Comments by "Kenneth Dean Miller" (@kennethdeanmiller7324) on "The Drydock - Episode 122" video.

  1. Damn straight! Thing about it is that you do need every shell to be it's best because you fire a lot of shells but odds of hitting the target are not great so if only one shell hits the target you need it to do it's worst (or best). And it could dramatically be the difference in life & death for a lot of people. And from what I understand the US bursting charges were less than the UK bursting charges. Furthermore, the Italians had a problem with quality control on their shells. And had they not had that problem some British ships would have probably been hit on numerous occasions. But instead they just killed a bunch of fish in the general vicinity of the British ships.
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  2.  @spencerdawkins  That is hilarious. I got one for you that is even crazier. I'm homelessin the DC Area. During Covid I paid a lady $25 a night to sleep on her couch. Last Thanksgiving her son became homeless and so I was out he was in & this other friend said I could stay with him. His name was Harry & I hadn't known him very long. Well he was schizophrenic and would not let me sleep. Wanted to talk all night. So by Christmas I couldn't take it anymore & left. Well he had a dog, a little pit bull named Daisy. And he had one of those hands free leashes that go around your waist. I had told him that it was dangerous but didn't realize how dangerous. He was getting off the Metro here in VA,, coming back from DC & idk I guess he was looking at his phone & not paying attention. He got off the train but the dog stopped to smell something. They closed the doors & Daisy is still on the train, worst of all the door is closed on the leash, the leash is around his waist and the train drags him the whole length of the platform & he hits his head at the end of the platform. But the leash breaks then. But he dies from the head wounds. But Daisy, the dog was ok. Well I didn't find out about it til a couple of days later, even though when it happened I was getting on a bus at that station when it happened & saw the police & ambulance show up. And it was all on the news. I'm homeless & don't get to see the news. Sorry such a long story but... but a couple of weeks after this happened I have this dream. I rarely ever remember my dreams but I woke up right after this one & that was how I remembered it. OK, Roadrunner & Willy E Coyote! Daisy is the Roadrunner looking out the window of the train, Harry is Willy Coyote standing on the platform. Daisy says BEEP, BEEP & the train takes off. Harry looks down at the leash, makes one of those "Oh, shit" faces & is gone. I told a friend about the dream. She accused me of making it up. And I'm like "why would I?" Idk. Crazy? Right? And just to let ya know I'm NOT making this up. GOOGLE "Death at Dunn Loring Metro" it happened in February.
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  3. One of my favorite stories!!! Considering the question about the "best sense of humor" at 2:40:52 I thought the story you told about Admiral McCain was indeed hilarious! I could almost even picture the Admiral being heaved into the lagoon. And then lighting a cigarette and grinning from ear to ear. In the hot Pacific air getting thrown into the lagoon was probably quite refreshing. A lot of other "uptight" Admirals would have probably had the pilots that heaved him into the water arrested and undergoing disciplinary procedures. But McCain invites them aboard his motor launch & gives them a ride to their ship. Now that is a good natured man! Knowing those men are out risking their very lives every day, and knowing they will respect him more by being good natured about the whole incident is a man being a lot smarter than most realize. Much respect for Admiral McCain. And his lucky hat!
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  4. I don't know why I thought of this, but I was wondering if any shells had ever been fired at such a low projectory that a shell could actually "skip" off of the water? Similar to skipping a flat rock on water. I mean, I know shells are not even close to the shape of a good rock for skipping but I was thinking that it could still be possible considering the speed the shells are moving.
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  5.  @VincentNajger1  Although that wasn't what I was thinking of, you did give me a really good laugh. Idk, for some reason it seems that I remember something about when HMS Rodney was shooting at Bismarck that they said that some of the shells were blowing thru the belt & out of the other side of the ship. And idk, I was thinking that if they were firing at such a low trajectory that it would probably be possible. A shell skipping contest does sound kinda fun though.
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  6. Operation FU -could be considered the Doolittle Raid cuz in essence the Doolittle Raid was a FU to Japanese. And if it weren't for the Doolittle Raid the Battle of Midway may have NOT happened.
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  7. One thing about HMS Hood taking on Bismarck is Hood was over 20 years old. And when a ship sails around in fairly rough seas for that long the metal is going to become fatigued in a lot of places. Evidently, a shell from Bismarck found & exploited a weak spot causing the ship to break itself in half. For those aboard PoW that witnessed the Hood explode & go down in a few mins it must of seemed such a horror to them. And then to only find 3 survivors in the water.
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  8. My personal view on shore bombardment making a huge difference is the Normandy landings on D-Day. Because of all the heavy guns in & around the Normandy beaches it was essential to have the big guns of the battleships engage the big guns on land. And then on Omaha Beach the machine gun triangles the Germans had were tearing our troops to pieces. And the destroyers came as close as they could to the beach to give artillery support so that our troops could actually make it ashore. And Normandy was arguably the largest amphibious landing ever in history. And definitely the most important in the European theatre.
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  9. You were talking about the US Navy being strangled by Congress & that ship design hadn't evolved yet. And considering that, I think it was USS Olympia (??) that the weight of the guns would make the turret go back & forth with the roll of the ship until they figured out how to fix it.
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  10. You made the claim that a modernized HMS Hood may have survived the Battle of the Denmark Strait. And while this is true however the HMS Prince of Wales also having problems with her main guns doesn't make for a good outcome to that battle unless the two British heavy cruisers catch up enough to engage KMS Prince Eugene imo. That way Hood & PoW can concentrate fire on Bismark. And that also should have been done in the original battle & that way the British would have had 2 heavy cruisers against Prince Eugene & 2 battleships against Bismark. (Although some may not consider Hood a battleship, I think her armor, armament & speed tik the right boxes to call her a battleship, although she was one gun short.) And it makes me wonder if Hood does get a refit is any kind of change happening with her armor that might insulate her against "the golden bb" shot straight into the magazine that made her explode. If that is even what made her explode. But the thing about it too is no one could have predicted such an outcome considering how large Hood was. Everyone that saw Hood back then was very impressed by her size. She was what inspired the Lexington imo even though the designs fell way short which was really stupid! She made a better aircraft carrier conversion than she would have ever made a battlecruiser. That's my story & I'm sticking to it!
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  11. The story of Admiral McCain getting chunked into the water is hilarious! I've heard the tale before & told a little bit differently although not by much. I imagine the Admiral was probably already soaking wet from sweating in the heat, so getting doused actually felt cool & refreshing. And the guys were having fun. I'm alright just get my hat.
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