Here's a topic more than a question: A destroyer or submarine with a torpedo can sink a battleship. The torpedo is expensive and complicated compared to a round from a battleship. It costs a lot to build a battleship to deliver cheap rounds, but not a lot to build a destroyer to deliver expensive torpedoes. Post WWII, see also cruise missiles. I feel like there may be a pretty good thesis here, related to the Innovator's Dilemma.
I have a scenario I would like your opinion on: How would the US standard battleships have fared against the Japanese battleships in December 1941? Ignoring CVs, DDs, CAs, CLs... just a pure battle line vs battle line.
There's a story of a veteran RN captain taking his screw 1st rate into Malta. He ordered all sails furled and the anchor dropped, but was surprised when the ship kept moving. He was reminded they had screw propulsion. "I forgot we had that".
@@AndrewTheRadarMan depending on the size i doubt the sound of the steam engine would reach the top deck on top of the deafening affect of 10+ knot winds
@@JonatasAdoM pfft hearing protection. Guess nobody could hear pistons chugging away when you have a loud ring in your ears from all of the cannon blasts
"The wooden ships, they turned to iron, and the iron ships to steel. And shed their sails like autumn leaves with the turning of the wheel." --Al Stewart, "Old Admirals"
I wasn't aware that the transition from wooden warships to early ironclads was so complex. None of the documentaries i seen up to this point gave a hint of how much development and in some cases back steps were made to reach that point. Great video.
Most 'documentaries' are researched by knowledgeable historians, written by less knowledgeable screenwriters, made by historically-illiterate film majors, and advertised to the 18-35 year old who prefers (American) football and beer to a college lecture. TH-cam history vids don't generally have this problem.
the one thing is that he missed that one event in 1862 which lead to the launch of the first French Ironclad: Merrimack vs Monitor, where two US navy vessels fired on eachother till they ran out of ammunition, with Merrimack subsequently sinking at harbor and the Monitor due to its incredibly low draft, sinking several months later due to high tide. the French, having better foreign relations with the US then England did, actually learning about this and finding out literally only the USN was technologically up to date. while it would take another 7 years for London to actually internalize what happened, it would still be able to leverage its economic advantage to catch up for lost time up until HMS dreadnought was launched, at which point everyone relevant would keep up until 1922 when the first full fledged Aircraft Carrier was Launched, and everyone again completely shit the bed on miltech ships until 1941
Sounds like it came straight from a Black Adder episode on the high seas. Except Baldrick misunderstands and puts up a screen to block view of the enemy crew, instead of ordering the carronades to fire at them.
I've just been reading that the French knew that an iron hulled ship was superior to a wooden hull ship with iron plates, like the Gloire. In fact, France was the first nation to lay down an all iron hulled warship; the Couronne, but the Warrior was finished and put into commision first. The problem the French Navy, and France in general had, was that while they had scientific and engineering personal every bit the equal to their counterparts on the other side of the English Channel, the industrial revolution was so much more advanced in Great Britain than it was in France, most French dockyards couldn't handle building all iron ships. It was much easier for them to build wooden hulled ships and bolt on iron plating afterwards. So they continued to build wooden hulled ironclads after the Gloire, into the 1870's.
That's kind of the story of France from like 1820- today. They're out competed by their neighbors in terms of industry. In from 1820ish-1871 it was the UK and from 1871 until today they were beaten soundly(industrially speaking) by their Prussian/German neighbors. Heck, it would take the Germans occupying France for them to get French industry up to somewhat useful standards.
@@2adamast even in the 1860s Britain was far more industrialised than France and could build larger ships at a quicker rate. Palmerston even taunted the French ambassador about this very fact in 1864
I can’t help but feel that HMS Blenheim was somehow HMS Warspite’s...I don’t know, ‘Great Aunt’ for lack of a better term. From your description of her exploits, Blenheim seems to share quite a few things with her grand-niece, especially in having been through several major overhauls during her lifetime and remaining in service long enough for her final crew to be the children or grandchildren of her original crew. But I’d say that Blenheim seems to have been a bit more mild-mannered than Warspite. What with all that heavy, all-metal construction, steam turbines, and vastly more firepower, I think Warspite turned out quite a bit more headstrong and hot-blooded than her stately ancestor.
"By the way would the 1936 World,🗺 War,💥 Two,2⃣✌ German,🇩🇪 U-boat type VIIC submarine and the 1938 World,🗺 War,💥 Two,2⃣ ✌Nazi German,🇩🇪 U-boat IXC submarine take out the World,🗺 War,💥 One,1⃣ interwar period, and World,🗺 War,💥 Two 2⃣ ✌ British, 🇬🇧 Canadian,🇨🇦 🍁 🇨🇦 🍁 🇨🇦 🍁 Australian,🌏 🇦🇺 Bangladeshi, 🇧🇩 New Zealander,🇳🇿 South African,🌍 🇿🇦 Malaysian,🇲🇾 Jamaican,🇯🇲 Barbadian,🇧🇧 Indian,🇮🇳 Singaporean, 🇸🇬 Bermuda, 🇧🇲 and the Commonwealth of Nations built,🏢 HMS Warspite Battleship with its torpedoes while underwater in the Mediterranean sea, 🌊 off the coast of North Africa, 🌍 Morocco,🇲🇦 Libya,🇱🇾 Algeria, 🇩🇿 and Egypt,🇪🇬 in the year of nineteen forty-two to the year of nineteen forty-three in the Mediterranean theater, 🎭 of the year of nineteen forty-three, to the year of nineteen forty-four, during World,🗺 War,💥 Two,2⃣✌?"
“You would make a ship sail against the winds and currents by lighting a bonfire under her decks? I have no time for such nonsense.” ― Napoleon Bonaparte
Hi. Yes. You know all the things we tell you about not having fires onboard your tar-coated wood and canvas ships, especially with all that gun powder. Well we've been thinking and we now think it could be a good idea. I can go do what with the rudder.
This was an excellent episode, was holding my interest none stop. Could not believe that 35 minutes could past that quickly. It's without a doubt the most interesting era of naval warships. Changes occurred very quickly.
Got to say, this os one of my favorite channels lately. He makes clean and interesting videos that are full of all the technical and historical stuff I love to hear about. Keep up the good work!
Really enjoyed this episode and learned a lot. When you summarized the fate of some the ships mentioned, all I could think of was Turner's Fighting Temeraire, a fitting image to summarize the sad fate of these once magnificent machines.
Although picking one is nearly impossible due to overall excellence, I think this is one of Drach’s best! Just listening to it for about the .4th time!
Please do a Video on the last surviving pre dreadnought armored cruiser USS Olympia, she needs the support, they are talking about making her an artificial reef again!
n3zyd Yes the poor Olympia has been falling apart for a long time. She deserves far better - I remember when I was a teenager wandering through the machine spaces, forward torpedo room - now all closed off. She needs major help and any promotion of her plight might help! Last if the Great White Fleet - Dewey’s Flagship at Manila Bay - should be given a helping hand by USG - they waste so much money in far less worthy causes.
I think the USN should take Olympia back into service, just like the Constitution, put her at someplace like Norfolk, and reopen her as a museum and ceremonial flagship. Do the same with USS Texas (BB-35), on which my dad served during a USNR training cruise in 1937 or '38. Olympia, as the last pre-dreadnought, and Dewy's flagship, and Texas as the last USN dreadnought and gunfire support at Normandy and in the Pacific. A full repair of both might be less than the cost of a modern helicopter and far less than the cost of a fighter-bomber. Annual maintenance of Texas, I've read, is about $2 million a year (cost of paper-clips??).
Fantastic documentary! The focus always goes on either ships like the Victory or ships like Dreadnought, we never get to see the transitional phase on ships! Thank you
That was excellent. It filled in a number of gaps in my knowledge of the Royal Navy in the 19th century. I knew the first steam ship predated the Battle of Trafalgar. It was built in Scotland and was used on a canal I seem to remember. It's effect was such that there was talk of Richard Trevithick building number of steam ships to tow fireships which would be used to attack the Franco-Spanish fleet. The plan was stopped because Trevithick did not think it was viable at that time. I remember reading about an incident which happened in 1821 when a ship approaching the Isle of Mann was spotted with smoke billowing skyward. Realising there was a fire onboard a number of ships set sail to go to the rescue only to have it sail straight passed them. The smoke was from a steam engine.
The Scottish steam ship would probably have been the "Charlotte Dundas" used on the Forth and Clyde canal from 1802. However, that wasn't the first steam boat; it was predated at least by the French "Pyroscaph" (1783), the the boats of John Fitch (1786) and James Rumsey (1787), and Patrick Miller's trimaran steam boat (1788), which was the "Charlotte Dundas' " predecessor on the Forth and Clyde.
Thank you! You made me crack up a couple of times. This was fun, way back in prehistoric times I used to teach this development from wooden ships over steam, iron hulls, past battleships and the modern navies and how to construct ships and to understand modern warship development to eager midshipmen and other categories. Talking about the need for trolling your rivals; the Russian navy has been building and naming ships after either battles won over Sweden or captured Swedish warships; you mentioned Viborg at the Crimean war, which is where Sweden lost Finland through a ruse in 1809 and another example is the ship Retvizan taken as HMS Rättvisan, also at Viborg,, and then newer ships named after the same ship at least five times.
Viborg is actually a city roughly two thirds of way from Helsinki to St. Petersburg that was founded by the Swedes in Medieval times, captured by Russia in 1710 during the Great Northen War, returned to Finland in 1812 when Finland was already a Grand Duchy under the Czar, and ceded again to Russia after WW2. You may be thinking of Sveaborg (originally called "Viapori" in Finnish), which is a fortress in Helsinki harbour. The surrender of Sveaborg in 1808 was the result of shrewd negotiations on the part of the Russians and a pessimistic commander on the side of the Swedes; it was not a battle worth commemorating by naming a ship. A more memorable battle was fought in 1855 when the fortress was shelled by the combined British-French fleet during the Crimean war but withstood the attack, unlike the more modern Bomarsund fortress in the Åland Islands which was reduced to rubble. As for Russian ships, there was also the "Gangut", named after the naval battle of Hanko (1714) which the Russians won largely due to vastly outnumbering (c. 80 vs. 5) the small Swedish squadron trying to block the Russian fleet. The last Gangut (1911) was a 4 x 3 12" Dreadnought that was named "Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya" after the October Revolution.
Trolling with battle names isn't limited to the Russians. Considering how many WW2 American carriers were named after victories over the British during the Revolutionary War (Lexington, Concord, Yorktown, Saratoga, Ticonderoga, Cowpens, Princeton ...), you wouldn't think they were on the same side!
I love the fact that you're still branding these as the "Five Minute Guide to Warships" xD Not that I'm complaining of course, I'd love these videos if they were just hours of waffling on about the technical details of a specific class of battleship's main battery guns.
Yes, early steam engines worked with "a massive furnace," and they also had a tendency to explode if they weren't carefully tended to. Sounds like a great plan to me. The frigate Gloire, where the French took the decisive lead in building the ugliest warships of the 19th century. "And then it got worse. So common in Russian history." LOL - That's brilliant.
This history of early British locomotives gives a good history of the development of steam engines up to about 1830 th-cam.com/video/wOGYZC-IJPQ/w-d-xo.html
Outstanding presentation sir! After many years, I am finally reading Massey's "Dreadnought" to be followed by "Castles of Steel"; and this helps present a bit more naval development history that was not covered in the book, Thank you! Look forward to the next presentation.
The Dreadnought book has only one chapter on the Dreadnought, the rest is the story of British and German political rivalry. Castles of Steele is Great , but so is Richard Houghs book.
This was one of your best videos yet. I've never seen the development of naval technology explored in such a thorough yet accessible way. Your ability to break down long and complex topics so they can be easily understood by laypeople is very impressive and it's what makes your content so valuable. If I was a naval instructor, I'd recommend your channel to my cadets.
Great video. An ancestor of mine served on HMS Blenheim in the 1850s after the ship had the steam engine conversion. It was his first posting, based at Portsmouth. I think the period is one of the most interesting. They were trying to work out how to navigate through massive changes in technology. A good book that takes the subject to the next period/step is 'The Ironclads' by Peter Hore.
Interesting look at a period of naval development that doesn't usually get much attention, and I'm definitely looking forward to a future video tracing development through the second half of the 19th century. Funny how almost everyone knows about HMS Victory, HMS Warrior, and HMS Dreadnought, but there's so little discussion of everything in between them. Out of curiosity, how certain are we that the ship in the picture first shown at 6:05 actually is HMS Blenheim? You describe Blenheim as (originally) a 74-gun third rate, and yet the ship in the picture is very clearly a three-decker.
More of a topic request: Can you go over how the various navies scrapped or utilised old hulls over time and possibly go into how some ships were saved or sold to other navies? I come from the world of steam locomotives so I see a lot of parallels between the two when it comes to preservation for future generations.
I thought the US Constitution was the first wooden ship to use triangulated wooden framing to stiffen the hull. Excellent TH-cam channel. My sincerest compliments regarding your depth and breadth of knowledge. Can you discuss how the Royal Navy managed to supply itself with the necessary timber during the era of wooden ship building? I'm sure many an old growth oak forest was cut down!
Norman Mattson I live in England near where the wooden ship ie the Agamemnon was built, it’s called bucklers hard. The new forest nearby was created in part to satisfy the demand.
The first six US frigates (inculding Old Ironsides) did have innovative diagonal frames. I think the triangle frames Seppings introduced might be the next logical step. I'd be interested to know if Seppings got a look at the frames in USS/HMS President. Either way, diagonal and triangular frames are brilliantly simple solutions.
This is a great video, I'm only halfway through it and loving it! You never hear much about ship naval development between the War of 1812/Napoleonic the American Civil War. It's almost as if you went from full on sailing warships to (poof) ironclad's overnight.
This transitional period of naval history is perhaps my favorite era of warship development.Thank you for covering it.Could listen to you describe it for hours.Hint hint lol. Could you perhaps suggest a book or 2 that cover the subject?I've got a couple but their rather short....love to sink my teeth into something more in depth.Another great video....a comment that need not be said.......because they all are.
I stumbled upon this and find it very interesting. My father was a LS in the Royal Navy based at Liverpool he served on cruisers and mine sweepers. He worked as a ASDIC operator on North Atlantic convoy protection and actually detected a Uboat that was destroyed. He also served in the Mediterranean. It would be interesting to me to see one of the ships of the type my father served on.
Interesting video. It was nice being shown the various changes in ship design as time went on. if possible please do more videos like this one... in addition to the usual videos on various warship classes.
Its so nice to see how much your annunciation and timing has improved. nothing wrong with the data here, but youve come a huge way as a communicator. congrats mate.
you forgot an important point...the American heavy frigates had unique construction consisting of several extra internal keels inside the framework / ships ribs that stiffined the ship considerably...
I read a really good book on the American Civil War Ironclads long ago. While the usual story told only includes the Monitor and Merrimac battle there were many many more used by both sides , a fact most people are unaware off. Good book , wish I'd bought it back in the day.
Wow, incredibly well done as usual! I'm not usually a fan of the earlier era of warships, but this was incredibly interesting! And good on the British, don't waste time developing new technology from the start, simply look at the work of others and put your resources into perfecting it :p
Are you planning to do a video on the next period of naval history, detailing the creation of turret ships through predreads up to the launch of HMS Dreadnaught?
Thanks for a great video, I've allways searched for a good presentation of this chaotic period, looking foreward to watching the continued development from 1860 to 1905!
Interesting and well done video! You might want to find an interesting book: "The Black Battlefleet" by Admiral G.A. Ballard, it's out of print but some libraries might have a copy. (you can't have mine!) It's a personal history with some fascinating drawings and photos of the transition to iron ships. Two events that should be mentioned: The battle between the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia, and more importantly the battle of the USS Kearsarge against the CSS raider Alabama. This battle impressed the Royal Navy, mainly because the Kearsarge had been at sea for some time, yet still had enough coal to steam into battle. The Kearsarge had two large Dahlgren 11in guns that were very powerful and very accurate, thus showing that a few big guns could be better then conventional guns such as the 100 pounders on the CSS Alabama, which incidentally had been built by a British shipyard. The apparent ease by which Kearsarge devastated the Alabama surprised everyone! BTW_Did you know that the Dahlgren designed guns were also the safest?
Please do. My grandfather told me that his grandfather, William Clarke, an Irishman from Dublin, was a sailor in the Kearsage during the battle. Searching the crew lists however, I find a William Clarke on the Alabama and not on the Kearsage. Since it is not an unusual name, perhaps there were two William Clarkes, one on each ship or perhaps William was ashamed of his service and tried to conceal it. I would love to find out. William had at least one child, my great- grandmother, Frances Clarke, who married Louis McGrath. William left the sea and became a bookseller in Liverpool.
My father's first assignment was on a steam sail ship. He was Engineering Officer, prior to becoming chief Engineer (from red shirt to Scotty, in the sea) later in his career with the Netherlands Merchant Marines in the mid 20th century. He told me they were a very nervous crew because the captain had survived two sinking and they feared this would be number three. He also told me of a captain who had to be stuffed with hard tack in rough seas so he was unable to throw up in spite of terrible sea sickness. I have tried it myself and found it helpful!
This video is awesome at explaining this rather rapid change of design. I've always loved the look of huge age of sail ships of the line and had always wondered what happened to them and ho exactly they were replaced and became the battleships we know from 1st and 2nd world war. No i know it and I thank you for that
Excellent overview. I would have been interested to see a mention of the Karteria, though. British-made for the revolutionary Greek navy, it became the first steam-powered ship to see combat, in the 1820s.
Another awesome video This filled in a lot of details I've missed in my own reading. I'd probably be a member of the developmental group of the RN. Carefully assess new technology and work out the kinks before implementing it. The development of wooden ships was certainly slow compared to their iron children. It's been said a sailor from the Tudor HMS Mary Rose could go aboard Nelson's HMS Victory and within a few hours be quite comfortable. Yet a sailor from Victory going aboard a ship less than 80 later would be hopelessly lost with all the changes brought about by new equipment.
Brought here from an article in "We love Stornoway" about the ship's gun in Lews Castle grounds overlooking Stornoway from HMS Blenheim (1813). "The iconic cannon has returned to the restored terrace at Lews Castle…providing a direct and tangible personal link to 19th century Isle of Lewis landowner Sir James Matheson, the Opium Wars in China, the Baltic Sea and the Crimean War. The cannon comes from the HMS Blenheim - built in 1813 as a sailing ship and converted to use a steam-engine and propellor in 1847. The Captain of the vessel during the naval aspect of the Crimean War (1854-55) with Russia in the Baltic was William Hutcheon Hall. His path crossed with that of Sir James Matheson several times. Captain Hall appears to have presented the gun from the HMS Blenheim to the Mathesons in late 1855 - as its inscription refers to him as Captain W H Hall, CB - Captain Hall was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 5 July 1855 and the cannon has the date 1855 on it. Having been decommissioned from the vessel, the name of the ship is partially expunged." [1 May 2021]
Fantastic video as always. If you're planning on more videos on general development history perhaps one on the Jeune École of the late 1800s and how it influenced naval development.
Q&A questions here :)
do you plan on doing videos on more modern ships like the type 45, Nimitz etc
Q&A great vid btw
Here's a topic more than a question: A destroyer or submarine with a torpedo can sink a battleship. The torpedo is expensive and complicated compared to a round from a battleship. It costs a lot to build a battleship to deliver cheap rounds, but not a lot to build a destroyer to deliver expensive torpedoes. Post WWII, see also cruise missiles. I feel like there may be a pretty good thesis here, related to the Innovator's Dilemma.
I have a scenario I would like your opinion on: How would the US standard battleships have fared against the Japanese battleships in December 1941? Ignoring CVs, DDs, CAs, CLs... just a pure battle line vs battle line.
Q&A naval guns larger than 18 inches, were any planned/developed/tested? How useful would a 20 inch gun actually be?
Hey Drachnifel, are you ex-navy? Your hat says HMS Splendid, which is a submarine. Have you served onboard? Any stories or anecdotes?
There's a story of a veteran RN captain taking his screw 1st rate into Malta. He ordered all sails furled and the anchor dropped, but was surprised when the ship kept moving. He was reminded they had screw propulsion. "I forgot we had that".
"I forgot we had that" lol makes me wonder how someone did not hearing the pistons chugging away but I digress
@@AndrewTheRadarMan depending on the size i doubt the sound of the steam engine would reach the top deck on top of the deafening affect of 10+ knot winds
yup
@@AndrewTheRadarMan Good question.
How gold was hearing in a ship after a battle?
@@JonatasAdoM pfft hearing protection. Guess nobody could hear pistons chugging away when you have a loud ring in your ears from all of the cannon blasts
"The wooden ships, they turned to iron, and the iron ships to steel.
And shed their sails like autumn leaves with the turning of the wheel."
--Al Stewart, "Old Admirals"
Al Stewart has written some damn fine historic songs
Michael Morley Fantastic album :thumbs up:.
Other Paradox fans: Sabaton with HOI4
ME: Al Stewart with Vicky 2
That's a good Mention right here
Whoever is riding the script, should have a couple of extra shillings in his pay. He is quite hilarious.
I wasn't aware that the transition from wooden warships to early ironclads was so complex. None of the documentaries i seen up to this point gave a hint of how much development and in some cases back steps were made to reach that point. Great video.
Most 'documentaries' are researched by knowledgeable historians, written by less knowledgeable screenwriters, made by historically-illiterate film majors, and advertised to the 18-35 year old who prefers (American) football and beer to a college lecture.
TH-cam history vids don't generally have this problem.
the one thing is that he missed that one event in 1862 which lead to the launch of the first French Ironclad: Merrimack vs Monitor, where two US navy vessels fired on eachother till they ran out of ammunition, with Merrimack subsequently sinking at harbor and the Monitor due to its incredibly low draft, sinking several months later due to high tide.
the French, having better foreign relations with the US then England did, actually learning about this and finding out literally only the USN was technologically up to date.
while it would take another 7 years for London to actually internalize what happened, it would still be able to leverage its economic advantage to catch up for lost time up until HMS dreadnought was launched, at which point everyone relevant would keep up until 1922 when the first full fledged Aircraft Carrier was Launched, and everyone again completely shit the bed on miltech ships until 1941
Yes, the bit about Sepping alone made this awesome.
''Tell me, do you see that crew over there?''
''Yes sir?''
''I don't want to.''
''Understood, sir.''
Sounds like it came straight from a Black Adder episode on the high seas. Except Baldrick misunderstands and puts up a screen to block view of the enemy crew, instead of ordering the carronades to fire at them.
Really wished black adder had another season. That'd be a perfect joke.
Giant shotguns-improving views since 1843!
"They're gone now sir"
Alternatively:
"Captain, do you see that enemy crew there"
"Yes, what of it?"
BOOM
"Howabout now sir?"
I've just been reading that the French knew that an iron hulled ship was superior to a wooden hull ship with iron plates, like the Gloire. In fact, France was the first nation to lay down an all iron hulled warship; the Couronne, but the Warrior was finished and put into commision first. The problem the French Navy, and France in general had, was that while they had scientific and engineering personal every bit the equal to their counterparts on the other side of the English Channel, the industrial revolution was so much more advanced in Great Britain than it was in France, most French dockyards couldn't handle building all iron ships. It was much easier for them to build wooden hulled ships and bolt on iron plating afterwards. So they continued to build wooden hulled ironclads after the Gloire, into the 1870's.
By 1860 the industrial revolution was finished/accomplished. The Victory is more a child of the industrial revolution than the Warrior.
I recall seeing Warrior in Milford Haven before her restoration.
@@2adamast ishhh tho i get you
That's kind of the story of France from like 1820- today. They're out competed by their neighbors in terms of industry. In from 1820ish-1871 it was the UK and from 1871 until today they were beaten soundly(industrially speaking) by their Prussian/German neighbors. Heck, it would take the Germans occupying France for them to get French industry up to somewhat useful standards.
@@2adamast even in the 1860s Britain was far more industrialised than France and could build larger ships at a quicker rate. Palmerston even taunted the French ambassador about this very fact in 1864
Documentary quality content from a channel with 20,000 subs, that's criminally underrated. Cheers man, love your stuff.
I've been promoting him on the WoWs subreddit, but if you have other sites, upload his content there. Let's help however we can.
242k, 2 years later
@@Spectre-wd9dl 251k now
An order of magnitude greater. Let's hope for 2 mil by 2023
@@antonhengst8667 At that rate, by 2030 every human being on Earth will be subbed!
I can’t help but feel that HMS Blenheim was somehow HMS Warspite’s...I don’t know, ‘Great Aunt’ for lack of a better term. From your description of her exploits, Blenheim seems to share quite a few things with her grand-niece, especially in having been through several major overhauls during her lifetime and remaining in service long enough for her final crew to be the children or grandchildren of her original crew.
But I’d say that Blenheim seems to have been a bit more mild-mannered than Warspite. What with all that heavy, all-metal construction, steam turbines, and vastly more firepower, I think Warspite turned out quite a bit more headstrong and hot-blooded than her stately ancestor.
"By the way would the 1936 World,🗺 War,💥 Two,2⃣✌ German,🇩🇪 U-boat type VIIC submarine and the 1938 World,🗺 War,💥 Two,2⃣ ✌Nazi German,🇩🇪 U-boat IXC submarine take out the World,🗺 War,💥 One,1⃣ interwar period, and World,🗺 War,💥 Two 2⃣ ✌ British, 🇬🇧 Canadian,🇨🇦 🍁 🇨🇦 🍁 🇨🇦 🍁 Australian,🌏 🇦🇺 Bangladeshi, 🇧🇩 New Zealander,🇳🇿 South African,🌍 🇿🇦 Malaysian,🇲🇾 Jamaican,🇯🇲 Barbadian,🇧🇧 Indian,🇮🇳 Singaporean, 🇸🇬 Bermuda, 🇧🇲 and the Commonwealth of Nations built,🏢 HMS Warspite Battleship with its torpedoes while underwater in the Mediterranean sea, 🌊 off the coast of North Africa, 🌍 Morocco,🇲🇦 Libya,🇱🇾 Algeria, 🇩🇿 and Egypt,🇪🇬 in the year of nineteen forty-two to the year of nineteen forty-three in the Mediterranean theater, 🎭 of the year of nineteen forty-three, to the year of nineteen forty-four, during World,🗺 War,💥 Two,2⃣✌?"
Wow, what a complete and excellent rundown of the period. Puts proper documentaries to shame.
I agree with your comment.... But this is indistinguishable from a proper documentary.
"Telling navy officers to install a massive fire aboard their wooden tar-coated gunpowder-filled ships was understandably a hard sell"
Fkn lmao
jobjed if he said hard sail it would have been epic
“You would make a ship sail against the winds and currents by lighting a bonfire under her decks? I have no time for such nonsense.”
― Napoleon Bonaparte
@@elGrandeBastardo Thank you for that quote. Very interesting.
Hi. Yes. You know all the things we tell you about not having fires onboard your tar-coated wood and canvas ships, especially with all that gun powder. Well we've been thinking and we now think it could be a good idea. I can go do what with the rudder.
@@elGrandeBastardo Ah, the things Civilization 4 has taught me. :D
“HMS Excellent”
Never change Britain.
I prefer "HMS Arrogant"
I HMS Invisible
@@Maritimesgestein Where, I don’t see it?
@@quuaaarrrk8056 lol autocorrect again i meant HMS Invincible
@@Maritimesgestein I thought so but I would definitely believe it if there was a HMS Invisible. Royal Navy naming at its best.
This was an excellent episode, was holding my interest none stop. Could not believe that 35 minutes could past that quickly. It's without a doubt the most interesting era of naval warships. Changes occurred very quickly.
Got to say, this os one of my favorite channels lately. He makes clean and interesting videos that are full of all the technical and historical stuff I love to hear about. Keep up the good work!
Really enjoyed this episode and learned a lot. When you summarized the fate of some the ships mentioned, all I could think of was Turner's Fighting Temeraire, a fitting image to summarize the sad fate of these once magnificent machines.
Although picking one is nearly impossible due to overall excellence, I think this is one of Drach’s best! Just listening to it for about the .4th time!
Please do a Video on the last surviving pre dreadnought armored cruiser USS Olympia, she needs the support, they are talking about making her an artificial reef again!
n3zyd Yes the poor Olympia has been falling apart for a long time. She deserves far better - I remember when I was a teenager wandering through the machine spaces, forward torpedo room - now all closed off. She needs major help and any promotion of her plight might help! Last if the Great White Fleet - Dewey’s Flagship at Manila Bay - should be given a helping hand by USG - they waste so much money in far less worthy causes.
Technically she is a protected cruiser and not the only one of the era, the Russian Cruiser Aurora is still around.
@@ErichZornerzfun Protected not armored, thanks for the correction.
I think the USN should take Olympia back into service, just like the Constitution, put her at someplace like Norfolk, and reopen her as a museum and ceremonial flagship. Do the same with USS Texas (BB-35), on which my dad served during a USNR training cruise in 1937 or '38. Olympia, as the last pre-dreadnought, and Dewy's flagship, and Texas as the last USN dreadnought and gunfire support at Normandy and in the Pacific. A full repair of both might be less than the cost of a modern helicopter and far less than the cost of a fighter-bomber. Annual maintenance of Texas, I've read, is about $2 million a year (cost of paper-clips??).
@@redskindan78 i mean, compared to the $780 Billion budget for the military, yeah it seems fine to do that
Fantastic documentary! The focus always goes on either ships like the Victory or ships like Dreadnought, we never get to see the transitional phase on ships! Thank you
That was excellent. It filled in a number of gaps in my knowledge of the Royal Navy in the 19th century.
I knew the first steam ship predated the Battle of Trafalgar. It was built in Scotland and was used on a canal I seem to remember. It's effect was such that there was talk of Richard Trevithick building number of steam ships to tow fireships which would be used to attack the Franco-Spanish fleet. The plan was stopped because Trevithick did not think it was viable at that time.
I remember reading about an incident which happened in 1821 when a ship approaching the Isle of Mann was spotted with smoke billowing skyward. Realising there was a fire onboard a number of ships set sail to go to the rescue only to have it sail straight passed them. The smoke was from a steam engine.
The Scottish steam ship would probably have been the "Charlotte Dundas" used on the Forth and Clyde canal from 1802. However, that wasn't the first steam boat; it was predated at least by the French "Pyroscaph" (1783), the the boats of John Fitch (1786) and James Rumsey (1787), and Patrick Miller's trimaran steam boat (1788), which was the "Charlotte Dundas' " predecessor on the Forth and Clyde.
The first steam warship was the USS Demologos in the War of 1812 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_floating_battery_Demologos
Thank you! You made me crack up a couple of times. This was fun, way back in prehistoric times I used to teach this development from wooden ships over steam, iron hulls, past battleships and the modern navies and how to construct ships and to understand modern warship development to eager midshipmen and other categories.
Talking about the need for trolling your rivals; the Russian navy has been building and naming ships after either battles won over Sweden or captured Swedish warships; you mentioned Viborg at the Crimean war, which is where Sweden lost Finland through a ruse in 1809 and another example is the ship Retvizan taken as HMS Rättvisan, also at Viborg,, and then newer ships named after the same ship at least five times.
Viborg is actually a city roughly two thirds of way from Helsinki to St. Petersburg that was founded by the Swedes in Medieval times, captured by Russia in 1710 during the Great Northen War, returned to Finland in 1812 when Finland was already a Grand Duchy under the Czar, and ceded again to Russia after WW2. You may be thinking of Sveaborg (originally called "Viapori" in Finnish), which is a fortress in Helsinki harbour. The surrender of Sveaborg in 1808 was the result of shrewd negotiations on the part of the Russians and a pessimistic commander on the side of the Swedes; it was not a battle worth commemorating by naming a ship. A more memorable battle was fought in 1855 when the fortress was shelled by the combined British-French fleet during the Crimean war but withstood the attack, unlike the more modern Bomarsund fortress in the Åland Islands which was reduced to rubble. As for Russian ships, there was also the "Gangut", named after the naval battle of Hanko (1714) which the Russians won largely due to vastly outnumbering (c. 80 vs. 5) the small Swedish squadron trying to block the Russian fleet. The last Gangut (1911) was a 4 x 3 12" Dreadnought that was named "Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya" after the October Revolution.
Trolling with battle names isn't limited to the Russians. Considering how many WW2 American carriers were named after victories over the British during the Revolutionary War (Lexington, Concord, Yorktown, Saratoga, Ticonderoga, Cowpens, Princeton ...), you wouldn't think they were on the same side!
I love the fact that you're still branding these as the "Five Minute Guide to Warships" xD Not that I'm complaining of course, I'd love these videos if they were just hours of waffling on about the technical details of a specific class of battleship's main battery guns.
Yes, early steam engines worked with "a massive furnace," and they also had a tendency to explode if they weren't carefully tended to. Sounds like a great plan to me.
The frigate Gloire, where the French took the decisive lead in building the ugliest warships of the 19th century.
"And then it got worse. So common in Russian history." LOL - That's brilliant.
Concerning the Gloire: Take a look at the British Victoria class (1890) and say that again!
@@jarmokankaanpaa6528 The HMS Dreadnought (The 1870s one) is also a bit ugly, yet understandable as it was similar to others from the time
You think THAT got worse, have you seen Drach's video on the French pre-dreadnoughts yet? Next to them, Gloire is a supermodel!
This history of early British locomotives gives a good history of the development of steam engines up to about 1830 th-cam.com/video/wOGYZC-IJPQ/w-d-xo.html
Excellent! Really enjoyed that. Can't wait for the next installment!
Outstanding presentation sir! After many years, I am finally reading Massey's "Dreadnought" to be followed by "Castles of Steel"; and this helps present a bit more naval development history that was not covered in the book, Thank you! Look forward to the next presentation.
The Dreadnought book has only one chapter on the Dreadnought, the rest is the story of British and German political rivalry.
Castles of Steele is Great , but so is Richard Houghs book.
Your sense of humour is truly a delight. Makes the experience even more worthy of listening. 😄
You should do a video on the SMS Emden. She and her crew had quite an adventure.
And don't miss out on how the landing party at Cocos made it back to Germany!
Exacty. What a feisty crew!
YEs!
This was one of your best videos yet. I've never seen the development of naval technology explored in such a thorough yet accessible way. Your ability to break down long and complex topics so they can be easily understood by laypeople is very impressive and it's what makes your content so valuable. If I was a naval instructor, I'd recommend your channel to my cadets.
Stringing the Blenheim through the narrative was a nice touch. Well done.
Great video.
An ancestor of mine served on HMS Blenheim in the 1850s after the ship had the steam engine conversion. It was his first posting, based at Portsmouth.
I think the period is one of the most interesting. They were trying to work out how to navigate through massive changes in technology. A good book that takes the subject to the next period/step is 'The Ironclads' by Peter Hore.
"Where a 50 year old ship, kept in good condition, was perfectly good as a flagship of a major naval fleet"
*Laughs in Iowa and congress*
And uss nimitz
Thank you for doing this! It's great to hear about such an underrepresented period of naval design.
Thanks Drach! That's an amazing episode.
Good morning from Detroit everyone. Outstanding episode as always!!!
Oh hello from your Flint neighbor.
There are good mornings in Detroit?
@@xaenonapparently
Interesting look at a period of naval development that doesn't usually get much attention, and I'm definitely looking forward to a future video tracing development through the second half of the 19th century. Funny how almost everyone knows about HMS Victory, HMS Warrior, and HMS Dreadnought, but there's so little discussion of everything in between them.
Out of curiosity, how certain are we that the ship in the picture first shown at 6:05 actually is HMS Blenheim? You describe Blenheim as (originally) a 74-gun third rate, and yet the ship in the picture is very clearly a three-decker.
It's labelled as such, and pictures of it and it's class are so rare, I had to use something. At some point I might find a better picture :)
More of a topic request: Can you go over how the various navies scrapped or utilised old hulls over time and possibly go into how some ships were saved or sold to other navies? I come from the world of steam locomotives so I see a lot of parallels between the two when it comes to preservation for future generations.
I thought the US Constitution was the first wooden ship to use triangulated wooden framing to stiffen the hull. Excellent TH-cam channel. My sincerest compliments regarding your depth and breadth of knowledge.
Can you discuss how the Royal Navy managed to supply itself with the necessary timber during the era of wooden ship building? I'm sure many an old growth oak forest was cut down!
Norman Mattson I live in England near where the wooden ship ie the Agamemnon was built, it’s called bucklers hard. The new forest nearby was created in part to satisfy the demand.
The first six US frigates (inculding Old Ironsides) did have innovative diagonal frames. I think the triangle frames Seppings introduced might be the next logical step. I'd be interested to know if Seppings got a look at the frames in USS/HMS President. Either way, diagonal and triangular frames are brilliantly simple solutions.
This is a great video, I'm only halfway through it and loving it!
You never hear much about ship naval development between the War of 1812/Napoleonic the American Civil War. It's almost as if you went from full on sailing warships to (poof) ironclad's overnight.
Great series of videos. Your knowledge sharing and time is appreciated .
Kept the 68's in case the captain didn't want to see the enemy crew anymore....LOL
This transitional period of naval history is perhaps my favorite era of warship development.Thank you for covering it.Could listen to you describe it for hours.Hint hint lol. Could you perhaps suggest a book or 2 that cover the subject?I've got a couple but their rather short....love to sink my teeth into something more in depth.Another great video....a comment that need not be said.......because they all are.
A lovely exposition with continuity and snarky throughout. Your commentary is pleasant and well balanced like a fine wine.
Great! Some broader views on phases of technological development make for a nice mix with the more specialized videos.
Thank you.
I stumbled upon this and find it very interesting. My father was a LS in the Royal Navy based at Liverpool he served on cruisers and mine sweepers. He worked as a ASDIC operator on North Atlantic convoy protection and actually detected a Uboat that was destroyed. He also served in the Mediterranean. It would be interesting to me to see one of the ships of the type my father served on.
I enjoy a lot of history channels, your is by far my favorite. The attention to detail is amazing
Interesting video. It was nice being shown the various changes in ship design as time went on. if possible please do more videos like this one... in addition to the usual videos on various warship classes.
Its so nice to see how much your annunciation and timing has improved. nothing wrong with the data here, but youve come a huge way as a communicator. congrats mate.
I'm loving that you included Franklin Crozier in your video.
Badass arctic explorer.
you forgot an important point...the American heavy frigates had unique construction consisting of several extra internal keels inside the framework / ships ribs that stiffined the ship considerably...
I do hope that you intend to make a video on the US Navy Civil War ironclads.
This video here is almost entirely about the US civil war ironclads: th-cam.com/video/MI0IOERrnKY/w-d-xo.html
Second the Motion!
Thirded. Especially the monitor who introduced the fully rotating turret that lead to the dreadnoughts and battleships.
I read a really good book on the American Civil War Ironclads long ago. While the usual story told only includes the Monitor and Merrimac battle there were many many more used by both sides , a fact most people are unaware off. Good book , wish I'd bought it back in the day.
The Monitor and what, now? That ship was sent into the mud. That's the CSS Virginia to you, ya damn Yankee!
One of your very best work, in my opinion. Rewatching it again. Thank you!
HMS President? Learned something new today. Thank you!
Most interesting. This is a period of warship developement about which I had not expected to learn so much...
... so quickly.
Thank you!
Think this is one of my favourite Drachs. Big fan of these contextual videos
If you do a dry dock on weird weapons tried on ships, include the USS Vesuvius.
You have a great turn of phrase some great lines in there coupled with fascinating and informative videos!
Patrick O'Brien's Jack Aubrey loved Sepping's yard. He was the best repair dude.
What a great video! Something on the USS Olympia would be fab too. As would the First Sino - Japanese War ( 1894-5) naval battles. Thanks
Wow, incredibly well done as usual! I'm not usually a fan of the earlier era of warships, but this was incredibly interesting! And good on the British, don't waste time developing new technology from the start, simply look at the work of others and put your resources into perfecting it :p
Are you planning to do a video on the next period of naval history, detailing the creation of turret ships through predreads up to the launch of HMS Dreadnaught?
Yep. Sometime in the next few months.
Looking forward to the next installment. Ship designs from 1860 to 1905 don't get a lot of attention.
Thank you for again for such a complete and entertaining look at this important period. Outstanding!
Probably my favorite video until now! Thank you very much!
Really looking forward to a sequel on this topic. The late Victorian navy had some really bizarre and fascinating ships.
Probably in late February. :)
Thankyou drachinifel what an amazing vid , loved the paintings of the ships and drawings .Wonderfull documentry ..
Thanks for a great video, I've allways searched for a good presentation of this chaotic period, looking foreward to watching the continued development from 1860 to 1905!
Not often get do we get a decent voice to listen to on youtube channels. But you have a very listenable style. EXCELLENT !!!
A fascinating lecture. I will have to see if you went forward with another on warship development for the next 30+ years.
Just an outstanding episode. Hope the follow up one comes soon.
Fascinating! I've not given this revolutionary era much attention. Thank you for the enlightenment. :)
Interesting and well done video! You might want to find an interesting book: "The Black Battlefleet" by Admiral G.A. Ballard, it's out of print but some libraries might have a copy. (you can't have mine!) It's a personal history with some fascinating drawings and photos of the transition to iron ships. Two events that should be mentioned: The battle between the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia, and more importantly the battle of the USS Kearsarge against the CSS raider Alabama. This battle impressed the Royal Navy, mainly because the Kearsarge had been at sea for some time, yet still had enough coal to steam into battle. The Kearsarge had two large Dahlgren 11in guns that were very powerful and very accurate, thus showing that a few big guns could be better then conventional guns such as the 100 pounders on the CSS Alabama, which incidentally had been built by a British shipyard. The apparent ease by which Kearsarge devastated the Alabama surprised everyone! BTW_Did you know that the Dahlgren designed guns were also the safest?
Ive managed to find a copy for myself, its a great resource :)
@@Drachinifel Hang on to it! Last year a friend of a friend offered me $250 for my copy! It only cost me $1 at a used book sale back in 1988 !
great info, i think it would also be interesting to learn about the engines used and their improvements during this time.
Nice presentation. I especially ejoyed the high resolution photos and paintings that might also serve as some sort of art history footnote.
I hope you will do a video on the on the CSS ALABAMA and the USS KEARSARGE. Both ships were from the "steam replaces sail" era.
Please do. My grandfather told me that his grandfather, William Clarke, an Irishman from Dublin, was a sailor in the Kearsage during the battle. Searching the crew lists however, I find a William Clarke on the Alabama and not on the Kearsage. Since it is not an unusual name, perhaps there were two William Clarkes, one on each ship or perhaps William was ashamed of his service and tried to conceal it. I would love to find out. William had at least one child, my great- grandmother, Frances Clarke, who married Louis McGrath. William left the sea and became a bookseller in Liverpool.
Excellent video as always, love the period of the steam 2 & 3 deckers.
Impressive work. Watchable again and again.
Fascinating and excellent episode Drach.
This was incredibly interesting, thank you very much!
My father's first assignment was on a steam sail ship. He was Engineering Officer, prior to becoming chief Engineer (from red shirt to Scotty, in the sea) later in his career with the Netherlands Merchant Marines in the mid 20th century. He told me they were a very nervous crew because the captain had survived two sinking and they feared this would be number three. He also told me of a captain who had to be stuffed with hard tack in rough seas so he was unable to throw up in spite of terrible sea sickness. I have tried it myself and found it helpful!
This video is awesome at explaining this rather rapid change of design. I've always loved the look of huge age of sail ships of the line and had always wondered what happened to them and ho exactly they were replaced and became the battleships we know from 1st and 2nd world war. No i know it and I thank you for that
Very informative. Keep up the good work. You have one new subscriber here.
nice work as ever Drach
Excellent overview. I would have been interested to see a mention of the Karteria, though. British-made for the revolutionary Greek navy, it became the first steam-powered ship to see combat, in the 1820s.
Very well done. I always enjoy your video.
Another awesome video
This filled in a lot of details I've missed in my own reading.
I'd probably be a member of the developmental group of the RN. Carefully assess new technology and work out the kinks before implementing it.
The development of wooden ships was certainly slow compared to their iron children.
It's been said a sailor from the Tudor HMS Mary Rose could go aboard Nelson's HMS Victory and within a few hours be quite comfortable. Yet a sailor from Victory going aboard a ship less than 80 later would be hopelessly lost with all the changes brought about by new equipment.
Very well done, this documentary!
Nice video. I found it very interesting. Thanks Drach.
Can't wait for pre dreadnought such beautiful and crazy looking ships in that era
Thank you for a great episode.
A Good step ahead of me.... Thank You!
Well done. Really enjoying your videos
Always love your videos...keep it up sir
A great video documentary, thanks
If you look at the leftmost column of the list of ships in the American navy at 6:13, you can see the 44-gun Constitution, first in the 'C' range.
Wow such information on the details and development of ships. Thank you. Where are your sources?
This might be your best video.
HMS Excellent,
"Our crews end with the same status as the name."
Brought here from an article in "We love Stornoway" about the ship's gun in Lews Castle grounds overlooking Stornoway from HMS Blenheim (1813).
"The iconic cannon has returned to the restored terrace at Lews Castle…providing a direct and tangible personal link to 19th century Isle of Lewis landowner Sir James Matheson, the Opium Wars in China, the Baltic Sea and the Crimean War.
The cannon comes from the HMS Blenheim - built in 1813 as a sailing ship and converted to use a steam-engine and propellor in 1847.
The Captain of the vessel during the naval aspect of the Crimean War (1854-55) with Russia in the Baltic was William Hutcheon Hall. His path crossed with that of Sir James Matheson several times.
Captain Hall appears to have presented the gun from the HMS Blenheim to the Mathesons in late 1855 - as its inscription refers to him as Captain W H Hall, CB - Captain Hall was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 5 July 1855 and the cannon has the date 1855 on it. Having been decommissioned from the vessel, the name of the ship is partially expunged." [1 May 2021]
Brilliant as always, many thanks.
Fantastic video as always. If you're planning on more videos on general development history perhaps one on the Jeune École of the late 1800s and how it influenced naval development.
“Using the French navy as their ready reserve”!!
That had me laughing out loud.