Comments by "Steve Valley" (@stevevalley7835) on "The Drydock - Episode 281" video.

I live in metro Detroit. Smuggling traffic across the river from Windsor was rampant at the time. The bridge and tunnel to Canada did not open until 1929, so the smuggling was all via boat, or over the ice in winter. The smuggling was done by organized crime, so they probably would take a dim view of any freelancers trying to get a piece of the action.
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One other bit about prohibition: Hiram Walker started his distillery in Detroit in the 1850s. Michigan went "dry" before the rest of the country, so he moved his distillery across the river, founding the small town of Walkerville, around the plant. Eventually, he established the "Canadian Club" whisky brand. So, there was an abundant supply of whisky, right on the river bank, for enterprising mobsters to bring across. Walkerville was annexed by Windsor some years ago, but that big distillery is still there.
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I agree that PoW was the greater loss in Force Z. Not only because I hate to see a ship that is only a year old sunk, but she was entirely modern, and able to operate in any theater. Repulse had been operating in the Indian Ocean since October. Repulse was searching for German raiders, an important job, but also an implied recognition that she did not have the AA armament to be well suited to a more active theater. The Revenge class battleships all ended up in the Indian Ocean as well, probably for the same reason, I have read that Somerville was unhappy about having the somewhat decrepit Malaya for a flagship. Tried to put together an alt history where PoW becomes Force H flagship, Malaya and Revenge deploy to Alexandria, and QE and Valiant shift to the far east, but I couldn't get the timelines to mesh well enough for the slower battleships to get to Singapore in time.
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Increasingly, the US media is all about hype and hysteria. All weather is "severe" and all news is "breaking". The Detroit Lions are having their first winning season in over 30 years, and the local media is screaming at the top of their lungs about the Lions "hype train". One station's ads about their Lions coverage openly boasts "get all the hype". It is not surprising that youtube people would copy the hype techniques they see the media "professionals" using.
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Tiger and most of the Dukes were scrapped per the First London Treaty. Tiger was sold in 32, as were three Dukes. Iron Duke herself had the armor stripped off, to be "demilitarized". iirc, (if anyone knows for sure, jump in here) Tiger and the Dukes were never converted to oil fuel, and never had torpedo bulges fitted. The Admiralty did retain several of the turrets, and 13.5" guns. iirc, officially, the mount interchangeability between the 13.5" and 14" was so prototype 14" could be test fired with the existing mounts. In the back of my mind is the thought that the interchangeability was designed in, so, if there were production delays in the new 14", 13.5" from inventory could be installed on the KGVs instead. According to Navweaps, 54 13.5" guns were in Admiralty inventory in 1939. enough to equip all five KGVs, if need be, but not enough to have a spare set in hand whenever a ship needed a replacement set in a hurry.
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@notshapedforsportivetricks2912 yes, the Navweaps article talks about three of them, supplied with supercharges, being used as railway guns near Dover. Three more were relined down to 8" as an experimental "super high velocity" gun. Four, with slides and cradles were sold to Turkey, but never delivered.
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