Comments by "Not shaped for sportive tricks" (@notshapedforsportivetricks2912) on "Drachinifel" channel.

  1. What a pity no one ever whispered the words "Gattling gun battleship" into Fisher's ear as he slept.
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  2. Say what you like, but it takes a impressive degree of confidence to name a warship after your country. Not as much as to name one HMS Invincible, but impressive none the less.
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  3. The phrase "inconvenient cessation of existence" is a usage worthy of the most polished mafia Don. Well done , Drach. 👍
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  4. So THAT'S what a Tallboy looks like when it goes iff underwater. Definitely worth the wait.
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  5. Hi Drach, if you're going to make a sequel to the much-loved "When hotels go to war", might I suggest the title "When the concierge calls"?
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  6. With a maximum range of 7 1/2 miles, I think that the idea of cross-channel operations might have been a wee bit optimistic.
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  7.  @kalinmir  Ah, but if you give it a couple of wing turrets as well, a broadside might be enough to roll the ship 360 degrees. That would bring you back to where you started and likely kill your opponent's spotting officer from shock.
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  8. What charming little warships. Especially the Enterprise. "Does this twin turret make me look a bit busty?"
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  9. U63 crewman: Captain, is that aircraft trying to dive bomb us? U63 Captain: I'm ... not ... sure.
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  10. I strongly suspect that the real reason that the Japanese army was building up a carrier force was that they were planning a Pearl Harbour type sneak attack on their mortal enemy, the Imperial Japanese Navy:
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  11. The fact that the target was made of unseasoned timber probably would have affected the results as well.
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  12. The ships I would choose were I so filthy rich as to be acle to afford a warship as my personal yacht. Put 'em in victorian paint scheme: lovely!
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  13. And if she ever asks "Does this awning make my quarterdeck look big?", the correct answer is "No".
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  14. The more one hears of the Kaiserlich und Königlich Kreigsmarine, the more admirable a little force it seems to be. I think that it definitely deserves its own Rum Ration at some point in the futture.
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  15. "In a slight nod to Health & Safety they actually had let the turret crew leave before they actually shot at them" Bloody soft I call that. Back in my day ...
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  16. I like the way in which the 3D models were used. They really help viewers to understand how the action went.
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  17. Not what you'd call a well-balanced design, the Narviks. On the bright side however, you could probably coax a few extra knots out of the things by simply loosing off X and Y guns at regular intervals.
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  18. Just finished the admirable quadrology on Captain Johnny Walker and this pops up. Truly, a Saturday night with too much Drach is barely enough! Viva!
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  19. Didn't Switzerland have one of those?
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  20. I wish that there had been a class of RN destroyers named after weather systems. It could have featured HM Ships with names such as: Alright For This Time of Year, Nice Weather for the Ducks, Good for the Garden and Not Bad Once You're In. Designig the ships' badges might have been a challenge though.
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  21. Sounds like a conversation between a parent and a teenager who has just got his battleship licence... "Care to explain what happened to the USS New York?" "Sorry Dad. I think that I might have run-over a submarine."
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  22. "An abomination unto Cthulhu" That's a keeper.
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  23. "I tend to divide reaction videos into four broad categories ..." must be the most engineer-y way to comnence a response to such a question. 😊 Thanks so much for all of your work though the year. It has been appreciated.
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  24. Technically true, but as the penguins maintained a strictly neutral stance in both World Wars, the Southern Ocean can be practically discounted.
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  25. Acter that long at sea in a u-boat, the only things that would remove the smell from the laundry would be a few gallons of petrol and a lighted match.
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  26. Admiral Popov: Attend! I am the weirdest looking warship ever designed. Behold me in awe. Henri IV: Hold my calvados.
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  27. Just sail out into the biggest bastard of a storm that you can find. But don't worry. You can take some less-experimental ships out with you to pick up the survivors ... if any.
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  28. 70,000 yards! Good Lord, what was the target? Apart from, you know, Vietnam?
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  29. ​ @suburbanbanshee  Well, only once, to be fair. Her Majesty was once at a function for senior naval officers when she overheard an admiral complaining about the names of the Duke class frigates. "Why do we have an HMS Lancaster? There isn't a Duke of Lancaster." he opined. At this point, HM interrupted him with "I am the Duke of Lancaster." 😇
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  30. I suspect that Drach is slowly working his way up to a 1:1 scale model of Warspite.
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  31. A tricolour pin with the legend "when hotels go to war" would sell like hot csces. Or maybe one with a red star and the slogan "the workers fail to control the means of propulsion". C'mon Drach, you must have a million of them.
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  32. Yep, it must have been frustrating for men raised on the wooden walls. "What do you mean she's obsolete? She hasn't even been bloody finished yet!"
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  33. Ah, so that's what Mrs. Drach sounds like when she's not floating underwater waiting fo ships to pass by so she can give them a nice, big hug and blow them to kingdom come. A lovely speaking voice, incidentally.
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  34. Much Maru about something? Ow! It hurts. It hurts.
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  35. I bet that Barb got her own ice cream machine.
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  36. If the Royal Navy had acquired nuclear weapons in 1945, I absolutely guarantee that someone would have found a way to strap one to a Swordfish. I doubt that the temptation could be resisted.
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  37. This is one of the most informative documentaries on Trafalgar I've ever seen. Simple in concept and brilliant in execution. You've excelled yourself. I commend you and everyone involved in this video. 💯
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  38. Yeah, the blimps were surprisingly effective escorts, even without radar. They had great visibility and could loiter around a convoy for a long time. I feel a bit sorry for their aircrews, mind. Imagine the scene., a Pensacola bar. An attractive blonde approaches three naval aviators. Girl: So, flyboy; what sort of plane do you fly? Pilot 1: I fly an F6 Hellcat, miss. The plane that wiped out the Zeros at the Turkey Shoot. Girl: What about you, tall, dark and handsome? Pilot 2: I fly an F4U Corsair, miss. The plane that drove the japanese out of the Solomons. Girl: And you, hot stuff? Piĺot 3: I fly the Goodyear blimp, ma'am, and we've never lost a collier
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  39. I believe that there was a sort of Christmas truce on the Rufiji River in German East Africa in 1914. The cruiser Konigsberg was holed-up in the upper reaches of the river and a small RN squadron was trying to dig her out. On Christmas Day, a british aircraft flew reconnisance over the Konigsberg and dropped her a Christmas greeting in a bottle. Captain Loof apparently sent return greetings via a native messanger
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  40. "Drawing pretty ships kept people out of gulags." "Not so fast, comrade" replies a generation of soviet engineers.
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  41. You can imagine the reaction of the defenders in the adjacent pillbox ... "Mein Gott, Heinz! What sort of gun have they put in that Sherman?"
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  42. HMCS Oakville and her crew remind me of Sir Maurice in the opening credits of the cartoon, The Big Knights: "Sir Boris, the greatest sword fighter in the world, and his brother, Sir4 Maurice. NOT the greatest sword fighter in the world, but the most enthusiastic."
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  43. Our host answered this in a recent drydock. According to him, it came down to optics and loading speed. While a 13,5" gun could be expected to have a longer range than a 12" gun and a bigger punch, the limitations of optical range finders and fire control at the time meant that a 12" gun represented the longest effective range for ships of that era.
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  44. Calm down, Jeremy. Calm down.
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  45. The moral of this story? Beware any weapons system prefaced Happy Fun Times Spicy. For example: * Happy Fun Times Spicy .457 Magnum. * Happy Fun Times Spicy Kosher Main Battle Tank * Happy Fun Times Spicy first wife. Great start to the show, sir.
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  46. I've always liked the broad-brimmed straw hats that the sailors of some navies wore around the turn of the 20th century. Practical, stylish and they kept the sun off your nut.
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  47. Actually the USN used to regularly send its monitors over to the Phillipines in the 1900s. I once saw a photograph of the USS Monterey transiting the Pacific in somewhat iinteresting sea conditions for a ship with zero freeboard.
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  48. I agree. The West Virginia was by far the prettiest rebuild; even more so than the Cavours. Apparently she was regarded as even better at shore bombardment than the Iowas. Pity they couldn't add a few knots to her.
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  49. Unlikely. The US Ambassodor to the UK until late October 1940 was Joe Kennedy, and I certainly can't imagine him bad-mouthing the Nazis.
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  50. As an anthropomorphised ship, I would imagine Warspite as Helen Mirren. Venerable, still a beauty (with a damned fine set of pins); but don't you dare cross her. Victory and Constituton, by contrast, I picture as Statler and Waldorf, sitting in a balcony and raining contumely down upon unfortunate younger ships.
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  51. A very graceful tribute to the Duke, Drach. Well done.
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  52. How on earth did that cute little engine (3:47) at Chatham Dockyard manage to get off the island of Sodor?
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  53.  @dgthe3  I hope that she got a bloody big bonus for doing that. Pregnant or not, the sentence "We're sorry our cannon destroyed your house." does little to turn aside wrath, I suspect.
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  54. I'm not saying that it would have been totally impossible for von Spee to make it to the Jade estuary, but in ships with fouled bottoms, tired engines and low coal supplies, I know where I'd put my money.
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  55.  @paulb6326  Lord Mountbatten, apparently. At least, Mountbatten charmed Rickover sufficiently to get him to hand over a nuclear reactor for HMS Dreadnought. Mountbatten must have put in a hell of a lot of spadework to achieve that.
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  56. You consistently produce high qualiry, entsertaining and informative videos; but with this trio Drach, you have totally knocked it out of the park. These are a fine tribute to the men who died in that fleet and the men who raised them. Simply outstanding. Bravo Zulu.
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  57. I nominate HMAS Canberra (1), not as a cruiser too angry to die but rather as a cruiser in too foul a mood so to do. Let's face it, after being disabled by Mikawa's force; having to then put up with your american allies taking 263 5" shells and five torpedos to scuttle you would be enough to put anyone in a vile state of mind.
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  58. Hi Drach. As a meet-up in Sydney, I strongly second both the Lord Nelson and The Hero. The food at the Lord Nelson used to be pretty good, but I haven't been there for a couple of years, so maybe anothe Sydney local can provide an update. I hope to see you when you're here.
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  59. The RN tends to be a bit more thoroughgoing about these things than the USN.
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  60. Intestingly, Cerberus was semi-submersible. Compartments could be flooded so that only the breastwork , turrets and superstructure remained above water, making her an even smaller target than she was naturally. I wonder if this gave someone the daft idea for the M-class submarines?
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  61. What a pretty little ship. The square rig really suits her.
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  62. A fascinating tale of engineering silliness. Putting U-boats on an autobahn is right up there eith dragging motor launches through the jungle to fight a naval battle on Lake Tanganyika. You KNOW that there must have been a wager involved at some point in both cases. Actuallt, a Rum Ration on Spicer-Simpson's adventures would be good for a laugh.
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  63. A suitable subject for a three hour tour.
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  64. Ah, but can you spell "BOOBS" with it when you hold one upside-down?
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  65. It IS nice to have a regular enemy who you get along with. Much more cozy than fighting with strangers.
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  66. I actually like the appearance of the Nelrods. They're a bit like an English Electric Lightning. Not the prettiest girls at the dance, but you don't want to get on the wrong side of them.
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  67.  @jonathanhill4892  Well, considering the Algerian War and its aftermath, maybe even then.
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  68. HMS Boyne, I heard.
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  69.  @TheNecromancer6666  I think that Grant was the single person of whom you could say that the war would probably have been lost without him. He won the war in the west ànd after a somewhat shaky start was the master of strategy in that theatre. His reputation has been unfairly tarnished as a butcher after he moved east, and I think that this happened for three reasons: 1. The battles before Richmond happened in a cockpit and simply didn't offer the scope for movement that was present in the west. Even Lee was severely hampered after Grant started applying pressure to unbalance him. 2. The culture of the Army of the Potomac was extremely hierarchical; nothing ever happened quickly and initiative was actively discouraged. This meant that formations would arrive late and would not react quickly to hanging circumstances, which lead to heavy casualties. 3. The lost cause myth. For this to work, it required that the gallant southerners could only be overcome by the northern steamroller which depended on numbers, not skill. As Grant was already unpopular due to his support for reconstruction, it required only a small step to tar him as an unthinking butcher, even though Lee's losses were often as great as his own, and far less sustainable.
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  70. I knew about some of the princely states retaining control of their own military formations, but the navy as the national armed organisation had never actually ocurred to me. Thsnk you for the insight.
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  71. Just a minor note Drach; Diomede and Dunedin were assigned to the New Zealand Division of the RN in 1924. The RNZN didn't come into existence until October, 1941. Both were reassigned back to the RN proper in 1936/37.
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  72. ​ @blshouse  I bet that all the other Admirals said you were daft to build an airstation on a swamp, but you built it anyway. Just to show 'em.
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  73. Forget about Raiders, it will be more like Yes Minister. In one episode the Minister, Jim Hacker, was about to be embarassed by a petition that he himself had lead when his party was in opposition. He instructed Bernard, his personal secretary, to get rid of it. Innocently, Bernard asked if it should be filed or shredded. Hacker, in near panic, emphasised that no one should ever see it again. Bernard then replied "In that case, I'll file it Minister".
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  74. Wow! Talk about being able to hold a grudge.
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  75.  @DeltaV2TLI  Yeah, the NZ would come out without a scratch; but Jutland proved that you don't want to be standing near her.
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  76. Another reason to have a non-combatant vessel as your flagship is that they often have a lot more room to host staff facilities. Which makes them nicer places in which to live, not to mention in which to host cocktail parties.
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  77. I bet that there was quite a queue of volunteers to serve on Menestheus.🍻
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  78. In cricketing terms, the 17.7" torpedoes launched from the Oskarborg Fortress had the best strike rate of any WW II torpedo. One delivery. One hit. One sink. A 100% success rate. OK, it was a short innings.
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  79. Can we all please agree that Scheveningen is actually just pronounced "Dave"? 😉
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  80. And the complementary tale of a shoe factory that was ordeŕed to increase its production to a certain number of shoes annually, and so simply switched to making baby shoes.
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  81. Actually, Bolivia does have a navy to stir Drach's salty blood. Admittedly it's mostly based on Lake Titicaca, so I can't see how it can get to Lake Lugarno for a face-off against the switzers . Well, not without considerable help from FedEx parcel post. Incidentally, do NOT look up Bolivia's naval ensign as it has been known to induce seizures in small children.
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  82. The designers were probably making allowances for pilfering.
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  83. ​ @jeromethiel4323  And here I was thinking that the US used unpronounceable indian names in revenge for the poms using names that are pronounced completely differently to how they're spelt.
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  84. We have a new hunter/killer group to win wars; HMS Warspite, USS Enterprise and Sunderland EJ234. Broken up on the beach, you say? Bah! 'tis but a flesh wound.
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  85. As my father used to say when faced with a piece of uncooperative machinery ... "Don't force it. Use a bigger hammer."
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  86. Steve1989 is a very brave man. And must have a digestive system of cast iron. 🤮
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  87. To be fair, they probably weren't Mk 14s.
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  88. So Mitchell's air advocacy was merely another installment of the annual Army-Navy game? Who whould have thunk it?
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  89. I remember Drach back when he was a robot. Congratulations, Sir. Now on to one billion!
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  90. I remember a cartoon in Punch back in the days when Soviet "trawlers" would shadow NATO fleets. This one featured a trawler canted over at an alarming angle while its crew rushes about frantically. A watching RN officer remarks "Looks like they're in trouble, Sir. I think that they've caught some fish by mistake."
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  91.  @demonicsquid7217  I think that your granddad's sister's brother would have enjoyed that role more during Clinton's presidency.
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  92. The only ship that has spent longer than Oregon in a drydock is HMAS Supply. (A joke for australians.)
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  93. Good call.
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  94.  @bostonrailfan2427  Thanks very much for taking the trouble of finding that, but I'm afraid that its not the photo I'm thinking of. The one that I remember is a profile shot of a monitor with a single turret forward with most of her nose buried in a swell. Mind you, in either case, I'd be sleeping on deck in a life jacket. 😵
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  95.  @TheKingofbrooklin  That might work for some of the protected cruisers, especially if their captains were imaginative like von Muller, but the armoured cruisers would have practically no chance short of internment in a neutral country. The thing is, I'm not sure how the scatter and run tactic would have sat with the german naval ethos of the time. Flying from the face of an overwhealming enemy is one thing; disguise in cruiser warfare is acceptacle, but I'm not convinced that scattering an intact fleet would fit the prussian mind set.
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  96. Councidentally, it was 100 years ago this week that a man walked out of his newspaper office in Bunbury and 3 months later arrived in Sydney; becoming the first man to walk solo across Australia; so nice timing, Drach. Unfortunately, he was apparently writing a serial thriller and quit before handing in the final chapter. Somewhere in Bunbury there is a very old and very angry newspaper subscriber.
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  97. ​ @katrinapaton5283  You really should stop haning around journalists and other such "educated" types. I feel your pain, my kiwi cuz.
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  98. Almost as impressively named was a US naval officer (an ADC to George Bush I, from memory, named Captain Dick Pound.
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  99.  @mikecimerian6913  He had some very genial traits with ordinary people indeed. Just ask the ukranians. Woops! Now where did they go? And that was only the start. The bastard was a meglomaniac and psychopath. The end.
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  100.  @francoistombe  Lots of italian POWs were kept in the camp at Cowra during the war. In contrast to the japanese, the italians were guarded very lightly and the officers apparently weren't guarded at all. They could wander into town, visit the pubs and drink coffee in the cafes. They just had to give an undertaking not to try to escape and to close the fly-screen door behind them when they returned to camp. A marked contrast to the way the japanese had to be handled.
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  101. I certainly hope that the expenditure of pistol ammunition was preceeded by Captain Novotny whipping out his Luger, pointing it at Italy and drawling "Hands up, pardner. This is a stick-up". In any of the empire's eleven languages.
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  102. Add in a few cities such as Liverpool, and you're going to need a class so extensive as to put the Clemsons to shame.
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  103. "Sink the Bismarck" on an 18" AWA black & white television.
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  104. "... the result had a slight tumblehome to the hull, but we'll try not to hold that against it." HMS Victory: I'm still here, you know.
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  105. Happiness is a warm bore. - J. Lennon.
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  106. As anyone who has ever owned a ute can testify. 😊
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  107. I'm sorry to hear of your misfortunes, but I'm glad that this channel lightens the gloom a bit for you. Remember the old saying "and this too shall pass". Not even the really bad stuff can last forever.
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  108. I would love to have the Irn Bru concession at Castle Drach. I'm sure that it would be a nice little earner on Dry Dock days.
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  109. "Morning Ralph." "Morning Sam." And of course, the cartoon's ending.... "You don't look so good, Ralph. I'll cover for you tomorrow."
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  110. ​ @SennaAugustus  Presumably as restraining influences.
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  111. Llamas are however, very dangerous; so if you see one near where people are swimming you must yell out "Cuidado! Hay llamas!" (Look out! There are llamas!)
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  112. I second Rodrigo's comments, Drach. Production values are excellent as always, but use of the hand painted models was a nice touch and definitely above & beyond the call of duty. Bravo Zulu. PS: Can you still see after painting those tiny things?
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  113. As far as sail quality goes, as well as the quality of the canvas itself, I believe that the actual age of the sail also comes into account. Like clothing, sails wear out with use, so as they get older they tend to get downgraded to lighter conditions. And like clothing, they often need patching with material of a similar quality. I was told that if you see a picture of a ship with lovely white canvas sails, then the sails are probably sun-bleached and old.
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  114. Ian and Drach have a lot in common. They both have encyclopædic knowledge of their topics, enormous enthusiasm for them and great communication skills. This enables them to enthuse people who would not ordinarilly be very interested in their subjects. The fact that they both have an excellent sense if humour is the icing on the cake.
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  115. Hi Drach. A question about target ships. After WW I, some navies started using old battleships as radio controlled targets. You'd think that this would be a very short gig, but some like HMS Centurion enjoyed (if that's the word) surprisingly long careers in that thankless role. How did a ship survive being repeatedly smashed by 15 & 16 inch shells? Obviously only inert rounds were used, but were any other methods used to lessen damage, such as using lighter rounds or reduced charges?
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  116. I have heard Inflexible referred to as a "magnificent freak". Personally I find her magnificent, freakish or not. As a child, I saw the image of her at 3:37 and couldn't work out how a ship that was wider on the starboard side than on the port could travel in a straight line.😊 Cut me some slack; I was only nine after all and hadn't got my head around the whole "perspective" thing.
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  117. That would be interesting, but I'm not sure if Drach would have the cash to commission a 3 hour academy award winning musical score. Though he might be able to talk Dame Julie Andrews to do the voice of the Otranto Barrage in a duet with Mrs Drach in her sea mine role
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  118. @ 13:30 - 13:37, a Pythonesque "My landing craft is full of eels."
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  119. I'd choose to raise Rozhestvensky's binocular collection.
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  120. It's "whisky" if it's from Scotland and "whiskey" if it's from Ireland.
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  121. It depends ... can the Bismarck do the Kessel run in less than eight parsecs?
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  122. I've never heard if this class of escort before. They certainly demonstrate the advantages of keeping it small. I mean, six weeks on the stocks! You couldn't get a Toyota delivered that quickly
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  123. Yep, Broke was a gunnery fanatic with Willis Lee levels of enthusiasm on the subject. There is a very good little book dealing with the Shannon-Chesepeake engagement called "Guns off Cape St Anne" that addresses Broke's methods.
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  124. It's a bit of a puzzle why they kept recycling the names as well. I put it down to the british fondness of celebrating spectacular failures. For example, what other nation's most famous sporting tropht (The Ashes) celebrates their most noted defeat in a game that they invented and in which victory, as the late Alan Coren commented, can never be a triumph as it just brings you back to the point that they shouldn't have lost it in the first place.
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  125.  @kemarisite  ot would be a brave: no, make that foolhardy officer who tried a pracrical joke on a man so obviously bereft of a sense of humour as Admiral King.
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  126. The germans weren't quite at the execute the prisoners stage at this point in the war. At least not in the western theatres. As the commandos were in uniform and the german colours were replaced by the white ensign before the raiders opened fire ( a legitimate ruse de guerre), executing prisoners would have been a breach of war conventions.
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  127. This explains why maoris find KFC irresistable.
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  128. Sounds like every ex-wife ever to me.
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  129. In the RN in the Pacific, the carriers used to sling a harness from a crane and the destroyer maneuvred beneath that. Ransom was also frequently exchanged, I believe.
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  130. With due respect to the Melbourne, it's probably fairer to say of her that she didn't suffer fools gladly; or indeed at all. You dangerously cross her bows to assume guard station, you handle the consequences. And the Evans did that three times in two nights. Third time's the charm.
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  131. I know what casemate guns are, but what pray are gallery guns?
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  132.  @arczer2519  Thanks. Much appreciated.
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  133. You certainly don't just open the hatch to find out. Well, maybe once.
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  134. Bet that it still set off a few car alarms though.
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  135. Ah! The happy days before facebook.
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  136. Wilhelm had read, but obviously not understood Mahan. Had he unxerstanding he would have realised that the sea is a border a thousand miles across but half an inch wide. Any threat to the Royal Navy would be interpreted as an existential threat to Britain, and her reaction would be uncompromising; as it was. Had Wilhelm been a bit less vainglorious, and his ministers a little more insightful, the Triple Entente might never have come into existence.
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  137. Imagine if the germans and the welsh had ever got together to invent a language!
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  138. I think that a Battlefastcruiseship would actually be The Love Boat. You have that tune stuck in your head now, haven't you?
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  139. Re Operation Wikinger, to paraphrase Lady Bracknell "To lose one destroyer, Herr Berger, may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose two begins to look like carelesness".
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  140. Possiby frigates were more prone to mutiny & going over to the enemy because frigates had relatively junior captains. If a captain's command style was of the sort to provoke a mutiny, this would most likely become evident during an early command, such as a frigate. You would hope that the psychopaths were weeded out before they got their hands on a ship of the line. Also, frigates were much more likely to be on a solo patrol than were ships of the line, which were usually part of a fleet. It would have been much easier to pull off a successful mutiny if you were in the middle of the ocean on your own rather than being surrounded by the other ships in the fleet.
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  141. "However the Pacific was big. Douglas Adams-style big" I KNEW that Drach was a HHGTTG Fan.
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  142. Taking off from one of the lower flight decks would have been a piece of cake compared to trying to land on one of them. 😨
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  143. Apparentyly the USN was so impressed by her that I believe after the war they offered to buy her. For some reason, the British government refused and sold her privately. Distinctly odd for a UK government.
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  144. Ditto.
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  145. Re Bermuda, a sunken floating drydock sounds like the perfect location for a floating sunken garden.
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  146. Symphony of firepower sound great if you're in the orchestra; not so hot-so if you're in the audiece.
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  147. HMS Vengance was also loaned to the RAN in the early 50s. She too carried the HMAS designation
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  148. I love the sheer creativity of this period of naval design. It reminds me of the legend of the millionaire who invented the urinal, who reputedly started off with nothing more than a sheet of galvanised iron and his imagination.
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  149. Another consideration in that bargain ŵould be that the survivor wouldn't be offered one of the pretty ones, I'll wager.
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  150.  @TheNecromancer6666  If materiel was all that counted, I'd agree with you. But the war was deeply unpopular in the North at certain points. The south, by contrast, was much more united behind the war effort. Morover, they had unambiguous aims, which the north did not. Had Grant not been such a positive force in the west, then the confederates might well have held on to Vicksburg, the fall of which was crucial for Lincoln. And consider; if no Grànt, then probably no Sherman. That would mean no march through Georgia and the Carolinas, no fall of Savannah and no electoral boost for Lincoln's reelection. Then McClelland wioud have become president with a negotiated peace very likely. No, I still think that Grant was essentual for victory.
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  151.  @bobsakowski8298  Chuck in Wednesday's Rum Ration an that's over 10 hours of naval history in a week. We are definitely being spoiled.
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  152.  @chefchaudard3580  Knowing the poms, it was damned lucky not to have been pronounced "Chomondley", frankly.
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  153. Always a high point in the movie "Down Periscope".
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  154. Yeah. I love the ironclads for their sheer absurdities. Theirs was the classic age of "a bloke in a shed has an idea". And I'm hunbly aware that I speak with the benefit of hindsight.
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  155. Life in a galley. "We keep you alive to serve this slop to. Bon appetit."
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  156. Not a pre-dread per se, but the Italia class ironclads make a good case for being pre-Yamato Yamatos. In the 1870s, a 17" battery is an argument that's hard to ignore.
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  157. Some people say that her rangefinnders are made out of actual human eyeballs. And that none of her crew can taste the flavour peppermint. All we know is she's callef HMS Warstig.
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  158. Who can resist a video on Darwin Award winners?
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  159. How does the batman signal "nose up a bit"?
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  160. A pair of forward-facing 110 ton guns is all well and good, but the lack of a bow-mounted corvus displays a want to offensive spirit by the Admiralty, in my opinion. The designers of HMS By Jove would never have displayed such a lack of zeal.
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  161. The Brigitte Bardot of battlecruisers (both best appreciated from stern 3/4 view).
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  162. Not necessarilly a backward step if you're introducing rifled weapons to replace smooth bores. Nor indeed if your breechloaders have a tendency to go bang at the wrong end, which was an issue with early breechloaders.
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  163. It would be much easier if he wore a red & white striped jersey and beanie.
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  164. Why do failed designs of this period always look so cute?
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  165. ​ @MonkeyJedi99  If somewhat vulnerable to plunging fire.
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  166. Oh, I don't know. At least he'd still be alive to write one, which is more than most of the captains of the ships that he was escorting could say.
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  167. I believe that under English law, the bagpipes are still classified as weapons of war; the term "weapon of mass destruction" not having been coined in 1745.
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  168. If you have the space to berth more crew, you don't have enough AA guns.
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  169. I was told by an old sailorman that dog watches were instituted so that the same watch didn't have to stand the same duty hours everyday. That way, each watchkeeper got a chance to be awakened by a broomhandle.
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  170. Thanks cor that info. I tecall being told in my far-off school days that the Roman Republic had created a fleet of galleys based upon a captured Carthaginian vessel prior to the Second Punic War. Given Carthage's use of prefabrication, I think that both cases could be used to argue for the existence of a class.
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  171. What! Only 1:08:33 hours in a Drydock? What are we supposed to do with the rest of the week? Seriously, congrats on 250 K subscribers. 👍
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  172. Ceuta and Meilila are sort of like Gibraltar, but the spaniards don't like to talk about that. 🥸
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  173. I was a bit surprised to hear the phrase "at about the same time he saw Nelson's Column enerting action". With the sight of an architectural folly wading in to battle like it was the Crimson Permanent Assurance building, I'm surprised that the entire franco-spanish fleet didn't surrender on the spot.
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  174. Or better, an alternative history of HMS St Lawrence vs USS Sable in a night action. That could be really fun.
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  175. The reason that the Oberons are being preserved is that because of the way the AUKUS SSN project is progressing. The RAN will probably have to recomission them after the last of the Collins class gives up the ghost. And if you ever win the lottery and can afford to visit Oz again, you should drive up/down the Hume highway to a little town called Holbrook in NSW, where you will find (100 miles inland and 900 feet above sea level) a nice 1:10 model of HM Submarine B11 and the entire casing of HMAS Otway; yet another preserved Oberon. There is also a really good little museum in the park with lots of submarine related paraphenalia. They have even preserved a section of Otway's living quarters and have been able to reproduce the diesel/ozone/linoleum smell exactly!
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  176. If only u-boats had been attracted to chips.
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  177. Between the four hours that are left of a six hour Drydock and a hour's worth if the Rum Ration, that's my Easter long weekend taken care of.
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  178. On the subject of riverine warfare, there was actually quite a lot of it going on during the Russian civil war; both between the reds and the whites and between the reds & various RN units. Unfortunately, it isn't a well documented field and what records there are are particularly partisan, as would be expected.
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  179. I just hope that Broke was bowling legitimate deliveries and that he didn't dismiss that box of cartridges with a no ball.
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  180.  @JohnSmith-kg2rt  Well, the USN had other ships. Why was Furuta picking on the poor, old Enterprise ALL the time? Starts to look like bullying!
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  181. Goto should have signalled "I am the Swiss cruiser Tobblerone and am in an hotel minibar". No one would have touched him
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  182. My two favourite channels; probably because they're both hosted by extremely knowledgeabe and enthusiastic men who don't take their subjects toooooo seriously. I commend you on your good taste, Sir!
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  183. Include a ship from the British Pacific Fleet, build in some rum for ice cream swaps, some trading chicanery and ... I've just invented McHale's Navy. 😁
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  184. There's certainly an ex-german gunboat kicking around Lake Tanganyika that dates from WWI.
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  185. Oooh! I bet that the documentary which said that was one that started with the word "Dark".
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  186. HM also put his foot down when Churchill tried to gatecrash the Normandy landings, telling him that if the King couldn't go, then the PM certainly couldn't.
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  187. One convict was transported for "having carnal knowledge of a sheep". In Australia, that's a crime. In New Zealand ... weellll.
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  188. Nevertheless, they don't like it up 'em, Sir.
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  189. At least the East India Company didn't have access to your financial transactions and browsing history. We might come to think of it as relatively benign, unfortunately.
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  190. The town of Holbrook in New South Wales was named after Lt. Norman Holbrook, the commander of the B-11. If you're ever on the highway between Sydney and Melbourne, I reccomend that you pay it a visit. Aside from having a very good submarine museum, it boasts a truly estimable pie shop.
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  191. Forget the difficulties of siting 24 x 4" guns on an E class cruiser, disregard the difficulties in the stowage of enough ammo to keep it in action for more than two minutes; consider instead what the american reaction would have been if HMS Emerald had come sashaying into the Pacific so equipped. "Sir, that english cruiser has 24 main battery guns! Are they ALLOWED to do that?"
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  192. I do love Porco Rosso. The artwork in the aerial scenes is heartachingly beautiful.
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  193. Not the silliest question about the Battle of the Denmark Strait ever asked.
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  194. We all have our breaking points.
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  195. Looking forward to Reel Time History's doco series on the Hundred Years War.
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  196. HMS Bronington deserves to be preserved, not only as an example of ships of her era, but because the Ton class were so damned cute. They look like they should be pottering around the island of Sodor and having adventures with Thomas the Tank Engine.
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  197. I think that if they were going to accidentally-on-purpose turn up anywhere, if would be off Porto Belgrano. 😂 Just sayin'.
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  198. Hey, there was a flat surface onboard without a gun on it. What else was the USN supposed to do?
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  199. Usually from the officer who currently held it. It's useful to think of the sale of commissions as a kind of retirement plan. For example, if you purchased a lieutenantcy ( and assuming that there were no wars to thin out the ranks a liitle and let you earn a promotion) , then after about ten years or so you might be able to purchase a captaincy (which naturally cost more). Repeat every 10 years or so and by the time you retire, you might þe a colonel with a nice little nest egg. Of course, some damned frenchman might blow your head off in the low countries while you're still a lieutenant; then bang goes your retirement in Leamington.
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  200. I'm pertty sure that an Alaska could eat a pair of Leanders and a York for breakfast. Ignoring the radar advantage, the reduced speed differential and the better ammunition (not to mention improved systems redundancy) give her rhe aboĺity to dictate the terms of the engagement. Mind you, an Alaska up against a couple of Towns and a County could be interesting.
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  201. I don't think that the Beeb would appreciate either Drach's relaxed presentation style, nor his expressed political views. You might object "He hasn't expressed any obvious political views"; and I'd respond, "Exactly".
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  202. Apparently this wasn't accidental. The fench had a theory of what was called "fierce face" design, which as near as I can work out means that if you look angry, the enemy will be afraid to attack you. This apparently contrubuted to the inclusion of such features as exaggerated tumblehomes and semi pagoda masts. I don't think that the turk's artillery at Gallipoli were too impressed by this theory.
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  203. Fascinating. I have read contemporary accounts that dismissed Humphrey's ships as "a few fir-built frigates", which implies that fir was an inferior timber for ship building. Doubly puzzling as I understoid that the US frigates were mostly built from white oak. Possibly the fir was only used for key parts of the ship? Can anyone clarify this?
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  204.  @johnnash5118  Ahah! I thought that something like that might be the case. Thanks!
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  205. A few people here have commended Jeremy Clarkson's documentary "The Greatest Raid of All", opinions with which I concur. It's a fine, well-balanced film. By way of contrast, avoid the movie "Attack on the Iron Coast" like the plague. It's a fictionalised version of the raid and it's bloody awful.
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  206. A similar thing happened to the CGT liner Ile de France. The poor old thing was sunk in shallow water in the making of a hollywood pot-boiler called The Last Voyage. She was then raised and scrapped. A very undignified end.
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  207. You've just inspired me with the thought of an aviation version of the funnycar. Maybe a Hellcat disguised as a Swordfish. 😊
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  208. Wow. Over 4,000 views and 50 comments within an hour of posting! In the non-YouTube world, that's called stalking.
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  209. " the ugliest ships in the US fleet" (pre-Zumwalt, obviously). Incidentally, how do we think the shade of Elmo feels about that particular honour? Obviously one likes to be remembered, but really ...
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  210. It probably kills the mood a bit, but in Oz, silverside is a type of corned beef, usually served with white sauce. Like I said, the knowledge rsther kills the mood. Imagine being one of the ships sunk by the USS Pastrami on Rye.
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  211. Wow! That frigate descaling its boilers at 41:53 must have had VERY tolerant neighbours. Especially on laundry day.
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  212. I had zamboni once. Not too bad if you smother it with grated parmesan cheese.
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  213. When you're just a little destroyer escort, I don't think that anyone can blame you for being a bit discombobulated after being hit by either of thise options.
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  214.  @Lowkeh  Nice catch, Loke. A BB indeed! Glad my handle amused you. The opening soliloquy of Richard III, my favourite Shakespeare history, is sadly all too apt in my case nowadays. 😭
    3
  215. And the Jeune École was actually jeune.
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  216. Jump starting an Iowa would be so Impressive; and much easier than trying to push start one of the buggers.
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  217.  @khaelamensha3624  To quote de Gaulle, how can you con a ship that has over 200 varieties of cheese behind armour?
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  218. The Volvos of the Sea.
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  219. Hi Drach. A couple of unrelated questions: 1- How did your splendid channel mascot manage to hang on to his splendid waxed moustaches given the RN's rather hostile attitude to such facial adornement? 2- How did various navies cope with the switch from imperial to metric measures, especially regarding construction and maintenance? Did they run twin systems or did everthing suddenly get labelled in fractions of a metre?
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  220. What a pity that the battleship HMS Camperdown wasn't fitted with a Lacoste ship brake ... though if she had one, I can imagine Tryon trying to do doughnuts in her. Purely in a spirit of tactical research, naturally.
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  221. Continuing the fine tradition of asking Drach "Why don't you cover <insert name of obscure vessel>", may I humbly propose HMAS Kinchela? This gallant tub was the slowest ship in the RAN in WWII. Such a slug in fact, that on her bows she did not display her name, but rather the hand-painted warning "DEAD SLOW". That's gotta be worth a Five Minute Guide.
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  222. The title "Battle for the Middle C" made me think of a disagreement during a piano duet.
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  223. The Royal Australian Navy has done the same. Sailors usually wear blue/grey disruptive pattern uniforms. These look pretty bloody silly when they also have high-vis reflective tape sewn onto the sleeves; even assuming an actual need for camoflaged uniform on board a ship. 😆
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  224. Very interesting. People nowadays often forget the long tranport and storage times that used to be involved in the movement of goods. I'm not surprised that this also applied to IPAs. Indeed, I would like to volunteer to do research on this topic. Actually, I have already started.
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  225. When considering the range of the G and N classes, you wouldn't have to change your bearings too much to bring Q turret in to play. Just chasing the fall of shot would probably be enough. And if your ship is damaged enough that you can't even maneuvre to that extent, it probably doesn't matter on what bearing your opponent is on.
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  226. Having your bow fall off tends to make most jobs easier. 😉
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  227. Don't be silly. It would be too long to fiy into any existing dock. No, a double-decker battleship would be much more practical. Smoking upstairs only, of course.
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  228. Interesting, but insufficiently hotel-like.
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  229.  @sw96  Heroines, surely.
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  230. If somewhat feebly.
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  231.  @dingdong2103  Some kind of did. I believe that the Cerberus and the other RN breastwork monitors could take on ballast so that their actual hulls were submerged and only the breastworks and the turrets were above water; making themselves even smaller targets.
    3
  232. A trip to the moon, On gossamer wings ...
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  233.  @sharlin648  I HAVE to read that. Thanks very much for the links. 👍
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  234. I suspect that he had just spotted his mother ashore and was waving to get her attention. "Hey Mum! Mum! Over here. Look at me, Mum. Hey Mum! Mum!" Or words to that effect.
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  235. The difference with which the japanese and the chinese regarded foreign experts is interesting. The japanese seemed to hire them, extract as much i formation from them as possible and then show them the door with a cheerful "We can take it from here". The chinese, by contrast, seemed to hire foreigners and then ignore them. They usually kept them on the payroll, but also actively isolated them, as it thus was a good way to avoid criticism. This wasn't just an habit of the decrepit Manchus either. It really continued until 1949.
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  236. Quite possibly. In the late 1960s, a norweigan explorer named Thor Heyerdahl tried to cross the Atlantic fron North Africa to South America in a reproduction of an egyptian papyrus boat named Ra. His theory was that ancient egyptians could have colonised america. Unfortunately, after they finished building the boat, they removed the rope used to put the curl in the boat's tail, presuming that it was now redundant. It wasn't. Half way across the Atlantic, Ra's stern began to sag and act like a brake until she began to disintegrate. A couple of years later, Heyerdahl tried again on Ra II, this time leaving the critical stern rope in place. He made it across that time.
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  237. Given the current state of the Exchequer, and their current states, I reckon that a five figure offer on a Queen Elizabeth would receive active consideration. It might take a while for the JCB to dig the hole in the river bank mind; though you could afford to receive the local council's orders to remove it with a degree of sang froid.
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  238. It also features on packets of Players Navy Cut cigarettes. (assuming that you can still but 'em).
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  239. That was HMS Rodney.
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  240. I visited her back in '94 and was really impressed by the quality of the preservation work, especially the public audio of the Battle of North Cape. I think that her set-back funnels make her much prettier than her sisters. She looks particularly good in stern three-quarter view; rather like Brigette Bardot. Very coquetteish.
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  241. If you going to San Fracisco Drach, Be sure to wear a flower in your hair; But don't wear your good shoes. 💩
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  242. OK, I'm intrigued. What on earth is a "reservist monk"? Is it a monk that does some basic military training on the weekend, a monk that can take over from a regular monk if one collects a censer to the temple, or just a particularly militant order of which I was previously unaware?
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  243.  @vespelian  Yep. I think "insane" neatly sums it up. Thanks.
    3
  244. ​ @wilsonj4705  Indeed!
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  245.  @AdamMGTF  I have a sneaking suspicion that Drach rather enjoyed Douglas Adams' books when he was a youngster.
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  246. Unless they were crewed by curling fanatics. Can you imagine the scenes? Von Scheer: Mein Gott, Franz! Zose vitches are boarding us mit brooms.
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  247. It was the Trent.
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  248. And if it was a 15" broadside from HMS Warspite ... 😁😁😁😁😁👍👍👍👍👍
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  249.  @Colt45hatchback  No, she passed her sea trials easilly. I was rather referring to what happened on her maiden voyage.
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  250.  @scottmason2557  They had two light escort craft, the Sirius and the Supply, though oddly both had all of their guns (bar a couple of small signal guns) stowed down in their holds to increase their carrying capacity.
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  251. Court date. Charged with making inappropriate advances to HMS Caroline.
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  252. I dont't care how outnumbered you were nor how gallantly you fought; there's something rather sad about being duffed up by a ship named Cherub.
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  253. Seconded
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  254. I'd love ro see a Sworsdish with a Highball bomb slung underneath it. (Well, the FAA cramed just about everything else onto the poor, old dears.)
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  255. With all of the high technology available to them, imagine what they're up to now.
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  256. Well, he was on HMS Collingwood at Jutland, so you'd think that he would have had his fill, wouldn't you?
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  257. An escort battleship is a pretty silly concept when you think about it. A battleship is an offensive weapon almost by definition; but I suppose that if you wanted something cheap & nasty to scare off surface raiders, you might get something like a pre-dreadnought. Obviously you can't use a commercial hull, but you could cut costs in various ways. I would imagine: * around 8,000 tons * maybe 450' in length and 75' beam * 4 x 12" in two turrets forward * 8 x 4.5" DP in four turrets * the usual AA outfit * minimal belt & turret armour (8" proof only) * 20 knots max (maybe even using triple expansion). As I said, a bit of a silly idea, really.
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  258. Gen. Smith: You incompetent idiot! Gen Holland Smith: You clueless bufoon! Japanese Army & Navy Staff (together): Amateurs!
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  259. Congrats on a glorious century, Drach. On to the double ton!
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  260. Landing on a carrier several miles under the surface might be difficult, but still somewhat easier than taking off therefrom.
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  261. There were numerous ships named HMS Tormentor, so I don't think that a HMS Nuisance is too big a stretch.
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  262. Re warships disguising themselves as civilian vessels, in 1949 LCDR Kerans disguised HMS Amethyst as a chinese vessel to run the blockade of chicom batteries in the ship's break-out ftom the Yangtsee River. It didn't entirely succeed, but fortunately the only casualty was a chicom landing craft which the gunners in the batteries mistook for Amethyst and sent to the bottom.
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  263. Considering what happened at the Battle of the Java Sea, the dutch should probably have irdered some desent admirals to command 'em.
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  264. My thoughts also. Imagine being the captain of a squadron of RN cruisers in the North Sea in 1918 and getting a message that a brace of german battleships were heading your way. I suggesrt that your reactions would be different depending upon whether the pair were Pommern class (Fresh meat!!!!!), Nassau class (Lets give it a go, chaps) or Baden class (I'm coming home now, Mother). After the Washington treaty killed-off the mega hyper humungous dteadnoughts and economics killed off both the pre and early dreadnoughts, the distinction was unnecessary because; well, super compared to what?
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  265. Not to mention the angry scot on the foc'sle yelling "What are you looking at? I'll do you, Jimmy!".
    2
  266. I think that there was one example of a "speculative" warship back in the early 2000s. There was a trimaran named Triton (I don't think she was ever a RN ship) that was built for demonstration purposes. She was leased to the Australian customs service for a few years, I believe.
    2
  267.  @Dave_Sisson  Ah, yes. I'd forgotten about HMAS Jervis Bay. She was quite successful in the role, I recall.
    2
  268. I usually find an excuse to be busy elsewhere when somone offers to show me their holiday videos, but for you Drach, I make an exception.
    2
  269. And paid an Iowa price tag with the "extended warranty"?
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  270. My thoughts exactly! 👍
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  271. Hi Drach. Thanks for a swering my question. Much appreciated.
    2
  272. Hi Drach, I have a supplemental question to Matt Kidd's one about VIP accommodation aboard USS Iowa during her voyage to Mers el Kebir. What would have been the likely effect on the war if USS Porter had succeeded in her mission of torpedoing the Iowa and killing Roosevelt and a large collection of top US brass? Obviously, the best thing that the Willie D could have done in those circumstances is to sail on and join the Axis powers; but what would have been the result of losing men such as King and Marshall?
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  273. As is also the case when you select the highest bidder.
    2
  274. To quote the great and good Keith Miller (australian test cricketer and Spitfire pilot), "Pressure is a Messerschmit up your arse..."
    2
  275. Drachinifel; the Barry White of naval nerd-dom.
    2
  276. Battleships. The ultimate adult toy. 😁
    2
  277. Or indeed any japanese torped0 boats in the North Sea.
    2
  278. How on earth did the Dual Monarchy manage to fit the ships' names on their cap tallies?
    2
  279. I presume that the Satsuma and the Choshu have kicked the habit now, right?
    2
  280. ​ @rackstraw  To quote Seaman Homer Simpson (USNR) ... 🎶 You don't win friends with salad. You don't win friends with salad. 🎶
    2
  281. Drach, this Drydock makes almost eight hours of videos that I must watch this week. I realise that you're a beast when it somes to producing addictively watchable videos, but pray have mercy on us. Some of us need sleep. SLEEP! Mind you, hearing the description "Zap Branniganesque" makes it all worthwhile.
    2
  282. Re good vs. bad officers, it is rumoured that there was a USN officer whose fitness report read ... "His men would follow him anywhere, but only out of a morbid sense of curiosity."
    2
  283. The War of Jenkins' Ear involved the english and the spanish, not the chinese.
    2
  284. Yep. I love the photo of that triple-barrelled Skoda gun under construction at 1:02.
    2
  285. A really interesting vid, Drach. But in terms of historical versimilitude, you've let us down on three counts: 1. You didn't have to tap your biscuit on the table to scare the weevils out. 2. You didn't have to put a fresh fish on top of your salt beet to attract (most) of the maggots out. 3. The water you put in your grog was unconvincingly clear and lacked the attractive green scum of its 19th centuty equivalent. Seriously, I read an account by a Napoleonic-era sailor named Sam Noble who was once served salt beef from a cask that was 70 years old. Sam made his portion into a model ship. Apparently, carved and polished, you couldn't tell it from mahogany
    2
  286. The West Virginia should have been saved on the grounds that the reconstruction made her absolutely bloody beautiful.
    2
  287. Congratulations on producing 150 Dry Docks. All of your excellent work is very much appreciated. Even better, tomorrow is the Queen's Birthday holiday in NSW, so I get to stay up and watch the Dry Dock when it's released. Huzza!
    2
  288. One Sub-Lieutenant Ivor Seabag-Montefiore; a fine-looking young man from a good family but an utter cad nonetheless. Totally ruined the Feversham girl.
    2
  289. To really surprise them, tell them thst it hasn't been stolen yet. 😂
    2
  290. ​ @maryholder3795  In point of fact, de Gaulle clashed with everyone who wasn't de Gaulle. He wasn't prejudiced in the matter.
    2
  291.  @SCjunk  He he! Nominative determinism at its best. Thanks for the additional info.
    2
  292. Anyone who can work a reference to Yakko Warner's "Countries of the World" into a documentary about a RN admiral is a man worthy of our admiration and reapect. Well played, Sir!
    2
  293. Drach sees the Constitution's tugboat ... "Mum, it followed me home. Can I keep it?"
    2
  294. The Royal Australian Navy has bought thee classes of ships from the spanish (LHDs, DDGs and AORs) and EVERY ONE OF THEM have their funnels positioned so that the stack gas fouls the mast and related electronics. The RAN has basically given up and started painting the masts black. I don't think that it is just a british thing anymore.
    2
  295. I believe that it was occasionally done during the Great War; for example when a german hilfskreuser recoaled from a prize or from a support vessel. You're correct though, it was time-consuming and involved a lot of faffing about.
    2
  296. And the exit/entrance to the Island closest to berth 1 is, of course, named Harry's Gate.
    2
  297. I believe in the soccer war that it was Corsairs vs Mustangs.
    2
  298.  @TraditionalAnglican  NOTHING is idiot-proof. Even the Grand Canyon (which is basically just a big hole in the ground) is not idiot-proof. I've had one or two bosses who I wouldn't trust in charge of it.
    2
  299.  @moocowpoorchick8678  If worst comes to worst, remember that cats are edible. 🐱
    2
  300. The "I'm taking command" approach didn't work out well for Lieutenant Maryk in The Caine Mutiny.
    2
  301. When it comes to unofficial ship anthems, you'd have to go a long way to better HMS Sheffield (D80)'s version of "Always look on the bright side of life".
    2
  302. Thanks very much, Vasilij. The quality of that film is astounding. And well done to whoever chose Dvorjak for the backing music.
    2
  303. Yeah. Sort of iron versions of Renee Zelwegger.
    2
  304. Personally, I would LOVE to see a Swordfish bomber flung off the deck of an escort carrier by a JATO rocket. Almost as much as I'd love to hear the comments of its crew when it happened.
    2
  305. This might be a dumb question, but how the hell does one circumcise a whale? And while we're at it, does the whale have to be over 18 to give consent? Do you need to engage a mohel? What sort of pervert are you to turn whale foreskins into barstools anyhow?????
    2
  306. Commandant Teste? A very short-tempered officer, I believe.
    2
  307. My favourite state for hunting elephants, because in Alabama the tusk are looser. Thank you Groucho.
    2
  308.  CipiRipi00  Lusitania had four working funnels, BTW.
    2
  309. Drach, given lhe limitations imposed by the Washington Treaty, why didn't countries (I'm looking at you, Japan) undertake a US-style "great refit"? That is, strip an old battleship down to her frame and essentially build a new vessel on the old keel. Was this type of refit specifically banned?
    2
  310. 15 knots = cheeky 17 knots = saucey 20 knots = racey 30 knots = How do you define "knots"
    2
  311. Don't be too hard on yourself. I don't think that there is much shame in not knowing about a ship whose only significant contribution to history was as a bonfire.
    2
  312. They are. I think that it's the twin funnels that gives them a nice, balanced profile (rather like the Amphions). So much more attractive than the rather squat-looking Leanders.
    2
  313. BTW, how the hell do you "bend" a 16.25" gun?????
    2
  314. Oneof your great ones, Drach. Absolutely fascinating. But please, please have mercy on your loyal subjects and bring on Part 2 quickly. Some of us are still going through withdrawal for the end of the Nelson biography.
    2
  315. Drydock; for when too much Drydock is barely enough.
    2
  316. You could safely assume that most men who were actually in a Dominion navy would be fabourably inclined towards the RN, so you wouldn't actually want to annoy them. Actually, amongst the Dominion forces (India excepted), there was little practical distinction between British and Dominion personnel. Most regarded themselves as British (within a wider sense), whilst still feeling distinctively Canadian, Australian or whatever. Thia made it easier to cooperate and move personnel between units. It would be quite possible, for instance, to have a Rhodesian serving with a New Zealand unit and no one would think
    2
  317. If the RNZN is down to two old frigates (which isn 't very scary), maybe they could intimidate the dutch using the RNZAF instead? Bwahahahahaha!!!!! 🤣🤣🤣
    2
  318. Mountbatten seemed to have had a talent for charming sour american admirals. He did the same thing with Hiram Rickover and enchanted him into handing over US nuclear propulsion technology for HM Submarine Dreadnought, which Rickover (another anglophobe) had previously been determined not to do.
    2
  319. A brilliant idea; but an Azure Lane chess set might make it a leetle difficult to concentrate on the actual game.
    2
  320. Bankruptcies. Bad luck. Sooo, not a particularly Great Eastern, then?
    2
  321. I personally find it rather intimidating when the tax man comes tooled-up with 5" guns to audit you.
    2
  322. Ow! Ow! It hurts! 😖
    2
  323.  @WALTERBROADDUS  i wonder what his feelings are on the topic of cryogenics?
    2
  324. It could have made the american civil war a bit more interesting if Johnny Reb had been able to get his hands on a couple of those first rates.
    2
  325. Hi Drach. Please , please, please do a myth busting video on common naval misconceptions. Partly because I'm interested in finding out how many I share, but mostly because we love it when you do your nut.
    2
  326. Except perhaps on the Cutty Sark. 😁 I'm JOKING, Drach! Please do not interpret that comment as a dare.
    2
  327. HL?
    2
  328. Good heavens, Drach. I was going to throw in a casual comment about how the Battles were, IMHO, the handsomest destroyers ever, then that colour photo came up at 6:18. What on earth is it. It looks like some benighted cross between a Type 81 frigate and HMS Endurance.
    2
  329. Aha. I just looked her up. Apparently she was converted to a trials ship. GUILTY!
    2
  330. I'm surprised that the RN squadron didn't also receive the message "Stand by to repel boarders".
    2
  331. This has been covered. Essentially, optical rangefinders hadn't been developed, even in the early dreadnought era. This meant that effective gunnery range was quite close to maximun torpedo range, so why not include them? As optical rangefinders and then radar came into vogue and massively extended effective gunnery ranges, torpedos became superfluous.
    2
  332. Damn! Only a three hour Drydock! Expect severe withdrawal symptoms.
    2
  333. Present!
    2
  334.  @jamesw17  Sadly, in both the Voyager and Evans cases, the Melbourne's captains were scapegoated.
    2
  335. In the days of sail, officers were quartered in the stern because it was just nicer; what with those pleasant sternwalks and all. The crew were quartered in the fo'csle and the marines were quartered in-between in case mutiny ever became a popular pastime. With HMS Dreadnought in 1906, Fisher tried stationing the officers forward so they were close to the control stations, but apparently this never "felt" right, so the RN immediately switched back.
    2
  336. ​ @myparceltape1169  More to the point, where did the banquet go?
    2
  337.  @RCAvhstape  Twice? The War of 1812 I know about (even though that was more of a draw), but I confess that I'm at a loss regarding the second one. Was there a curling match against the Devils with Brooms that got a bit out of hand?
    2
  338. And its support vessel ould be called an LGBT (Large Gun Battleship Tender). And if it also housed an Admiral's staff, it could be called LGBTQ (Large Gun Battleship Tender Quarters). And if ... I'd better stop now before I get everybody in trouble.
    2
  339. Oh please! Don't you think that Drach takes sufficient troubles with the names of russian battleships without dragging the surnames of polish destroyer captains into the mix? That's just cruel!
    2
  340. You've got Musk money. Build both.
    2
  341. Rhyming slang, apparently. Andrew ... Andrew Davey ... Navy. Just don't ask me who Andrew Davey was; I wouldn't hava a clue.
    2
  342. And her guns are fibreglass, which would make them somewhat exciting to fire.
    2
  343.  @scottmason2557  Some of the other colonies did. South Australia and Queensland both ran small fleets based around steel gunboats, some of which survived to become part of the RAN. Victoria ràn the largest fleet, including a number of torpedo boats. Oddly, New South Wales only supported a few naval brigades, probably because the RN's Australian squadron was based in Sydney. Organisation was a bit weird post-federation. The former colonies' fleets were organised into the Commonwealth Naval Force, but the ships remained under the control of their home states. As I said, a bit weird.
    2
  344. Gfevory Peck belongs to that tiny group of actors whose convition in a role is such that an accent is unecessary. Come that, he didn't have much of a german accent in Boys from Brazil either. To quote the Treasure of the Sierra Madre... "Accents? What accents? We don't need no steenkin' accents."
    2
  345. He he! 😂 It's basically a low stakes raffle with multiple prizes per round. Oh, and to get the atmosphere right at the East Buggeringhamshire Hotel, it probanly should have been Al Bowlly's orchestra, though he had been killed in the London Blitz.
    2
  346. I might have been spending too much time watching Dr. Sheldon Cooper's "Fun with Flags", but the purpose of both ensigns and jacks is to: a) identify the nationality of a ship and b) to identify it as a naval vessel. Or, in the case of the Bolivian navy's jack, to induce seizures in the enemy when they see it flapping in the breeze. Strictly, jacks fly fron the jack staff while the ensign can fly from either the ensign staff or a masthead. In Commonwealth navies, a white ensign is usually flown from the ensign staff while the national flag is used as a jack. Republican nations like the US use the national flag as the ensign, and so had to invent a jack for the navy. The french use the tricolour for both, while the canadians can't make up their bloody minds. Also, in Commonwealth navies, the jack is only flown when a ship is at anchor or tied up alongside. Both it and the ensign are raised ar Colours and lowered at Sunset. As far as I know, the only flag generally flown continuously is the ship's commissioning pennant, which is only lowered when the ship is decomussioned. And so to string theory.
    2
  347. To quote a song about a moggy ..."Never argue with a truck. The truck is bound to win". 😊
    2
  348. Easilly located with a geigercounter 😁
    2
  349. The X3a Lion design actually looks very handsome. The profile rather reminds me of the Galveston sub-class guided missile cruisers.
    2
  350.  @bleeksbentbits3150  very true, but the unprincipled fowl are readily bribed with either herring or tickets to the opera (or indeed anywhere where black tie is de rigeur).
    2
  351.  @allenjones5525  Dear Lord, you're right. And as I recall, there was a german surface raider called Pinguin! The dastardly swine ..., I mean fowl. It's all so obvious.
    2
  352. Not exactly an HoS, but what about Alexander Kolchak? He held his job longer than did Doenitz.
    2
  353. The Terror of Tobermory? I thought that that was Great Uncle Bulgaria.
    2
  354.  @z3r0_35  Weeelll, yes and no. You're quite right that the early model Seafires were pretty dire and even the later marks couldn't match the versatility of the Martlet or Corsair (which itself was fairly ropey in the ealy version, which is why it were shunted off to the Marines & FAA). So while the Seafire might have started as a stop-gap, it didn't say that way and gave good service in an admittedly limited role. Once you got to the Mk XV with the Griffon engine and added a drop tank for some extra range, it was quite a decent performer and was even in action during the Korean War.
    2
  355. Maybe a Jaffa Cake as well. Those canucks are tough negotiators.
    2
  356. Think R101.
    2
  357. A Rum Ration on the Havana shipyard could be an interesting diversion.
    2
  358. It means something like cheeky or insolent; as in Blackadder (II)'s comment ... "a damned saucey wench whould be a fine thing"
    2
  359. I always thought that Horton's boats ran tha gauntlet through the Skagerrak. The E-class boats were pretty big.
    2
  360. It's partly a dynastic thing and partly a search for legitimacy, I suspect. The Plantagenets were fairly long lasting, hence the flood of Edwards. The Hannoerians had four Georges in a row. George VI, by contrast chose his regnal name to reinforce the link to his father following the embarrasing interruption Edward VIII.
    2
  361.  @Dave_Sisson  Umm, usually, but not in this case. The british (bless their cotton socks) maintain three totally independent legal structures within the UK. Thus english law is applicable only to England and Wales, while scottish law (which like many scottish institutions) maintained its existence after the Act of Union in 1707) applies only to Scotland, and Northern Irish law applies only to the six counties of Northern Island following the partition of the Kingdom of Ireland in 1921. The law which I mentioned which classifies the bagpipes as weapons is an english law, having effect only in England and Wales, not in Scotland. That said, the scots apparently banned the wearing of kilts after the '45; though that law fell into disuse after George IV wore one during a tour of Scotland in, I think, 1824. The british never do anything simply.
    2
  362. I visited Warrior almost 30 years ago and was fascinated by the 110 pounders, even if they were made of fibreglass. I could never work ouy how the breech closed as you could look out through the hole in the brech all the way through to the end of the muzzle. I must ask our host one day.
    2
  363. Drach could also have used ... "Which in this war was English, not French". (Just threw that in to celebrate Bastille Day.)
    2
  364. Worth it just to see a house-trained Lancaster.
    2
  365. That must be in a Wylie Coyote/Roadrunner script somwehere.
    2
  366. Highly Polished Turd started it, Sir.
    2
  367. The Royal Australian Navy definitely have a "Hold my beer ..." tradition.
    2
  368. Speaking as a filthy royalist, I also have read Frazer's biography and Old Noll didn't come out of it looking THAT good. And I'm not even irish. 😉
    2
  369. If its 1:1 scale, it isn't a scale model, is it? You're a very stupid boy, Thompkinson. Get rid of it immediately.
    2
  370. If an admiral has his flag on a frigate, something has gone horribly wrong somewhere.
    2
  371. ​ @RedXlV  Hmmm. I think that the Luftwaffe might have had something to say about that course if action.
    2
  372.  @sharlin648  More arrogant than de Gaulle??? Mon Dieu!
    2
  373. I wouldn't entirely rule out a boarding action.
    2
  374. Nowadays penicillin clears that right up.
    2
  375. Wunderbar! I've been hanging out for another video on my favourite period of naval design. Many thanks, Drach. Now on to the Marine Nationale!
    2
  376. They could have been psychic.
    2
  377. Snap!
    2
  378. When Drach was reading out the list of RN overseas bases, was anyone else reminded of Yakko's "Counties of the World"?
    2
  379. 01:55 on alternative fuels; in the movie "Around the World in 80 Days", Phileas Fogg was able to use his own ship as fuel for his own ship. Which coicidentally also relates to the question on cross-polliation of modes of transport, as the Marx Brothers had exactly the same idea in "Go West".
    2
  380. Congratulations, Se No. It IS a bit like climbing Everest, especially when you encounter one of those five hour monsters (Drach's equivalent of the Abominable Snowman). Now you can start on the livestreams!
    2
  381. Never mind Drach, it's your content that sucjs us in, not the intro music. Accompany yourself on the kazoo, for all we care.
    2
  382. 12" dynamite guns in a Gattling format. Yes, Jackie. DO IT!
    2
  383. To be fair, she's part of a class that includes USS Iowa-clickbait, IJN Yamato-clickbait and KMS Bismarck-clickbait.
    2
  384. And I understand that King Charles is thinking of setting up a military unit to be called the Brigade of Guards. Can't wait to see their uniforms.
    2
  385. Or indeed, to razor blades.
    2
  386. Yes. Originally a french term, I believe. Of course a chanticleer isn't as good as a chocolate eclaire, but better than nothing. 😊
    2
  387. During the joint investigarion into the loss of USS Frank E Evans after the Evans managed to get herself t-boned by HMAS Melbourne, an Australian offi er was giving evidence about what he was doing on Melborne's flight deck at the time of the collision. He explained that it was part of his job to strike down US aircraft. The americans were horrified at this until it was explained to them that inn this case, US meant unserviceable and that strike down meant to remove fo the hangar.
    2
  388. I'm certain that Drach will make a fine moderator, but I think that the institute missed a golden opportunity by not inviting Taylor Swift instead. Apart from the enormous boost in publicity for the institute, they could have had Tay-Tay on Leyte at Eigh-tay. I'll see myself out.
    2
  389. A sub-chaser is a biat that likes to chase submarines but isn't fast enough to catch one. Sort of a sea-going cocker spaniel.
    2
  390. How could they have scrapped Caliope in 1951? Sheer barbarism.
    2
  391. Never underestimate an irritated seagull. The bugger will pinch your chips straight out of your fingers if you give it an excuse.
    2
  392. The hybrid battleship/destroyer is the way to go. Imagine the Cossack or the Johnston with a couple of 15" guns. (I was going to be REALLY silly and suggest a battleship/submarine... then I remembered HMS M1.) 😉
    2
  393. That's nothing. YouTube is apparently convinced that I have a fascination for bloody otters! I ask you ...
    2
  394. I'll see your Project Orion an raise you a Project Pluto. Nothing like a battleship armed with multi-warhead nuclear powered cruise missiles spewing radioactive fallout in their wake to impress the neighbours.
    2
  395. 'Tis but a flesh wound.- HMS Warspite.
    2
  396. A great idea, but how could any human being hope to keep up with his output?
    2
  397. MREs = Meals Rejected by Everone.
    2
  398. Sitting under a tree somewhere in Bedfordshire sounds fairly safe; assuming we're limiting the discussion to naval engagements.
    2
  399. Regarding reducing a ship's draught to allow it to enter shallow waters, C. S. Forrester described the process (known as a "camel") in one of his Hornblower stories. In the story "The Commodore", Forrester sends Hornblower to the Baltic in 1812 (presumably so he doesn't have to send him up the Potomac to burn Washington) in charge of a small squadton to assist the russians against Bonaparte. In one episode, he fills a couple of lighters with water and then lashes them to each side of a bomb ketch. The water is then pumped out of the lighters, which raises the ketch sufficiently to be able to cross the bar of a river and attack french shipping. I don't know if this ever worked in reality, but Forrester usually did a good job on his research.
    2
  400. Almost true, except that King George's regnal number was VI, not V. Oh, and as the King was an ex-sailor who (among other things) fought at Jutland, I doubt that he needed to have naval rhyming slang explained to him.
    2
  401.  @MarkLawden  Sorry. I missed the WWI reference. I believe that he was still hawking the idea in WWII after he became PM . I recal reading a biography of KG VI that he suggested it as a name for HMS Vanguard. The King, by contrast, was quite keen on naming her HMS Home Guard. It's probably best that neither got his way.
    2
  402. 10,000 tons might be a big price to pay for an extra six knots of speed , but it should be remembered that Hood wasn't intended to be a single ship class. She was intended to have three sisters. If you've got four of those monsters on the loose, plus possibly a couple of G3s acting as a squadron; and that's another kettle of fish altogether
    2
  403. Drach, how do you manage to produce all this content and still research century old defences for an obscure fly-speck like Albany? You MUST own a Tardis.
    2
  404. Er, no. Nimitz was adamant that the BPF had to bring its own fleet train. King, famously, didn't want a BPF at all. There was, of course, a degree of mutual cross-supply, but this was local and informal.
    2
  405. I was thinking of a more ... remote part of the anatomy.
    2
  406. My goidness, that Argentine cruiser is a pretty little ship!
    2
  407. Eye candy cruisers.
    2
  408. Some shells filled with explosive rather than cement dust would have helped as well. Given their material disadvantages, I think that the chinese fleet performed admirably. I read somewhere that aboard the Lai-Yuen, which was well ablaze, the temperature in the engine rooms rose to over 200° F, but her black gang kept feeding the boilers. Not a bad effort when you're basically being grilled alive.
    2
  409. If your great grandfather is an old St. Custardian, he should have built up an immunity to anything that could be done to a skool sossage.
    2
  410.  @jimmiller5600  Oh , I can. 😄
    2
  411. The germans' blockade strategy in 1915, approved by the Kaiser, was to sink all ships approaching the British Isles, regardless of their flag or cargo. The Lusitània was not the only civilian liner torpedoed without warning and the vast majority were not carrying ammunition. In short, the germans deliberately set out to kill civilians and didn't worry about the fundamental bastardry of the act until it started to look like the US would enter the war.
    2
  412.  @jakemillar649  i once had a colleague who was a marine architect in a previous career. Whilst at uni ne designed a boat with a planing hull. It planed beautifully once up to speed. He did admit however that under a certain speed it went down like a rock.
    2
  413. There's also the question of operability. Two guns in a spacious turret will operate more efficiently than three guns in a cramped one; the Nelsons for example. For battleship turrets as for transplant organs, always err on the side of roominess.
    2
  414. Semper prorsum, Bian. Semper prorsum!
    2
  415. Take a photo of it for us, please!
    2
  416. Thankyou! That is the most reasonable explanation which I have heard for this otherwise looney configuration.
    2
  417. Re how high the Iowas ate riding, can't you just readthe depth markings on their bows to see how much water each was drawing?
    2
  418. Nah. You'd still need lots of sticky-up bits for radars, comms etc, so it wouldn't offer any real advantages. Not unless you placed all the electronics measures in stealth drones permanently circling above.
    2
  419. Drach finishes his series on carrier development. Oversimplified History finishes his series on Hannibal. All my Christmases have come at once. If a month late and at the wrong map reference.
    2
  420. "Well, I don't know about you but I have never seen so many gladii..." The shade of Dame Edna Everage appears and then fades away, disappointed. 🪻🪻
    2
  421. And of course the xebec, beloved of cross-worders
    2
  422. ​ @harryjohnson9215  True. Bearn has't spent as much time being on fire as has the Kuznetzov.
    2
  423. Can't resist a giant slinky. 😂
    2
  424. DRAT!
    2
  425. Not quite partially supporting a ship in a drydock, but a few years ago the Royal Australian Navy needed to do some repairs on her bow of one of their supply ships (fixing a sonar dome, I think) and there wasn't a handy dry dock in WA. They got around the problem by lightening the bow and ballasting the stern until the stem was out of the water. Made for an interesting photograph.
    2
  426. Shhh! You'll wake up Senator Tillman.
    2
  427. And the defenders of Bataan didn't have the welfare of a huge civillian population to consider.
    2
  428. Sorry squire, no luck with the Hedgehog. I can do you a Squid A/S mortar, if that's any use to you.
    2
  429. Hey, Joe Biden has been in US politics long enough to have been involved in the sinking of the Maine .... though if that were the case, he would have blamed the russians rather than the spanish.
    2
  430. Take that frock off, Bigglesworth! You're fooling no one.
    2
  431. Sgt. Harper never seemedto have trouble using the Nock volley gun. AND he was able to reload all seven barrels in mere seconds.
    2
  432. You might include Admiral Sir John Benbow in the list of postumous kind-of-victors for the action of August 1702; though admittedly: * He only chased-off du Casse's squadron as his captains didn't support him, and * It took him three months to die of his wounds. Damned inconsiderate to be such a long time dying, eh?
    2
  433. I believe that it is actually what is called a "cut away" bow. The idea was to avoid blast damage to the forecastle from the forward guns. The french continued to do this short forecastle stunt right up to their first series of dreadnoughts ; though never again so outrageously as on this grotesque thing.
    2
  434. So how were they crewed? Did they train soldiers, use merchant crews or (quite possibly) shanghai IJN sailors and chain 'em to the oars?
    2
  435. 🎶You Seydlitz, I say de hell with it ...🎶
    2
  436. On the twin subjects of pre-nominals and channel scope, any suggestions on what prefix we could use for the good ship Floaty Log?
    2
  437. Napoleon III had his own plans for the americas ( he was, after all, the one who installed that poor, dumb schlub Maximillian as Mexican Emperor) and was quite keen on stirring up trouble for the Union. The last thing that his american imperium needed was a revival of the Monroe Doctrine and he was very enthusiastic about egging on the British to join him in intervention. Fortunately, Lord Palmerston was made if mentally better balanced stuff than to fall for that.
    2
  438. Control Horatio Nelson? No one controls Horatio Nelson! Emma Hamilton excepted. 💞
    2
  439. Beatty would definitely be taking selfies. 😏
    2
  440. I believe that the USN, seeing her utility, offered to buy her, but the offer was refused and she was returned to her owners. The Atlee administration gave a Nene jet engine to Stalin instead; which tells you all that you need to know about post-war british governments.
    2
  441. On the topic of less than successful methods of determining longitude, Umberto Eco explained one in his book "The Island of the Day Before". It involved using something called the powder of sympathy. And torturing a puppy dog. Not one of his better books, sadly.
    1
  442. Hope thst we get the vid on armour production soon. 🤞
    1
  443. Ice cream for breakfast is great. After all, youhurt is just ice cream with a college education.
    1
  444. And the closing announcement .. "Ladies and gentlemen, Drach has left the battleship."
    1
  445. ​ @АртурМилкович  Interesting. I've always heard it attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte.
    1
  446. It depends on which way you swing, I suppose.
    1
  447. Never mind. Global warming will get it, apparently.
    1
  448. Precious!
    1
  449. Another basis on who "won" the Washington Treaty is the technical one. For example, when it came to determining a ship's tonnage, the RN sucessfully argued that fuel and water should be excluded on the grounds that Britain's was a naval empire and consequently its ships needed to travel further and so needed greater fuel and water reserves. What wasn't nentioned was that the RN's designers had been researching the use of liquid filled spaces to enhance a ship's protection against artillery and were keeping schtum on the subject.
    1
  450. And just imagine the havoc the Akron and the Macon could have wrought; though to which side I am not sufficiently confident to predict.
    1
  451. As do we all. Its fun to say. Like schnapps.
    1
  452. That rescued ship was lucky that it was the Gotemborg that hove into view. It might just as easily have been the Queen Anne's Revenge. ☠️ Arrr!
    1
  453. Japan had numerous hot potatoes that they were trying to juggle. In addition to Prunce Konoye's somewhat mercurial approach to foreign policy and the ongoi g army/navy friction, there was the running sore of the war in China which the army knew that it couldn't win, but couldn'tbring itself to admit. (The old trope of generals valuing the sacrifice of dead soldiers more than the lives of the living ones.) Throw in the trucylent junior officers, the split in the leadershjp between the anglophiles and the germanophiles, a collapsing economy due to the China war and the friction between the uniformed and the civilian leaders, anx you have a devil's brew of conflicting priorities. Add to that the differences between the army (which wanted to expand the war northwards in China, against the navy which wanted a southward expansion into indochina, Malaya and the Dutch East Indies; and you have a problem that defies resolution. War came about as a result of the paralysis of the political will as much as anything else.
    1
  454. Don't be too hard on the media. Remember, gentle reader, that to anyone with a degree in journalism, anything in the water that is painted grey is automatically a battleship.
    1
  455. The torpedo boat chaser was a pretty useless type of vessel also, given their incapacity to perform their stated function; being usually slower than the things which they were supposed to catch.
    1
  456. I think that The Goodies did that in their Pirate Radio Station episode when Graeme towed the entire UK outside the five mile limit. He wasn't mad. He was a genius.
    1
  457. Wasn't it also used as a medication for people who were having heart attacks?
    1
  458. Were I going to preserve a french warship, I would choose the Bearn. That way, however bizarre, inappropriate or troublesome a ship I design in the future (I'm looking at you, Charles de Gaulle), I can then point at Bearn and say "We're getting better. See!"
    1
  459. Oh well, at least you'll have something to watch on your honeymoon.
    1
  460.  @bkjeong4302  Glad to hear it. We mustn't let these wonderful old traditions die out. 😁
    1
  461. Had the germans behaved like civilised people during Operation Barbarossa rather than like beasts by releasing the einsatzgruppen on the civil population and prisoners, it might well have been 1-1.
    1
  462. Actually an example of the Chilean class system. Something similar happened when the Admiralty purchased HMSs Triumph and Swiftsure from Chile in 1904. Their captains could enjoy the luxury of stepping into a marble bath in their quarters; a pleasure I'm sure rhat the lower decks didn't share.
    1
  463. Jack C Taylor: Why do these damned Mitsubishis keep crashing into my cars?
    1
  464. I understand that HMS Formidable was keen to give it a go at Matapan, but ABC put his foot down.
    1
  465. That is no way in which to refer to two young ladies; especially when escorting them.
    1
  466. The crew of the KuK warship Ferdinand Max would take exception to that statement, and you don't want to annoy the service that won both the Battle of Lissa and Maria von Trapp!
    1
  467. I realise that this isn't the etymology of her name, but Marblehead always made me think of a US navy insult; as in: "What are you lookin' at, marblehead?" A good thing that the US Navy does't' use cap tallies.
    1
  468. If you call a ship "Marblehead", are you insulting her? 😈
    1
  469. So given that she had two nanes, was Glorioso a type of agnomen?
    1
  470. On the other hand, it might have introduced the americans to decent coffee. Ice cream for espresso exchanges, pethsps.
    1
  471. @88porpoise  😏 True.
    1
  472. Well, if you're using different units within the imperual system, you just designate the units separately. So in your example, it would be 12 feet and half an inch, or more succinctly, 12' 1/2".
    1
  473. They're range clocks, designed to show other ships in a squadron the calculated range to a target in thousands and hundreds of yards. I'm sure that Drach has answered this one in an earlier Drydock.; just don't ask me which one.
    1
  474.  @MrAsh1100  You cam blame Lord Mountbatten. Apparently he considered it symbolic of servitude. I've known a few pussers who wouldn't object to a bit of servitude every now and again.
    1
  475. 2:46 HMS Terrible's captain just decided to go water skiing, that's all.
    1
  476. Another consideration regarding WWI RN ad.irals is that a lot of them would have been in command of squadrons within the Grand Fleet, meaning that there would have been very little opportunity to display creativity or personal initiative. No matter how good they might have been in an independent command, they were just part of a bigger machine.
    1
  477. That description of USS Albany requires a more detailed definition of the term "generally upright".
    1
  478. ... a nation that thought that doctors were bourgeoise and should be shot. Especially if they were jewish. No names mentioned, eh Comrade Stalin?
    1
  479. As the scots would day, "don't be such a baby"☺️
    1
  480. Please do not feed the Bismarck fanbois.
    1
  481. My father used to use television in the same way; only he used to claim that he was just resting his eyes. Any loud, snoring noises emanating from him were purely incidental to that process.
    1
  482.  @letoubib21  Not due in for another 20 years.
    1
  483. A minor point of pedantry, Drach re the pronunciation of Ikara. In the RAN it was pronounced "eye-kara", not "ee-kara". Not that it really matters. It's not exactly a word used conversationally.
    1
  484. Presumably Dorothy Lamour was the one taking the photo.
    1
  485.  @VersusARCH  It's a weird concept, innit? I came across it in a small book by a historian named Anthony Preston. He opined that the french, like the chinese, believed that opponents should be frightened before battle. Hence in naval design, huge funnels, built-up masts etc. I was reminded of this theory when I once saw a photo of the pre-dread Charlegmane and it took me several views to realise that it hadn't had its main battery fitted yet7. When you think about it, the concept of frightening the enemy by making yourself look fierce us quite an old one. Think of the war paint on primitive warriors, the decorated shields and the heraldic beasts on the helms of armoured knights etc. Even today, some fighter squadrons will paint shark's jaws and similar motifs on their aircraft. It's quite an atavistic drive, apparently.
    1
  486. Bounty would have been a great name for the star trek space ship; as well as providing some fun plot twists.
    1
  487. HMS Enterprise was a pretty little minx, wasn't she? I wonder if she ever met USS Enterprise? I know that during the Korean war, HMAS Bataan escorted the USS Bataan on a couple of occasions.
    1
  488. Too bloody cold, anyhow. The West Indies would be nice, though.
    1
  489. Camouflage in the age of sail seems a fairly pointless acriviry, given the close ranges at which actions were fought and the practical difficulties of disguising masts and sails. A better approach might be to actively discourage opponents from coming near you in the first place. For example, you could paint a pokemon on your sails. No sane captain would go near a ship so obviously full of nutcases. Alternatively, you could paint messages on your sails such as "Free tofu samples. Stop us and try one." or "Come aboard and raise your awareness of global warming". Solitude guaranteed.
    1
  490. Are you feeling well, Drach?
    1
  491. I believe that during the russian civil war, the RN took Askold into service in the White Sea (rather appropriately). They gave her the rather puzzling name Glory VI. Does anyone know the reason for the weird monniker?
    1
  492. Until one day ...
    1
  493. Hi Drach. Did you get the VIP treatment when you visited the ships on your US trip? Obviously you already knew Ryan on the New Jersey, but did they pipe you over the side & have a band waiting for you etc. etc, or was it just all business as usual?
    1
  494. Technical considerations aside, that HAS to be the best name for an armaments company ever. Unless monsieur de Bange had a rival named monsieur kaboom.
    1
  495. Wow! Talk about the long arm of coincidence. On Friday night I finally got around to watching your interview with Jon Parshall on Midway, and tonight I watched the second half of Nick Hodges' two part review of the movie Midway on his History Buffs Youtube channel. Lets just say that your views on the movie don't entirely coincide with his. While he did point out some historical inaccuracies in the movie, he was generally laudatory of it and even praised the director for at last attempting to make an "historically accurate" movie. I was wondering if you have seen either part of the review and, if so, what you thought of it. The second half of the review seemed to me, to be based on the received knowledge of Midway, and didn't address the common "myths" which Mr Parshall covered in his interview with you. I suspect that Nick hadn't read "Shattered Swòrd", relying instead on commonly accepted historical accounts. That said, I very much enjoy Nick's movie reviews, finding them to be a generally accurate historical critique of the film under review. I can especially reccomend his videos on Zulu, Waterloo, The Terror and Goodfellas. I hasten to add that I don't want to start a Youtube rumble between two channels whose work I very much appreciate and admire; I'd just like to hear your take on his summary. And for what its worth, your views and his on the movie Pearl Harbour gel precisely.
    1
  496. It might have been done to protect the crews of the 8" guns in open barbettes from the blast effect of the 6" guns on the deck above. Just a theory.
    1
  497. I think that Cossack might have snuck in thanks to somewhat "irregular" activities during the Russian Civil War.
    1
  498. 22 children! Lordy! No prizes for guessing what her parents did to while away the hours until Liberation Day.
    1
  499. Possibly he could share the motto "More speed" with Jeremy Clarkson.
    1
  500. I don't think that Admiral Nagumo gets enough credit for the victory at Midway. Yamamo's rather slapdash approach to planning the operation should also be acknowledged.
    1
  501. Judging by the name, the Armada Española has been spending way too much time with the Royal Navy. That said, she's a pretty little minx.
    1
  502.  @stencilled  Hence the White Ensign. 😉
    1
  503. So, following the loss of the White Ship, the Anarchy would have been an excellent time to go a' waltzing? Australian joke. Sorry. I won't do it again. 😟
    1
  504. I was speaking to a bloke who used to serve on the RAN Oberon class boats. He said that when they returned to base, even after a thorough tubbing, he was guaranteed to get a train seat to himself on his way home.
    1
  505. I hope that you're getting better, ED. Sorry to hear thst you can't wstch the Drydovks, but remember that lots of viewers like to listen to Drach as they drift off to sleep. Best wishes.
    1
  506. What! Admiral Persano got passed over. Disgraceful.
    1
  507.  @theoutcastraven9777  Thanks for the info. Appreciate the extra details.
    1
  508. Too big a crew. An MTB would be too small. A Flower class corvette would be about right, I think. Maybe a destroyer at a pinch.
    1
  509. Goooooaaaallll!
    1
  510. ​ @nicksykes4575  In the movie, he claims that Nelson dismissed L'Orient with a yorker.
    1
  511. Hard hats mandatory for besketballers and pogo-stick afficionados.
    1
  512. I think that the ship was HMAS Wyatt Earp. I'm not joking.
    1
  513. I believe that the US navy used to use cranberry juice rather than lime juice. The american matelots might well have picked up a nickname such as "crannies" had not british sailors been rather coy about the multiple entendres attached to such a usage.
    1
  514.  @cartmann94  Not to mention USS Blue Öyster Cult.
    1
  515. Good to see Drach doing a recap on the decap. Sorry Officer. It won't happen again.
    1
  516. Well, to be fair, a four year existence doesn't leave much time for a country to establish a naval tradition, does it?
    1
  517. I've always thought that Gila Monster would be a great name for a US carrier.
    1
  518. @АртурМилкович  tThe navigation of the USS Doobie Brothers might be a bit iftfy, tho.
    1
  519. Hi Drach. Firstly, many thanks for all your work creating the most informative & amusing channèl on youtube. Secondly, the guide to the USS Birmingham reminds me that HMAS Australia (II) was also a popular Prom Date for the IJN, as 5 kamikaze hits in 6 days of operations seem to indicate. This raises the question though of why, with presumably only one life to give for their God-Emperor, did kamikaze pilots waste their attacks on ships they were unlikely to sink, such as battleships, cruisers and RN carriers when there were so many US soft tops & troopships on offer? Were such attacks according to plan, or were they just the result of pilot indiscipline?
    1
  520. Hey Drach, if you're reluctant to clone yourself, have you considered acquiring some baby Drachs? Just a thought.
    1
  521. You might like to discuss this with Mrs. Drach at some point.
    1
  522. As far as figureheads go, I believe that lots of Royal Navy ships used a red lion ( the beast, not the pub) as a generic figurehead where the ship's name didn't suggest an obvious candidate. I think that the dutch did much the same.
    1
  523. In the UK before the creation of the MoD, the First Sea Lord was a cabinet position in charge of the Navy (Churchill held it a the beginning of both world wars). The Admiralty was a department of State, staffed by naval personnel and civil servants. The Army's equivalent was the War Minister, while the RAF had the Secretary of State for Air. Both of these were also Cabinet posts, but not so prominent nor influential as that of the First Lord. There were often clashes when the naval professional viewpoint conflicted with political demands. The confrontations between Churchill and Fisher make for interesting reading.
    1
  524. That only works if you've just washed and polished your u-boat.
    1
  525.  CipiRipi00  Oh, wasn't aware of that. Thanks!
    1
  526. On the bright side, at least she would ha e been easy to scrap. Just remove the bit of folded cardboard that looked like it was load-bearing and stand back.
    1
  527. On the topic of what body parts Nelson would have to lose to be invalided out of the service, I can only think of two.; and I'm too polite to mention them.
    1
  528. Here's a coincidence. Another question about flying-off platforms. Near the end of the Great War, the RN started building flying-off platforms over the guns of the superfiring turrets on some of its battleships. How would this work in combat? Were they disassembled before action or were the guns fired with them in situ? The first option sounds slow & clumsy and the second seems like it could do some serious damage to the guns; not to mention the Sopwith Pup sitting on top of them. Having large bits of timber being blasted about the ship doesn't sound very Health & Safety compliant either.
    1
  529. @Mike Goldsberry Thanks Logan. Presumably they'd have to ditch the planes or fly them off before fighting commenced. Ye Gods! Can you imagine the signals? " I say, Hipper, old chap. Would you mind awfully hanging about for a bit while I clear my decks for action?"
    1
  530. Sounds reasonable, but there would also be some horizontal force imparted, would there not? This would force the hull further onto whatever it was grounded on. I can only suggest that we get our hands on a 74 and try it out.
    1
  531. Maybe you should ask for sponsorship.
    1
  532. I 've always been a bit puzzled that the Japanese made relatively little use of Singapore and its huge naval base after all the trouble they went through to get it.
    1
  533. At various times the RN has categorised its artillery by calibre, by shot eeight and by gun weight. Standardisation is for weaklings!
    1
  534. Sorry Drach, but the Death Star alert is actually a speeded-up poll hereford. 🐪
    1
  535. Not uncommon.Hipper was Bavarian.
    1
  536. "Who gets to be on catching duty?" A philosophical proposition of aritotolean depth.
    1
  537. Nauughty Drach! Don't you know that Kinder eggs are illegal in the US? Waaay too dangerous to be allowed to fall into the hands of americans.
    1
  538. ... iit remarkable.
    1
  539.  @tokul76  ita certai ly true that a sizeable percentage of afrikaaners qouldn't have minded if the jolly old Kaiser or that nice Mr Hitler had smashed the british; but its also true that many of them were quite reconciled to being part of the wmpire. And a lot of afrikaaners had fought beside the brits in both Boer wars. It really wasn't until after the qàr that the afrikaaner nationalists began to substantially outnumber , shall we call them united empire loyalists? And British attitude to "the winds if change" rather than remembrances of events 50 years previously probably had more influence on afrikaaner thinking.
    1
  540. Admiral Drax... Any relation?
    1
  541. Hi Drach, viewing the profile of the Lyon class (as well as other early french dreadnoughts) seems to indicate that french naval designers had developed an active animus against forecastles. Do you think that this was a psychological reaction to their being forced to give up the "fierce face" designs and tumblehomes on theiŕ pre-dreadnoghts?
    1
  542.  @stevevalley7835  Fascinating; and distinctly probable. Thanks!
    1
  543. The producers of Tora Tora Tora built a wooden waterline recreation of the Nagato for the film; though I'm not sure if you woild tèchnically call that a model.
    1
  544. Gotta keep the rain off. It's difficult to work the guns while holding an umbrella.
    1
  545. I agree that Japan's long term prospects of retaining thw Hawaiian Islands are very poor due to the logistical considerations that you mention. Nevertheless, the Japanese leadership might have considered it as a short-term bargaining chip to force the US into negotiations. They didn't all hold with Yamamoto's Sleeping Giant view.
    1
  546. Thanks for answering my question, Drach. Incidentally, I really enjoyed your naval report card, though your end of term comments lead me to suspect that you'd be, wbat we used to call at my school, a hard marker.
    1
  547. It's like in the TV shows featuring antiques & "pickers". Patina just sounds nicer than plain, old "dirty".
    1
  548. So did that mean that the Sherman tanks that the US used & supplied to the UK also came with tea-urns? If so, how civilised.
    1
  549.  @DuraLexSedLex  Thanks. I thought that it was done fairly early in WWII. Still, better late than never.
    1
  550. Sounds like quite enlightened legislation.😆
    1
  551.  @xt6wagon  Guided missile cruisers. Yikes! I still consider that overkill, unless you're trying to look at Pablo Escobar's tax receipts.
    1
  552. A laneen is supported from a spar. A jib is simply raised on sheets.
    1
  553. And a 40mm mount (Bofors or pom-pom) a'top that.❤
    1
  554. I think that the criterion (especially with regard to the Jacobite ones) was that it had to be a successful invasion. So William of Orange, OK. Monmouth, not so much.
    1
  555. Don't worry too much about the Gato class Drach. Even in the US, Gay-toe will be pronounced Gah-toe soon enough.
    1
  556. Not a problem by that stage. Now if rum supplies from the West Indies had been interrupted ...
    1
  557. It didn't seem so complicated hitting a target in Under Seige.
    1
  558. For what its worth, I rather like the models. They make a nice complement to the battle charts, thiugh I agree that theyvare a bit hard to differentiate without counting funnels & turrets. Someone mentioned placing differently coloured card under their bases, which seems a cheap and effective out.
    1
  559. Presumaby with a graduated rammer.
    1
  560. I believe thst HMS Warspite's lsst hurrah was when she supported the Walcheren landings.
    1
  561. Rather touchingly, when Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth were returned to service, Cunard didn't replace the handrails on the grounds that a lot of the men who left their initials on the ship didn't live to make the return journey. Not sure if they did the same with the Mauretania and Aquitania.
    1
  562. Thanks. I'd never heard of the Brennan torpedo. It sounds like a perfect weapon for Russia's sailing torpedo boat Viborg in the steam punk stakes. And Viborg's three gaff-rigged masts would be an excellent plaçe from which to steer the weapon. There has GOT to be a manga movie in this.
    1
  563. I believe that his predecessor was Fifthus the Sixth. I apologise. I couldn't resist.
    1
  564. Re possible tour nsmes, may I suggest: ▪ Drach in the saddle again ▪ Drach and thhe art of Battleship Maintenance ▪ Drach in Black and, my personal favourite ▪ Jumpin' Drach Flash (it's a gas, gas, gas)
    1
  565. Are you perchance suggesting that HMS Campbelltown was packed with a Pu-32 Explosive Space Modulator?
    1
  566. They were probably of marginal use (depending on the sea state) , but I suspect that having the guns behind gun shields on a higher deck would have allowed more effective use of the weapons with only a marginal reduction in crew protection; and even that is not a given as a hit on a casement could potentially disable several guns and their crews. Calibre is, of course, the limiting factor. It isn't really practical to work guns of much more than 6" behind a gun shield as the ammunition must be manually loaded.
    1
  567. Hi Drach. If you are going to do an episode on sea mines, can Mrs. Drach please do a cameo appearance and reprise her previous role?
    1
  568. It's also not circular.
    1
  569. No, the most hillaroius theory was posited by Siike Milligan in an episode of The Goon Show, where he suggested that it was an insurance job. Neddie and Bloodnock set up the ship to look like it was abandoned and then got into a life boat and rowed away: Neddie: How much is the ship insured for? Bloodnock: £10. Neddie: That's not much for a big boat like that. Bloodnock: Good heavens, you're right. After it! And if youre wondering how they were planning to make money by having the ship found, we ARE talking about the Goon Show here.ù8
    1
  570. Does anyone know what the chequered floor in the captain's cabin was made of? I'm guessing marble & slate.
    1
  571. The design at 22:49 reminds me of something, but I can't think what. The designer had definitely been staying in a block of flats named after an English queen however. Queen Mary's Mansions?
    1
  572. Here's a challenge, how do you say Kaiserliche und Koenigsliche Kreigsmarine in Hungarian? I'd really like to know.
    1
  573.  @egyeneskifli7808  Thankyou. I think that that sounds even nicer and more fun than the german version. I am a bit disappointed that the Hungarians didn't insist on its usage, though. That was the sort of thing that made the Dual Empire so fascinating, at least to foreigners
    1
  574. HMS Agincourt?
    1
  575. As a child, I once read a warrie (a small, cheap comic book produced in the UK) about a Blackburn Skua which managed to sink a german destroyer by strafing it. Admittedly, the destroyer was badly damaged at the time and was tied up dockside, being kept afloat with the aid of a flotation tank. The Skua shot up the tank, which sank and took the destroyer with it. A bit of a cheat really, but still an achievement when you only carry four .303 machine guns. 😉
    1
  576. Great video Drach. How about one with Darwin Awards for ships rather than sailors? That is, ships so spectacularly awful that they killed off their entire type. (HMS Captain and USS Vesuvius come to mind)
    1
  577. Though I suspect that a certain amount of dhobeying was required by all involved.
    1
  578. Och, Drach! Leave the poor, wee Bearn alone. And the Auld Alliance raises its head again.
    1
  579.  @seafodder6129  Presumably with the words "DO NOT PRESS'" written on it. 😈
    1
  580. Can you imagine what Jeremy Clarkson could do with a battleship's power plant? And I bet that he would still be yelling "MORE POWER".
    1
  581. ​ @davidty2006 Valim?
    1
  582.  @philgiglio7922  Oops! Yep. Didn't notice typo.
    1
  583. Re engine room temperatures, I have read reports that at the Battle of the Yalu River, the temperature in the engine spaces of the cruiser Lai-Yuen reached 200°F. Obviously the ship was on fire and the steel beams in the deckhead were supposedly glowing red. Then the ventillation and lighting failed. Her crew were basically being cooked alive. Amazingly, they stayed at their posts and Lai-Yuen escaped the battle. By the time that they could be released from below, many men had died, some had gone blind an all had severe burns. So don't tell me it's hot when the mercury hits 80.
    1
  584. Your video on USS Texas included an interesting photograph of one of the casemate batteries. This raises the question of how these guns were fed ammunition. Was there a separate hoist for each individual or pai of guns; or was there only a single hoist for each battery, with gun crews having to manhandle 6" ammo across the deck during battle?
    1
  585.  @K-H-28  Well, the czech ones (such as Skoda) were eagerly snapped up by the nazis in 1938. After 1945, the coviets were delighted to get their grubby mitts on them.
    1
  586. Ye Gods! That video of the Highball test is absolutely terrifying. Poor old Malaya must have rung like a bell.
    1
  587. Happy New Year Drach, and thanks for all of your work. Its range, depth and quality is genuinely appreciated.
    1
  588. I read a comment somewhere which neatly summed up the design problems of the K class as "too many holes". Says it all, really.
    1
  589. I have been waiting for this one for yonks! What a shame that the seaway wasn't built. It would have been brilliant to have been able to watch this pair as a carrier task group taking on the IJN. Oh well, when I invent my time machine. Sigh!
    1
  590. Hi Drach. How about a Rum Ration episode on ships' badges? I think that you might enjoy that one.
    1
  591. A couple of hikers on the Elephant Swamp Nature Trail. Boy: Dad, I have a strange feeling of impending doom. Father: Don't be ridiculous Junior. What could possibly happen to us all the way out ...
    1
  592. The photo of the 3" AA gun on the USS Texas. How in the world did they manage to feed ammo to that ridiculous thing? And as a PS; did the bloke who pisitioned that thing harbour an unreasoning and burning hatred of acrophobics or what?
    1
  593. So it wasn't named after Malcom X's business-savvy breother?
    1
  594. Hmm. (Checks calendar.) Nope. Not April the first.
    1
  595. A Flower class corvette with slightly less roll.
    1
  596. The Indo-Pakisran wat also demonstrated this where the indian Folland Gnats were able to make mincemeat of much more sophisticated aircraft such as Mirage IIIs.
    1
  597. I think that he can be excused as far as the mutiny at the Nore is concerned. I mean, the entire fleet was doing it. The Rum Rebellion in New South Wales actually shows Blugh in quite a good light. The New South Wales Corps (which had replaced the Marines in guarding the colony) was corrupt and actually ran the place in the same way that the mafia ran Chicago. It had even driven two of Bligh's predecesaors (Hunter & King) out of the colony. Essentially, Bligh was sent to NSW with orders to clean-up the joint. He did thus enthusiastically, which made him popular with the free settlers and emancipated convicts, but poison to the Corps. They either had to give up their rackets or mutiny, and mutiny was much more profitable.
    1
  598. I wonder if anyone ever thought of trying a sail-powered aircraft carrier? Now THAT sounds like fun.
    1
  599. Hi Drach. Inthe segment where you explained what a calibre was, you mentioned a newspaper which wrote that a 5" gun was five inches long. Can you please spill the beans on which one it was? I'm assuming that it was a british one, as no US media orga isation would make so fundamental an error, regardlrss of how anti 2A it was.
    1
  600. Romantically named? Only if you're James Bond. 🙂
    1
  601. Ah, but what if you bonsai 'em? It worked for Dr. Evil.
    1
  602. Castle Drach ... now what does that remind me of? Actually, given the quality of your videos (which far outshine the quality of a lot of the big budget docos I've seen), it would be a terrible shame if you don't start producing naval documentaries professionally. That might slow down your output enough to let your loyal viewers get some sleep. P.S.: You don't own a black cape hanging besides your re-enactor's armour by any chance? It would certainly explain a lot. Best of luck anyhow.
    1
  603. Re Lady Beatty; in adddition to the points mentioned, by the time that they were married the practice of american heiresses marrying into impoverished british aristocracy was sufficienty common as to have become something of a trope. It was used as a comical device by a number of authors including Mark Twain and P G Wodehouse. It was still something of a social black mark, but was more acceptable than marrying into local 'trade' or the footlights barrier; both of which were professional death (at least in the army) up to WWII.
    1
  604. You could easilly pick the spies. They were the ones walking away from the hsrbour with cheerful looks on their faces and whistling "Always look on the bright side of life".
    1
  605. Nah! Leave it to the Exchequer.
    1
  606. Likely a true count. Many of those 15 would have been escort carriers; a type which is frequently overlooked despite having taken part in some very belligerent operations.
    1
  607. Seems like her designers were getting mast placement advice from Jackie Fisher.
    1
  608. I wonder if they're made to watch "The Pentagon Wars" as well.
    1
  609. About seven knots. Oh, and the former were designed as naval escorts rather than being a navalised commercial design.
    1
  610. I don't think that the Luftwaffe would agree with you about the quality of the Hurricane. The problem with navalising fighters designed to provide air superiority over the British Isles is range, or lack thereof. TheSeafire is a good example. It was brilliant in the CAP role, but didn't have the legs to provide cover for airstrikes in the Pacific.
    1
  611. "... my first thought was BB guns." You wouldn't half need a lot of them to move an Iowa.
    1
  612. One shudders to think of what scatological enormities a Rum Ration devoted to the development of the screw propeller will give rise.
    1
  613. The 🌍 ❔️❔️
    1
  614.  @grlt23  That is disappointing Piotr, but it does give me an idea ... Anyone fancy starting a GoFundMe page to build and detonate a real Tallboy? And lets do a Grand Slam as well, just for the heck of it.
    1
  615. In the fighting tops, I wouldn't wonder.
    1
  616. An April Fools' video about PT73 does sound like fun.
    1
  617. Drach is always interesting on naval history, but it runs a poor second to his expeditions into ornithology.
    1
  618. But has no trouble with Schleiswig Holstein.
    1
  619. Perhaps Mrs. Drach is still a leetle bit sensitive about the Azure Lane guest spot he did on another channel.
    1
  620.  @iansadler4309  Ahah! Thanks for that info. I didn't know that there were any C-class in the Baltic.
    1
  621. I might be being greedy here, but a video on the rifling process vlfor big guns would definitely suck me in.
    1
  622. So the RNAS built an amoured car 46:36), eh? That's almost as schizophrenic a concept as the leathernecks who fly off Red Chinese aircraft carriers; or the Peoples' Liberation Army Navy Marines' Air Force, as they are undoubtedly known. Do the chicoms have a coast guard air wing, BTW?
    1
  623. Very interesting. Thanks👍
    1
  624. More than one. Many of the cloak & dagger tomfoolery carried out by HMS Seraph involved commandos using folboats. They were eventually replaced by inflatable dingys which were quicker and more convenient to get into the water.
    1
  625. Drach mentioned that the electro-mechanical fire control table was more accurate than the radar fire control later fitted. So how would they know? Did they keep the old system operational and perform rests?
    1
  626.  @jackgee3200  Yes, that makes sense. Many thanks for a very comprehensive explanation.
    1
  627. Possibly true. During Operation Desert Storm, the US was importing sand into Saudi Arabia because the local variety was too fine to use in sandbags. Apparently the bags were just squashed flat when they tried to use it.
    1
  628. Kim or Kloe?
    1
  629. Definitely looking forward to your next interview with Captain Seaquist.
    1
  630. I'm kind if hoping that the communist chinese fall into this habit. That way, if their navy has Marine pilots (like the US navy), it would be possible to have a branch of the service called The Peoples' Liberation Army Navy Marines Air Force. 😊 And if they had their own Police Force ...
    1
  631. The ship used at Gallipoli was HMT River Clyde. They just cut some sally ports in her side and ran her onto the beach in the face of heavy fire. It was a bloody slaughter. I really don't think that a battleship assault craft would do a better job; at least not for the PBI who would still be emerging from a limited number of exits. It wouldn't take too many machine guns to repeat the massacre of Cape Helles.
    1
  632. "clever but extremely arrogant". Hmmm. Sounds rather like another Free French leader, doesn't it?
    1
  633. I believe that the men who worked in the magazines in the age of sail used to wear felt boots to eliminate just that risk.
    1
  634. It isn't the 5th of November already, is it?
    1
  635. @ 3:45 Ye gods! The RN didn't chance its arm with a Sea Meteor, did it?
    1
  636. At approx. 12:00, there is a video of an R-class battleship flying what looks like a white-bordered Union Flag fromone of her starboard yardarms. I was under the impression that this flag was once used as a jack by british merchant vessels. Does anyone know what it is and why a RN ship would be flying it?
    1
  637. The easy way to decide if a ship is a battleship or a battlecruiser is to determine how it would react to a hit by a german shell. If it just shrugs it off, it's a battleship. If it explodes immediately taking most of its crew with it, it's a battlecruiser. Simples!
    1
  638. And even if you' ve done everythjng correctly and made all of the proper calculations, some blasted butterfly will beat its wings in Tokyo and you wind up blasting your own flagship. 😖
    1
  639. He he he! 🤣 See what I mean? Oh, and try using the relevant thread next time.
    1
  640. Froude. Close, but no cigar.
    1
  641.  @scottgiles7546  And therefor perfect to capture and take into the Royal Navy as HMS Richelieu.
    1
  642. Slightly OTT, I believe that the steam colliers that used to go up the Thames to supply London's power stations used to have telescopic masts and funnels, which must have been interesting to use.
    1
  643. The only way to resolve the recurring " Would an Iowa's guns move her sideways?" question is for the US government to recondition one and do some emperical testing. Hey, it wouldn't be the stupidest thing that they do with their money, and at least they'd have a nice, working battleship out of it at the end. Write to your congressman, americans. Do it now!
    1
  644. Coincidentally, the RN and the RAF were going through a similar thing at the same time with the wrangle about whether to build the TSR2 or thehe Bucaneer. The RN won that one, with a bit of help from the treasury.
    1
  645. Or perhaps by Cerbourg Naval Yard. Proud builders of Henri IV.
    1
  646. I believe that it was because KGV was launched soon after the abdication and it was thought that naming her KGVI, though traditional, might have been a bit sensitive. Selecting the names KGV, PoW and DoY seemed like a nice compromise.
    1
  647.  @ROBERTN-ut2il  oops, sorry. I misread your original post. The argument holds for 1936 but not today, obviously. It did mean however that ship naming and reigns are now out of synch. I believe that one of the RN's new subs will be named KGVI, but no news on a QEII, which might be a bit confusing anyhow, given that there is already a QE carrier
    1
  648. If you wanted to cheat the Washington Treaty by accidentally-on-purpose wrecking your ship without incurring casualties, then the Bonhommie Richard offers you a wealth of possibilities. Mind you, after the third or fourth fire, then the insurance assessors would probably be getting a bit suspicious.
    1
  649. Countries. Sorry.
    1
  650. I suspect that Drach did this video just for the fun of saying Kaiserliche und Königliche Kreigsmarine. I certainly would.
    1
  651. According to the movie "The Dambusters", at the Battle of Trafalgar, Nelson dismissed the french flagship with a yorker. Obviously Michael Redgraves' sense of humour.
    1
  652. If Argentina had sided with the Central Powers, they could have stopped the supplies of bully beef to the british. Whether this can be construed as an hostile act, I cannot say.
    1
  653. ​ @ronstewtsaw  Me too! Orit could have been Sylvester and Tweety. You can imagine what Thhhylvester would have done to it.
    1
  654. Place names don't have to be particularly foreign, long or obscure to be butchered. There is a major street in Sydney named Delhi Road, which all of the intellectual giants on the media insist on pronouncing as Dell-High Road. And these jokers are supposed to be well-informed? Lord help us!
    1
  655. So, he was a sort of hilfsmariner?
    1
  656. I pity the fool who accuses the A Team of cheating!
    1
  657. Hand-crank only.
    1
  658. Actually there is a significant difference in shape between a rugby ball and a gridiron ball. If you don't believe me, try executing a forward pass with a rugby ball. Truly, the Lord did not create all oblate sphereoids equal.
    1
  659. Irn Bru?
    1
  660.  @Dave_Sisson  The first rate was named HMVS Nelson, I believe. I think that her primary role was as a training ship.
    1
  661. Interesting. I think that your best bet would be a pre-dread as they have less bulk to move and usually carry a pair of substantial pole masts to which you can jury-rig yards. My choice would be the 2nd class pre-dread HMS Swiftsure. She comes at only 11,800 tons (as against 14,000 to 16,000 for contemporary RN ships) and you might even be able to rig sails on her cranes.
    1
  662. My guess would be wives & girlfriends.
    1
  663. The naval equivalent of a pay-day loan. The lender of last recourse.
    1
  664.  @nickdanger3802  Please don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying that the deal shouldn't have gone through, nor that the RN didn't make use of the ships once they got them; I'm merely stating that the terms were not those which the UK would have considered had they not been in extremis. Both Roosevelt & Churchill were practiced politicians and were trying to get the best deal for their own countries., but Churchill didn't have much to work with. Like I said, a pay-day loan. It's not something that you take out unless you have no alternative; and the UK was desperate. They had no alternative.
    1
  665. I know some people whom I suspect would be incapable of doing that, even at temperatures much lower than 140°F. 😈
    1
  666.  @taccovert4  Gotta keep 'em on a short lead. Otherwise they'd probably just blow the lot on Irn Bru. 😆🍸😉
    1
  667. The other reason might have been that the actual crews tended to love cranes as much as they despised derricks. The pre-dreads Triumph & Swiftsure were very popular with their crews, partly because the chileans didn't have a prejudice against cranes.
    1
  668. Six million dollars! Sir, that is our entire budget for opressing women in Deleware in 1907 AND 1908! Madness!
    1
  669. Was Solferino's figurehead painted out after the Bonapartes were shooed-off?
    1
  670. I love it when Drach goes all Stephen King and describes HMS Victory chasing down some poor, little frigate during a storm.
    1
  671.  @obelic71  Thanks for that. I never realised that Thunderbolt was a british apellation.
    1
  672.  @vintagethrifter2114  oK. I've always thougbt that the A10 was called the Warthog, but I checked and apparently that's just a nickname. Nothing wrong with reusing a good name , mind. Unless it's Spitfire.
    1
  673. Well, currently we make biscuits with it to dunk in our tea.
    1
  674. The coice of a 16.5" main battery is interesting, considering thatit would reflect the RN's preference for 1 1/2" calibre increments.
    1
  675. An excellent interview by both parties. I'm looking forward to the Captain's next visit.
    1
  676. Or just cut out all of the transliterational folderol and call them the Manchu; which will make a certain Dr. Fu very happy.
    1
  677. There is a whole series of ocean racing yachts (all named "Helsal" ) which were made of concrete. The original was colloquially called "The Flying Footpath".
    1
  678. Quite right. By October 1918 it was obvious to the sailors in the fleet that the war couldn't be won. Actually after the repulse of Germany''s spring offensive, most of the army probably realised it as well. The mutiny was essentially a refusal by the sailors to commit ritual suicide for the sake of the amour-propre of a failed officer class. One can hardly blame them.
    1
  679. @ 43:45 Mon Capitaine! We are under attack by a dastardly enemy. Mon Dieu, lieutenat, you are right. Quickly. Draw the curtains.
    1
  680. Only if you're a british trade unionist or a french civil servant.
    1
  681. In the cartoon movie "Anastasia", at one point the main characters voyage the Baltic on a liner that is evidently a surplus german proteced cruiser. Really nice artwork, I thought, though not very practical. A while ago however, I saw a youtube about german cruisers which were converted to commercial use after the war. It might even have been one of Drach's Rum Rations. Apparently it was a stop-gap measure required by a post-war shipping shortage. And the seaplane tender HMAS Albatross was also converted to a liner after WWII. So some quite large ships went into Civvy Street.
    1
  682. The phrsse "assuming an Austro-Hungarian victory" must be one of the .ost blinfly optimistic expressions that could be uttered. Especially by any Vienese naval architect with a passing knowledge of A-H history.
    1
  683. Wasn't that a cover of Jackie Fisher's original?
    1
  684. Everyone fears time, but time fears only the pyramids. And the Kommuna.
    1
  685. Benedetto Brin: Hold my campari.
    1
  686. I read that Lloyd George used the sane technique after the war at the peace conference.
    1
  687. We will never run out of questions while fanboys are aware of Bismarck, Iowa and Yamato. 😉
    1
  688. Does this agency have its own university?
    1
  689. Ah, the italians! They get ships and cars so very right and domestic interiors so very, very wrong.
    1
  690. Ha ha! 😄 Can you imagine what a high speed run on the SS United States with all the stops pulled out would have been like?
    1
  691. Wow! I thought that the ship at 7:29 was the Kosmonaut Vladimir Kamarov for a minute. Now that would have been a career change.
    1
  692. If there' s anything left if her, it'ss lk probably in New Zealand. She finished her career there as a depot ship back in 1946, I believe.
    1
  693. While some people claim to like the look of US pre-dreadnought warships; I enjoy them because of their ungainliness and patent uselesness for their designed role. If you think that I'm being harsh, think USS Maine (Mk I). Think USS (smoking on top only) Keersage. Think Great Rebuild monitors like USS (Honestly Guv, I swear it's the same ship) Mondanock, or the gloriously displacement-defiant USS (OK, which one of you clever-clogs left the sea-cocks open?) Amphitrite . Every one a floating (well, nearly in Amphitrite's case) mistake. Maybe Drach could do a Rum Ration on naval engineering called "What the hell were they thinking"? I suspect that he'd enjoy doing that.
    1
  694.  @afx935  I think you're being a bit generous with the USN here. While I concede that the attitudes in the US Congress to naval budgets caused the navy major headaches in terms of equipment, the continual outbreaks of, shall we say, novelty, in US ships of this period reflect that the navy just didn't know what its role was supposed to be. This gets in the way of coherent design policy and might explain why the Maines had an outmoded design even when conceived as armoured cruisers. And while the Keersages might have been nice, stable gun platforms, that wasn't enough to enourage anyone to repeat the double8-decker turret format. In the end, everyons adopted the general design concepts of the Majestics. Some of this was probably due to a desire to counter whatever the RN big dog was doing; but there was also a large element of convergent design and the Majestics addressed 90% of fleet requirements 90% of the time. In addition, the RN's iterative approach to a successful general design allowed them to form homogenous squadrons; which is always an advantage in terms of capability and command. Sure some iterations were more successful than others, but overall the advantages were significant. On a question of pure aesthetics however, I don't think that there are prettier pre-dreadnoughts than the Swiftsures; even if they were under-gunned ana bit rattly at high speed.
    1
  695. Hi Drach, I have a quesrion arising from your excellent Jutland series. Supposing that the RN had got their Trafalgar moment at Jutland and had utterly destroyed the High Seas Fleet, what would the battlefleet have been used for then without an enemy surface fleet to fight? (I'm assuming that the Gallipoli campaign has cured the RN of any hare-brained schemes such as forcing their way into the Black or Baltic seas.) Would the fleet have been stood down and its crews turned into naval brigades and fed into the Western Front (my suspicion), or could some practical use have been found for them?
    1
  696. The VeeDub is trolling the guns ... "I can see your future, brother "
    1
  697. I wonder if the ice cream filching tales provided Joseph Heller with any inspiration for Milo Minderbinder in Catch 22?
    1
  698. I think that finishing one of Drach's Patreon Drydocks in a single sitting is akin to gluttony.
    1
  699. Thanks Drach, for being the one who finally demonstrated to me how Sluys should be pronounced.
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  700. True, but if the crew had begun to jettison large floatable objects (tables, doors etc), it might have saved some of the people in the water. You'd think that a Steinway dropped over the side might have kept Leonardo de Caprio alive for long enough for Kate Winslet to grow to be too old for him.
    1
  701. It's surprising that it never occurred to the IJN to let Yukikaze accidentally on purpose fall into allied hands. Maybe even arrange for her to be in the same flotilla as the Willie D.
    1
  702. I thought that Richie's favourite number was 2422.
    1
  703. Songish - An art form attempted by TV karaoke contestants.
    1
  704. ​ @stevevalley7835  Some of those 13.5s were later used as coastal artillery manned by the RA. I recall reading about 13.5s at Dover engaging in counter battery fire with german artillery on Cap Gris Nez.
    1
  705. Thanks for the translarion. I was wonderind. It reminds me of s sign I once saw that said: "WARNING. Do not proceed if this sign is missing." I presumed that it was a joke, but with Occ Health & Safety nowdays, who knows.
    1
  706. So there was such a thing as a starboard garboard strake?
    1
  707. The bast reason is Angelo Iachino. And I guarantee that that is the only example of the words "best" and "Iachino" being used in the same sentence.
    1
  708. I bet that the state of the heads wasn't included in the Pathe movie news.
    1
  709. It's a mooring buoy. Saves a ship frim having to drop her anchor.
    1
  710. ​ @genebohannon8820  I don't think thst he needs a filter for that.
    1
  711. Thhe Cavour class were definitely the prettiest refitted batteships ever (most have a Frankensteinish air); with the possible exception of the West Virginia.
    1
  712. Just imagine what Algerie's designers could have done if they had been given an extra 60% displacement to play with. Jean Marie! Add an extra wine cellar, tout suite!
    1
  713. @Pro Tengu When I was a kid, I used to have to walk 25 miles, barefoot over broken glass everyday to get to school. And carry me two younger brothers on me back. You try telling the young people today that. They won't believe you!
    1
  714. Yhe ability to depress a battleship's guns below zero degrees also makes it easier to clean the bores of the guns.
    1
  715. ... until they say: We were so poor we had to live in shoe box in middle o' road. Cardboard box? Aye! You were lucky.
    1
  716. The Titanic didn't fare too well on her shake-down cruise either.
    1
  717. It truly is vexing when your ship is mildly on fire.
    1
  718. Utterly fascinating. A worthy companion to your fleet problem videos. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series. 💯 It would be fun to see a comparison of french and italian inter-war exercises, though I appreciate the practical difficulties of doing this.
    1
  719. Any chance of adding H M Submarine Seraph to the list of five minute guides? I think people might enjoy hearing about her very non-submariney activities; though a Rum Ration might be more suitable, considering her career.
    1
  720. How can one discuss overgunned ships without mentionin the Curious, Spurious and Outrageous? And does anyone reckon that the flat-iron gungoat shown could have gone faster astern than ahead if you reversed her engines and then simply pointed her main battery straight ahead and fired it?
    1
  721. PoW would probably be overkill. If I were you, I'd settle for Duke of Clarence. You still wind up as Lord High Admiral. Not sure how you're going to arrange this, though.
    1
  722. Our regards to you and all of your companions at St. Bokassa's Rest Home for Deranged Emprrors.
    1
  723. Aahh! So that's what those igloos are. I always thought that they were some sort of air lock.
    1
  724. Drach, while I love the marathon Dry Docks, I also rather miss the lift music during the intervals (call my musical taste perverse, if you will). Any chance of reinstating it?
    1
  725. I think that the Soverign of the Sea is a good candidate for an age of sail Yamato, not so much for her technical superiority as for her reputation. Your foes don't give you the nickname Golden Decil because they think you're a pushover.
    1
  726. Cook was originally from the merchant marine, being a master I believe. Maybe that was why the Admiralty thought thre exam unecessary.
    1
  727. "Ooh! This is fun!" Thus speaks every gunner ever.
    1
  728. One of the reasons that Captain Cook was able to use fothering to save the Endeavour was that when the ship was floated off the reef onto which she had run, a large lump of coral broke off and remained in the hole. This reduced the size of the opening through which water could enter, even beforethe sail was deployed over it. Even so, it was still a close run thing to get her ashore.
    1
  729. This is what happens when you let a woman navigate.
    1
  730. " ... as long as you're careful, you can also sweep these two guns over the aft mount" Oh, I bet that a lot of blokes weren't. 😏 Mind you, I also wonder why more mid-upper gunners did't shoot the tails off their own planes.
    1
  731. Thete's nothing like a kippered fire control crew to get a battle off to a flying start.
    1
  732. Sorry Tom, but due to changes in the pronounciation rules, you probably can't even do that. I mean, who ever heard of Julius Kaiser?
    1
  733. And don't leave out sold soon after you've finally built it as a money-saving measure.
    1
  734. Interesting. What makes fast-growing trees unsuitable for construction?
    1
  735.  @88porpoise  very informative. Thanks!
    1
  736. BZ, and thank you for all of your hard work. I hope that you realise how much your half a million subscribers appreciate all of your effort. I'm amazed how you find the time to travel, research, edit and produce all of your high quality work; never mind replying to all of the comments and emails. I'm hard-pressed just to keep up with watching them. 🎆
    1
  737. To be fair to the Sovietsky Soyuz, water is notably reactionary.
    1
  738. Veeery interesting. Do you know why Black Prince was the chosen name?
    1
  739. First rule of fight camp; no one talks about fight camp. Hoping to be the first with this comment, but probably won't be.
    1
  740. Yes, but Asterix and his tribe were drug cheats. Ask their pusher, Getafix.
    1
  741. On the subject of gubboat diplomacy, I have a book called "Gunboat!", which covers the deployment of gunboats from the Crimean War through to the Vietnam War. So what, you might ask. Well, one of the campaigns dealt with is that on Lake Tanganyika (on which I would love Drach to do a Rum Ration) during the First World War. That particular chapter in the book is called, and I swear that I'm not making this up, "Spicer -Simpson Pulls It Off". If this doesn't amuse you, try saying it with a nasally upper-class british accent of the type deployed by British-Pathe newsreel narrators in the 1930s. Or not. If you start, you'll be saying it for days.
    1
  742. Re moving floating dry docks, could you not weld some sort of triangular structues to the bow & stern at the waterline to make it a bit more ship-like and improve towing performance?
    1
  743. Ahah! But what about the INSANE parrots?
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  744. Presumably the ship called Barque St. Ledger was a race built galleon?
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  745. A nice little excursion into the Baltic might have been fun. It would certainly appeal to Fisher.
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  746. As far as tbe last ram commissioned goes, did you leave out the Zumwalt because it's outside the channel's time range?
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  747. The air freshener justification works as well.
    1
  748. Congratulations on a magnificent double century.
    1
  749. Not necessarily. Nelson was certainly not above showboating and self-publicity. There is an account of Wellington (then simply Arthur Wellesley) bumping into Nelson at the Colonial Office. Wellesley said that Nelson, by then a national hero ... "Entered at once into a conversation with me, if I can call it a conversation, for it was almost all on his side and all about himself, an in, really a style so vain and silly as to surprise and almost disgust me." At this point, Nelson left the room, presumably to ask the door-keeper who the hooky-nosed bugger in the next room was. At any rate, he re-entered the room and made quite a different impression on Wellesley, who continued, "He was altogether a different man, both in manner and in matter. All that I had thought a charlatan style had vanished ... and he talked of the state of the country and of the aspect and probability of affairs on the Continent with a good sense and knowledge of subjects ... that surprised me equally and more agreeably than the first part of the interview had done".
    1
  750. Interestingly, the Royal Navy experimented with the use of H2-02 when researching captured german technology after WWII. They even went so far as to build a couple of experimental boats, HM Submarines Excalibur and Explorer. The ever respectful lowe decks immediately renamed them Excruciator and Exploder, whch gives you some idea of how successful they must have been, and the Admiralty pretty soon abandoned the concept. The lads who named the Fisher's "light cruisers" Curious, Spurious and Outrageous would have been proud.
    1
  751. A Hedgedog launcher? Let me check in the shed.
    1
  752. Mr. Cowper-Coles mentioned that one of the factors influencing the Captain's design was a desire to have RN ships in the Great Lakes to circumvent a US invasion. I was under the impression that ships couldn't get to the lakes from the Atlantic until the opening of the St. Lawrence seaway. Did he mis-speak, or is there some devious way into the lakes that isn't commercial for some reason?
    1
  753. Jeremy Clarkson pronounces it the same way as Drach, though in a slightly different area of expertise. Fortunately, Drach's productions aren't reliant on him having a couple of mates whom he enjoys tormenting.
    1
  754. It's just you. My inner jukebox has "Makin' whoopee" on high rotation.
    1
  755. On the question of espionage, I believe that James Bond once successfully passed himself of as japanese. Mind you, nipponese highlanders were a dime a dozen back in those days.
    1
  756. @56:24 - Dear Lord, early model Cybermen! With that sort of muscle, how did the KuK ever lose WW I?
    1
  757. I can hear Mrs Drach going ... "Now Drach, don't go running off. Drach! DRACH! Tsk. It's like talking to a brick wall." There's something about a well-made model that brings out the small boy in every man.
    1
  758. Did anyone else notice that Drach couldn't bring himself to pronounce the name of this horror? Eat your heart out, Schleiswig-Holstein.
    1
  759. Unfortunately, I strongly suspect that they'd remove X and Y turrets and build a hideous helicopter deck and hangar; just like they did to the poor, old Blake.
    1
  760. Major Strasser: Have you been mixing the hard stuff with your Vichy Water, Louis? There were no american troops in Berlin in 1918; blundering or otherwise. Anyhow, we were too busy putting down a communist revolution and being stabbed in the back by you-know-who. Which is a pity. Had allied troops marched through the Brandenburg gate in 1918, nazis like Strasser would have had trouble making the stabbed in the back fiction stick and the world would have been saved a great deal of subsequent unpleasantness.
    1
  761. He has however, chosen a fairly obvious piece of camoflage. Jaffa Cake for me, please.
    1
  762. Was it possible for any human being NOT to have massive personality clashes with Ernie King? (James Sommerville excepted.)
    1
  763. It was fairly common practice. And remember that in those days, the "head" was a hole on the deck. The salt pork tastes a bit funny today, chef.😵
    1
  764. The millenium falcon is obviously based on a narco sub. Or possibly a cigarette boat loaded with columbian marching powder.
    1
  765. Well done, Nesbitt. You can take the rest of the war off.
    1
  766. Not anymore. The RAN no longer passes on honours granted to RN vessels as they previously did. So an HMS Newcastle and an HMAS Newcastle would not share honours with each other.
    1
  767.  @TheBods666  I doubt very much Tim, that the latter three have inherited any honours from the RN. Inheritance is now limited to actions in which RAN vessels patricipated. So no more Armarda honours in the RAN, sadly.
    1
  768.  @TheBods666  Yes, but the RAN used to follow the tradition of inheriting the honours of all of the ships that carried that name, not just the post 1914 ones. It's a loss of history and I regret the innovation.
    1
  769. What did that do to watchkeeping? I mean, heading eastwards would be good because you could knock-off an hour early; but heading westwards means extra duty and no overtime.
    1
  770. Any war in which a fleet of gunboats can get lost in a forrest is bound to be interesting.
    1
  771. UIm just contemplating fitting hydrofoils onto an Iowa to go with the V-2s.
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  772. In Australia, it's the name of our favourite brand of mustard pickles.
    1
  773. The Wahoo must have been a real party boat.
    1
  774. Ahah! But could you shoot Godzilla out of a submarine's torpedo tube?
    1
  775. It's the equivalent of your mum tucking you in to bed & reading a bed time story... Assuming that your mum is a bearded, half-bolivian, half-yorkshireman civil engineer with an unnatural interest in the metallurgical properties of Harveyised armour plate.
    1
  776. It's all well & good talking about shipping and refineries, especially on Aruba and Jamaica;but what about Cocomo, eh?
    1
  777. Bengladesh? Is that next to Endia?
    1
  778. Thank heavens that it was wartime and you didn't have to put it on a cap tally!
    1
  779. Drach, you are a braver man than me.
    1
  780. Fill a few sandbags full of ships' biscuits in a barricade and I reckon that you'd be reasonably protected from most pre-Minie ball small arms fire.
    1
  781.  @wingsofwrath4647  Thanks for that. It's always nice to pick up these little tidbits of information.
    1
  782. A two-can screamer, obviously.
    1
  783. Coincidentally, I was reading Daniel 5 this morning. Nice allusion, Boss.
    1