How bad would it have been for both the Entente and the Central Powers if Japan had declared the Anglo-Japanese Alliance null and joined the latter in WWI, and how would this affect future naval developments?
In the Pearl Harbor salvage videos, you mention USS Cassin and USS Downes essentially getting new ships built around whatever machinery was salvageable. Were they built to the existing Mahan plans, or were they updated/upgraded at all?
@@arandomdudewithhobbies3318 To greatly oversimplify, up to a point, the reduction in drag from reduced surface area outweighs the slight increase from the blunt front being more perpendicular to the flow. In addition, on the front of an object, you aren't really worried about flow separation - almost no matter what you do, the flow will stay attached to the object. As a result, the best shape for hydrodynamics (and subsonic aerodynamics) is basically the classic "airfoil" shape - relatively blunt and rounded on the front, with a long pointed tapering rear. (This applies to submarines, torpedoes, aircraft, etc, but note that it does *not* apply to surface ships - the details of how they interact with the surface of the water and the waves generated by that complicate things quite a bit)
@@theol.1988 The irony being that Drach is one of those English speakers that tries (harder than most) to speak as little true English (Germanic) as he can so he can sound smurt wid them romance wordz. I'm being a little tongue in cheek, as it's not going to be something he thinks about nowadays, and will stem from his upbringing and schooling, but after getting black pilled on English I can't help but seethe lol
In Whitehead's diagram he calls the back of the torpedo the "Engine Room" which I really appreciate. There are tiny, sweaty, oil and grease stained little mice engineers with goggles and spanners hard at work to keep the engine running. Head canon. Oh and they dive away to safety at the last minute!
A note, The Hunley's crew were likley killed immediately by the blast from the spar torpdeo, the movement afterward was wile it was sinking and affected by the currents. The US National Archives has a talk about it called "The Fate of the Submarine H.L. Hunley" from Dec 11, 2017.
@@kentlindal5422 The suffocation theory is specifically addressed in the talk above and evidence suggests against it. Worth watching the talk if you haven't.
@@kentlindal5422 the most up to date theory is that the shockwave from the blast that close would have killed them in any case, and it’s unlikely they were unconscious beforehand.
I feel sorry for Admiral Roz, he was quite competent and managed to take that circus of a fleet to join battle. That poor man. Heh, I would be throwing the aristocratic coat hangers out the torpedo lauchers. Isn't there a movie writer that can make a good movie, likely a comedy of horrors out of this? I would watch that.
ChatGPT-4 agrees. It first suggested that sloops and gunbots should be assigned the term. But then it was easily swayed... _"Absolutely, the term 'Especially Angry Raft' could be even more fittingly applied to _*_Monitors_*_ , reflecting both their physical characteristics and combat roles in a humorous light. Monitors were a class of warship designed primarily for coastal defense, riverine, or harbor warfare. They were characterized by their low freeboard, relatively flat deck, and one or more heavy guns mounted in revolving turrets. These features made them resemble rafts more closely than traditional oceangoing ships, and indeed, their lack of maneuverability and seaworthiness was a noted limitation._ _Monitors played significant roles in various conflicts, including the American Civil War, where they were introduced. The USS Monitor itself is famous for its battle with the CSS Virginia (Merrimack), showcasing the potential of such vessels. However, their design focused on firepower and armor at the expense of speed and handling, making them somewhat awkward in open sea conditions._ _Describing monitors as 'Especially Angry Rafts' humorously captures their essence: formidable in a fight and heavily armed, yet lacking in grace and agility on the water. This term underscores their surprising ferocity and effectiveness in their intended roles, despite an outward appearance that might not inspire fear at first glance."_
I love that some of those rafts were *SO angry* that they refused to carry their turret, preferring to try and stab the enemy, so the Union Navy relented and gave them a spar torpedo and a Dahlgren gun on a pivot, for potential berserk riverine brawling fun.
Fun Fact: the Norwegian coastal defences at the Drøbak sound used whitehead torpedoes to sink the german heavy crusier Blücher, one of the mot advanced cruisers of it's time
@@marshalleubanks2454 The torpedoes were newer than the guns of the fortress, and they both were made by the defunct empires of Austro-Hungary and Germany.
After the second sinking with all hands you would think someone might come to the conclusion it was a bad idea!. The fourth sinking with all hands was avoided by them losing the wreck, much to the potential crews relief 😊.
Like everything else they designed without stealing it from the Union, the Hunley was a piece of Junk that no competent person would go near. Fortunately for the Confederacy, most of their sailors had never seen water bigger than a river before and were blissfully unaware of the horror they were facing.
Llamas are however, very dangerous; so if you see one near where people are swimming you must yell out "Cuidado! Hay llamas!" (Look out! There are llamas!)
I was thinking it would be another miserable, lonely Valentine's Day for me, but Uncle Drach brought me a Bouquet of Knowledge and has made my day. Thank you, Uncle Drach.
What we know so far is that you need to be on preexisting favourable terms with them before they will tolerate being utilized as a fluffy floatation device. Which seems fair.
It really is wild to think about just how much the modern concept of the torpedo totally rebalanced naval warfare. Up until the torpedo….there really was no way for smaller ships to go actively toe-to-toe with heavier ships (mines are passive). Size was king, the amount of weapons and armor you can pack onto a vessel directly affects its combat power and size…so ships became larger and heavier which widened the game between a capital ship and lighter craft. Giving much smaller ships the ability to engage and potentially destroy capital ships is a complete game changer to every element of a navy…..from ship construction, funding, crew training, operational range, logistic supply, engine designs….you can go on and on. Truly a game changing weapon once it hit its stride.
And then factor in aircraft carrying them as well, a small craft from well beyond shot range travelling at high speed and you can see why carriers have become king.
@@chrissouthgate4554 Is it a fair point, though? As I understand it, the Armada had guns as a secondary weapon, with the infantry as the primary, while the English went all in on guns. It's the equivalent of hunting carriers from the 1940s with battleships built in the 1910s. That is, you're looking at fleets on different sides of a paradigm shift, in large part the same paradigm that the introduction of torpedoes upended.
And thus did the torpedoboat and then torpedoboat destroyer come into existence, and battleship mains everywhere cursed their coming. And then the carrier nation attacked…
My first encounter with the term "torpedo" in the pre-modern context was when I read Mysterious Island from Jules Verne, and a pirate ship cruising up a river was blown up with the help of a torpedo. I wondered how could they have had torpedoes back then, but a footnote in the book dutifully explained that in that era, the term "torpedo" simply meant an underwater explosive.
@@marshalleubanks2454 Yep, and they were right there and had to be steamed over. Jouett and Farragut both knew that very well - they could see the marker buoys. Apparently the torpedoes were heard scraping the hull as 'Hartford' passed over them, but only the one struck by 'Tecumseh' actually fired. Hell of a gamble though. And, of course, 'torpedo' is taken from the archaic term for an electric ray (bottom-dwelling fish which stuns with a bio-electric pulse). Electric fish are cool - it's why my favourite submarine is the excellently-named 'Gymnote' - and equally why I can't fathom that the USN never named a submarine 'USS Knifefish' (English name for the Gymnotids).
Drach mate, I was among the early Kawasaki(pole type Jet-skiers) and quickly learnt, how to stunt them, as you say porpoising the ski, was the start of any dive or flip stunt, and even something as plastic built as a Jt-ski with 650cc engine was hard work, to get it to go where you wanted, The Italian manned torpedo riders, were braver men than I Gunga Din
My favourite dead-end torpedo design is the Brennan torpedo. Used only in shore-based installations, it was both driven and (via differential gearing) controlled by long wires being wound from spools inside the torpedo via a pair of steam winding engines, giving it a for the late 1870s amazing range of 2000 yards. And arguably (with a guidance mechanism much less vulnerable to saltwater intrusion than the electrically-steered Lay torpedo), it was the first practical guided torpedo in the world. However, being used mainly as harbour defense by the British Empire during the late 19th and early 20th century, and taken out of service before the start of WWI, I don't think it was ever fired in anger.
I suppose slingers pelting oarsmen would count as that. AFAIK ~4000 BCE copper use was starting to take off around the Mediterranean, Mesopotamia, and around the Great Lakes. Might be guys getting pelted with copper tipped arrows for extra stabbiness when compared to stone tipped ones.
Robert Whitehead was born in Bolton in North West England, although inland it has quite a number of links to the sea, such as the Captain of the Carpathia Athur Rostron who rescued the survivors of the Titanic, everyday when going to school I would pass the plaque where he was born. The town also produced marine engines, iron plating and used to have a Royal naval gun factory at one point. And at the moment produce missiles for the Navy. My grandfather and great uncle were also in the Navy and HMS Dido was "payed" for by the town.
Robert Whitehead was assisted by his son, John, starting at age 12. John died of cancer at age 48, and his daughter Agathe Whitehead was the heiress of her grandfather's fortune. She married one Georg Ritter von Trapp, who became the most successful submarine captain in the Austro-Hungarian navy (using Whitehead torpedoes, of course). She died in 1922, leaving behind seven children. Later, they became (with their dad) the Trapp Family singers, and, still later, "The Sound of Music" was made about them. For some unknown reason this movie did not even mention the Whitehead torpedoes that made it all possible.
I live pretty near Rijeka, which is the now Croatian town previously known as Fiume where Robert Whitehead and Giovani Luppis developed the whitehead torpedo. Im pretty sure the whole factory is still here and has been turned into a museum.
I'll be honest when Drach started with before all this there was the time of the dinosaurs I was half expecting a Defunctland style tangent which got to and that dinosaur became fuel for a torpedo which sank a ship. 😂
1:30-ish "Colanderization..." LOL. That is a new phrase I'm going to need to plunder from you so that i may press-gang it into my daily vocabulary. Good show, Drach, much love to you and yours, from your crewmates across the pond and all of the way down in Texas. Keep up the untouchable work and the enviable wit you put into it.
My Grandfathers Brother, a sailor in WW1 was In Torpedoes. He absolutely refused to speak about them and apparently worked at a testing station for them. It seems he regarded them in the same way people who work on stealth do today. He absolutely refused to talk about his job..
Yet another excellent episode. (As per usual) You sir are not only a font of wisdom, your work ethic/output of quality content is most exceptional. Thank you muchly, Mr Drach' sir. 🦀🇦🇺✌️
I find it rather neat that one of the most significant developments of naval weaponry - arguably the most significant since the whole gunpowder cannon malarkey (and not exceeded since as what is a missile but a torpedo going through air :) ) - came from that very notable naval Nation, Austria :)
austo-hungary was incredible country and made many increfible achivments, so much so that the countries that it had under control have benefit from them. I live in Croatia,, wich was a part of Austro- Hungarian empire, and you can still to this day see impact that country had on croatia. Uljanik the shipyard made some incredible advanced ships, , Rijeka is the biggest cargo harbour in the country, and the land Registry or the cadastre is still mostly based on Austro-Hungarian maps I am so grateful that they did not destroy andconquer, but built and educate, we would be much behind time without them. You can see that with land Registry, it still has no progress ftrom thoes times till today.
Naval matters are not one of my longstanding interests and i don't know how you found me in the 'Southern Ocean' of TH-cam. You talk often in my sleep and when awake Sir, i am informed at a better level than in my paid for higher education. History of torpedoes: now i am listening. Long time subscribed.
13:29 On a side note, it technically has a higher KTD ratio than USS _Monitor._ The _Monitor_ never sank any enemy warships before she sank on New Year’s Eve, 1862.
@Drachinifel I cannot wait for "another day"! That is, I am definitely looking forward to the continuation of this, the 1st episode (I hope), in the series on torpedoes and their development.
Just a slight correction Drach, the Hunley was never officially commissioned in the Confederate Navy, so although she is referred as the CSS Hunley she was just H.L. Hunley
The poking device! Seriously the skills of Lord Drach to switch from one interesting subject to another is just... Godly! I am gotta find the address of Charles so a very serious thing can happen... Drach to be knighted! And I am a French republican 😂
I've watched every video Drach's done, many of them more than once. This is already a top favorite ...an instant classic! It has everything I love about Drachinifel's videos, it's very informative with outstanding supporting images, and it's highly entertaining (as usual). From the amusing intro: "Okay, maybe we're not going quite that far back" to the trademark sarcasm I've come to expect from the best Drachininifel videos: "Civil wars you see were all the fashion in late nineteenth century South America. You can't really hold yourself to be a proper South American country without at least having had one viscously murderous internal conflict in that time period." I also really liked the look of the brass Howell Torpedo (practically a work of art.) It's videos like this one that maintains Drachinifel's status as my all-time favorite TH-camr. Keep up the GREAT WORK Drach!
I'm not even three minutes in and rolling on the floor cackling - I'd never before considered a ship being "seaworthy" to be possible without the hull being "watertight", but the Jesus of Lubeck altered my consciousness without needing the help of intoxication. Almost 40 minutes to go
I wrote a little essay about the Whitehead Torpedo during my time at University. A lecture under the fabulous title "Habsburg goes global". I am quite sure our Professor had not intended to generate a milhist topic essay xD. Anyway, nice to see you cover this.
Possibly the one naval weapon that changed naval warfare more than any other, from the rise of the submarine to torpedo bombers putting an end to big-gun dominance.
@@burnstick1380Exactly, archers and catapults only go so far - and the Romans basically turned their ships into naval siege towers with gangplank and used their army training to board the ships. Guns really changed sea warfare, but sails and bad weather capable ships and so on also brought a lot of changes.
@@advorak8529 Yup but all in all I think Guns brought the biggest change. Maybe rockets / torpedoes are equal. Maybe we should differ between propulsion and offensive power, because steam powered ships where also true game changers.
In re Hunley... The hull was not thick enough to ameliorate the overpressure of the warhead. The crew was either killed or knocked out by the overpressure, and the Hunley then drifted away and sank.
The neval museum at La Spezia has a full sized version of pretty much every iteration in this video. If you are anywhere close i suggest you visit. Its not a very large museum, but it will fill up 2 or 3 hours , maybe more if you know Italian and can read everything.
Really interesting, parallel developments, industrial spies, incremental development and consolidation of several ideas around. You can see most of those things happening when new technologies start to flourish.
For all the torpedoheads, go and visit Rijeka, Croatia. Whitehead owned company really transformed my hometown. It was a boom in all engineering senses of ways. At one point the best engineerings and craftsmen came to work and live in the Torpedo district. You can see the industry zone to this day, but it has mostly been converted to oil rafinery and tractor fabrication in the 20th century. I've played with the ingenious brass gyroscope head pieces and fuses while setting up a Maritime museum exhibition in 2015. The tolerances on those things are sick. Most parts were used in as cast state. Whitehead's mausoleum, Torpedo museum, Maritime museum and plenty 'private' property lawn displayed torpedoes you can see in Rijeka. My favorite... Torpedo launching 4 story house with an observatory, launching ports, both surface and submerged. Unfortunately, degraded to hell. It is a crime the local governing allowed its decay. On a side note, the history of patent trading and torpedo sales is really interesting. Japanese bought them before WW1, while USA did not believe in it. Oh how they changed their mind quickly!
The skipper of the steam torpedo boat that sank the Albemarle, Lt William B Cushing was awarded the Medal of Honor for his feat. His brother, First Lt (Acting Major) Alonzo Cushing, was awarded the honor VERY posthumously as he refused orders to go to the rear after being grievously wounded and continued to command his battery, which ended up being the focal point of "Pickett's Charge" on the Third Day at Gettysburg.
I love your dry sense of humour ! And you got away without mentioning the name of the repair ship that I was fully expecting...... (asking if anybody could see torpedo boats ?) ! !🤣🤣
"Is that one of those new Giovani Dupus torpedoes approaching?" "Yes sir, I believe it is." "Ensign fetch the 15 foot anti torpedo stick! And hurry, we only have 10 minutes to react!"
I wonder how many people realize that “damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!” was spoken by somebody who probably had a thick southern accent (since Farragut was from Tennessee)🤔
Enjoyed this dive into the history and much overlooked world of torpedo's. As a suggestion could you do a bio of HMS Wilton. WWII hunter destroyer and her roil in operation Pedestal Many thanks for excellent Chanel. .
Best opening to a Drach special yet !! I was truly transported to the time of the dinosaurs 😂. Seriously tho, best history of torpedo development I have seen ❤
Hi from Jacksonville, Florida Drac. Here we have the Union troop transport "Maple Leaf" which was struck by a Confederate "mine", sinking her with the loss of 100 hands.
Genuinely excellent, as always. Many thanks "...the various wars that erupted before World War Three..." Oops, I misheard for some reason. Can't imagine why.
Fun fact: Whitehead’s daughter (or granddaughter) Agathe married Captain von Trapp ,who was the most successful WW I sub captain in the Austrian Hungarian navy, and who later married Maria a/k/a/ Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music.
Very funny joke lines in this episode Drach, didn't realize how many till I started reading the comments. So looking forward to the next installment, like always! Ps. Hope you weren't too inconvenienced by our little blizzard yesterday morning here on the east coast.
I finally realized why many smaller countries couldn't have modern ships like semi dreadnoughts and battleships was because u need such huge amount of infrastructure and industry to even make some of the components for a ship never mind armor and weapons. Its so incredible how much support and supporting experience and technology know how to make a war vessel. It's so impressive what America and Britain came up with during ww2 the battleships and cruisers were so incredible. Being able to build ships that big that just don't fall apart from the weight alone is amazing
Pinned post for Q&A :)
How bad would it have been for both the Entente and the Central Powers if Japan had declared the Anglo-Japanese Alliance null and joined the latter in WWI, and how would this affect future naval developments?
In the Pearl Harbor salvage videos, you mention USS Cassin and USS Downes essentially getting new ships built around whatever machinery was salvageable. Were they built to the existing Mahan plans, or were they updated/upgraded at all?
Why would a blunt head be more hydrodynamic? Many marine animals are pointed, while some others are blunt.
So foxholes naval update finally came out recently and I wonder what you think of the ships models and how well do they stack up to pre ww1 ships
@@arandomdudewithhobbies3318
To greatly oversimplify, up to a point, the reduction in drag from reduced surface area outweighs the slight increase from the blunt front being more perpendicular to the flow. In addition, on the front of an object, you aren't really worried about flow separation - almost no matter what you do, the flow will stay attached to the object. As a result, the best shape for hydrodynamics (and subsonic aerodynamics) is basically the classic "airfoil" shape - relatively blunt and rounded on the front, with a long pointed tapering rear.
(This applies to submarines, torpedoes, aircraft, etc, but note that it does *not* apply to surface ships - the details of how they interact with the surface of the water and the waves generated by that complicate things quite a bit)
"Colanderization of the enemy" might be my new favorite Drach-ism
He stole that one from the Germans, probably. We have a saying along those lines.
@@theol.1988 The irony being that Drach is one of those English speakers that tries (harder than most) to speak as little true English (Germanic) as he can so he can sound smurt wid them romance wordz. I'm being a little tongue in cheek, as it's not going to be something he thinks about nowadays, and will stem from his upbringing and schooling, but after getting black pilled on English I can't help but seethe lol
It is a classic.
seem like a good T-Shirt
@@tommeakin1732what’s wrong with English?
In Whitehead's diagram he calls the back of the torpedo the "Engine Room" which I really appreciate. There are tiny, sweaty, oil and grease stained little mice engineers with goggles and spanners hard at work to keep the engine running. Head canon. Oh and they dive away to safety at the last minute!
Like Minion Mice I assume😂
As a former engineer, your description’s omission of ‘degenerate’ and ‘chemically-addicted’ is appreciated, if not technically accurate.
They may have been mice but they were listed as rat-ings
@@davidspring5149 Nothing wrong with a caffeine addiction, if you guys are anything like computer engineers.
@@CiaranMaxwellme, an electrical engineer reading this be like, “My God, we’re all the same!”
A note, The Hunley's crew were likley killed immediately by the blast from the spar torpdeo, the movement afterward was wile it was sinking and affected by the currents. The
US National Archives has a talk about it called "The Fate of the Submarine H.L. Hunley" from Dec 11, 2017.
The going theory is that they died of asphyxiation in the run up and momentum saw to the rest. Or at least *A* theory...
@@kentlindal5422 The suffocation theory is specifically addressed in the talk above and evidence suggests against it. Worth watching the talk if you haven't.
@@kentlindal5422 the most up to date theory is that the shockwave from the blast that close would have killed them in any case, and it’s unlikely they were unconscious beforehand.
@@TheGallantDrake how can an showave kill them when the hull is intact?
@@Preyhawk81 Same way you get a concussion
Torpedoes? But if there are torpedoes, there will be torpedo boats! [Kamchatka intensifies]
Followed by an angry Rozhestvensky throwing 50 pairs of binoculars.
do you see torpedo boat's ?????
@@topgun1457 Caesar Kunikov today before being sunk (probably)
Battle stations! Armed the binoculars!!!
*sees torpedo boats*
I believe in you brave little Kamchatka
Drach: *uploads video*
Ghost of _Kamchatka_ : *sees title and shakes in fear*
*I see torpedo boats!*
HMS _Repulse_ : "Not again." ._.
*(Hail of thrown binoculars and High-Born Russian Swearing)*
Admiral (then leutenant) Rozhestvenskiy: Missed me?
I feel sorry for Admiral Roz, he was quite competent and managed to take that circus of a fleet to join battle. That poor man. Heh, I would be throwing the aristocratic coat hangers out the torpedo lauchers. Isn't there a movie writer that can make a good movie, likely a comedy of horrors out of this? I would watch that.
Especially Angry Raft. 💯 Percent accurate description of monitors...😂😂😂😂
Possibly not 'the' angriest raft though - I'd suggest that the Llama-used-as-a-liferaft was undoubtedly bloody angry as well.....
Explody floaty mine torpedoes
ChatGPT-4 agrees. It first suggested that sloops and gunbots should be assigned the term. But then it was easily swayed...
_"Absolutely, the term 'Especially Angry Raft' could be even more fittingly applied to _*_Monitors_*_ , reflecting both their physical characteristics and combat roles in a humorous light. Monitors were a class of warship designed primarily for coastal defense, riverine, or harbor warfare. They were characterized by their low freeboard, relatively flat deck, and one or more heavy guns mounted in revolving turrets. These features made them resemble rafts more closely than traditional oceangoing ships, and indeed, their lack of maneuverability and seaworthiness was a noted limitation._
_Monitors played significant roles in various conflicts, including the American Civil War, where they were introduced. The USS Monitor itself is famous for its battle with the CSS Virginia (Merrimack), showcasing the potential of such vessels. However, their design focused on firepower and armor at the expense of speed and handling, making them somewhat awkward in open sea conditions._
_Describing monitors as 'Especially Angry Rafts' humorously captures their essence: formidable in a fight and heavily armed, yet lacking in grace and agility on the water. This term underscores their surprising ferocity and effectiveness in their intended roles, despite an outward appearance that might not inspire fear at first glance."_
I love that some of those rafts were *SO angry* that they refused to carry their turret, preferring to try and stab the enemy, so the Union Navy relented and gave them a spar torpedo and a Dahlgren gun on a pivot, for potential berserk riverine brawling fun.
Fun Fact: the Norwegian coastal defences at the Drøbak sound used whitehead torpedoes to sink the german heavy crusier Blücher, one of the mot advanced cruisers of it's time
And those torpedoes had been made in about 1900 and had been practice fired some 200 times.
@@marshalleubanks2454 The torpedoes were newer than the guns of the fortress, and they both were made by the defunct empires of Austro-Hungary and Germany.
Sort of like using a Hawk missile to whack an F-15 or Mig 31.
@@CharlesYuditsky I just imagined the chinese baloon shooting back once the F22 comes close enough lmao
@@aRealAndHumanManThing i was hoping the Chinese baloon said "Eat at City Wok" on top
That dig at the Hunley's kill rate is even worse when you consider that the designer, Hunley, was also lost in the third sinking.
not often that a ship's designer goes down with his design. It's only honourable.
*Second sinking. He was not part of the third crew
After the second sinking with all hands you would think someone might come to the conclusion it was a bad idea!.
The fourth sinking with all hands was avoided by them losing the wreck, much to the potential crews relief 😊.
@@jwenting not so honorable when you remember that he died for the confederacy
Like everything else they designed without stealing it from the Union, the Hunley was a piece of Junk that no competent person would go near. Fortunately for the Confederacy, most of their sailors had never seen water bigger than a river before and were blissfully unaware of the horror they were facing.
A pet lama being peddled to shore. This trivia fact will stay with me forever 😂
I'm listening to this as background noise and had to stop everything I was doing and go back to make sure I heard him correctly.
Without biting, kicking or spitting on him... much.
I thought he said pet iguana 😂
"Don't tell me, we're about to get hit by a huge torpedo. Right?"
"Yup."
"About to be dumped in the water?"
"Most likely."
"Bring it on."
Llamas are however, very dangerous; so if you see one near where people are swimming you must yell out "Cuidado! Hay llamas!" (Look out! There are llamas!)
I was thinking it would be another miserable, lonely Valentine's Day for me, but Uncle Drach brought me a Bouquet of Knowledge and has made my day. Thank you, Uncle Drach.
31:42 I want to know more about the history of naval llamas.
A must have video
A must have video
Ship's Camelid.
The naval equivalent of the Australian Emu Force.
What we know so far is that you need to be on preexisting favourable terms with them before they will tolerate being utilized as a fluffy floatation device. Which seems fair.
It really is wild to think about just how much the modern concept of the torpedo totally rebalanced naval warfare. Up until the torpedo….there really was no way for smaller ships to go actively toe-to-toe with heavier ships (mines are passive). Size was king, the amount of weapons and armor you can pack onto a vessel directly affects its combat power and size…so ships became larger and heavier which widened the game between a capital ship and lighter craft. Giving much smaller ships the ability to engage and potentially destroy capital ships is a complete game changer to every element of a navy…..from ship construction, funding, crew training, operational range, logistic supply, engine designs….you can go on and on. Truly a game changing weapon once it hit its stride.
And then factor in aircraft carrying them as well, a small craft from well beyond shot range travelling at high speed and you can see why carriers have become king.
The size of ships is mostly true, but not entirely. I am thinking of the Spanish Armada here.
@@chrissouthgate4554 Is it a fair point, though? As I understand it, the Armada had guns as a secondary weapon, with the infantry as the primary, while the English went all in on guns. It's the equivalent of hunting carriers from the 1940s with battleships built in the 1910s.
That is, you're looking at fleets on different sides of a paradigm shift, in large part the same paradigm that the introduction of torpedoes upended.
But small ships are more agile, cheaper and can reach more places.
This means they can control a wider area then a big ship.
And thus did the torpedoboat and then torpedoboat destroyer come into existence, and battleship mains everywhere cursed their coming.
And then the carrier nation attacked…
My first encounter with the term "torpedo" in the pre-modern context was when I read Mysterious Island from Jules Verne, and a pirate ship cruising up a river was blown up with the help of a torpedo. I wondered how could they have had torpedoes back then, but a footnote in the book dutifully explained that in that era, the term "torpedo" simply meant an underwater explosive.
It was what we call today a mine.
Yes, "Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead!" was especially bold as the torpedoes in question were stationary.
@@marshalleubanks2454 But still sunk a monitor (USS Tecumseh) with the loss of 90+ of her crew, most of them in fact. About 20 survivors.
@@marshalleubanks2454 Yep, and they were right there and had to be steamed over. Jouett and Farragut both knew that very well - they could see the marker buoys. Apparently the torpedoes were heard scraping the hull as 'Hartford' passed over them, but only the one struck by 'Tecumseh' actually fired. Hell of a gamble though.
And, of course, 'torpedo' is taken from the archaic term for an electric ray (bottom-dwelling fish which stuns with a bio-electric pulse). Electric fish are cool - it's why my favourite submarine is the excellently-named 'Gymnote' - and equally why I can't fathom that the USN never named a submarine 'USS Knifefish' (English name for the Gymnotids).
@@AndrewGivensI didn't know the Mark 14 torpedo technology goes back to the CSA.
Drach mate, I was among the early Kawasaki(pole type Jet-skiers) and quickly learnt, how to stunt them, as you say porpoising the ski, was the start of any dive or flip stunt, and even something as plastic built as a Jt-ski with 650cc engine was hard work, to get it to go where you wanted, The Italian manned torpedo riders, were braver men than I Gunga Din
They called their chariots “maiale” (pig) for a reason.
The accompanying illustrations, paintings and photos
are some of the best work I've ever seen on this channel.
Agreed. I really benefited from the sepia print of the depth control device for the original Whitehead. Elegant.
My favourite dead-end torpedo design is the Brennan torpedo. Used only in shore-based installations, it was both driven and (via differential gearing) controlled by long wires being wound from spools inside the torpedo via a pair of steam winding engines, giving it a for the late 1870s amazing range of 2000 yards. And arguably (with a guidance mechanism much less vulnerable to saltwater intrusion than the electrically-steered Lay torpedo), it was the first practical guided torpedo in the world.
However, being used mainly as harbour defense by the British Empire during the late 19th and early 20th century, and taken out of service before the start of WWI, I don't think it was ever fired in anger.
Like, a wet version of a wire-guided missile?
@@joshuahadams Not just wire-guided, wire-powered, entirely mechanically. Modern torpedoes, at least those used by submarines, are wire-guided.
0:51 Aw no, and here I was hopeful the channel scope had expanded to 'throwing rocks at your enemy's log raft circa 4000 BCE ' 😆
Let's not forget the technological advances of the spear and then the spear thrower. Use of the bow is outside the scope of this video. :-)
I suppose slingers pelting oarsmen would count as that.
AFAIK ~4000 BCE copper use was starting to take off around the Mediterranean, Mesopotamia, and around the Great Lakes. Might be guys getting pelted with copper tipped arrows for extra stabbiness when compared to stone tipped ones.
@@joshuahadams Slings are effective, and easily made by pretty much anyone who knows how. The logistical advantages of fielding slingers are obvious.
love me some long range hole poking devices
US Mk 14 Torpedo: short range hull massager.
@@CAP198462The navy equivalent of the heeresanklopfgerät?
Explosive bayonets. (I posted this before but my comment disappeared.)
@@dogcarman in one sense yes. Although the Heer replaced the 37mm much faster than the USN did the Mk 14
Torpedoes were tin into targets like a knight using a lance - early torpedoes had a range of well under 1000 yards and speeds as slow as 6 knots…
I'm still always amused that a modern heavy cruiser like the Blucher was sunk by torpedoes older than her crews grandparents
Tbf explosives are explosives and the blucher was used very incorrectly there.
I’m actually a relative of Robert Fulton on my mother’s side so cool to hear you talking about him!!!
Wait, was that THE Rozhestvenskiy? Foil of the Kamchatka? Bane of Shipboard Beast and Fowl? Mighty Enemy of all binoculars Rozhestvenskiy??
Robert Whitehead was born in Bolton in North West England, although inland it has quite a number of links to the sea, such as the Captain of the Carpathia Athur Rostron who rescued the survivors of the Titanic, everyday when going to school I would pass the plaque where he was born. The town also produced marine engines, iron plating and used to have a Royal naval gun factory at one point. And at the moment produce missiles for the Navy. My grandfather and great uncle were also in the Navy and HMS Dido was "payed" for by the town.
Robert Whitehead was assisted by his son, John, starting at age 12. John died of cancer at age 48, and his daughter Agathe Whitehead was the heiress of her grandfather's fortune. She married one Georg Ritter von Trapp, who became the most successful submarine captain in the Austro-Hungarian navy (using Whitehead torpedoes, of course). She died in 1922, leaving behind seven children. Later, they became (with their dad) the Trapp Family singers, and, still later, "The Sound of Music" was made about them. For some unknown reason this movie did not even mention the Whitehead torpedoes that made it all possible.
There is also a Whitehead Park in Bury with a model torpedo on a plinth.
I live pretty near Rijeka, which is the now Croatian town previously known as Fiume where Robert Whitehead and Giovani Luppis developed the whitehead torpedo. Im pretty sure the whole factory is still here and has been turned into a museum.
@@Rob-e8w wow I knew Whitehead Park very well, never saw the torpedo. Cheers for the info!
@@dankovac1609I thought his name was Vukić though.
I'll be honest when Drach started with before all this there was the time of the dinosaurs I was half expecting a Defunctland style tangent which got to and that dinosaur became fuel for a torpedo which sank a ship. 😂
Do not spoil the April s fool video 😂
Research Abiogenic oil to debunk that 🧠
14:05 I used to suffer from premature detonation too
Maybe your Doctor can help...
1:30-ish "Colanderization..." LOL. That is a new phrase I'm going to need to plunder from you so that i may press-gang it into my daily vocabulary. Good show, Drach, much love to you and yours, from your crewmates across the pond and all of the way down in Texas. Keep up the untouchable work and the enviable wit you put into it.
Thanks!
Drach, you are so timely! Periscope to starboard!!!
torpedo boats ahead in the mist, komrad vizeadmiral!
Torpedo los!@@jwenting
Straight ahead and damm the torpedoes, that's our Drach.
My Grandfathers Brother, a sailor in WW1 was In Torpedoes. He absolutely refused to speak about them and apparently worked at a testing station for them. It seems he regarded them in the same way people who work on stealth do today. He absolutely refused to talk about his job..
Yet another excellent episode. (As per usual)
You sir are not only a font of wisdom, your work ethic/output of quality content is most exceptional. Thank you muchly, Mr Drach' sir.
🦀🇦🇺✌️
I find it rather neat that one of the most significant developments of naval weaponry - arguably the most significant since the whole gunpowder cannon malarkey (and not exceeded since as what is a missile but a torpedo going through air :) ) - came from that very notable naval Nation, Austria :)
austo-hungary was incredible country and made many increfible achivments, so much so that the countries that it had under control have benefit from them. I live in Croatia,, wich was a part of Austro- Hungarian empire, and you can still to this day see impact that country had on croatia. Uljanik the shipyard made some incredible advanced ships, , Rijeka is the biggest cargo harbour in the country, and the land Registry or the cadastre is still mostly based on Austro-Hungarian maps I am so grateful that they did not destroy andconquer, but built and educate, we would be much behind time without them. You can see that with land Registry, it still has no progress ftrom thoes times till today.
Outstanding job on this Drach 👏
Naval matters are not one of my longstanding interests and i don't know how you found me in the 'Southern Ocean' of TH-cam. You talk often in my sleep and when awake Sir, i am informed at a better level than in my paid for higher education. History of torpedoes: now i am listening. Long time subscribed.
13:29
On a side note, it technically has a higher KTD ratio than USS _Monitor._ The _Monitor_ never sank any enemy warships before she sank on New Year’s Eve, 1862.
Shall we talk about a certain ram and a certain dynamite gun cruiser?
38:56 I must admit, I am overjoyed that this conflict and battle was finally mentioned on your channel!
@Drachinifel I cannot wait for "another day"! That is, I am definitely looking forward to the continuation of this, the 1st episode (I hope), in the series on torpedoes and their development.
Have been wanting this video for years, and always been tempted to ask on the subject.
Thanks Drach!!!
The surprise for me was learning about the early use of searchlights.
Excellent, Drach! Looking forward to part II! "The Kamchatka's high tech precision torpedo detection system"!😀😹
The new intro music is excellent Drach, spot on pal. The content doesn't even requre praise, it's just superb, but we all know that anyway!
Was just thinking about this yesterday
It's a good topic
I was looking for a video on this topic, but there was a supeos8ng lack if info on TH-cam regarding this subject. Glad you finally are making this.
Drach, I forgot to lay on praise for what you do-and how well you do it! ❤️
Just a slight correction Drach, the Hunley was never officially commissioned in the Confederate Navy, so although she is referred as the CSS Hunley she was just H.L. Hunley
HL?
A new Drach just dropped?
There go my plans for the next hour!
Never ever hesitate to ditch a meeting or an urgent task force in case of a new Drach video 😂
The poking device! Seriously the skills of Lord Drach to switch from one interesting subject to another is just... Godly! I am gotta find the address of Charles so a very serious thing can happen... Drach to be knighted! And I am a French republican 😂
I've watched every video Drach's done, many of them more than once. This is already a top favorite ...an instant classic! It has everything I love about Drachinifel's videos, it's very informative with outstanding supporting images, and it's highly entertaining (as usual). From the amusing intro: "Okay, maybe we're not going quite that far back" to the trademark sarcasm I've come to expect from the best Drachininifel videos: "Civil wars you see were all the fashion in late nineteenth century South America. You can't really hold yourself to be a proper South American country without at least having had one viscously murderous internal conflict in that time period." I also really liked the look of the brass Howell Torpedo (practically a work of art.) It's videos like this one that maintains Drachinifel's status as my all-time favorite TH-camr. Keep up the GREAT WORK Drach!
Excellent. This is a topicIve been wanting to learn about for a while now!
I'm not even three minutes in and rolling on the floor cackling - I'd never before considered a ship being "seaworthy" to be possible without the hull being "watertight", but the Jesus of Lubeck altered my consciousness without needing the help of intoxication. Almost 40 minutes to go
I wrote a little essay about the Whitehead Torpedo during my time at University. A lecture under the fabulous title "Habsburg goes global". I am quite sure our Professor had not intended to generate a milhist topic essay xD.
Anyway, nice to see you cover this.
Good, enjoyable video. thank you. Enjoy your Atlantic transit.
Awesome video Mr.Drach! I watched this right after I watched it😊.
Wish it was longer and more detailed
Great introduction music ! Sounds like what I'd like to hear while beginning a conquest.
(Videos are always excellent i wish to add.)
Possibly the one naval weapon that changed naval warfare more than any other, from the rise of the submarine to torpedo bombers putting an end to big-gun dominance.
All the USN fast carriers but Princeton were sunk with the help of torpedoes.
Well the invention of guns also changed naval warfare drastically, maybe even more than torpedoes.
If it worked..
@@burnstick1380Exactly, archers and catapults only go so far - and the Romans basically turned their ships into naval siege towers with gangplank and used their army training to board the ships.
Guns really changed sea warfare, but sails and bad weather capable ships and so on also brought a lot of changes.
@@advorak8529 Yup but all in all I think Guns brought the biggest change. Maybe rockets / torpedoes are equal.
Maybe we should differ between propulsion and offensive power, because steam powered ships where also true game changers.
4.30 am and Drach drops a new vid, who needs sleep?:)
'Colanderisation'!! Brilliant there!
Blücher:Zes are no threat to a state of ze art ship like me!
Oscarberg Fortress: Mwahahahahahahahahahah
Torpedoes and those adorable sea mines will finally have the series they deserves.
Excellent video!
In re Hunley... The hull was not thick enough to ameliorate the overpressure of the warhead. The crew was either killed or knocked out by the overpressure, and the Hunley then drifted away and sank.
The Jeune École adherent within me rejoices!
Ah another brother ! Good to see that.
Great vid as always!
The Howl torpedo is a beautiful. The bronze construction, the dual props. It's so steampunk.
The neval museum at La Spezia has a full sized version of pretty much every iteration in this video. If you are anywhere close i suggest you visit. Its not a very large museum, but it will fill up 2 or 3 hours , maybe more if you know Italian and can read everything.
Really interesting, parallel developments, industrial spies, incremental development and consolidation of several ideas around. You can see most of those things happening when new technologies start to flourish.
For all the torpedoheads, go and visit Rijeka, Croatia. Whitehead owned company really transformed my hometown. It was a boom in all engineering senses of ways. At one point the best engineerings and craftsmen came to work and live in the Torpedo district. You can see the industry zone to this day, but it has mostly been converted to oil rafinery and tractor fabrication in the 20th century.
I've played with the ingenious brass gyroscope head pieces and fuses while setting up a Maritime museum exhibition in 2015. The tolerances on those things are sick. Most parts were used in as cast state.
Whitehead's mausoleum, Torpedo museum, Maritime museum and plenty 'private' property lawn displayed torpedoes you can see in Rijeka. My favorite... Torpedo launching 4 story house with an observatory, launching ports, both surface and submerged. Unfortunately, degraded to hell. It is a crime the local governing allowed its decay.
On a side note, the history of patent trading and torpedo sales is really interesting. Japanese bought them before WW1, while USA did not believe in it. Oh how they changed their mind quickly!
This was one of the funniest most interesting ones you have done. you see similar with the war in Ukraine right now and it gives context to history.
Marvelous intro...
The skipper of the steam torpedo boat that sank the Albemarle, Lt William B Cushing was awarded the Medal of Honor for his feat. His brother, First Lt (Acting Major) Alonzo Cushing, was awarded the honor VERY posthumously as he refused orders to go to the rear after being grievously wounded and continued to command his battery, which ended up being the focal point of "Pickett's Charge" on the Third Day at Gettysburg.
Love the artwork.
I love your dry sense of humour ! And you got away without mentioning the name of the repair ship that I was fully expecting...... (asking if anybody could see torpedo boats ?) ! !🤣🤣
Amazing production indeed, thanks.
love your entry^^
"Is that one of those new Giovani Dupus torpedoes approaching?" "Yes sir, I believe it is." "Ensign fetch the 15 foot anti torpedo stick! And hurry, we only have 10 minutes to react!"
That was really neat, ty!
awesome video
I wonder how many people realize that “damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!” was spoken by somebody who probably had a thick southern accent (since Farragut was from Tennessee)🤔
And who was of course talking about mines.
Enjoyed this dive into the history and much overlooked world of torpedo's.
As a suggestion could you do a bio of HMS Wilton. WWII hunter destroyer and her roil in operation Pedestal
Many thanks for excellent Chanel. .
Love your videos, but this one left me with that sinking feeling.
Best opening to a Drach special yet !! I was truly transported to the time of the dinosaurs 😂. Seriously tho, best history of torpedo development I have seen ❤
I definitely want a tangent video on the "davis torpedo" at the end there. That's such a funny idea.
Looking forward to part 2
More torpedo related vids. This was great!!
Hi from Jacksonville, Florida Drac. Here we have the Union troop transport "Maple Leaf" which was struck by a Confederate "mine", sinking her with the loss of 100 hands.
Genuinely excellent, as always. Many thanks
"...the various wars that erupted before World War Three..."
Oops, I misheard for some reason. Can't imagine why.
Although your videos are always good, this one has been particularly fascinating.
Thanks, very well illustrated video.
Thanks Drach
Fun fact: Whitehead’s daughter (or granddaughter) Agathe married Captain von Trapp ,who was the most successful WW I sub captain in the Austrian Hungarian navy, and who later married Maria a/k/a/ Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music.
Very funny joke lines in this episode Drach, didn't realize how many till I started reading the comments. So looking forward to the next installment, like always! Ps. Hope you weren't too inconvenienced by our little blizzard yesterday morning here on the east coast.
I would love to see you do a special on the H.L. Hunley
"[ ... ], much."
I really do enjoy your storytelling.
Fantastic video, thanks!!
I finally realized why many smaller countries couldn't have modern ships like semi dreadnoughts and battleships was because u need such huge amount of infrastructure and industry to even make some of the components for a ship never mind armor and weapons. Its so incredible how much support and supporting experience and technology know how to make a war vessel. It's so impressive what America and Britain came up with during ww2 the battleships and cruisers were so incredible. Being able to build ships that big that just don't fall apart from the weight alone is amazing
At last my request for torpedo launch systems has been answered.... Thanks Drac
Thanks for the great content
23:52 -- Battle of Pacocha on 29 May 1877 off Pacocha, Peru (subsequently abandoned).
Can't wait for the WWI video and the insanity that was the MAS boat.
As a Star Trek fan, I implore you to prepare “The Genesis of the Genesis Torpedo” for your April 1st special.