Comments by "William Cox" (@WildBillCox13) on "The Drydock - Episode 054A (1/3)" video.

  1. Drach has picked up a torch carried quite ably by NavyReviewer before him. And I'm glad he has. Navyreviewer's coverage of US and IJN ships of WW2 was good and well researched. So is Drach's. Reviewer's stable of fleet elements is truncated, I assume, due to health problems. Drach is now the default Ships Hub for naval enthusiasts.
    8
  2. The idea of an American trade ship expedition to the Pacific is the central theme of my novel Conversations with a Dragon. My take on subject is that there was trade going between Japan and the Americas, leading to the tradition of setting the abbot of Fudarakusanji (it's a real tradition) adrift in a sealed boat at age 60. That boat was "loaded with treasures and crafts, including sword blades and other articles of Japanese manufacture". My feeling is that the temple was trading with the American trade "fleet" of "Ra" type ocean-going boats somewhere off the coast of the Home Islands. In my novel, the outgoing abbot would travel to the Americas as an agent, and the older, returning, abbot would, therefore, be returned, anonymous, and alive. This idea explains a few anomalies of Japanese culture, such as the Tengu. "Bird Men . . . Men who look like birds . . ." The teachers of arcane "arts". Sounds like contemporary Maya/Aztekki (or even Inca) to me. My spin was that the myth of Tengu came about because of an embassy. In this way, certain American traders brought in Japanese steel (which would be long gone today, considering the climate), trading for it in American Silver, Gold, and gems. Those items are valuable enough to set up a smuggling ring around. The story is convoluted in a peculiarly Japanese manner to hide the facts. It's a great novel with an intriguing premise (according to my one vote). ;-)
    4
  3. http://sacredjapan.com/Temple%2001/Fudarakusanji.htm
    2
  4. Here's the good bit: "For over a thousand years, up until the late 19th century, many of the abbots of this temple set out to sea on a small rudderless boat when they turned 60 years old. This practice was called 'Fudaraku Tōkai', and is one of the 'Shashin Gyo' trainings in which priests performed an act of self-sacrifice for the purpose of human salvation. People entrusted the priests to carry their prayers for happiness and enlightenment to Fudaraku (Potala in Sanskrit) Island, Kannon’s Paradise, which was said to lie somewhere off the southern coast."
    2
  5. I don't think the need was to sink X amount of tonnage to incapacitate British resistance by loss of goods. It was not a war against ships, per se. It was a war against Lloyd's of London. As far as the U--Boat war goes, my take is that Germany was most interested in driving up insurance rates to the economically untenable level. Once that occurred, the war would end, simply because no one could afford the insurance for cargoes at sea.
    1