The Drydock - Episode 321 (Part 1)

00:00:00 - Intro

00:00:30 - Did the interwar German Navy try to retain surface ship design skills?

00:05:54 - 'Sink the Bismarck' film questions?

00:09:58 - Naval officers who accidentally sabotaged their own side?

00:14:57 - Influence of ships on standard equipment ID's?

00:18:50 - Had USS Olympia been built as an armored cruiser instead of a protected cruiser would she still have been sent to the Ppacific during Spanish-American War

00:21:28 - How were the West Indies squadrons/fleets of the RN actually organized during the classic 1750-1850 period?

00:25:19 - What is an Alpha Strike, and are there any other named strikes?

00:28:31 - Would auto-loading battleship guns actually be possible?

00:33:31 - Armies predated navies, so it would make sense that navies would try to adapt army tactics and maneuvers to the high seas environment. What examples of these can be pointed out, and did armies consider adapting any tactics and maneuvers originally developed by navies for their own use?

00:43:10 - How efficient were classic age of sail vessels?

00:46:51 - How many history books do you have?

00:48:42 - How much influence did the government finance departments have over wartime appropriation?

00:53:05 - Could you recommend a good English language book on both the Dutch Republic and Dutch East Indies Company?

00:54:12 - What if the IJN forced a battle at the Gilberts or Marshall Islands?

00:59:01 - During the 19th century, was there ever a large Royal Navy Force based out of India/Sri Lanka (comparable to Med Fleet)?

01:03:38 - Largest naval gun for a 'unity' round?

01:10:09 - Torpedo-tube launched depth charges?

01:14:11 - How would the Royal Navy have dealt with the Yamato if they had to confront the Japanese Navy after cleaning up Europe without United States help?

01:18:41 - Details on the IJN 'turret farms'?

01:22:49 - Who owned the various Liberty and Victory Ships and T-2 tankers, etc. produced by the US dockyards during WW2?

01:25:30 - Between 1850-1950, what naval inventions were written off as failures, but as technology developed were revisited 10-20-30 (etc.) years later and found to be successful?

01:31:50 - In the film Master and Commander, would lashing be the typical punishment for the level of insubordination displayed to Mr. Hollum by Nagle? Seems quite harsh for a captain like Aubrey.

01:36:37 - Old war records?

01:38:07 - Ddi anyone manage to pass the Gibraltar Straits unwelcomed in time of war and get away with it? (Without being a submarine)

01:41:03 - Could you please include metric measurements when talking about lengths of various objects and especially depths?

01:42:20 - Were anti-aircraft guns, particularly dedicated guns on ships that didn't have dual-purpose secondaries, ever equipped or used to fire on surface targets?

01:47:32 - How did firepower evolve from number of guns to weight of shot/shell?

01:52:57 - What were the biggest contributions of Malaya to both the Allies and Axis during WW2 from a naval standpoint, and based on this how important was Malaya in the Pacific theatre compared to say, the Philippines, Formosa or Hong Kong?

01:56:26 - How would sailor’s family know if the sailor is alive or dead in age of sail?

01:59:43 - The USS Turner DD 648 and USS Solar DE 221 were destroyed at anchor by separate internal explosions. Both by ASW ammunition. Why was this ammunition so volatile?

02:06:34 - If the Alaska’s had been able to keep their original design speed before they began to get weighed down do you think the US would’ve kept them around instead of the Iowa’s?

02:14:06 - What factors would make an admiral disobey a direct order and what determined how severely they were punished (if at all)?

02:21:43 - You've mentioned before that you consider the USS Galena one of, if not the worst, ironclads of the American Civil War. Are there other designs that came out of that war that you would consider to be as bad, if not worse, than the Galena?

02:24:52 - Were there ever reasons why sailors would be expected to climb into a gun barrel?

02:28:19 - Did the battleship Duke of York ever happen to be at sea within the range of an active V2 battery?

02:30:14 - Had Kurita recognized Taffy 3 for what it was, and barreled through them instead of engaging, could he have wiped out 7th Fleet?

02:36:41 - Victorian era RN 'spit and polish' officers?

02:39:59 - Is it really fair to compare G3 with Lexington and Amagi?

02:42:34 - Was there any cross pollination between the army and navy when it came to armour technology/production?

02:47:10 - Things BuOrd did well?

02:49:06 - Why did the British fight for but then abandon Newport in the American Revolution?

02:52:19 - Bias in the Jutland Naval Staff Appreciation?

02:54:41 - Why are only some German destroyers given a name rather than an alphanumeric designation?

02:57:45 - In your opinion, which of the world's navies represents the greatest waste of potential?

[tw]

My grandfather was part of the dockyard crew on HMS Rodney’s sea trials. He told me they had a problem with one of the gun barrels and the torpedo officer- tall and very thin- being sent down the barrel to clear whatever it was, rather reluctantly.

[christopherlynch]

OMG the details on answering the questions about 'Sinking the Bismark' Well done sir!

[williamerickson]

Sir, Regarding electrical panel and circuit designation in the private sector being influenced by maritime (naval) standards: Much of the standards of the National Electrical Code (NEC) in the U.S. (and to an extent Canada) were composed by people who had been trained in the Navy. Shipboard standards being easy to interpret were readily translated into civilian application. So, yes, much of the standardization used in the U.S. private sector was derived from Naval standards.

[chiseldrock]

my dad was an electrician aboard the Oberon class subs who later practiced his trade in civy life. It annoyed his boss to no end when he insisted in labeling and tagging "every damn wire in the place" as Dave his boss would say. RIGHT UP UNTIL SOMEONE ALMOST BURNT THE SUBSTATION DOWN. All that tagging saved the main feed to a million people and allowed the isolation of the effected unit.

[billbrockman]

Raising my hand for climbing into a boiler to scrape the tubes. USS Tattnall, 1970 on my middie cruise. It was hot.

[Blockio]

Drachism of the week: "Not only is it a good book, it is also a good counterweight if you're happening to build a medium sized trebuchet, it will probably stop some small arms fire, and in a pinch, it will probably work fairly well as a home defense melee weapon as well, so you know, it's a multipurpose book"

[nickl]

about land vehicle armour, drach's point about sloping was probably the main reason, very thin plates for protection against small arms and slightly thicker plates for protection against small anti tank guns significantly benefited from face hardening, but when later bigger guns start pushing ridiculous velocities, heavier and heavier sloping was necessary to achieve useful protection, face hardening went away around the same time. also, iirc around the same time bigger shells also got better ap caps which partially nullify face hardening, so better just have a thicker fully ductile plate for bouncing shells

[GrahamWKidd]

1:32 In Commonwealth countries you are actually saluting the crown. Officers hold a Royal commission, the saluting subordinate is saluting the commission and thereby the Crown.

[kemarisite]

Note that the round for the 5"/25 AA gun used on many US warships (and yes, there are records of US cruisers using their 5"/25 guns in the Guadalcanal night actions, because it's a gun and goes boom) is also a single-piece fixed round and weighs "about 80 pounds" according the navweaps. That would probably make it the largest diameter shell, but its a fairly wimpy shell (9.6 pounds of propellant for about 2, 150 fps) compared to the 5"/38 (same shell, but about 16 pounds of propellant for 2, 600 fps).

[kennethdeanmiller]

On the issue of Elbonianess, I have a candidate for the exact opposite that worked around the Bureau of Ordinance. How about Admiral Lee fudging paperwork to "procure & install" as many anti- aircraft guns as possible for as many ships as possible. And I think he was able to do the same with radar & fire control systems as well, unless I'm mistaken. An accomplishment that would reap many benefits as the US was plunged into WW2!

[lynn-royrobson-merritt]

Thanks Drach, for the travel entertainment!

[Meatwadsan]

Another disadvantage for the 7th Fleet against Center Force would have been their lack of AP shells, as they had not been loaded with many AP shells due to their shore bombardment mission, and had already expended most (depending on the ship) if not all of their AP rounds against Southern Force. The courage of Taffy 3 really prevented a larger disaster from unfolding for the USN.

[PaulfromChicago]

2:23:40 You have been saying Galena correctly the entire episode. Well done.

[ellisonms]

In your discussion of ASW munitions destroying ships, you neglected to mention torpedoes. I was an ASW officer in the USN in the mid 1970's and one of our greatest fears was a torpedo fuel leak. The torpedo fuel of the time (I can't remember the name of the stuff) was so volatile that it could be absorbed through skin and required a hazmat team to clean it up. A ship without A/C, a closed and locked magazine and torpedo fuel leak appears to me to be more dangerous than a depth charge getting out of control on deck.

[bkjeong]

33:31

The Crane Wing formation was originally a cavalry double envelopment formation before Admiral Yi used it as a battleline formation (fitting as he started out as a cavalry officer on the Manchurian border of Korea)

[kwad]

On the subject of slightly incorrect uniforms in movies. I don't know about UK and other studios but US studios will usually intentionally put small errors in uniforms especially modern ones to avoid legal issues with "impersonating military personnel or impersonating a military officer."

[dmphoenix]

26:55 I have heard the term "Sunday Punch" refer to a similar type of strike in the US Navy (a boxing term used to describe the maximum number of aircraft a carrier is capable of launching in one go)

[CharlesStearman]

To comment on the "unity round" question, The Chieftain has mentioned a number of times that the US forces in Europe in 1944-45 considered 70 rounds to be the minimum ammunition capacity needed for a tank, though this presumably would be required to last all day. I've also read in various sources (mainly older ones referring back to WW1) that 6" was considered to be the largest projectile that could be manually handled and loaded into a gun.

[marckyle]

RE: Gilberts and Marshall and the Ship Of Theseus formerly known as Kido Butai. They may have had more success than we think. The USN was still perfecting their Combat Air Patrol and director coordination tactics as were so brilliantly demonstrated at Phillipine Sea 7 months later and the Hellcats were only two months past their combat debut in August, 1943 at Marcus. Their pilots were still learning how best to fly them operationally, so there most likely would have been some significant successes on the Essexs or the Independences. At this point, their best hope was calling forth the Kamis a year early.

Three or four pranged and sooty Essexs stacking up at Pearl Harbor waiting for the next drydock would have had some follow-on consequences, like a renewed fervor for the Midways over the Essexs ordered which were just started or not yet laid down.. That would mean 10-12 completed instead of the original three of six ordered, perhaps even repurposing the Illinois or Kentucky as metal decked carrier conversions and delayed Forrestalls until the Midways become a second line class due to inability to operate certain jets.

[nektulosnewbie]

For "Elbonianess": Tojo

He sent recommendations to aircraft engine designers to look into designing engines that ran on alternatives to fossil fuels.

He suggested starting with air.

The whole issue revolves around how much that was a suggestion given how indrect Japanese culture is (suggestions aren't suggestions, they're polite orders) and how much it was seriously entertained, again, given the Japanese love of obedience.