Destroyer Development in WW2 - (1939-1945)

Today we finally cap off the destroyer development series with a brief run through of the built and seriously-planned destroyer classes in the major navies of WW2.

Sources:

[anhkhoanguyen]

After all these years,
- Destroyers - Concept and Development (1860-1914)
- Destroyers - Interwar development and design (1918-1939)
- Destroyer Development in WW2 - (1939-1945)

Finally I have them all

[mitchm]

A conclusion to the destroyer development series is an excellent Christmas present. Thanks, Drach!

[Muaddibize]

"Some battleships were more agile than the Mogadors", made me laugh so hard. Merry Christmas !

[chuckhillier]

Thank you for this. It is meaningful for me because my grandfather helped weld together the three Sumner class US destroyers shown (including the USS Laffey) at Bath Iron Works here in Maine. The shipyard's motto was and still is, "Bath Built, Best Built."

[Kevin_Kennelly]

Peace on earth.
Vigilance and crushing power projection on water.

Merry Drachisms:

9:46 "But then, in a complete 4D chess move ..."

14:17 "Having a revised power-plant that didn't break down quite as often."

14:49 "Which, by now, were unhelpfully being laid down in 1941 and not 1936."

24:06 "Or, giving the fighters something to strafe that wasn't torpedoes full of pure oxygen."

25:54 "The class, as a whole, proved remarkably survivable for a Japanese warship of the second world war."

27:40 "acting more as a giant life-boat."

30:27 "Resulting in a somewhat 'blocky' ship that almost looks like a low-polygon model from a 1990s video game."

49:40 "And, after a survey of the bipedal attack-dogs that comprised most of the Royal Navy's destroyer captains."

[cseland]

38:28 - radar being a far sighted choice is a nice little pun 😊

[LtAce]

I know that the path to the Fletcher was marked with a lot of trial and error to try and get the whole concept to work but I do love how the presentation here almost implies the US navy just banged out two or three sets of perfection and just cruised through to the end of the war. Great video Drach, thank you!

[tyesalhus]

For not being a military historian from go I truly believe you are the best at conveying the message and the information to the masses. Found channel years ago and absolutely love it. It plays all the time in my house and actually keeps my dog calm when I’m gone. I was so bummed when you came to Washington and I found out like 4hrs after you had left a ship only a few hours away from my house. Next time you come to the states I’m definitely gonna come shake your hand. Thanks my guy.

[FoxxofNod]

It is absolutely wild to me that some Gearings were in service so long that they wound up carrying the same missiles as the Arleigh Burkes. Some had CIWS, some had ASROC, some even had helicopter hangers.

[samuel]

Timestamps

00:03:29 French Navy

00:08:40 Soviet Navy

00:11:11 Italian Navy

00:14:00 German Navy

00:22:15 Japanese Navy

00:31:05 US Navy

00:37:10 British Navy

[MichaelFischer-pfft]

"There were also some bolt-action-operated 37mm guns around, mostly for entertainment purposes." Love it!

[robertjohnson]

The Sumner at 53:50 threw me for a loop. I looked at those HUGE bofors mounts and moved my head from side to side looking at the flat monitor as if that would fix the viewing perspective. Looked it up and they were dual 3" mounts added later toward the 1950's. I learned as a 12 year old that changing viewing angle on a television does not allow you to look up skirts.

[MM]

"..The Gearing production was cut short by the end of the war...at ONLY 98 ships."
LOL. Gotta love the scale of the Arsenal of Democracy....

[AGoodOldRebel]

Fantastic work!

And yes, a Part 4 covering the last Destroyers of the Cold War would be deeply appreciated.

[orionexplorer]

Yes, a video on the gun class destroyers is a must. Also, another great video. Thanks.

[bluejacketwarrior]

Drach finally finished the destroyer series? It's a Christmas miracle!

[joweeqc]

Thanks for this long awaited sequel drach! Merry christmas!

[w.osterberg]

Awesome gift to wake up to on Christmas morning! Thank you so much Drach!

[randywarren]

My father served aboard the Sumner class USS Waldron DD-699 during the Vietnam war. I still have many photos of him aboard.

[howardmaryon]

My seamanship instructor at school, (RMNS, later Bearwood College) was a certain Commander West (RN rtd) a small but ferocious gentleman who had served in destroyers during WWII. He taught us many things, including sailmaking, ropework, how to launch, row and recover a whaler (we had our own 50acre lake) and sailing. He described his role onboard as “mostly damage control and firefighting”.