Comments by "doveton sturdee" (@dovetonsturdee7033) on "Historigraph" channel.

  1. Tell us, then, what the High Seas Fleet actually contributed to the German war effort after Jutland.
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  2. Yes indeed. Germany had to strike to eliminate those hotbeds of brutal communism :- Denmark, Norway, The Netherlands, Belgium, & Luxembourg. Of course Britain (not England) and France declared war in 1914 and again in 1939. Your sainted adolf invaded Czechoslovakia & Poland, as well as those listed above, without the courtesy of a declaration of war, as did Kaiser Bill to Belgium in 1914. Usually, large numbers of armed troops crossing a border gives a people a good idea what is happening, don't you think? In the normal world (you might have read of the concept) if in 1941 hitler wished to make peace, couldn't he have approached the British embassies in Sweden, Switzerland, or Spain? Indeed, couldn't he have approached the neutral United States? Even if hitler knew what Hess was planning, was flying to Scotland, then bailing out near what was believed to be the estate of a minor Scots. aristocrat who might or might not have had some connection with the Westminster government really the best that he & Rudolf could conceive. You are wrong about hitler, by the way. He was a very fine painter. He could do a whole apartment in a week-end. Two coats! I hope you know the reference.
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  3. Your level of ignorance is quite stunning. The nearest the Germans might have got to any form of air superiority ove SE England was likely to have been the withdrawal of 11 Group to bases north of the Thames, for a period of regrouping & re-equipping. As the British were outproducing the Germans in fighter aircraft from June 1940 onwards, this was likely to have been completed swiftly, and did not preclude an RAF return to SE England in the event of any Sealion attempt. 'Then eliminating the royal navy BEFORE the mainland invasion with hith altitude carpet bombing the bigger ships and using u-boats against the smaller ones plus using the Italian and german navy' As a famous tennis player used to say 'You cannot be serious!' The 1940 Luftwaffe had not been trained in anti-shipping techniques, hence the humiliating failure at Dunkirk, and it didn't even acquire a torpedo bomber until mid 1942. In fact, in the whole of WW2, the Luftwaffe sank 31 RN destroyers, and no RN warship larger that a light cruiser. To put that into perspective, in September, 1940, the RN had 70 light cruisers & destroyers within five hours steaming of the Dover Straits, supported by around 500 or so smaller warships, and a further 40 or so destroyers further away but still in Home Waters. That does not include Force H, or the Home Fleet, as the Admiralty had no plans to deploy the heavy ships (5 battleships & battlecruisers, and seven cruisers) against the Sealion barges. German navy? - You mean, I assume, the one heavy cruiser, three light cruisers, and seven destroyers which were all the Kriegsmarine had operational at the time? Italian navy? - You have a cunning plan for getting it through the Straits of Gibraltar's gun batteries, past Force H, whilst finding a method of persuading the Mediterranean Fleet not to get involved? U- Boats? On average, there were 13 boats at sea on any one day in September, 1940. Moreover, throughout WW2 U-boats tried very hard indeed to avoid close encounters with escorts and/or destroyers. Now you suggest that they should actively seek them out? That would not end well for your U-boats. Mines? The RN carried out nightly destroyer patrols through the Channel. The Germans had seven converted minelayers, possibly supplemented by some of their seven destroyers. Do you know what effect the explosion of a 4 inch or 4.7 inch HE shell has on a laden mine deck? Quite spectacular, I believe. In short, why not read a book or two about the reality of Sealion, before resorting to fantasy?
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  4. An 'outline' which involved stripping the European canal network of 2100 barges, converting them, and sending them to Channel ports. Commandeering 180 coasters, over 400 tugs, and 1200 motor boats, and doing the same. Training up 23 divisions to land on the British south coast. Sacrificing 1700 aircraft & 2700 experienced aircrew, whose absence would be desperately missed later. Good job the Germans weren't serious, wasn't it?! Perhaps you should read the depth of planning the Germans actually undertook?
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  5. That sums up the whole illogicality of the position taken by Sealion supporters. It took to two largest navies on earth, one of which had been undertaking combined operations for 200 years, around two years to produce operation Neptune/Overlord. Yet the Germans, with a tiny navy, no assault craft, and no previous experience, were expected to do the same in about eight weeks? ABSURD.
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  6. What sort of peace would Hitler have offered? Moreover, his record of keeping to his diplomatic agreements was less than impressive.
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  7. Surely you know of the German alliance with the Klingon Empire, even though the documents and archives revealing it remain secret for the next twenty years?
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  8. When in Valparaiso harbour after the Coronel action, Spee was entertained by the German business community to dinner. At one point, a German businessman proposed the toast 'Damnation to the British Navy!' Spee refused the toast, remained in his seat, but when everyone else had resumed theirs, rose, raised his glass, and quietly said, 'I drink to the memory of a gallant and honourable foe.' As it says on the memorial to Cradock & his ships in York Minster, 'God forbid that I should do this thing, to flee away from them. If our time be come, let us die manfully for our brethren, and let us not stain our honour.'
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  9. Indeed. A draw from which the British continued to impose their blockade, continued to control the North Sea, and after which the Germans, apart from two quickly-aborted sorties, spent the rest of the war at anchor in the Jade.
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  10. As the First Lord of the Admiralty, John Jervis, Earl St. Vincent, said at the time, "I do not say the French cannot come, I only say they cannot come by sea". Apart from changing 'French' to 'Germans' exactly the same applied in 1940.
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  11. Preventing 200,000 or so British troops from evacuating from Dunkirk (the 130,000 or so French troops largely returned shortly afterwards) or a further 192,000 evacuating from west coast ports (Operation Aerial) might have forced Britain to come to terms. If, however, Britain continued to resist (as she historically did) then the Royal Navy still held absolute naval supremacy. How do you suggest large German forces would actually reach Britain? In late 1940, after heavy losses in Norway and the Netherlands, the Germans only had around 4,000 to 5,000 trained paratroopers left, and the Luftwaffe only had just over 220 operational transport aircraft, for the same reason. Assuming that these paratroopers land, where do they get heavy weapons support, or even supplies from, and what use is an airfield without transport aircraft to land on it? You don't seem to understand exactly how large the Royal Navy was at the time. Moreover, surely you know how badly the Luftwaffe had failed at Dunkirk? You must do, as you mentioned Dunkirk in your post. In 1940, the Luftwaffe had been trained in air support for ground troops. They were good at it. However, they had not been trained in anti-shipping operations, and they were poor at them. THey did get better in 1941, but even then, in the whole of WW2, they sank 31 RN destroyers, and no RN warship larger than a light cruiser. Just to explain this point, in September 1940, the RN had 120 destroyers in Home Waters. Of these, over sixty were at bases within fours hours steaming of Dover, supported by several light cruisers, and around five hundred smaller warships. How long do you think the barges full of troops, even troops with wonderful MP43s, towed at little more than walking pace by tugs and trawlers, and more or less unescorted, would have lasted? By the way, do you know why the MP43 was so called? Because it was introduced in 1943. Something of a problem here! I do enjoy the posts of Sealion 'would haves,' always pontificating about what the mighty Luftwaffe 'would have' done to the poor old Royal Navy, but never able to explain how it was that, when the opportunity arose, they never managed to do it.
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  12.  @gregmackenzie5822  Why? As an historian, the books and articles I have written have generated a very nice income over the years.
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  13. They had more pressing things to concern them.
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  14.  @mrblack888  Your words certainly would. I know rather more about the facts surrounding Sealion than, it appears, you do.
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  15.  @Pax.Britannica  In 1943, the last thing the Germans were contemplating was Operation Sealion. After May, 1943, Doenitz actually withdrew his boats from the Atlantic after losing 41 in that month alone.
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  16. Wrong. British shipbuilding resources were hugely greater than those of Germany. Moreover, as a land power, Germany had concentrated on her army and air force, and even here the British were outbuilding the Germans in aircraft, and particularly in fighter aircraft. Moreover, what use were warships to a policy of territorial expansion in WEurope? How relevant would battleships have been at Stalingrad?
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  17. The Home Fleet was based in Rosyth & Scapa Flow. It would only have entered the southern part of the North Sea if any German heavy ships did, and we now know that the Germans in September, 1940, only had one operational heavy ship, Hipper. The remainder were either under repair, or refitting. You really don't need battleships, battlecruisers, and heavy cruisers to sink barges. Light cruisers, destroyers, and smaller auxiliaries are much more effective, which is why the RN had around 70 destroyers & cruisers within four hours' sailing time of Dover, together with several hundred smaller vessels, ranging from sloops, minesweepers, gunboats, armed trawlers and drifters to armed yachts. As to 'sitting ducks' the most obvious sitting ducks would have been the invasion barges attempting to cross with minimal protection during the day, and no protection at all at night.
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  18.  @alganhar1  A number of good points, well made. On the matter of submarines, the Germans attempted to send three Type II boats through the Channel in 1939. U12 on 8 October, U40 on 13 October, and U16 on 24 October. They are still there!
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  19. 'But if Hitler had killed or captured the British Army at Dunkirk, and if they had won the air war in the Battle of Britain.' Just as, if my father had been born an Austrian aristocrat in 18th Century Austria, I might have been Hapsburg Emperor.
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  20. Brilliant! Send your few U-Boats to operate inside minefields. It would certainly have helped the Royal Navy.
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  21.  @TheRandomvideos10000  Oh well, if you've played a game then obviously you know more about the subject than anyone who has actually studied the events of the time.
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  22. Apart from director firing before WW1, radar, asdic/sonar, aircraft carriers, HF/DF, hedgehog, squid, etc, to mention just a few.
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  23.  @harryeisermann2784  You mean like the Queen Elizabeths & the Revenges, the first oil powered battleships in the world? Or the 21 knot speed of the British WW1 battlefleet, faster than that of the US or German fleets?
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  24. In December, 1943, two British light cruisers engaged ten German destroyers in the Bay of Biscay. Not to put too fine a point on it, they wiped the floor with them, sinking three and forcing the rest to flee for their bases. Only one hit was scored on one of the British cruisers, HMS Glasgow. The Graf Spee should have been able to do the same to the three small, lightly armoured, cruisers she encountered in December, 1939. In the event, bits of her hull still pollute a sandbank off Montevideo. 'Germany always better' I beg to differ.
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  25. Nonsense, start to finish. Ohio was transferred to the British Eagle Oil Company specifically in order to have a large fast tanker available for Pedestal. The US War Shipping Administration notified her captain that she was to be requisitioned. Her crew was replaced with a British one because of the critical nature of the mission, and because the British at that time were more experienced in the demands of sailing in convoy. The captain and crew were unhappy at being replaced, but at no time were arrested. In the event, two of the ships which did sail had American crews. Five ships of the convoy arrived. Ohio was the only one under tow, actually being attached by cables to two destroyers, with a third close astern to help with the steering. There was no American carrier involved at any time, before or after Pedestal, in escorting Malta convoys, although USS Wasp did carry out two ferry trips, in order to fly RAF Spitfires into Malta, in April, 1942. The British carrier sunk during the Operation, HMS Eagle, was actually torpedoed by a U-Boat, not sunk by air attack. Might I ask why, when you obviously have little accurate knowledge of the circumstances of Operation Pedestal, you even bothered posting?
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  26. Neither Scharnhorst nor Gneisenau were operational until November, 1940, following their damage during the Norwegian campaign. The Home Fleet was actually at Rosyth, not Scapa Flow, but the main RN anti-invasion forces consisted of around 70 destroyers & light cruisers, supported by around 500 small warships. Most of this force was within five hours steaming of Dover.
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  27.  @NewsRedial  The action took place at night in the Malacca Strait, well within the range of Japanese aircraft. Captain Power wisely put the interest of his own ships and crews first. At the time of the sinking, dawn was about 3.5 hours away, which left little time to leave the area.
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  28. Nimitz was a very fine commander, and an Anglophile. Please do not descend to the level of some of the ill-educated types who post derogatory comments about their allies on here.
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  29. Actually, he gets most of his facts, and thus his conclusions, wrong.
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  30.  @jddallas7274  Given your later comments about Sealion, I hardly consider that your opinion has any relevance at all.
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  31. After the sinking he was appointed as Chief of Staff to a number of commanders, becoming a Commodore in November, 1943, and a Rear Admiral in July, 1949. He retired in 1952, and died in Taunton in 1969. He was born in Tasmania, by the way.
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  32. Perhaps you are unaware of the lengths Germany went to in 1940 in pursuit of what you fondly believe was never more than a diversion? Requisioning and converting just over 2,000 barges, and sending them to Channel ports. Requisitioning almost 200 transport ships, over 400 tugs, and 1,200 motor boats. Training 27 divisions, in several waves, for the landing. Converting a number of vessels to operate as minelayers in order to deploy defensive minefields. Establishing around 150 batteries on the Channel coast to protect the invasion barges as they crossed. The above is aside from the Luftwaffe losses already mentioned, and does not even refer to the vast amount of staff time expended in planning.
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  33. You need much more than the Luftwaffe to capture North Africa. Historically, the axis were only just able to maintain the small forces that they did get there, because of the risk to their transports from the RN & RAF, and the lack of harbour facilities on the North African coast. By the way, most supplies to North Africa went round the Cape, not through the Mediterranean, in any case. The dangerous Mediterranean tended to be restricted to warship reinforcements for the Mediterranean Fleet (although many of these still used the Cape route) of urgent supply runs to Malta.
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  34.  @alexalbrecht5768  Have you actually read the full details of the damage which the 18 inch torpedo caused to Bismarck? It was far more than simply jamming of the rudder, there were also extensive tears in the structure of the ship, serious internal flooding, and significant weakening of the stern. You can look up the full details for yourself, should you so choose. Repulse performed better, in that she was able to avoid torpedo hits for a while. Barham was hit by three or possibly four torpedoes closely adjacent to each other, something which any capital ship, let alone one 25 years old, could be expected to survive. By December, 1941, the Kriegsmarine had 250 boats in commission. Sinkings in Nov., 1941 were 76056, and in December 93226. As the monthly target was 600,000, this rather demonstrates the extent of German failure. The only times the Germans actually reached their target was after the US entered the war, when U-Boats had their second Happy Time off the East Coast of the United States because Admiral King chose not to organize convoys, and shore lights were not extinguished. You may be aware that the British & Canadians detached escorts from their own groups to help the US navy out and bring the slaughter to an end. Yorktown was hit by three bombs at Midway, and later by two torpedoes. Illustrious was hit by six bombs. Yorktown was subsequently scuttled. Illustrious was still able to steam at full speed, and subsequently reached Malta. In total, I would agree that Yorktown took heavier damage, but as she ended up a crippled wreck, I fail to see how her performance was superior to that of Illustrious. Are you familiar with the comment made by a US Navy Liaison Officer aboard HMS Indefatigable on 1 April, 1945, when she was hit by a Kamikaze? 'When a Kamikaze hits one of our carriers, it's six months in Pearl. When one hits a Limey carrier, it's 'sweepers, man your brooms.' Exactly how did British designs fail so catastrophically in WW1? Tell me in full of a British battleship lost in action as a result of naval gunfire. 'The design and employment of British vessels in WW2 was the worst of the allies and was only compensated for by sheer numbers.' Simply making such a comment doesn't make it so, although it does rather illuminate your prejudices.
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  35. Er. An elected leader of a democratic country. Unlike General Galtieri, if I recall correctly.
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  36. The whole purpose of the Scatter concept was to minimise loss. A ship with a maximum speed of 27 knots could not hope to catch 30 or more ships all steaming in different directions. Jervis Bay's gallant action delayed Scheer long enough further to reduce the number of losses.
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  37. The gold was a payment from the USSR to the United States for aid. HMS Edinburgh was part of the escort of an Arctic convoy. It really isn't difficult to grasp if you try hard.
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  38.  @bottcherimmobilien4864  Why exactly did Britain & France want a war? Britain was a naval power with a tiny army, and France had been concentrating for years on building substantial defensive fortifications on her eastern border. The rest of your post isn't really relevant to the video, which is on the subject of Operation Sealion, but suggesting that the nations I listed earlier were 'small lands which had to be taken' as a matter of self-defence is really neither a credible nor a justified argument.
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  39. This would be the same Luftwaffe which had recently failed so badly at Dunkirk, I suppose? The one which had had no training in anti-shipping operations at the time, and was still two years away from acquiring a reliable torpedo bomber? The one which couldn't operate against anything other than area targets at night? The one which, in the whole of WW2, sank 31 RN destroyers, and no RN ship at all larger than a light cruiser? In September 1940, by the way, the TN had around 70 destroyers and light cruisers within five hours of Dover. 'The Homefleet will suffer heavy losses in this scenario.' Are you really sure about that?
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  40.  @hetrodoxlysonov-wh9oo  Failing to defeat the RAF in the Battle of Britain is not the same as claiming that Germany attempted to invade, but failed. Certainly, the Germans did convert a large (about 1900) number of barges, which they intended to tow across the Channel using tugs and small coasting vessels, although after their heavy naval losses during the Norwegian campaign they had no navy worthy of the name with which to provide an escort. Their plan, if it could be so-called, involved using every available towing vessel (there were, literally, no reserves to replace losses) to tow two barges each, carrying in total nine divisions, across the Channel, over a period of eleven days. The divisions would lack most of their wheeled transport, most of their artillery, and would have no tank support, by the way. Absurdly, the Kreigsmarine plan assumed that, whilst this ramshackle ferry operation was in progress, the Royal Navy would not intervene! The reality is that, if so ordered, the Luftwaffe could have maintained control of the air space over the Channel in September, 1940. What they could not do was prevent the Royal Navy from destroying the invasion fleet en route. The story of the Battle of Britain, and the heroic Few, is a noble myth, designed by Churchill to win support for Britain in the United States, with the image of a David versus Goliath struggle. The reality is that a seaborne invasion was unthinkable unless the Germans were able to secure the support of the French fleet. Even then, the possibility of success was remote. Indeed, as early as mid-August, 1940, when the legend would have people believe that Britain's survival was on a knife edge, Churchill sent major reinforcements, including three armoured regiments, to North Africa. Look up The Apology Convoy for proof.
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  41.  @primpal08  Between May & August, 1940, the British manufactured 1875 fighter aircraft. Losses of fighters in the Battle of Britain were 1023.
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  42. I wonder how many battles at sea you have experienced?
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  43. The Germans weren't in Africa, Greece, or Russia in Summer/Autumn 1940. The Kriegsmarine had one heavy and three light cruisers serviceable, and twenty of so destroyers, minesweepers, and torpedo boats. U-boats have little chance in the Channel. The Germans tried to send three through it in 1939. They are still there. Finally, the Luftwaffe was not good at hitting ships at sea, and had even failed badly at Dunkirk. Furthermore, they couldn't operate at night, whereas the RN certainly could.
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  44. In September 1940 the British had 34.5 operational divisions, of which 20 were in the immediate area of any potential invasion threat. 'Did the British army have any idea how to prevent this if those tanks are used on British soil?' The Royal Navy, by making sure that no organised German forces, whether tanks or nfantry, managed to get ashore in the first place. That was why there were seventy or so destroyers and light cruisers within five hours steaming of the Straits, supported by around five hundred smaller warships, waiting to intercept the towed barges struggling into the Channel, at little more than walking pace, and more or less unescorted. That was the essential difference. France and Poland did not have a stretch of water guarded by the largest navy in the world. The British did.
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  45. Try the Battle of the Bay of Biscay in December, 1943, Two RN cruisers, HMS Glasgow & HMS Enterprise, engaged a German force of 4 destroyers and 6 torpedo boats, which were effectively small destroyers akin to the US DEs or British Hunt class. Two torpedo boats were sunk, one damaged, and a destroyer sunk. HMS Glasgow received one hit. The action was, rather unfairly, overshadowed by the sinking of Scharnhorst which happened at almost the same time.
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  46. Odd that what you presumably consider to be 'superior' Italian forces never managed to get similarly 'lucky.'
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  47. It wasn't Langsdorff's decision, the RN ships were faster.
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  48. Churchill didn't plan Gallipoli. He suggested it as an alternative to the bloodbath unfolding on the Western Front. Asquith authorised it, and the bulk of the blame for failure should have gone to the British & French military planners. As for Churchill being a 'warmonger' how did he do that when he held no political office between 1929 & 1939, when he joined the government of a country already at war? It is never rational to criticise someone born in the 1870s for not adhering to the (possibly, transient) standards of today. If you do, then you must accept that Gandhi was equally racist.
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  49.  @gwine9087  Churchill proposed it as a means of using global sea power to remove Turkey from the war, as an alternative to the impasse on the Western Front. But he had no hand in the planning, and Herbert Asquith and his advisors had every opportunity to say 'no'.
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  50.  @Stormbringer2012  'Sure the did. Not much to be classified as a transport' No, they didn't. Luftwaffe records show that, at the beginning of September, there were precisely 226 operational transport aircraft.
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