Comments by "Kenneth Dean Miller" (@kennethdeanmiller7324) on "The Drydock - Episode 092" video.

As far as the inaccuracies of 16" 50 guns on the Iowa, it seems as though I recall Admiral Lee saying something about charges not being the proper weight, I think, when he was aboard the USS Washington, and then he reworked the gunnery table for the actual weight of the charges. That in itself shows that the US was having trouble getting charges that were not the proper weight. But it could also be that the charges were not mixed properly as well. Or the combination of both. It's not rocket science & sometimes when people are trying to produce as much as possible as fast as possible they make mistakes without knowing it. Simple as that. Whenever people are a factor, mistakes are possible. There is no way you could give me a cap, let alone make me wear a cap with the initials C-U-N-T-S. IF you handed me such a cap I would hand it right back & say "no thank you!"
1
OMG. Scharnhorst & Warspite are tied for the longest hit from a battleship. But also consider that the Scharnhorst 11" guns at that range isn't doing much compared to Warspites 16" guns at the same range. I'd much rather be aboard the ship that the Scharnhorst hit than the ship Warspite hit. Like the difference of "Hey, we just got hit" & Oh, shit WE JUST GOT HIT!!!
1
I don't think you being upset by the nationalism of NOT giving credit where the credit is due. I DIDN'T KNOW THAT THEY HAD MADE A MOVIE OF THAT. But I remember that it was the Brits that did that in an effort to get the 4th rotor for the Enigma machine. And one of the Brits died in the process AND YES THAT FILM SHOULD HAVE GIVEN THOSE MEN CREDIT, ESPECIALLY THE ONE THAT DIED!!!
1
Wow. Considering the person that asked about Halsey getting the invasion of the Philippines moved from December to October & whether or not the invasion happening in December instead would have been any different. The main thing to remember is that if Taffy 3 hadn't been able to make "the Center force" turn away & go away, there was an American invasion force of about 70,000 soldiers that "the Center force" could have basically MURDERED with a shore bombardment. Not to mention the 5-6 light carriers that had almost a thousand sailors & pilots aboard of each one. And that was the main goal of the USS Johnston & Co was to cover the retreat of the light carriers. And although that wasn't totally accomplished, still the Destroyers & Destroyer Escorts of Taffy 3 along with the aircraft from Taffy 1,2 & 3 did manage to cause the Center force to retreat & even though those Destroyers & Destroyer Escorts were sunk they still saved the lives of over 70k soldiers & about 5k sailors. So when you hear about the USS Johnston and the rest of Taffy 3, they were definitely heros.
1
In looking at the spread of where the Iowa was placing shells... my first question is, did the ship fire any salvos previous to these? Anyone that knows much about guns will tell you that the first "cold bore" shot is not going to be as accurate as the shots that follow. After the barrel gets hot it becomes more accurate. So this grid, if we knew the order in which all of these shots were fired it would tell us a lot more. And considering that it appears to have been more accurate at 36k leads me to believe that the first salvos were at the 26k range. And with the Iowa having 9 guns then each gun is going to have a "cold bore" shot to where it isn't as accurate. Even a sniper has to know his weapon very well to hit a target far away with a cold bore.
1
 @martinkirk3810 Yeah, being able to turn those ships into carriers was the best thing that could have happened with those ships.
1
The spread of the guns of the USS Iowa at 35k yards, my take on it is those were the very first rounds fired. When you first fire guns they are "cold". And if you don't know your guns tendencies with a cold bore then doubtful you will hit anything with your first shot. And since the Iowa has 9 guns there are about 9 shots that are "not dialed in" so to speak. But after that first salvo the guns are now warmed up & will be more consistent. And then when they close to 25k the guns first salvo are a lot closer to the target than the first salvo at 35k. And then it's dialed in even better. My opinion of big guns shooting that far, I think the Iowa did great. Have any other battleships done similar target practice that we can compare with this?
1