When Battleship Idaho Fired Every Round in Her Magazine

In this episode we're talking about Battleship Idaho and the time that she fired every round in her magazine.
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[@Greenlantern115]

Propellant bag plushies or pillows seems like a gift shop no-brainer.

[@krismurphy7711]

16" shell doorstops...... 5" casing beer mugs.... 40mm flower vase.....20mm pencil holder

[@AdullFiddler-ez7tm]

@@krismurphy7711 Items like ash trays and lighter fashioned from the ends of shell casings and 50 cal machine gun shells were common souvenirs after the war. Lighters made from real hand grenades, etc.

[@mxg75]

The USS Barb, a Gato class submarine, burned through every piece of ammunition on the boat during their last war patrol. The only thing that might have been left was ammo for personal sidearms. They fired every torpedo, every rocket (a first for submarines), every round for all of their deck guns, and resorted to using all their rifle grenades against trawler they encountered late in the patrol. They even expended one of their three scuttling charges when they sent a landing party ashore to blow up a Japanese train. There’s a story as they were reaching for the last few rounds for their 3” main gun, they found that someone had replaced some of their HE rounds with starburst shells. Calling attention to a submarine with a pyrotechnic display is regarded as a bad move, but they fired them trying to drive some holes in their prey.

[@jth877]

Didn't the Barb ram a fishing junk as well? It's been a while since I read Fluckey's book.

[@josephpadula2283]

I was lucky enough to meet the Captain of the Barb Admiral Fluckey and he autographed my copy of this book. He wrote over a paragraph Not just his name. It was an honor!

[@thurin84]

the uss barb was legendary as was her captain lucky fluckey. and she didnt just blow up the train, she sank it when it rolled down the hill into the bay.

[@EtzEchad]

@@jth877 I think it was a warship (warboat?) That patrol was insane.

[@philgiglio7922]

Lucky Flucky...his proudest ' boast' was that Every award that could be awarded to a crew member was... except 1. No purple hearts to any crew. Gene was awarded the Medal of Honor and several Navy Cross's. Hell of a story that last war patrol

[@agenericaccount3935]

This sponsorship makes much more sense than Keeps or Simplysafe. Good job roping it. The books are worth the ask.

[@erikt7795]

Oh-so-casually setting your copy of Friedman's Battleships on a loading rail inside a dang barbette... my copy lives variously on my bookshelf and on my desk!!

[@mammutMK2]

Agree with that, sponsorship that is fitting to the topic is great.

[@kruelunusual6242]

Warspite shot every round in her magazine on D Day…….if memory serves she fired over 300 shells in two days…… needed new guns afterwards….

[@kristoffermangila]

Same thing happened to some of the other ships in the D-day bombardment force. HMS Belfast, for example, emptied her magazines quite a few times, necessitating her return to Portsmouth to reload.

[@CSSVirginia]

And that was with 6 guns. One of her turrets was out of action.

[@kristoffermangila]

Which ship, Warspite?

[@jakeford7688]

So did the TEXAS

[@kristoffermangila]

@@jakeford7688 of course, on her last bombardment mission in Normandy, she did the Gangsta Lean... hehehe!

[@MrBurgerphone1014]

Mag dumping a battleship is so badass

[@robertstone9988]

Spent clip

[@SgtKOnyx]

Into trash?

[@phil4483]

Haruna and Kongo expended 973 14" rounds on Guadalcanal in an hour and a half. They were around the same age as Idaho.

[@johncox2865]

Got no JHPs though…

[@tokencivilian8507]

I suspect it was the pre-war parsimonious budgeting from Congress as to why there wasn't an expenditure of 700+ shells in a single exercise. That said, it's amazing how war loosens the purse strings of even the most stingy Congress. Great episode as always.

[@gak2173]

I was thinking it wa$ also a funding issue as well.

[@johntondre6170]

⁰00⁸⁰⁰⁰0⁰⁰

[@barthoving2053]

Beside limits in funding and even production capacity and reserve stock (although that's of course also a funding issue in the end). I wonder how much shells/powder were in reserve and at what rate it was produced pre-war. Of course wartime production would be ramped up and because of Pearl Harbor the reserve magazines would have increased comparatively.

[@christophertidwell2422]

The great depression mightve had something to do with funding issues too

[@stevevaughn2040]

Battleship sailor here. The firing of 16 inch rounds was an experience I will not forget. We would lock down prior to firing. I was caught on deck and could not get back in and permanently damaged my hearing once off Beirut. When the guns were fired the sound in the ship was loud, followed by the ship skipping, for lack of better word, for several seconds. The ship would calm down and then, and I don't know what caused this, the ship would vibrate like an earthquake was hitting. That would last a few seconds and stop then we would fire again. It was amazing how powerful those rounds were.

[@locolopelocolope]

That was quite an experience; thank you for sharing it. Sorry about your hearing damage. How was it once they noticed you were out all the time?

[@stevevaughn2040]

@@locolopelocolope Out side with the firing? I laid on deck trying to cover my ears. The pressure in the air could knock you down, it isn't fun. I think you can find photos of the sound waves on the ocean on line. The guns like we had on destroyers we're loud fire crackers compared to 16 inch guns being dynamite

[@locolopelocolope]

@@stevevaughn2040 Impressive stories you must have from your days on board

[@ThePsiclone]

sorry to hear you got hearing damage. I SAID SORRY TO HEAR OF YOUR HEARING LOSS! (apologies, that one was too easy and I just couldn't resist it.)

[@kriskelley5216]

Hi- I was on one of the gators off of Beirut (Fort Snelling) - used to watch you guys shoot.

[@Andrew-vj7gw]

Having recently toured the USS Massachusetts, I can relay that during the entire action off Casablanca, USS Massachusetts in 134 salvos fired a total of 786 rounds out of a possible 800, an output of 98%. USS Mass is also proud to have never lost a sailor in conflict with the enemy.

[@stevevaughn2040]

Feb 8 1984 we fired 300 rounds. Introducing a Syrian general to his 72 Virgins

[@robertcottam8824]

But to be fair, USS Massachusetts never went near an enemy… But to be fair, in the Mediterranean theatre of operations, which ‘Murcan ship ever did?

[@panzerdeal8727]

If they shoot , they's enemy...kzbin.info/www/bejne/p6PXqZSgZc96pdU @@robertcottam8824

[@verro9153]

@@robertcottam8824Massachusetts had a gun duel with the unfinished Jean Bart

[@robertcottam8824]

@@verro9153 Yes. I’ve since checked up and indeed ‘the duel’ occurred. I apologise. I normally check everything before I comment. I’ll not be so hasty next time😩 Sincere best wishes.

[@Retired11Z]

Funny! The story of my grandpa in WW2 kind of follows this video. He was a rather large young man when he was drafted into the Navy at 6’3” and 275 lbs. Prior to being drafted he was a farmer and had worked at a flour mill in the late 30’s loading rail cars with 100 pound bags of flour. He was trained as a landing craft operator but when he got to San Diego they assigned him to a Destroyer where he worked on a gun crew loading ammunition.

[@GannonPitre]

Fantastic & informative, as usual, Ryan. :) My Grandpa was a fleet Marine on BB Idaho, an AA gunner, from summer of 42 right through to the treaty signing in Tokyo Bay in 45. He had a particularly hard day off Okinawa. And he came home with a hand-sized piece of Japanese kamikaze aluminum from the plane he (or someone on his side) shot down that day. He told me about the shelling they did at Iwo Jima. Perhaps not emptying the magazines…but…all day, all night. I never heard about the exercises off Washington, except to say, “we went up there.” What i *did* hear about, was when the BB Idaho went up to the Aleutians: Attu & Kiska. They’d put fiberglass insulation all through the ship… And (grandpa said), when they loosed that first main-gun salvo..it ALL WENT TO POWDER. Shivered right off the decks and the uprights. “We were itchy for weeks!”

[@greghickox9508]

My friend Russell served on "Big Mamie" and if I remember correctly they were close to running out of 16" ordinance after engaging Jean Bart and the shore batteries and then engaging there other vessels that were fleeing the port of Casablanca. He was a neighbor and member of my parents Bible study group and I wish I had gotten to know him sooner and had a better recollection of those memories to pass on. I have many friends that served in Vietnam and more modern conflicts but our WW2 and Korean War Vets are passing rapidly.. talk to them and listen to their stories so that we may pass them on. IT MATTERS that their efforts are remembered.

[@wepprop]

If you are familiar with the US Navy's struggles with torpedoes during WWII, all resulting from the failure to realistically test ANY torpedoes, then you should not be surprised at the failure to test sustained firing from battleship guns.

[@bobhealy3519]

Purely local Rhode Island corruption. Lame ass politics and corrupt union leaders. Then it went to service and finally sub skippers had enough and tested them theirselves. And proved they sucked.

[@bobhealy3519]

And they still haul up crap torps off of Goat Island today. 7

[@spinetanium3296]

Apples and oranges. We had thousands of shells in inventory from over the years and they were easier to produce. We also knew they exploded when they hit the target. The torpedoes had such a production backlog they were rolling off the factory floor at around one per day...for the entire fleet, until BUORD started taking heat from Admiral King.

[@TheEvertw]

@@spinetanium3296 Back then, Buord didn't want to spend money on testing. It still doesn't, but now they start wars to test equipment.

[@philgiglio7922]

@@spinetanium3296 BuOrd was the ONLY supply source when the war started. They refused to do any testing because each torpedo cost > $10,000. That was a fortune then and the Navy had an austere budget and had 'other' priorities: hull construction, training costs, salary, fuel , sure there are items I haven't thought of.

[@wacojones8062]

My dad was an Army Medic in the southwest pacific. They had an entire task group of battle ships come in for a full reload. He spent 72 hours monitoring the loading crews passing 5'/38 shells and powder cans with loaded cartridges for them onboard. Amphetamines and salt tablets along with regular water breaks and hasty feeding as needed and ship readiness to receive dictated. Other lines were passing 20mm and 40mm ammo. Those in the lines were from any position that was not critical. The Navy handled the Main Gun projectiles and powder themselves.

[@jaycooper2812]

A small bit of trivia about the U.S.S. New Jersey. During the Vietnam War the New Jersey would play the William Tell Overture ( theme from the Lone Ranger ) before every fire mission. My uncle was a cheif fire control man aboard her during the conflict.

[@ElmCreekSmith]

A friend of mine at college had been in a forward observer team in Vietnam. They spotted a large number of NVA going into a village & not coming out. They called it in & the FSO said their battalion was committed. He started making calls & everyone in range were firing in support of troops in contact. They couldn't even get an airstrike. Then, someone came up on the FSO net asking to confirm the target grid & asked how close they were from the target. After authentication was correct, they verified the grid, the OT line, & range. "One round HE. Shot, over." "Shot, out." "Splash, over." About that time something screamed overhead, & there was a massive explosion in the village. "Splash, out. Fire for effect, over." "Roger, fire for effect. You might want to get under cover. Eight rounds HE." It was like a train screamed overhead, & the village disappeared. They were around 10 miles from the coast, and the rounds came from the New Jersey. Gary might have been letting the beer talk, but he repeated the story in the same words the next weekend.

[@chrisjensen918]

@@ElmCreekSmith sounds alot like a situation the Newport News resolved off Vietnam. A single round hit an ammo dump vc had built a cp on top of. It was found by a single 8" round when a call for fire support came to aide an army unit in an ambush.

[@AL-jo6wh]

Hi Ryan, During the battle of the Falklands the 2 battlecruisers sent to avenge the loss at Coronel fired a very high percentage of their 12in ammunition. The admiral was criticised for the expenditure but his main aim was to sink the German ships and save British lives. He did both.

[@ahseaton8353]

One of the main reasons the British fired so many shells was the near maximum range they used. They were up against smaller German caliber guns on a couple of "heavy" cruisers, so the Brits maneuver to stay within the range of their 12" but out of range of the Germans 8". The other side effect of this was the atrocious accuracy of the Brits at around 3% hits

[@M--ri2ef]

Yes all museum ships should have books like the ones you showed . I think one on the summer class of Destroyer like the Uss Lafferty DD-724 and Uss O'BRIEN DD-725 . Thank you for keeping the great content coming.

[@trolleytrailtacocats6352]

If you know these ships, walked the magazines, ammo handling areas... this narrator is hitting every single topic. The level of knowledge is astounding yet he describes the steps in a way thats simple to understand. Served in the NAVY as guncrew during GQ, and visited several BB and im still learning tidbits from these videos. Keep it coming!!!

[@jwilder47]

If I recall correctly, some of the 7th fleet battleships involved in the Battle of Surigao Strait expended most if not all of their Armor Piercing rounds. However, those ships had been loaded for shore bombardment and thus didn't have the standard mix of shells.

[@tonytrotta9322]

Yes, USS Idaho was not there though. My dad who passed in 2017 at age 92 was on the USS Louisville CA 28 which was the Flagship at that battle with Rear Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf. Here is the break down of shells fired: The total shells fired per battleship: Appendix US Battleship Ammunition at Surigao Strait Ship Capacity Total On-Board AP HC Rounds Expended (all AP) West Virginia 800 375 200 175 93 Maryland 800 685 240 445 48 California 1200 318 240 78 63 Tennessee 1200 664 396 268 69 Mississippi 1200 744 201 543 12 Pennsylvania 1200 453 360 93 Did not fire Data from "Two Ocean War" by S.E. Morrison. The Cruisers fired well over 2000 rounds of 6 inch and 8 inch shells. U.S.S. Louisville fired 333 rounds of 8 inch shells. Take care!

[@thomasmoore8142]

@@tonytrotta9322 again great data, Thanks

[@owenbevans6062]

@@tonytrotta9322 Battleship barrels wear out after so many rounds. Would be interesting to see what ships replaced the rifling after that battle! The Letye Gulf was another famous battle with Taffy 6. Just a History buff!

[@tonytrotta9322]

@@owenbevans6062 My dad told me that the USS Louisville CA 28 - the tips of the barrels were trimmed as the liners started to wear. They did not have time for the Heavy Cruisers or Battleships to have barrels replaced during the Island Bombardments in WW2. You can check on the Deck Log web site for each ship for it is logged in as to how many rounds of each shell was fired and if gun barrels were replaced and they were not.

[@shawnc1016]

@@tonytrotta9322 Barrels were regularly replaced/relined over the course of the war. They were regularly sent back to the U S.

[@pg1171]

I think that every ship that was in combat, of any kind, or was meant to be in combat, deserves to have a book about it! Then again, I am a history sponge, and wold spend the rest of my life reading the said books... Thank you Ryan for doing what you do. I just ran upon a 'bible' that you mentioned a few nights ago at my workplace. I will not mention the name of the company that I work for, but it starts with A and started out as a book seller. The book you mentioned is on my Christmas list! Thank you for all that you do, and keep up the fantastic work that you and other like you are doing!

[@richhoule3462]

The old footage was magnificent! Thanks!

[@busterqhorse4226]

That's funny. I've had that battleship book for 25 years! As soon as you showed it I reached under my desk and pulled it out! Love that book.

[@guiltyofbias8818]

I'm so happy you guys got a sponsorship. I hope this is the start of something great.

[@aldolajak1267]

Love the analogies, "knife fights in a dark room with the US navy having night vision goggles on, so it's a couple of shanks and that's the end of the battle"

[@LittleMissDeath]

My grandpa was on the Idaho. It doesn't seem to be talked about much and my dad has a hard time finding info on it and the men who served, so I'm glad I found this. I'll have to show him next time he visits.

[@rontroy3843]

Thanks for this history! My family and I have been aboard USS New Jersey and are glad that it is an active museum ship. Side note; across the river is the nation's flagship, the SS United States. Fastest commercial ship ever built, because she was designed to keep up with the carriers of her era, post WW2, as she was also a super safe, fully air conditioned troop ship.

[@marioncobaretti2280]

Thankyou , great job as always

[@rdfox76]

Ryan, you need to reread that one a little more closely. Idaho didn't fire *all* her guns to exhaustion, just the *forward* battery, so only 600 shells, not 1200. Even in peacetime, no US warship can be at sea unarmed without an armed escort; in wartime, they weren't going to let her completely empty her magazines under any circumstances.

[@brucelytle1144]

I find that funny and true, at the same time! I was on a Submarine Tender (AS-18), our "main" armament was 1 (yes! One!) M-2 50 cal. ! When we went to sea, we had 2 escorts, that could only be detected by the seagulls riding on their BRA-21 antenna!

[@danknight3801]

Makes sense.

[@johnray7311]

Very nice exposé. Interesting and articulate. Thanks

[@ricksadler797]

Great video thank you 😊

[@casey6556]

“A fraction of the shells were armour piercing and a fraction of them were high-capacity and you’re likely not going to use both in the same style of engagement” * laughs in Samuel B Roberts *

[@casey6556]

(Yes I know the Samuel B Roberts was not a battleship)

[@rwaitt14153]

@@casey6556 Not officially anyways.

[@brendanh8978]

They were even banging star shells into Japanese ships. Which apparently had a pretty good effect as far as starting fires and causing havoc, if nothing else.

[@casey6556]

@@brendanh8978 "Captain, we're all out of shells" "What about the star shells, are they still any good?" "Well yes, but they don't really-" "If they work they're going in the guns" Madlads started chemical fires that burned through the metal of Japanese ships

[@ELCADAROSA]

@@casey6556, I read a book many years ago that included just such a scenario. I think it was a work of fiction, but I could be wrong.

[@duwop544]

Very excellent information, TY

[@Drayke79]

I don't know if this gets said enough but Thank You. Thank You for keeping history alive. I love the videos I always find them interesting and informative. Keep up the great job.

[@daviddudley1655]

Idaho has the furthest inland port from the Pacific Ocean. During the ww1 the Navy had a base a Umatilla Oregon

[@jimtalbott9535]

And during the Cold War, Umatilla also played host to the Army Chemical Weapons depot.

[@andrewpizzino2514]

Just looked on a map. Very far inland

[@DiquerMax]

Huh, I've driven through Umatilla quite a few times. Knew about the chemical weapons, but never knew there used to be a Navy base! That's kinda absurd to think about

[@robertstone9988]

@@andrewpizzino2514 thare is a naval base in indiana called crane naval base. I dont thank it was thare in ww1

[@taylor7772]

Idaho has a naval station in North Idaho. Farragut Naval training station during WW2 and the Navy today does sonar work in lake Pond O’reille.

[@davidkimmel4216]

Very interesting. Thank You

[@doncarr9860]

I freaking love the topic! Earlier I watched a video on 1942 armor piercing 30-06. Ballistics in modern times. Still firing great after all these years. Bullet launching is an unipreacated art and science.

[@johnslaughter5475]

Idaho has a few Navy bases. One is at Lake Pend Oreille, pronounced Ponderay. This is a site where the Navy tests under water acoustics. Then, there is the Naval Reactors Facility in southern Idaho.

[@3995chris]

The navy has a Submarine school in Idaho? Sounds like a government pork barrel project to me. Lol

[@kristoffermangila]

That's for engineers for nuclear reactors in carriers and submarines. I think this was founded in the 50s', around the time USS Nautilus was built or thereabouts.

[@_R-R]

Central Idaho. INL.

[@0623kaboom]

LOL gotta love how the french language gets butchered by americans ... of course the english language as well .. one day maybe they will learn to pronounce a language properly

[@idahorodgersusmc]

Pocatello Idaho used to have "the gun plant" , they used to re-sleeve naval gun barrels ther, ..then sent them via rail to the Arco desert and test fire them at the big southern butte ( the "big butte" for us Idaho natives)...all run by the swabjockeys 😁

[@jamesk.bishop105]

Fascinating. Thanks for the video and also the info on the books. When I was a kid I had a couple of volumes of "US Battleships in Action" published by Squadron and Signal. I've given those to my son who thumbs them as well as I used to. He will love this video.

[@michaelparkhill4765]

thank you for an interesting story. please keep up the good work!

[@NCTarheel55]

That’s a fantastic book. Hopefully looking to get the others in the series.

[@georgedistel1203]

Another old girl , one of the New Mexico class battleships oh the memories, reading about them as a young man.

[@diquadhumungersaur492]

"with the u.s navy having night vision goggles on...." oh my god that kade me nearly spurt my brew outta my mouth.. outstanding Mr Ryan,outstanding... thankyou :-)

[@davidhamilton6990]

Ryan, thanks for the book suggestion! I ordered my own copy this morning. This is a subject that I've been interested in since I was a child..

[@paddyboy57]

Great job, Ryan!

[@hillsidesmoke7592]

Here's something interesting for thought. When I became an M1A1 Abrams crewman back in 95 we never did any sustainained firing either. We were always told that if we were in a major conflict such as with North Korea ,we weren't expected to live more than 20 minutes. So no point 😕

[@ret7army]

Yeah bean counters are full of fertilizer

[@mammutMK2]

The battle with Bismarck is a good example how long a battle can last. Bismarck against hood the example from the other side how fast it can be over

[@absalomdraconis]

Well, if it makes you feel better, any war against N. Korea would have resulted in quick US and S. Korean deaths, followed by massive obliteration of the N. Korean military, followed by deployment of further military assets and whatever happened afterwards with China.

[@WardenWolf]

With modern tank guns and missiles, it's really only a matter of time. We've pretty much hit a stage where any more armor is pointless because it can be assumed you'll be knocked out if hit. It's better to have more mobility and better active protection systems. I can definitely see armor being scaled back to a lower level because, like the Navy, you're reaching a point where it's more important to just not be hit

[@mazz2622]

I also heard you guys weren't trained on your smoke launchers...?

[@claytonpascoe480]

I loves this guy’s doco about this. He’s just got fact and figures that are beyond people like myself, who have got no idea, but very interested.

[@rfant6223]

I read that, on her way to support the landings on Okinawa, the USS New York (USS Texas' sister ship) was attacked by a Japanese sub and hit by a torpedo that bent one of her shafts. Rather than turn around, the crippled New York continued to Okinawa. Upon arrival she immediately opened fire on the Japanese positions and continued at rapid fire with all guns until she emptied her main magazines, then headed for Pear Harbor with empty magazines for repairs. Her Capitan didn't think he should bring ammo back.

[@axorthormgrost]

Don't know about you guys, but I am thankful for people like Brian who are caring for our retired warships. Thanks to all of you who work so hard to take care of our national treasures!

[@tomspencer3048]

Thank you very much. My dad was WW 2 Navy. From the late 1930s to the end of 1945. He was aboard 2 ships that were sunk. One destroyer. One DE.also involved in the first testing of the sub killer weapon known as the hedgehog. Always enjoy your videos. My dad was from a family of 9 boys and 2 girls.7 of 9 boys served in the war. Army.Navy. Marines, and a dive bomber us air corps. Side note he was flying a PBY back from Cuba to his air base in Florida with 13 on board including one female officer.all contact was lost after a mayday transmission instruments not working properly. Again Many Thanks Tom

[@NathanOkun]

When going through various documents in the National Archives on battleship ammo, I stumbled upon a document written by, of all things, the Surgeon General of Pearl Harbor Naval Base in 1942 (I cannot remember the exact date). In it, he criticized the powder magazine procedures than in force on US battleships, implying that the rate of fire of the ships will not be steady, but will possibly be uneven because of the magazine-to-hoist drill used at the time for handling powder bags of the heavy cylinders of nitrocellulose single-based propellant then used as the only propellant for the main guns -- later, some British Cordite double-based powder was bought due to initial slow speed-up or manufacture in the US (it had special warnings as to handling it) and, late in WWII, nitrocellulose/nitroguanidine "flashless" powder was added to help spotters during night battles where the bright flash of the guns was interfering with their spotting of the fall of shot (and the conning tower personnel were also having problems at night trying to see who was shooting at who). The SG saw that the regular procedure was to open a single magazine compartment, keeping the others locked tight, per turret and completely empty that compartment from front to back before closing it and opening the next compartment, doing the same, and again and again. He noted that the first compartment was of course the one closest to the turret and the compartments were further and further away as each was used up. He also noted that the distances inside each compartment were farther and farther from the hoists near the base of the cylindrical barbette that fed the guns. While it was not possible to to speed up the trip from the farther compartments as to the distance the powder bags had to be carried, you could (a) reduce the distance INSIDE each compartment that the powder had to be carried until the last shells were being fired and (b) try to keep the personnel carrying those heavy powder bags from getting tired for as long as possible.\\ Both of the factors (a) and (b) could be completely addressed by the following handling change: Only use HALF of the bags in any compartment at a time before locking it and going to the next one, making sure to only use the powder bags nearest the hatch for this, and keep the system where the compartments used were closest first and farthest last. This had two advantages: (a) The distance travelled between compartment and hoist was minimized for the longest possible time since compartments were arranged such that several were equidistant from the hoist before you had to go to farther-away compartments; and (b) as the personnel finally were getting tired by moving bags from the farther compartment, suddenly they shifted back to the closest one again, giving them a refreshing minimizing of the distances again. Both of these would help to keep the powder-carrying crewmembers as fresh and speedy as possible with the eventual slowing down due to their getting tired delayed for as long as possible, when hopefully the battle would already be over. He sent this to the Commanding Officer of Pearl Harbor, but I do not know if it was ever adopted. Perhaps this test being discussed here was the response?

[@Backwoods_Jake]

Keep up the good work man, i gotta go see New Jersey for sure.

[@TonyDantzler]

Thanks for the video. Thanks to USNI for sponsoring the video!!!!!!!!!!!

[@SuperDare83]

Long time follower Ryan, love your content. I know it's shore bombardment but please say something in recognition of "Can you think of instances of ships firing their guns to nearly empty their magazine": HMS warspite, Normandy landings... famously sailed back home to restock then returned to the battle line Having fired more than 300 shells in just two days, Warspite’s magazines were exhausted, so she retired across the Channel to Portsmouth to load up with more ammunition. When she returned on June 9, she was ordered to support the American beaches, especially Omaha where troops were hard pressed. Warspite’s assistance was badly needed as the U.S. Navy’s bombardment vessels, including the battleship USS Arkansas, were running short of shells. Between 4:12 PM and 6:25 PM, 96 rounds of 15-inch were fired, again without the aid of aircraft spotters or forward observers. Warspite devastated a key enemy artillery position. She was highly praised in a signal from American commanders. All the more impressive considering she'd been devasted by a fritzx guided bomb and one turret was permanently out of action and essentially flooded with concrete. Warspite carries the most battle honours of any ship in the Royal Navy

[@ThePsiclone]

Warspite is worthy of a film all her own. Wouldn't die even when they tried to take her for scrap. And lord knows she took (and dealt) some beatings before that happened. Even she knew scrapping her was a crime and made it as hard for them as possible.

[@davidhair8295]

Thanks!

[@wayupnorth9420]

My family has been in Northern Idaho since the 1870’s. God damn bless the Idaho!

[@jeremydoud4885]

Ryan, I personally would enjoy the New Jersey being covered in a future issue. As well BB-3 Oregon…and many other ships that maybe featured in the future. Thanks for always putting out educational and informative videos.

[@richgeshel8735]

Thanks Ryan! Your videos are educational, entertaining and enlightening! And YES, Big J should get her own book!

[@richd8537]

She does! Battleship New Jersey by Paul Stillwell.

[@sonnyzeitgeist2570]

Excellent.

[@jonnelarsen7728]

Proud to be from Idaho, sums us up pretty well.

[@kuroinamida4630]

Hey Ryan, love the videos and keep up the great work and i would love it if you could tell us a bit about the USS Laffey (DD-459) and her act of bravery standing up against the Japanese Battleship IJN Hiei as this seems to have been a bit forgotten over time, unfortunately

[@Roestikrokette]

thanks a lot for your work! im with the channel since you had 10k subs and its nice to see the channel growing! can you please do a episode about your service time?

[@TheShalomstead]

I would love to see a book made about New Jersey. I grew up outside of NE Philadelphia and it was always the highlight of a trip to the city to set eyes on Battleship New Jersey. My grandfathers (both Navy Veterans) would take me to the Seaport museum and I’ve been onboard multiple times. I even got to experience an overnight encampment with the Liberty Young Marines out of Willow Grove NAS and spent the night in Marine Corps berthing. Now that I’m quite landlocked in the great state of Missouri, I miss being close enough to come visit and bring my four sons to experience it. My eldest son loves to peek over my shoulder while I’m watching these videos.

[@YdnarLah37]

It's great to hear my home state's battleship get some love.

[@gak2173]

Great topic, headed over to the USNI-press....

[@pattesta6891]

My dad, Paul Daniel Testa, was also in Fire Control on the USS Idaho during WWII in the Pacific.

[@johncox2865]

You know, Ryan, I had never considered the sheer weight of a full load out of shells. The shells alone weighed more than some ships! Great video.

[@tobyw9573]

Consider the view from the receiving end of the bombardment!

[@Kangenpower7]

The 1,200 tons of shells and the powder bags would weigh more than a Gato class submarine!

[@Egglicks7]

I wonder if Ryan ever drops the line “Let us know in the comment section down below” in regular conversation… He should use it as a pickup line for sure.

[@0623kaboom]

ok I can see a t shirt with comment section on the bottom ... and a scroll down arrow lol

[@davidleadford6511]

Funny thing about this. During WWII. There was a Naval Ordinance Plant located in Pocatello, Idaho. It serviced all the Naval ships in the Pacific. Including the battleship guns. My Dad was a Marine in WWII and contracted malaria on Guadalcanal. After recovering, he was assigned to the air defense department at the Naval Ordinance Plant. As for myself, I grew up across the road from that plant. The buildings exist today and it's being used as an industrial park.

[@salonebobo]

I know someone who dug one of those projectiles out of the big butte

[@davidleadford6511]

@@salonebobo That would have been a job and a half. Those things are heavy. I read when the that area became the Reactor Testing Station, they found a bunch of those silk bags used to fire the guns, pile them up, and set them off all at once. Apparently, they could see it from Boise.

[@loringchien7053]

I heard all of the supporting Battleships, both USN and RN emptied their magazines at the shore on and right after D-Day in support of the landings. Including the USS Texas flooding some torpedo blisters to increase the range of her guns by listing the ship a few degrees. I think it was claimed the HMS Warspite made three trips to reload.

[@isilder]

Not a naval battle. He does't really mean "ANY circumstances" , he means "under circumstances where the enemy might be in range before you get reloaded and you aren't well screened" . So Normandy Landings, the enemy isn't surprising them, as the enemy had nearly no Navy left, and they were well screened.

[@PalleRasmussen]

And Warspite was a special ship. True aggressive RN spirit.

[@PhuriousStyles]

@@PalleRasmussen agreed. I always said it should be Warspite on the Thames not Belfast though she is impressive in her own right.

[@PalleRasmussen]

@@PhuriousStyles Drachinifel gave me a thing for good old Warspite. I am Danish and specialize more in land warfare (you need to have boots on the ground to win), so to me it was always Rodney and KGV (sinking of Bismarck). And in the US Halsey. Drach gave me a new perspective; Warspite is special, and Ching Lee the best US Admiral. I like your name BTW.

[@PhuriousStyles]

@@PalleRasmussen Drach and this guy are some of best naval historians on the tube. Such passion in their learning my favourite bed time listen between them. And thanks but credit to "boyz in the hood" and my mates for it, they all used to say i was like a young Jason "furious" styles the dad in the movie back in the mid 90's haha

[@Imnotyourdoormat]

Battleship North Carolina BB-55 was similarly stress-tested... They pre-wired every gun on the ship to fire simultaneously on command. The Showboat passed the test alright but she received such extensive damage in the process that no such test was ever carried out again.

[@tobyw9573]

You can imagine the dismay on the receiving end of the 9 rounds!

[@Imnotyourdoormat]

@@tobyw9573 Salvo!!!

[@stevesmith9151]

Line of Battle ships, during the age of sail, specifically in Nelson's time, actually have instances of firing magazines dry.

[@georgewoodward5642]

USS North Carolina website has links to quite a few wartime deck logs. I came across a log entry from Okinawa saying she spent the day firing 5” on shore targets because 16” was expended due to limited unrep schedule (or words to that effect). Don’t know if that really meant ALL expended or all HC. Will have to go back to find the date and specific entry. My Dad’s ship - he was a JO in F Division on 5” from Apr 44 - Saipan, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, bombardment of Honshu and home. Really appreciate the videos!

[@DolFunDolhpinVtuber]

This was very educational.

[@russellcrane5210]

Big J definitely needs its own book in that series!

[@JohnDoe-pv2iu]

You know a video about the procedure that followed when a misfire (or failure to fire) of a 16 inch gun would be Great! It's one thing to clear a stoppage of an M4 but dealing with a failure to fire of a Battleship gun must be a big thing. Evidently it must of been a fairly regular thing for those amazing crewman! Excellent Video! Take care and be safe, John

[@ronalddunn291]

Yes you can I know back 35years ago I worked on a line in a produce plant and my job was standing and walking. I stacked 100and 150 pound bags of potatoes and they were coming to me fast . They were always one waiting for you when you turn around. This type of work is hard so I feel for these men.💪👍

[@danthewolf1997]

You know I actually was looking at that Friedman battleship book a while back, and instantly bought it when I saw a review from Ryan.

[@timothywalker4563]

Yes a book in New Jersey would be great! It would make a good “ museum book” a hot item for the gift shop 🤓

[@robertgutheridge9672]

Should New Jersey get a book made about her? Ryan that's a no brainer. HECK YES

[@robertschultz6922]

Yes!!! New Jersey definitely deserves a naval institute press book of her own!!!! To be honest I am surprised that she doesn't already

[@castlecircle7612]

My Grandpa was FC1 BB42 USS Idaho "The Mighty I" 1942-1945 I grabbed the USS Idaho book i inherited from my grandpa as soon as i saw this. Thank you

[@kmbbmj5857]

I'm thinking in that era, manually handling the powder bags wouldn't have been as big a deal as we'd think. Farm boys were tossing hay and seed/feed bags. RR cars were loaded by hand stacking. So forth. So moving a hundred bags in a couple hours would be a short day for a lot guys back then.

[@dkenner]

If I recall correctly, Warspite emptied her magazines on D-day, returned to England, restocked, went back to Normandy, emptied them a second time, and went back a third time for more ammunition, when they discovered barrel wear was an issue.

[@mfrueh8235]

Oh man...I'm young (45)but I would love to have your job...I find the past fascinating.. Well done👍

[@baronpen]

Would be really cool if New Jersey had one of the USNI volumes.

[@OFCbigduke613]

That loading footage was awesome.

[@castlebravocrypto1615]

I've been watching the channel for a while. I kinda feel like this guy is one of the cool cousins that can get you into locations no one knows about

[@pauld6967]

"Probably as a cost saving measure" is one of the reason my mult-decade career has had me saying "death to the bean counters." It is nauseatingly often the case where we have had to go back and spend three times as much, if not more, to fix things after the bean counters squashed my recommendation at the planning stage and it turns out in the operational stage that I was right.

[@brianwilson3458]

great vid Rz

[@bennyclark5560]

How about the USS North Carolina! What a showing the the Pacific theater!

[@stevetraxler3301]

Yes on your question of adding the BNJ!

[@flamingfrancis]

Back in September 1986 the Mighty USS Missouri visited Sydney, Australia as part of the 75th. year of th Royal Australian Navy. During the celebrations she fired a nightime broadside while outside the Sydney Heads producing an awesome sight. Images of the enormous flashes can be found with a search.

[@billsmotrilla6215]

Thank you so much for these videos. How were the powder bags ignited after the breech was closed?

[@christianweagle6253]

As an engineer, I'd say that this is a really excellent video that gets into the deep operational details that hide behind the 'glamour' of large gun salvos. More like this, please.

[@christianweagle6253]

Also, I'd imagine that they didn't, but a special patch or something indication "we shot our whole load" would be excellent.

[@KKEM641]

There is a book on the New Jersey by Paul Stillwell. He also did one on the Arizona, and one on his home state of Missouri, to which I have a personality signed copy.

[@johnlansing2902]

Thank you for taking such great care of American history .

[@phil6506]

On September 30 1986 the USS Missouri visited Sydney Australia on a good will visit.Before entering Sydney harbour she fired a full broadside using a reduced charge .It was said at the time the force of the broadside moved the ship sideways a considerable distance, I can't remember how far that was.What a site that was ,although I only watched it on the TV news.

[@darvinclement3250]

I didn't realize the barrels were only good for 300 rounds. Very interesting. I lived in a town in Southeast Idaho that relined the battleship barrels. A long way from the coast to send the barrels.

[@kilogram064]

That was Pocatello. The building was still there when I lived there and the place is/was MASSIVE. 😮😮😮

[@seafodder6129]

If you're surprised that the Navy didn't test the gun systems in a "real world" stress test, lemme tell you a little story about the Mk 14 torpedo program...

[@RuralTowner]

That's a good example of why it SHOULD be done...

[@wolfenstein8315]

As someone who lives in Idaho, hell yea!

[@mikc3261]

I like you referring the Norman Friedman books as "Bibles", they definite deserve that name!

[@VKiera]

man, can you imagine how tired all those sailors must have been after that exercise?

[@navyreviewer]

Yes. As he said by the end they were firing one gun at a time. That means the other 11 gun crews were saying "give us a minute."

[@fabu4792]

im a sailor and even today we will have to manually load things onto the ships for hours a time. up and down those ladder wells you see. mostly like food and getting rid of trash and waste like oily waste and hazmat. it fucking blows. people pass out. life sucks. so probably like that but waaay worse