Comments by "William Cox" (@WildBillCox13) on "The Drydock - Episode 020" video.

  1. I've been thinking that the 5cmFlaK41/L65 (not a great gun for land use) would find its true role if navalized. They (Germany) were going for 5.5cm caliber toward the end, recognizing the need for mittelflak to compliment schweresflak--the 3.7cm/L70 guns, adequate, performance wise, other than their ungainly loading routine, left a 1000m gap in the Flak Umbrella between their coverage and that of the 105s. The 5cm would fill that gap*. Also, the Soviet Navy's quad 45mm seemed a good idea. *Excessive flash and smoke mean a lot less when fire control is off the gun mount.
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  2. It's good to look at the Kamikaze mission profile for an answer to your question. As each such plane was as loaded down with explosives as possible, the planes were loggy and unmaneuverable, no matter which type was used. Though the emphasis in wartime and postwar accounts is on the heroic ace who sacrifices himself . . . yadda yadda, in truth, most Kamikaze pilots were ill-trained and barely able to fly at all. For pilots like these, higher performance aircraft would probably be impossible to handle, even when "clean".
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  3. A great question.
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  4. My vote for immediate postwar cruiser is Fargo, hands down. An almost perfect balance of function and aesthetic, plus all those 40mm will shortly be replaced by the excellent 3"/50cal DP rifle. Prewar? Why you no like Wichita, esse? ;-) War era cruiser (newbuilds) are all bad rollers (too much tophamper; didn't anyone learn from the Fourth Fleet Incident?), only good for Carrier Escort. The German Light Battlecruisers (by weight, not intended role) of the Hipper Class have the advantage, due to superior secondary armament for the Cruiser versus Cruiser scenario. Your point that torpedoes were effective in the first few battles is poignant, but pales to insignificance to the penalties suffered when those cruisers were hit. IJN cruisers suffered heavily from sympathetic deck torpedo detonations which, in some cases, broke the ship's back. Leave them on Destroyers? Sure! But risk losing a cruiser for a weapon that says "you're too damn close?" Not on my watch, sir. ;-)
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  5. Thonburi [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTMS_Thonburi ] is a great gun platform for river operations, but cannot duel shore batteries, or, especially, horse artillery that can reposition and redeploy quicker than the big guns can register. On the distaff side, I will never lose my love of the Vainamoinen [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_coastal_defence_ship_V%C3%A4in%C3%A4m%C3%B6inen ]; the object of the "Finland is so militarized that even its lightships are armed like Battleships!"remark by King George at his birthday fleet review. Not heavily armored, I quite agree, but 4x 10"/45cal rifles? Naturally, the thing rolled like a crocodile in heavy seas, but, still . . .
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