Comments by "" (@johnshepherd8687) on "The Drydock - Episode 086" video.

Re: Ranger and Wasp. They may be smaller than the RN's fleet carriers but they carried more and better aircraft than even modern British carriers at the start of 1942. Aircraft carriers are only as effective as the number and quality of aircraft they carry. I can see how facing a knife wielding foe in medieval armor would give you a big advantage but I refer you to Indiana Jones vs.The Swordsman for the more effective approach favored by Americans.
3
Hood does not explode continyes to engage Bismarck while Prince of Wales obliterates Prinz Eugen. Then bothbships pummel Bismarck to destruction. Two can play what if.
2
@Karl Dubhe The Submarine force considered fitting newcon submarines with Snorkels in mid 1943 but rejected the idea because losses were acceptable and they did not want to interfere with production. Had the Japanese been better at ASW the Navy would have made a different decision. The postwar fleet snorkel boats were basically the mod that could have been done in WWII. They were far superior to German mods.
2
@TraditionalAnglican Post war analysis showed that Germans were basically clueless about nuclear weapons. The OSS sent Moe Berg to a conference in Switzerland to find out what Heisenberg knew. Berg, who posed as a Swiss professor, determined that Heisenberg didn't know much. Lucky for Werner because if he answered the questions correctly Berg would have shot him. It is a myth that Heisenberg threw roadblocks in the way of the German A Bomb effort and that he was part of the resistance. There is a famous picture of Einstein in the Washington Senators dugout. He was Berg's friend and guess. After the experience Einstein told Berg that he was more likely to understand the Theory of Relativety than he (Einstein) could understand baseball.
2
@TraditionalAnglican What ifs are like writing fiction. You determine the outcome. The Bismarck was obviously better armored than Hood but she was not better protected than PoW. The Bismarck had a whole host of vulnerabilities. If the Hood doesn't go boom there is a good chance that she is going score enough hits for the PoW to finish her off. That's my what if. Get the point?
1
@TraditionalAnglican You totally miss the point. What happened is fixed in time. Once you unfix it then all events are on the table. Suppose a lucky first salvo hit by the Hood on Bismarck's bridge happens taking out the command staff and destroying elements of the fire Control system? What happens if the torpedo fired by the Hood in her death through hits the Bismarck square amidships and takes out some of the power plant? Alternative histories are fiction where you the author determine the outcome. I am not going to debate fiction with you. When Drach does a whatif he talks in terms of likelihood and advantage. He doesn't give definitive answer unless it's so obvious it would take a miracle on the order of the Battle of Samar to get a different outcome.
1
I wasn't aware we were locked down. Lots of people outside here in West Central. Me and Ranger Moe, my Walker coonhound, took a nice two hour walk on the La Crosse River trail near Bangor this morning. Yeah, the Bars are closed but the Festival liquor department is open for business.
1