The Drydock - Episode 111

00:00:00 - Intro

00:00:39 - Future video remakes?

00:02:32 - Difference between good coal and bad coal?

00:09:11 - How exactly do you scuttle a ship when there are no friendly forces to torpedo it?

00:11:54 - Were any warships used for non military uses after ships were sold off after both of the world wars?

00:15:34 - Why did they put single tube fixed torpedo launchers in their battleships?

00:19:48 - Royal Navy ships named for admirals?

00:25:54 - What’s the hardest part about running a history channel like this?

00:33:10 - True strength of the Royal Navy in WW2?

00:39:35 - Battle of Tsushima wrecks?

00:41:26 - All BC German fleet in WW1?

00:45:36 - Were there any Admirals or Naval Officers tried at Nuremberg or any other allied war tribunal?

00:46:46 - Corbett vs Mahan

00:51:46 - Chained mines

00:55:41 - Super-charges, positives and negatives

01:03:08 - Channel Admin

[Dedfaction]

I'm genuinely sad that you get spiteful, non constructive comments that negatively impact you. I can't say I've seen any (downvoted to oblivion presumably) and I hope the vast, vast majority are positive.

I love the channel, yourself, and others like yourself, put out such quality content that it puts 'real' documentaries to shame..

Keep up the good work!

[davidfuller]

For clarity on the coal:
Lignite is like... barely above peat. Burns real crappy and real dirty, and it needs an absolutely enormous firebox to combust well. One of the largest steam rail locomotives ever built (the Northern Pacific "Yellowstone" 2-8-8-4s) were designed to burn lignite and they had nearly 17 square meters of grate area.
Bituminous (not bitumous) is called that because it has a bunch of bitumen in it, which is essentially super-thick tar - sometimes called asphalt. Other than being cracked into something resembling crude oil, it pretty much only gets used for paving roads as asphalt concrete now. It does have quite a bit of energy content available if you burn it, though. It's lower ash and soot than lignite (though that's not saying much). This was the most common grade used for, well, basically everything. It's easy to burn, but has good energy density, and is fairly common around the world.
The big problem with lignite and bituminous coal is that they have a ton of sulfur in them. Sulfur is quite corrosive stuff to iron and steel, especially if it comes into contact with water (sulfuric acid, anyone?), so the associated metalwork has a shorter lifespan than it would with anthracite.

Anthracite is, as you said, almost pure carbon. It's very hard, and difficult to ignite, but it burns pretty damn hot. Oddly enough, it _also_ needs a huge grate area to burn well (if you're ever curious, look up "camelback" steam locomotives - they were designed to burn anthracite). By comparison to the others its soot content is pretty minimal, so it's sometimes called smokeless coal.

[mbryson]

Uncle Drach, I cannot express how much I look forward to your videos. Don't let the bastards grind you down!

[vespelian]

Sad but not entirely suprised to learn that Drach's being trolled, for even his subscibers have come under ineffectual fire of late. His hard work and dedication has elevated his channel to something of an institution, and thus a target for spiteful lesser minds. Though fear not good Drach, those elevated by your scholarship, in all things nautical and belligerent, appreciate your work.

[handlebarfox]

The battleship naming question reminds me of a favorite line from a Tom Clancy novel.

HMS Battleaxe meets up with the USS Reuben James for a joint exercise.

HMS Battleaxe: "What the heck is a 'Reuben James'?"
USS Reuben James: "At least we don't name our ships after our mother-in-law"

[OtakuLoki]

Bored engineering crew on midwatches during normal steaming would talk about anything to kill time. A couple of watches we went through all the ways we could, in the engineering plant, turn our ship into a reef. I don't know how effective many of those ideas would have been in practice. Some were as bloodthirstily simple as getting around our lack of explosives in the engine rooms by taking one of the reactors prompt-critical, but I figure some of the plans to burst the boot connecting the 48 in valve supplying cooling seawater for the main condenser would have been a very good start.

[viking]

RE negative comments, 175k subscribers say they are wrong. There will always be keyboard warriors who think they know more than they do, if they Don, t like your content they don't have to watch. For my part a sustained high standard always worth watching, long live the Drach keep it up.

[ryantoole]

Hey there, I've really enjoyed your content over these last years! I cannot believe you also have a day job while putting out this quality stuff.

Please keep it up, it's very appreciated and your current and future success is very well deserved.

[glennricafrente]

One other nonmilitary use for a naval ship once sold: blowing it up for a movie!

[jorrevedder]

Drach your channel is amazing, nobody is perfect and of course, some videos are going to have quality problems, but if somebody is out there to actually learn something that should not be a hindrance. And you seem to be ever-improving the quality of your content. What you are doing, teaching people about history and preserving it in a general unbiased nuanced way. You are one of the bright sparks, genuine and passionate, and sharing this.

[scottdrone-silvers]

Drach - let me add to the chorus of support. There will always be people who will never be pleased, and whose own sense of self-importance give them license (in their own mind) to criticize EVERYONE for any reason. The fact that you have subject experts contacting you to work with you should give you a far better idea of your perceived value.

I appreciate that you are concerned about backlogged content. But until your revenue stream is enough not only for you to live on, but also to hire out research and production staff, your fandom is going to have to understand that you are but one man who has a full-time job, a spouse, and some semblance of a life.

Keep on keeping on, good sir.

[nmccw]

Jacques-Yves Cousteau’s Calypso is also a converted mine sweeper.

[erikgranqvist]

On another note: the light cruiser Karlsruhe has been identified on the bottom of the sea at Norway. In several papers, the headline has been something like "Battleship discovered". It irritates me to no end that news outlets call a light curiser a battleship.

[patvanderreest]

Amusingly, in cricket a score of 111 is called a "Nelson" - one eye, one arm and one leg. Rather fun to see the eponymous ship discussed in this episode!

[misterthegeoff]

They should name a submarine HMS Beatty in honour of the number of Royal Navy vessels he was responsible for converting into untested single use submarines.

[anatolystepanovichdyatlov]

3:10 "Good luck setting fire to graphite"

I'll show you how its done, Comrade!

[GregStachowski]

From the website: "In the event of the end of the world, content may be subject to change". lol :D

[Bcamos]

In regards to the negative comments - I wouldn't really call myself a Navy guy. In fact, I was in the Army so Navy jokes are plentiful. However, I've somehow spent countless hours listening to you narrate incredibly interesting Naval history and facts. You're doing a fantastic job and you shouldn't listen to the negative Nancy's.

[dtrdoug]

I'm always impressed with your videos and I learn new things from your content all the time. You're doing a great job. Keep up the good work sir!

[Dlr_photoart]

With reference to running the channel question. I think you do a brilliant job I'm a amateur naval historian, or just have a love for the subject, I find your videos fun approachable and informative. Keep up the good work ppl like me would be lost without ya