Comments by "Doug JB" (@dougjb7848) on "The Drydock - Episode 274" video.

  1. He didn’t really “call up the RN.” He had the signal giving the location of SS Clement repeated until he heard it acknowledged and repeated by the radio station at Pernambuco; the radio station added a kindly meant “hasta luego.” By and to all accounts, Langsdorff took personally the duty of a ship’s captain to preserve the safety of helpless sailors, and he was one of the last military officers to consider war as a contest between and against each combatant’s weapons, rather than between and against their people.
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  2. 2:37:35 Is it true that the RN were so unimpressed with both the 14” and 16” guns they had in 1942, that even if they could have built enough for another battleship, they still would have chosen to use spare 15” for Vanguard?
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  3. 56:56 Kapow … Kapow … Kapow … Kapow … Kapow … Kapow … That oughta scare away those pesky aeroplanes.
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  4. 1) Where would you rate Wasp in the list of “expedient” aircraft carriers - those which were built to use up treaty tonnage, converted from other large warships (not from civilian vessels), built as quickly as possible ahead of foreseen events, or as “full scale experiments?” 2) Do you think Wasp would have been more successful (or at least survived longer) if the USN had decided to put a smaller air group aboard her in exchange for improved (or, really, more than zero) survivability elements?
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  5. Which do you consider the better / more “efficient” design: a 10,000t heavy cruiser with 9x8” guns (three triples), capable of 32kts, with as much armor as would fit; or a 8,000t light with 12x6” guns (four triples), capable of 33kts, with as much armor as would fit?
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  6. US considered armor:speed:firepower for ships much as Germany considered it for tanks.
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