The Drydock - Episode 261 (Part 1)

00:00:00 - Intro

00:00:31 - Evolution of fuel types?

00:07:17 - Was the Atago layout a good idea?

00:11:11 - When did ships begin to produce enough drinking water for their crew?

00:14:24 - What in your mind, was the best class of WWII Fleet Submarine?

00:18:26 - Why do lots of torpedoes have bronze or brass caps?

00:20:52 - How important/effective were anti-submarine nets at harbor entrances during WW2?

00:24:11 - Who invented the term “turtle-back armor”? Was it a modern invention or is it much earlier?

00:27:29 - Was air-bursting ever used for shore bombardment in the manner of land-based artillery?

00:31:04 - When was the social requirements for an officer in the RN relaxed and by who?

00:33:20 - Admiral Joe Fowler USN?

00:36:03 - What would be the smallest effective DP calibre?

00:40:36 - Spotter aircraft were used to assist Cruisers and capital ships with aiming at long distances. How did this work?

00:44:01 - Are there certain vessels, nations, ship types, that have better crew ergonomics than others?

00:47:49 - What do you think about preserving the remains of a sunken vessel like it vs restoring to (near enough) original condition?

00:52:27 - An intro to human torpedos?

00:57:14 - The account of Capt. Johan Lindemann from the Mail Steamer Gouverneur General Loudon, was very useful in understanding the Krakatoa eruption and helped found the study of volcanology, are there other notable cases where by serendipity or unfortunate/fortunate accident, where a ship has accidentally contributed to science?

01:02:21 - First USN ship that could comfortably defeat HMS Warrior?

01:08:09 - Was there much of a difference in capability between a Gato, Balao, and Tench class submarine?

01:10:26 - How well would battleship armor hold up to getting hit in essentially the same spot multiple times, when the first round doesn't pierce the armor?

01:13:34 - What are some of your favorite Never Built designs from World of Warships?

01:15:33 - Did Hawkins and Fisher come up with the same concept hundreds of years apart?

01:19:53 - You recently discussed a Midways for Yorktowns swap in 1941. How would a one-for-one swap of the Malta class for the Illustrious class from 1940 impact the actions of the Royal Navy?

01:24:02 - Who was the Blue Admiral in US Navy Fleet Problem 8; who used towing, tides and currents to boost his fleet's otherwise slow speed and slip past the Orange Fleet?

01:26:04 - Nuclear shells for capital ships?

01:27:41 - How was gunpowder handled during battle on an age of sail First-rate?

01:31:00 - HMS Rattler vs HMS Alecto

01:35:23 - The invasion of Bougainville and Empress Augusta Bay in early November 1943?

01:39:23 - Now that you've completed the videos on the ships you visited in your 2022 US tour, do you have any general observations or opinions

01:51:17 - Why didn’t the US Navy set up torpedo nets at Pearl Harbor?

01:54:47 - In regards to the USS Ranger, is there anything (refit/rebuild) that could have been done during the war to make her a viable combatant in the Pacific theater?

01:59:02 - Could you describe in greater detail how Lt. Commander Bruce McCandless took command of the flagship USS San Francisco in the First Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, after the senior officers (including the TF commander, Admiral Callaghan) were wiped out?

02:04:20 - We all know about the British ships over performing compared to their designed top speed, but which ships from any navy do the worst compared the designed top speed?

02:09:47 - Why do holes in the funnel make a ship slow down?

02:13:14 - Would Ranger have done better for the IJN than Hiyo or Junyo?

02:15:30 - Black Sea Hilfskreuzer?

02:18:35 - Both with and without hindsight, how would you have designed the US Standards had you been in charge?

02:23:33 - Besides Hood and Bismarck, what are other examples of "golden bbs" in naval history?

02:26:55 - Why Zuikaku's green camo?

02:31:45 - Why did battleship shells sometimes fail to penetrate bunkers on D-Day?

02:36:43 - Aircraft carriers and the rubber flight deck

02:42:04 - Was Duke of York almost sold to the USN and if so, could the USN have used her?

02:47:04 - Of all the designs made by the Austro-Hungarian MTK (Marinetechnische Komitee - Marine Technical Committee), which one, if built, would have been the best suited to combat in a late WW1 or early 1920's scenario?

02:52:10 - Which of the three unfinished Admiral Class battlecruisers (Anson, Howe, and Rodney) was the most complete when cancelled? How many pictures these ship under construction are there?

02:54:11 - What changes allowed US whaling fleets to routinely sail to the mid-south-Pacific while only a couple of centuries earlier, sailing ships struggled to cross the Atlantic?

02:56:55 - The loss of the Leonardo da Vinci

[alanzelanski]

I remember several years back my wife and I were on a visit to the USS Yorktown and USS Laffey in South Carolina. While touring the destroyer and explaining everything to my wife I ended up with a small group of visitors who followed us around and started asking me questions. It seems a number of them believed I was either a tour quide or a ex crew-member. My wife got a kick out of that because it was not the first time this had happened. The fun of being a naval nut.

[DardanellesBy]

Another positive aspect of the USS Cairo is it’s in the middle of Vicksburg Military Park. It’s situated right on the main route through the park so everyone who passes through will see it and have a convenient place to park. It’s display is very well done with an indoor area that is full of displays. The whole park is well worth a visit.
—-
It’s just a wild dream of course but how cool would it be to raise another wreck and put it in the middle of a well visited area in order to insure plenty of visitors.

[timothymaher]

Me, chuckling while listening to Drach's thoughts on American tourists: "Hehe. Yeah... we don't always make it easy to love us."

[PaulfromChicago]

The last time I was this early, warships used a fuel mixture of a half pint rum, 1 quart water, with a small addition of lemon and sugar.

[JohnSmith-ofgu]

1:14:00 petition for Drach to release his off-key cover of the Gascogne song!

[haldorasgirson]

Replicas. I love the HMS Surprise, an 18th century, 24 gun replica of the RN Frigate Rose. During the production of the movie "Master and Commander" she was remodeled to be precisely a Nelson Royal Navy frigate. In my opinion, the ship was part of the cast and she literally carried the day. The HMS Surprise is now a museum ship in San Diego. It was smaller than my mental image from the movie, but that just shows how expert the people who made "Master and Commander" are at their craft. I found her to be fascinating to explore.

[konekillerking]

The sonar mapping of the Pacific Ocean during the war helped in supporting the theory of plate tectonics, first proposed by Wegener.

[vikkimcdonough]

Regarding the anti-surface capabilities of 3" DP guns, remember that the Royal Navy went up from 3" to 4" secondaries all the way back in _1906_ (as part of the various minor improvements going from _Dreadnought_ to the _Bellerophons), _ specifically because the 3" gun was too small and short-ranged to effectively ward off enemy destroyers and torpedo boats _even back then._

[JohnRodriguesPhotographer]

I absolutely agree with you regarding Captain Johan Lindemann. He made the choices that saved his his ship, crew and passengers.

[GaldirEonai]

59:26 Yeah, Londo's speech hits pretty damn hard. As does the president's speech just after it.

[frjonathanhill]

On the subject of replicas - particularly from ships of earlier eras this can be a very good thing. I recall in the museum at Barcelona they have a replica of Don John of Austria's ship from the Battle of Lepanto. It does give a great sense of what the ships of the time were like. Given the funding, it is a great thing to be able to do.

[chrismaverick]

In regards to the obnoxious American travelers: Overseas traveling is, by and large, expensive for most Americans. We can go to Canada or Mexico for cheap, but buying a plane ticket for an eight hour+ flight and setting up all the amenities to go overseas is pricey. Also remember that most Americans don't have a passport since we don't often leave the USA. Call it shallow, but when you have some of the most interesting night life in most cities, amazing scenery and vistas only a couple of hours or states away at most, and arguably some of the most diverse and delicious food on the planet set in a regional manner, we don't really have to travel to enjoy life.
As a result, many of the people who do travel overseas are relatively well to do, and that often makes for a pompous and inconsiderate American at home, let alone abroad. Karens alone make up 80% of the upper-middle and lower-upper class. As usual there is a bit of stereotyping going on here and not all Americans are jerks when abroad. Cultures are different and some have to work harder than others to really accept and enjoy a different culture rather than complain, often to their faces, that another country's culture is so different.

[longrider]

Lt. Commander Bruce McCandless and the DC officer both received the Medal of Honor for their performance in that battle.

[cdfe]

Re: American tourists

Speaking as an American, I suspect it’s a bit of the “professional activists vs regular people” thing. For one thing, there’s the fact that Mexico and Canada are pretty much the only other countries close enough to be quick and cheap. I understand it’s different in the UK and continental Europe, but here in the US, traveling to Europe or Asia requires both the financial means to pay for the trip and the free time in which to do it, and an awful lot of us either can’t afford it, can’t take the time off work, or both. If we do take such a trip, it’s probably a once-in-a-lifetime thing. The regular salt-of-the-earth folks who don’t go out of their way to annoy those around them are just less likely to be encountered as tourists in Europe, while those who consider themselves “entitled” are more likely. There’s certainly exceptions, of course, but that’s my take, and I’m in the “never been overseas” category myself.

[Revolutionarythought]

San Diego native here. While there is technically a river in San Diego (the San Diego River), which is the size of small stream, the USS Midway is in San Diego Bay, and not on a "riverfront." :D

[Andy_Ross]

The last generation of Royal Navy steam ships were all running on diesel fuel. It was more expensive than bunker oil but it greatly simplified logistics.

[Andy_Ross]

Leaving off guns, armour, ballast and equipment was another way of getting a good high speed run

[michaelhitchcock]

Re US tourists. I think tourist to Europe don't well represent a cross-section of our citizens. It's very expensive to travel to Europe and the average working US citizen can't afford it. It also takes a good chunk of time, and US vacations (holidays to you) are much shorter. Typically, US citizens get only a couple of weeks per year, and often this time can't exceed more than 7 consecutive days. So, Europe sees mostly upper class and upper middle-class people from the US, and they can be a bit self-important and prickly. Friends I have in Mexico generally have a better opinion of US tourists, because just about any US citizen can afford a trip to Mexico. You can drive there from several states. Remember, the average US citizen doesn't even own a passport and never leaves the country. It is rather large and culturally diverse, so you can see a life time of sights without ever traveling abroad. My experience with tourists from abroad is that those from Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Central America and South America are generally pretty friendly, but those from elsewhere, no so much.

[frankbodenschatz]

For the person asking about the USS BIRMINGHAM I suggest THE UNAUTHORIZED HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC WAR wit Seth and Bill. A great series!

[leezebede]

Drac you done it again. Right off the rip with a great question