Comments by "COL BEAUSABRE" (@colbeausabre8842) on "The Drydock - Episode 216" video.

  1. In the trunk of my car today is a blanket from the USS San Jacinto (CVL30). Prior to her decommissioning Dad was part of a "Hey you" detail in charge of removing all the ship's unused bedding (by this time, most of her crew were on their way home). Anyway, at the end of the day, each item had to be counted, so many of this, so many of that. It turned out they had too many blankets. "Count 'em again". They did and the came up with a higher total!. The Chief Petty Officer told the detail to count out the excess and put them in another pile. He and the supply clerk from the base agreed that the proper total being turned in. The Chief then turned to the detail and told them, "Anyone who wants a blanket, take it" Problem solved!
    4
  2.  @rogersmith7396  The RN's gunnery of the same period was equally bad, Sir Percy Scott was just getting going in the 1890's
    2
  3. It was entirely political. Churchill had proclaimed Britain as the champion of the free world. He had boxed himself into a corner, he HAD to come to the aid of Greece. As far as Crete goes, the reason it was a defeat for the British was Freyberg's mismanagement of the battle. "In the chaos of the retreat from the Battle of Greece in 1941, Churchill gave Freyberg command of the Allied forces during the Battle of Crete. Although instructed to prevent an assault from the air, he remained obsessed with the possibility of a naval landing and based his tactics on it, neglecting adequately to defend the airfield at Maleme, ignoring ULTRA intelligence messages, which showed that the assault was coming by air" No lost battle, no evacuation, no lost ships. Admittedly, there then occurs the problem of keeping Crete supplied, but Hitler solved that by invading Russia which pulled most of the Luftwaffe into that meatgrinder. The Axis could either try attacking the Malta convoys or attempting to blockade Crete from the air. Malta was obviously the more important of the two - Malta based RN subs and light forces and the RAF were slaughtering the convoys to North Africa and starving Rommel of supplies. But. Hitler could no longer execute Operation Hercules, his airborne capability died at Crete.
    2
  4. It is a problem with watertube boilers
    1
  5. Yes, but they are temporary and not intended for extended use.
    1
  6. They are called "camels" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_camel
    1
  7. No, it was the Sino-Japanese War. No US involvement except for some mercenaries
    1
  8. British change to the 13.5" from the 12"/50? - So what did the RN do to correct the problem with 12/50 inch and how successful was it? And for &diety's sake, why did they repeat the error with 16/45 Nark I ?
    1
  9. GS took a penetrating 8 inch hit that narrowly missed her engine room. Whether that would have totally disabled her is impossible to say, but imagine her drifting with Harwood circling just out of range until the big stuff arrived
    1
  10. Col Beausabre British change to the 13.5" from the 12"/50? - So what did the RN do to correct the problem with 12/50 inch and how successful was it? And for &diety's sake, why did they repeat the error with 16/45 Nark I ?
    1