Comments by "COL BEAUSABRE" (@colbeausabre8842) on "The Drydock - Episode 195" video.

  1. One reason the Enterprise was not made into a memorial, was that it was too soon after the war. The men who had fought the war wanted to get on with their lives, put the war behind them and not be reminded of it. It was not yet romanticized into the "Greatest Generation's" finest hour. Having said that I can remember my mother being reduced to tears when a dying Admiral Halsey appeared on the "Ed Sullivan Show" to beg that his old flagship be preserved. She should have been preserved as a memorial to all who served in the US military in WW2 and moored in the Severn River at the US Naval Academy to inspire future generations. As a British admiral once put it, "It takes years to build a ship, but it takes centuries to build a navy."
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  2. In WW2 the RN considered the sloops of the Black Swan class to be its premier escort ships. Capable of 20 knots, mounting 3X2 4inch AA guns and pom-poms (later 40mm and 20mm) to deal with the aerial threat, with good sonar and ample depth charges for ASW and sea worthy, they were Western Approaches Command's "Capital Ships". Famous U-Boat Killer Captain "Johnnie" Walker's Second Support Group - designed to go to the aid of a convoy under attack - was comprised entirely of "Dirty Ducks". But they had full warship features, notably geared turbines, hard to procure in war time and had long construction times. Accordingly, an "economy" or "austere" sloop that became the frigate was designed, the River Class. These were based on mercantile rather than naval practice, had two corvette standard VTE reciprocating engines rather than turbines (6 of 151 had turbines) and all the non essentials were discarded. They were also sea worthy ships, capable of 20 knots, but were purely ASW vessels. They mounted two 4 inch low angle (not AA capable) guns in B and X positions and up to 10 20mm Oerlikons. The later were not so much for AA use as to sweep the decks of subs forced to surface of gun and bridge crews. They had no Y gun in favor of a large number of depth charges and, crucially, gave up A gun in favor of a Hedgehog - much superior to depth charges for killing U-Boats. Late in the war they were replaced in production by the Loch class, prefabricated to expedite production (again some with turbines). These were superior to the Rivers in that while they only mounted a single 4 inch gun, a 1X4 pom-pom, 2X2 20mm or 2X1 40mm Boffin mounts and 2-8X1 20mm, they mounted 2X3 12 inch Squid ASW mortars in B position - an even more deadly weapon against U-Boats. This allowed the number of depth charges to be reduced to 15 from over 100 in the Rivers. They had a superb sensor suite "In addition to the new weaponry, the Lochs also carried new sensors, in the form of Radar Type 277. This set utilised the cavity magnetron to transmit on centimetric wavelengths for target indication purposes, excelling at picking out small targets such as a submarine periscope or snorkel from the surface clutter. The increased weight of the stabilised antenna array and the carriage of HF/DF at the masthead meant that a lattice mast was stepped in lieu of the traditional tripod or pole. Some vessels completed with Radar Type 271 or 272 and the associated "lantern" radome until Type 277 became available. ASDIC Type 144 was carried for search and attack functions with Type 147B used for depth finding." ASDIC 147B introduced the idea of an underwater fire control system, which helped make Squid so effective. Destroyers were not well suited to escort work, the speed they required was wasted i n the ASW role as ASDIC could not be operated above 20 knots due to self-generated noise and they were too short ranged, The RN did modify the Great War Era V&W and later the interwar A to I classes as they were replaced as fleet destroyers by new construction as Long Range Escorts, but considerably mutilated them in the process. One boiler was removed, the upper part of the boiler room becoming berthing space for increased war time crews and the lower part becoming fuel bunkers. This reduced speed to around 24 knots, but greatly increased range. The armament was first reduced by having Y gun and the after torpedo tubes removed for increased depth charge stowage. The second stage was to replace A gun with Hedgehog, Later A gun was reinstalled on a few when split Hedgehog (two 12 spigot mounts alongside the gun instead of one 24 spigot mount) was introduced. Close range AA grew from 2X1 pom-poms to 4/6X1 20mm - but were primarily used for anti-personnel work against surfaced U-Boats. They usually served as flagships for Escort Groups,. Also joining the escort groups were the inter-war sloops, corvettes, deep sea trawlers (many used as rescue ships) and the Algerine Class minesweepers (The RCN's had no sweep gear and were solely employed as escorts). Later Lend-Lease DE's (which the British rated as frigates) of the Captains Class and the US version of the River Class, the Tacoma Class PF's, joined in. If you want the definitive history see https://www.amazon.com/Atlantic-Escorts-Ships-Weapons-Tactics/dp/1399029908?msclkid=88194859c4d511ecb394beef9f7e11f9 https://www.amazon.com/British-Destroyers-Earliest-Second-World/dp/1591140811?msclkid=bfa1b98fc4d511ecb672c783f88ff5cc
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