Youtube comments of Helium Road (@RCAvhstape).

  1. Wow, they actually intended to recover the booster stage. In the 1940s. Impressive.
    1100
  2. "Their skipper having lit the fuze, they rowed with considerable enthusiasm." Now that's an understatement.
    881
  3. This turned out to be a sadder story than I expected. Drunks and idiots throwing stuff at him, loses his girlfriend, and gets flashbacks when tanks roll by. I never thought I'd feel sorry for an alligator before.
    872
  4. Drach: mentions "fly-over states" in a slightly negative way Me: watches to see how good Drach's damage control is
    867
  5. Compare how these guys were treated with the way the Imperial Japanese treated the White Russian troops who served with them.
    839
  6. 3 battleship older brothers holding down some cruisers in the schoolyard so their little sister carrier can kick them in the ribs.
    734
  7. There have been incidents where the US Navy has had to shoot down a friendly aircraft when it didn't crash as expected after the crew bailed out, and there is also the USAF "Cornfield Bomber", an F-106 interceptor that belly-landed after the pilot ejected. After landing, the aircraft was in such good shape the Air Force later returned it to service.
    609
  8. Cops = totally useless tax feeders. They'll happily take a paycheck, benefits package, and nice retirement, but ask them to catch a thief caught on 4 camera angles with ID and everything and they "investigate"
    425
  9. It's amazing how fast the German military was able to modernize in just a few short years, with all the prep work done in secret or almost secret.
    358
  10. History Channel: "Ancient Alien Space Travelers" No. Mark Felton: "Nazi Rocket Monkeys" Yes.
    317
  11. "This had an additional advantage in that the British ships could use both broadsides since they'd have targets all around." As Chesty Puller, USMC, said at the Battle of Chosin Reservoir: “They’re on our right, they’re on our left, they’re in front of us, they’re behind us; they can’t get away from us this time.”
    280
  12. "Rifle Broads" would make a good name for a punk band.
    273
  13. "After Tsushima the Russian navy needed new ships..." Good Drachism there.
    243
  14. 9:58 "She seemed, poor woman, to imagine that the French and the Martians might prove very similar." So H G Wells also predicted Drachisms? Amazing.
    237
  15. My vote for Drachism of the Day: "...which very quickly would leave you with no hull, which is generally held to be a disadvantage in the whole Staying Afloat Department."
    218
  16. L'Orient burning near HMS Orion..."Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion"
    184
  17. Back when US carriers had good names from historical ships and battles instead of politician names. Stennis and Ford just don't have the same ring as Wasp, Hornet, Lexington, etc. At least the USN has kept Enterprise in play.
    180
  18. The reason South Dakota didn't get hit by torpedoes is because the intensity of her crew's foul language actually scared off the enemy weapons.
    179
  19. Admiral Ackbar: "Laffey can withstand firepower of that magnitude."
    175
  20. Dr. Hocker looks the part of an old school professor: beard, older style 3 piece suit, and pocket watch chain. Perfect fit for Drach's channel.
    170
  21. 28:50 That painting of US Marines assaulting Derna was painted by Charles Waterhouse, who passed away in 2013. He was a Marine who received a Purple Heart in WWII and became the USMC's only "Artist in Residence" and painted various historical scenes in USMC history from the Continental Marines of the 1770s to US Marines in modern times. I believe the officer depicted here with the red plume holding a musket up and leading his Marines is 1st Lt. Presley O'Bannon, who was later awarded the "sword of the Mamelukes", which serves as the pattern for the current Marine officer's sword, often seen in recruiting ads today. It's a straight blade with an ivory grip, as opposed to the NCO sword, which is a curved blade with a black leather grip.
    167
  22. These ships had quite the fighting record before meeting their fate. I would count them as successful designs certainly.
    145
  23. 3:30 even when the flying saucer is man made and the photographer was involved in building it, you still get only grainy photos. Something about flying discs makes them impervious to photography.
    140
  24. In the Marine Corps we had the 11 General Orders for sentries. Our drill instructors also told us about "General Order 12": To walk my post from flank to flank, and take no shit from any rank.
    135
  25. Sailor 1: "This admiral's a cock-up and he's gonna get us all killed." Sailor 2: " Time for a 'change of command' then."
    129
  26. Probably a Marine, instinctively doing what Marines traditionally did: board and seize enemy ships. Old habits die hard.
    111
  27. Otto Skorzeny is the Most Interesting Criminal Man in the World. Basically a real life Bond villain.
    110
  28. Mac was a flawed figure but for sure he was really good at this sort of thing. The Philippines loved him, too.
    109
  29. The way that Arleigh Burke trained and led his destroyer skippers so that they would perform well in his absence is reminiscent of the way good admirals led their frigate captains in the age of sail.
    101
  30. As an American with relatives who fought in that theater I have no sympathy for the Imperial Japanese forces generally, but this was just sad and wasteful. Over 4000 guys who should've lived to help rebuild Japan had their leaders not foolishly sent them to a horrible meaningless death.
    99
  31. Film won't die completely; it's transitioned from a mass production pro photo medium to an art medium with a smaller market. Some of the bigger companies like Kodak have had a rough time making that switch but other companies, including some new ones, are coming in to fill the demand. Once it stabilizes it'll be a bit more expensive but steadier.
    89
  32. The thought of 600+ guys suddenly killed when their ship goes down is sickening. Naval warfare seems more comfortable than infantry combat, right up until you take a major hit. The losses are staggering.
    86
  33. This is a sneaky way to get Drach to discuss post-1950s era naval combat lol.
    84
  34. Galena's weak armor resulting in her going into situations over her head reminds me of a guy I knew who, when asked if they taught him hand to hand fighting in the Army, replied, "They teach you just enough to get your ass kicked."
    82
  35.  @Edax_Royeaux  The British didn't have to copy them, they just took the originals from the French.
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  36.  @bobharritech8460  Exactly. Not like they put it in a shelter and found it a good home lol. It was probably killed and tested for rabies since the guy got bit.
    76
  37. Mrs. Thatcher didn't like how it was handled, with Reagan not getting her blessing first, but she was happy enough with the outcome. Another scumbag communist dictatorship shut down.
    70
  38. The multiple flight deck level thing may seem like a mistake, but the IJN was on to something, a problem that would later be solved with the angled flight deck, allowing the simultaneous launch and recovery of aircraft we see on modern nuclear-powered supercarriers.
    68
  39. Hunley is technically still "sunk", only in a tank of treated water in a preservation lab.
    67
  40. Stay safe, Drach, America'll be there when you're ready.
    66
  41. For a not-quite-there-yet design she was a very good-looking ship, nice clean lines and oddly modern-looking.
    64
  42.  @Ralph-yn3gr  It probably weighs more than the Swordfish.
    63
  43. Digital replaces film for things like pro photographers, but for personal use and art photography film is fine and preferred by many. Besides, your favorite digital camera will be obsolete shortly. Your favorite film camera may have been made as far back as the 1950s and will still work fine after you are dead, so long as you take care of it properly.
    62
  44.  yeoldebiggetee  Communists are scum of the earth.
    60
  45. As an American I am ambivalent about monarchy, but I've always been impressed by Elizabeth's leadership. She's an actual patriot who believes in service to her realms and people, and if one is to have a king or queen one could certainly do far worse than to have such an outstanding woman as a leader. Let's hope when the time comes her successors can try to measure up. She has been a strong figure in the post-WWII anglosphere, as well as the non-English-speaking western democracies of NATO.
    58
  46. "With some poor clerk being tasked to pull out the first several volumes of notable battles of the Royal Navy and start picking names..." Ah, the price you pay for having an illustrious history.
    58
  47.  @TheSchultinator  US Marines from 1st Btn 14th Marine Regiment used 155mm as direct fire weapons during the Gulf War of 91.
    58
  48. @@badger519 Try not to parade your ignorance of culture so prominently.
    54
  49. Lead from the front. If you're not willing to put yourself at risk, you've got no damn business telling others to do it.
    54
  50. And maybe it means he will be near a naval hospital and survive his heart attack.
    53
  51. "Wore out her guns and had to get new ones." Well now.
    52
  52. Drach the jet-setting historian, living the dream! Safe travels, Drach.
    51
  53. It's just the practical thing to do. Among other things, the US had a responsibility to protect occupied Japan against nearby threats, and to get Japan back on its feet so it could operate independently again. The sooner this could happen the less money the US had to spend and the fewer troops the US had to commit to Japanese security.
    50
  54. Marines are used to it. Get on a ship, and guess where they're sending you based on what kind of gear they issue you lol.
    50
  55. Submarine duty is pretty grim. And war sucks. The skipper of RO-105 was probably a damn good guy, and his crew was a crack team, but down they went.
    50
  56. I had to look up Johnny Carson's wiki page and sure enough, you were talking about THAT Johnny Carson! I never knew he served in the Navy or WWII. Learn something new every day.
    47
  57. Or popping the destroyers into a giant magazine with a giant thumb and firing them at Japan like rifle rounds.
    46
  58.  yeoldebiggetee  You're right to agree with me. Communists are filth, as are those who sympathize with them.
    43
  59. I remember a 90s game called Great Naval Battles: North Atlantic by SSI. I used to love playing the Royal Navy side with 6" cruisers as escorts. While the battleships were slugging it out the speedy cruisers would lay down sheet after sheet of 6" volleys, taking out gun directors and peppering other superstructure items, and starting fires that the Germans had to deal with. Made for a good force multiplier.
    43
  60. "In a way, Nelson was lucky to die at Trafalgar" Reminds me of, "You either die a hero or live long enough to become a villain."
    43
  61. I'd be happy with a strong Japanese navy, run by good guys, allied with America. Shame it wasn't that way 80 years ago.
    41
  62. On the other hand, they were probably happy they weren't treated the way they used to treat occupied people. And from that they learned and their descendants prospered.
    41
  63. They had Japanese scientists telling them that the Americans probably only had enough material for about 3-5 bombs for the moment. And those scientists were correct. The warlords' real mistake was being willing to let the Allies bulldoze the entire country, culture, civilians, everything, knowing they couldn't actually stop the invasion forever, while at the same time a large portion of the country would be overrun by the Soviets and live behind an iron curtain, North Korea style. Had those warlords succeeded, maybe another city or two would've been nuked, but Japan as we know it today would simply not exist.
    41
  64. Sometimes I feel like I am the only viewer of these vids who doesn't care about computer warship sims and just likes to study naval history.
    41
  65. Reminds me of the Stanley Cup hockey playoffs in 1987 when Philadelphia Flyers's Dave Brown (who is Canadian) ran onto the ice in his underwear to join in a giant pre-game brawl with the Montreal Canadiens, where, of course, he was fighting with mostly other Canadian citizens. Hockey was so much fun to watch in the 80s.
    41
  66. "A Reef of Dire Repute" sounds like a good name for a 70s prog rock album
    41
  67. Someone needs to make a Downfall parody that somehow involves Mark Felton. "Hitler Discusses Mark Felton's Successful YouTube Channel"
    39
  68. Telling Marines not to fight is like telling tigers not to eat
    39
  69. Drach, you're killing it lately, collabs with Operations Room, an interview with the captain of the Iowa, and now this, one of the best history interviews I've ever seen, fantastic guest. Keep up the good work! And when you finally get to visit the US you won't have to pay for drinks if you're in my neighborhood.
    39
  70. There's a scene in the miniseries "The Pacific" where Marines on a hill on Guadalcanal are watching the battle at night and assuming that the burning ships in the distance are enemy, not realizing at first that the US Navy is getting its ass handed to it. In the book "Guadalcanal Diary" the Marines describe all the wounded and dead bodies of sailors washing up on shore later.
    39
  71. Whenever I see footage of Patton speaking and hear his voice it always takes me aback, as I am expecting him to sound like George C. Scott.
    38
  72. Smart stewardesses on jetliners do not wear nylons for the same reason.
    38
  73. Kirishima has entered the group Washington has entered the group Kirishima has left the group
    38
  74. "The Anglosphere Cooperation Bingo Card" lol
    38
  75. They were happy they weren't in a Soviet camp.
    35
  76. He also had a most epic naval beard.
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  77. It has outlasted JFK Stadium, the Vet and the Spectrum.
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  78. If you're gonna mutiny, you'd better: a - win, and b - have a plan for what happens afterwards
    34
  79. I agree on the paintjob, Drach, , fortunately we still have Olympia for eye candy. Also, I need to watch this video again just for these magnificent photographs! Some great pics you have here. If only TR knew someday he'd have a nuclear powered supercarrier named for him...
    34
  80. Without Johnny the Beatles might've been a krautrock band.
    34
  81. DC-3's are still in service with various operators today. C-130s have been around about as long as B-52s and Lockheed is still building brand new ones with all the modern goodies. I think aircraft which are good general purpose designs, don't get subjected to huge metal fatigue, and can take upgrades are prone to lasting longer than fancy high performance airplanes that specialize in narrower missions and which take lots of Gs. The B-52 will outlast the B-1B and the B-2 which were built to replace it because it's basically a dump truck full of bombs or cruise missiles that is long lasting and not super expensive to operate.
    33
  82. I love how these videos end in a terse manner with no epilogue. "Ship was torpedoed and magazine exploded and that was the end of that. That's it for this video, thanks for watching..." It gives this series a certain personality.
    33
  83. Admiral Kondo: "We are experts at gunfighting in the dark." Admiral Lee: "Konichiwa."
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  84. Nice Drachism: 29:33 "Lacking only the silver spray-paint to complete the image..." WITNESS ME!!!
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  85.  @johnw5584  It also has a large cargo bay for holding cash deliveries to Iran.
    31
  86.  @bigblue6917  Also in the Vietnam War there is a documented case of a guy (technically an Air America civilian, aka CIA, I think) who shot down a NVA An-2 biplane from the door of a Huey helicopter using an AK-47 rifle.
    31
  87.  @DrLoverLover  What's with the saltiness, someone pee in your cornflakes this morning?
    30
  88. "Hilariously"
    30
  89. Throughout history the most effective military organizations are the ones that reward their leaders for taking initiative instead of standing around waiting to be told what to do or blindly following orders. As long as you understand what your commander's intent is and what goals he wants to achieve, you are free to make decisions based on your vantage point and local knowledge to carry out that intent. In this manner, lower level leaders who are competent will surface quickly while the incompetent will weed themselves out. Micromanagement is not a recipe for success.
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  90.  @nathanadams6648  Thomas the Death Engine
    29
  91.  @SlavicCelery  Even in its heyday History Channel was never this good. There was always filler and recap BS to make sure the whole thing could make it an hour in length, which was really only about 45 min after commercial breaks. Drach actually has to work to keep things from getting too long and nobody here complains when it runs long. I really get tired of all the comparisons of Drach and Mark Felton to History Channel. HC was always bush league compared to these guys.
    29
  92.  @SnakebitSTI  Well, the propulsion seemed to work well enough to punch holes in hulls. Basically the torpedo was just a big solid shot bullet.
    29
  93. I say we bring back the Great White Fleet paint job as seen on the Olympia in Philadelphia. I really want to see an Arleigh Burke destroyer in that scheme.
    29
  94. I'm going to love this series. When I was growing up, I read a book about Old Ironsides that, IIRC, was written for boys, and was very inspired by it. Later when I visited Annapolis and then Constitution herself, I had a deeper perspective of what I was seeing. Sadly, I'm not sure how many younger Americans (or of any age for that matter) are aware of this ship and its relevance to US history, but anyone who enjoys films like Master and Commander, pirate stories, Hornblower books, etc., would probably love to know the real stories about age of sail warfare.
    28
  95. I used to play the old SSI game Great Naval Battles: North Atlantic back in the 90s. It had a thick manual that was also a pretty good history book about WWII Atlantic theater. One of the tactics sections mentions that while cruiser fire won't penetrate battleship armor, it is useful for starting nuisance fires and fore taking out things like gun directors and other sensitive bits above deck. And that's exactly what I used them for. I particularly like 6" gun cruisers, which often had 12 guns each and a rapid rate of fire, so I could form them up, get in close, and pepper the enemy battleships with them, then when my battleships came into range I had the advantage since I was not busy fighting fires and my fire control systems were all still in good shape.
    28
  96.  @gimmethegepgun  "Glass cockpit" means a cockpit that uses lots of video displays and modern electronics as opposed to an old school cockpit using all analog dial instruments. Look up a photo of a Boeing 747 cockpit from 1970s vs. a 747 from recent years to see the difference. It's common to upgrade old aircraft with glass cockpits if they remain in service long enough.
    27
  97.  @T3hderk87  Only Connery could play a Japanese officer with a Scottish accent and the movie goers wouldn't think about it until later.
    27
  98. "Hirohito Cruise Lines is not responsible for lost or stolen property or life."
    26
  99.  @rhysnichols8608  You have made several posts apologizing for the Japanese behavior towards POWs and innocent civilians. If Japan didn't want to get firebombed and nuked, maybe they should've thought about treating civilians humanely and not playing the fanatic on the battlefield. The Japanese civilians who suffered in the Allied campaign deserved better to be sure, but it was the Emperor's job to protect them and he failed by allowing his militant government to wage illegal war, and they failed to stop it when they had the chance by surrendering when the war became unwinnable. The Japanese militarist government was responsible for what happened to their civilians. They made war on civilians directly, using bullets and bayonets to murder women and children just for sport. Your defense of their behavior is despicable.
    26
  100. "The Americans ruined the fun..." Yep, flipped over their lunch tray.
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  101. Sometimes perfect is the enemy of good enough, but in the case of precision navigation there is no real reason not to improve at every opportunity. Ships and aircraft (and likely you in your car) today navigate by use of satellites using atomic clocks, the finest timekeeping devices currently available, and are accurate to within a few feet. Harrison was a hero we should all look up to. Even more so because he didn't let the bastards get him down and never gave up.
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  102. A ship named after an Irishman using potatoes as weapons...hmm...
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  103. As an American who was a child at the time, I never understood the controversy. There was a war, two navies went at it, and one sank the other's cruiser. Seemed pretty simple to me back then. In fact, I never understood why the Brits didn't attack the Argentine naval bases and airfields on the mainland, the US Navy would certainly have done so.
    26
  104. Shangri La was tied up in Philadelphia for many years until they towed down the Delaware River and sold her for scrap. My dad served aboard her and watched them tow her away from the New Jersey side of the river. He wasn't happy.
    26
  105. Jonesy was a good ship's cat, too. He even tried to warn the one guy about the xenomorph sneaking up behind him, other cats would've run. Jones, last surviving crew member of the Nostromo.
    26
  106. @Halepeno 2401 The sad thing is how many Americans today actually side with the communists. Betrayal of their own forefathers and an insult to people like you who stand with liberty,
    25
  107. The 818 looks like it would've been a poor substitute for the Tomcat to me. Dorsal engine intakes cause compressor problems at high angles of attack, which would mean pulling G's in a dogfight would probably not have been feasible. Same thing with the poor cockpit visibility. In the early 60s aircraft were designed for long range interception with missiles and dogfighting was thought to be obsolete. Vietnam showed that to be not the case, so when the Tomcat was designed it had high pilot visibility and was able to handle close in fighting as well as 80+ mile intercepts, so it probably worked out better for the Navy in the end.
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  108. His book is a good read, and a great look into how IJN pilots were trained. Tough bastards.
    25
  109. "The cage is bigger on the inside." So. Disco the parakeet is a Time Lord.
    24
  110. Sailors are always painting and scraping rust anyway, so it's all in a day's work.
    24
  111. Hand me my falconet. It's the one that has bad mother*cker engraved on it.
    24
  112. Now the next stage of evolution would be torpedo zeppelins: flying torpedo battleships!
    24
  113. That boat was the coxswain's responsibility. He was its commander. Nimitz understood that. General Order 12 states clearly, "When on duty, I must walk my post from flank to flank, and take no shit from any rank."
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  114. Yukikaze was a Highlander. There could be only one.
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  115. Legend has it that Kate and its crew are still prowling around each night out there to this day.
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  116. Let's face it, while Enterprise was possibly the most distinguished fighting ship of the Pacific war, the Iowa class battleships take the cake for radiating intimidating POWER to an observer. One can argue that this was their primary effect when they were returned to service in the 80s and 90s. Sailing through the Strait of Hormuz with an Iowa and attending Aegis destroyers and cruisers makes a huge impression on an Iranian sailor despite their age and obsolescence.
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  117. That's really cool.
    23
  118. I spent some time on the Jersey seashore. He wasn't wrong. Damn bugs can steal babies from carriages down there.
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  119. In the US military adultery is against the law. If your wife reports you to you commanding officer it will get looked into and you could be charged with violating the UCMJ.
    22
  120. The USN training film on the Forrestal fire is a great film that teaches a lot of lessons, it was still being shown at least as late as the early 1990s. Wouldn't doubt the Navy still uses it today. One thing to note about that fire is that, even though they made mistakes and didn't know exactly what they were doing, the crew showed great courage in continually running back to fight the fire and try to rescue their buddies, you can see this in the film: a bomb goes off on the flight deck and a bunch of guys run straight into the fire, huge balls.
    22
  121. My rangefinder don't want none unless you got gun hon!
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  122. This was not a topic I had expected Drach to cover!
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  123.  @josephahner3031  Right. Chesty's Marines were surrounded because of McArthur's stupidity, and they had to fight their way out of North Korea back to the coast so the Navy could pick them up at Hungnam. One Marine division vs. 8 Chinese divisions; resulting in one Marine division successfully withdrawing leaving a trail of frozen dead communists behind them. As a parting gift, the US Navy blew up and shelled Hungnam harbor on the way out.
    22
  124. I remember reading that Soviet tank crews in Afghanistan were prone to drinking their own brake fluid.
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  125. "Hitler is upset about Mark Felton's latest YouTube upload."
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  126. It gets overshadowed a lot, but the US Navy's submarines managed to do to Japan what Germany's could not do to the UK, cut them off almost completely from seaborn trade. I find it interesting that two of the Japanese subs sunk in this story were sunk by allied subs, one American and the other Royal Navy. How many sub-on-sub kills were there in WWII I wonder?
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  127. He grabbed a baseball bat, ran into the barn, and beat himself in the face with it for a half hour screaming and crying until he quit breathing. Damndest thing I ever saw, officer!
    21
  128.  @sirrliv  Ladders across to a moving vessel while it's crew is shooting at you? I don't think so. But at a range of only a few meters, infantry can do lots of damage with well aimed rifle fire and crew served machine guns. Even better if they had mortars or other light artillery available. And if they manage to find a way to block the channel and stop the ship from moving, boarding even becomes a non-zero possibility.
    21
  129. Well, HMS Pickle seems to fit the bill.
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  130.  @evensgrey  Sorry, but you have no idea what you're talking about.
    21
  131. If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine, Darth Hirohito.
    21
  132.  @tramlink8544  A lot of Americans dislike him, too.
    20
  133. Great video, my thumbs up is actually for the cool footage of a Convair 990 in action! My dad worked for an airline in the 70s when the Convair 880 and 990 were still in service and known for their great speed. Now largely forgotten, in their day they were great jetliners and pilots used to "race" each other to see if they could shave seconds off the route times in their speedy Convair jetliners.
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  134. "I don't think you understood what I was asking for. What I meant was, 'Go find all of the guns, and put all of them on my ship', is that clear?"
    20
  135.  @therealuncleowen2588  For all their aggression as individual warriors, the IJN failed to be aggressive at key moments.
    20
  136.  @freebeerfordworkers  Sounds like what the Japanese navy is doing today: building carriers capable of operating F-35s and calling them "helicopter destroyers".
    20
  137.  @chadcuckproducer1037  Those aren't privateers since they don't carry a letter of marque from any recognized nation.
    20
  138. @Tired of War And no doubt you are always looking for opportunities to dig at the Yanks.
    20
  139. and also Slayer writes a song about you
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  140.  @overlordmgcover2262  I am guessing he was a Filipino who had served in the US Navy. Was very common and I think may still be to this day. I visited a US Navy ship in the early 90s and there were several Filipinos serving.
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  141. All that security and secrecy and the Soviets had moles working right in the Manhattan Project telling them everything.
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  142.  @Orlunu  Or the "oatmeal bar" thing that came in MRE rations, which was tooth-shatteringly hard and which Marines used to joke about being able to sharpen bayonets with.
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  143. Germans: "Good news, Dutch, you don't have to spend money on your navy or defense anymore!" Dutch: "So what's the bad news?" German army:
    19
  144.  @EneTheGene  Until they do want to create an incident and pick you out as the lucky winner like that guy who was accused of stealing a poster.
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  145. Drach, can you do a video on the observed effectiveness of armor in history? How many battleships or cruisers took hits from enemy shells and were saved by their armor?
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  146. And with that terrible disappointment...
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  147. Destroyer USS Laffey came within 20 feet of Japanese battleship Hiei, raking her with machinegun fire and everything else on deck, wounding Admiral Abe and killing some of his officers. She was then surrounded by enemy ships and went down soon after taking a 14" hit from Hiei, fighting to the death against four enemy ships at a point blank range.
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  148. "Build ships for brawling rather than sniping" somewhere Adm. Nelson smiled.
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  149. Do you even understand the purpose of this video?
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  150. Bear in mind that for artillery pieces every single shot is logged and detailed records kept, so that the barrel liner wear and other details can be fed into calculations for the next salvo. Every single gun tube has its own history. This is true for land-based towed artillery such as the M-198 155mm howitzer as well as naval guns.
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  151. The tale of Maj Harvey makes you dislike Beatty even more intensely.
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  152.  @purplespeckledappleeater8738  Nor does he get enough blame for going along with his war criminal government, so on the balance it's a wash.
    18
  153. He got Epsteined.
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  154. @Samuel Sweetmann And until 2006 Americans had to pay a telegraph tax to fund the Spanish American War of 1898.
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  155. Some survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were surprisingly close to the blasts but survived through the luck of being under or behind the right kind of cover. One woman was interviewed was working in a bunker close to ground zero in Hiroshima and survived, while her friend was killed by being near a window. Of course, not knowing anything about radioactive fallout, they didn't always make the right decisions about where to go or what to do following the blast. And after a multi-bomb attack you are probably doomed even if you make it through the initial blast anyway.
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  156.  @Mr._Infamous  How's your naval doing, seeing as how you gaze at it so frequently?
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  157. DecessusFar If you're gonna wait for the cops to show up to defend you while someone is assaulting or robbing you, you will get about as much help as the guy in video.
    17
  158. A BattleTech thread in a Drach video? I've found my people.
    17
  159. This ship served a long time. I am intrigued by the concept of coastal defense ships. A mini battleship with limited range that is basically meant to act as a mobile coastal battery. INteresting concept.
    17
  160. Drach, I always watch your videos in full screen. As an amateur black and white photographer I love looking at those beautiful photos of proud ships. Cheers from the USA.
    17
  161.  @AWMJoeyjoejoe  Them US Navy rigid airships also beg to differ.
    17
  162.  @afriendofafriend5766  At the Speed of Love
    17
  163. He gets a Winnie the Pooh bear.
    17
  164. It's not just German culture, it's Western culture in general that is under fire.
    16
  165. Have you considered a trip to Ukraine lately? One day you are enjoying normal life with your smart phone and your internet and the next day you are fighting against Russian tanks and taking artillery fire. Civilization is thinner than you think, and we are never more than a few decisions away from seeing it all crumble, decisions made by men you cannot hold accountable from your position as a normal guy working a normal job.
    16
  166. To be Devil's Advocate, McNamara was brought in to get control of the huge cost overruns, which were, and still are, a problem with government contracts. His background was in the Detroit automotive industry, though, and he was ill-suited for making defense policy. He hobbled the services' ability to evolve both technologically and personnel wise, he fucked up the Vietnam War in multiple ways and didn't understand the purpose or needs of the services. He might've made a good advisor to the Sec Def on cost cutting but he never should've had the job.
    16
  167. American nuclear warhead makers: "So how many nuclear warheads do you want?" Late 20th Century USS Ohio: "Yes"
    16
  168. "Almost caught the cruiser SMS Rune before being called away by Beatty." There's that name again lol...
    16
  169. If Barbary pirates were the final Yarrs, does that make the Somali pirates the Yarr's Revenge? (Yes I'm old)
    16
  170.  @apparition13  That's just another way of making my point for me. A given organization may shrink in physical assets (ships), but its bureaucracy will resist any attempt to shrink itself. That's classic government, and the Royal Navy has exhibited similar behavior in past decades.
    16
  171. Agree. Why stop there? Piracy has been big in the news in recent years as well.
    16
  172.  @SudrianTales  Even worse, in the 2010s US Navy destroyers collided with other ships despite Aegis radar systems.
    16
  173.  @connormclernon26  USS Winston Churchill has a billet that is always filled by a Royal Navy officer, too.
    16
  174. The Philippine jungle is super dense, I can totally imagine a plane going unfound for decades out there.
    15
  175. The end of that movie was perhaps the greatest blue ball moment in film history.
    15
  176. There have been at least two spacecraft named Enterprise as well. The first space shuttle orbiter, which was never fitted out for spaceflight and is now in the Intrepid museum in NY City, and VSS Enterprise which was destroyed during a test flight a few years ago, killing one of her two pilots when the feather malfunctioned in supersonic flight. The US Army apparently also had an observation balloon during the Civil War named Enterprise.
    15
  177. Daspit was radiating so much heat from anger, that he could've ordered his boat to pull up to the Tonan Maru while he stood on the bow, and just ignited the target's fuel from his angry stare.
    15
  178. Lately the USN has been naming LHAs and LHDs after battles. Amphibious assault ships that can also fulfill the role of small carriers using Harriers, F-35s, and helicopters.
    15
  179. 13:55 That Vice Admiral Mayo guy looks like someone who knocks down brick walls with his fists as a hobby.
    15
  180. Hunley: Amateurs!
    15
  181. Drach, I think we just missed the five year anniversary of your channel, didn't we? Just wanted to say how much we appreciate you and the work you do here. You've come a long way since the early robot voice videos. Here's to a long and successful career as a naval historian!
    15
  182. This video is great. I means, this all happened over 200 years ago, but it's still sad when you heard about the fates of the famous men and ships involved, and so cheerful to see good old Constitution still serving today, that photo with her in formation with Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyers and the Blue Angels' Hornet jets is fantastic.
    15
  183.  @bigblue6917  The incident I mentioned, if you search it up, is actually documented on the CIA's website, and it names the pilot and the guy with the rifle.
    15
  184. Because you are in the sites of Ching Lee. He's looking at you through his binoculars right now. And you know what comes next, pal.
    15
  185. You need spotter planes, right? Here ya go!
    15
  186. I love that we all just accept "Picard" as a name equally as valid as "Patrick Steward".
    14
  187. German officer: "Rockets? That's not fair!" US Army: "I'm not sure sure you understand how this works."
    14
  188.  @fuferito  Same thing I thought when Saving Private Ryan came out, and the characters were all dropping F bombs nonstop. Troops cursed like that in the 90s, of course, but my grandparents were WWII generation and, sure, they knew all the foul language we all know, but they held it back a lot more. When my grandfather dropped foul language on somebody it was way more effective and shocking.
    14
  189. The pauses to allow us to hear the jet noise are much appreciated.
    14
  190. Navy docs who serve in Marine units are considered as Marines by the Marines they serve with. Especially the ones who go to USMC School of Infantry. Brothers.
    14
  191. Warm-hearted dictators don't last long.
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  192. Sort of. The automated ones look much more sinister and robotic. I like them.
    14
  193.  @willrichards9482  Hirohito was also spared because MacArthur understood that to keep the Japanese as allies after the war it was important not to destroy their culture and history. Tojo's militaristic government was recent history, but the monarchy's history goes back so far that it's prehistoric legend. Whatever else you could say about MacArthur, he really knew how to run an occupation and turn a former enemy into an ally; he did it first with the Philippines and then with Japan.
    14
  194.  wargent99  Anyone who thinks Canadian soldiers are violent murderers should move to Venezuela. Or Seattle.
    14
  195. McArthur and Patton were both solid combat generals while also being prima donnas at the same time, which meant that more pragmatic and down to earth guys like Ike and Nimitz hated dealing with them but couldn't get rid of them because they were too good at their jobs, despite being insufferable. Monty was the same way, with the added complication of being the hero of America's ally and therefore even harder to get away from for diplomatic reasons.
    14
  196. Go get my battleship. It's the one that says "Bad Motherf**ker" on it.
    14
  197.  @b-17gflyingfortress6  Bearn was not a museum ship nor did she have the kind of illustrious history that Constitution has, in fact she was almost useless, but she found a way to stay just useful enough to somebody that she made it into the 1960s, which is the OP's point. But of course you knew that.
    14
  198. Good point, as this was before sharks were equipped with frickin' laser beams, too.
    14
  199. US military in Korea 1950: "Gen. MacArthur will get us home by Christmas!"
    14
  200. Beware the man with cauliflower ears who wears a pink shirt.
    14
  201.  @jukebox_heroperson3994  "They're shooting at us with goddamn battleships now. Fuck this, I'm gonna surrender to that drone up there and hope they see it." - Iraqi soldier, probably.
    14
  202.  @Raptor747  Not when Ching Lee is in charge of gunnery.
    14
  203. When I was growing up me and my brother used to play with a great dane down the street named Sandy. Sandy was a happy girl who loved when the neighborhood kids hopped her owner's fence into her yard to play, but as she ran past us she would wap us in the thighs with her wagging tail and it was like someone smacking you with a leather belt. She also liked to rough house with us, and as we were like 8-12 year old kids this usually meant we were eating dirt pretty hard. Great dog, she was.
    14
  204. Coastal defense ships. Royal Navy: "You mean ships for losers?"
    14
  205. Those bandits learned how the FAFO equation works.
    13
  206.  @AllenSymonds  Strange, comfortable world you live in.
    13
  207. If you want to find out who is man's best friend try this: take your dog and your wife and lock them both in the trunk of your car. Wait two hours and then open the trunk. Guess which one is happy to see you. Who's a good boy!
    13
  208.  @IrishCarney  On the plus side, the money allowed us to protect Puerto Rico from being retaken by the ever-dangerous Spanish Armada for the last 110 years.
    13
  209.  @johnlawson2984  Alien Junk Pickers
    13
  210. Sure, he was the bad guy, but I kind of have a grudging admiration for him. He survived being in U-boats, survived ground combat, survived a plane crash, survived stomach issues, lived to be 105, tried to give his sinking victims some time to abandon ship. The fact that he pissed off Hitler wins him some points, too.
    13
  211. I think in Eugene Sledge's book he mentions how they shot up these tanks with lots of rifle and machine gun fire and eventually scored a few lucky hits.
    13
  212. ​ @ianmuir3640  Saudi Arabia has nuclear weapons? Since when?
    13
  213. 6:50 Now is time on Sprockets when we dance. I am your host, Dieter.
    13
  214. As an American, I can see why the American sailors took a liking to this Evans guy. He'd have fit right in.
    13
  215. This is the best explanation of this battle I've seen anywhere. Capt. Broke sounds like a fine officer. And the savagery! These age of sail battles are always viewed so romantically, with the officers being so polite to each other, but when the shooting starts, they are as bloody and brutal as anything seen in any war ever. I can't imagine serving on one of these ships, especially if I were already an experienced veteran and knew what was about to happen to the guys around me and possibly myself. That takes a lot of bravery to focus on doing your job in that situation.
    13
  216. Drachism of the Day
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  217.  @danagiles5100  Constellation is coming back as the leader of a new class of frigates, bearing the name of one of the USN's original frigates from the 1700s.
    13
  218. It's the most Gilligan's Island thing ever.
    13
  219. "Do a barrel roll!"
    13
  220. Sheean died a warrior's death.
    13
  221. "The prospect of a sky that wasn't mostly gray would surely lure the British beyond their borders..." Drachism of the Day perhaps?
    13
  222. Would I be far off base to say that Midway was the "decisive battle" and the USN performed the proper follow up actions to gain control of the sea from that point forward? Even though the USN won it almost by accident...
    13
  223. Or the fact that they only really got to stress test them in combat, and that they actually worked fine for a good 30 or 40 salvos or so before they started running into problems. Very informative.
    13
  224.  @hernerweisenberg7052  BTW, when you say "Connie" that's usually a nickname for the Constellation, not the Constitution. The more recent aircraft carrier Constellation was referred to as "Connie" by many sailors and Marines in the 80s and 90s.
    13
  225.  @treystephens6166 If you're a gentile it means you're a good guy. If you're a Philistine, it means the opposite.
    12
  226. On the flip side, if the aliens had done so maybe we'd have been spared the Disney Star Wars sequels.
    12
  227.  @kenikmatanterlarang9700  Go watch Mark's last video on Japan's White troops. Really sad.
    12
  228. Attacking polar bears with melee weapons...that's not the kind of guy you want to pick a fight with when he has a fleet of warships.
    12
  229. Post war when your uncle wanted someone to go out fishing with I bet he had no takers.
    12
  230. The frustration ran deep.
    12
  231.  @TheJuggtron  More admirals than ships is because of the growth of bureaucracy more than technology.
    12
  232.  @foximacentauri7891  Let's keep the politics to ourselves.
    12
  233.  @rackstraw  As US Marine snipers say, "Run if you want. You'll only die tired."
    12
  234. In contrast to WWI, WWII Germany just never seemed to get its naval game together. Not enough time to arm up, a flawed strategy based on commerce raiding, and meddling by officials. Their submarine arm was the only thing they managed to gain traction with, and the effectiveness of that waned as the war dragged on and Allied tech and industry overwhelmed it.
    12
  235. All of the "Dark XXX" channels are crap. Except for his early "Dark 5" channel, which was kind of fun in an X-Files "don't take this serious" kind of way, but even that was low effort cheap stuff. Also, that guy's voice is hugely annoying.
    12
  236. Very cool, I had no idea somebody was building attack subs before the end of WWII, very ahead of their time.
    12
  237. I was always horrified by the notion of being sucked INTO the ship if it sank. Imagine being anywhere near the larger openings, hanger bay doors, large hatchways, etc., when water starts gushing into them. You're going in with it, into a pitch-dark cavernous interior, unable to tell which way is up or which way is out. I never really thought about the suction of the ship itself, so add that to my list of things to have nightmares about. That sinking scene from the film Titanic looks like Hollywood hype drama but maybe it's not as wrong as you think.
    12
  238. 36:10 My dad served on the Shangri La CVA-38 in the 1960s. By then she had gotten the angle deck refit and was operating F-8 Crusaders, A-1 Skyraiders, and A-4 Skyhawks. Decommisioned in the early 70s, she languished in Philadelphia until the late 80s or early 90s when my dad stood on New Jersey bank of the Delaware River and watched them tow away his old ship for scrap.
    12
  239.  @manuelroca5289  There is a recent Mark Felton video about her wartime service.
    11
  240.  @davidhoran7116  WWI German pilots were seen as sort of modern day knights, riding their aerial steeds out to do single combat with the enemy's knights. Pilots are still kind of that way to this day. Some of the famous German pilots were actual aristocracy, the prime example being The Red Baron. WWI aerial combat was also brutal, often with no chance to bail out and at ranges close enough to see the opponents' eyes. So it makes some sense that successful WWI pilots would rise to higher positions.
    11
  241. Kassel was also where Hessian regiments were raised to go fight for the British in the American War for Independence.
    11
  242. Get rid of your Marines? How stupid is that?
    11
  243. Mitsubishi license-built their version of the F-16, the F2. So the Mitsubishi name is still on modern fighter planes.
    11
  244.  @kittehgo  Also set one up near Loch Ness.
    11
  245. Now it'd be livestreamed. And some disloyal political asshat in the Pentagon would leak it to the media beforehand.
    11
  246. He's the king of the world
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  247. Honey badger don't care.
    11
  248. Arleigh Burkes being the exception IMO.
    11
  249. Wow, that would suck. It's like fishing with dynamite, except you get to be the fish this time.
    11
  250.  @lancerevell5979  Over the 1MC every damned day lol.
    11
  251. That was literally the mindset of many Americans right up until the Declaration of Independence was signed; even after the war had been going on for months they still hoped to reconcile with the king, their main problem was with Parliament.
    11
  252. Aren't the Americans building another six frigates today? Maybe more than 6...
    11
  253. "...and then the captain had an idea." Combined arms, thinking like a Marine.
    11
  254. Because Russia is one of the few places where you can still get them mass produced. RCA tubes, for example, are high quality, but they quit making them decades ago and the company doesn't even exist except as a brand name now.
    11
  255. The Japanese seemed to be a lot nicer to POWs in this war then they would be in the 1940s.
    11
  256. I grew up in the 70s and 80s listening to this, moved away years ago, but listening to it now makes me feel like I have to get to bed so I can be up for school in the morning, but I want to stay up and switch on Johnny Carson instead.
    11
  257. This is kind of sad to hear Burt Ward, sounds like he really was close.
    10
  258.  @hreedesh  There was a limo with ribbons on it, so this was probably the wedding day.
    10
  259. For once I actually knew this before Mark's video. The National Electronics Museum near Baltimore, Maryland has a display about the British radar and the Germans' failed signal reconnaissance mission using an airship as a sensor platform. It's also worth mentioning that the US Navy operated a large number of non-rigid airships (blimps) for antisubmarine patrols during WWII, and unmanned tethered blimps ("aerostats") are in limited use today for surveillance duties.
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  260. And also the part where the wounded German ex-soldier is trying to find a ride home so the US soldier flags down a couple in a civilian car and talks them into giving the German guy a lift.
    10
  261. More a case of "If you can't afford to replace it, you're stuck with it."
    10
  262. Maybe so, but I have a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell you. Only serious inquiries, please. And while we're at it, if you act now, you can get your own square foot of land on Luna, to get started on a moon estate your grandkids will thank you for some day.
    10
  263. A few sandwiches short of a picnic.
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  264. 35:55 Has this guy been keeping a live 88mm shell all these years?! I hope it's been demilled.
    10
  265. @JZ's BFF WTF is your problem?
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  266. Serving on a ship always seems safer and more comfortable than serving as an infantryman, right up until the ship takes a catastrophic hit, catches fire, rolls over, and sinks into ice cold or shark-infested waters in pitch black darkness. Somewhere during that sequence, the thought of hiding in a foxhole from enemy rifle fire stops sounding like such a bad alternative.
    10
  267.  @ΣτελιοςΠεππας  It's Philly, you have to be careful who you're yelling at.
    10
  268.  @BHuang92  You know that had to be sweet revenge, especially for anyone who had been present at Pearl Harbor. You look at these photos and the faces of those sailors and you know what they must all be thinking at that time: we're going to try to clean up this mess and then we're going to pick a fight with the bastards who did this.
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  269.  @ramal5708  CONUS was never in any serious danger of invasion or massed bomber attack. Sneaking subs up in onesies or twosies to lob a bunch of smaller caliber shells is not like rolling up on Los Angeles, San Francisco, or New York with a line of battleships and dropping 15 or 18 inch shells the way the US Navy was doing to Japan in 1945. Nor did the axis powers ever have a heavy bomber force or the basing options to support it like the Americans and Brits had.
    10
  270.  @EneTheGene  He may have actually stolen the poster. The response was nevertheless a bit extreme, given that he ultimately died as a result.
    10
  271. That hideous cockpit alone makes it pass the ugly test.
    10
  272.  @KG-jm1zl  Okay, just looked it up. They are planning to buy 20 new frigates, the new Constellation class, and using some of the original sailing frigate names.
    10
  273. No one expects the Spanish gun sub!
    10
  274. I forget which channel I found first, but if you view one you probably get recommendations to see the other. Mark Felton's channel is another one.
    10
  275. All I could think about was Stewie Griffin's teddy bear.
    10
  276.  @neilscotter5191  As soon as Queen Starsha's plans for the wave motion drive are received, Japan can get on that and Shinano can help save the Earth.
    10
  277. Wow, so much salt in these replies. Some people can't let a compliment pass.
    10
  278. Like finding the Bat cave.
    9
  279. IIRC the asymmetrical intakes on the newer 737 variants are because the engine diameter is large and a round intake won't fit underneath the low wing of a 737. Mentour Pilot did a video on this a while ago. It's also the reason the engines had to be shifted forward, resulting in the need for the ill-fated software system to prevent excessive pitching up.
    9
  280. Sounds like she learned her lesson in the end and straightened out later on in life. She was lucky she got the chance instead of a long drop and a short stop.
    9
  281.  @Goldenspiderducck  Or Monty Python
    9
  282. They sound awesome.
    9
  283.  @kfeltenberger  I'm guessing he could've mopped the floor with John Wayne, too.
    9
  284.  Doctor Blome  There are laws for war. Which is ironic since war is the abrogation of law in order to get what you want through the use of force rather than legal means.
    9
  285.  @adampaula1863  Things kind of slow at the BLM riot today?
    9
  286.  john bloggs  US Army Rangers trace their history back to Robert Rogers' Rangers in the 1750s when Americans were still part of the British Empire. There were ranger units of both sides of the American Revolution (Rogers himself remained loyal to the crown) and later, on both sides of the American Civil War. Today there are ranger units in both the US and Canadian armies.
    9
  287.  @frequentlycynical642  Convention or not, if your captors thought there was danger from submarines in stopping to pick you up, you'd be left to die.
    9
  288. All it needs is some planar array antennae.
    9
  289. Because all the market supports now are sequels to awful superhero films.
    9
  290.  @gokbay3057  Doesn't matter, since you're evaluating the gun as if it were in a 30° capable turret.
    9
  291.  @insignificantgnat9334  Sounds like a scene from Spaceballs. Or maybe Star Wars Episode VIII, which was also a satire of Star Wars.
    9
  292. USS Winston Churchill
    9
  293.  @newsguy5241  Maybe the Iranian navy will name a ship for Obama. He paid them enough.
    9
  294.  @mmogaddict  That could describe a beer can.
    9
  295. They knew the risk and did their duty. God bless them.
    9
  296.  @andrewstrongman305  Admiral Nelson would disagree. He'd be proud to see them get in and mix it up at close range with the Martian bastards.
    9
  297.  @yaldabaoth2  Correct. As anyone who watches swords and sandals films knows, all Romans spoke with British accents!
    9
  298. There are areas of Camden and Philly that could be improved with an odd 16" shell or two, to be honest.
    9
  299. Then there's USS Nevada, which survived Pearl Harbor and even being nuked.
    9
  300.  @johnlansing2902  Cool. But you don't have to keep reposting that over and over.
    9
  301. Too angry to die? This makes Warspite sound Scottish.
    9
  302. "Good luck setting fire to graphite." Windscale nuclear reactor has entered the chat.
    9
  303.  @Belligerent_Herald  The forward end of the vehicle deck on the Nassau was also a great amusement park ride in heavy seas. RIP LHA-4!
    9
  304. I was involved in field artillery years ago, and it was similar stuff. Each gun has its own logbook, and everything that is done with that weapon gets recorded. How many shells it fired, what the charges were, etc. These are all inputs to the computations, along with wind, temperature, humidity, and so on. The computations are mostly done with software, but, at least in my time, all artillerymen are trained to do things old school using firing tables and slide rule computers, which don't ever break down. The gunnery, when done right, is supper accurate. Batteries would sometimes write their name in the sky using illumination rounds and timed fusing at the end of a field exercise. The scariest thing I saw was a regimental time on target, when the entire 14th Marine artillery regiment timed all their guns to hit the same target at the same moment, resulting in a massive mushroom cloud. I'd hate to be on the wrong end of that.
    9
  305.  @bkjeong4302  Yes, I am well aware of your hatred of battleships reading your comments on this channel, but if you read my comment, I'm not talking about actual destructive capability so much as perception. In a ceremony, looks are more important than unseen technological edge.
    9
  306. You need to introduce yourself to a map, dear boy.
    9
  307.  @jimmyseaver3647  Look at photos of the aircraft carrier Kuznetsov during her recent voyage through the Med with smoke belching from her stack as if she were burning coal.
    9
  308. I'm shocked to find a Casablanca reference in the comments! Shocked!
    9
  309. Well, the crew didn't really get a chance to decide one way or the other. When you're working below decks in the galley or shoveling coal or whatever it's not like you get any say whatsoever in what happens to you.
    9
  310. "We got 2 guys. You got 6 guys. Looks like you better go home and get some more guys."
    9
  311.  APCOPILOT  You have a problem with Jews, do you?
    8
  312. It's a gigantic radar target, especially with that radial engine. The last thing you want is to be a soldier riding in the back of one of these things in any kind of hostile environment, as it's basically dead meat. DC-3 is also a great airplane, but there's a reason the US no longer uses them in any kind of a combat role. These old planes are great for civilian utility work, but useless in warfare. The fact that the Russians are basically throwing their An-2's in the garbage by using them as decoys for enemy missiles tells you how useless they are.
    8
  313. Nukes. Only need to be close.
    8
  314. The Smithsonian Udvar-Hazy Center is a great museum. There is a second floor walkway with a glass window where you can see into the shop area where the technicians are doing restoration work on various aircraft and spacecraft, up off to the side of the space shuttle Discovery.
    8
  315. It's an exaggeration to say the Swordfish "took out" Bismarck, but it's true that a Swordfish struck Bismarck's rudder with a torpedo and crippled her long enough for the RN surface combatants to catch her and finish her off.
    8
  316.  @AudieHolland  Combat footage of Marines in the Pacific is real as hell.
    8
  317.  @richardhart9204  Trust me, chief. Thar be dragons.
    8
  318.  @KuhanVincek  which were junk and never went into service, unlike the Harrier, which has seen extensive combat and is still in service with the USMC today.
    8
  319.  @ahorsewithnoname643  The US squadrons that operated Mosquitos were given a new role as heavy bomber squadrons and equipped with B-29's.
    8
  320.  @GreatDataVideos  So, my comment about left wing terrorism in the 70s got deleted. Weird.
    8
  321.  @eamonnprunty  Nav aids used by the enemy's sea and air forces are absolutely legitimate military targets.
    8
  322. Backed up by the future queen with a bolt action rifle.
    8
  323. Thanks for not doing what usually happens to guys like us: left to drown, freeze to death, or be eaten by sharks. Or in some cases, machinegunned to death for fun.
    8
  324. He got the words "God damn!" out while it was still mid air.
    8
  325.  @aaditya4954  Doesn't happen often, but happy this time I was.
    8
  326. "Haunted pencil" lol gonna have to remember that one.
    8
  327. Frigate captains were crazy aggressive, kind of like destroyer skippers in WWII. Always out looking for trouble.
    8
  328. Well, you can get Yamato into vacuum for real after you install the Wave Motion Drive.
    8
  329. 5:28 looks like the USN was taking lessons from the RN about how to make your lookouts as miserable as possible through careful placement of the crow's nest.
    8
  330. RN should have an HMS Motörhead. That beats 'em all.
    8
  331. HMS Can-o-Whoopass
    8
  332. These days we'd have an emoticon class. HMS :-), HMS >:-), etc.
    8
  333. Any French naval subject is Drachism gold.
    8
  334.  @robertf3479  The Russians also lack a tradition of professional NCOs / petty officers.
    8
  335. That's about the same for any technology, peaking just as it's about to be replaced. Piston-engined aircraft such as the P-51 vs. jets, CRT picture tubes vs. flat panel displays, high tech steam locomotives vs. diesel electric, etc.
    8
  336. He's a Time Lord, obviously. His TARDIS is probably shaped like a crow's nest.
    8
  337. Drach's coat buttons up over a number of other duties.
    8
  338.  @the_undead  To complete this analysis, we need an estimate on the mass of a tripod.
    8
  339. Everybody but IJN vets I'd guess.
    8
  340. Marines don't steal things, we "recon" them.
    8
  341. I find that any vessel can get disagreeable quickly when you get seasick.
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  342. There may well be a million Pearl Harbor videos today, Drach, but yours is the one we wanted most.
    8
  343. Reservists often get as much practical training as regulars, since most of the time as a regular is spent doing routine maintenance and scrubbing toilets and the like anyway. Also, a reservist's job is harder because he generally has a "real" life outside the military, a real job that pays his bills and rent, and has to take time out of that to do his reserve duty. I didn't get that until I went from active duty to reserve and found out what a handful life can be with all that going on.
    8
  344. Maybe it's just me, but it seems like picking a fight with a battleship called "Warspite" feels like a good way to get seven shades of shyte knocked out of you. But what do I know.
    8
  345. 30:58 video like that always amazes me to see how fast one of these giant battleships actually can move. The fact that the Iowa class is able to keep up with modern nuclear carriers is telling; the term "fast battleship" is well deserved.
    8
  346.  @model-man7802  I don't own the hotel rooms I stay in, but that doesn't mean I shit all over the furniture. It sounds to me like this was done deliberately to spite the Brits and Americans who lent them the vessels.
    8
  347.  @alphabravodelta42  You really should stop peppering every thread with your defense of attacks on civilians.
    8
  348. Lafayette's first real combat was at Brandywine, where Cornwallis won. Lafayette got shot in the leg there, too.
    7
  349. @lati long "Instant sunshine" is now solidly a part of my lexicon.
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  350. So then, trying to find the ashes in a cemetery would be like the Ecstasy of Gold scene in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
    7
  351. Underrated comment.
    7
  352. Well, then watch it.
    7
  353. Lean hard on the feather merchants.
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  354. In the next war, Germans will march to combat to the tune of Rammstein, Nina, Scorpions, and Kraftwerk.
    7
  355.  @Schedel99342  I thought I read where they start up the engines on a regular basis to keep them from sitting too long? A big airplane sitting in water like that outdoors must be a ton of maintenance.
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  356. Nobody stole anything from you. Canberras and Harriers were built in the US under license. And your economy tanked because as soon as the war was over you got stupid and kicked Churchill out of office and replaced him with a bunch of socialists, who immediately set about killing your aerospace industry, self-inflicted damage from which you've yet to recover.
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  357. During wartime, any company that had factory production capacity was used to build war materials, period. Every one, in every country. In the US, Remington Rand typewriter company was making rifles for example. WWII was an industrial war, and if your company tried to say "no" to your government, well your leadership would be replaced with someone more compliant. There was no whining about stuff like this; that was for the post-war Boomers and their kids living in the comfort bought for them by the blood of their fathers.
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  358. Mothra!
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  359. Often we have to explain to people exactly why we fought a Cold War to resist communism. Here is yet another reason.
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  360.  @cia5649 Wow, you're right, come to think of it. A less grumpy Ford.
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  361.  @KetsaKunta  Oliver Cromwell
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  362. 8:50 I think the equation you're looking for is kinetic energy KE = 0.5 mv^2. The energy of a projectile increases linearly with mass, but with the square of velocity. That's why a small caliber rifle bullet can do more damage than a heavier, slower pistol bullet, since rifles tend to have much higher muzzle velocities.
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  363. Hmm...makes me think of a river boat design, think "The Sand Pebbles", festooned with GE miniguns and a 2 or 3 Vulcan cannons. Maybe add in a 30mm Avenger gun from an A-10 for good measure. "Never get out of the boat."
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  364. USS Remington, USS Winchester, USS Colt, USS John Moses Browning
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  365. That wooshing sound when it fires.
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  366.  @SlavicCelery  Some of the stuff that used to be on public TV holds up, like Secrets of the Dead and Frontline.
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  367. I love how this starts right out with a Drachism.
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  368.  D D  Buh bye
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  369. With Phantoms on the deck! Eph-Phours Phorever!
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  370. Great. Now hopefully someday we will retake the Pueblo from North Korea, put her back in service just long enough to sail her home, and paint a giant middle finger to communists on her stern as she stands out to sea. Pueblo is the second oldest commissioned ship in the USN after Constitution, because the Navy refuses to strike her from the list until she is either recaptured, returned, or destroyed.
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  371. If Marines had been a part of the operation, it would be called "reconning it".
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  372. Lee Marvin played the NCO, I remember that scene.
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  373. Go sit in the corner and think about what you've done here.
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  374.  @ahwilson1744  In the US Marine Corps the phrase is "recon'd"
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  375. I was going to ask the same thing, do we know who that guy was? There is a famous photograph of a Japanese aircraft in combat in the Solomons and the pilot was identified. Last time I checked that guy is now like a hundred years old and still flying glider tow planes in Japan!
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  376. Drach love your videos. Wish my dad were still around, he served on USS Shangri La in the jet era, was big into naval history, and loved to read Alexander Kent novels. He'd be going through all your videos and loving it were he still here. Cheers.
    7
  377. Many of the Essex class were refitted with this stuff as well and served into the 1970s.
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  378. The title of this video, is this...a Firefly reference? Is Drach a Browncoat?!
    7
  379. Several Douglas Reeman novels are about smaller ships like destroyers and such, and they make for great stories.
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  380. As a kid I built a Revell model kit of a Zero and loved the look of it, that sleek shape and the dark green and grey paint scheme. Always liked this airplane.
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  381.  @chrisclark9209  Every US destroyer skipper: "At least I got chicken."
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  382. That is why, as an American, I refrain from hating on the French. Without them the USA might never have been. Though I admit, they are just so damn...French. It's no wonder the US and UK eventually got so close again.
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  383.  @tbg3889  Probably need DOS Box to run it. If you can find a copy of the manual it's worth a look. In the 90s computer games came with good manuals.
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  384.  @christiank.bagleyofficial736  Quite the opposite in most organizations, I'm afraid.
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  385.  @mitchellneu  Well considering the ridiculous war crimes Tavington committed in that stupid film it's a good thing they changed his name. Tarleton was known to be ruthless but he never locked people in churches and burned them alive. I'm an American and I thought that movie was embarrassing the way it painted the Brits as barbarians.
    6
  386.  @davidrogers4917  Bikes going up mountains? Easier on foot.
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  387.  @edwardd9702  The US also tried using older B-17s as TV-guided heavy cruise missiles. A human flight crew would fly them until close to the target, then bail out. From there an operator in another aircraft would guide the bomber to the target. Future President Kennedy's brother was killed in one of the contraptions when it blew up before he jumped out. The whole thing was deemed a stupid idea and shut down after failing to work well.
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  388.  @MrSniperdude01  More like the boys at Bell Labs who created the transistor. Von Braun's rockets were cool but couldn't hit the broad side of a battleship at 50 paces.
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  389. I loved that show as a kid watching it with my dad. Later I read Pappy's book and found out how much of the show was fictionalized but it's still great and certainly less grim than Pappy's account of life as a POW. His squadron today is now VMA-214 and flies Harriers; soon to be replaced by the F-35B. As the number of flyable WWII aircraft dwindles, we will never see a show like that again. That footage of the engines turning up is something no CGI will ever get right.
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  390. 2-10-0 wheel configuration would be called a "decapod" in the US. As for spare parts, a good shop can make their own parts from scratch. In Pennsylvania the Strasburg Railroad is a tourist train operation that has a fully functioning shop and operates several locomotives, as well as doing contract work for other tourist rail companies who operate steam engines. Strasburg is a very impressive operation, and on summer days they might be operating 2 or 3 engines at the same time. They also make some money on the side hauling revenue freight cars from the Norfolk Southern main line down to Strasburg, using steam engines for the job occasionally.
    6
  391.  @rhysnichols8608  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_war_crimes I realize posting this link is pointless for you, since you've already decided to be a cheerleader for a brutal regime, but maybe some of the others reading this thread can compare what they read there, including the cited sources, with the pro-militant Japanese comments you've made on this video.
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  392. The only replacement for a DC-3 is another DC-3.
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  393.  @rzr2ffe325  Yes, von Braun and many of his V2 team wound up building missiles for the US Army .The Redstone missile that carried the first American astronauts on suborbital flights was an evolution of the V2.
    6
  394. Slight correction: Joe wasn't born; he was hatched.
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  395. True, but losing the Phantoms was also a bad thing, since they have a huge speed, radar and weapons advantage over the SHAR and can strike BVR. When defending ships from Exocet-equipped attackers these things are important. Had the Royal Navy been fighting the Soviets, their intended adversary, instead of Argentina, they'd have been facing heavy bombers and waves of large cruise missiles such as the Kitchen. For that you really need an F-4, preferably an F-14. And yes, you need AEW so you can see far enough out.
    6
  396.  @The_Viscount  Yep. Plus for shore bombardment or fire support for Marines, it's hard to beat guns that can hit an area over and over again for hours without running out of ammo, plus 5" shells are way cheaper than any guided missile.
    6
  397. That's funny, but if a man goes overboard, jumping in after him is probably a bad idea, for a number of reasons.
    6
  398. It's a thing that explodes.
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  399.  @abnurtharn2927  It would have the Rush song Necromancer as its walk-on music.
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  400. That footage of the Los Angeles maneuvering above the surface fleet is really cool, first I've seen it.
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  401. @Aqua Fyre Yes, but he's asking how they do it.
    6
  402.  @Dave_Sisson  Also fishing poles for when they run out of food. Those guys thought of everything!
    6
  403. She's not dead, you've just stunned her.
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  404. Destroyers fascinate me. Multipurpose platforms that often get overlooked despite their usefulness and lethality. Lots of experimentation and technology advancement.
    6
  405. Cool. I just looked up that Roman bridge on google maps. Seems there is a golf course just west of it that kind of makes it pointless now, I am guess the golf course is built over the old stream bed and the water course was rerouted?
    6
  406. That photo at 5:15 is beautiful. I love the little details like the cranes, railroad equipment, and the guy riding the bike along the dockyard at the left.
    6
  407. It seems ironic that for a force as infamously ferocious as the Imperial Japanese military, the IJN seemed to lack aggression at key moments in the war.
    6
  408.  @terrygardner3031  Sounds about right, King was kind of a knob.
    6
  409. Isn't this also the ship whose skipper and crew saluted Johnston as she was sinking and her crew abandoning? That's a pretty big deal for the WWII IJN to not only not just machine gun you in the water but to actually salute you for your valor.
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  410.  @jon-paulfilkins7820  Ivanova is God.
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  411. Better, yet, Yamato refitted with the wave motion gun. Take the fight to Mars and make the bastards pay for ever leaving their planet.
    6
  412.  @lilidutour3617  It fascinates me to see how cheapo the US Navy can be about some things while blowing piles of cash on other things. Reminds you that it is a government agency after all lol.
    6
  413. My dad served on USS Shangri La CV-38 in the 60s and said this was a known technique for handling a ship in tight quarters when there was no other option, but they hated to do it because it was very rough on the aircraft engines.
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  414. That is an awesome film. And probably the only film we will ever get to see with Panther jets.
    6
  415. I remember in the 80s when ideas of turning the Iowas into hybrid battleship/STOVL carriers was floated about, and the hideous nature of it was offensive to the eye. I had no idea the IJN had actually done this for real. And I see it was a dumb idea in the 1940s as well.
    6
  416. From the Appalachian hills of Pennsylvania, can confirm: Alcohol and firepower is a fun combination.
    6
  417.  @Deilwynna  The new carrier is also named for Elizabeth I, not the current queen.
    6
  418. Agree on continuing this. Drach, you should do a video on the submarine that was lost with Thomas Dolby's uncle on it, during a secret mission.
    6
  419.  @simonfrederiksen104  It was based on a smart remark by FDR IIRC.
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  420. They'd screw it up.
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  421. The real question is how much does it cost to maintain them in mothballs vs. what do you get for scrapping them.
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  422. The other good Drachism in this video: "Gasoline versions were available if you particularly liked being set on fire."
    6
  423. It's worse in the US Navy, where we name our spanking new nuclear carriers after politicians, some of whom are pretty obscure (how much of the public has any idea who John Stennis was?) or even still alive, instead of giving them proper USN names like Hornet, Ticonderoga, Wasp, Intrepid, etc. At least they plan to name a new one Enterprise again. All of our cool names go to amphibs and cruisers, which is okay, but still... At least the new frigates on order are to be given names from the old sailing frigates, such as Constellation.
    6
  424. Submarines were so slow compared to surface ships, and couldn't ripple off so many torpedoes. A sub is more like a sniper while one of these is like a line formation of riflemen firing volleys,
    6
  425.  @MonkeyJedi99  The sweet, sweet taste of JP-5!
    6
  426. Nelson cast a long shadow.
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  427. Drach, since this vid is on the Delaware River, do you plan to do a video on the actions of the Royal Navy on the Delaware during the American War for Independence? I'm thinking of the explosion of HMS Augusta in 1777 in particular, when the American river fortifications were being contested.
    6
  428. 7:31 If I was one of those guys trying to pose for a photo I'd be certain to slide off the barrel, hit my head on the rail on the way down and then plop overboard to drown unconscious.
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  429. Hauling freight may not be as exciting as naval service, but it also means less chance to get shot in the face.
    6
  430.  @rickyphillips7630 That's insane. How can you expect a man to go into battle knowing his bosses are betting against him. Even worse, it's not his skin alone on the line, he's got a fleet of sailors and Marines being sent into the meatgrinder under his command. To lose means lots of those guys pay the price.
    6
  431.  @marhawkman303  In order to save Earth from the Comet Empire, duh!
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  432. "In this video, Drach demonstrates the importance of not being on fire." I like this Mythbustery type of video Drach, and would like to see a bigger demonstration/experiment, but please make sure you take the right precautions and get some expert help with bigger stuff!
    6
  433. It was like a South Park Bro-down.
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  434. I love that they named the dredger Nicollo Machiavelli.
    5
  435. Regarding the M2, John Browning didn't design disposable junk.
    5
  436. The tanks all passed their emissions tests until they were found to be cheating lol.
    5
  437.  @irix5093  Sure, an 80 year old with a single broken down tank was going to overthrow the government. Same way a bunch of yahoos were pulling off an "insurrection" on Jan 6 with some scrounged flagpoles and fire extinguishers.
    5
  438. Imagine tuning in your aerial radio and hearing Heston's voice over the net.
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  439. The RAF has ground troops. Huh, never knew that.
    5
  440.  @treystephens6166  It might not need a drop to go off; if there's a loose part in there and the thing is tilted just the right way, you're suddenly having a bad day. On top of that, some explosive and incendiary chemicals can get unstable after years of sitting and maybe being exposed to moisture, etc. These things are scary as hell.
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  441. Amazing how many sorties are required to score a critical hit on a big bridge in the days before precision guided weapons. The USAF experienced this trying to destroy the Dragon's Jaw bridge in Vietnam, repeatedly bombing it to no effect, until one day they showed up with a single laser-guided bomb and nailed it in one shot.
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  442. They actually had those Vienna sausage abominations in the early 40s?
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  443. I believe the single-engine MiG-21 is the most produced fighter jet in history, with tons of export orders and license-built versions made outside the USSR, and has an extensive combat history in many theaters, as opposed to the EE Lightning, which was 2-engined and never produced in large numbers or widely exported, if ever.
    5
  444.  @tomhenry897  I thought Dr. Indiana Jones recovered it and it's in an American warehouse with the Ark.
    5
  445. Man, Mark's been killing it lately!
    5
  446.  @GLAZERSOUT-oz8kh  Early war they lasted a long time. Serving in one later in the war was almost a death sentence. The allies had cracked the codes as well as creating much better anti-submarine warfare technology.
    5
  447. Wait, somebody tell me where I sign up to get paid by NASA for telling people the earth is round! I could use a few extra bucks.
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  448.  @crazydave951  Is Salty Cracker as bad a dude as Corn Pop?
    5
  449. It's also why Sputnik being first into orbit was actually a good thing for the West, since it established the precedent that vehicles in orbit may overfly any country's airspace at any time, thus allowing the US to get what Ike wanted once the satellite technology was caught up.
    5
  450. Mark has commanded you to study. No getting out of it now.
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  451.  @Paladin1873  Yes, Houston, home of Johnson Spaceflight Center lol
    5
  452. It's more like an unrep with the oiler just pumping the rum across in the hoses.
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  453. Imagine if the Japanese Empire had just decided not to be bad guys and made peace with the Americans and Nationalist Chinese. Imagine how different the Cold War would've played out and how secure the Pacific would be today with the combined might of the USN, IJN, and RAN. Could've, would've, should've.
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  454. Decades ago I sailed above the Arctic Circle in February. I remember that steel gray water, and how absolutely blue it was next to the ship's hull when you looked straight down into it. I also remember thinking that if were to foolishly fall overboard I was almost certainly going to cash in my chips, even if the lookouts spotted me immediately. When the wind kicked up the spray on your face was crazy cold. It was beautiful in a brutal kind of way, actually.
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  455. A good US Army or Marine artillery unit can paint their battery's name in the sky using illumination rounds and time fuses, and they are deadly accurate. As for fire control computing, the tabular and graphical firing tables will do the job, but of course digital computers are today used for fire direction control.
    5
  456.  @abrahamdozer6273  It does seem odd that a couple of islands in the middle of nowhere are the scene of so many battles.
    5
  457.  @NesconProductions  That's not true, the last USS Yorktown was a Ticonderoga class cruiser CG-48 which entered service in the 80s and is now retired. Once a ship has been stricken from the List its name is eligible for use even if the ship survives as a museum or whatever. Constellation is an example; the mid-1800s frigate still exists but the name has been used again.
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  458.  @marcm.  This is the first time I've ever heard this word "smelkalka", but it tracks with everything we've seen in Russian and Soviet history. Makes you wonder how they ever became a superpower with that kind of thinking.
    5
  459.  @dantreadwell7421  no, it's "impossibru!"
    5
  460.  @notshapedforsportivetricks2912  Well, we Americans have been to war with the Canadians twice, and I agree, we couldn't ask for a nicer enemy. Even though they beat us twice they don't gloat over it. Nowadays we just restrict our fighting to hockey games. More black eyes and less sucking chest wounds is good news all around.
    5
  461. Here is the US Navy film on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6NnfRT_OZA
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  462. "Boats" aren't really "ships", either.
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  463. Modern advancements in technology over the last few decades are mostly in the realm of electronics and software, so a well-maintained ship can last a very long time with upgrades.
    5
  464. I grew up not far from there, Drach, wish I'd known you were coming by. I've been aboard Olympia a few times, but I've never been to the engine or boiler rooms. Those steam engines are absolutely beautiful things, what I'd give to see them in action again someday. If I had Musk/Bezos/Gates money I'd make good and sure that Olympia was taken care of. She's the only one of her type and era left in the world, and she's a much-overlooked important link in the history of the US Navy.
    5
  465.  Raging S  Marblehead is also where John Glover's regiment came from, the guys who handled the boats that got Washington's army across the Delaware River to attack Trenton on Christmas 1776. The guys manning the row boats in the famous painting are Marbleheaders.
    5
  466. The US Constitution does authorize Congress to issue letters of marque to privateers, but I haven't had any luck getting one yet. You never know.
    5
  467. Swords and sandals and seawater!
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  468. Sherrod's book on Tarawa is a good read.
    5
  469.  @jimmyseaver3647  Yeah, I need to find this Family Guy clip
    5
  470. Add to that the 1980s tech on the New Jersey, another 40 years later. Tomahawk missile launchers and Phalanx gun mounts.
    5
  471.  @bf1701  "You just lost the war. You know that, right?" "Yeah. So anyway we got these plans for a cool new class of battleships." "You just lost a war because of carriers, you know that right?" "Yeah, right. So here, check out these cool battleships we're gonna build." "The occupation has dismantled your government and naval establishment. You know that, right?" "Right, yeah. So anyway, check out these awesome battleship designs!"
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  472.  @Frostfly  It's awesome, watch at soonest opportunity.
    5
  473. Most naval ships have a machine shop aboard. In the old days, sailing ships each had a carpenter for the same reason.
    5
  474.  @silverjohn6037  In the WWII victory parades in the US, there were a small number of American Civil War veterans in the cars waving at crowds. Guys who had served when they were teenagers with muzzle-loaded muskets had lived long enough to see jet fighters, digital computers, and nuclear weapons. I think the 1870s to 1970s was the most explosive tech period.
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  475. Re. combining services: The US recently created a separate Space Force because the USAF wasn't adequately prioritizing space, which is to be expected since their main focus is strategic air power. As a separate service the Space Force now has its own budget to manage and doesn't have to compete with the F-35 or the next gen bomber, etc. Within the Department of the Navy, the USMC has its own air component, which, while still part of naval aviation, is focused on supporting its own Marines on the ground, freeing Navy air power to focus on actual naval warfare. Combining things may look good on paper, and sometimes it is good, but often it's more complicated than just saving money (looking at you, Robert McNamara.)
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  476. I've been aboard the Jerz. I remember standing in front of the turret looking at that ridiculously thick armor on the face, and then looking at the armored conning tower, again armored like crazy. And I remembered thinking that they needed all that armor in order to stand a chance against other ships much like her. She looked like she could take a small nuke and just walk it off, yet there were things out there to be feared, like Yamato's guns, and modern antiship missiles. Hence the 20mm CWIS Phalanx armament and the Tomahawk missile launchers and, I think, Sea Sparrow missile launchers, and a flotilla of guided missile destroyers to keep her company.
    5
  477. This is old school naval combat, ships so close the crews can see each others' faces and exchanging fire with rifles and pistols. Brutal.
    5
  478. Tremendous work you've done here, Drach. I've never seen this color footage of the salvage efforts. My grandfather worked in a shipyard in WWII and it makes me proud of him to see this. Very emotional moments when those battleships rose from the bottom with their crews on deck.
    5
  479.  @whyjnot420  Yes, to the Brits, the American war at sea was pretty much a side show distracting them from the main effort against the French. The US at the time was no real threat the way that Napoleon was.
    5
  480. Well, there have been ships named for Baron Von Steuben, and an entire class of nuclear ballistic missile subs was named for Lafayette.
    5
  481.  @tbg3889  It was called Great Naval Battles: North Atlantic. There was a follow-on to it that was about the Pacific war but it wasn't as good as North Atlantic.
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  482. Heart is still around. They do the best Zeppelin covers thanks to Ann's voice.
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  483. Drachism of the day: "There was also an armoured conning tower, if you wanted to go and die in a giant bell"
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  484. I have a Panasonic radio I picked up in an antique shop. It was made in Japan in 1970 or 71, and it's a solid piece of tech. Now all these Japanese brands, like many US brands, are made outside of the brand's home country and the QC is a bit spotty at times.
    5
  485.  @capmidnite  Yes, a wristwatch is still the most convenient way to track time, especially if your hands are full. A phone is a fancy pocketwatch.
    5
  486. Also Jim O'Brien (RIP)
    5
  487. Dr. Felton, I have a few really old cameras, one dating back to the 1930s. Sometimes the leather cases and straps get old start to rot. I repair the ones I can using an upholstery needle and thread but others, like the straps, I absolutely no longer trust. I almost lost a camera due to a strap almost completely severing, so though I keep the straps for looks at home, I always use a modern strap when I take the cameras out to use them. I noticed your U-Boat binos still have that leather strap with cracks in it; I would advise getting a modern nylon replacement to use outdoors.
    5
  488.  @obelic71  I believe there is a section of land in France that is considered a toxic waste zone because of heavy chemical weapons use there. There are even places in the US where signs warn people to watch out for Civil War ordnance.
    5
  489. Sounds like you're volunteering to make your own documentary. Can't wait until it comes out.
    4
  490.  @777Lxxx  For now, maybe. Until DIsney locks it away. Get your DVD before it's too late.
    4
  491. The guy who shoots the film is usually not the one who develops it.
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  492.  @duartesimoes508  It would also be woke, with the Nimitz refusing to "victimize" the IJN.
    4
  493. @Carlton B One does not simply retire from YouTube!
    4
  494.  @ndenise3460  With aircraft, an airframe that doesn't experience high G loads and thus almost no metal fatigue will last almost forever. Something like a fighter plane will never last as long as a DC-3 because a fighter's job is to pull Gs, while a DC-3 just lumbers along hauling freight. Like a pickup truck, as long as you keep corrosion under control and have spare parts for the mechanicals, a DC-3 will last forever. It's also why B-52's have such a long airframe life.
    4
  495. Thanks for the info, Julian.
    4
  496. So this Woody guy was stealing from dead air crews? Pretty low. I'm guessing that wasn't in his contract with the Army.
    4
  497.  @TheWolfsnack  Or maybe it was just the circumstances of the particular incident? Making a prick-waving comment like yours while talking about friendly troops accidentally killing each other is in poor taste.
    4
  498. I heard they were making them in WWI and called "trench radios".
    4
  499. I thought they are trained more the way the US Secret Service is, as a bodyguard force to protect VIPs.
    4
  500.  @nicholasmuro1742  I'm gonna type this nice and slow so you can read it: The Navy is not the Department of the Navy. What part of this do you not understand? The Coast Guard has an anchor, too. They are not part of the Navy either.
    4
  501.  @nicholasmuro1742  Incorrect, the Marines are part of the Department of the Navy. The Navy is a separate service under the same department.
    4
  502. The Japanese navy still uses 4 engine turboprop seaplanes, the Sin Maywa US-2. They aren't Martin Mars big, but they are big enough to impress you if see one operating up close.
    4
  503.  @timf2279  US military bases are anti-gun because the officers in the chain of command all the way up to the Pentagon are very much into covering their asses when it comes to accidents and crime within their commands. A good way to get passed over for promotion or even cashiered is to have someone in your command get shot, or to have too many DUIs or a high accident rate. It's the same reason there are strict rules about riding motorcycles or bicycles on base, speed limits are absurdly low on base, and so on. It is ironic that a place set aside to train and house people expected to act courageously is also a place that everyone must act like a cowardly milquetoast, but that's bureaucracy and politics for you. On top of that, the military tends to be made up of young men who tend to take lots of risks like driving fast and getting into bar fights (or GASP! volunteering for combat duty!), and that is a bureaucrat's nightmare.
    4
  504. Well, we know he got to see New York at night.
    4
  505. Was it British intelligence? They were top notch in that period. They also found and "turned" German agents in Britain in a similar kind of story.
    4
  506. Bragging about having more soldiers than Germany would be a thing in 1940, but today it's kind of pointless. The Rhode Island National Guard probably has more soldiers than Germany now.
    4
  507. It was the way Boeing built planes in the days before MCAS.
    4
  508.  @daveyboy_  also yes
    4
  509. It's not just speed that makes it dangerous, it's the powerful long range radar and fire control systems, which can track and engage up to 6 targets simultaneously. The Phoenix missile was built for this system and has a range of something like 80 nm, but who knows if the Iranian home-built replacement missile is as capable. They made it look like a Phoenix anyway.
    4
  510. And if they got sent home to Korea, just before the Korean War broke out in 1950, more's the bad luck for those blokes.
    4
  511. You're probably now on a government watchlist for writing a non-supportive letter to your representative.
    4
  512.  @Easy-Eight  Grumman is now part of Northrop Grumman and doing quite well building rockets and spacecraft.
    4
  513. Reporters ask such stupid questions.
    4
  514. Goose!
    4
  515. My comment got deleted by the youtube bot bureaucracy.
    4
  516. When I was taking flying lessons, my instructor jokingly said, "We like avoid using phrases like 'crash course' and 'dead reckoning' if possible."
    4
  517. Well, modern US LHA/LHD ships carry F-35 fighters (or Harriers as long as they are still in service), and they are clearly "amphibious assault ships" and not carriers in the classical sense.
    4
  518. 7:10 HMS Carcass. Have we a contender for worst ship name ever? Is there a USS Corpse or IJN Cadaver out there?
    4
  519. I wonder if the confusion about which gun mount was forward was due to many photographs being shot on plates which are left-right reversed back then, as opposed to film which is easy to print in the correct orientation. The image of Abraham Lincoln everyone is most familiar with is actually what he looked like in a mirror.
    4
  520. And a bunch of guys wearing dress uniforms despite the fact that their "ship" is a tiny, cramped pipe you can barely stand up in.
    4
  521. "If the enemy tried to follow up with a surface action, well, Lee's ships were the correct ships to deal with those." Admiral Lee would've fixed the glitch for sure.
    4
  522. It's a bitter sailor's reenlistment papers or divorce documents.
    4
  523. Coastal artillery technology was pretty advanced by that time. I imagine the US Army would get a crack at anything that wandered too close.
    4
  524. Back in the 90s I knew some guys who built the drones used on the Iowas in the 80s/90s. The drone aircraft was called the Pioneer. A couple of the engineers from the manufacturer were aboard the battleships during the 1991 Gulf War and told me they were able to feed live video of the 16" shells impacting targets ashore to the ship's officers, allowing them to adjust fire visually and verify battle damage to targets. They also told me the ships' crews loved being able to actually see what they were shooting at in real time, something WWII technology didn't provide for.
    4
  525. I met a lot of sailors who didn't "like" to sail on ships lol. And barracks ship is miserable but cheap. Cheap wins over comfort, unless you're in the USAF.
    4
  526. At some point you just need to go ahead and install the Wave Motion Gun and be done with it.
    4
  527. Drach, this video is an example of the fine work you've done. The research, the photos, the color film footage, and your narration is all a pleasure to watch.
    4
  528.  @stevebarrett9357  The ability of politicians to communicate quickly with field commanders is a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it results in cockups of epic proportions (see US in Vietnam). On the other hand, it is useful in a world where nuclear weapons exist to keep nuclear forces on a short leash.
    4
  529.  @notshapedforsportivetricks2912  The War for Independence was the first one, War of 1812 was the second.
    4
  530. Mr. Drach's coat buttons up nicely over a number of other duties.
    4
  531. These puns sink to new depths.
    4
  532. Edited because I was being an internet jerk. Sorry.
    4
  533. Nothing stupid about it, it's named after a city, which was common for USN cruisers.
    4
  534. This is...DRACHINIFEL!
    4
  535. 737 Max MCAS anyone?
    4
  536.  @Ralph-yn3gr  I believe they were drummer boys or really young guys who lied about their ages to serve late in the Civil War, and basically about a hundred at the end of WWII.
    4
  537. ​ @Ralph-yn3gr  There is film of Civil War vets in WWII victory parades. Guys that served when some troops still had old flintlocks who lived long enough to see jet fighters and nuclear weapons.
    4
  538. "Your majesty, don't worry, we'll smuggle you to safety. We've got the perfect ship for the job: HMS Decoy. Nobody will ever suspect."
    4
  539. 59:50 That shell appears to still have a fuse on it and presumably that fuse was activated by the shock of firing. I would not want to disturb such an object without having EOD folks disarm it first. The Marine sitting on it sorting out his foot gear is probably well beyond worrying about such things, but your description of somebody stacking up unexploded ordnance after a battle is something I find a bit alarming.
    4
  540. The USN said they were going to scrap Bonhomme Richard because the damage was too great. Sad, they wrecked a fine ship.
    4
  541. This is a very well-made effort, Drach, great job, and cheers from the US!
    4
  542.  @CSSVirginia  Or "reconning"
    4
  543. As an American, I mourn the loss of President, but admire the RN for trolling us by keeping the name.
    4
  544. The US Navy had flying aircraft carriers in the 20s and 30s. Cool idea that proved impractical. Submersible carriers also have a cool factor but don't really count as real carriers due to their limitations.
    4
  545. US Navy: "Why didn't we think of that?"
    4
  546.  @VIDEOVISTAVIEW2020  MacArthur was pretty good at governing occupied Japan and he also was popular amongst the Filipinos, so he was useful for US foreign policy in that respect. As a field general he had some bright spots like Incheon, but he had a lot of issues, many of which were unforgiveable. In the end, his ego and his mouth got him fired when he crossed the president in public. Whatever you think of Truman, he tolerated no crap from his people like that.
    4
  547. Whatever her deal was, Hood was one beautiful ship.
    4
  548. "OH well, Camden wasn't particularly valuable anyway." Grew up there, can confirm.
    4
  549. The pop singer Thomas Dolby lost his uncle on one of those subs and wrote a song about it. Later he found out that his uncle's boat had been on a classified mission at the time.
    4
  550. Starfleet Battles, BattleTech, AD&D Battlesystem, homemade horse and musket combat rules, so many awesome tabletop wargames in the 80s and 90s.
    4
  551.  @bentilbury2002  Also, if the guns aren't aligned perfectly they will always be at slightly different elevations. It's like regulating the barrels on a double barrel shotgun to make sure they both shoot straight.
    4
  552. What? Elon Musk wants to be an admiral? Fascinating. SpaceX does own a flotilla of boats, come to think of it.
    4
  553. In Soviet Russia, propellers spin you.
    4
  554. You should watch the video.
    4
  555. Dude, you do 5 hour(!) live streams, no need to ever apologize for taking a break.
    4
  556.  @khaelamensha3624  Look up the Byford Dolphin incident. Bring a barf bag.
    4
  557. The very opposite of what the Americans would do. "Not only do I accept these fine 10" guns, but I should like to inquire how we might add a couple more?"
    4
  558.  @ph89787  Hunting big game with the 16"/45's.
    4
  559. Can you talk about the antisubmarine gun shells mentioned in this video worked? How were they constructed and employed, targeting, etc.?
    4
  560.  @Dave_Sisson  The coolest American names are names of battles. Ticonderoga, Saratoga, Yorktown, Tarawa, Midway, etc.
    4
  561.  @mikeyboy3054  It's okay, his buddies in China will give him a ride in one of their new carriers.
    4
  562. If you run out of toilet paper there's always the fire hoses, if you're brave enough :-)
    4
  563. I remember the beer being locked in the brig until the steel beach party. For protection of our virtue, of course.
    4
  564. "Kursk" also starts with the letter K. Concidence?
    4
  565. To this day even modern high tech level bombers like the B-2 would have a very hard time trying to hit a maneuvering ship with an unguided bomb from altitude. Mitchell's demonstration was at least half a stunt in that regard.
    4
  566. So the hineri-komi maneuver is the Japanese navy equivalent of the Maverick maneuver in Top Gun?
    4
  567.  @relluplewis7112  Really? WTF?! That's nasty.
    4
  568.  @AudieHolland  So much wrong with this post.
    4
  569. Or they salvaged it from Bismarck.
    4
  570. So, in a sense, this was early version of a guided missile cruiser, considering that torpedoes are missiles that travel by water rather than air.
    4
  571. You're making up a conspiracy theory that smears the investigators, who were doing their job: gathering as many facts and details as possible and documenting it. If you have an ax to grind with the Navy, you should direct your theories at someone who deserves it.
    4
  572.  @sage5296  So if you briefly dip your face in it you turn into Darkman starring Liam Neeson?
    4
  573. Also remember that the Philippines was a US territory at the time, so it was "home".
    4
  574.  @markbecht1420  Having seen modern Fiat cars, some of which are at least cool looking in a 60s throwback kind of way, I find the idea of a Fiat fighter plane to be a bit funny.
    4
  575. "Winnie the Pooh's trolls hate this!"
    4
  576. Really? That's pretty much every classic hard rock or metal band. Zeppelin, Sabbath, Deep Purple. Hell even Rush had idiot fans back in the 2112 days because of that album cover. Tool is a very intelligent band whose fans endlessly argue over silly obvious shit. And right from the beginning the bible tards thought Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry were doing the devil's work, when what they were really doing was making mad cash and getting tons of pussy, just like every rock star since. Welcome to rock and roll.
    4
  577. Whenever I think of the word "Durandal" I think of the specialized cratering bombs used to destroy runways.
    4
  578. A big satellite in low earth orbit like that is easier to see with wide field binoculars, especially at dusk and dawn, when the satellite is in sunlight but you are in the dark on the ground. The ISS is especially bright under these conditions and hard to miss. I think NASA has a website that tells you when and where to look for it based on your location.
    3
  579. The B-36 is so big it could drop B-29s.
    3
  580.  @johnny5805  Pedantism, bet you're fun at partys. Oh, sorry, "parties".
    3
  581.  @dragonfire8729  Disney does this with many of their properties for several reasons. One of those reasons is because the IP in question has become "politically incorrect", such as Song of the South, which they've vaulted.
    3
  582. I used to live a few miles away from Brandywine Battlefield, part of which is preserved as a Pennsylvania state park with a visitor center museum and often reenactment battles.
    3
  583. George Lucas used it in the Star Wars scene where Alderaan gets obliterated. Fact.
    3
  584. The Hercules is similar to the C-47 in usefuleness. The best replacement for either of these aircraft is another one just like it (with some upgraded subsystems).
    3
  585. Along with the M1911 pistol, the M2 is one of John Moses Browning's greatest inventions.
    3
  586. 6:36 My shoulder is getting bruised just watching that.
    3
  587. Saint John Moses Browning always got it right.
    3
  588.  @rudithedog7534  Take two American 18 year-olds, one joins the Marines and the other goes straight to college. 2 years later they have wildly different attitudes and outlooks.
    3
  589.  @haldorasgirson9463  That's a good point, the media really covered for Roosevelt, seriously withholding critical information about the Democrat president's issues during the election season. Good thing they'd never do that these days, right?
    3
  590. "Compared to 70 dollars for a Thompson" wow imagine only paying 70 buck for a class 3 Chicago Typewriter today...
    3
  591.  @Max-kd2gh  No, my parents are boomers. Learn what words mean before you use them.
    3
  592.  @mikesmnell414  Stop feeding the nazi troll. Look at his avatar.
    3
  593.  @briancrawford8751  The joke is funny but my first computer was a British-designed Timex/Sinclair 1000 from around 1982, and I still have it.
    3
  594.  @hermanmudgett8830  No reason to be an insulting jerk.
    3
  595. I think I read somewhere that super aces were rare among the US and British pilots because after a certain number of combat missions they'd usually be rotated out, usually to become instructors, while in the German and Japanese forces the best pilots were usually flown until the war ended or they were killed or rendered unable to fly. One wonders if the likes of Richard Bong or Chuck Yeager were left to fly and fight as long as possible how many kills they might've racked up.
    3
  596.  @grahvis  Commie tanks, guaranteed for the life of the user!
    3
  597.  @nicholasmuro1742  You're not a serious person.
    3
  598.  @rockymac3565  I saw those videos. Phillipine Mars has modern avionics in her cockpit, with color flat panel displays, etc. Pretty cool.
    3
  599.  @MarkFeltonProductions  I read his book years ago, quite a character.
    3
  600. 4:15 Is that Adolph Galland, fighter ace, walking alongside Goering?
    3
  601. I wish they still made movies like that. Sand Pebbles is an awesome movie.
    3
  602. I knew the USAF used them but I didn't know there were still some B-57's actively flying.
    3
  603. @kevin barker But if they get hit you die just as fast.
    3
  604. The military blimp or balloon is massive in comparison to the thrust of the gas coming out of those holes.
    3
  605.  @migkillerphantom  Then you make do. Just as Marines have always done.
    3
  606. It would've been like Escape From New York. German version of Snake Pliskin would have to go and rescue him.
    3
  607. Not just WWI if you're an Iraqi army vet.
    3
  608. Encyclopedia Feltonnica
    3
  609. 11:30 Does anyone know what that large dark cylindrical structure is in the upper middle of the photo? Is that LA? Is it still there?
    3
  610. Also, you do not need any training to be a frogperson. All you have to do is say, "I identify as a frogman" and everyone must immediately treat you as such or they are guilty of discrimination and antisocial behavior and shipped off to a reeducation camp.
    3
  611. Mitsubishi has made modern fighter planes as well, such as the license built version of the F-16
    3
  612. Amazing that all those fighters couldn't intercept a Concorde. I'm guessing that because the Concorde can sustain high speed for hours compared to minutes for most supersonic jets?
    3
  613. Okay, now we need to know how Able Seacat Simon came to be decorated.
    3
  614. Well, that's war.
    3
  615.  @puzzled012  Ask your grandma about him.
    3
  616.  @ZoneofA  Prove him wrong, smart guy.
    3
  617.  wargent99  Are you a butthurt fascist?
    3
  618. Lockheed Aircraft Corporation's (now Lockheed Martin's) corporate logo is a shooting star. Many Lockheed aircraft have had "star" in their names, such as the F-104 Starfighter and the C-141 Starlifter.
    3
  619. The US loves Churchill so much, we created a whole government agency for him: The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms!
    3
  620. One of the all time best carrier films.
    3
  621.  @babboon5764  I believe that's common in a lot of T-tail designs.
    3
  622. Notice in real life that the bigger the flying creature is, the slower it tends to flap its wings. A bald eagle vs. a honeybee for example. The machines in Dune are certainly cool-looking, but I imagine a machine capable of doing that would be horribly uncomfortable to ride in due to the vibration. For how they were used in the film, it seems a conventional helicopter would make more sense.
    3
  623. There is a famous photograph shot from inside a bomber looking down at another B-17 that had just had part of its empennage sheared away by a bomb dropped by a bomber above it. The bomb didn't explode, it just passed right through the horizontal stabilizer. The stricken bomber lost control and crashed. It was in a history book and I can't remember if any of the crew survived.
    3
  624. Also, "I'm a doctor not a parakeet" Strat Trek reference, and "The cage is bigger on the inside" Dr. Who reference.
    3
  625. Every day's an IQ test.
    3
  626. The astronomical methods are difficult to use on a pitching ship under cloud cover, but they are useful to surveyors for mapping out territory on land where you can use a steady tripod and have enough patience to wait for a clear night sky.
    3
  627.  @bjorntorlarsson  Nice.
    3
  628. My guess would be that the sub was on a desperate mission to retake possession of the Ark of the Covenant after that Dr. Jones fellow absconded with it.
    3
  629. Drach, do any after action reports like this exist from the Japanese side? It'd be really interesting to see what the IJN perspective was on these fights. The IJN seemed really well drilled and trained on carrier ops but their air strike tactics let them down and cost them so many planes and air crews, I wonder if they noted their deficiencies and had ideas for fixing that.
    3
  630. Lookout in the aft mast: "And on that terrible disappointment..."
    3
  631.  @scottgiles7546  I would give a quick salute and then make sure my float coat was secure before taking a swim.
    3
  632. This thread is becoming lame.
    3
  633. It's not the ship that was used as an excuse for a war, though. It's the one built afterwards.
    3
  634.  @whlawson5812  Yes, accurate weather, or "met data", is a nice thing to have in artillery. I don't know if or how navies did it in the gunboat days, but modern land artillery units have a variety of ways to get met data. Sometimes, though, you just do your best without and adjust fire based on where your first salvo hits.
    3
  635. Fisher: Japan: "Write that down."
    3
  636. Torpedoes = explosion amidships waiting to happen
    3
  637.  chris younts  They were also picking up trash. Very environmentally conscious, those guys.
    3
  638.  @Kevin_Kennelly  Wind and the Lion is an awesome flick. Love the Marines in it.
    3
  639. Happy Birthday, US Marines. Semper FIdelis!
    3
  640. Drach, you. Are. Awesome. I think Tide deserves a 5 minute guide!
    3
  641. "...or had possibly been atomized by a wandering Admiral Fisher." Possible Drachism of the day?
    3
  642. I like those small gunboats. Basically floating tanks. Seems like a very army way of looking at boats.
    3
  643. I hope Drach never gets rid of that robot voice end title. It's becoming iconic.
    3
  644. US Navy rigid airship guides, please! More people must be made aware the USN actually once had flying aircraft carriers.
    3
  645.  @grahamstrouse1165  Frontline is all political now. But 15 years or so ago it had good stuff.
    3
  646. Pilots flying off the Navy's airships in the 30s had to do this, and flying aircraft carriers moved along at a pretty good clip compared to sea carriers.
    3
  647. Wouldn't be the worst place for a Phalanx 20mm Vulcan mount, though.
    3
  648. 17:10 Amazing photograph! Anyone know who shot that? And did he survive?
    3
  649. Great video. I've always been interested in this sort of thing. The United States east coast has a lot of old coastal fortifications which have now been turned into parks or museums. Some date back to the colonial days. During the War for Independence, when the British army occupied Philadelphia, the Americans made an effort to throttle the British supply lines by constructing a system of fortifications along the Delaware River south of Philly, consisting of Forts Mercer and Billingsport in New Jersey, and Fort Mifflin on the Pennsylvania side, with a set of submerged barrier obstacles strung between them across the river. The fire plan was apparently to get enemy ships caught in the barrier and then bombard them from the shore batteries. Fighting there resulted in at least one Royal Navy ship, the Augusta, running aground, catching fire, and being destroyed by a magazine explosion. Fort Mifflin stayed in service until well into the 20th Century as a US Army depot and is now a park next to the airport, while the other forts have been turned into parks as well. The forts saw intense combat, including land-based assaults. While I understand you were focused on fixed coastal defenses, particularly those that were armed with guns, I think you might've spent a few more minutes at the end talking about modern coastal defenses. As you mentioned they consist mostly of mobile surface to surface missile launchers as well as other dynamic defenses such as aircraft and maritime patrol vessels, but they still have a large influence on planning for modern warfare. The example that immediately comes to mind is the Iranian defenses on the Strait of Hormuz, which are apparently designed to control the Strait or at least to try to deny use of it by potential adversaries. This has likely had an influence on US policy in the region, and at least some deterrent effect on war. The loss of an aircraft carrier or an amphibious ship would be a pretty major disaster for the US Navy, which faces numerous seaborne platforms and batteries of missiles in a very confined region, barely large enough to even operate a carrier.
    3
  650. Can't wait for the follow-up on this. That photo of the F-4 Phantom jets on the deck near the end is epic. The Essex class carriers also served long, into the 70s.
    3
  651.  @champagnegascogne9755  Wasp and Hornet are really old names that date back to the founding of the United States in the 1770s. Wouldn't surprise me if a new LHD gets named Hornet.
    3
  652.  @arizona-hunter6684  Maybe, who knows. Lots of ghosts out there in the Pacific skies and waters.
    3
  653.  @DAKOTA56777  That, and echeloned turrets look cool. And it's always important for your ships to look cool.
    3
  654. I think that the inexperience the US Navy suffered from at that earlier stage might've wound up with the battleships taking torpedo hits and possibly being lost.
    3
  655.  @ivanmonahhov2314  Nuclear rounds for Iowa class guns were a thing in the 50s and 60s.
    3
  656.  @janvanv  Kind of like on the East Coast we affectionately refer to Philadelphia as "Filth-a-delphia" when the smog gets up over the city and the hot afternoon sky turns yellowish as you drive over the bridge from New Jersey.
    3
  657.  @johnnash5118  After the initial scare, all that would accomplish is pissing off the American public even more and ensuring that Japan loses harder. Similar to the way that strategic bombing in Europe, despite massive damage, utterly failed to live up to the Douhet theory that bombing would pressure the civilian populace to rise up and overthrow their rulers, thus ending the war.
    3
  658.  @travelsofmunch1476  References the film Mad Max: Fury Road.
    3
  659. Being used in the interior of a sturdy building means the wood may last centuries. There are a lot more 300-year-old houses than ships.
    3
  660. I would prefer not to see Drach take such a needless risk.
    3
  661.  @de-173  Kill the wabbit!
    3
  662. Where are Commander McHale and Ensign Parker? And Grouper? Loved that show.
    3
  663. My engineer friend calls what happened to Mary Rose "another catastrophic improvement."
    3
  664. I second this, Drach, this awareness of your own thinking process speaks well of you.
    3
  665. It's the Mythbusters mod.
    3
  666. It seems to me that if you need to build a "junior battleship" class you'd be better off building pocket battleships than pre-dreadnaughts.
    3
  667.  @seanp9277  Were they, though? Or were they just lucky in this case? And even if the carrier's radar wasn't pointing in that direction, wouldn't the radar from the escorts help cover the gap?
    3
  668. She was a pretty ship in her day, with the color scheme, ornamentation, and rigging.
    3
  669. Same for USMC. "Yes" is a proper response to a question, while aye aye is the proper response to a command.
    3
  670.  Megas Pantelos  Japan lost the war. Destroying the records was pure spite.
    3
  671. I love that outro. Memorized.
    3
  672. 9:15 I'd like to hear more about the "B Bomb" sometime!
    3
  673.  @egyeneskifli7808  Don't try to tell write us what kind of joke limericks we're allowed to make fun mock.
    3
  674. The opening theme is back?
    3
  675. Ah, yes. Our first Drachism of the day.
    3
  676. Good thing nobody thought about keeping all those Brown Bess muskets around to save money instead of buying new rifles.
    3
  677. Eat well, my hardies, for tonight, we dine while watching Drachinifel!
    3
  678. 'Twas a good looking ship.
    3
  679. You could always go back to row galleys and recruiting rowers would help alleviate the unemployment problems caused by banning fossil fuels.
    3
  680. Also, it's a safe bet that anyone who works on these ships knows who Drach is by now.
    3
  681. More like Russians: our ships are already nuclear accidents waiting to happen
    3
  682. 1:30:15 "Of course the Japanese still would've had the benefit of fighting Halsey."
    3
  683. I never knew about this concept. What in the US would be called "depot level maintenance" or just D-level maintenance done at sea. I don't think the USN has ever had such a ship type.
    3
  684.  @ringowunderlich2241  In the US Navy, I believe the LCAC hovercraft are considered "boats" or auxiliary craft, not "ships". They don't get names, only numbers.
    3
  685. How do they compare with the Rocinante's PDCs?
    3
  686. Guarding against Cthulu
    3
  687. One-boat wrecking crew. Sends a cutting-out party to blow up a train. Awesome.
    3
  688.  @JD-tn5lz  The North Atlantic above the Arctic Circle in January is also quite brisk, as I've found.
    3
  689.  @djbiscuit1818  👍
    3
  690. It's brutally beautiful. You can feel the sea spray on your face looking at it, and being in black and white just makes the mood.
    3
  691. Did you fill out an organ donor card?
    3
  692. You disgraced us, sir! You shamed us, sir! You will answer.
    3
  693. Diving the wreck won't hurt you.
    3
  694.  @peterstickney7608  aka "6" cruiser spamming"
    3
  695. Awesome, Drach! Somewhere up there, John Moses Browning is smiling, knowing his mighty and terrible invention brings you joy and still to this day serves to bring fear to the enemies of freedom!
    3
  696.  @leary4  Olympia is neither a dreadnaught nor even a battleship; she's a pre-dreadnaught era cruiser.
    3
  697. Is there a source for this? I'd like to read more. I've also heard the frigate Constellation (the 1854 one currently in Baltimore's Inner Harbor) was also activated during WWII for some sort of picket duty or as a communications relay or something. God that would've sucked to lose Constitution to a U-boat torpedo.
    3
  698.  @gregorywright4918  They're not unguided, they're just open-loop guided, with no seeker head capability.
    3
  699.  @dunamoose3446  Or the Behemoth.
    3
  700. Bet these ships would've looked great with an angle deck refit, too.
    3
  701. He was only 57 when he died, but he looked like he was in his 70s. HIs poor wife didn't live very much longer, looking at that tombstone.
    3
  702. "Fiction has to make sense. Reality doesn't." - Drachism of the Day
    3
  703. Interesting that photo at 5:54 has a little clock face burned into the print at the lower right corner. Must've been a way for a camera to timestamp the image.
    3
  704.  @karlvongazenberg8398  Also, we hopefully will skip "stop vaporizing my fleet with fusion weapons".
    3
  705.  @timengineman2nd714  I found photos of it. Built in 1919. Can't find the year it was taken down, though. I'm guessing early to mid 90s.
    3
  706. I remember in the 80s the Philadelphia yard had a humongous crane towering over it. You used to be able to see it from New Jersey as you drove up Hessian Avenue towards the river. I forget when they took it down, but it was a pretty iconic landmark back in the day.
    3
  707.  @markbecht1420  Yeah, there's one in the Smithsonian hanging from the ceiling that looks like the fighter plane equivalent of a Ferrari.
    3
  708. 16:57 Well, technically, Top Gun is a movie about naval combat, so we'll allow it.
    3
  709.  @szurketaltos2693  That's what I would do if I visited Japan.
    3
  710. Mitchell was kind of a jackass. I never knew about the part where he endangered the lives of servicemen assessing bomb damage, that's unforgiveable in my book. I think if a modern US Army or Air Force pulled a stunt like that the Navy or Marine Corps leadership would go on a crusade to make sure he was held accountable. As for his ideas, well, in the early days of aerial warfare there were lots of theories out there about how air power would shape the future, some of which haunt us to this day, Giulio Douhet's strategic bombing theory being a huge example. The USAAF in WWII built entire campaigns around some version of Douhet's theory, and the USAF to this day still believes in it in a limited way, despite history showing us its limitations. Mitchell's half-sane theories on air power fit into this category in my mind.
    3
  711.  @chrisgoetz3889  Teaching you to read was a waste of your teacher's time.
    2
  712. Same, but different state.
    2
  713. Defectocraft lol
    2
  714. Please correct the part where you say there was risk of a 3 megaton blast should the core melt through the floor into the water pooled underneath. That is simply not physically possible. Nuclear accidents are bad enough, there's no need to spread such sensationalist nonsense around; it only calls into question the rest of your research. Good video overall, though.
    2
  715. Col. Cowley sneaks around Budapest was an achievement considering he was like the most British-looking guy ever. Top man.
    2
  716.  @absalomdraconis  Growler replaced the EA-6B Prowler, not the S-3 Viking. Viking has no replacement.
    2
  717. Another great vid, Mr. Felton. I'm not sure how much control you have over it, but you should be aware of the alarming number of pro-Nazi and anti-Semitic kooks that always turn up in the comment sections of your videos on subjects such as Rudel.
    2
  718. 4th I guess...but seriously, great video and thanks for giving us the gratuitous A-10 footage as a bonus.
    2
  719. "Conspiracy theory" has taken on negative connotations, but when you're talking about power-hungry people like Hitler they need to be considered, since the idea that Hitler kills people is certainly not a crazy one. When a plane crashes with a guy Hitler was pissed off at inside it, you form a few "theories", to include pilot error, mechanical failure, enemy action, and of course, the possible conspiracy to murder the man. Then you work through the facts to rule out each of these and settle on the most likely theory, which in this case is pilot error. The recent death of Vladimir Putin's powerful critic Yevgeny Prigozhin in a plane crash is a similar case. Most people automatically assume Putin had him wacked. It's a case where the conspiracy theory is also the commonly accepted one.
    2
  720. I love how the Americans named the operation "Chow Hound"!
    2
  721. So far it sounds like this guy got away with it and lived out his days a free man.
    2
  722.  @katarinazelenova4748  He had some kind of degenerative nerve disease that made his hands shake really bad in the later footage, so probably not. Although he probably had issues with depression or something as well given that he was losing the war and surrounded by jackals who wanted to kill him. Of course now he's in hell taking Satan's thorned rod up his backside for all eternity, so the hell with him.
    2
  723. At least one US Navy fighter squadron uses the jolly roger as well.
    2
  724. If you search around you should be able to find interviews with Cunningham and Driscol where they describe the air battle that day, both back when they were still in the Navy and more recently since the 90s. Cunningham also wrote a shorty stor about it for a book about fighter pilots. Driscol, IIRC, still talks to Navy pilots about air combat tactics, or did for a long while, anyway. Cunningham got stupid, went into politics, elected to the US Senate, and sent to prison for a while for corruption. But the story of the fight that day is still amazing. They became the only Navy aces of the Vietnam War that day, having two kills going into the mission and coming with three more. Their Phantom was falling apart as they raced for the sea, knowing they would have to eject, trying to get over water so the Navy could rescue them after they punched out, and they barely made it.
    2
  725. 10:08 when I get married I want this music to be played, along with the Dr. Felton theme.
    2
  726. If they needed extra traction, they asked him to ride in the locomotive.
    2
  727. You know you're tough when you can fight in weather that's too cold for Russians.
    2
  728.  @Max-kd2gh  And what is your mentality?
    2
  729. Now they just need to protect it from hot dog pilots like that guy who had a midair with a B-17 at an airshow a while back.
    2
  730. 10:30 who knew Sean Penn was such a good translator.
    2
  731. Somebody keeps stealing a mine? I know a way to put a stop to that, but it's probably not legal.
    2
  732.  @rodchallis8031  The Renault owners probably didn't think it was funny lol.
    2
  733.  @tomburton6057  Wright Pat is humongous, took me two full days to see the whole thing, and my feet were killing me at the end. Bring good shoes.
    2
  734. When In was growing up it was often joked that Hitler was living in Argentina alongside Elvis Presley and Amelia Earhart.
    2
  735. Americans, let's get our popcorn heated up!
    2
  736.  @MarkFeltonProductions  Don't take it too hard, Mark, it's the Internet, after all. Keep up the good work, coming from the US.
    2
  737. 6:00 Tom Hanks faked his death while saving Pvt. Ryan and wound up grabbing a bunch of gold. Accidentally let himself be photographed here.
    2
  738. I'd like to know what the sniper's plan was after he discharged his rifle. Shoot himself in the head, maybe? I can't see how he and his spotter hoped to escape.
    2
  739.  @Taistelukalkkuna  I used to have a Viewmaster (kind of a toy stereo slide viewer they used to sell in the 70s and 80s) and I had some reels of Peanuts stories that had Snoopy shot down and helped by a French woman, so that makes sense. The woman was probably Patty.
    2
  740.  @tedhenkle  Ah, okay, been a long time since I've seen them.
    2
  741. As bad as it was in an American POW camp, there's a reason the Germans all wanted to surrender to Americans or Brits instead of the Soviets.
    2
  742.  @browngreen933  No kidding.
    2
  743. Not a crazy idea, but ahead of its time and poorly executed. The Germans did have guided weapons that actually worked against allied ships, truly high tech for the 40s. The V2 ballistic missile was open loop guided via gyroscopes but was also just a bit too far ahead of its time to be practical. Too long to prep for launch, finicky propellants to work with, not accurate enough for a high explosive warhead, and even if small nuclear warheads would've been available for it it wasn't terribly reliable. The Americans and British were ahead in electronics technology, such as radar and the television systems used on these B-17 drone bombs, but nobody was quite there yet with these advanced weapons.
    2
  744.  Vitali Druzhinin  Mossad would like to know your location.
    2
  745.  @morgs456  YouTube/Google is heavily into censorship these days. Dr. Felton doesn't lie, but he is allowed to post here only because he has yet to trigger Google's censors, same goes for the rest of us commenting here.
    2
  746.  @_-.-_-_.._--.-_-_----_-.--_._-  It's all good, man.
    2
  747.  @_-.-_-_.._--.-_-_----_-.--_._-  BS to your condescending tone ("You do realize..."). Even without Allied deception the V2 could at best hit an urban area.
    2
  748.  @rogersmith7396  Or if you're more bloody-minded, there's always the Japanese method of using airplanes as expendable cruise missiles with human beings as the guidance system.
    2
  749. I was always under the impression that most of the sounds in newsreel footage is just dubbed-in sound effects, especially since there seems to be like 5 unique cannon sounds that get used over and over. If you've ever been to an artillery range or aboard a ship when guns are fired the sound is not quite like it is in these films.
    2
  750. It wasn't just his brother Himmler left behind; it was also all the troops his brother was serving with. Those troops didn't get to escape or suicide themselves, they got to die the old-fashioned way. And to people like Himmler, they were expendable so he could save his own skin. What dirt bags he and his ilk were.
    2
  751. As a general rule, if Rommel had a plan, and higher ups had a plan, Rommel was usually correct. It's a good thing for the allies that the Germans didn't listen to what he was telling them.
    2
  752. 7:53 bombing accuracy really was crap in those days.
    2
  753.  @Cjnw  Sure, but my point is that at the time Austria was part of the Third Reich and those dancers were in bitter combat with Austrians, yet they still appreciated good music.
    2
  754.  @Cjnw  Yes, but he wasn't at war with the Austrians at the time.
    2
  755. 7:56 Americans and Soviets dancing to an Austrian waltz.
    2
  756.  @nachtschadedoggerbank1089  Possibly, or it could be located in Hangar 18 next to the flying saucer.
    2
  757.  @drott150  In WWI when the US Marines showed up in France the legend has it that they fought the Germans so fiercely that the Germans nicknamed them teufel hunden (spelling?), or "devil dog". It's been a nickname for US Marines ever since. It's a legend, but it's a great legend.
    2
  758. Fifth gen, wow! Did your ancestors serve in WWI or the Spanish American War? The Banana Wars?
    2
  759. UNLIMITED POWER!!!!
    2
  760. "We're losing the battle. Let's murder all the civilians." I like Japan today, but seriously, WTF is wrong with people who do that?
    2
  761. And we wonder why Putin is not afraid of NATO. Never forget, weakness breeds aggression.
    2
  762. Every time I hear these stories of valor it reminds me that we left people in Afghanistan and pisses me off.
    2
  763.  @philswift8311  Same here. The base is a good ways away from me but when it goes off you can hear it, followed by the creepy echoing voice announcement that I can never actually understand. I'm guessing it was built to warn people of imminent nuclear attack.
    2
  764. In the 91 Gulf War they were used to warn of Scud missile attacks.
    2
  765. Interesting fact: Imperial Japan also used C-47s, license-built before the war by Nakajima as the "L2D". Sadly there are no surviving examples of Japanese-built DC-3s around today as far as I know.
    2
  766. You should do a video on the DC-3 and variants, including the Japanese C-47s that saw service in WWII. I was surprised to read that Showa and Nakajima managed to build C-47's under license from Douglas before the US and Japan were at war with each other. Also, as a former Harrier tech I love that jet and am happy its still in service for now.
    2
  767.  @bigwoody4704  No, it wasn't bugs. The baseline B-29 cannot fit a Fatman-type atomic bomb in its bay because of the wing spar. The AAF had to get the manufacturer to redesign the bomb bay for it to carry the weapon, and these later models were called "Silverplates". Of course, the later B-50 version of the Superfortress was built from the start to incorporate all the improvements of the B-29 and served well into the 1950s.
    2
  768. Even better is when it spools up! Standing on the flight line with a fire extinguisher while that beast spins up, and the forward nozzle wash starts flapping your pant legs.
    2
  769. You know the American who decided to drag race tanks must've been from Detroit.
    2
  770. Must've been crazy what Willy was thinking when he decided to try that stunt.
    2
  771. If it didn't come from Mark Felton, I'd never believe that crazy story about landing a fighter plane on top of a balloon.
    2
  772. Wow, this is unexpected and hilarious. I haven't seen a review this scathing since William F. Buckley and his devastating obituaries! The people running the tourist operation done goofed with the wrong visitor. "Face like a smacked ass" LMAO!
    2
  773. @El Bearsidente Hipster detected
    2
  774. Thanks for mentioning the unit names, lineage, and current status. Civilians are often unaware of the fact that there are units serving in modern forces that trace their history back to these famous actions, and that the history of their unit helps gives its troops a sense of esprit de corps. The Skyraider is a workhorse of an aircraft, despite being obsolete a couple of Skyraider pilots scored a kill on a MiG jet fighter in Vietnam. The aircraft's high endurance and weapons load would make it a good tool in modern counterinsurgency operations.
    2
  775. He was definitely wackier than Hitler with all that occult stuff.
    2
  776. Mechanical control systems, including music box drums or player piano roll systems, are the kind of thing that is very useful for programming something like a robotic aircraft or missile. Here's another one: in the 60s when Project Orion was in development, they needed a system that could eject nuclear explosives out the back of a nuclear pulse-propelled vehicle at a steady rate of 1 per second, so General Atomics contracted Coca Cola to help develop it, since Coke's bottling machines worked in a similar manner.
    2
  777. I am an American but I watch lots of British TV shows and movies, as well as subscribe to several British Youtubers such as Mark Felton, Techmoan, and Drachinifel, so as a result I enjoy the differences in pronunciation, spelling, and vocabulary. Potato chips vs. crisps, french fries vs. chips, trucks vs. lorries, trash can vs. skip, color vs. colour, aluminum vs. aluminium, etc. I also like the way Brits often end a sentence with "yeah", as in, "We've got to get this job finished, yeah?", whereas an American might use the word "right" or something. Some British slang took me a while to decipher; in one TV show a woman says a teapot is "minging" and that they might get "minginitus". I paused it and looked it up, took me a while to figure out that "mingy" is British slang for "nasty" or "dirty" or "crusty", and thus she was saying the teapot was old and rusty or dirty. Watching Canadian TV is a bit weird, because Canadian English is just North American English with a regional accent, but they use a lot of British words and spelling and so on.
    2
  778. 12:20 That's a pretty vaporwavey color scheme for a communist dictator's plane.
    2
  779.  @Haamre  I am continuously astonished that anyone today supports communism anymore, and yet there they are, out in the streets, ignorant fools.
    2
  780. They were the Damned.
    2
  781. What pop star today would give up that kind of mad cash to put on a uniform and serve his country.
    2
  782. In 1997 I attended a Marine Corps Ball* in which the guest of honor was a retired USMC Gunnery Sgt. who had served in WWI. At the time he was in his 90s and in seemingly good health, having no trouble walking around and making his way through the chow line. I walked over, shook his hand, and briefly spoke to him. Here was a man who had fought in Europe at battles legendary to Marine Corps history, standing right in front of me, chowing down on some bread rolls lol. It was an honor and also kind of funny.
    2
  783. Considering that lots of Japanese, including Kenpetai, spoke English, and surely some of them must have listened to the radio once in a while, she and her team showed extreme courage doing what they did, and should've been rewarded when the war ended.
    2
  784. I hate to be the buzzkill here, but this borders on mutiny, something you can't tolerate in a nation of laws. The PM's government may have been a bunch of idiots with no respect for the RAF but they were the lawful government and if they decide the RAF gets no new jets and no birthday celebration then that's it. The RAF isn't a person with rights, it's a military organization that must obey the civilian government, it exists to protect you, not the other way around. Now that I've surely made myself unpopular by pointing out what should be obvious, I really wish there had been a camera rolling when he passed the bridge. Amazing the things you could get away with in the old days; if an American fighter pilot tried this kind of stunt around the US Capitol today he'd almost certainly be shot down, and if he lived he'd be made an example of and tossed in the klink for a long time.
    2
  785. Dr. Felton, is it possible the torpedo was jettisoned by accident or in an emergency? I have heard of torpedoes whose motors start inadvertently inside the tube and must be immediately discharged to prevent severe damage to the boat. Could this have been what happened aboard I-15 while she was prowling for merchant ships?
    2
  786. Clint probably has it!
    2
  787.  @billlarson226  Nice Falco reference!
    2
  788.  @krisfrederick5001  Badda bing!
    2
  789.  @krisfrederick5001  We fight the Sparrows for the right to perch on Scorsese's Head.
    2
  790. The Godfeather.
    2
  791.  @johnned4848  Several of the ones sent to work on the Manhattan Project in the US turned out to be spies. That sloppy security vetting is one (but by no means the only) reason the US Congress shut the UK out of the nuclear weapons program after the war ended.
    2
  792. "The fact that Russia has kept them in service is proof enough of their still being useful and potent today." I have to disagree that this proves anything. The Russians are known for keeping really old and outdated stuff, and even if it's useful you can't guarantee that they are properly maintaining it, updating, or training their flight crews and maintenance personal properly. I suppose these would useful enough for launching missiles from stand-off ranges outside the engagement range of enemy defenses, as the Russians have been doing, but beyond that the Russian military has yet to show any real competence.
    2
  793. Similar to what US mail-in ballots are gonna look like this fall after they get "edited".
    2
  794. When your own country is ruled by a crushing communist dictatorship that hates you and you're being invaded by another brutal dictatorship and you're starving and freezing to death, options are tight.
    2
  795.  mike boultinghouse  They have neither H bombs nor ICBMs. Check your facts before posting. Also, communists are filth.
    2
  796.  @vk2ig  There are two kinds of countries: those who use the metric system, and those who have walked on the moon.
    2
  797. Kelly Johnson ran the Skunk Works at Lockheed, and the P-80 is just one of his many brainchildren. Among the others are the F-104, the U2, the SR-71, F-117, and the still-in-production C-130 Hercules.
    2
  798.  @Easy-Eight  But the F-111 never had the makings of a varsity Grumman Cat.
    2
  799.  @hoilst265  Definitely awful
    2
  800. My dad was in the Navy and his ship operated A1 Skyraiders, which they nicknamed "Spads". They were old fashioned and slow, but they carried an enormous weapon load and could fly forever on a single tank of gas, so they got used a lot for close air support. And according to history, they even managed to bag a MiG jet fighter kill in Vietnam. For what they used it for it is a solid aircraft.
    2
  801. The Phantom is still the meanest-looking jet fighter ever built. Just sitting still on the deck it looks like it's rearing to kick someone's ass, and if you've ever been on the ground when they scream overhead on a low level bombing run it's like a flying locomotive of death going by. They convey a sense of massive power.
    2
  802. I grew up not far from Camden. If you were driving up to the Walt Whitman bridge and accidentally took the wrong exit you'd wind up in the hood, with hookers and drug dealers on every corner, streetlights out and every other house burned out, so the only light on the street was from your headlights. I was told by a cop friend that stopping at red lights was a stupid thing to do there, just look both ways, blow the light and get on the next highway ramp out of the area. That was in the 80s.
    2
  803. About 9 years ago I bought an old Minolta twin lens reflex off of ebay for about $100, fully functional but in need of some care. Spent some more money to send it to a guy who restores old Minoltas; he cleaned, lubed, adjusted it, and put a new leatherette skin on it to replace the old crackled one, so it's like I have a bran new 1959 roll film camera, with a super sharp lens and a working light-powered meter. It's been my main camera ever since, been on long trips and hikes to tops of mountains. I can't imagine how much it would sell for now given the prices that guy was quoting in this vid. Looks like I jumped in at the right time.
    2
  804. Why did the other cops present not stop it and arrest that man for assault and kidnapping?
    2
  805. In the days before body cameras, like say, 1970s NYC, this guy would've gotten the living shit kicked out of him.
    2
  806. He was probably the only one who happened to be looking right at it when it happened, the others all had to process what was happening first.
    2
  807. His remark about Strangelove and the doomsday device is a bit unfair, that was obviously a fictional device made up for the plot. In addition, the Soviets did build a doomsday device in the 1980s (I guess they looked at that film and thought, "Huh. Good idea!") called "Perimeter", also known as "The Dead Hand". It's a semiautomatic system that detects an attack in progess and launches a counterstrike with minimum human intervention. Look it up. Also, it's possibly still in existence today.
    2
  808. That scene was so cringy, the plane just seemed to glide on and on and on, even managed to turn hard and score a kill while gliding. If the Spitfire could really glide like that it certainly not run out of fuel so fast in the first place, just cruise at idle.
    2
  809. He should've been charged for that facial hairstyle, too.
    2
  810. Is that actually old Bruce Wayne?
    2
  811. 18:14 "As most Edwardian homes were still using gas...this tiny spark could cause an explosion..." Um, didn't everybody smoke back then? And often use open flame cooking?
    2
  812. The CIA invented a time machine and went back centuries to create the sl4ve trade. Even worse, they created Clippie for Windows!
    2
  813. Remember that despair is a sin among Cbristians for a reason. Always keep a positive attitude and don't let the darkness win over your mind.
    2
  814. WITNESS ME!
    2
  815. This will come in handy for boarding actions.
    2
  816. Interesting that the modern Spanish navy is also officially called the Armada..
    2
  817. Word of Blake will eventually control all ComStar hyperpulse generators. Our BattleMechs are mighty.
    2
  818. She is truly stunning in that photo at 5:30, navies need to bring back that style of paint job. Also, I love that the Drachism of the Day is supplied in the description.
    2
  819. Never bring a katana to a gun fight.
    2
  820. That first photograph, presumably of Henderson Field, appears to show a creek passing right through the near end of the runway. What's up with that?
    2
  821. @kevin barker Over in France they called it the "Royale with Cheese"
    2
  822. So what's a "knuckle bow"?
    2
  823.  @bluegamer308  Last of the V8 Interceptors?
    2
  824. As well as the various state navies of the American War for Independence.
    2
  825. "...it would've been more along the lines of 'I suppose it's the thought that counts'": my nomination for Drachism of the Day
    2
  826. Another interesting idea is if they kept the hulls around for a few decades and then fitted them up as BBG's loaded to the gills with VLS tubes and Tomahawk launchers. Harden them against missiles attacks while you're at it. There was also the "arsenal ship" concept that comes back around from time to time.
    2
  827. 49:00 They had firing tables, just like we do for modern field artillery. Cool.
    2
  828. Funny, because Mitsubishi makes a modified licensed version of the F-16 called the F2.
    2
  829.  @daveweiss5647  Modern ships are sold for scrap metal, not exactly a waste. The bronze propellers in particular are worth lots of money.
    2
  830.  @stanleyrogouski  During the American Revolution there was more than one ship named Oliver Cromwell just to tweak the Brits IIRC. Some states had their own navies so there were overlapping names.
    2
  831. During the War of the Worlds radio show panic of the 1930s, someone in New Jersey spotted a water tower in the night time gloom and started shooting at it with small arms, thinking it was a Martian Tripod. So maybe the Austro-Hungarians thought that Italy was overrun by Martians?
    2
  832. 30:17 If memory serves there was a brief nasty dispute between Spain and Canada over fishing rights in the 1990s I think it was. The news sensationalized it a bit; I don't think there was ever any danger of it coming to blows but I do remember me and my dad breaking out the books and looking up the naval strengths involved and wargaming it verbally a bit.
    2
  833. You need to be doing documentaries for major networks. BBC, PBS, History Channel or whatever. And you need to wear that turtleneck sweater while doing it, too.
    2
  834. 7:28 What's up with the dude in the Hawaiian shirt? That looks like a film clip from the 1980s lol.
    2
  835. Didn't you see the film "The Final Countdown" starring Kirk Douglas? Of course the Nimitz herself was there in WWII. Adm. Nimitz had no idea his namesake ship would time travel back and lend a hand.
    2
  836.  @guhalakshmiratan5566  After the Olympia, of course.
    2
  837.  @michaelwoods4495  Which one are you? Drach never served in the Navy, so which one is he?
    2
  838. They weren't close friends, but the idea that they hated each other is a myth that needs to be busted.
    2
  839.  @GJones462-2W1  No I was a Marine in Desert Storm and every MRE had a bit of TP in the "accessory pack" along with the sugar/salt/Tabasco Sauce, etc.
    2
  840.  @manaboutit1594  Funny thing is I actually thought they tasted alright once you smashed it to get it crumbled up a bit.
    2
  841. Or beer-o-clock.
    2
  842. This is fantastic work, Drach, your channel keeps getting better. Now I really want to visit Chatham someday if I ever get across the Atlantic.
    2
  843. Regarding discipline and punishment, read Saburo Sakai's book. He was a Japanese Navy fighter pilot and his description of pilot training is vivid. Japanese naval aviators were severely trained and beatings were common. The training regimen was very long and the washout rate was very high. They were trained not only as pilots but also in sword fighting and hand to hand combat, and those who made it through were basically considered as samurai. Great book, even if some of his stories are disputed.
    2
  844. The speed of US carriers is amazing when you consider their size (and that the Iowas could keep up with even modern CVNs!). Something that big and massive doesn't seem like it should able to go almost 40 mph (land miles). Bravo for the Brits who beat one in a race.
    2
  845. If it can be determined which ship lays a mine that destroys an enemy vessel or puts it out of action, does the minelayer ship get credit for the victory?
    2
  846.  @bytesback.  To be honest I get confused myself.
    2
  847. The Med has two settings: "flat calm" and "why are you even out here you stupid moron". Drachism of the day?
    2
  848.  @gerfand  Oh, sorry, I read that wrong.
    2
  849. "Why did you put a 5" gun on the Shaw? You aren't expecting to get into a fight with that thing, are you?" USN: "Look who you're talking to. The question should be, 'Why only one gun?'"
    2
  850. 9:20 The Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, Virginia, is now an art center, located at the end of King St. You can find it on google maps.
    2
  851. They should've let the bagpipers keep playing, so the French can hear them when they get close.
    2
  852. The book is so much better than even the best of the films, mainly because the Martians, while unbeatably tough, are not invincible, and do take damage from soldiers and sailors with the guts to stand up and fight them. It's always fun to speculate how the Martians would fare against other ships, such as, for example, a Ticonderoga class guided missile cruiser, popping off Martian tripods at long range with Standard missiles, or Fletcher class destroyers, peppering the tripods with 5" shells.
    2
  853. 31:00 also whether you'd get a poorly made short fuze and a detonation inside your barrel before you fired it off was also a risk, I'd imagine.
    2
  854. Careful, Drach, you may be opening a can of worms talking about post 1950s ships! I suspect many other people reading this, like me, can name a ship we served on that we'd love to see reviewed, and we know you'd rather stick to more distant history.
    2
  855. Great video, Drach, and thank you Dr. Scholes! While most comparisons of gun ships compare speed, armor, and firepower, I think it's important to remember how vitally important the other technologies are, especially the fire control systems. For example, people always compare the Iowas to the Yamatos in fantasy matchups, but do they factor in the differences in radar, computers, and precision of the gun-pointing mechanisms? I'd like to see you talk about the Japanese fire control tech in a future video (and German, Italian, etc. as well).
    2
  856. How does one unjam a 15" gun?!
    2
  857. 27:30 "Have a Coke and a smile"
    2
  858. If all that can be done is that Navy SEALS raid her berth and destroy her with scuttling charges, that would be a satisfaction of honor for the US Navy. A good old fashioned cutting-out operation like the age of sail days. Anything to take her out of the hands of the DPRK and publicly embarrass them would work. At the current time, of course, not even that is possible without astronomically high risk.
    2
  859. Please tell me the officers and crew are fans of your channel. Wouldn't surprise me if they recognized you.
    2
  860. A few years there was an incident where a fishing boat capsized and sank. A couple of days later divers were searching the wreck assuming they would find only bodies, and they found some guy still alive in an air bubble, trying to stay alive in the cold and complete darkness. They managed to rescue him. There are videos about it.
    2
  861. My picks for self-owns would be Halsey's Typhoon Follies, and maybe the MK 14 torpedo fiasco.
    2
  862. The episode where the Gorn had just wiped out a Federation colony and Enterprise was running them down at flat out speed, with weapons hot.
    2
  863.  @jony663  Are you actually related to the Yuengling family that owns the brewery or is that just your internet handle?
    2
  864. One thing for sure about LCACs is that the enemy probably has no problem hearing them coming, they are so *&%$ing loud lol.
    2
  865.  @ScottKenny1978  And they proved pretty useless in practice. Bad for the barrel linings, too, IIRC.
    2
  866. That's a great story. Did it detonate or just kill the cow by collision?
    2
  867. USS Enterprise has 8 reactors aboard, compared to the 2 aboard Nimitz class ships, so that probably makes her a pretty poor choice for a museum ship in any case. As for removing reactors, I think it'd be cool to install a fake reactor, minus any classified details of course, to make a basic display of how the ship's powerplant worked for the visiting public.
    2
  868. Drach, since you have been in the area, maybe you could do a 5-min guide on HMS Augusta which blew up near the Battle of Red Bank a few miles south of Camden in 1777? Or maybe any of the ships of the American Revolution?
    2
  869.  @BattleshipWarspite  Yes, and a balloon is a type of aircraft, so he has a point. Unless we decide to rename aircraft carriers to airplane carriers.
    2
  870. I wonder if the Germans poking around in the ship accidentally set off the charge.
    2
  871. Moving story and video. My dad served on an Essex class that later got the angle deck upgrade in the 50s and served in the Fleet until the 1970s. Upgraded Essex could handle jets like the A-4 Skyhawk and the F-8 Crusader, but couldn't handle the heavier aircraft like the F-4 Phantom or the F-14 Tomcat. One Essex, the Lexington, served into the 90s as a training carrier.
    2
  872. Scotty, the most badass Trek character ever. Kicks the crap out of Klingons in bar fights and fixes warp drives in impossible situations, all while holding his own against the Russian kid in a drinking context and telling ambassadors to go f*** themselves. Legend has it that Klingon's broken jaw still gets sore to this day whenever the temperature changes.
    2
  873. Romulan Ale is only for medicinal purposes. Honest.
    2
  874. "Italian cruisers...which meant that whatever happened, they would at least look really good." Drachism of the Day. Also a true statement. Italians do know how to make pretty vehicles.
    2
  875. There's something to be said for smaller caliber, high volume spamming. You won't punch through heavy armor but you can turn a capitol ship's topside into a combination forest fire/July 4th celebration, wreck his radar and rangefinders and other bits, and make him easier for the heavies to deal with.
    2
  876. It's the same as a passive rangefinder, only less precise. Like any angle rangefinder, the farther apart the two lights are the more accurate it should get.
    2
  877. "nee-OH-show" is how I was taught to pronounce it.
    2
  878. 27:00 "How are you supposed to know if nuclear warheads are present?" Don't worry, the Marines guarding the warheads will gladly get you learned right quick!
    2
  879. Several states have naval militias today, and others have long-inactive ones. The Pennsylvania Navy is an example of an inactive one; it was very busy during the Revolution and still exists on paper today even though there is physically nothing to it at the moment. Apparently the governor or state legislature could raise it back up if deemed necessary. The active units are mostly made up of Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard vets and reservists.
    2
  880. Everybody loves a good Q turret!
    2
  881. Amazing interview. Great work, Drach.
    2
  882. It's no fun for those who work in that business, for sure.
    2
  883. This is why I love this channel, always teaching us stuff they never teach us in school.
    2
  884. It makes sense, since the size of aircraft was growing and after the war we'd see large jet aircraft get introduced that required bigger decks and hangars.
    2
  885. Ships on paper are one thing, but when they fight for real it only takes one lucky hit to change the whole equation. As boxer Mike Tyson says, "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face."
    2
  886. Ships in service can smell a whole lot worse at times.
    2
  887. So, did the Romans also invent crayons?
    2
  888.  @tommcdermott9875  How does that make you feel?
    2
  889. There are still a few people serving in the US Navy today who knew Rickover, so he's definitely close to the modern era.
    2
  890.  @Dave_Sisson  A "publicity stunt"? It's a completely new military service, brought into being by an act of Congress. Of course it's real. And if you look into the way China is investing in space (and you have to look, it's not on the front page of any news media service), you'll see why the US defense establishment has been concerned about this for the last two decades now. Don't buy into all the slanted political hysteria you see in the news.
    2
  891. A half hour video on Mahan. God I love this channel!
    2
  892. "Just in case you don't want your hands hoisted up and loaded into the breach of an 8" gun" Drachism of the Day
    2
  893. "That's what we do here. We strap rockets to everything we see." - Adam the Mythbuster
    2
  894. Battle of the Chesapeake 1781 between the French and RN would be interesting to see refought with more modern ships.
    2
  895. Stukas practice bombing a silhouette of Illustrious. Kind of like a voodoo doll for a ship and bombs for pins.
    2
  896. I mean, even the modern Japanese navy gives its ships famous names used in WWII.
    2
  897. Damn straight.
    2
  898. On the rare occasion they take USS Constitution out to sail her briefly, they'd never risk putting as much sail on her as seen in that stunning photo. We have to settle for paintings of her under way from before photography was even invented.
    2
  899. So if this is a Battlestar, are the embarked aircraft called Raptors or Vipers? Or just "shuttles" like in the 1978 version of BSG?
    2
  900. If that's true the ship's lookouts were doing a very poor job.
    2
  901. Wow, beautiful ship. I need an excuse to travel to Alabama someday.
    2
  902. "HMS Akbar, you are to proceed to Liverpool for a fine new assignment!" Akbar, "It's a trap!"
    2
  903. @JZ's Best Friend Yes, any era. Look at various ships in WWII where hundreds of men all die in the span of a few minutes. Fire, flooding, shrapnel. No thanks. And modern warfare hasn't gotten any nicer. It's cool to be on the winning side, of course, but watch videos of target ships getting hit with modern antiship missiles or torpedoes and count yourself lucky never to experience that sort of abuse up close.
    2
  904. When a ship sinks by the bow or stern like K3 did with Prince Albert aboard, or otherwise assumes an extreme attitude, is there danger of the boiler's crown sheet being exposed and thus prompting an explosion, similar to a steam locomotive?
    2
  905.  @ashn1729  There was also a study to use a 747 as an airborne aircraft carrier, which could carry something like 7 or 8 small jets, about the size of an F-5 or so, much better performance than the Goblin. Of course that never happened, either, but there are some drawings of the layout.
    2
  906.  @jurgschupbach3059 Exactly. Now we experiment on entire populations. Plu sa change...
    2
  907. sigh...oh Russia...
    2
  908.  @alanfhall6450  And also Grant after the American Civil War.
    2
  909. As an American, I want to join in on the French navy jokes, but then I look at the Zumwalts….
    2
  910. I'd be interested in hearing the results of using rubber as a backing and why it didn't work.
    2
  911. Back in the 90s I used to play Dynamix game Aces of the Deep on my old DOS 386 machine, still one of the best games.
    2
  912. Warspite is coming. All your ship are belong to us. Make your time.
    2
  913. THe ultimate question when talking aviation tech is often something like this: How would the Zero have fared had it been flown by US Navy pilots and maintained with US Navy money?
    2
  914. As if Drach's channel couldn't get any better. I wish I could give more than one up vote for this video, really some of the best information about the Zero, and Pacific war aviation in general, ever.
    2
  915. Diving the wreck won't hurt you. Stay off the Bikini Islands, though, the ground is contaminated with cesium isotopes.
    2
  916.  @jlivewell  And the Ft. Mercer battlefield.
    2
  917.  @Lazarus7000  I'm picturing the psychic tests administered to students by Bill Murray at the beginning of Ghostbusters, with the electric shock for those who fail.
    2
  918.  @Right-Is-Right  Yep, youtube is a microcosm of the Internet at large. 90% normal people and 10% worthless trolls, and this is reflected in almost any video that has more than a hundred views or so. That said, sometimes people just don't like your videos. When my videos get dislikes, I just assume it's because I suck and they figured me out lol.
    2
  919. 30:50 does anyone know where that dockside coal facility was and where to read about it? Looks like a model railroader's dream.
    2
  920.  @bkjeong4302 Ok, we get it, you hate battleships.
    2
  921. Looking forward to a Falklands War episode. Sad how the Phoenix ended up, a lot of dead Argentine sailors. Dictators suck.
    2
  922.  @darkhorse13golfgaming  And then I saw him on camera for the first time and he did not look like what I had pictured.
    2
  923.    lol nice. I wonder they call Pennsylvania German.
    2
  924. Turtle was also featured in the spy thriller show "Turn", a fictionalized account of the Culper Ring spy network ran by George Washington in New England / New York area. Greatvshow, despite the inaccuracies.
    2
  925. The swipe against Beatty. Priceless.
    2
  926. Hydrogen peroxide has been used as rocket propellant. So yeah, 80% is scary.
    2
  927. "Reassessing McClellan" ie. trying to polish a turd. He may have been a good engineer and strategist but he was undeniably a pompous ass and a prima donna in an army full of prima donnas.
    2
  928.  @alecblunden8615  Nice try to turn this into yankee-bashing, but that's not what this is about.
    2
  929. It's interesting how ditching the basket masts suddenly made the whole ship look more modern.
    2
  930.  @augustosolari7721  Oh, that sucks
    2
  931. So could one refer to these as a modern "bomb letch"? Could you do a video on bomb ketches or bomb ships?
    2
  932. 11:24 I don't think I've seen that photo of Hitler smiling before. It's creepy, like when Wednesday Addams smiles.
    2
  933. "Department of Miscellaneous Weapons Development" Now that's an organization I'd be curious about.
    2
  934. I'd love to hear Capt. Seaquist's remarks on handling a BB in various maneuvers and while entering or leaving port, anchoring, etc. The discussion of the hydrodynamics was fascinating, I had no idea that a ship's bow wave can have such an effect in water as deep as 100 fathoms. I'd also like to hear his ideas for how he would modernize an Iowa for returning to service. Standard missiles and Aegis radar perhaps? The Tomahawks and Phalanx guns certainly worked out in the 80s.
    2
  935. Yes, an Aegis Iowa class. New Jersey BB-62 would be redesignated as BBG-62 and become an absolute beast! One can dream, right?
    2
  936. It took me two days to get through this whole video, but it was worth it. As a photographer who still uses film I love this stuff and those old photos are just gorgeous to look at.
    2
  937. 16:00 Robotron 2084 was also the name of a kickass arcade videogame in the 80s, used to love playing that.
    2
  938. 4:13 what a cool looking TV
    2
  939. Interesting. The only digital camera I ever bought is a Fujifilm in 2004. It's a 6MP, which was decent for the time, and has tons of features, but it's one major flaw is that it has horrible shutter lag. Any film camera blows it away in that one department. I never bought another digital camera, though, my smartphone does the job. Ironically I shoot film as a hobby and love the old beautiful vintage cameras. Film is now a niche art medium. Fujifilm film is still one of the best quality films on the market. I still use Kodak Tri-X film, too, but I don't think it's actually made by Kodak anymore, rather it's made under license using Kodak's formula, or so I've heard. Kodak film has also become unreasonably expensive, which, in a market chock full of films to choose from, is not good.
    2
  940.  @taohu4997  China's not a legitimate country, so it doesn't have any airspace. It all belongs to Taiwan by right.
    2
  941. It's very touching and cute and all, but she's still a wild animal who can kill a human just by playing. Only a matter of time.
    2
  942.  @robbannstrom  He has an idea you don't like, so you decide to be rude and insulting.
    1
  943. How are people seeing the number of dislikes on these videos? I thought they were all hidden now.
    1
  944. Don't mistake Hollywood for the majority of normal American people.
    1
  945. That whole backstory to Gates' career with Paul Allen and Microsoft is remarkably similar to the story of Mark Zuckerberg as told in the film "The Social Network". Privileged nerd teams up with buddy, drops out of wealthy college and starts a tech company. Becomes hugely wealthy and successful, alienates his buddy and becomes a lonely creepy egotistical James Bond villain that wants to control the whole world.
    1
  946. If you get offended by a joke, you deserve to be offended by a joke. Ricky's performance and the reactions in that room were a pretty good way to decide which of those pompous ass celebs deserve scorn.
    1
  947. Monty named his dog "Hitler". I learned this today. Still processing.
    1
  948. So Mel Brooks and Norman Lear are actually badasses. Who knew?
    1
  949. Not only is the C-130 a 1950s design, it's also still in production. Lockheed Martin is building brand new ones. The civilian version did a loop at an airshow a couple of years ago, amazingly. Now if only Boeing were smart enough to restart DC-3 production...
    1
  950.  @dixonpinfold2582  And that orbiting gunship idea started with the C-47 in the 1960s.
    1
  951. Dr. Felton, you mentioned the East India Company had its own army, could you explain that in a future video perhaps?
    1
  952. It's like in Flight of the Intruder when Jake Grafton's bombardier gets killed by a lucky shot from a peasant with a flintlock. Lucky shots are improbably, but they happen.
    1
  953. The US tried to do the same thing in WWII with old B-17 bombers. Loaded them with explosives, flew them toward a target and then bailed out, after which time the primitive cruise missile would be radio-controlled by a pilot in another B-17. It was an attempt to take out hard targets like sub pens and V-2 launch sites, and it was pretty much a failure. President Kennedy's brother was killed in one of the failed missions.
    1
  954.  @limedickandrew6016  So you're a war expert.
    1
  955. Followed by insane rage of the post-9/11 variety
    1
  956. The idea of facing a polar bear with anything less than a high-powered rifle is terrifying.
    1
  957. I never knew the Italian navy had any success at anything, but these guys obviously had guts and skill.
    1
  958. Great story.
    1
  959. I wonder how many of those DC-3s are still flying today; that plane outlived them all. Also, nice pic with the Stormtroopers at the end there.
    1
  960.  Zoomer Waffen  Looks like we found the nazi.
    1
  961. In the miniseries Band of Brothers, the American pathfinders are briefly preparing to depart a British airfield with their mohawk haircuts and war paint, and Ambrose talks about them in his book on D-Day as well. I always thought the war paint was a nice touch; as if the Germans wouldn't already think these men were crazy enough.
    1
  962. Lemme guess: duct tape?
    1
  963. "This person was a woman" That photograph would've fooled me.
    1
  964. You could do a whole video on John Moses Browning and his influence on 20th century warfare and weapon design. The 1911 is a near-perfect design and is hugely popular among civilian owners and sport shooters.
    1
  965. So, today I learned that a Hitler honorably served in the United States Navy. This channel never fails to fascinate me.
    1
  966. 4:15 is that a Bell 222 helicopter? (aka Airwolf)
    1
  967. The only replacement for a DC-3 is another DC-3.
    1
  968.  @frostedbutts4340  An MG-42 puts out a high rate of fire, and while its caliber is pretty small compared to the Fliegerfaust, scoring a few rifle size hits vs. no hits at all with this contraption seems a better outcome. There is the additional fact that every German infantry unit were equipped with machine guns all the time, which are highly effective in infantry combat, whereas the Fliegerfaust is heavy and of limited usefulness in any role other than anti-aircraft.
    1
  969. I wonder if this would be more effective than just firing a few bursts from an MG-42 from the shoulder. ( I assume this is possible; I've seen Marines fire an M-60 from the shoulder in a demo).
    1
  970.  @connycontainer9459  nice try at rationalizing evil
    1
  971. Lol
    1
  972.  @1maico1  Interesting, thanks.
    1
  973. 6:35 If you look carefully, you may catch a glimpse of the Arc of the Covenant in the pile of stuff in the background somewhere...
    1
  974.  @theodorekell  AS an added bonus he managed to murder a good 30 million+ of his own citizens. He was a great dictator.
    1
  975. Good thing Stalin did this There is no way the USSR could've won the war unless they abuse and humiliate their POWs. Also good that they kept their prisoners for a decade after the prisoners' government had been toppled, just to make sure. Stalin was a good dictator.
    1
  976. Everything that happens in a communist dictatorship is staged.
    1
  977.  @S.A.U.1489  Um, okay...
    1
  978. For purposes of publicity, they were counterparts. Each was a famous news film reel star in his own country. America didn't really have any 4 or 5 star generals or admirals as photogenic as Monty, except maybe for Adm. Halsey, and Halsey didn't make 5 star until the war was over.
    1
  979.  @cs-rj8ru  Fair enough. I drove a 79 Sirocco that had a water-cooled 1.6L motor in it and if hadn't been destroyed in a wreck I might still driving it today. It was a great car, manual everything, and when stuff did need maintenance I was usually able to do it myself. My dad had a 73 Beetle which he took good care of and it was a solid reliable car; he regretted selling it. Now I drive a 15 year old Chevy pickup with almost 270k miles on it, which is one of the best made vehicles I've ever driven. Standards have gone way up in the last 30 years.
    1
  980.  @briancrawford8751  I'll have to check to see where mine was made. Sinclair was a British company though, and I'm pretty sure the Sinclair machines (not the Timex license builds) were made in the UK at least initially. Not sure if Mr. Sinclair himself is still alive at this point.
    1
  981.  @tellyknessis6229  In general Volkswagens were good cars until the early 1990s, especially the older air cooled ones. Vintage Beetles, Fastbacks, and Squarebacks. The early 90s water-cooled Fox was probably the last true well made cheap VW.
    1
  982.  @southerncharity7928  Explain.
    1
  983. 5:29 I often see that clip of the missile crew preparing a V2 for launch and that guy with the white lab coat strikes me as the perfect evil mad scientist.
    1
  984. Patton got an epic film made about him, so it works out.
    1
  985. I thought in Snoopy's imaginary story the Red Baron shot Snoopy down, and he had to survive behind enemy lines?
    1
  986. Imagine what Richthofen could do with a jet like the F-104. Or an F-16.
    1
  987. 2:14 What is that equipment the Japanese infantry are wearing on their back with the hose attached? Is that an external filter for a gas mask?
    1
  988. And now in Ukraine this is happening again. However that ends the inhabitants will be finding munitions for decades.
    1
  989. Years ago I was in North Carolina somewhere and there was a sign in the woods near the road that warned of unexploded ordinance from Civil War, which I found fascinating and unsettling. It's not something we worry about much in the US, but they did use explosive shells in the 1860s around here, after all.
    1
  990. I've been to Hiroshima, many years ago, and rode on a streetcar, but certainly don't remember the number. Now I wonder if I rode on one of these amazing artifacts.
    1
  991.  @SHAHROOKHSHROFF-uk7ub  That king was a jerk. I know exactly what I'm saying.
    1
  992. The Egyptian jerk's wine-colored car is stunningly beautiful.
    1
  993. Good old Uncle Joe, gotta watch out for him.
    1
  994. I like the way you pronounce Bormann's last name, "Bore-Man". I always pronounced it "Bore-men".
    1
  995. Some Germans.
    1
  996.  @billwilson3609  I think I read somewhere that the Hessian POWs were often sent to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, which had, and still has, a large German-speaking population. Lots of Amish farms out there today.
    1
  997. So then, Epstein didn't kill Patton, either.
    1
  998. I believe there are a handful of WWII warships still in service around the world today. If the US Navy had money to blow on it, the Iowa class battleships would still be in service.
    1
  999. I notice Monaco's troops use the M-16 rifle. I'm guessing that's a bit rare in Europe.
    1
  1000. Mark Felton as the next James Bond?
    1
  1001. It's always interesting to hear about the families of infamous bad guys in history. I always thought it would suck if your cousin Adolph and you had the same last name. Goebbel's brothers were actual nazis and hard to feel bad for, but the fact that he murdered his own children is just awful. And Stalin's treatment of his own family is disgusting as well. I wonder if he has any relatives walking the earth today.
    1
  1002. The only replacement for a DC-3 is another DC-3.
    1
  1003. So was the targeted German HQ at la Caine found due to codebreaking or due to signals intelligence sensing all the radio transmissions in the area, or both? 4:50 seems to indicate the latter. Codebreaking would certainly be useful in confirming the signals intel, though. It seems foolish for the Germans not to isolate their antennas from the rest of their people and equipment, though.
    1
  1004. British: "We've shot you down, now let's get a beer." Japanese: "We've shot you down, now we will vivisect you alive and eat your liver."
    1
  1005. I have a photo of an AV-8B Harrier in Saudi Arabia in 1991 during the Gulf War with shark teeth nose art, nose number 01 of Marine Attack Squadron 231, with the commander's name on it: LtCol Jones. As far as I know that was the only Harrier ever to have shark teeth painted on. Only one I ever saw, anyway.
    1
  1006.  @gnrl1628  That's quite simply incorrect. The Pennsylvania RR had its own laboratory constantly developing steam locomotion well into the 1950s and their final machines were among the most efficient ever built. They just couldn't compete with diesel electric for the reasons I stated above.
    1
  1007. If steam engines were cheaper and easier to run and maintain then diesel electrics wouldn't have replaced them. The Pennsylvania Railroad was the last big American rail company to hold out and was building new steam engines into the 1950s, partly because their biggest customer was the coal industry that fueled their engines. But the math just didn't work out. Steam takes too many man hours to run and maintain, and the infrastructure costs for things like water supplies and so on are too high. Compare that with the fact that 1 or 2 guys can operate a whole lash-up of 3 or 4 diesel electrics by themselves, even more now with wireless control, without water stops, and steam loses hard from an economics standpoint.
    1
  1008.  @shhs1791  Cool, didn't know that, thanks. So one locomotive is pulling but the other one has the brakes on?
    1
  1009. 3:34 The train is backing but the drive wheels are stationary and appear to be skidding down the rails. Is something dragging the train back from the other end?
    1
  1010. I don't know much about salvage law, but if the commander (Soapy) of the vessel in question (the Harrier) is still with his ship, is that really a valid claim? Isn't this the equivalent of giving a boat a tow when its engine is broke?
    1
  1011. The 1911 is one of John Browning's finest designs.
    1
  1012.  @macrick  No, I mean the instrument panel.
    1
  1013. As a child of the 80s it still feels weird to see NATO forces flying MiGs and Sukhoi jets. I'd hate to be a Ukrainian pilot flying a Flanker over friendly AA troops looking to shoot down Russian Flankers, which look the same from a distance.
    1
  1014. Any clime and place! If the US has to fight a war on the moon, Marines will find a way to be there. Semper Fidelis.
    1
  1015.  @davidcoffman9326  Legends can be true, too.
    1
  1016. What if...Germany had never gone to war. Would they have skipped the whole Adolf episode and still be a monarchy today?
    1
  1017. The constant sounds of guys screaming makes it more horrifying, though I'm pretty sure it was added later.
    1
  1018.  @werre2  Clueless. Geneva Convention is very clear about the rules. POWs have to be treated humanely. And they can be allowed to work, for pay. It's not slave labor and in fact it's a pretty good deal, considering the men who captured them are still in Europe getting shot at while they work on a nice peaceful farm and sleep in a warm bunk every night.
    1
  1019. 5:44 how did that airplane not show up in an Indiana Jones movie?
    1
  1020. 7:55 "HMS President" lol you Brits are never gonna let us Americans live that down, are you?
    1
  1021. That photo at 7:12 of the women in dress uniforms with Thompson submachine guns is pretty cool.
    1
  1022. Whenever I hear air raid sirens I expect to hear Black Sabbath bust out War Pigs immediately.
    1
  1023.  @pilotrt  Funny you mention that. When I was growing up there were lots of Canadian tourists at the Jersey shore. so many in fact, that campgrounds, gas stations, and other establishments would often fly the maple leaf flag alongside the stars and stripes.
    1
  1024.  @ARGONUAT  wut
    1
  1025. During the 9/11 attacks in the US, the USAF scrambled F-16s from Andrews AFB outside Washington. With NO weapons loaded, no missiles and not even cannon shells. They had orders to find the missing 4th jet and, if it could not be forced to land, to ram it with their Falcons and hope to be lucky enough to eject. Fortunately 9/11 was not a real attack by armed enemy bombers. Makes me wonder how the hell the DoD was planning to defend the capitol if it had been a bomber attack. Vigilance and readiness are so easily neglected.
    1
  1026. Okay, so basically Britain is defenseless. Great job.
    1
  1027. Ward Carrol recently did an interview on his channel with a 100 year old B-17 pilot, who seems remarkably healthy for his age; you'd think he was like 80.
    1
  1028. Whales: "Let's go to the South Atlantic, it's far from Japan and should be pretty safe." South Atlantic:
    1
  1029. The USN should've lined up and shot the guys in BuOrd responsible for that torpedo fiasco. They got a lot of guys killed.
    1
  1030. If it makes you feel better we Marines appreciate them and out them to good use. It pains me to see the Harrier finally facing the end of its service life in the next few years, but it's been around a long time and seen lots of combat as both the Sea Harrier and the AV-8B Harrier II, so I'd say the US and UK got their money's worth.
    1
  1031.  @alfnoakes392  Yep.
    1
  1032.  @bigwoody4704  Only the Silverplate birds were nuclear-capable.
    1
  1033.  @AlexConnor_  The Navy actually destroyed the spare gun barrels in the 90s, IIRC.
    1
  1034. Ukraine's "winning sauce" all comes from the pockets of American taxpayers.
    1
  1035. There are parts of WWII that seem so pointless. If the allies had just contained Tirpitz, the Germans would've surrendered or scuttled her at the end of the war and all those airmen and sailors wouldn't have been killed. Then again, if my grandmother had wheels she'd be a wagon...
    1
  1036. 3:03 the guy on the right looks like Donald Sutherland "Oddball" in Kelly's Heroes.
    1
  1037. Given how everyone surnamed "Hitler" scrambled to legally change their names after the war, one hope we don't someday have a dictator whose name is "Smith" or something else very common.
    1
  1038.  @keepermovin5906  :-D
    1
  1039. The Germans also used smart weapons in WWII, particularly for antishipping strikes.
    1
  1040.  @organismseven3700  Sounds about right.
    1
  1041. Why did the partisans shoot his mistress?
    1
  1042. For some reason the thought of grizzled combat veteran Hitler making fun of dorky-looking Himler makes me laugh. Reminds me of a Dr. Evil scene from Austin Powers or something.
    1
  1043. 1:00 "There is no opposition to our landing, sit, should we dock the ship and offload the troops so they can keep dry?" "Nah. Make them get their socks and boots soaked through. They're Marines, they're used to being miserable for no good reason."
    1
  1044. People forget that all through the 70s we had terrorist bombings all over the place, including inside the US capitol building, from left-wing terrorist groups such as the Weather Underground and the Symbionese Liberation Army. Dustin Hoffman's house was blown up by his next door neighbors who were building pipe bombs in their basement and accidentally killed themselves. Terrorism was not new to the US, but in the 1980s we all just decided to pretend it never really happened.
    1
  1045. Man, 22,000 casualties for one stinking dockyard. WWII was a butcher shop.
    1
  1046. I can imagine some jerk wanting to put stuff like this in his secret little nazi collection as a motive, but I don't see how possessing Himler's or Hedrich's sword would make one wealthy since you could never sell it. Even if it was a secret sale it'd be a huge risk to have it traced back to the seller, wouldn't it?
    1
  1047. "Soviet pilots did not respect the red cross." "Harsh communist regime that treated them as spies." Communism sucks.
    1
  1048. While they were all dirtbags, photos and video of Himmler make my skin crawl more than any of the others, even Hitler. The purest personification of evil in those bespectacled eyes.
    1
  1049. I remember being about 11 or 12 when my dad took me to an airshow and I got to see a P-51 take off at full throttle. I will never forget that sound or the vibration in my chest. I was in the viewing stands a fair distance from the runway but that thunder was right in your face. There is nothing like a Merlin engine off its leash.
    1
  1050. Looking it up, Kolterman lived until 1994. Interesting.
    1
  1051.  @Justin.Martyr  Ask your mom.
    1
  1052. *For those who want to know, the Marine Corps Ball is a formal dinner that US Marine units have every year around Nov 10th, the birthday of the USMC.
    1
  1053.  @harvey1954  Right, but they were supposed to be demoralizing allied troops, and instead they were just running a radio station for entertainment. That's more than enough to get you killed.
    1
  1054. Sad to hear about the airplane crash.
    1
  1055. So the Germans also created the roots of Skynet. Amazing.
    1
  1056. While it's hilarious that Nishino may have shot up the refinery because he was literally butthurt, if it's true that he did so against orders and for personal grievance shows an amazing arrogance and lack of discipline.
    1
  1057. I for one don't think the aircraft is ugly, but I'm a sucker for push-pull propeller designs. Too bad the Jules Verne didn't survive the war, she belongs in a museum. This is basically France's version of the Doolittle Raid.
    1
  1058. This is fascinating stuff, I knew about Conqueror's attack on the Gen. Belgrano but I wasn't aware of all the other submarine operations and antisubmarine attacks. This naval campaign had a huge influence on naval strategy and tactics in the decade that followed and is still studied today. As far as I know this was the first time anti-ship missiles had been used and it was pretty big wakeup call to the world's navies. I think the importance of antisubmarine capability is also a major lesson learned here. Also, never underestimate a brave pilot determined to press his attack.
    1
  1059. And now we have the MLRS, aka the grid square eliminator.
    1
  1060. This is like a scene from Kelley's Heroes or something.
    1
  1061. Wait, the T-62 was still in production 12 years ago? Seriously?
    1
  1062. Communists. What a lovely bunch of guys, the way they treat their liberators.
    1
  1063. ...in which Dr. Felton delivers a brutal smackdown to the legislative body that called protesting truckdrivers nazis for voicing unapproved thoughts before going on to applaud an actual Nazi.
    1
  1064. 2:20 The bodies of that tank crew were stuck in that tank for three years before being removed. Yikes.
    1
  1065. too soon
    1
  1066. This is a lot of stuff I didn't know before, fascinating. I love the footage of the C-47 making low pass snatch runs.
    1
  1067. A stall speed of 25 mph, you could tie this thing to a pickup truck and fly it like a kite. Reminds me of the Piper Cub.
    1
  1068. Stalin was a tasteless pig who likely had no interest in fine swords or the like. Too busy thinking about how many more of his own citizens he was going to murder.
    1
  1069.  @dwightstjohn6927  I wouldn't know, I was never in the Army. Just study a bit of history here and there. The lineage of regiments and other units is interesting to me.
    1
  1070. A Bridge Too Far is a great movie. It was used as the basis for a great computer game in the 90s called Close Combat: A Bridge Too Far, which is a sim of Operation Market Garden. I have fought over that bridge in the game so many times, and thankfully it still runs on Windows 10 so I am still fighting.
    1
  1071. 5:01 somebody's been hitting the mess deck a bit too hard.
    1
  1072. Back in the 90s I used to play a combat flight sim on the PC called "Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe" by LucasArts. Ran on DOS on my old 80386/40MHz machine, and if you played the German side you eventually received almost all of these awards, and they were all explained in the highly detailed instruction manual (boy those days are gone in gaming!). Much of my detailed WWII knowledge comes from 1990s PC games such as "Great Naval Battles: North Atlantic" and "Close Combat: A Bridge Too Far".
    1
  1073.  Gallant Zodiac  Wow, what a load of horseshit.
    1
  1074.  yeoldebiggetee  Your
    1
  1075. It's like we're living through the 80s again, but this time with lousy music.
    1
  1076. So if the former colonial power has the right of intervention in a crisis, does that mean that Her Majesty's forces will swoop in to help the Americans when the communists seize power there?
    1
  1077. "Nuts!" not being understood by Germans? I'm an American and I don't even really understand it. Odd choice of word(s) that.
    1
  1078. At first it looks like Dr. Felton is in the custody of two Stormtroopers. But a closer look indicates the Stormtroopers are under his command. You ARE the droids he's looking for, no weak-minded fool Jedi mind tricks work this time.
    1
  1079. The globe is in a crate, stored in the same warehouse as the Ark of the Covenant, courtesy of one Dr. Jones.
    1
  1080. Mark, make sure you don't get hit by a bus between now and the release, the conspiracy theories would be overwhelming.
    1
  1081. That is a great museum display, basically a shrine to Olds, what a legend. And that beautiful Phantom.
    1
  1082. This manned stage was supposed to reach altitudes equivalent to low earth orbit on a transatlantic trajectory and transition to winged glider flight. That sounds like a fairly high-G reentry, which would come with a lot of atmospheric heating. I wonder what they intended to use as a heat shield. Silica tiles and the types of exotic metals to be used on the X-20 didn't exist back then.
    1
  1083.  @holzbergerpeter4480  Yes, not that it matters much.
    1
  1084. My dad's old 1973 VW Beetle was not overengineered, though, it was well-made, reliable, and easy for the two of us to fix. It was an almost perfect design and build. You just had to stay on top of it and protect it from rust when they salted the roads in the winter. If only all German cars could be that simple and well-built. Modern VWs are smart phones with wheels like everything else and they suck. Like everything else.
    1
  1085. B-52 + Mark Felton = auto click! I didn't know about this. The US presence in Thailand during the war is rarely, if ever mentioned in war films. And war films, unfortunately, are the main source of historical "education" in the US nowadays, unless you decide to teach yourself.
    1
  1086. The Ruger 10/22 is similar in form and super popular.
    1
  1087. Great video. As an American, glad you're on our side. I think the Vulcan was a fantastic aircraft that the Soviets could never really match in technical sophistication, and more importantly, I think more highly of RAF training and tactics than I do of Soviet. I'm guessing these exercise results drove the development of the F-106 interceptor.
    1
  1088. Anyone who has been issued one of these medals need not take out his or her wallet to pay for drinks if I'm in the vicinity. Least I can do. Semper Fidelis.
    1
  1089.  @glhx2112  A shame, too, the Demon and Skyray were such cool-looking jets.
    1
  1090.  @billballbuster7186 McDonnel Douglas merged with Boeing and kept Boeing's name, but it's arguable who ate who.
    1
  1091.  @Rigel_Chiokis  DaVinci's machine drawing was human-powered, just like the wax wings of Icarus. Splitting hairs here.
    1
  1092. If Boeing ever gets tapped to build another bomber, what are they gonna call it? The Hyperfortress?
    1
  1093. I am the Jetmaster. Are you the bombkeeper?
    1
  1094. Since the 2020 riots DC is now getting worse again, some nights it's like a Mad Max movie there, carjackings through the roof. Baltimore, meanwhile, has gotten even worse. The Inner Harbor is now scary in broad daylight, with drugged out wackjobs wandering around like zombies, even though it seems there are cop cars all around.
    1
  1095. I lived in the area once and Memphis used to be fun, wasn't all bad. That was 2 decades after King was shot, so there's something else wrong with the city, the uploader can't blame it all on one bad event 5 decades ago.
    1
  1096.  @wyganter  Graceland is not downtown.
    1
  1097. I feel bad for the truckers, there's nothing they can do in this situation, the one guy even pulled over and stopped because he knew what was coming. Even worse if you own your own truck.
    1
  1098. FAFO at work
    1
  1099. 1:45 when the guy reaches into the jacket with his right hand to draw the second blade, I thought he was drawing a pistol. Was surprised the cop didn't shoot him at that moment. That cop tried every which way from Sunday not to kill this guy. My guess is when he left home that day with those machetes, he probably figured he wasn't coming back.
    1
  1100. Some people just can't stop talking on their damn phones, even in the middle of a gunfight! j/k she is badass and did the right thing. One less POS in the world and her home is safe.
    1
  1101. Just here to comment positively on the attractiveness of the reporter in this piece. That's about the limit of my brain, sorry.
    1
  1102. I think he's a talented bass player but I was never too happy with his bass playing for post-Roger Floyd. A bit too disco-ish for my ears, more of a late 70s/early 80s style of bass playing.
    1
  1103. AN ad popped up for Justified: City Primeval as I'm watching this, and it made me think, "Why doesn't she rate Raylon Givens gunfight scenes?"
    1
  1104. "Just look at what's happening with the protests." LOL that's a good thing?
    1
  1105. Who run Bartertown? Master Blaster run bartertown.
    1
  1106. 17:03 WTF
    1
  1107. 4:12 what is that borg-looking sensor attached to the back of that little girl's head?
    1
  1108. Happy happy Halloween, Halloween, Halloween. Happy happy Halloween, Silver Shamrock!
    1
  1109. Pretty sure that's how every dead criminal's day starts.
    1
  1110. ​ @jameswilkerson4412 Coast 2 Coast AM is still on the air. Sometimes they run vintage episodes with Bell.
    1
  1111. I want to go back to the days when Alex was wrong and easily dismissed.
    1
  1112. ​ @susansauceda9879 And if you do go to a council meeting, you will be ignored as they look at their watches and roll their eyes. The decisions are all made before the meeting and your input is not welcome. If you express anger over this, you may have police theaten to arrest you. In Loudon Co. Virginia the school board got the angry parents placed on an FBI watch list.
    1
  1113. 11:30 Love that photo (or is it a painting?). The bleak industrial landscape. Where did you find that?
    1
  1114. "Entrumped" is now officially a word. And it's okay to get emotional. America, and Philadelphia, are great places worth saving.
    1
  1115. Reverse Karen, the Nerak: Speaking to a manager to recommend rewarding an employee who gave exceptional service.
    1
  1116. Drach this is a fantastic video, well done! Combines two things I love: naval history and mechanical clocks. Harrison is a hero and should be a household name worldwide.
    1
  1117. As suggested in the video title, I like the name "hypercruiser". I propose that the modern US Navy get to work building a guided missile hypercruiser at once.
    1
  1118. I know people who live in Gloucester County, New Jersey, so I know how to pronounce it just fine.
    1
  1119. After looking at al these photos, I must admit that the looks of these ships has grown on me a bit, in a sort of Dr. Snuggles steampunk kind of way.
    1
  1120. The massive increase in fighters looks as if the US Navy was starting to get the idea that air superiority was a prerequisite to doing anything else with your air power.
    1
  1121. Having just watched Mark Felton's video explaining the Japanese mindset towards the Westerners it surprises me to hear they ever tried to be treaty compliant.
    1
  1122.  @bfrobin446 Thanks, I see that now.
    1
  1123. So my take on this: The IJN wanted to call them battleships, and so the USN pulled Kirishima's punk card and got to say, "See that, USS Washington thoroughly pummeled a 'battleship'!". For propaganda purposes, it suited the IJN to call them BBs, right up until Kirishima was destroyed, at which point it suited the USN to call them BBs.
    1
  1124. That photograph at 11:30 is epic, with the airship in the distance!
    1
  1125.  @Crowniecrown  How old do you think I am? How many countries do you think I've been to? How about you?
    1
  1126.  @Crowniecrown  "And with total lack of self-awareness, he doubles down on lies and evil."
    1
  1127.  @Crowniecrown  "Oh look how edgy he is, making excuses for some of the most horrible people in history."
    1
  1128. I'm not entirely sure I understood that whole sentence, but I like the ring of it.
    1
  1129. I don't understand why they would put the crow's nest right where any ship designer knows there will be stack gasses and smoke. How hard is it to figure this out before you start bending metal?
    1
  1130. The crew should've renamed her the Rocinante. Legitimate salvage.
    1
  1131. You spin a great yarn, Drach. Well done.
    1
  1132. 10:15 cool photo
    1
  1133.  @michaelfrank2266 Creators keep uploading, we keep watching, YT keeps making money. Works for them.
    1
  1134. The French sailing ship just noped right out.
    1
  1135. Snakes as weapons. Awesome. I think the US Navy should develop a family of snake weapons. Ballistic serpent weapons. The SM-3 missile with the Mk-I cluster snake warhead.
    1
  1136. "Like a bubble bath, except a lot more grim."
    1
  1137. I don't know about other services, but the US Marines teach their guys a technique to use your pants as a life preserver. You take them off, tie the ends of the legs together, put them behind your head, and use your belt to attach the pants to your waist upside down so the open part of the pants is facing the water in front of you. Periodically, you swish water, and air along with it, into the open part of the trousers and then hold that part just under the surface. The soaked pant legs will actually hold air pretty well for a while, and the whole thing allows you to stay afloat much easier. I was trained to do it and it works really well. Not as good as a real life vest, but way better than nothing at all. In 1995 Lance Cpl. Zachary Mayo fell overboard off the USS America in the Indian Ocean and used this technique to survive for 36 hours before being picked up by Pakistani fishermen. Here's the story: https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19951130&slug=2155247 Also, one thing I was taught was that you have to maintain a positive attitude if you want to survive. No matter how grim things look, don't give up. You may or may not survive, but if you give up you are doomed for sure.
    1
  1138. Perfect!
    1
  1139. Terrible you can't do what amounts to a movie review. If network TV was like youtube there'd have never been Siskel and Ebert.
    1
  1140. Coastal artillery is pretty fascinating history that doesn't get much buzz. In the US the Army was responsible for coastal artillery. I guess if you count antiship missile batteries you could say that coastal artillery still exists in some places.
    1
  1141. HMS Decoy, huh? I guess it's better than HMS Deadmeat.
    1
  1142. 59:55 cool photo of Patton, wonder what's going on there. There's a guy with captain's bars on his helmet and all the troops around him have Thompsons, not rifles, are they his security detail, or some kind of commando squad?
    1
  1143. Show us a trick.
    1
  1144.  @stanleyrogouski  Cool info, thanks.
    1
  1145. With those side by side funnels she looks like a Mississippi River steamboat from hell. I like it.
    1
  1146. My dad served on an Essex class ship and he called it a hurricane bow as well.
    1
  1147. Nowadays Americans and Canadians settles disputes via hockey and baseball games, thankfully.
    1
  1148. I had no idea that so many escort carriers existed at any time. That is amazing.
    1
  1149. Anyone else sipping actual rum while watching this?
    1
  1150.  @lavrentivs9891  Cry him a river.
    1
  1151.  @lavrentivs9891  Musk's engineers are employed by Musk.
    1
  1152. HMS Conqueror licks her chops.
    1
  1153. Scenarios like that are what Marines are supposed to be there for.
    1
  1154. I spent all day on the battleship North Carolina, probably about 5 hours. Almost got lost deep inside.
    1
  1155. The A-7, the F-8's ugly sister.
    1
  1156. Brings up another historical "what if" question: What if Japan had stuck mainly to mainland expansion and decided against attacking US or British territories? No war with America or British Empire, at least not until later, at least? Post-war survival of the Japanese militaristic government? A totally different map of China? Japan needed raw materials, which was why it invaded some of the places it did, but maybe they could've gotten by some other way?
    1
  1157. Scratch that: keep making your own documentaries, but keep the sweater!
    1
  1158.  @michaelfuller2153  Would have to call it The Hangar.
    1
  1159.  @reaperking2121  They are funded by tax money, don't kid yourself.
    1
  1160. Great work, as always, Drach.
    1
  1161. SO now we need a Drach vs. Adam throwdown between the youtube channels!
    1
  1162. 34:10 There was an episode of the 1970s TV series "Baa Baa Blacksheep" which featured a radar-equipped Corsair. I don't remember the plot, but I remember a scene in which they were flying a night mission, and Pappy Boyington was in formation with the radar bird, and could see the pilot's face illuminated by the radar scope in his cockpit.
    1
  1163. If the US Navy had totally screwed up its response to Japan (catastrophic losses at Coral Sea, Midway, and other places), would the Royal Navy have eventually been able to win in the Pacific?
    1
  1164. "...This of course assumed you didn't do something like, say, launch a sneak attack that costs thousands of American lives which they were very unlikely to ever forgive with anything other than unconditional surrender..." lol you don't think they'd ever do THAT, now, do you?
    1
  1165. Can you do a video on the wargames the US Navy used to build carrier tactics in the 1930s?
    1
  1166. That photograph at 3:20 is awesome. Try making a photo like that on your smartphone without using lots of software filters today.
    1
  1167.  @champagnegascogne9755  They did bring back Bonhomme Richard and then those idiot dock workers burned it out.
    1
  1168.  @newsguy5241  Yes, yes! Let the butthurt flow through you.
    1
  1169. Outstanding work, Drach.
    1
  1170.  @GJones462-2W1  That's just cruel. The worst thing about the MREs was the tiny bit of toilet paper that came with each one. MREs clogged up your asshole so you could only shit once a week, but when you did you had better hoped you horded every bit of that TP, because you were gonna need it after that giant weight loss you just incurred. Too much detail for civilians, maybe, but if you lived on these things in the field you know it's truth.
    1
  1171. The Brits are smart; they let the US take over duty as leader of the English-speaking world and stay close friends with them. Benefits with fewer costs. Instead of a "British Empire", it's now known as the "Anglosphere".
    1
  1172. 3:01 of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFXcnUtMT4A&NR=1
    1
  1173.  @josiahferguson6194  Thanks. From that link it was Photographer's Mate 2nd Class Marion Riley, who survived, and it's a still from a movie camera film he was shooting. Also, that article links to a youtube video of the film.
    1
  1174. Drach, wonderful video! Looking forward to more, and hopefully, to your eventual visit to the US.
    1
  1175. That's part of the reason for that beehive of AAA seen on the "as sunk" configuration. The other part being a modern dive bomber pilot screaming out of the cloud deck with his hair on fire.
    1
  1176. Would nice for the US cruiser Olympia to have her very own drydock to live in.
    1
  1177. Funny how the Royal Navy kept the USS President's name just to troll the USN. Got to hand it to them for that.
    1
  1178. "Ikea style gun carriages" Lol I wonder what the name in the Ikea catalog is for those?
    1
  1179.  @mikeschlup6886  We didn't "win", we merely managed to hang on without losing. Twice. And the first time it was because the French navy somehow miraculously managed to beat the Royal Navy for once, when their American allies really needed them to pull through. The second time we attacked Canada and got a kick in the teeth and a burned capital for our efforts, and won our greatest battle after the war was technically over. By the 1930s we had fought a major war as an ally of the UK and Imperial Japan was shaping up to be a major threat to both the US and the British Empire.
    1
  1180.  @rdfox76  Interesting.
    1
  1181. Fantastic series, Drach, you leave us wanting for more as always. I never heard about this part of WWII history and it's a shame. Seems like it should be on one of those "mega engineering" shows on TV or something.
    1
  1182. "Rumor has it the Free French have already turned you down. If those wine-lovers and cheese-eaters have found that kind of nerve, of course the Royal Navy has its reputation to consider."
    1
  1183. Truk >>>rekt
    1
  1184. Thos Bu Ord bozos should've been lined up and shot. Or better yet, sent out as human shields for beech landings by Marines in the Pacific. "You run up there and find where the Japanese minefield is. If you're lucky, their mines suck as much as your torpedoes, you piece of crap!"
    1
  1185. Drach, in New Jersey just across the river beyond those trees is where I grew up. When this ship was brought back into service in the 80s I wanted to serve aboard her but missed the chance. Fortunately she is home where she belongs in the South Jersey / Philly area and getting the attention she deserves. I so appreciate you making this video and others with Ryan.
    1
  1186. That photo at 3:57 looks amazing, like it was shot yesterday.
    1
  1187.  @WyvernApalis  Same ship according to the anime lore.
    1
  1188.  @luketfer  I once ran a BattleTech tabletop campaign that involved BattleMechs duking it out with Tripods, on both Earth and Mars.
    1
  1189. 3:20 What's that thing near the stern of the ship that looks like a giant ship's wheel? Is that a radio antenna?
    1
  1190. There used to be a US Navy 1950s training video on youtube explaining how an electromechanical fire control computer worked. I think it was on Jeff Quitney's excellent channel, which got taken down, but not sure. I'll see if I can find it...found it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1i-dnAH9Y4
    1
  1191.  @neilbuckley1613  Yeah, rattlesnakes are native to America and the rattlesnake was an early symbol of the USA. Maybe the Royal Navy captured a USN ship and kept the name, like they did with USS President?
    1
  1192. 3:30 diagram describes ded reckoning for aircraft, which is pretty much exactly the same as it is for ships, except of course you are worried about winds aloft instead of water currents.
    1
  1193. Things were different back then. Chester Nimitz ran the USS Decatur aground early in his career, and was reprimanded, but it didn't end his career, much to the misfortune of the Imperial Japanese Navy decades later. The modern US Navy, in contrast, literally has more admirals than ships last I heard, and can probably afford to cashier an officer who screws up easier.
    1
  1194.  @RodneyGraves  Isaac Arthur, of course.
    1
  1195.  @carbon1255  On an explosive shell, a "short fuze" refers to a fuse that burns down faster than it was expected to. The fuse is set off when the gun is fired or shortly before, but if it burns down before the shell leaves the barrel or shortly thereafter instead of near the target, bad things can happen. This is still a problem even with modern artillery; I was present when a 155mm howitzer shell exploded nearby shortly after leaving the muzzle, showering the trees with shrapnel, fortunately nobody was hurt. The investigation blamed a defective fuse.
    1
  1196.  @tominiowa2513  The Beatles. Duh.
    1
  1197. The photos of Type II U-Boats look like they should be painted yellow and Ringo should be on the conning tower.
    1
  1198. I pronounce it like "bug it" just to be that guy.
    1
  1199. Interesting that the ostensible reason for treaties is to prevent or reduce the risk of a war, but in many cases they are just another form of jockeying for position in advance of a war everyone figures is coming sooner or later. And trying not to wreck one's own economy in the meantime. Makes me wonder about the various treaties between the US, USSR, and other powers over nuclear weapons; are they at all effective, do the signatories actually believe they will work, and for how long?
    1
  1200. 25:35 that photo, my god what an awesome shot. Anyone know what ship that is? And did the poor photographer live after getting his camera blasted upside his face?
    1
  1201. Search his channel. I think he has done a video about this before.
    1
  1202.  @dennisharrington6055  It would be a fun video game scenario at least.
    1
  1203. As far as cheaping out impacting battles, wouldn't the US crushing the Spanish fleet at Manila Bay be a prime example? Spain didn't spend the money and their navy got humiliated.
    1
  1204.  @MacFinn-wp2vn  I don't think that was it. It was more of a straight history book and I think it was just called "Old Ironsides" which makes it almost impossible to look up. But yes, I had a great uncle who served in the Navy in WWII, and I myself served in the Corps in Desert Storm, and later aboard USS Nassau LHA-4. I'll look up the book you mentioned. Semper FI, brother.
    1
  1205.  @ivantrapic6209  I think that's the one.
    1
  1206. My dad served on USS Shangri La in the 60s. He told me that during an exercise they kicked her in the ass so hard she briefly made 38 kts. Essex class carriers are not supposed to go that fast. Everything was shaking and paint was cracking off the bulkheads, and when it was over there was damage that had to be repaired.
    1
  1207. We need a Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk type of wealthy patron with a keen interest in history to set up a means of preserving ships like this. I've been aboard Olympia and she is a beautiful ship. Sometimes I imagine what modern US Navy ships would look like in that white and tan paint job. Imagine a Nimitz class carrier and Burke destroyers steaming in formation dressed up like that.
    1
  1208. That 3D photo at 2:15 is cool. If you pause the video and go to full screen, you can get the 3D effect by crossing your eyes and focusing on the capitol dome in the distance.
    1
  1209.  @Mugdorna  There is also a seaport museum at Penn's Landing near the ship that's worth a visit, and if you can get across the river to see the battleship New Jersey, by all means do it.
    1
  1210. Every time you show a photo of those women working in ammo factories, I think of that Bugs Bunny episode where he gets a job testing for duds by hitting the shells with a hammer and marking them "dud" when they fail to explode in his face.
    1
  1211. Why stop with Hood in the Falklands? Extend it another decade and imagine Hood in formation with Wisconsin and Missouri supporting allied troops in Kuwait.
    1
  1212.  @wrayday7149  They wanted to rice it out?
    1
  1213.  @smparreira  Lexington. My mistake.
    1
  1214.  @jacktattis  In what way did I "dis" the RN?
    1
  1215.  @jacktattis  Why the hate for the USN?
    1
  1216. Drachism of the day candidate: "This is a dumb idea, and whoever came up with this idea is also dumb."
    1
  1217. I love Starfleet Battles! Used to play it all the time growing up. Still have my box set from the 80s. Not mentioned in this video is that according to the notes in the manual, the missile weapons which all the aft-facing phasers are to defend against are mainly from the Kzin navy. The game designers couldn't understand why Klingon warships would have so many aft-facing weapons as shown in the Star Trek blueprints (stuff that was cool to have in the 70s and 80s for nerds like us), so they figured they might be defenses against some kind of missile weapons. But who is firing these missiles? Well, Larry Niven had written an episode for Star Trek The Animated Series which included his own popular Kzin feline humanoid aliens, and since animated Star Trek is considered by many fans to be Trek canon, the game designers decided that there is an entire Kzinti empire out there with a large space navy, their ships armed with guided "drone missiles" analogous to today's guided air-to-air missiles or anti-ship missiles. The Kzin even have space carriers with fighter craft equipped with more drone missiles. And of course, the Kzin and Klingons absolutely hate each other's guts. Aft-bearing weapons problem sorted!
    1
  1218. April 1st, some time in the 23rd Century.
    1
  1219. Drachism of the Day: "Bipedal attack dogs that made up the majority of RN destroyer captains" USN responds: "Oh, you have those too, huh?"
    1
  1220. 3:40 "I'm not sure you understand how drydocks work."
    1
  1221.  @curioussavagery802  Should've stuck with your original post instead of deleting it. Tell us how you really feel.
    1
  1222. Also John Paul Jones.
    1
  1223. Trust the Morton Fisherman!
    1
  1224. You mentioned turning Yamato into a space battleship. You really should do a 5-min guide on Yamato's rebuilding and refitting with Iscandar wave motion technology and her service in the Star Force.
    1
  1225. 6:00 once again we are reminded that Bob Newhart is a national treasure.
    1
  1226.  @afx935  They were using ships as nuke targets on post war defense budgets. They were developing antiship missiles as well. Gotta test 'em on something.
    1
  1227. At least use it for target practice...
    1
  1228.  @ineednochannelyoutube5384  I think so, but they will be built in the US under license with lots of mods.
    1
  1229. That's a stylish coat you're wearing, Drach.
    1
  1230. I agree the Long Beach was hideous compared to the Missouri with that radar system. I get that function is more important than form and all, but if I'm sailing out to get shot at I want to look good while doing it.
    1
  1231. Imagine if Ark Royal had lasted a few more years, we might have seen Phantoms chasing down Super Etendard's off the coast of Argentina.
    1
  1232. I always thought Wellington's "scum of the earth" description was about the low backgrounds of his men, being street criminals and such, and that he meant it in a good way, as in, "Look at how these magnificent dirtbags of mine whipped the finest French soldiers."
    1
  1233. Would've been interesting if that Liberator was able to engage in aerial combat with that Condor. I imagine bomber vs. bomber combat as being like starship combat in Star Trek.
    1
  1234.  @tra-viskaiser8737  The Navy needs to bring back flying aircraft carriers, this time with giant nuclear-powered airships equipped with catapults, a full radar suite, and cruise missiles. Go big or go home.
    1
  1235. Wanna be friends?
    1
  1236. That funding shell game the Navy was playing in the pre-WWI days is why the frigate Constellation is a museum ship in Baltimore today. For decades it was claimed that this ship was the original USS Constellation of Joshua Humphries fame, but anyone who knew what they were talking about could take one look at the ship's design and tell you something wasn't right with that claim. The stern is round instead of transom, for example. Turns out the Navy was playing the old shell game, asking for funds to "maintain" the previous Constellation while actually using the money to build a new ship, possibly with a few parts from the old one thrown in to make it "the same ship". In the end it got us a unique museum ship from an often overlooked time period (ca 1850), though, so no complaints from me.
    1
  1237.  @robertschmidt740  I will have to check that out if I'm ever in that area.
    1
  1238. 24:15 Those old 4-pipers were kind of pretty.
    1
  1239.  @tinafoster8665  The Japanese "corporate"?
    1
  1240. "Steel piñata" :-D
    1
  1241. Even so, no US presence in the Philippines and no Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor means the US entry into the war is delayed, giving the Japanese Empire time to finish many of its campaigns in the WestPac and denies the US the massive propaganda coup handed to them by the surprise attack at Pearl. It also has implications for the European theater as well, since US entry there will also be delayed.
    1
  1242. I love this thread.
    1
  1243. Wednesday Rum Ration? Pausing video, be right back, gonna get me some Captain Morgan Silver Spiced to sit this one through!
    1
  1244. Can you review the US Navy's rigid airships?
    1
  1245.  @tommcdermott9875  We're talking about you here. Now relax, and tell us why you gave your own comment a like.
    1
  1246.  @tommcdermott9875  Your feelings are focused on slavery.
    1
  1247.  @tommcdermott9875  You're showing signs of aggression. Who hurt you?
    1
  1248.  @tommcdermott9875  Let's discuss your childhood. Try not to be irritable.
    1
  1249.  @sirmalus5153  I imagine that an adult Siberian tiger might be one earth animal that could hold his own in a fight with a Xeno. Even if he wins, the xeno's gonna be walking funny when it's over. Tigers are terrifying.
    1
  1250. Best internet cat video ever.
    1
  1251. "Pac Man battle" I think you meant "Space Invaders", Drach. Drop down, reverse direction, increase speed!
    1
  1252. This is an amazing and thrilling story.
    1
  1253. I've spoken to sailors who served on the Iowa class battleships in the 80s, and it seems pretty clear that they could go faster than 33 knots when they were kicked in the ass. My dad served on the Essex class carrier Shangri-La in the 60s and he told me they got her up to 38 kts during a drill one time. He said she couldn't keep it up for very long, and that there was damage to the ship from vibration, but she could do it in an emergency. So I believe the Iowa sailors' stories about those battleships and the general build quality of US Navy warships in the 1940s.
    1
  1254. Drach is in MythBusters mode today!
    1
  1255.  @Colt45hatchback  We can just feed the rowers with soy products and unicorn meat. The world will be a magic happy place where there is no oil and we all sing kumbaya.
    1
  1256. Can you talk about the specialized ships of the Age of Sail, such as bomb ketches and such?
    1
  1257. Interesting points by all here so far.
    1
  1258.  @CAP198462  Kentucky for me, please.
    1
  1259. "...that moved the armor penetration from hilariously ridiculous to just ridiculous." My vote for Drachism of the Day
    1
  1260. QuaDrachill
    1
  1261. I bet you could rearm Constitution with light breech-loaders and .50 caliber machine guns and she'd do pretty well against Somali pirates lol. For good measure add some Marine snipers and Navy SEALS for boarding and hostage rescue actions. When the pirates laugh at the antique ship, wipe the smiles off their faces with shot and shell, and then call in some fast movers from the nearest carrier task force to dot the i's and cross the t's.
    1
  1262. I hope Drach never gets rid of that robot voice outro, it's such a trademark of this channel.
    1
  1263. That wheel thing at 33:00 looks like something from Mythbusters with all those rockets all over it.
    1
  1264. I guess when they recommissioned the Iowa class in the 80s and put Tomahawks and Sea Sparrows on them they could've redesignated them as "BBG"...
    1
  1265. Amazing that WWII era subs served into the 1970s, since submarine technology and design has changed so radically since the 1940s.
    1
  1266.  @tomhath8413  Really, tell us more.
    1
  1267. That photo at 30:25 is pretty awesome. Not just the guy yelling, but also the pile of spent shell casings on the deck.
    1
  1268. I got my bottle of Silver Spiced Captain Morgan here. What's your excuse?
    1
  1269. Not at all shocked to find out you are a wargamer. I used to be, still have most of my minis in storage. Fantasy, American War for Independence, modern tanks, and Starfleet Battles, but my favorite was BattleTech. Used to use my dad's entire basement floor as a "planet" that had to be defended from a force of BattleMechs dropped from orbit.
    1
  1270. Does anyone else have the robotic outro memorized and speak along with it aloud at the end of every video? I hope that never goes away, love the intro, too.
    1
  1271. Book. …..and congratulations!
    1
  1272.  @sarjim4381  I thought aluminum became shunned after the loss of HMS Sheffield, I may be wrong...
    1
  1273. 14:40 I've seen imported 1970s British cars sitting in tall grass with less rust than that!
    1
  1274. Nobody "misses" an avoided war. While I love the history of these ships and proudly served aboard one once, the thought of being aboard one while it's taking hits from enemy fire is not a pleasant one.
    1
  1275.  @caseyo6033  I don't remember that, sorry.
    1
  1276. From my experience, the first few days after leaving port the chow (aka "food" in the US Navy and Marines) is at its best because you are eating all the fresh stuff you loaded from the port. After that, out comes the powdered milk and eggs and so on and while it's not bad, it's kind of bland.
    1
  1277. Video of that tallboy bomb going off (no sound for some reason): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv5KeeBvNOE
    1
  1278. Won't be near any of those places this time, Drach, but here's wishing you a happy trip.
    1
  1279. A battleship doing 37 kts. [Darth Vader voice] "Impressive." Also not the first time I've heard of this. A guy I knew served on New Jersey and told me they were doing 35 kts one day.
    1
  1280. Next month, we demonstrate 18th Century medical procedures.
    1
  1281.  @genebohannon8820  Shiny.
    1
  1282. Drachism of the Day: "a strong tendency to cosplay as U-Boats"
    1
  1283. Timely video as I'll be visiting the area in the near future.
    1
  1284. Drach, a humble suggestion if I may, when you use the tabletop models to describe sailing ship battles, could you include an arrow to show the wind direction, please? That would make it easier to envision the maneuvers. On the whole, another great video, riveting.
    1
  1285. Love the photos and footage in these videos, Drach. What's up with the bow of that submarine at 37:11? Some kind of sonar array?
    1
  1286. Possible Drachism of the Day: "...she took the rather unsupportive act of exploding violently"
    1
  1287. Does this have a fancy name, like the Pythagorean Battleship Theorem or something lol?
    1
  1288. How much did Adm. Lee and the USN really know about Japanese battleships at this point? Did they know about the Yamato class and the 18.1" main guns? I thought the Americans didn't know all that much until the end of the war because the Yamato class was a well-kept IJN secret.
    1
  1289.  @Colt45hatchback  I remember those foam 2D gliders, I think I had a Zero as well. Fuck that hobby shop owner.
    1
  1290. Drach, these collabs with Ops Room are fantastic.
    1
  1291. Aren't all post-Dreadnaught battleships considered "dreadnaughts", including the Iowas?
    1
  1292.  @stevenpilling5318  And then there's Constitution, which is still commissioned and gets actual Navy money for maintenance.
    1
  1293. The carrier battles get all the spotlight, but the surface gun battles of the Pacific I find the most interesting.
    1
  1294. Yamato rebuilt with the Wave Motion Gun.
    1
  1295. Liberally distributing high explosive freedom. Murka.
    1
  1296. @Lurking Carrier Yes, and acoustic homing technology did exist by the end of the war, so it wasn't too far off.
    1
  1297. Happy fun times refined spicy rocks. Gonna have to remember that particular Drachism.
    1
  1298. 8:00 as long as the French could get wood to build ships, the Royal Navy would always know where to go.
    1
  1299.  @Kevin_Kennelly  Two men enter, one man leaves! Dying time's here, bust the deal, spin the wheel!
    1
  1300. Drachism badges? Sure, why not.
    1
  1301.  @ZGryphon  Where I live, the library was like yours originally, but they built an ugly new building and in addition to replacing the books, put politically charged pseudoscience type posters and exhibits around to brainwash the next generation.
    1
  1302. When I was a kid I was into science and aerospace stuff. But museums with stupid interactive stuff that was dumbed down to Sesame Street levels never held much interest for me; I liked going to museums where there were real jets and rockets to look at, and of course airshows where I could hear the thunder of a Rolls Royce Merlin engine in a P-51 at full throttle during the takeoff roll.
    1
  1303. Their best option would've been to sue for peace or surrender, especially given what was coming in B-29's. Once you have to resort to suicide attacks, it's time to reconsider your whole plan.
    1
  1304. The more I read or hear about American destroyers in WWII the more I'm convinced that their captains were all crazy and fearless. Like Joe Pesci when somebody tells him to get his shine box.
    1
  1305. That's a huge loss of life for a ship that had hours to figure out whether to repair or abandon.
    1
  1306. It also has a NATO designation: 7.62 x 63 mm
    1
  1307. Halsey, despite his errors, was a tough and scary guy.
    1
  1308.  @Philistine47  true dat
    1
  1309. This is a great breakdown. Remember, though, change a few variables and the results come out way different. A lucky hit from Yamato can ruin your whole day.
    1
  1310. That would be Fort Billings, I presume? There is a park there, next to an oil refinery, the neighborhood is called Billingsport.
    1
  1311. Drach, during one of your visits to the Philadelphia area, maybe you could shoot some video and do a series on the campaign to seize Philadelphia and secure control of the river during the American War for Independence? The Royal Navy vs. The Pennsylvania Navy and the system of forts and barriers.
    1
  1312. More excellent work, Drach.
    1
  1313. Meteor vs. Bouvet: Thunderdome
    1
  1314. Another great Drach vid. I knew there were training carriers up until 1991, but I never knew there were coal-fired paddlewheelers!
    1
  1315. 30:45 Awesome photo
    1
  1316. It's almost like the US Navy was replacing losses by building one ship for every sailor lost in battle.
    1
  1317. Wing turrets look so cool.
    1
  1318. Liking the new theme music.
    1
  1319. "By forming up a sort of nautical conga line / Voltron" - Drachism of the Day!
    1
  1320. How did early battleship spotter planes communicate with their ships? Voice radio comms, Morse code, or some other method?
    1
  1321. Contrast Gensoul's pompous ass behavior with the sheer balls of the French Resistance. What an absolute jackass.
    1
  1322.  @Aren-1997  I remember when we thought we beat communism in 1991. Sigh...
    1
  1323. Are you serious?!
    1
  1324. Wow, never heard of this, she was in some ways way more advanced than Hunley. Even decades after Turtle though, submarines were still too far ahead of their time.
    1
  1325. Armed merchantmen would be useful in dealing with pirates in the modern day. Even better if it's a Q ship manned by Navy sailors and Marines. "Oh, you'd like to steal this? Not your lucky day, mate."
    1
  1326. This is one of your best ever videos, Drach.
    1
  1327. Deach, what are those fin-like objects on the ship's bottom? What are they called and what is their purpose?
    1
  1328. So does that mean that Monitor's turret is actually a "mount"?
    1
  1329. ​ @tomschmidt381 Bell Labs dove deep into information theory, which is way beyond "just telephone stuff".
    1
  1330. ​ @AlexKarasev And if the government didn't have a robust free market economy to tax, and to provide quality work, Apollo wouldn't have happened. That's why the N1 rocket was hot garbage.
    1
  1331. 6:14 that's how farmers actually dress while working on farms in the UK.
    1
  1332. Chiba is coincidentally the opening setting of William Gibson's Nueromancer.
    1
  1333.  @Faye_Liu  Jealous
    1
  1334. Did the horn play Dixie like the Dukes of Hazzard?
    1
  1335. The three missing videos, I only watched the first one and figured I'd get to the other two later. Apparently, from these comments, I missed the most remarkable stuff?
    1
  1336. ​ @williamromine5715 Probably helped by a common language and maritime tradition.
    1
  1337. Good ole' Philly.
    1
  1338. Bring Amber Lamps!
    1
  1339. Drach, "Schenectady" is a reference to the city of Schenectady, New York, and is pronounced ske-NECK-ta-dee. Great video as always, cheers!
    1