Comments by "Kenneth Dean Miller" (@kennethdeanmiller7324) on "Drachinifel" channel.

  1. Yeah, I hadn't previously heard the part of you naming the new US Carriers. And I totally agree that large capital ships should NOT bear the name of politicians, even those elected to our presidency. Or especially those!!! And a US Carrier being named USS Congress, while comical enough to be able to say that "Congress" is actually doing something, anything for change, is quite hilarious. At the same time, it makes me fear that the ship would be doomed to the same fate that is "Congress!" And in my personal opinion, I favor names that an actual "Ocean Deity" may find ultimately pleasing in order for that ship to NOT be horribly sunk by the ocean itself. And so "Constellation" I think, comparing the ship to an area of the stars just might please such a deity just enough to NOT send it to the ocean floor. While ships named after fairly modern politicians is just begging for divine intervention to send these vessels to the ocean floor! And it really makes me worry about our modern navy & it's sailors even more, respectively!
    2
  2. At 31:10 you are asked about the success of the design of the Essex's, the Fletcher's & the Iowa's. And one thing that you didn't think about was the fact that the USA also incorporated CIC's. And that way all the ships involved in an action know more about everything that is going on and can act accordingly better with all ships involved!
    2
  3. Yes, I. Understood perfectly. No doubt a contributing factor when making the decision on whether or not to use the atomic bombs on Hiroshima & Nagasaki.😢
    2
  4. That was probably the straw that made Hitler so crazy that he attacked Russia. I want a shirt that says "HMS Revenge, the worlds first stealth battleship!" And then if anyone asks me about it I can direct them to this video. Or if time permits just let them listen to it on my phone.
    2
  5. Unfortunate that they didn't go ahead with the triple turrets. If they could have gotten all the bugs worked out of a triple turret that early in history it would have been a huge game changer for The Royal Navy imho. And then when the Americans introduced the super firing twins the Royal Navy could introduce super firing triples. And triple turrets would have been introduced quite rapidly by any Navy wanting to stay on the cutting edge of technology. Then maybe the 3 triple turret layout all forward would have maybe been adopted in more ships too! I'm a big fan of the all forward armament cuz you can close on the enemy without presenting yourself as a broadside target but can still bring ALL GUNS to bear on the enemy. Thereby you have a good chance of landing blows while making your ship a smaller target. And if they can only see the front of the ship it is harder for them to identify what ship is closing on them until you fire your guns, of course.
    2
  6. And they yell at top of there lungs "FOOD FIGHT!!!" And then RUN LIKE HELL!!! As the days sandwiches & soup fills the air!!!
    2
  7.  @malusignatius  Sorry to hear it. I have 3 previous back injuries complete with torn back muscles & 3 pinched nerves & now scoliosis on top of it. So I definitely know about chronic pain as well. Hoping you feel better. And also when Drach was here the weather was rather wet & dismal which is usually when I hurt the most. But it was the sinusitis that kept me from going. I had been vaccinated for COVID but some were still getting it even with the vaccination, so I figured I'd just lay low. I was out & about all thru the pandemic but never got sick. The day after I was feeling better but the night he was here I felt horrible. Many prayers for you fighting Crohn's!!🙏🙏🙏
    2
  8.  @frankgleaves1084  I do know that the US Standards that were equipped with triple gun turrets were having accuracy issues that were fixed by a short delay in firing the middle gun because the blast radius of all 3 together would cause the shells to go tumbling way off course. But I'm not sure if HMS Nelson experienced that problem as well, which the slight delay was the easy fix for it. But as far as the ship heeling over too far after a full salvo of all the main guns, I would also think that the direction and/or angle of the guns when fired would also have a bearing on how far the ship heels to the other side.
    2
  9. @Drachinifel Thanks for including the matter about "Towers" trying to get Spruance replaced by "himself!" Although, I'm very glad that Nimitz & King saw through the request rather easily, it still goes to show how competitive the US Navy is at this time. And how "cut throat" some of these officers can really be. Which also leaves me to be very proud to know the name of Spruance as being a very good Admiral during WW2 & the name "Towers" I hadn't previously heard about until now. If the man had been more supportive of Spruance instead of trying to "throw him under the bus with him driving" IDK maybe if that hadn't happened then maybe King & Nimitz would have saw fit to try to have Towers play a larger role. One in which he might be remembered as a historically relevant officer. But, negative people get negative prizes! But seriously, thanks again for that piece of history. If Halsey at Leyte Gulf had shown the same care Spruance had shown for the landing forces then the Naval Battle of Samar would have been much different than the one we know. Who knows maybe Captain Evans would have even survived the war.
    2
  10. ​@rapidrhinos2254 Yeah, I would imagine that such a problem would become quickly obvious when/ if salvo's are not even close to the target. And I would also think that each ship would have certain Officers aboard that knew the fire control suite rather intimately & was in charge of finding, troubleshooting & solving whatever problems may arise. And what to do if separate parts of the fire control are removed during the action of battle. That is something that they try to train for so that when/ if it happens during an action they know how to switch to appropriate back up measures. Which is why most ships have numerous range finders. Plus you firing one gun at a target with a scope isn't like a battleship. A battleship gathers information & fires salvo's to see how close they are. Which they can fire 3-4 shot salvo's and once they know the range fire full salvo's which are 8-9 gun salvo's. So usually once hits start landing more follow & the target is torn to shreds. Where if you are on target with your rifle & scope, you only need the one shot & then you usually change targets.
    2
  11. ​​ @filecabinet827  I seriously doubt a whole squadron or more could take out an Iowa. The Iowa has the speed to dictate the battle and can stay far enough away that an age of sail ship can not hurt it. While the Iowa can tear any age of sail ship apart with one salvo. So with that being said, the only way the Iowa is going to lose is if there are more age of sail ships than the Iowa has bullets. And the Iowa has it's secondary armament too. But then the Iowa can just withdraw. I don't see it being sunk or damaged very badly because of it's speed. The only way that it could really happen is to have maybe 100 ships of the line & who ever is the Captain of the Iowa be a major idiot. And even then the Iowa will still have the upper hand! I mean one 16" "HE" shell would completely annihilate an age of sail ship. The "AP" shells would probably do less damage. But then the secondary batteries could still annihilate so many ships & the Iowa can still just disengage if it runs out of shells. The age of sail ships aren't fast enough to close the range enough to hurt an Iowa. And if they did the only thing they could do is maybe shoot up the superstructure. No cannon balls are going to puncture any vitals cuz of the armor. No. Not going to hurt an Iowa with any number of age of sail ships.
    2
  12. ​@VersusARCH Heia was exactly like Kirishima and it was mainly disabled by Cruisers and then finally sank due to the Cactus Air Force having daylight. So exactly how Kirishima is more capable than her sister ship Heia, is something I just don't get. And I also really don't get trying to rehash all these battles with alternate circumstances! It was a war that happened almost 80 years ago. What all happened is what happened. Get over it already! It's over and in the history books. And it made the world we have today! Not saying that it's a good thing or a bad thing. I'm just saying that is the way it is. And no matter what you do it's NOT going to change!
    2
  13. I also wanted to address something that you related to in Drydock 127 about the basic human nature of people suffering is NOT a good thing. And it reminded me of a US submarine Captain machine gunning survivors in the water. And, although he thought they were Japanese Army a good many of them were actually POW's from India, I think. And you also remarked that he actually received a medal for doing this. When in actuality he should have been reprimanded for it. Or he should have taken as many survivors as he could on board or something rather than killing them in the water. But, yeah, I live in the US but in no way am I delusional about right & wrong. And it's difficult to try to argue that the US Submarine Captain was right to kill those people. Although I do understand that he thought they were Japanese troops & wanted to kill them in order to save American troops. That still doesn't make it right. From a "naval" perspective of course it's about sinking ships & not about killing as many people as you can. But also from the Japanese point of view they were TRYING to kill as many Americans as they could in the hope that the war would become too costly for the USA in the amount of lives being lost in the hopes the USA would broker a peace agreement favorable to the Japanese. But that doesn't mean that Kamikaze's were a good thing either. And yeah, I totally agree that human suffering should be looked at as, those terribly unfortunate people! And sometimes during war people do the right & honorable thing. And sometimes they don't. And sometimes there are just circumstances that keep sailors from doing what should be done. Like rescuing survivors from Bismark. It was a good thing that they rescued as many as they did. But unfortunately they didn't rescue all of them. And as cold as that water was it was practically a death sentence for those that were left in the water. And that is a very unfortunate thing. Yeah, regardless of what side you are on, looking at history and hearing about humans suffering, & relating that story to others, I totally agree that sailors needlessly suffering a cruel fate should be looked at from a human perspective rather than they were "the enemy" so their suffering was a good thing!
    2
  14. Just wanted to thank you for showing these ships that short of winning the lottery I really have no hope of ever seeing. I had previously never had much interest in war ships when I first heard stories of USS Enterprise, USS Johnston & then stumbled upon your channel. One of the videos that you had just put out was "What to do when forced to abandon ship". Or at least what the sailors during WW2 were faced with when having to abandon ship. Which(for some reason) always makes me think of USS Indianapolis and the story Quinn told in the movie "Jaws". I don't know if you have ever seen the movie but it's not a bad movie. Once they started trying to do sequels it got stupid (imo) but the first movie was epic. Especially for when it was made. No cgi at the time at all.
    2
  15. ​​​ @readingrailroadfan7683 To be honest, when the war first broke out, radar aboard ships, I think, was fairly new. And judging by the Guadal Canal campaign alone A LOT of the ship Captains & Admirals were NOT very sure of their radars capabilities. And with new & better radar systems coming on line & being installed on ships, it's also painfully obvious that most Captains & Admirals didn't realize or understand the advantages & disadvantages of the radar systems and how to use them & also what ships had the newest & better radars in their fleet. You also have to realize that some of these Admirals at Guadal Canal had just shown up at Guadal Canal and had barely had time to even get acquainted with the ships they were commanding before they were thrusted into battle with a Japanese force that was very experienced & new & trusted the capabilities of their Captains & crew. Furthermore, the commanding Admirals for the US would tell their Captains to NOT fire without orders. Leaving most of their ships at a MAJOR disadvantage waiting on orders to fire when it's painfully obvious that enemy is approaching. The Naval Battles of Guadal Canal are a textbook example of how NOT to command a fleet of ships. And a major reason that the US set up CIC Centers. Furthermore, imho, the Naval Battles of Guadal Canal were an embarrassment to the US Navy and they lost A LOT of good ships & crew simply because they had Admirals that didn't know & trust their Captains & Captains that didn't trust their crews. I think USS Chicago is a prime example of a Captain NOT knowing how his radar system works. However, that Captain was a "know it all" that clearly didn't know it all. And was told to take command but decided to go back to sleep instead & a lot of people got killed cuz he wanted to sleep. However, Admiral "Ching" Lee is a prime example of an Admiral that fully understood the capabilities of his ships radar and how to use it in order to obtain a fast & accurate firing solution for his ship's guns. And that was how Kirishima got sunk while being tunnel focused firing at USS South Dakota. However, the four destroyers that were screening for USS Washington evidently had problems picking up the IJN as they came into view from behind Savo Island & were blown out of the water & sunk because of it. I'm not sure if that was because of trusting their radar too much or that lookouts just didn't see the ships because of Savo Island or both or what.
    2
  16. Considering the Birkenhead disaster.. the men that had horses should have saddled their horse before driving it into the sea. Horses can swim faster than a man & the man doesn't stay in the saddle but instead just holds onto the horn of the saddle & let the horse pull him along. Being "at sea" they probably thought the horses would drown too. But at least those with horses would have had a chance. On one hand it is rather noble of them. But also, it's like they just gave up. I would have at least tried to swim to shore. I mean yeah, there is a boat full of people but if I swim towards it I might get an oar upside the head for going near. But another thing too is that men with families if there was no room left in the boats some of them could have like held onto the back of the boats & if there is 5 or 6 of them also help push the boat along holding onto the back but kicking with their legs. I know whenever they would stop it would put drag on the boat but rescue was otw too so idk. Damn rocks!!!
    2
  17. Yeah, concerning the US Navy pretty much wanting to kill any & every ship that had anything to do with Pearl Harbor. You also have to factor in the major reality that A LOT OF US SAILORS were killed during the Pearl Harbor attack! And A LOT of those sailors had friends & family that were still fighting the Japanese AND the families at home felt very personal about the Pearl Harbor attack too, especially families who lost sons & fathers during the attack! And the whole country of the US wanted to drive it home not just to the Japanese but to the entire world that such an attack against the US will be avenged in a very harsh way! However, I personally felt like after the formal surrender that the whole of the Japanese people should be treated with honor & dignity, minus maybe only those guilty of the worst War Crimes. And to actually compare it to something that the British can relate to, imagine that Bismarck has sank Hood, however, unlike the historical battle Germany & Great Britain are not at war & Bismarck just started shelling Hood for no reason! And that was the very first action of the war & like historically only 3 survivors. And given how the British & the Royal Navy reacted to the sinking of HMS Hood, it is difficult to think of how you could get them to actually be angrier than they already were historically! But as Drach would say.. "There you go!"
    2
  18. Yeah, as far as grading the Navies of WW2, that would be better if you did it by year. Like the US Navy during 41 & 42- The Pearl Harbor attack is going to take their grade to a "D" at the beginning and although there is Midway pulling the grade up a bit, the Coral Sea was successful as in preventing Fort Moresby from being taken by the Japs BUT we did lose Lexington & had Yorktown damaged. And we had the Doolittle Raid bringing the grade up. But all the ships we lost during Guadal Canal really brings the score back down. So for the US Navy '41 & '42 I'd say "C". And the thing about it too is that it's the pilots of the aircraft carriers basically bringing the score up while all the rest of the US NAVY is bringing the grade down. And even the submarines would have had a chance to help the grade BUT The Mark 14 torpedo screwed that up as well!
    2
  19. Seeing such a small ship made me wonder about people that get sea sickness. And how quick does someone get seasick. And if they do is it something that they can just get use to or what? And thinking of that reminds me of the young American Admiral that was lost at sea from aboard the USS Washington. It was a terrible thing to happen but I think Admiral "Ching" Lee was supposed to have that position from the start. After doing a role call twice & finding no one missing & then going to make the report to the Admiral & finding his cabin empty made it obvious that it had been the Admiral that was spotted overboard. They tried to rescue him but the seas were very high and prevented the rescue. I think he was seasick and got washed over by a large wave. Idk why but I'm always forgetting his name. John W. Wilcox Jr. was lost at sea near Scapa Flow off the coast of Ireland. He probably thought going topside would cure his seasickness but got washed overboard by a heavy wave. Died before he ever even seen any enemy action. Poor guy.
    2
  20. ​@davidvanhorn3340 What you talking about? Taffy 3 caused the "Great Yamato" to run away! More like USS Johnston & USS Samuel B Roberts told USS White Plains "Hold my beer!"
    2
  21. Whenever I see these "what if" scenarios I swear I want to respond "IDK what if someone shoved an M80 up your ass & lit it?" Because what happened is what happened and you can "what if" all you want & it's not going to change what really happened. Idk, I guess some of them have merit. My biggest "what if" is what if Captain Evans of the USS Johnston had lived? Would he still have gotten the Medal of Honor? Would he be promoted to Admiral by the wars end? Or would they have sent him back to the States to sale war bonds?
    2
  22. And like he said... task failed successfully! Cuz kamikaze's were used by the Japanese in the hopes that they would cause enough "human" casualties to make the USA sue for a negotiated peace in the Japanese favor. And although this one airplane did manage to sink a much more expensive destroyer than itself, the only death was that of the pilot, if he actually died.
    2
  23. Very true. I think each turret weighed 450 tons. So 3 turrets is going to be 1350 tons. That's a lot of weight to have on a cruiser! And cuz of the war they were trying to hurry & build as many ships as possible. And trying to take the time to build the 8" auto loaders with all the trouble shooting to get them to work with reliability was painstakingly time consuming, I'm sure! But if there had been any way the US could have had such a ship at Guadal Canal, it would have been a major asset as long as it could stay away from all the long lances! I'm fairly confident that with a good crew one of these ships could easily take out 2-3 Japanese cruisers in a matter of a few minutes. Especially, if they spotted the IJN on radar first & opened up as soon they were in range. I admire these ships as much as most of the battleships! Granted I wouldn't want them to go against a battleship but a battleship is the only ship that would be their superior in a gun duel. And that's only because a battleship has more range. Now, imagine them building a battleship with 16" auto loaders. What a BEAST that would be? Now imagine being on the receiving end of 16" rapid fire. And because they are auto loaders they reliably fire every 30 seconds & because of radar fire control they are deadly accurate as well. And if someone tries to fire a sea skimming missiles at the ship you can fire shells in front of the missiles and the shell splashes would take them out.
    2
  24. The whole thing in my honest opinion makes me want to ask the question: "What time is it?
    2
  25. So, my question is... Did the K Class kill more Royal Navy Sailors or Enemy Sailors? With subs like that who needs an enemy force? I had no idea about these subs previously. When they had trouble with K13 in the beginning they should have went ahead & scrapped the whole lot.
    2
  26. Definitely a moral booster in the heat of the Pacific. Especially considering "what's for lunch" is a sandwich with ice cream. I've rarely had steak & eggs for breakfast but I often think about the pilots that fought at Midway having that for breakfast. Some said "Last meal for the condemned men." And maybe that was true for the torpedo planes & that was very sad. However, I've always thought of it as "the breakfast of champions!" But there is the rare occasion that Harris Teeter has ribeye steak in their breakfast bar & when they do I can't resist having steak with my eggs, with a bit of bacon too.
    2
  27. ​@UnconsciousCompetence It's definitely better than NOT waking up! Of course, I'm not sure what alternatives there are other than 1) waking up or 2) death? I choose life. Not exactly sure what happens when we die, however, as far as I'm concerned, I'll be happy to wait as long as possible before I find out.
    2
  28. You had mentioned that the Japanese in some cases were known for machine gunning shipwreck survivors in the water after their ship had sunk. And sailors that were in the water after the USS Johnston and USS Sammy b Roberts was sunk said they had Japanese Ship Captains salute them as their ships passed them in the water. Recently I was watching a documentary about USS Harder which was a Gato class submarine. And the submarine had managed to sink a troop transport ship. And after the ship was sunk, the submarine surfaced & the Skipper had the crew break out small arms. And since there were Japanese soldiers in the water the Skipper ordered his crew to open fire on the survivors. Unfortunately there were also numerous Indian POW's in the water as well that were gunned down along with the Japanese soldiers. Although I can't remember the Captains name, I believe he was even given a medal for this. However, USS Harder would NOT survive the war. On their 6th patrol they were reported lost at sea. I believe that the crew were doomed due to the action of their Skipper.
    2
  29. ​​ @kkupsky6321 That's hilarious. Gotta do whatcha gotta do sometimes! When I was a kid in the late 1970's & early 80's my Grandparents would take me camping & crabbing in Destin, FL. We had a wash tub inside an intertube so that a battery for a spotlight would float. Caught a lot of crabs & boiled them over a fire. I can't remember ever eating crabs that tasted as good as those did! The last time I went through Destin, FL it had changed completely! Nothing but hotels all along the shore. I was very disappointed to what had happened to the place. I couldn't recognize anything about the place.
    2
  30. The first two look like diamond rings. The third similar to fimo clay beads designs I use to make. I'm guessing you live in Canada. I once had a girlfriend that rode her bicycle from Washington DC to Nova Scotia & back. She said that she left the day after she graduated HS & got to Nova Scotia before July 4th! It was 1976 & for some reason she wanted to be out of the country for the "Bicentennial Celebration!" Why? She never made clear. Although, imho it was one helluva accomplishment! Her "motivation" for doing so seemed kinda lame to me! I may fear my gov but I love my country!! 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸!!! Wave that flag! Wave it wide & high! Summer time done, come & gone my oh my!
    2
  31. I had thought I heard someone say that the USS Missouri was called "Roosevelt's Big Stick"??? Not sure if that's true, & I forget where I heard it. Also, I live in the DC area & in DC there is a place called Adams Morgan. In Adams Morgan is a bar called "Madams Organ", not a ship but still rather funny.
    2
  32. Another one Mythbusters did was try to bust the myth that when a large ship is sinking that it can suck you down with it if you are too close and/or if you are NOT far enough away from it. But they used a row boat. So kind of NOT THE SAME as a ship that weighs 40,000 lbs. The way it sucks you down to is because of water rushing to fill the void that the ship sinking has created. And creates something similar to like a vortex the whole way down. First constantly pushing water out of its way while it's sinking and then constantly rushing behind it to fill in the void it's making all the way down. And once it gets below the surface it also picks up speed too. So by the time it gets to the bottom it doesn't just settle on the bottom, it more or less CRASHES into the bottom. The deeper the ocean the faster it will be going.
    2
  33. One of the longest & most hard fought naval battles of WW2 was the Battle of the Atlantic!! And this is just a very small taste of that battle. Thank you for posting this. It becomes rather clear that with all of these convoys of shipping that there are plenty of targets of opportunity for the U-boats. And the US building so many merchant vessels & a lot of them failing to even complete their maiden voyage was testament to the danger of those U-boats. And the fact that they were able to have escort carriers as well as all the smaller convoy escorts and have hunter/killer groups that were NOT associated with any one convoy made it more & more dangerous for U-boats as time weared on. Looking forward to getting to hear more about "The Battle of the Atlantic" in the future. I've heard so little about this part of the war that I find it very intriguing that this was such a large part of the war efforts. And without all of these convoys of shipping the war could have been lost.
    2
  34. It was a shame that Lee passed away 2 weeks after WW2 was over. You know, someone like him that enjoyed sharp shooting with a sniper rifle, you know he had A LOT OF FUN doing the same "sharp shooting" with 16" guns on a battleship!
    2
  35. I have always rejoiced to start a Drydock that is 4 hours + and lie back & start listening! And then I end up having to go back & figure out exactly where/ when I fell asleep & start over from there in the morning. One of my favs of those was when I was trying to figure out that exact scenario to discover Drach was the Mediator for the US Navy Panel during a discussion of The 80th Anniversary of The Battle of Leyte Gulf. And I'm so terrible with names, and I am a huge fan of Drach's, I still can't remember his real name. To me he is Drach or Drachinifel & always will be! But also, after that discussion people were asking questions. And a man, whom I think lost his father aboard the USS Johnston, asked the question that "After the Johnston had deployed her torpedoes and had lost one of her screws, shouldn't Captain Evans had withdrawn & preserved his crew? And although other panelist gave there little 2 cents to this question, Drach gave the man the answer that he already knew in his heart but desperately did not want to hear. But it was truly the whole reason the destroyers & destroyer escorts fought so hard during the Naval Battle of Samar. They were fighting so the escort carriers could get away. There were 6 escort carriers with about 900 sailors on each one. That's approximately 5,000 men that would be vulnerable with little to no protection but those destroyers & destroyer escorts and Johnston & the others were doing their best to distract the Japanese long enough for them to get away. And they had pretty much already fatally committed themselves to this task. For Drach & all the other panelist, it was a very defining moment of the discussion. And for Drach it showed how much more he was in tune with what had happened during that action than all the other panelist! It was the greatest moment of that entire discussion because it was asked by a man that lost his father in that action and Drach gave him the best answer of all the panelist and in my opinion the whole reason the Johnston fought until it was a sinking wreck. And that reason was to preserve the escort carriers, which it did mainly accomplish, along with the help of a lot of planes, pilots & air crews as well.
    2
  36. Yeah, I was wondering that too but in doing so that could have easily given away his position cuz the Japanese pilots are going to realize these planes are coming from somewhere. And you never can tell, one of the Japanese may follow the British planes back to their carriers. Japanese strike planes followed the US planes back to the Yorktown at Midway. So theoretically possible that instead of all of them attacking the cruisers that some break off to see which way the British planes go back & follow them. And with that flight returning maybe the Japanese are not noticed on the radar & get to attack with surprise. It's a roll of the dice where by trying to protect the two cruisers could end badly for the carriers & cruisers as well. Or the planes you send take out all the Japanese & it saves the cruisers. But that itself would still let Nagumo know that British carriers are close. So...
    2
  37. Wow. Never thought about this battle in terms of was it a loss or a victory. It was more like David vs Goliath. However, there was a lot of fighting that went on & a lot of sailors died on both sides. And if Halsey had left a significant force behind to protect the landing force, there is really no telling what would have happened because that is not what happened. And also, it was easily clear for all to see by this time that Japan had lost the war. And that they were going to keep on losing. They should have surrendered long before we had to start dropping atomic bombs on their cities, killing tens of thousands of people. I can't help pity the people that lived thru that to only die later of radiation poisoning. And those that saw what happened & lived long enough for it to be a memory they lived with for decades too. I can't imagine the nightmares you could suffer after such a horrible thing. I know the US did it to save American lives. However, even with the vast numbers killed at Hiroshima & Nagasaki there is still a good possibility that it saved a lot of Japanese lives as well.
    2
  38. @Drachinifel Congrats!!! Happy 500k Subscribers!!! And the fact that you have produced over 300 Drydocks. And ALSO Congratulations to you & Ms Drach on being new parents. As a former father I think I provided tips for taking care of a small one in the 300th Drydock. But I wanted to thank you again for providing a vast wealth of Naval Knowledge to myself and others. I didn't have any interest in Naval history until I began researching WW2. And when I found your channel it was like meeting an old friend that I never met. If that makes any sense. Idk, maybe I've spent some past lives at sea or something. But anyway good day to you & your family. May your days be long & filled with the love of your family & friends. Sincerely, Dean
    2
  39. Yeah, I caught that too. I would guess that instead of 1930 it was probably 1950 and he has a problem reading his own hand writing. And mistook the 5 for a 3. Not sure but only a guess. If they were in reserve from 1930-1957 then they missed ALL hostilities! So that is obviously a mistake. It's OK, though, we still love him. Sometimes when you work really hard you get tired & make mistakes. I'm sure this is one of those times. So instead of it making him look bad, it's rather the opposite. Cuz he was obviously very tired to make such a simple mistake.
    2
  40.  @Sammyandbobsdad  OK. Thanks for the info. Yeah, I was born in '67 & so MacArthur was dead by the time I was old enough to think for myself. But like I said, my Mom had a very strong dislike for the man. And she liked Nimitz & Eisenhower too until he wanted to be President. She said that the greatest thing about Eisenhower was he was really good at getting the US & all the other Allies to fight together as one in Europe. Kinda like Gandalf in Lord of the Rings. Things were a bit different in the Pacific. But there was, of course, USS Robin where the Brits & the US both got to learn from each other. And the Aussie's were a big help in the Pacific as well.
    2
  41. What he was saying IS if it had not been for Nimitz wanting Yorktown available for the Midway battle, the amount of damage was equal to about 90 days in drydock. The plain & simple fact that crews got her ready to sail & fight in less than 3 days was a huge testament to the capabilities of the shipyard workers and the things they were doing to help the war efforts! Small wonder why Enterprise was known as the "Grey Ghost"! Several times the Japanese claimed to have sunk Enterprise when great damage control had saved her & great dock workers patched her up quickly so she could continue the fight! A lot of people claim that the US won simply cuz of their ability to produce massive numbers of war materials. Although that is true too, but it was also the fact that many, many people working, doing the very best they could do for as long as they could do it, to make sure that our soldiers & sailors had the very best to fight with & with unlimited quantities of quality products.
    2
  42. To be honest, I seriously don't think that even with today's technology that if they were building a North Carolina type battleship today that today's technology would discover problems with the propeller resonance if it hadn't already been previously discovered in the North Carolina battleships already. I would imagine that it would be akin to being in a 35k ton washing machine on the spin cycle and the load is not balanced enough to spin correctly. I would make the guess that the engineers aboard ship, after they had diagnosed the problem and had made it to where it was happening around 17-18 knots, I would think that they would find a way to cut power to the inner shafts when appropriate and allow the outer shafts to accelerate passed that speed before giving the inner shafts power again. Not totally sure if that would work, or just prolong the vibrations rather than just powering past that speed to begin with. But if it's the inner shafts causing the resonance then it would seem that if they could make 20 knots just using the outer propellers then they could give the inner shafts power & just keep it moving.
    2
  43. To be honest, on one hand I'm kinda glad Drach addressed the incredible stupidity that some people exhibit & create in the comments sections at times on rare occasions. And on the OTHER hand I kinda wish he had NOT even bothered to give that person the satisfaction of mentioning his brash stupidity. With that being said, the main reason I say that is because I've been a fan of Drach's for 4-5 years now. And I rarely EVER see any brash comments like that. Even the "what if" questions that normally bother me more than than most of the simple questions like the constant questions about range clocks on American ships or the booms for the old torpedo nets. But as I stroll thru the comments section I usually try to answer the easier questions when I can. Mostly when the answers are just a quick & easy sentence or two. But when people are clearly trying to find fault with the current status quo & clearly have an "alternate agenda". On one hand I want to totally ignore them & not give them the satisfaction of even acknowledging their idiocy but then I feel like if people do ignore it, it's NOT going to make it go away. And that if someone doesn't address it's wrongfulness, then others may think that there is truth there. And so I'd rather call it out for it blindly ignoring reality rather than thinking if we ignore it MAYBE it will go away! I hope you get my meaning & will help to identify & address people blatantly pushing agendas that try to call certain parts of history false. E.G. Like people who try to say"the Holocaust" never happened!
    2
  44. Yeah, perfect movie for spending the night on a submarine! Star Wars? While on a submarine? No kids! I'm sure they appreciated it after they got to see the movie!
    2
  45. Concerning the Japanese Night fighting capabilities at around 1:40:30 you talk about how they had binoculars with wider angle lenses & filters that also helped pull in extra light from the moon & stars. However, what you fail to mention is that the Japanese trained obsessively for night battles because they knew that they needed every edge that they could get when going to war with the USA & Great Britain cuz as far as numbers of capital ships they were hopelessly outnumbered. And it was basically because of air power combined with Japanese Naval assets & Army's that made them such a formidable opponent. And furthermore, if the Japanese Army & Navy had better coordination & cooperation together they would have been much deadlier than they were. Unfortunately for the Japanese, they didn't realize that America NOT wanting to go war was a completely different animal after Pearl Harbor. America felt like they WERE FORCED into war by Japan & that they were going to make sure that Japan totally regretted doing so & therefore an UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER IS the only option America would agree to terms of peace. And so the idea of grabbing what they could & then trying to negotiate a peace settlement was out of the question as soon as 2500 Americans were killed at Pearl Harbor. And then they upped the ante in the Philippines by 1000%. Because by then, way too many Americans had died in the Pacific to even try to negotiate peace. After that America 🇺🇸 was in it to win it! And wanted to crush Japan like an ugly roach scurrying across our kitchen floor! And most every American felt that it was their duty to do everything they could for the war effort. Like some guys training for a year or longer before being deployed, so that they would be capable to take on whatever the Germans or Japanese threw at them. Fight smarter & harder! And the fact that the USA could pull off a landing like D-Day in Normandy while also being fully engaged with the Japanese on the other side of the world was a major FLEX of power. However, with that being said, I seriously don't think it would have been successful if not for the Germans being fully engaged by the Russians which had been richly fortified by the Lend-Lease Act & arctic convoys taking massive amounts of war materials to Russia & the fact that America also had Great Britain, Canada & a massive amount of other Europeans reinforcing the invasion.
    2
  46. Why would nuclear engineering be a topic in such an interview? I mean, really?
    2
  47. My take on the right ship at the wrong time was the USS Des Moines! Those 8" auto loaders were a beast! But they were finished just in time for the war to be over!! Talking about any ship being a "Cruiser Killer?" I think that even battleships would have been hard pressed against these ships! A battleship would have to stay out of range of those 8" guns & try to hurt it from far away. But any ship that a Des Moines engaged within range of those 8" guns would have had a very serious problem on their hands. And their quickest way of getting out of range will probably be towards the ocean floor! The right ship just too late for WW2.
    2
  48. Dzang! When I first saw this I was hoping it was going to be one those hour long rum rations!! I'd love to hear of some of there biggest victories, actions & accomplishments! But I guess for a "five minute guide" running 9 minutes is enough for now. Thanks Drach. I always think of JFK & PT 109 when I hear about these crafts.
    2
  49. Well, that's incredibly stupid. First they shouldn't have portholes that can be opened. And two, if the ship was sinking you'd think they'd have sense enough to close them. Cuz you don't get "ventilation" when water is flowing in.
    2
  50. Yeah, sounds like a punk band to me. But no matter. Names can always be misleading.
    2