The Worst Ship Design Fails in History

[@MichiganExplorer236]

The SS Badger featured at 14:24 is a passenger steam ship in Ludington, Michigan. Built in 1953, she is 410 feet long and was originally designed to haul railroad cars across Lake Michigan to Manitowoc Wisconsin. In the mid 90s, she was converted to carry passengers and their automobiles across Lake Michigan. As shown in that photo, she has a large sea gate on the stern that lets the cars in and out while docked. The car deck is several feet above the waterline, so the sea gate only really needs to keep wave action out of the ship. I was born and raised in Ludington, Michigan, and have traveled on the SS badger at least a dozen times in my life. It is still operating seasonally on Lake Michigan.

[@jamesgilboy9302]

Oh man, I traveled on the Badger once as a kid! Glad she’s still around.

[@typxxilps]

you still have a 72 year old ship which is carrying cars and passengers ? Looks like the next desaster to me cause how many ship desasters had been shown by the channel brick immortar about americans ships that were not safe at all ? We have traditional ships like steamers in some areas and to keep them running based on 2020s regulations costs fortunes or stops the operation as passenger ships which usually makes those to museum ships along a peer. But this only happens to ships operated on our rivers or lakes, rather small lakes compared to Lake michigan versus lake constanza which is by far the biggest and deepest. I can not imagine that 72 year old ship will meet all the US safety requirement standards - which are so often cited by brick immortar in the NTSB report released after another deadly accident. Here all ferries have to meet highest standards or they will be sold to countries outside the EU cause if they become illegal here then they have become illegal in the whole EU. And ferry routes are being replaced more and more by bridges or tunnels, those in the baltic sea as those crossing rivers cause ferries are expensive and have issues in harsh winters to make it.

[@zodszoo]

​@typxxilpsit's a good thing you don't have to imagine it, you can come experience it for yourself. Apparently you know very little about Great Lakes ships. ✌🏻🖖🏻

[@derangedemu]

@typxxilpsthe argument could be made that regularly aged ships in the EU are equally as dangerous, because a lot of accident happen with them… your point is null. Of course the ones that aren’t kept properly updated have more accidents, and of course you don’t hear about the ones that are.

[@david-468]

@typxxilpsyour cuc loving ideology of “regulations” has caused more deaths then anything else ever has

[@xander8559]

Was just thinking I would love to see an Oceanliner Design video and then one appears, Thanks Mike and team, Happy New Year to everyone.

[@viktorlindeblom7907]

I thought I recognised the music at the intro, so I listened harder and realised it’s our national anthem. The Swedish ”Du gamla du fria” 👍

[@MTP-k5d]

This channel is so amazing. I'm French and it's a shame that a channel like this doesn't exist in French. I was starting to watch your videos because they are so amazing.

[@truberthefighter9256]

I am German and I don't have any problems. It's not a shame that it's in English, it is a good thing since everything and everybody does exist only one time - and this one does reach the most people possible as it's in English.

[@hamb0ne]

there actually was a french channel just like this one. but i heard they gave up

[@thedemolitionmuniciple]

Bot ahh comment

[@joãoAlberto-k9x]

Study ENGLISH. It is an easy language to learn.

[@joãoAlberto-k9x]

No. Robot.

[@johnpigott3726]

06:15 - Olympic photobombing as usual. Great video as always Mike.

[@tripwire3992]

She was a silly sod at port always appearing behind someone stealing the show 😂

[@simplyros3]

She just wants to say “Hello!!!”

[@DartzIRL]

Was taking a ferry trip about 20 years ago. My cabin was right in the bottom of the ship by the car deck. Late at night, I was woken by what sounded like rushing water in the car deck, sloshing back and forth. Went up the ship to the Information desk and told them. In fairness to them, they took some random kid seriously and sent someone down immediately to check. Turns out it was just some loose chains sliding on the deck. I felt like an idiot when they thanked me.

[@macbrown99]

Better to feel foolish and stay happily above water, I'd say.

[@kevinmyles6369]

You did the right thing, man. Better to be safe than sorry eh...could have been something very serious! 👍🏻👍🏻

[@soldierski1669]

Have a balance on your “pride”. In the military, combat arms, they generally have a deep well for people voicing concerns. Special Forces has a strict unsaid doctrine that regardless of rank, you voice your concerns. SAPPER

[@nanabutner]

NEVER BE SORRY FOR PAYING ATTENTION TO YOUR SURROUNDINGS! You could have saved many lives by paying attention.

[@besserschreiben9481]

Reminds me of a story where a passenger saw a hole in the plane while entering, and he did not dare to speak to the crew, because he feared to be treated as fool. BTW he was not an engineer.

[@RaDeus87]

11:51 Drachinifel made an excellent video about the Seydlitz with the glorious title: How to Survive being a 25.000t Piñata. The pictures of how low that ship sat in the water after the battle are harrowing 😯

[@marckyle5895]

Seydlitz was so low in the water on her journey back from Jutland that she scraped over Horn's Reef. When she finally made it home to her berth...the bow settled on the bottom.

[@AdkAqua]

I'm not even that into naval history or ships... Yet this is one of my favorite channels. You make it interesting and fun to listen to. I love seeing the new videos pop up on my recommended feed.

[@2nicnag2]

Same!! My husband is thankful I’ve moved on from true crime (he’s a maintenance mechanic in a steel mill so when something breaks, he has to fix it)

[@wacholder5690]

21:18 Friends of the family were bound to go to the UK with that exact ship at that exact day. They missed the departure due to a large traffic jam in the Netherlands and stood there in the harbour of Zeebrugge a tad clueless ... when the alarms go off and the news made the round that it capsized. Well: you can be lucky to have missed the boat ... and how lucky *we* were - having heared from the desaster by TV news already - when they called us that they missed it.

[@2nicnag2]

Oh wow! How frustrating to be late but then how thankful they must have been for traffic!

[@2nicnag2]

I live in the most landlocked state in the US, almost drowned as a child and am highly claustrophobic yet I’m glued to this channel!! I can’t usually watch videos so I’m missing out on a huge facet of this channel yet even without the videos this channel is as close to perfection as it can get in my opinion. I deal with PTS despite it being well over 35 years since my near drowning.

[@SiobhanFalque]

Royal Navy: Elegant, and effect French Navy: Hmm, yes, make our ship lok like a hotel.

[@joãoAlberto-k9x]

look

[@jamesfracasse8178]

America Navy: conversion to a floating hotel 🛍️🏨 1:26

[@tiercel5561]

@@jamesfracasse8178 - Japanese navy actually having a ship that is considred a floating hotel (Yamato)

[@Tindometari]

Yes, but imagine the cuisine in the mess hall ... okay, okay, the wardroom.

[@bkjeong4302]

@@tiercel5561 Being a pointless waste of resources was a WWII battleship problem, not a Yamato-specific problem. Even the Iowas ended up as nothing more than hilariously overpriced Fletchers except a bit slower and without the depth charges in practice.

[@patdowney9454]

It’s our friend Mike Brady 😊 perfect way to start the day and New Year. Happy New Year Mike and everyone else

[@colinleat8309]

I'm as excited about this New Year as the world was in 1939. 😕

[@kari34b54]

@@colinleat8309That is a rather negative way to view the world. 🤔 I recommend having a little hope.😊

[@creativian68]

I will always remember where I was when I heard about the Estonia's sinking. I was born and grew up in the Turku archipelago, but I happened to be in Britain. When the morning news came on and said that a passenger ferry had sunk in Finland, my heart probably stopped for a while. Where I come from it's quite common to take these party cruises to Stockholm and I was sure I had lost someone I know. I called my mother who tried to calm me by saying don't worry, it's not a Finnish ship. I feel really ashamed for feeling grateful that this disaster had struck "strangers" and not my friends. Strangers are people, just like me! What was I thinking? My family had been wondering about all the helicopters flying at night, but they just thought it was the military practising. This was a disaster we just couldn't comprehend. However it left deep scars and the wreck is still in Finnish territorial waters near the island Utö. PS. This was a sad story, but I would still like to say Happy New Year to our friend Mike Brady and to all the friends of Mike Brady.

[@mjfan653]

As an Estonian, I have met a few survivors, and know people who knew others who didn't make it... Also, I've spoken to one of the other shifts officers. While, I believe the official theory, I do think the investigation was butchered. Likely due to illegal arm shipments being on the car deck, and other bs going on at the ship. Everybody knew about it. Quite a few people died mysteriously after the sinking. Again. The ship likely sank due to a design flaw, and due to the ship being involved in all kinds of shady actions, people panicked and started covering up, even things that didn't need to be. And it created mistrust and all kinds of things. Of course, it didn't help, that the swedes blamed the Estonian crew. While, if a ship rolls and sinks in 20-30min, there is not much organised evacuation happening. Most crew members muster stations were under water when they made it to the outer deck. Quite a few survivors are still adamant, that the visor was attached when it went down. What's especially interesting, is that, the ship got a bomb scare the day of sinking, with police searching the ship through. Meanwhile the Estonian naval service was conducting an technical inspection, that the ship passed. Although with a B grade. But, they did not check the visor welds, and they likely didn't have cracks the day of. Only developing them during the sharp waved storm, through the night.

[@2nicnag2]

It’s natural to be thankful you don’t know someone killed in an event. No one wants to go through the grief.

[@AmusedPassport-ec1lv]

so the whole story is a boat sank and you felt bad about it...great...thanks for sharing, super interesting

[@clearspira]

The Mary Rose - Henry VIII's famous flagship was redesigned to allow a new breed of stronger but far heavier cannon. Unfortunately as it turned out this new added weight meant that if you turned too hard in one direction the gunports would reach dangerously close to the water line. You can imagine what happened.

[@humanmerelybeing1966]

Decapitation of the masthead.

[@andyjwagner]

I couldn’t help but notice the sketch of the ferry SS Badger-a Lake Michigan car ferry built in the early 1950s. Hardly a design failure, Badger continues in service today, crossing between western Michigan and Wisconsin May through October. Her future is endangered mostly be her archaic coal fired propulsion system-Last on the Great Lakes!

[@daveroche6522]

If memory serves, Estonia was never officially authorised/cleared/designed/originally intended/licensed for that particular route. Also, all relevant senior officials, politicians etc. in the (3) countries involved bravely slithered out of any responsibility whatsoever. Disgusting.

[@raquellofstedt9713]

That was a huge storm as well. We lived in Helsinki at the time, and water was being blown around our windows into our apartment so that it poured into our bedroom at the time of that wreck. These were stabile, old but well kept apartment buildings, but that was a hideous storm, and we were close to the harbour.

[@jamesfracasse8178]

How could the ship ⚓🚢 not been certified 6:54

[@jukkiivi4282]

@@jamesfracasse8178 If I understood correctly, the ship was meant for coastal routes. Helsinki - Stockholm route goes along the south coast of Finland, just south of Turku archipelago and through Ahvenanmaa archipelago. There is a short distance over open sea before going through Stockholm archipelago. Lots of land and islands to break wind and waves. Tallinn - Stockholm is open sea from Estonian coast to Stockholm archipelago.

[@jajanka10]

​@@jamesfracasse8178Problem is that everybody just did a 'not MY job' when, in fact, it was clear to see (hindsight is always 100%) that existing certification was not enough, even on a household door alarm contactor is never built in a hinge, because then it checks that the hinge is closed, not the door itself. Example- US road bridge collapse in Minesota- beam connector plates failed, multiple inspectors checked the bridge per schedule and it always passed. Because nobody cared beyond their job descriptions. And the plates were not on their checklist.

[@typxxilps]

Who was involved ? Usually a ferry is owned by 1 ferryline in 1 country. Someone builds a ship, sells it to the customer and the autorities check if the requirements are fullfilled or not . If that ship is sold to another owner same obligations - but if the state is not doing those checks properly you can blame the domestic authorities and the usual attitude where bribes replace those checks ... the more you leave the west into the east the more bribes are a usual mean. Hence we stopped all investments in the east european countries except Czech republic for several reasons. If bribes are accepted in a society the country is dead - and the eastern part of the EU is simply weak and you can face corruption everywhere. Part of a society that will rot cause it is not competitive or it will fight the corruption. Bue over 3 decades later and not much has improved so the western companies are no longer investing and feeding those society where bribes are a usual mean. Here you will face prison.

[@gibbo9089]

Could listen to this guy for hours.

[@asmith8947]

Well he is your friend....

[@2nicnag2]

Some days I do! I wish I could watch the videos more but just listening is great!

Thank you so much for your awesome videos! I know you put a great deal of work into them. I have a PhD in history, and I can say that your research and approaches to interpreting resulting data is excellent. Best wishes for a wonderful 2025!

[@fallofcamelot]

My Dad was a marine pilot for over 50 years and he hated RORO ferries. He once dismissively described them as "roll on, roll off, roll over"

[@andyharman3022]

That brings a whole new meaning to RO-RO-RO your boat...

[@233kosta]

They're just too top-heavy.

[@sirjohng1]

Yes and virtually keel less so little but weight to keep them upright.

[@dakkedankos4116]

No offence, but a pilot being smart about a type of ships is a bit ironic. I don't think you dad would have taken a good stance against critism against his type of plane by a captain of a ship.. Planes 50 year ago wasn't really the safest thing around.. Taking a car ferry today is no more dangerous than a bus or your car..

[@MiTBender]

Everyone says that.

[@richardbell7678]

Your discussion of cruisers is a little off. Scout cruisers, light cruisers, and protected cruisers were much smaller than battleships, but the armored cruisers were about 75% of a contemporary battleship's displacement (comparing SMS Scharnhorst and HMS Black Prince to HMS Lord Nelson). The armored cruisers used smaller guns than battleships to enable more powerful engineering plants to achieve higher speeds. The threat of cruisers to a fleet of battleships is that they can stay outside of the battleship's gunfire range and report on the battleships' movement. The destroyer screen could try to chase off the cruisers, but that might leave the battleships unprotected from an enemy destroyer flotilla making a torpedo attack. The battlecruiser traded armor to be even faster than older cruisers, while carrying long range heavy guns. The mission of the battlecruisers was to find the enemy scouts and sink them. The lack of heavy armor was not seen as a drawback, as they had longer effective range than anything they were out to destroy and faster than anything that could effectively fire back at them, so they could just flee from an enemy battle line. Battlecruisers were cheaper than the battleships, not because they were smaller, but because they had less armor plate and the armor plate that they did have was thinner. HMS Invincible had close to the same displacement as HMS Dreadnought. The best example of what battlecruisers were supposed to do was the Battle of the Falkland Islands, from WWI, where HMS Invincible and HMS Inflexible caught Admiral Graf Spee's squadron of armored and light cruisers and were able to use their superior speed and range of their guns to desired effect. Drachinifel, in one of his videos, looked at the propellant used by the Royal Navy. A problem that was not fully appreciated was that the RN powder charges 'sweated' nitroglycerin, which fell off the powder charges as dust. In drills, powder chares would be moved from the magazines to the guns and get loaded, but not fired. After completing the drill, the powder charges would be unloaded from the guns and sent back to the magazines, creating a trail of dust from the magazines to the guns. A gunnery officer on HMS Lion noticed the dust, found out how dangerous it actually was, and had all of the dust swept up and disposed of, while putting in place measures to prevent it from building up. It was possible for this dust to detonate from even a non-penetrating hit from a heavy shell against the turret, from the impact shock, alone. HMS Lion took some hits at Jutland, but did not detonate.

[@timyo6288]

the discussion of Ur Mom is a little off.

[@SennaAugustus]

All cruisers are meant to be scouts, including battlecruisers. Light cruisers are destroyer destroyers, protecting your destroyer flotillas. Battlecruisers are cruiser destroyers, protecting your cruiser divisions. One of the correct uses of cruiser was done by Ajax, at the Battle of Cape Passero. One of the correct uses of battlecruiser was done by Warspite, at the Battle of Calabria.

[@richardbell7678]

@@SennaAugustus I was using 'scout cruiser' to identify ships that had no armor, to allow enough fuel to cross oceans and do cruiser stuff that does not involve pitched battles with anything larger than destroyers. Protected cruisers had a turtleback deck protecting the magazines and machinery spaces, but were, otherwise, unarmored. light cruisers were armored against destroyer guns and armored cruisers were nearly as armored as battleships.

[@ricknielson1947]

Another new fav that I rewind several times while watching. Sometimes get chills when Mike talks about a Liner's paramount design requirement, speed.

[@Yeeterguy-l7i]

9 minutes ago is crazy, finally early to an Oceanliner designs vid

[@kennethjosephson134]

Excellent video, as usual. 13:46 The S.S. Badger was converted from a rail car ferry to an automobile ferry and is still in use today, crossing Lake Michigan between Wisconsin and Michigan. The Badger has the distinction of being the last coal-fired steam ship in regular service on the United States’ Great Lakes.

[@captcarlos]

Thank you for personally speaking the narration, It is a joy to listen to. And your subject seems to be very well researched with beautiful editing.

[@michaelgordon8763]

Hey Mike...Mike from Canada here again as I want to share a couple more memories that arose after watching your excellent new documentary. 1. My Dad was a Naval Officer (serving in the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War). He served on two classes of ships -mine sweepers and Corvettes. He was based in Halifax. Last year I was in Halifax for a week and in the harbour I spotted a Corvette open for public tours. I knew immediately it was a Corvette because as a lad my Dad hung paintings of the ships he sailed on in my bedroom. My Dad serving on the Corvettes which did plod along at 16 knots dropping depth charges to scare away German submaries they accompanied convoys into the middle of the Atlantic with supplies for taking on the Nazis and supporting the UK. They would meet a convoy of ships mid North Atlantic mid ocean and then accompany the empty ships back to Canada and thankfully after 1941 New York City to be reloaded with supplies. As a lad I grew up around boats and relished sitting with my Dad as he shared some of his Navy stories...he was a brave guy and my Dad. 2. The Canadian Pacific Empress ships were an important source of family stories. My Grandparents sailed from Vancouver to Asia on the beautiful three stacker the Empress of Japan during the 1930's (look for pictures, she was a beauty) and at family gatherings many stories would be shared by my Grandmother about sailing on that the beautiful ship. Also, I am a very very lucky guy because as a young lad I got to sail on its last sailing season with the Empress of Canada (CP Oceanliner) in 1971 from Montreal to Liverpool, the first time I got to visit the UK and Europe. She was a beautiful ship. Sailing the North Atlantic in September we encountered the tail end of a huricane (at that point that an intense "Gale"). I had my sea legs and around me were people turning green but I looked at it all as fun as the ship rolled up and down and side to side walking around the ship and lying in my bunk. Best to you for an excellent 2025...cheers Mike to you from Mike :)

[@TheTurbinator]

Harrald of Free Enterprise is such a perfect and fitting name. Couldn't have named the ship any better!!

[@thejudge-kv2jk]

The battlecruiser was not a failure of design. The way they were used at Jutland was the failure. They were not designed to fight battleships and as a result failed when used against them. We can thank Beatty for that.

[@tradeka4206]

Fun fact about roll-on roll-off ferries. The ferry Cape Henlopen, which is still in operation today by the cross sound ferry company on a route from New London, Connecticut, to Orient Point, Long Island, was actually a tank landing ship that was present at Normandy on D Day. She was converted into a ferry and is still going strong at over 80 years old! My grandparents live on Long Island so I grew up taking ferries on this route and have ridden Cape Henlopen many times

[@solutanbrun]

0:28 the music in the background is the Swedish national anthem!

[@GaldirEonai]

Long before any of the examples listed, we have the swedish Great Ship Vasa in 1626. The first sailing ship of its size, the builders simply had no idea about the physics involved because nobody had had to deal with them before. So it managed a little less than a mile out of port on its maiden voyage before it caught a bad gust of wind, capsized and sank. Fortunately most of the crew and passengers were able to escape, in part because the whole thing had happened within shouting range of Stockholm and people could just take a bunch of rowboats out to pick them up within minutes of the sinking. The 30-ish dead were mostly unfortunates who'd been caught down below decks when the ship rolled over and had no way to escape, while pretty much everyone who got into the water made it out alive.

[@IRNHYD]

Vasa sank largely because she had yet to receive her proper ballast and also because her lower gun deck ports had all been opened and left open when the ship put to see for the first time. When she heeled over in the wind, those open gun ports just above the waterline were suddenly underwater. The sea rushed in. She sank very quickly as a result.

[@IRNHYD]

What is truly amazing about Vasa was that, after spending some 400 years on the bottom of the Baltic, she was perfectly preserved and intact.

[@michaelgordon8763]

Hey Mike this is from Mike and I live on the west coast of Canada where we have the publicly owned BC Ferries established in 1960 because it's part of our highway system and it has the largest fleet of ferries in North America connecting British Columbia's mainland with the many islands off our coast. We have many many 'roll on and roll off' ferries. Thankfully we've not had any significant loss of people or ships because we Canadians are very aware of weather particularly duing our fall and winter storm seasons. So when the winds and storms pick up sailings are cancelled until conditions look safe for passengers and trucks and vehicles. During this current holiday season, there were was one day when sailings were cancelled. Thankfully otherwise BC Ferries carried we locals off to the Islands and onto our mainland in safety...keeping folks safe requires some patience and delays periodically. :)

[@JK50with10]

There is a lot more complexity regarding the battlecruisers that has not been included. 1) The general confusion about the British battlecruisers. There were two generations of battlecruisers at Jutland; the first generation was the Invincible class, which are essentially cruisers with battleship guns stuck on and were never meant to face a peer opponent. Of the Second generation, Lion, Princess Royal, Queen Mary and Tiger, only Queen Mary was lost due to powder handling issues. HMS Tiger, with correct powder handling, was hit 14 times and did not explode. The second generation were based on battleships but with fewer guns and more engines. These were designed to, and did, take on peer opponents, as demonstrated at the Battle of Dogger Bank. The video states that German belt armour is 7". By comparison, HMS Tiger has a 9" belt, which is thicker armour than the Germans. 2) The German armour thickness. The German battlecruisers were armed with 11" guns, whilst the latest British battlecruisers had 13.5" guns. So, the claims made about German belt armour are misleading because, whilst they were thicker, they had to stop bigger shells, so the protection was not too dissimilar. 3) The British and German cordite powder had different formulations. The German powder was more stable, which is why it burned rather than exploded. Had Seydlitz been carrying British powder, she would have exploded. Had the British ships been carrying German powder, they might have survived. 4) The fuses on British shells didn't work correctly; the shells would detonate on impact (outside the ship) rather than detonate a few milliseconds later when the shell had penetrated, meaning that the German armour appeared more effective than it would have been against working shells. Conclusion: Writing off an entire classification of ships simply because the first of multiple generations didn't work displays a significant lack of knowledge.

[@SoundAndFuryy]

Yeah, the Jutland part of this video was pretty rough. Basically an anecdotal story with some numbers thrown in to make it appear more founded.

[@yknott9873]

Correct; but wait - there's MOAR! An earlier battle, Dogger Bank, taught the Germans some valuable lessons that, being at war with the British, they didn't pass-on; that was churlish of them, don't you think? 😆 I believe you may have mixed this battle up with Jutland, because the famous hit on Seydlitz happened at Dogger Bank; an ammunition fire breaking-out in the barbette, a German named Wilhelm Heidkamp with the delightfully evocative job title of "pumpenmeister", grabbed red-hot valve handles with his bare hands and flooded the magazine. Heidkamp severely damaged his hands and lungs but survived the battle, took over his family's grocery store after the war, had four children and died in 1931: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Heidkamp The Germans took fire protection in their ammunition spaces more seriously after that, but the British didn't get the memo; one of the Victoria Crosses awarded after Jutland was to Royal Marine Major Francis Harvey, who commanded the centre turret on HMS Lion. A German shell penetrated the turret and exploded, killing nearly everybody and causing a massive fire; one of the few survivors was Major Harvey. Severely injured, he stood his post, ordered the magazine flooded and sent a runner to the bridge to report the turret out of the fight. Cordite charges in the shell handling room ignited and killed everybody there; after the battle, the doors of the magazine were found to be badly buckled but they had resisted the flash from the burning cordite because the magazine behind them was flooded. The formal conclusion was that this alone prevented HMS Lion from exploding and joining its sisters on the bottom; Major Harvey's charred corpse was buried at sea during the cleanup after the battle en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Harvey . Other ships in the Battlecruiser Squadron were not as dedicated to fire safety, and some had formed a grisly habit of storing main gun rounds and cordite charges in the backs of their turrets, the better to increase their rate of fire; I've seen reports that Royal Navy divers visiting the wreck of HMS Queen Mary found shells and cordite charges in the aft turrets, which were not affected by the explosion that sank the ship. - Oh and: in your segment on Imperator, you twice show the wrong ship's bow - the Vaterland had that heraldic crest, in place of the Imperator's winged eagle 😉

[@philiphumphrey1548]

I think the battlecruiser ultimately triumphed. As technology advanced between the wars, boilers and steam turbines became smaller and lighter for the same power output, and more weight efficient designs with fewer turrets, each containing more guns were developed. This allowed more weight to be carried as armour to reinforce key compartments. The fast battleships of World War II were still effectively battlecruisers, judiciously compromising some armour and firepower for outright speed, but it was the old fashioned slow battleship that became obsolete.

[@yknott9873]

@@philiphumphrey1548 A strange one for this topic - the Iowa class. They were built after the abandonment of the Washington Naval Treaty, and their displacement was effectively unlimited, treaty--wise; but they nonetheless had a real limit in that they had to be able to fit through the Panama Canal. In a "fair" fight against a Yamato, I would not like to rate their chances; but once radar gunlaying and hundreds of carrier-borne fighters, bombers and torpedo planes were added to the mix, the outcome of such a fight ( - and EMINENTLY fair; the word "fair" is not found in any warfighter's lexicon) would be as one-sided in Iowa's favour as in the real world it proved to be, especially considering neither Yamato ever sighted a major Allied combatant and both were sunk by airplanes. The Pacific war was distinctly depressing for a purblind battleship nut (i.e., me), and the ships themselves largely confined their activities to shore bombardment and acting as fast anti-air platforms to protect the carriers.

[@philiphumphrey1548]

@@yknott9873 And yet it came tantalisingly close to a "clash of the titans" off Samar 25th October 1944. If Admiral Halsey had not been lured away, if he had not thrown a wobbly at that message "Where, repeat where is task force 34? The world wonders", there could have been a clash between 2 Iowa class battleships and Yamato and her escorts off the San Bernardino Street. Probably as well it didn't happen because it would have involved a large loss of life however it turned out.

[@EnglishLanguageLessons101]

You have developed a talent to take something you’re passionate about and make it interesting for we novices. Thank you.

[@sexynelson100]

It's great to see these youngsters taking a genuine interest in these historic events

[@2nicnag2]

I had no idea I was interested in ships til I found this channel. I then realized it’s not the topic, it’s how engaging and well researched the videos are. I rarely actually watch the screen as I have lots of time to listen but not actually watch. I’ve gone back and watched the video of several as I know it enhances the perfection of this page even more

[@Floydian4everr]

Agreed, IDK about 80%vod the ships he speaks of in a way we should all know but explains their importance in naval history in such a noob-friendly manor, live this channel!

[@squirepraggerstope3591]

Er...Seydlitz was nearly destroyed by a magazine explosion at the earlier battle of Dogger Bank, not at Jutland. It was likely fortuitous for the Germans as after that earlier battle they corrected lax cordite and shell handling practices and made their ships turrets flash-tight. Thereby preventing the risk of any similarly caused repetition at Jutland.

[@robinpage2730]

It's (not) the same battle: it's called the Battle of Dogger Bank in Britain, and the Battle of Jutland in Germany. Edit: this is incorrect. The battle I'm referring to with separate names in England and Germany was the Battle of Jutland, which is known in Germany as the Battle of Skagerrak. The battle was fought in 1916, while the Battle of Dogger Bank was fought in 1915.

[@robinpage2730]

@@Alikchi you are correct, I was misremembering the names. I have edited my comment accordingly.

[@Alikchi]

@ I apologize for being somewhat rude about a minor point! Have a good day!

[@TealCheetah]

I had a great nap to this vid, thanks! (this is a compliment, I swear)

[@2nicnag2]

Same, when my insomnia is bad I watch this channels videos as I find the presentation calming and then restart from where I fell asleep the next day

[@falsemcnuggethope]

I've subbed to this channel on my bedtime account as well. I usually avoid the videos about (civillian) disasters, though. This video did its work for me before that part.

[@TheVargr]

The Lifeboat the came and rescued the survivors of the Princess Victoria still exists. It is under a shelter structure in a carpark in Donaghadee in Northern Ireland.

[@victorben-cnaan5178]

Thank you for the exciting research! A little remark on minute 00:27:47: reverse steam turbines are not connected to any "complicated gearboxes." In order to reverse the engine, the valves leading the steam to the forward turbines are closed, and the valves leading to the reverse turbine are open.

[@wickedcabinboy]

54:19 The use of random chalkboard calculation video snippets when speaking of ships design can lead to some curious situations. This is one example. It features chemical equations, algebraic equations, vector analysis, and molecular chemical diagrams none of which seem to have anything to do with the calculations under discussion. Now, I am not a naval architect or engineer, but I do have a chemistry degree, old and unused as it is. So this visual seems pretty confusing. I must say however, I did thoroughly enjoy this video as I have enjoyed your other videos.

[@donaldpeytoniii6402]

Mike Brady is the maritime version of Mentour Pilot. Keep up the great work!

[@EricCoop]

It's our friend Mike Brady! Thanks!

[@christopherwelch136]

Getting tired. Figure something else up. 😂

[@cwyvern4861]

HUZAH! ITS OUR FRIEND MIKE BRADY FROM OCEANLINER DESIGNS!

[@handen]

I literally just found your channel two days ago and I’ve already watched like a dozen of your videos. And I’m an airplane nerd on the bald-ass prairies - I generally have no interest in boats and can count on one hand the number of times I’ve stood beside the ocean. Good stuff.

[@nikerailfanningttm9046]

Last time I was this early (I don’t have notifications turned on), the passenger count aboard Titanic was just at 970 and counting.

[@michaelkilcourse2002]

I was on the Estonia in 1989 I never forget , very rough crossing to Stockholm, the rolling so bad we were flung out of our cabin bed, terrifying, but RIP to those who were not so lucky on Estonia

[@chosenone101]

Thanks again for your work. As a long haul trucker in Canada....your videos make my days less boring when crossing the Prairies.

[@TimInertiatic]

Audio only I hope!

[@user-fz9zk3v7h]

Wow thank you to our friend Mike Brady from Oceanliner Designs for this great presentation it is very interesting and at the same time very informative thank you very much ♥️

[@rjcolombe]

Great video, Mike, as usual. I hope one day you'll consider releasing a video showing the conception of this channel 👍

[@MoodusOperandi]

This video exists already!

[@rjcolombe]

@MoodusOperandi It does? I must've missed that upload.

[@fatdad64able]

My grandfather was taking part in the battle of Jutland, (Skagerrak as it’s called in Germany) aboard the SMS König. I still have a picture of the ship I haven’t seen anywhere else.

[@ivoryjohnson4662]

Great intro; always learning

[@dieselrichardson9055]

Hour long video is a perfect way for me to start my shift this morning/year thank you

[@ginasreview1030]

This brought me such joy to watch &didn´t at all feel like it was over an hour. LOVED the pronunciations of words & phrases in different languages. & Hearing Brasil (my das´s home country) & Argentina (home country) was GREAT. Only needed to hear Bolivia (my mom´s home country) but that´s WAY harder to hear about because it has no sea, ocean at all. Anywho, LOVED IT. Much love always from Brasil. P.s. I always love to learn new terms of Oceanliners, those past & present.

[@deannaepler]

It's a great start to the year when a video from my friend Mike Brady pops up🎉🎉❤❤

[@uurkisme]

Happy new year Mike! I was starting to drift back off to sleep and then I heard Scharnhorst. Wide awake again.

[@MrGoesBoom]

Hey Mike Brady, this is your friend Goesboom from the comments section. Thanks for yet another excellent upload and here's hoping for a good new year for all of us!

[@DEVILTAZ35]

Thanks Mike. That was an incredibly interesting video that I watched in one sitting. I am not an engineer but even I could see the fault in the design with the way they did those side bulkheads. That was funny though with the ship that leaned regardless what they tried to do to correct it like it had a mind of it’s own. Those German Battleships really did look imposing and impressive. The way the allies sunk the Bismarck deserves it’s own video too.

[@vanhovemare]

Being rammed midcenter by an icebreaker is beyond even the best engineering specs, no?

[@kellypaws]

Quite a bit of this was ‘familiar’ to us as regular viewers, but we still enjoyed it. Which led me to wonder exactly why. It’s because you have a singularly lovely manner. Very, very charming. May you have a good 2025.

[@bababyboo]

A real shame about Somewhere Sinister, I really loved it, but thanks for This is Monsters. Love it. Congrats on your move. I'm glad it's going well.

[@BalrajTakhar-u7u]

The heroism of the officers on the Princess Victoria cannot be ignored especially the radio officer David Broadfoot who stayed at his post right to the end.

[@R.M.S_Titanic1912]

Great video like always and I always enjoy what you make Mike!

[@HighwayCowboy7489]

I have traveled across Lake Michigan on the car ferry S.S. Badger that you showed a picture of! I was so excited to see that photo and recognize a ship i have actually traveled on! 😊

[@normandiebryant6989]

At 1:55, I think we have to give the "Most Crazy Funnels" award to those French pre-dreadnoughts such as the Vergniaud, pictured, with 5 funnels, no two the same.

[@stevehenrys]

A lot older than the ships than are usually featured on this channel but the Swedish warship Wasa is a very notable example of this. She was built in 1628 and sank before she even left Stockholm harbour. It was refloated in 1961 and is in a wonderful museum in Stockholm. A great place to visit.

[@jfangm]

To be fair to H.M.S. Invincible, it was no longer a modern vessel by that point. There was no scenario in which it could have stood toe-to-toe with a modern German battlecruiser and survived.

[@PhilipVanEssendelft-zh7iv]

I don’t think Battle cruisers were cheaper to build- part of their longer length was to hold more machinery so they could go faster. Both the bigger hull and the extra engines were very expensive

[@mschwage]

Do you have any data to back that up?

[@josiahricafrente585]

Robert L. O’Connell’s book, “Sacred Vessels,” mentioned that hydrodynamics dictated that longer narrow hull forms allowed for higher speeds, which was one of the many factors that led to battlecruisers’ hull shapes

[@mikepotter5718]

@@mschwage You can find it on Wikipedia nut if I recall correctly HMAS Australia cost about 20 thousand less than dreadnought.

[@minkle-f1k]

Egg shells armed with sledgehammers

[@tb1271]

Australia was ordered 3 years after Dreadnought entered service, the correct ship to compare it to would be a Colossus-class battleship, though that would make it worse for the battle cruiser as the battleship was a much newer and bigger design. Also, Wikipedia is not a creditable source, also, the price of the ships listed on their page as of today (01/01/25).

[@josephcottrell9983]

Massively entertaining massive episode, Mike - THANKS😁Also, I truly enjoyed your detour into airships a while back; it’s an era of history that surprisingly few people know about. Hope you had a great Holiday season… in the middle of summer 😵‍💫 (you Ozzies are weird…) 🤣👍

[@ChaCha_Boop]

I love my friend Mike Brady! Thanks!

[@Martin48964]

Always the best and well researched Mike!

[@JohnnySmithWhite-wd4ey]

Your channel is very good.

[@Rob.DB.]

Just discovered this wonderful channel & subscribed immediately after watching this excellent video. To those involved with it, you're doing a smashing job with it, & please, keep it up. Thanks again for your brilliantly educational & entertaining content!!

[@Feline_Frenzy53]

Wonderful video, Mike. Thank you.

[@MsDemonBunny]

Whoo! Happy new Year to us with another OD video! 🎉 So Happy new year to you, Mike! 🎉 Thanks for another awesome vid!

[@greenbeenie2]

THANK YOU MIKE BRADEY FOR ALWAYS PRESENTING YOURSELF IN A PROFESSIONAL MANNER. I am an older gentleman and it IS refreshing to see someone in this current generation have some PRIDE in themselves, know that YOUR NAME is worth something. In the old days we made ALL purchases with just a handshake. I WOULD NOT TRUST ANYONE ON A HANDSHAKE today. Your videos are good, well researched, well narrated, well presented. THANK YOU AGAIN KIND SIR, GOD BLESS

[@alvmahn]

Excellent presentation on this particular 'design' topic. Frequent watcher, so this longer format vid stood out as well.

[@ronalddunn291]

Mike should have his own show on TV like the History channel or something like that.👍👉⛴️🚢🛳️

[@marknelson5929]

Another cracking episode, many thanks.

[@RobinFryer-n7h]

Urgent! Just 1 thing. All turbines run in one direction only. Steam Turbine civilian ships, had Ahead turbines, and Astern turbines. Older warships, had, in addition, ‘cruising’ turbines. The gears were only to reduce the rotor RPM to a speed suitable for the screws. There were frequently several turbines, HP & LP. They were complex to operate!

[@cherylcarter4046]

After scrolling for 15 minutes I decided to just relax, learn something and listen to Mike’s voice 🎉

[@2nicnag2]

I now listen to these videos at bedtime, extremely calming to me and then I just go back and start where I last remember the next day.

[@WorldT]

well done on this episode of ship design your knowledge is very valuable thanks for sharing

[@cdfe3388]

Merry Christmas and happy New Year, Mike!

[@ogreunderbridge5204]

Superb quality content as always. Well done.

[@bobbyedwards6176]

@10.25 the turret armor of the HMS Invincible should read a thickness of 7.0078" instead of 9" as displayed...it seems they managed to get the cm correct but not the conversion...

[@ShipHostorian]

Four Minutes After upload??!! Wow I'm early! Keep up the Great Work Mike, your a great man and you have taught me so much!

[@morsteadriders4221]

One of the best naval videos I've seen. Stand proud sir. Your work is excellent 👌

[@geoffburrill9850]

Thanks Mike, another great video.

[@bobroberts6155]

Stranraer is pronounced ‘Stranrar’. Amazing video as usual.

[@besserschreiben9481]

The pronunciation of German ship names is often somewhat queer, although German pronunciation is generally much easier than English.

[@RmsAdriatic4]

My favourite is the RMS Queen Mary.Slow motion sea sickness

[@dehypnotizerz]

I don't know this channel, that was my first video from it, but gotta admit it's a good stuff. Happy New Year!

[@davidcustard9311]

I love your storytelling. Thank you and Happy new year Mike.

[@debbiejarus1723]

Great video, Mike! Thank you. Happy New Year!

[@NatNewstead-uk2nm]

Happy New Year, Mike & the Team at Ocean Liner Designs. Great video as always, extremely informative & with a history lesson we can all understand. Amazing knowledge with diagrams & graphics as well. Thank you.

[@andrewhorsburgh2549]

Just found your site. Really impressed 👍

[@doobat708]

A nice cup of tea and a great video from our friend, Mike Brady, while wind and rain make merry outside. What more could one want?

[@firefox5926]

43:52 not to mention there were stationary in a fog so they should have had all water tight doors shut even before they were struck

[@scofab]

Fascinating as always, thanks again Mike and Happy New Year.

[@railroad9000]

Excellent presentation!

[@BarrettCharlebois]

Thank you for long form content

[@fredherfst8148]

Well researched and told. I'm reminded of the Canadian Pacific Princess line running between Vancouver and Victoria in the early/mid fifties. I was on one once as a kid…very posh. Linen table cloths, actual silverware. Quite impressive as a new 🇱🇺 kid from Amsterdam ✌️

[@RemcovandeLangenberg]

Well said, great archive films, photos and paintings... thank you. Still big fan of the Invincibles, and how they performed in the Battle of the Falklands...

[@GeneralKenobiSIYE]

HMS Tiger, the last battlecruiser design before the Renowns and Hood took 21 hits. Most from battleship caliber guns and it reported ready for action the next day. They had the same armor layout as the Lions and Queen Mary. The difference is that when Beatty told Tiger's commander how to handle the cordite for faster reloading, the captain ignored him, and thus the ship survived more than 21 hits.

[@ozziemederos]

Awesome video Mike well done on the video