The Drydock - Episode 330 (Part 1)

00:00:00 - Intro

00:00:40 - What is the difference between an "iron hulled" ship and an "ironclad" one?

00:05:23 - Concerning the Lexingtons, if the navy hadn’t been so determined on turbo electric and gone with steam turbines instead, what could they have done with the design in both their battlecruiser and carrier configurations? Could they at least have foregone the treaty cheating?

00:11:16 - Why all the effort to re-float the USS Oklahoma?

00:15:22 - Historical naval tabletop wargames?

00:20:09 - Why weren't the radio aerials strung from fore to aft on the big capital ships damaged during combat?

00:23:37 - Why were navies so not-secretive about their best technology back in the 19th century?

00:30:00 - How do you structure your time – both before and after your child's birth – in order to keep up your rate of production, especially at such quality, and still have a life outside of the channel?

00:44:28 - Were the number of surface ship vs surface ships battles involving ships over about 500 tons more typical of the general period the channel covers in WW1 or WW2? How about all combats involving warships of any size?

00:49:48 - Could you please discuss how anti-submarine strategy developed in WWI and WWII respectively?

00:57:12 - What do you think of 'reaction videos' to your content?

01:08:32 - Was most naval guns being in whole/half inches or close to because of British domination of naval technology, or some other reason?

01:16:41 - Amusing documentation?

01:21:24 - Why are there so many Iowa vs discussions?

01:26:24 - What is your view on the ability of privateers as a response to blockade actions?

01:33:18 - If the Queen Elizabeths had been completed with small tube boilers and were capable of 26-27kts, does this change what the treaties would agree to or allow?

01:38:56 - Did improved fire control or the requirement for improved lethality drive the increase in AAA caliber for the USN during the Pacific War?

01:44:06 - If a Dreadnought is a warship with roughly the best armor and powerplant available to a navy and roughly the biggest guns available in an all-centerline-turret configuration, with limited secondary battery, then doesn't that technically make Monitor the first Dreadnought?

01:48:19 - At the turn of the 20th century, could you rank the biggest drivers that vastly increased gunnery range - tactical doctrine, weapons technology, optics, mechanical calculators or something else?

01:52:42 - Liberty ship hull issues?

01:58:31 - Was the French "Jeune Ecole" reacting to not only the advantages of Steam power (much easier to run down ships), but also the increased "detection radius" of a steam-powered merchant vessel?

02:05:01 - U-190 and salvaged parts?

02:10:01 - Were the WW2 positions such as CnC Royal Dockyards considered promotions or otherwise for the likes of Henry Pridham-Wippel (formerly HMS Barham)?

02:15:13 - Could you prove a ship was overweight just by looking at it?

02:20:20 - What are the ugliest *non-French* warships in your opinion?

02:22:24 - Did you ever correspond or converse with James Hornfischer before his untimely passing?

02:23:22 - Why the instantly recognizable, distinct hullforms for each major navy?

02:27:05 - Why did they think about modernising Nelson post-WW2 but wanted to scrap Rodney?

02:30:38 - What was a “Fire Pike?”

02:34:40 - Times Radio History / History Undone Collaborations?

02:39:38 - How did navies in the age of sail handle duels of honor in terms of rules and practice?

02:43:37 - During the WWI Battle of the Falklands, had Von Spee pressed his attack before the British were able to raise steam, could he have defeated them in detail?

02:46:15 - WW2 Hunt class destroyer - how did they manage to get it (initially) so wrong?

02:50:54 - Is Flank a real naval term?

02:53:42 - Domes erected on a ship?

02:54:58 - Shoutout to Vintage Car History!

02:55:58 - Why did Halsey believe Centre Force had been wiped out or forced to retreat at Sibuyan Sea?

[notshapedforsportivetricks]

"I tend to divide reaction videos into four broad categories ..." must be the most engineer-y way to comnence a response to such a question. 😊

Thanks so much for all of your work though the year. It has been appreciated.

[glennricafrente]

Your explanation of your thought and work processes comes with a complete lack of surprise; it has shone through in everything you have produced, everything you have said. In fact, it's been obvious and familiar to me all these years of watching your channel because that's how my best friend was, eidetic memory, no-nonsense work ethic and all. Indeed, it's partly why I feel such a sense of affinity and affection for you from over five thousand miles away, because you remind me so much of him (down to the dry sense of humor!). He was a historian, too; a writer of history. Alas, he passed away 13 years ago. I am absolutely certain he would have loved your channel.

[VintageCarHistory]

Many thanks for the shout out, my friend. I pray that your holidays are blessed.

[josephaskins]

Drach: "...More armor, which might have been a good idea."

An understatement if ever there was one when discussing the Lexington class design.

[informationmimic]

Your 15-min answer reminded me of a Descartes Square technique, a square with 4 questions that help you in decision making - "What will happen if I do this?", "What will happen if I do not do this?", "What will not happen if I do this?", "What will not happen if I do not do this?". I actually enjoyed that part quite a bit.

[jackvonkuehn]

I find your answer to how you manage your work load awesome, especially the part about always needing to "look like you're working" in the office, because i use your content to "look like i am working" all the time. Then again i really do work with the cast of Yes, Minister

[antoninuspius]

Re: Bismark comparison video. Being a former engineer, pictures, tables, charts, etc., always resonate more with me than words. I might recommend a simple excel spreadsheet of the various factors you are comparing and perhaps score or color code which are the best in class for each criteria or rank them to see how they all compare and summarize at the end. Don't think that's too difficult. As you are also an engineer by training I tend to think you may have already been planning that...

[animal]

Several days later and 35000 ft above the sea. Im listening to the 2 part dry dock. Im am now happy and have something to listen to thats not a boring movie/movies to watch. Thanks Drach for your awesome work.

[michaelmorley]

Your description of the refitted Baltimore-class missile cruisers was the best use of Scripture I heard all Sunday.

[Alsadius]

At 1:21:30, the mental image of that destroyer drawing had me laughing so hard I did a literal spit take. That's amazing.

[SmilefortheJudge]

Best opening tune on YouTube. Keep asking so dry-dock never stops.

[leftcoaster]

We're happy to have you make one of the best channels on youtube. Thanks for all you do Drach. Happy 2025 for you and your family.

[samsignorelli]

A 14-minute answer to my question...WOW! I think that's longer than any other answer to me combined!! Thanks for the insights.

And for any fencers in the viewership (And Drach, let me know if I should edit this out) who may want to learn about armory so you can fix your gear, just plug "I can haz armory" into the YouTube search bar.

[Mildly.Squeued]

Cool, Drachin-Clause dropped a 2 part present under the tree!
Happy New Year All !

[ReturnoftheNative-wk]

Thank you so much Drach, Production Crew, and Contributors.

[CanalTremocos]

I'll use this video to forget about the past 11.94 months and be in the right state of mind for the upcoming New Year celebrations. Thanks, Drach and Happy New Year.

[VintageCarHistory]

My favorite humor in official documents was in the technical publications for the 53F Fire Control Radar. On one particular page, the end of the page had a partial sentence that you had to turn the page to see the rest. The first page read, 'The nutating feedhorn is powered by a squirrel'. Turn the page and you read, 'cage motor'. I found a sticker of a squirrel and put it on the side of the feedhorn to make the manual more accurate.

[spinetanium]

I'm a bit behind; only just learned about Mini Drach. Congratulations! I hope everyone is doing well!

[antoninuspius]

Regarding the discussion at "02:10:01 - Were the WW2 positions such as CnC Royal Dockyards considered promotions", I've mentioned this before but seems worth reiterating for younger engineers or military personnel watching. If you are considered by upper management as an up and comer, you WILL be assigned or offered positions you may feel are a demotion or sideways move or just perhaps strange, but it MAY be the case the senior management wants to expose you to a wider variety of the business operations. Its invaluable to understand how the "other side of the fence" thinks; you start to understand decisions with a more global perspective, the 'why's' of decisions that seem odd to you. Generally you will be told that when you are reassigned and in many cases, it's stated to you in the vein of "you need to take this position". Then, when you are promoted to higher positions in your area you are much more valuable to the organization.

[ruop]

Was listening to this while painting my Land Raider when you made a reference to Fire Dragons during the fire pikes bit. Stay away from my metal boxes, knife-ear!