Youtube hearted comments of Patrick Donnolley (@ph89787).

  1. Considering Mogami had hit Imperial Japanese ARMY transports. Does it really count as friendly fire?
    2300
  2. And through all this, Yukikaze survives.
    1900
  3. If you really think about it. They are the IJN equivalents of Yorktown and Enterprise. Both are the respective 5th and 6th carriers of their navies. Both were 2nd generation purpose-built fleet carriers. Both were lightly designed due to the treaty limits. Both were built in the mid-late 1930s. Both were part of their navies Carrier Division 2 and led by aggressive Admirals. Tamon Yamaguchi and William F Halsey. Both had their main strike strength in the form of dive bombers, both for carrying well-trained pilots and effective aircraft like the Val and Dauntless. And in the case of Soryu, Hiryu and Yorktown, they were lost at Midway. The only thing missing is Hiryu surviving the battle and going on to be as big a menace for the US Navy (along with Shokaku and Zuikaku) as Enterprise was for the IJN
    419
  4. One advantage Wasp had over her Yorktown half-sisters (or cousins). She had an alternating boiler and engine room set up compared to the combined arrangement used on the larger carriers. I think I bought this up in a drydock before. But Wasp was laid down a week after the 2nd London Treaty was signed which for carriers got rid of the combined tonnage limits in favour of a 23,000 tonne individual ship limit. When the ink hit the paper, someone should have called Fore River and told them to stop construction temporarily. Bring up a copy of Yorktown's blueprints from Newport news and with adjustments to the slipways and possible modifications. She could be ready to be laid down in 1937 as Yorktown-Class (plus or minus modifications to keep the deck edge elevator). Without anyone complaining as she would fit within the treaty.
    204
  5. 28:12. That particular Dauntless was flown by VS-6 pilot Lt Clarence Dickinson. Who had been shot down during the attack on Pearl Harbor and would later bomb Kaga at Midway.
    178
  6. In addition to the late and great Butch O'Hare. Another Night Ops pioneer was William "Bill" I Martin. He was deployed with VS-10 at Guadalcanal, first as XO and later as CO of the squadron. Then he transferred to VT-10 as CO while Air Group 10 was requalifying back in the States. Where he began making the squadron night qualified. In fact, he was the mastermind for the night portion of Operation Hailstone. But could not lead it due to breaking his shoulder before the start of Operation Hailstone. He was also supposed to have led a dozen Avengers on a night attack against Ozawa's carriers at the Philippine Sea. But the mess from having to recover the afternoon strike had ended that plan. After returning to the States, Martin was assigned to Night Group 90 and brought many of VT-10's pilots with him. They would lead the Air Group on their 24 December 1944-14 May 1945 deployment on Enterprise. A big highlight was being able to maintain nonstop air ops over Iwo Jima for 174 Hours
    163
  7. Once again, I am so sorry for crashing yours, Dr Clarke’s and Dan’s lunch.
    148
  8. 6:56 The bomb hits to Hiyo were from Enterprise’s VB-10 and the torpedo was from Belleau Wood’s VT-24. Jun’yo’s hits were a bit more complicated as Enterprise’s VB-10 and Lexington’s VB-16 claimed the credit.
    125
  9. If you really want to nitpick. You can argue that Wade McClusky, Earl Gallagher, Dick Best and Max Leslie won the Battle of Midway. As it was their Dauntlesses that planted the bombs that blew up Akagi, Kaga, Soryu and later Hiryu and Mikuma.
    114
  10. Fluckey: Let's blow this popsicle stand Barb: Kaboom? Fluckey: Yes barb, kaboom. (train blows up)
    101
  11. 26:54. Probably a mercy for the Japanese that Warspite wasn't sent to the British Pacific Fleet. There would probably be nothing left of Japan if she and Enterprise were to join forces.
    61
  12. One more thing. I was digging through my Grandad's service records the other day and i found out that his service on HMAS Lismore (A Bathurst-Class Corvette) was when it was deployed to the BPF.
    43
  13. The argument between Browning and McCluskey was actually a bit bigger. As when he found out. He got VS-6 CO Earl Gallagher and Enterprise’s Captain George Murray. Also McCluskey was recovering after being shot in the shoulder and Gallagher had his back thrown out when diving on Hiryu.
    39
  14. 🎵Fed to the rules and I hit the ground running🎵
    32
  15. Also Drach, i thought you classified the Lexingtons as tinfoil.
    31
  16. If CarDiv 5 is replaced with CarDiv 2 at Coral Sea. It might be a bloodier tactical victory for the IJN. If I recall Shattered Sword correctly, Soryu and Hiryu had highly trained and experienced pilots. But their main strength came from Dive Bombing. So highly likely that Lexington may take 3 Torpedoes and another 1 or 2 Bomb hits. Which may sink Lexington outright. Whereas Yorktown may avoid the Torpedoes, she may take similar damage to Enterprise at Eastern Solomons. So 3-4 550lb Bomb hits, which is survivable but would mean Yorktown would not entirely be ready for Midway. Unless the damage control crews and later the shipyard workers at Pearl Harbor are being Intravenously fed coffee. Soryu is smaller than Shokaku and arguably more maneuverable. The issue is that she is also more fragile regarding bomb hits. For the sake of argument, Soryu still takes 3 hits. The explosions could catch something flammable like her Avgas system, even without aircraft in the hangar. Also, if one of the hits lands next to her stack, like at Midway and penetrates the lower hangar. Then it could damage or destroy her boiler and engine rooms leaving her dead in the water. Fast forward to Midway, and Shokaku and Zuikaku, for the sake of argument, are loaded with the same numbers of Aircraft as at Coral Sea. That's 21 Zeroes for Shokaku and 25 Zeroes for Zuikaku. 20 Vals for Shokaku and 22 Vals for Zuikaku, and 19 and 20 Kates for Shokaku and Zuikaku, respectively. Also, there are deck plans of Shokaku and Zuikaku's hangar decks, complete with aircraft spots. Assuming that the events leading up to and during the "Dauntless Ex Machina" occur similarly. Shokaku may end up like Franklin in that it would be a long, bloody and fiery battle with a slight chance of survival. But without the redundancies in here, damage control systems and the open hangar to vent the explosions, fire and smoke. She may go the same way as Akagi and Kaga. Zuikaku if caught in the same circumstances as Hiyru (closed in on TF16 and TF17 and lost most of its air group). Then it could take the 4x 1000lb bomb hits. As Shokaku survived a similar number at Santa Cruz. Of course, if those aircraft are full and ready for another strike, it would cause a fuel-air explosion. Resulting in Zuikaku being sunk outright or being scuttled. Being close to Midway would mean that even if the damage control crews worked through the night to get the fires under control. She may be spotted and tracked by radar-equipped PBYs and be finished off by Enterprise and Hornet the following morning.
    26
  17. Fun Fact Drach. One of my uncles served as a harbor pilot in Melbourne.
    22
  18.  @Drachinifel Still a great video though.
    13
  19. I think I told you, Dr Clarke and Dan about this when I crashed your lunch in Brisbane (once again I apologise for that). But my Uncle Jim was supposedly on Canberra when she was sunk.
    7
  20. 15:11. Profit?
    5
  21. 6:37. Adding onto that Drach. She was working with Saratoga as part of Carrier Division 11. One of the Air Groups trained aboard her was Night Air Group 90. Which of course was later embarked onto Enterprise.
    4
  22. That particular squadron was VFN-101. Which was split between Intrepid and Enterprise.
    3