00:00:00 – Intro
00:00:42 – Various questions about the Battle of Samar
00:09:20 – How were the Hawkins class conducting firecontrol?
00:10:56 – Would you recommend any books for learning about the service histories of USS Albacore and USS England?
00:12:43 – Given that it sometimes took many salvos to hit a target, how many shots did it ‘usually’ take to hit a test target during armor penetration testing, and was anything special done to improve accuracy during these tests like reduced range, or sighting equipment?
00:17:56 – Why did USS Worcester (CL-144) go back to twin turret?
00:21:42 – Why no mizzen course sail?
00:26:58 – How does a torpedo circular run happen?
00:33:09 – Is the ‘Naval Chronicle’ referred to in “Six Frigates” by Ian W. Toll, the ancestor of, or similar to the “U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings”?
00:37:14 – Coast defence infrastructure?
00:45:35 – What was the mechanical accuracy of (good) battleship guns?
00:48:53 – How would you design the ultimate US fleet oiler for the Pacific in the run up to WW2 (assuming you have some degree of foresight and full financial/political support)?
00:57:11 – How were coal ashes disposed off on WWI capital ships?
00:59:40 – When were the first and last ram equipped ships commissioned by a major navy and by whom?
01:01:32 – It’s well known that USS Nevada was able to get underway relatively quickly during the attack on Pearl Harbor, but how much of a feat was this for her crew?
01:06:12 – Godzilla Minus One minesweeping?
01:09:14 – Name vs Alphanumeric designation dividing line for ships?
01:13:14 – What in your opinion is the most interesting equipment or room on a ship that seems to be tied to their nations culture?
01:14:57 – Given the repairs, overhauls, refits, etc that a wooden ship would go through during that time, how much of the original ship would remain after 80 years of service?
01:22:26 – I’ve read Vincent O’Hara’s Struggle for the Middle Sea & Six Victories. Can you recommend any more reading on the WWII Mediterranean Naval war or the Regia Marina?
01:25:08 – The development of the propulsion shafts on ships in the steam and steel era?
01:32:47 – How does centralised fire control for AA guns work?
01:40:02 – If Admiral Togo had not died in 1934, what impact would he have had on the IJN leading up to and into WW2?
01:43:10 – Given such evident advantages (especially in range and refuel time and ability) of oil over coal, what would an early conversion of either the High Seas or Grand Fleet have had on WWI? Is it enough to change the balance?
01:48:11 – The location and protection of the avgas storage tanks on the Yorktown class carriers?
01:54:42 – Anson’s expedition?
01:59:35 – Western response to post-war Soviet battleships?
02:04:59 – Levels of classification post-1950?
02:13:48 – Industrial capacity of the USA in WW1 vs WW2?
02:18:26 – Did the Washington Naval Treaty limit sea plane tenders?
02:22:47 – Which service would have benefited more by having a snorkel available for subs by mid 1942: the USN or the RN?
02:25:23 – Any advantages to many smaller sails vs a few larger ones?
02:27:58 – Often the lessons of USS Lexington CV-2 are credited with fixing and changing US damage control practices after her loss, What lessons were learned, amd how did they save ships like Bunker Hill, Franklin, and Enterprise?
02:34:13 – Would it be proper to call a warship that burned coal to produce steam and run its engines (HMS Dreadnought for example) “steam powered” or “coal powered”?
20 Comments
@drachinife the last USS albacore you mention wasn’t nuclear but a test sun for using a teardrop hull she was a diesel sub
Robo! Robo!
Thanks!
I'm thinking steam ship being "coal fired" or "oil fired" being a better description.
Given that the question asked about the Destroyer Escort USS England, which sank those subs around the time of the Battle of the Philippine Sea, the questioner probably meant the WW2 submarine Albacore.
Vine cellar on a battleship is some Girls und Panzer-level national stereotyping
as someone from Oregon, i very much appreciate the Oregon always being there.
The closest U.S. fast carriers to Samar on 25 October 1944 were TG 38.1…
"At 0940, in response to Kinkaid’s calls for help, Rear Admiral John McCain (Task Group 38.1) re-directed a carrier air strike being prepared for launch and intended for Ozawa’s carriers to head toward Samar instead. Halsey confirmed the change at 1000. The result was one of the longest carrier strikes of the war. At 1030, Hancock, Hornet, and Wasp commenced launching a 98-plane strike that would fly an extreme range of 330 miles to attack Kurita’s force as it was returning to San Bernardino Strait. The strike hit battleship Yamato with two bombs with minimal damage, straddled battleships Haruna and Kongo with multiple near misses and then eventually hitting Kongo, hit the already critically damaged heavy cruiser Suzuya, and strafed every ship in Kurita’s force. However, only Suzuya was unable to make a getaway. McCain’s carriers had to race at high speed to close the gap so that the planes could get back to the ships before they ran out of fuel. About a dozen U.S. aircraft were shot down or forced to ditch. Although the results were meager compared to the cost, this was truly an epic mission."
https://www.history.navy.mil/about-us/leadership/director/directors-corner/h-grams/h-gram-038/h-038-2.html
…which oddly wasn't included by many historians in quite a few orders of battle concerning the Battle of Leyte Gulf, despite the fact that McCain's task group was by far the most powerful carrier force in the Third Fleet, consisting of the three aforementioned Essex-class fleet carriers accompanied by the light carriers Cowpens and Monterey. More oddly, even official U.S. Navy sources often describe John S. McCain as a rear admiral, despite the fact he had been promoted to the rank of vice admiral more than a year prior to the events off Samar. But perhaps this was understandable, as task group commanders up to this point had been uniformly commanded by two-star flag officers (i.e., commanded by rear admirals; the one-star rank of Rear Admiral lower half not being created until 1985). But even more strangely, this meant McCain outranked Vice Admiral Mitscher, as the TF 38 commander had been promoted to three-star rank almost six months after McCain.
The answer that McCain's carriers were the closest Third Fleet units to Taffy 3 is obvious when one consider TG 38.1 was the first fast carrier strike to hit Kurita after his flagship Yamato had sunk USS Gambier Bay and USS Johnston, but Third Fleet was decidedly not the closest potent U.S. carrier striking force to Kurita's warships:
"The contributions of the aircraft from the six escort carriers of Taffy 2 (Task Unit 77.4.2, commanded by Rear Admiral Felix B. Stump) are often overlooked in accounts of the battle. With more time to re-arm with torpedoes than Taffy 3, Taffy 2’s aircraft inflicted much of the severe damage on Kurita’s force and was a significant part of the reason why he turned away. Planes from Natoma Bay (CVE-62), Manila Bay (CVE-61), Marcus Island (CVE-77), Kadashan Bay (CVE-76), Savo Island (CVE-78), and Ommaney Bay (CVE-79) conducted multiple attacks on Kurita’s force and deserve a significant share of the credit for leaving heavy cruisers Chokai, Chikuma, and Suzuya in sinking condition, and damaging heavy cruisers Tone and Haguro."
https://www.history.navy.mil/about-us/leadership/director/directors-corner/h-grams/h-gram-038/h-038-2.html
Often lost in the narratives of the Battle off Samar was the fact that Taffys 2 and 3 MAULED Kurita's cruisers, winning a decisive tactical as well as strategic victory. The eighteen escort carriers in TG 77.4 under Rear Admiral Thomas L. Sprague's command had more than 400 aircraft embarked, with more than 200 of those consisting of Avenger torpedo bombers that were just as deadly as TF 38's TBFs once the CVEs had rearmed their bombers with Mark 13 torpedoes in place of the depth charges and land-attack munitions the Avengers were hauling when Kurita sailed over the horizon. Twelve of Sprague's CVEs were untouched, havung not been engaged by Kurita’s guns and torpedoes, and four more from Taffy 3 were still afloat…plus McCain's five fast carriers were clearly in range, embarking over 350 more angry American aircraft.
Then there was the matter of Halsey himself, aboard his flagship USS New Jersey:
"As Halsey expected, the subset of TF 34, designated TG 34.5 under Rear Admiral Oscar C. Badger II and consisting of the two fastest battleships (Iowa and New Jersey), three cruisers, and eight destroyers did not reach San Bernardino Strait before Kurita had already entered it westbound. The U.S. ships were ordered not to pursue through the strait for fear it had been mined. They did catch the destroyer Nowaki, which had stayed behind to rescue survivors of the heavy cruiser Chikuma; Nowaki was sunk with her entire crew and the survivors of Chikuma, a total of about 1,400 men."
https://www.history.navy.mil/about-us/leadership/director/directors-corner/h-grams/h-gram-038/h-038-2.html
TF 34, like TF 38, was divided into task groups once activated. TG 34.5, with USS New Jersey in the lead, was speed constrained, but only by the 32.5-knot maximum of the Cleveland-class cruisers Biloxi, Miami and Vincennes (TG 34.5's escorts were CruDiv 14 and DesRon 52). The U.S. was also out for blood after Halsey realized Ozawa had duped him, as in addition to Nowaki the carrier Chiyoda was lost with all hands (1470 dead) despite being sunk by the gunfire from four U.S. cruisers escorted by nine destroyers.
Kurita claimed to Jiro Ooka in the 1970s that he turned away because he did not believe in throwing away more Japanese lives in a futile conflict. This often was and continues to be interpreted as Kurita believed the war was already lost…however might the events of 25 October 1944 demonstrate that the airstrikes from Stump's TG 77.4.2 made it clear to Kurita that advancing further into the Leyte Gulf was suicidal against American air supremecy, cemented by McCain's TG 38.1 strike and Halsey's TG 34.5 sinking Nowaki?
Lignum vitae takes 10-12 years of slow drying if not kilned. I had a piece split down the middle after 6. The blank was dipped in wax.
Try real emergency sea rations and make yourself a cup of tea from some. A wood turner might have shaving they've been tossing in the bin.
The name kinda is a give away that people drink it, boil the oil out and let us know if it's called the Tree of Life for good reason.
It's important to note, especially as we see that Republicans support Putin, that the forces limiting the naval budget were the isolationists, the Republicans, who refused to see the problems in the world. We are facing it all over again in Ukraine. Why the GOP chooses to support Russia is a real mystery. They will tip the scale in Putin's favor if they get the chance.
1:21:40 Yup a ship is a ship. Given it's name at birth, essentially. Life is long and rough for some. We don't go about renaming ourselves as we weather along .
If not personally, then consider our things. I name my cars. Keep them for decades. Engine swaps, new interiors, bodywork, suspension. Never renamed one.
😂😂
Re the ultimate WWII fleet oiler it was sort of built. The Sacramento Class fast combat support ships.
As I suspect people are aware they used 1/2 an Iowa class engine plant to run at 26 knots and were a direct result of war experience supporting fast carrier fast forces.
If your going to build them early you just lose the hangars and I’d equip them with a single 5” fore and aft just to keep a sub honest and 4-6 quad 40mm mounts for AA. But these are basically WWII technology ships and there is nothing about them that couldn’t have been done in WWII.
An intersting side note. The existence of these ships had a lot to do with the Navy’s ability to reactivate the Iowas in the 80s and 90s. Because they were in operation that meant that supply chains, operational knowledge, support, training, were all there for these ships engineering plant. So you weren’t dependent on trying to stand all of this from scratch to get the ships underway. That this is all gone now is one of the big reasons why activating them again would be a nearly insurmountable challenge today.
On the Ship of Theseus problem,
It is still the same ship, unless someone else has the pieces that were replaced and makes the ship again.
Wow, A half million viewers! Amazing, but also amazing is The continuing excellence of the content you produce in abundance for this channel. Thank you and keep up the good work.👍
I love the dry dock drinking game. Drink every time Drach says et cetera You never lose.
How far was oldendorf’s forces from the Leyte landing area when Taffy 1 was attacked by Kurita’s force. Even if the slow battleships couldn’t make it on time, maybe the cruisers snd destroyers could. Also, did Halsey or Lee consider separating the Iowa class ships from the North Carolina and South Dakota ships. The Iowas were six knots, over 20%, faster. Finally, it seems to me that even if Halsey s force was 500 miles away from the Samar battle, he could have launched a small air strike and order the pilots to land on any escort carrier that could take them or on Leyte.
You pronounced Worcester correctly Drach. I live near the city in Massachusetts and know it well.
For the record, you are pronouncing Worcester correctly. Which is hyper rare for people not from around here.
As far as US preparation for WWI, Woodrow Wilson opposed any such readiness. Naval appropriations were continued on the prewar level, but production of rifles at government arsenals was reduced considerably from the level under TR or Taft.