Comments by "Steve Valley" (@stevevalley7835) on "The Drydock - Episode 109" video.

@RedXlV If it's any consolation, the 1919 edition of Jane's calls them "Maryland" class, and the preceding class the "California" class. If you look at what those two yards were building before the Colorados, New York Shipbuilding laid down Idaho on Jan 20, 1915, while Newport News laid down Mississippi on April 5, 1915, so New York Shipbuilding should have launched Idaho first, so the slipway would have been clear for Colorado before Newport News launched Mississippi on Jan 25, 1917. If New York shipbuilding had taken the same amount of time on Idaho as Newport News took on Mississippi, Idaho would have launched in October of 16, so, given the same lag Newport News had between the two ships, Colorado would have been laid down, in January 1917, 3 months ahead of Maryland, and all would be right with the world. The Navy probably did not allow for New York Shipbuilding taking so long on Idaho when the hull numbers for Maryland and Colorado were set.
2
@kemarisite Yes. There are a number of situations where technology sharing between the Axis members would have been beneficial. Germany could have had Ansaldo build 15"/50 from the Littorio for the Scharnhorsts, instead of limping along with the 11" guns. The Italians could have been building Ju-88s instead of SM-79s, and Panzer IIIs instead of M14s. Too late, the Germans licensed the Italians to build the DB-601 and 605 V-12s. and the Italians designed some fighters around it so good the Germans considered building the fighters under license, in place of the Bf-109.
2
@kemarisite The Japanese could have licensed the 37mm Breda and gained most of the operational advantages of the Bofors, and Italy was supposed to be their ally.
1
@GUYCLIP I just happen to have some relevant information close at hand: Bofors projectile weight 1.985lb, rate of fire 120rpm, max altitude 22,299ft, max range at 45 degrees 11,133yds. Breda 37mm (Italian): projectile weight 1.814lbs, rate of fire 120rpm, max alt 16,400ft, max range at 45 degrees 8,530yards. Vickers "pompom" (40mm, high velocity) projectile weight: 1.81lbs, rate of fire 115rpm, max alt 13,300ft, range 5,000yds. US Army M1 37mm, projectile weight 1.37lbs, rate of fire 120rpm, max alt 18,897ft, max range 9,049 yds. So, of the guns available to the allies, Bofors, Vickers and M1, the Bofors was the best performing. The best available to the axis, early in the war, was the Breda. The German 37mm had better range than the Breda, but it was single shot, could manage about 30rpm. Later in the war, the Germans did come out with a naval mount, automatic, 37mm, but the ship that really needed that sort of firepower, Bismark, was already sitting on the bottom of the ocean. The other factor is reloading. The Bofors and Breda loading machines allowed stacking of clips, so the guns could fire continuously. The M1 used clips that had to be changed out when empty and the Vickers used bins that were so big and heavy crewmen needed a crane to change them out.
1
@GUYCLIP sorry I misinterpreted your question. Usually, when someone says "Bofors" in a historical context, i expect they are referring to the 40mm. My source for all that data, except for the US Army 37mm, is navweaps.com
1
@Rooster_0451 The RN did not have very many capital ships that could show a decent turn of speed. If they sent an R-class, or a QE, the Bismark could simply refuse to engage and steam away at 30kts. They had PoW and Hood north if Iceland, KGV and Repulse south of Iceland, and Renown was with Force H at Gibraltar. That was the total RN inventory of capital ships, in service at the time, that could even come close to Bismark's speed.
1