The Drydock - Episode 257 (Part 2)

00:00:00 - Intro

00:00:26 - What safety's were there to stop amid ship turrets and turrets that could rotate 360 degrees from blowing a hole in there own ship? Did the AA guns have safety's as well?

00:05:16 - Why did some nation use naval ensigns that differ from their national flag such as the Royal Navy uses of the White Ensign instead of the Union Jack?

00:09:06 - Blocking a narrow passage in the Age of Sail?

00:14:33 - We all know the famous USN and IJN Carrier Admirals, and a bunch of RN Battleship Admirals, but who are the important RN Carrier Admirals?

00:18:34 - When did naval shells start to have driving bands?

00:20:59 - What is your opinion of Theodore Roosevelt's "Naval War of 1812"? It was well regarded in its day, but does it still hold up as good history?

00:26:44 - Are there any cases that stick in your mind as "what were they thinking?" and a better solution or option was right there for the taking?

00:35:57 - Britain famously picked up loads of interesting Spanish, Dutch, and French colonies during the Napoleonic Wars. Yet apart from Nelson´s try on Santa Cruz, the Canary Islands seem to have been largely ignored. Why is that?

00:41:29 - USN high pressure steam plants in WW2?

00:48:01 - Why did the US so rapidly shift away from the Pacific in the aftermath of world War 2?

00:53:45 - KGV design clarifications?

00:58:05 - Why did the escorts leave the convoy in which RMS Carpathia was sunk?

01:04:30 - How bad would firing the guns on a US fast battleship be for the crew of the AA guns atop the turret?

01:09:00 - Problems with the Mk13 aerial torpedo?

01:15:03 - What are some of the lessons, both good and bad, that the USN as well as other Navies observing the American civil War learnt from the naval battle of Memphis?

01:18:07 - If the French hadn't gone down the dead-end that was the Jeune Ecole, how much better might their navy have been going into the World Wars?

01:24:57 - How were the spaces left over by the change in powerplant on USS Texas used?

01:31:21 - Lead cannon balls?

01:36:00 - Are you a fan of Admiral Fletcher?

01:36:56 - How did fuse setters work for an AA shell?

01:41:25 - A commerce raiding sea-plane tender?

01:47:50 - Who coined the term "square-cube law" for the first time, when and how did you first learn about it and how did your appreciation of it change over time?

01:51:09 - The Battle of Hudson's Bay

01:56:04 - One-upmanship in naval history?

02:02:52 - How fast were ships in the period the channel covered?

02:12:27 - G3/N3 turret layout vs Nelson?

02:19:22 - Gross Tonnage of a battleship?

02:24:15 - Where would the 9.2" guns for theoretical British WW2 cruisers come from?

02:27:14 - When did navies start to paint their sail?

02:32:24 - How common were secret fleet voyages in the age of sail? Are there any that you particularly wish we knew more about today?

02:35:29 - Were the British were not favorably disposed toward costal fortresses?

02:44:03 - What changed in royal navy thinking that meant that they only built the Nelsons as an all forward design?

02:46:41 - Lancaster rifled naval guns?

02:51:51 - What was the intended purpose of the post-ww2 Soviet navy?

02:55:34 - Some aircraft cariers have AA guns in sponsons, but I'm not aware of any other ship type doing this. Given deckspace is rare on most ships, I wonder why?

02:57:44 - Large scale evacuations in the Pacific War?

03:01:53 - If the Pre Great War Dreadnaught Race had been more akin to a modern "Arms Jog" where no one in really willing to open the Taps up, what might the navies & the war look like?

[princeoftonga]

I am consistently amazed at the content creation machine that is this channel. If there is an award for hardest working YouTuber surely Drach would have to take it.

[davidvik]

01:24:57
In this segment you note the compartment for the "Oil King" musing over what that was? Well, I was an Oil King. The Oil King works out of the "oil shack" and on larger ships may have several people working under them, in my case it was myself and a part time assistant. The Oil King has the job of overseeing refueling, internal transfer of fuel, keeps track of boiler feedwater, maintains proper boiler chemistry along with all the associated records which includes the "Fuel Oil & Water Report" for the Captains daily midnight reports. You also were the guy that kept the ship trimmed and ballasted. I've also seen the title of "Water King" which i believe is only seen on larger ships like carriers and such.

[KPen]

Per the USN high pressure high temperature machinery: part of what allowed the high pressures and temperatures was a detail in the turbine rotor. Parsons turbines could have individual blades swapped on the rotor which was good for maintenance, but it meant that the rotor and blades expanded more in the pressures and temperatures beyond 400 PSI (that and their larger size and diameter meant that the expansion was greater too). The USN Bureau of Engineering under Harold Bowen Sr. developed forged rotors which meant you couldn't replace the blading, but it didn't expand as much with pressures of 400+ PSI, leading to smaller machinery with greater efficiency and power output (double reduction gearing also helped in this as the smaller turbines spun much faster than larger Parsons derived turbines). Bowens book, "Ships Machinery and Mossback" goes into fairly good detail on this. I've been looking into how the USN developed steam plants from 1930-1945 and its quite the journey from something like USS New Orleans to USS Salem and USS Farragut to USS Gearing.

[andrewszigeti]

Six. Hours, Of. Drydock.

Drach, you are a madman. I love it.

[TrickiVicBB]

Another 6 hour banger. I rarely comment but you do great work Drach

[mpersad]

Another fantastic effort on the Patreon Drydock, Drach. I hope you realise how much your efforts are appreciated by your community, because they absolutely are.

[nowthisisgaming]

I will never, ever, EVER get tired of hearing the sporadic "Lord Quack, King of the Ducks asks..." peppered like grapeshot across the hulls in The Drydock 😂😂 Always appreciate the content, Drach!🦆🦆🦆

[vincentbrown]

I love the Nelson Class also for their efficiency plus, the look like bull dogs from above (very intimidating) Also, Rodney turning around and racing back at a faster speed then she was theoretically capable of to arrive just in time to blow the nickers off of Bismark just as she was getting her steering back is the stuff of legend. Such things normally occur only in episodes of Star Trek.

[TheLongislandlimey]

As an Avgeek I am amazed by how you have me hooked on Naval stuff. Such an informative channel.

[ReturnoftheNative-wk]

Thank you Drach, production crew, & contributors.

[Gunrunner]

The hardest working man on YouTube. Great content

[kennethdeanmiller]

Thank You Drach for yet another 6 hour Drydock. I'm not sure how long it took you to research all of that but thanks for doing that as well.

[Wolfeson]

Wow, in the world of Drydocks, this one was a freaking Nimitz-class Refueling and Overhaul!

Thank you for all the work you put into these, and of course all your other videos. This is amazing stuff.

[mikemullen]

Turret stops. Lockout cams were also used. Allowed for full traverse, but kept you from shooting yourself. Usually.
Dad was gunnery officer on USS COLLETT (DD730), a new build at the time. In November 44, she was attacked by 4 Japanese aircraft. While she had extensive training, and some combat, this was the first extended battle she was in. There was an explosion in the gun tub, and Dad ran to see what happened. There was blood everywhere, and it was immediately obvious to Dad that he had FU'd -- he said he had set all the cutout tabs for the gun to prevent firing into the superstructure, but, in the cooling buckets, there were two hot barrels that had been swapped out due to the extended engagement time. He had never cut cams for them, since they had never been used in anger before. Fortunately, all the blood was from superficial nicks -- no significant injuries to anyone in the crew. But they got two of the aircraft, a third went away smoking, and nobody knew what happend to the fourth. Typical combat.

[ROBERTN-util]

The Oil King is the enlisted man ( small ships) or petty officer (large ships) in charge of the ship's fuel supply. He supervised refueling operations and ran the piping manifolds directing fuel to the various tanks, pumped fuel from one tank to another to correct trim as fuel was burned, sounded the tanks daily and reported the quantities to the ships Engineering Officer and was responsible for maintaining the fuel supply system - tanks, piping, pumps, filters and strainers - to the boilers. The Oil King's store would have the spare and repair parts needed to maintain the system.

"He quickly learned on his first assignment aboard the USS Wallace L. Lind (DD-703) that there are no one-trick ponies in the Navy, and according to Dalby, when he wasn’t firefighting, he was going to be “Oil and Water King.”

“My job was to run up and down, making sure the tanks all over the ship held the necessary fresh water and oil.”

And while the “uninitiated” may not realize the importance of the sea monarch, the “Oil King, ” donned in an oil-stained shirt and pants, controlled the ship ballast and all the freshwater. The role is one of the most “mighty important men for you and your ship, ” according to the November 1958 issue of “All Hands” naval magazine."


On some ships, at least, there was a Water King, - my uncle Jimmy served as part of his party on an LSD after he was promoted from Fireman First Class to Water Tender Third. The King was in charge of the ship's fresh water supply, - evaporators (always "the Vaps"" to the Black Gang) piping, tanks, filters, strainers, etc - to make up the feed water supply to the boilers and drinking water to the Galley and scuttlebutts. My uncle served as one three watch standers in the Water King's gang, assisted by Firemen striking for Water Tender. Diesel powered ships had a bastardized system to provide the crew with fresh water, but my uncle was glad he never had to deal with one.

"In the United States Navy, "watertender" (abbreviated WT) was a petty officer rating which existed from 1884 to 1948. Watertenders held a paygrade equivalent to today's petty officer first class. A chief watertender (CWT) paygrade was established in 1903. In 1921, the lower paygrade was split into watertender first class (WT1 or WT1c) and watertender second class (WT2 or WT2c). Another lower paygrade, watertender third class (WT3 or WT3c), was established in 1943. The watertender and boilermaker ratings were merged into a new "boilerman" rating in 1948, which merged into "machinist's mate" in 1996"

[josephravu]

Haha, love the "I Survived The Dry Dock" idea, that'd be a best-seller!

[kentanolsen]

So I just came home at 17:00 and thought I'd get some late work done before the new week. Then I find almost exactly 7 hours of new drydock and oceanliner designs videos just waiting for me... 😅

[nathanokun]

As to the 1200 psi propulsion plants made for US light cruisers and later missile-firing ships, the laws of thermodynamics do indeed give better efficiency to higher temperqature differences and the resultand higher pressures used in the engnes. Maintenance was indeed a significant problem. Even a small leak could be EXTREMELY dangerous to the "snipes" maintaining said systems. For example, such steam leaks, if creating a jet shooting from some crack or hole, could be invisible in the air until it had cooled down considerably at some distance from the actual leak point. To find said leaks, a long broom handle was swung around in front of the personnel as they SLOWLY moved toward the leak area and many leaks were found when it was SLICED IN HALF by the jet. (Instead of the snipe, of course.) Dangerous work!!!

[charlestoast]

I've been listening to this in bed at night, it helps me get to sleep. I average about 15 minutes before I nod off! I'm hoping I can get thru it over the next few nights and then watch the Spanish Armada videos, and the latest Drydock. It's not that it's in any way boring, maybe Drach's voice is too soothing....

[jackvonkuehn]

I've seen every min of every Dry Dock you've recorded. I would SO buy a shirt if you made one.