The Drydock - Episode 238

00:00:00 - Intro

00:00:37 - Considering their age at the start of World War 2, were any of the Imperial Japanese Navy's Large Cruiser designs considered replacements for the Kongo-Class Battleships/Battlecruisers?

00:02:39 - 17 or 19inch guns?

00:07:17 - Do you think ships like the Alaska and oft-maligned SMS Blucher actually represent a better path towards effective cruiser-killers then the Battlecruisers we historically got?

00:13:22 - Rocket-assisted carrier aircraft?

00:17:43 - Why were IJN carriers so flammable?

00:21:21 - At what point does speed usually start becoming impractical due to ships never going at such speeds/the speeds never making a difference compared with the downsides?

00:25:46 - With the full power of hindsight regarding performance of all ship types was it worth it to build any battleships leading up to and during WW2?

00:31:23 - At what point in your career did you realize "this hobby is out of hand" and have to make serious life balance choices?

00:37:45 - Despite the fact we had the capacity to make accurate blueprints to follow, people still made large mock ups of planned warships. What were they used for and what happened to them when the navy was through with them?

00:42:16 - Other possible refits or modernizations for the IJN's legacy light cruisers?

00:46:15 - Say a WW1 era coastal gun was positioned on the edge of a cliff, and it aimed down by 80 degrees, would there be any worry of the shell sliding down the barrel before it fires?

00:47:58 - How do ship-born Aircraft catapults work?

00:50:29 - The US used the Talk Between Ships system as one form of ship to ship communication, similar to the telephone. I’ve read ships that didn’t have it installed yet - like USS Marblehead in 1942 - were at a real disadvantage since it still needed to communicate with lights or flags. Did other nations have a similar system?

00:53:01 - Once the keel is laid what's next?

00:56:07 - What is the oldest ship in commission that can still sail under its own power and engage in combat (so not including ceremonial vessels such as Victory and Constitution) and can you tell us some of its history?

00:58:23 - Did Bismarck manage to repair its rudder before the final battle?

01:01:02 - Correction on armour mounting

[DaremoKamen]

After seeing those ship construction photos of Washington, I start to understand those multiple cases of warships losing their bows and not only surviving but being repaired and put back into service. The bow goes on almost like an afterthought.

[alanansara]

I saw the documentary "Battleship" in a movie theater. So I know USS Missouri with a crew of docents would be able to take out an entire alien invasion singlehandedly! 😀The scary thing is that movie looks good when compared to some of what we're getting in the theater today.

[bobbenson]

Your saying "it was the management 3 or more levels higher" really hit home. I worked for a US insurance company for 26 years and my immediate supervisors, their managers and the 3 executives that overlooked them in my division over that period were good to excellent. They were personable and did a good job running interference for us while still creating an expectation of superior performance. The layers above them were bloated with incompetents and what can best be described as legacy executives that sent idiotic make work directives.

[mollybell]

"... at which point I'll probably develop complete multiple personality disorder and go mad, if I haven't already." 😂

Drach, you are just the best. The material is so interesting, your articulate delivery is a joy, and your dry humor is always perfectly timed. Never gets old. Thank you!

[jazion]

Being self-employed does not lead to multiple personality disorder. I brought myself into the office yesterday and gave myself a stern talking to because my productivity has been lower than expected over the last month due to snow removal so now I have to come to work an hour early to deal with the snow before the shop opens and no, I am not paying myself for the extra hour I have to work, I actually threatened myself with a pay cut if I did not agree to come to work early.

[--Dani]

It's nice being your own boss, first in the door and last out plus reap the rewards for good hard work.

[BleedingUranium]

42:16 I'm not sure about any of the others, but I do know (thanks War Thunder) that at least the Nagara-class Isuzu was indeed converted to an AA cruiser in 1944. After the refit, she was equipped with three twin Type 89s (5-inch), eleven triple and seventeen single Type 96s (50 total barrels), retained her torpedo tubes (one quad per side, no reloads), got additional radar, sonar, and depth charges, and lost her floatplane.

[michaelkovacic]

While it is clear that the armored cruiser was made obsolete by the battlecruiser, I have always felt that some of the last armored cruisers were excellent ships, like Blücher, Rurik and Averoff. If WW1 had broken out a couple of years earlier, those ships could have played a much more prominent role since not too many battlecruisers would have been around yet.

[mbryson]

I'm glad that you chose the channel over your trained vocation, and doubly so that it is an adequate alternative in terms of compensation.

(I did in fact drive myself mad at mine, watching the bureaucrats steadily infest management to the detriment of our mission. I was then sacked without warning, then invited back once things had run off the rails; I declined. Goung mad is not as much fun as one might think.)

Your channel is immensely informative and entertaining. You have my gratitude.

[allenparmet]

Early jets spooled up their engines quite slowly due to the axial flow compressors and no afterburner. I flew a jet like that in the 60s which took 18 seconds on a cool day to go from idle to full power. So the old F-84 had a compartment in the nose that contained a few pounds of rocks. As you approached the end of the runway, the pilot opened the compartment and dropped the rocks in front of the nose wheel. The Jet would think it had run out of runway, so it would agree to take

[benwilson]

From the ONI Report.
One torpedo struck amidships on the port side, one on the starboard quarter, and possibly a third on the port quarter; The torpedo which hit the starboard quarter wrecked the steering gear, jamming the rudders and causing the Bismarck to turn slowly in circles to the starboard. Frantic efforts were made to repair the damage: It was announced that the man who succeeded in freeing the rudders would be given the Knight Insignia of the Iron Cross. Divers succeeded in centering one rudder, but the other could not be freed, Efforts were made to steer the ship by her engines, but after a short period, instead of proceeding on her intended southeasterly course, the Bismarck was actually northwest of her position when the attack was made. There appears to have been further controversy among the officers. The captain, when asked by an officer whether he should try to blow off the jammed rudder, is reported to have replied, "Do what you like; I am through with it." The ship's best speed was now reduced to 10 to 12 knots.

[stevevalley]

wrt the question about models vs drawings, in some applications, the model was built first, because of the difficulty of rendering 3-dimentional objects on 2-dimension drawings. When I worked in fluid handling in the 70s, it was routine to build a model of a refinery or chemical plant first, to work out all the pipe routing, then make up drawings from the model. It was routine to build full scale mockups of new aircraft for the same reason, to work out all the hydraulic and electrical conduits and possible interference with bulkheads. The Boeing 777 was the first aircraft to be designed entirely in computer, in the early 90s, because, 3D computer modeling had finally advanced enough.

[Philip]

@38:00 Many years ago I saw a full size plywood wing for, I think it was, an A320. It had been made to ensure that the design could be made and would go together as planned. CAD has come on a long way since then but it would surprise me if such things aren't still done.

[alanzelanski]

The Imperial Navy had one light cruiser they updated the IJN Isuzu which was converted to anti air with three twin 12.7cm gun mounsts.

[lamwen]

The IJN carriers at Midway had a full second strike complement armed and fueled in the hangars. They stopped doing that afterwards.

[TheFreaker]

53:01 I don’t know how accurate the depiction of the process is, but in World of Warships there are dockyard events that show the ship building process with a short description of each phase.

[oldbearbrian]

Love the image for the discussion of leaving working for (sp?) Crowden Council. 🙂

[thelogicmatrix]

Always happy to listen to the weekly drydock :)

[JCKiloJ]

33:02 It's not just engineering. We have a senior manager at my current retail workplace who hasn't met a bus she wouldn't push one or more of her employees in front of. Actively undermines floor-level management, terrorizes the rank and file, preaches a genuinely toxic management style, all with a cheerful giggle and the unfriendliest of grins.

[tomdolan]

The US after losing Lexington made it standard operating procedure to flush the aircraft refueling system with a neutral gas when under attack.