@spikespa5208]

Tough little buggers.

[@peterlethbridge7859]

Yet another brilliant presentation piece.

[@margretfortune1524]

I have read the initial research for this shell was two British scientists who made the diode for this shell. The American's then perfected it.

[@hddun]

I enjoyed this presentation more that I can say. As a boy, my Dad told me of his service with the US Navy fleet which fought the Japanese in the Pacific. He described the very guns and ammo you present. He said that the most terrifying experience in his life (he was 23) was the continuous attack off Okinawa in 1945 by Japanese suicide bombers who wrecked havoc on the US NAVY.

[@George-bz1fi]

As usual, well done.

[@ricardodavidson3813]

Actually the British invented the VT fuse, developed it and tested it using rockets (unrotated projectiles). A prototype was taken to the USA by the Tizard mission, and the USA mass-produced it. The know-how was British, not American. It worked by allowing feedback into the transmitter and the interference from this feedback was used to set off the detonator. It had only 4 valves (tubes in the USA) specially made to whistand the 10,000 g or thereabouts of firing, the power source was a vial of acid in a rack of electrodes, when the thing was fired the vial shattered and the acid working on the electrodes produced a current. This allowed the shells to be stored for ever without deterioration to the battery. The German effort was electrostatic and never worked, although some brilliant engineering was poured into it. It was a British engineer called Cobden Turner that got the project going in the private sector in UK before the war. He was never knighted, given a decoration or otherwise honoured, because he basically he was his own (brilliant) man and not some arse-licking politician or such like.

[@PapaWheelie1]

Aim for the Slit, Snatch it in place. Good advice but don’t discount the quick withdrawal to prevent jams.

[@mattwilliams4222]

I came to the comments to look for a reference to that line : )

[@steveb6103]

The US wouldn't let the shells be fired over land in fear of them being found if they didn't go off.

[@sandydennylives1392]

They fired them over a river which the nazi forces were trying to cross en masse during the Bulge battle at the turn of '45. By that stage German production was on it's knees so no doubt they were used on land from that point also.

[@francisbusa1074]

The VT fuse, one of the 3 most important technological developments of WW II, along with the atomic bomb and radar.

[@antivalidisme5669]

Thank you for sharing Bis, awesome stuff once again and yeah neutral countries stuff could also be quite scary and so damn well suited for the job. "Variable Time fuzes", could almost feel like a pun because I feel like the engineers behind it knew what they were doing or at least trying to do! Sorry had to drop the video at some point, suffering from some septic tank issues while flying by, VT fuze side--effect I suppose.

[@chaimshen-orr2993]

IMHO the best source on the VT fuze development and WWII use is "The Deadly Fuze" by Ralph Baldwin (Presidio Press 1980). A shorter, less detailed account by Louis Brown - "The Proximity Fuze" - was published in IEEE AES Systems Magazine in July 1993

[@davidsike734]

Nice documentary, you should also do a documentary on "Napalm" which I believe started in WWII. I often wondered why they (US)didn't equip their planes with Napalm in addition to conventional bombs to use on Japanese ships since fire is the #1 enemy to a ship especially carriers.

[@iatsechannel5255]

Great Piece! It must have taken quite a man to stand on a deck and shoot a 20mm at an incoming plane, just as much as the pilots riding down the raining straps of tracers.

[@bartonstano9327]

Thanks for video. The story I like to tell about VT fuses was a production plant was set up in Ohio and hired housewives. They soldered the VT fuses. These women war workers working in Ohio where a key reason the Japanese kamikaze where defeated.