Drachinifel
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The Drydock - Episode 274 (Part 2)
🕑 Added 2023-11-25 10:00:02 +0000 UTC00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:44 - Could you please describe briefly at least three incidents where a naval officer went “This is stupid!” and then did the logical/sensible thing?
00:04:51 - The USN Expansion of the late 1800's that never was?
00:08:31 - How did PT109, commanded by Lieutenant John F. Kennedy, end up getting rammed and sunk? Did any other USN PT Boats suffer this fate in WW2?
00:11:51 - Why was Admiral Yamamoto in the battleships at Midway?
00:16:51 - On ships-of-the-line with differing weights of guns across the various decks; would the crews of the lighter guns in the upper decks be given different targets on an enemy ship than the heavier pieces below?
00:19:25 - What is the earliest date a true Ironclad (or any type of metal clad) vessel could be a viable warship?
00:22:17 - Why did so many IJN commanders snatch defeat from the jaws of victory?
00:27:21 - Famous RN ship names through history?
00:29:55 - Could the Germans have successfully invaded Norway during the 1st World War?
00:33:19 - How much naval warfare is the 'small craft'?
00:36:08 - On tanks and planes crew ergonomics are an important factor to the overall ability to fight, were crew ergonomics (except for shell handling) ever factored in on surface combat vessels?
00:38:24 - Was Jutland the only "doctrinal" dreadnought battleship battle?
00:39:33 - The need to drydock the ships every 25 - 30 years is a very costly undertaking. Would it not be more cost effective to build a permanent cofferdam around those ships instead?
00:42:54 - Are there any "Failed" ships/classes that found new life?
00:44:24 - Was any ship of age of steam&steel demasted? If not, why was the US navy so nervous and then invented the cage mast concept?
00:47:47 - Bypassing Naval Treaty restrictions by 'creative accidents'?
00:51:43 - Historic RIMPAC style exercises?
00:53:42 - Funnel locations on early carriers?
00:56:47 - He-111 torpedo bombers?
01:00:34 - Why were the Garabaldi class so popular?
01:06:38 - What is the most plausible scenario for a carrier battle in the Atlantic?
01:08:14 - What did Admiral Beatty accomplish as First Sea Lord?
01:13:03 - What is your assessment of the Fairy Fulmar?
01:19:20 - What made the WW1 german raider Seeadler so successful, wouldn’t it be suspicious to see a sailing ship in the age of steam?
01:22:27 - Were US torpedoes still malfunctioning in late 1943?
01:28:25 - What mechanical issues were caused/not prevented by the chief engineer's breakdown which led to Canopus' speed problems?
01:35:13 - What was the first occasion ship carried aircraft - and solely those aircraft - sank a ship in action (so not pre or post war tests) and what, perversely, was the first time a ship's defences shot down an aircraft? What were the reactions of both sides at the time?
01:37:29 - In the wake of the fall of the battleship in WW2, many battleship classes were being decommissioned wholesale very early in their lives. Was there any other time in history when relatively new and modern ships/ship types were decommissioned because they suddenly found themselves obsolete?
01:39:55 - Why is the US Navy so insane in the period the channel covers?
01:45:32 - How big of a GDP nation needs to have to be able to field and sustain at least a squadron of 4 battleships/battlecruisers with proper escorts without bankrupting itself?
01:52:25 - I visited the Scottish National Museum of Flight at East Fortune today and learned the fascinating history of how the base was used in the First World War to trial the earliest torpedo bombers for strikes against the High Seas Fleet, including flying aircraft from HMS Argus in the Forth. Could you tell us a bit more about this early experimentation with carrier strike aircraft and maybe speculate about how such an attack would have played out if it had happened?
01:58:07 - During WW2, how did U-boats interact with German surface raiders?
02:02:54 - Were there special meals/celebrations practiced by the various navies like the American practice of a special Thanksgiving meal besides Christmas (as it's likely common and nearly universal)?
02:04:41 - Why didn't anyone build a massive air force to destroy the Royal Navy?
Comments
Allen Parmet
The most important outcome of the planned air raid on Wilhelmshaven in early October 1918 would have been to incapacitate enough of the High Seas Fleet thus rendering it impossible to give the orders to sail on what effectively was a suicide mission against the combined British/US fleet. That order given October 24, 1918, led to the mutinies that cascaded throughout German forces and led to the collapse of the German will to fight in November. If the Germans had fought on there might not have been an armistice on November 11. Petain and Pershing wanted to carry the fighting into Germany proper and convince the Germans they were beaten. The mutinies let to the "stab in the back" excuse.
The Rogue Chief
In response to the US Navy mad lad question, it actually isn’t just the navy that’s shown that crazy-aggressive spirit. American marines and army troops have exhibited the same tendency in land battles with similar situations— where you’re outnumbered, outgunned, and can NOT afford to let the enemy through, so you either dig in like a tick or attack. A famous example was during the Japanese invasion of the Philippines, when a Filipino-American horse cavalry unit charged an enemy tank column on horseback with nothing but pistols, thereby giving MacArthur’s forces a chance to fall back to Bataan. I think much of it actually has a cultural aspect to it, a part of the national character. This is premised on the state of affairs for the English colonists on the eastern seaboard who were basically neglected and left to their own devices. Not only did this seem to stoke a very individualistic character (which apparently many Americans are still known for today) but a tenacity as well when you’re facing Native American foes and their French friends with your back to the sea and no help coming (and yes a lot of the hostility between the Native American and Old World settlers did stem from policies & behavior of the latter, but regardless of who shot first in any given conflict, this was still the military situation that needed to be dealt with, and mad lad hyper-tenacity can come in very handy then)
