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

  1. Seconded
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  2. 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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  3. With all of the high technology available to them, imagine what they're up to now.
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  4. 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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  5. 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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  6. Gen. Smith: You incompetent idiot! Gen Holland Smith: You clueless bufoon! Japanese Army & Navy Staff (together): Amateurs!
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  7. Congrats on a glorious century, Drach. On to the double ton!
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  8. Landing on a carrier several miles under the surface might be difficult, but still somewhat easier than taking off therefrom.
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  9. 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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  10. 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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  11. 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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  12. 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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  13. Not to mention the angry scot on the foc'sle yelling "What are you looking at? I'll do you, Jimmy!".
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  14. 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.
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  15.  @Dave_Sisson  Ah, yes. I'd forgotten about HMAS Jervis Bay. She was quite successful in the role, I recall.
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  16. 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.
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  17. And paid an Iowa price tag with the "extended warranty"?
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  18. My thoughts exactly! 👍
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  19. Hi Drach. Thanks for a swering my question. Much appreciated.
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  20. 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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  21. As is also the case when you select the highest bidder.
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  22. To quote the great and good Keith Miller (australian test cricketer and Spitfire pilot), "Pressure is a Messerschmit up your arse..."
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  23. Drachinifel; the Barry White of naval nerd-dom.
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  24. Battleships. The ultimate adult toy. 😁
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  25. Or indeed any japanese torped0 boats in the North Sea.
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  26. How on earth did the Dual Monarchy manage to fit the ships' names on their cap tallies?
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  27. I presume that the Satsuma and the Choshu have kicked the habit now, right?
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  28. ​ @rackstraw  To quote Seaman Homer Simpson (USNR) ... 🎶 You don't win friends with salad. You don't win friends with salad. 🎶
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  29. 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.
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  30. 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."
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  31. The War of Jenkins' Ear involved the english and the spanish, not the chinese.
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  32. Yep. I love the photo of that triple-barrelled Skoda gun under construction at 1:02.
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  33. 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
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  34. The West Virginia should have been saved on the grounds that the reconstruction made her absolutely bloody beautiful.
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  35. 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!
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  36. 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.
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  37. To really surprise them, tell them thst it hasn't been stolen yet. 😂
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  38. ​ @maryholder3795  In point of fact, de Gaulle clashed with everyone who wasn't de Gaulle. He wasn't prejudiced in the matter.
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  39.  @SCjunk  He he! Nominative determinism at its best. Thanks for the additional info.
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  40. 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!
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  41. Drach sees the Constitution's tugboat ... "Mum, it followed me home. Can I keep it?"
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  42. 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.
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  43. 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.
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  44. And the exit/entrance to the Island closest to berth 1 is, of course, named Harry's Gate.
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  45. I believe in the soccer war that it was Corsairs vs Mustangs.
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  46.  @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.
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  47.  @moocowpoorchick8678  If worst comes to worst, remember that cats are edible. 🐱
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  48. The "I'm taking command" approach didn't work out well for Lieutenant Maryk in The Caine Mutiny.
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  49. 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".
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  50. Thanks very much, Vasilij. The quality of that film is astounding. And well done to whoever chose Dvorjak for the backing music.
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