The British did rather well at that. Operation Mincemeat was so successful that when REAL plans for Operation Overlord fell into German hands later on, it was dismissed as a rerun of Mincemeat.
@JZ's BFF Not really comparable. The Germans got incredibly lucky and the British simply weren't ready for the exact thing they predicted the Germans would try, when they actually tried it. Had all the intended resources been deployed against Operation Cerberus, the German losses would have been far higher. (So would the British losses, but perhaps the Fairy Swordfish that had played a key role in taking out Bismark might not have all been shot down to no effect.)
@JZ's BFF So you think that the Germans anticipated that the British would make a night-time battleship attack using an air raid as a distraction, then?
@@tonyromano6220 They more or less did exactly that in Operation Overlord. There had been a huge project to trick the Germans into thinking the invasion would be near Calais, where the Channel is narrowest. The deception operation included an entire fake army (under the command of General Paton, one of the most aggressive and effective Allied ground commanders who OBVIOUSLY wouldn't be put in charge of a DECEPTION operation) and an entire fake invasion fleet massed in and near Dover. Meanwhile, the real invasion force was keeping a low profile further west along the southern coast of England. The Germans EXPECTED the invasion to be near Calais, so it was relatively easy to trick them into thinking it would be there.
“Look, a distraction!” Basically exactly what they did. And yet that said you’d be amazed how hard it is for me to see warships. For example the USS Massachusetts is docked in Fall River, I know her location, and I’ve been there a dozen times. And yet every time I pass over the bridge I have a hell of a time spotting her. Then there’s the Salem in Quincy. I visited the area and went over the bridge overlooking her several times, and somehow missed a cruiser even bigger than the battleship out in the open. At least the BB I have the excuse that it’s obstructed by the streets and buildings of downtown Fall River. Salem is RIGHT THERE and roughly the size of a North Carolina class!
Add the USS Alabama to that list, you only really notice her when you’re practically right on top of her. Mainly a case of being able to see the thing but you can’t make it out because the city, or the docks depending on where on the bridge you are, is behind her.
"There are few true 'Surprises' in naval combat. 'Surprise' is what happens when someone's seen something all along . . . and thought it was something else." - Admiral Honor Harrington
Like when the Japanese hit Yorktown during the battle of Midway and thought they sunk her. However, she didnt skink and her damage control parties got her operational again. The Japanese then mistakenly attacked her again thinking she was the Enterprise and did manage to knock her out for good, but were mistaken in thinking that they had now sunk two of our carriers rather than just one.
1:34 "HMS Revenge, seen here under fire from a Japanese Super-Ultra-Mega Yamato armed with 1x 120" gun, whose shell can be seen on the far left of the image."
@@Diego-zz1df: Ah, yes-when Mr. Gulliver finally catches up with Mr. Pither, believing he's safe, only for Mr. Pither to point out the inept firing squad, now with bayonets fixed.
@@Eric_Hutton.1980 15 Mar, 1952 - The USS Wisconsin receives its first direct hit in history when one of four shells from a North Korean 152mm gun battery struck the shield of a starboard 40mm mount. Subsequently, the Wisconsin destroyed the battery with a full 16in salvo before continuing her mission. After destroying the artillery battery with her big guns, the Wisconsin received a message from one of her escorts, USS Buck (DD-761). The message read simply, "Temper, temper"
6th February 1941 Force H left Gibraltar and steamed 700 miles and on 9th Feb carried a 90 minute daylight bombardment of Genoa starting at 8:15 am. HMS Malaya and HMS Renown fired 272 x 15-inch shells and over 400 x 4.5 inch shells and HMS Sheffield 782 x 6-inch shells. HMS Ark Royal provided air cover and the forced was screened by 10 destroyers. Forced H then retired to Gibraltar with the Fleet Air Air shooting down one Italian reconnaissance aircraft. Total British losses was one Swordfish aircraft. One of several daring British naval bombardments carried out during WW2 which defied the logic of air power advocates claims that such missions would be impossible.
Until about 1/2 way through - I thought you were joking and just posing a what if scenario. But it actually happened - Operation Medium. Thank you VERY much for this.
@@migkillerphantom In general with allied intelligence you almost get the impression that they were pranking the Axis and like they fell for fucking everything. The USSR once made up a secret Tsarist ring in Moscow and caught German intelligence hook line and sinker with it.
@@hedgehog3180 it really helps that fascists tend to think they are _way_ smarter than they actually are while simultaneously being rather anti-intellectual. Relevant: www.interglacial.com/pub/text/Umberto_Eco_-_Eternal_Fascism.html
The Japanese tried doing the same thing but different by attacking the Aleutian Islands right before Midway. But because Nimitz was reading Yamamoto's mail the Aleutian Islands were basically ignored. Figured anyone that went there would be so cold that they would eventually leave cuz of the weather. But then Halsey had to go & fall for the "Hey we have aircraft carriers with about 10 planes on it trick." Which hung Taffy 3 out to dry. The greatest thing about the Naval Battle of Samar is the Japanese was faced with surface units & aircraft at the same time. When they had the big guns firing the AA crews couldn't man there guns. And when the AA crews were manning their AA guns they couldn't fire the bigger guns at surface units. So the Japanese were faced with major conundrum! Do we want to fight the planes or the ships? F-IT!!! Run away!!
That is so awesome & so hilarious!! I hope whoever thought up that idea got one helluva promotion!!! That's the kind of thinking that wins wars. A blunderbuss, was it? I thought it was horseflies. And also, with Adolf Hitler in power, the worries of the English being invaded was VERY REAL. Cuz when you are dealing with a crazy person and that crazy person gets upset about something... he very definitely could have ordered the invasion to begin & then his people are going to try to make it work. I would swear John Cleese had the idea for this stealth battleship attack, well, maybe his father. 😮
Well frak, now I REEEEEEAALLY want HMS Revenge in World of Warships, and a I really want her to have, a: the Concealment Mod, and b: voice lines by Michael Palin...
Our weapons are fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, an almost fanatical devotion to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and splendid tea-brewing facilities--oh, we'll come in again.
@JZ's BFF That too. Sun Tzu's points apply too though, as politics is a war all its own; one far dirtier than CBRN, and where dying only once would be a novelty ~_^ .
Never ever heard of this event before! Thanks a lot! No matter what else, the QE-class and the R-class battleships certainly gave the British taxpayer a ~lot~ of bang for their money.
"no one is going to sacrifice a perfectly good battleship, along with its entire crew for no good reason." Emperor Hirohito: hold my sake, and watch this.
I was expecting a rundown on the Vesuvius Dynamite Cruiser. She had 3 15 inch guns fixed at an elevation of 16 degrees protruding through the deck. Instead of gun powder or cordite, the shells were launched by pressurized air. The whole ship had to turn but the amount of air expelled could be modified to "dial in" range. The shells were packed with TNT, which was too sensitive for a standard gun. Basically, this ship could sail in at night, and launch without any telltale report or muzzle flash. Allegedly, it was quite terrifying.
Actually, TNT is one of the *least* shock sensitive high-explosives, and was regularly used to fill "modern" gun shells, with gunpowder or cordite being used as propellant. Some earlier explosives such as Picric and Gelignite were markedly more sensitive, and these would have been the impetus for an air-powered gun.
Dad and I played a MIDWAY game for years. US player can search any 3x3 square so long as he controls MIDWAY. IJN has a limited range to search. I took IJN, held station for the first movement turn so he would scout closer than I really was. I managed to sneak into striking range and had found his carrier fleet. I wiped out his fleet before he thought to put up CAP and next turn moved on Midway. He called me a cheater but sometimes a slow moving fleet can sneak in and drive home a dagger.
I can't help but think of Kryten in Red Dwarf popping up behind the Inquisitor and saying "Excuse me sir, could I possibly just distract you for a brief moment."
Thanks for another great learning video Dracher! Very interesting however it does make sense that HMS Revenge was used for this project. Why? it completed a "bombardment cycle" of the name. HMS Revenge/Redoubtable 1891-1894 was the oldest active battleship in the RN to see action during WW1. She shelled (say that 5 times fast!) German artillery positions in 1914/15 off the coasts of Belgium and France, with great success I should add, releasing her name to Dreadnought HMS Revenge on August 2 1915.
Great video on a subject of great interest. Operation Sealion....even though never excecuted the moves and counter moves in preperation. This was a classic case of misdirection. Any shore bombardment by battleships is a story I like to hear.
Britain in WWII: an entire nation playing the trope of Guile Hero to the hilt. (That hilt usually ending up in contact with the back of some poor German sentry, courtesy of Msrs. Fairbarne and Sykes.)
I love listening to this story. It NEVER gets old & I know I've listened to it at least 20 or 30 times. I know the Brits also did a lot of fake tanks & trucks & such to fool German Reconnaissance into thinking one thing or another.
This was said about Napoleon by Admiralty Lord St. Vincent 140-ish years before WWII. Besides, if Churchill did repeat it, it doesn't make any damned sense considering sea wasn't the only method of getting to the UK at this point.
Luke Freeman >> Mhm. Thanks! I was unaware of that, good to know. Churchill probably quoted it knowingly. And, yes, you make a good point; but consider that the Kurt Student & the ‘Fallschirmjager’ were (for all that they were an elite corps) like all paratroopers, in the end only light infantry. So there would be no tanks and the the RAF would have something to say about it too. Look at the German airborne invasion of Crete in 1941, a near-run thing with very high casualties. I don’t think Hitler really even WANTED to invade Britain; he seemed in his insane way to admire the British Empire. Cheers.
When I only have a few mins to spare this is one of my "go to" videos. One, I really love the fact that they had this idea & decided to try it. Two, the fact that it really worked is incredibly hilarious. And finally, three, Drach displays his art of writing and storytelling very very well. That is my story & I'm sticking to it.👍 🤟 ✌️ 👌
This makes me think of Sir Francis Drake and his night attack on Cadiz in Spain on April 29th 1587, which helped England defeat the Spanish Armada one year later.
There must have been 'something' about the "R' Class. At one stage in WW1 HMS Ramilles was painted pink and yellow in a dazzle camouflage. The Imperial War Museum has a painting of it. There is a model of it here: www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/download/file.php?id=69275&sid=c972f0a7e01e26bb94083678be186bda&mode=view
Maybe World of Warships camos are more historically accurate than we thought...! I don't know about your average U-boat captain, but that hurts my eyes to look at to the point where accurate fire would be impossible. Can't beat a good bit of the ol' razzle dazzle, I guess!
Watched this a second time. Still gives me a chuckle. The only thing that would have confused them more hanging fishing nets from the mast and maning the rails with crew armed with fishing rods! Fish and chips anyone?
Absolutely love it ! Sort of reminds me of Muhammad Ali in the ring with other boxers, get them looking at this hand, and then knock him out with the other one..... 😂
Escellent video there and something I never knew about, It's less about active stealth and more about misdirection. As you pointed out every eye was skyward during the raid and any explosions from Revenge's guns would have been written off to bombs hitting. I wonder if the modern stealth systems like paint and hull design would survive battle damage? What happens to the stealth rating if that paint is burnt off fom a fire or the hull is no longer that nice angle?
A virtually invisible battleship, what a concept. That's one way to keep a battleship from being sunk. If you can't see her, you can't hit her, and she can unleash hell on you. Of course, in this day and age, you''d need more than just distraction to accomplish this. But still...... :)
They don’t have one? Also is Trumpeter really that amazing? Cause the only thing I gather is that they’re expensive as models go. Granted said models do look nice. But I’ve got a 1/350 Academy Warspite and she came out fine. I even built a little motorized Nishimo battlecarrier New Jersey, and she’s a beauty. All she needed was some paint and a little love.
This is how I buy cookies when my kids are around. I put one box in sight (the decoy) and hide one back in the cupboard somewhere. I get at least a few that way. Usually Tahitis.
@@Drachinifel : I remember reading of experiments with dim lights on deck to make the blackist areas less black and harder to see. I don't think it was ever used in practice.
USS South Dakota would be the king of electrical failures. Washington saved the day and doomed Kirishima. USS Massachusetts also had electrical faults but performed anyway.
Warspite laughs in Warspite. Sneaking up on battleships using radar is all well and good. Sneaking up on destroyers and a U-boat at the same time is patrician tier stealth fuckery.
Q&A. A vs question A squadron of Fletcher DD or Weapon class DD vs Shimakaize class in an attack on a French BB. Which groups is most likely to succeed?
Q&A have you done a visit about the giant Aircraft Carriers of refrigerated ice and sawdust that were considered at the time? Would the self generated fog bank have been considered Stealf at the time?
When I saw the title, I had assumed that it would have been something like how the F16 fighter jet became much more stealthy when they added a light to make the air intake stop being such a contrasting dark spot. I have heard that lights used to match the brightness of the Bristol Beaufighter to the sky behind it made it practically invisible, so I can be forgiven for getting the subject of the video soooo wrong.
I wonder what the results might have been with the same plan and execution , if the British had sent two battlsehips, instead of one? It would probably have either slowed the plan down, or caused confusion among the British fleet.
I'm confused at 1:25 you where meant to show a picture of HMS Revenge and it's stealth capability , instead it just appears to be a picture of the ocean :)
There's also the psychological win that now whenever the RAF bombs a port, the searchlight crews are keeping half an eye out for stealth battleships
Keep em on their toes
thank you for this. i lold my ass off
The British did rather well at that. Operation Mincemeat was so successful that when REAL plans for Operation Overlord fell into German hands later on, it was dismissed as a rerun of Mincemeat.
To quote a later video, "the British being no strangers to the concept of victory through audacity..."
Which video was that?
@@stephenbond1990 OH just the one on Operation Cerberus.
whenever i hear "audacity" my first thought is always Joan of Arc's tactics, so i suppose they are familiar :P
'Who Dares Wins!'
@@elcarto22 We attack over the minefield under the cover of daylight. - Arnold Rimmer.
"Oh look! A distraction!" Well played, sir, well played.
Indeed!:-) 🖖
Fantastic! I couldn't stop laughing
Yes, there's nothing you can't make stealthy if you've got a big enough distraction.
@JZ's BFF Not really comparable. The Germans got incredibly lucky and the British simply weren't ready for the exact thing they predicted the Germans would try, when they actually tried it. Had all the intended resources been deployed against Operation Cerberus, the German losses would have been far higher. (So would the British losses, but perhaps the Fairy Swordfish that had played a key role in taking out Bismark might not have all been shot down to no effect.)
@JZ's BFF So you think that the Germans anticipated that the British would make a night-time battleship attack using an air raid as a distraction, then?
Stealth : 0
Illusion : 100
More like saying “Look, a flying saucer...I mean air raid” long enough for a ship sailing slightly faster than a snail to reach bombardment range.
Jasper Maskelyne: And for my next trick, I will make the Suez Canal Disappear!
Panzer_Shafter that is how professionals do it!
weldonwin an army appear!
@@tonyromano6220 They more or less did exactly that in Operation Overlord. There had been a huge project to trick the Germans into thinking the invasion would be near Calais, where the Channel is narrowest. The deception operation included an entire fake army (under the command of General Paton, one of the most aggressive and effective Allied ground commanders who OBVIOUSLY wouldn't be put in charge of a DECEPTION operation) and an entire fake invasion fleet massed in and near Dover. Meanwhile, the real invasion force was keeping a low profile further west along the southern coast of England. The Germans EXPECTED the invasion to be near Calais, so it was relatively easy to trick them into thinking it would be there.
“Look, a distraction!”
Basically exactly what they did. And yet that said you’d be amazed how hard it is for me to see warships. For example the USS Massachusetts is docked in Fall River, I know her location, and I’ve been there a dozen times. And yet every time I pass over the bridge I have a hell of a time spotting her.
Then there’s the Salem in Quincy. I visited the area and went over the bridge overlooking her several times, and somehow missed a cruiser even bigger than the battleship out in the open. At least the BB I have the excuse that it’s obstructed by the streets and buildings of downtown Fall River. Salem is RIGHT THERE and roughly the size of a North Carolina class!
Maybe you should get glasses
Rictus Metallicus he can see it but it can be difficult to make out the details
Add the USS Alabama to that list, you only really notice her when you’re practically right on top of her. Mainly a case of being able to see the thing but you can’t make it out because the city, or the docks depending on where on the bridge you are, is behind her.
Same thing happened to me trying to find the Little Rock in Buffalo.
I had problems with uss Olympia and the bb that's near here
"There are few true 'Surprises' in naval combat. 'Surprise' is what happens when someone's seen something all along . . . and thought it was something else." - Admiral Honor Harrington
William Magoffin 7 viewers recognise your SF reference 🤔
Like when the Japanese hit Yorktown during the battle of Midway and thought they sunk her. However, she didnt skink and her damage control parties got her operational again. The Japanese then mistakenly attacked her again thinking she was the Enterprise and did manage to knock her out for good, but were mistaken in thinking that they had now sunk two of our carriers rather than just one.
RunsforCelery probably got the idea from this mission
The Trojan Horse.
Only seven?
Fascinating! First time I've heard this story - and a fine example of British cunning!
1:34 "HMS Revenge, seen here under fire from a Japanese Super-Ultra-Mega Yamato armed with 1x 120" gun, whose shell can be seen on the far left of the image."
Magnus Victor The shell is missing it, way too high xD
BWAAAAAHAHAHA!!!
Damn, I had a good laugh
it didn't even cross my mind until I saw your comment and then looked, and holy crap that's awesome LMAO I laughed so hard
Ah, the age-old trick of shouting at someone to look up before slinging 15 inch HE shells at them. Works every single time!
British military ingenuity: Not always practical, but always memorable
RAF bombing tactics, 1940...
Skipper, the map says our targets somewhere in this region.
Where? France?
Aye! Bombs away!
"...HOW COULD YOU MISS?!?!?!"
Well somebody watches Squire
They did USUALLY bomb the correct country
@@Diego-zz1df: Ah, yes-when Mr. Gulliver finally catches up with Mr. Pither, believing he's safe, only for Mr. Pither to point out the inept firing squad, now with bayonets fixed.
@@Septimus_ii there have been several times when switzerland got bombed, sadly
2:52 nobody expects the German panzer divisions XD
And nobody expects the Spanish Inqusition! th-cam.com/video/7WJXHY2OXGE/w-d-xo.html
Kronogramm except the soviets when Kursk happened.
Our chief wepons are fear, surprise ... our two weapons are fear, surprise ...
@@davidfreiboth1360 And an almost fanatical devotion to the Queen...
Our chief weapons are fear, surprise, an almost fanatical devotion to the führer, and General Huntziger.
I only just noticed after all these years that the German Panzer division was crewed by the Spanish Inquisition. Nicely done.
Everybody gangster until the bombing raid turns out to be a battleship.
That's why you never make a battleship mad.
@@Eric_Hutton.1980 15 Mar, 1952 - The USS Wisconsin receives its first direct hit in history when one of four shells from a North Korean 152mm gun battery struck the shield of a starboard 40mm mount.
Subsequently, the Wisconsin destroyed the battery with a full 16in salvo before continuing her mission.
After destroying the artillery battery with her big guns, the Wisconsin received a message from one of her escorts, USS Buck (DD-761). The message read simply, "Temper, temper"
@@toddkes5890 I'm quite familiar with that account.
@@toddkes5890 You gotta wonder about people who attack a battleship with a gun that weighs less than one of the battleship's main gun shells.
@@evensgrey "I'm doing my part" (soon followed by "Uh-oh")
6th February 1941 Force H left Gibraltar and steamed 700 miles and on 9th Feb carried a 90 minute daylight bombardment of Genoa starting at 8:15 am. HMS Malaya and HMS Renown fired 272 x 15-inch shells and over 400 x 4.5 inch shells and HMS Sheffield 782 x 6-inch shells. HMS Ark Royal provided air cover and the forced was screened by 10 destroyers. Forced H then retired to Gibraltar with the Fleet Air Air shooting down one Italian reconnaissance aircraft. Total British losses was one Swordfish aircraft. One of several daring British naval bombardments carried out during WW2 which defied the logic of air power advocates claims that such missions would be impossible.
@Marry Christmas No thats Venice mate
"Channel Dash"
Until about 1/2 way through - I thought you were joking and just posing a what if scenario. But it actually happened - Operation Medium. Thank you VERY much for this.
Operation Medium was well done, which is rare.
i don't think i've been that much on the edge of my seat to see if the operation succeeded in a history video before
The role of misdirection in military history would be an excellent topic for a video. The UK did quite a bit of this during WW2.
the uk really was running circles around the competition in terms of subterfuge. you might as well say nobody else was even trying
Lindybeige did a video on this
@@migkillerphantom In general with allied intelligence you almost get the impression that they were pranking the Axis and like they fell for fucking everything. The USSR once made up a secret Tsarist ring in Moscow and caught German intelligence hook line and sinker with it.
@@hedgehog3180 it really helps that fascists tend to think they are _way_ smarter than they actually are while simultaneously being rather anti-intellectual.
Relevant: www.interglacial.com/pub/text/Umberto_Eco_-_Eternal_Fascism.html
The Japanese tried doing the same thing but different by attacking the Aleutian Islands right before Midway. But because Nimitz was reading Yamamoto's mail the Aleutian Islands were basically ignored. Figured anyone that went there would be so cold that they would eventually leave cuz of the weather. But then Halsey had to go & fall for the "Hey we have aircraft carriers with about 10 planes on it trick." Which hung Taffy 3 out to dry. The greatest thing about the Naval Battle of Samar is the Japanese was faced with surface units & aircraft at the same time. When they had the big guns firing the AA crews couldn't man there guns. And when the AA crews were manning their AA guns they couldn't fire the bigger guns at surface units. So the Japanese were faced with major conundrum! Do we want to fight the planes or the ships? F-IT!!! Run away!!
Audacious, fits the reputation of the RN. An idea so crazy that absolutely that no one thought it would be possible..
adam dubin sounds like something the Germans did.
@@jakobming4831 yeah as their navy was so impressive. Pretty much every time they met the Royal Navy on anything like equal terms n WW2 they lost.
Revenge is such a lovely name for a battleship.
That is so awesome & so hilarious!! I hope whoever thought up that idea got one helluva promotion!!! That's the kind of thinking that wins wars.
A blunderbuss, was it? I thought it was horseflies.
And also, with Adolf Hitler in power, the worries of the English being invaded was VERY REAL. Cuz when you are dealing with a crazy person and that crazy person gets upset about something... he very definitely could have ordered the invasion to begin & then his people are going to try to make it work. I would swear John Cleese had the idea for this stealth battleship attack, well, maybe his father. 😮
No one ever expected the Revenge Inquisition!
😀lol
Well frak, now I REEEEEEAALLY want HMS Revenge in World of Warships, and a I really want her to have, a: the Concealment Mod, and b: voice lines by Michael Palin...
I expected them....but they came a week early.......?
Our weapons are fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, an almost fanatical devotion to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and splendid tea-brewing facilities--oh, we'll come in again.
you just need Concealment Expert skill, Concealment module at 2 millions credits and put a camo on it
BAM. you get a canceror :3
a HE cancer u mean :)
12.2km detection on Iowa is quite memey
I've even gotten Hood down to about 13km and that fucker's huge.
I came here for this reply
13.6 on Großer Kürfurst 😂 u can do a ton of things like that
This is Sun tzu's Art of War applied at sea. 'All warfare is based on deception...'
Just like politics ;) .
@JZ's BFF That too. Sun Tzu's points apply too though, as politics is a war all its own; one far dirtier than CBRN, and where dying only once would be a novelty ~_^ .
I never heard that story. An old tub with that kind of accurate firepower is still an asset. HMS Revenge proved that, I'd say!
British admiralty:
*Slaps hull
"This baby can sneak up on so many Germans..."
That was really really sneaky. Love it, especially since it worked, would not have been so sneaky if it had not worked.
Never ever heard of this event before! Thanks a lot! No matter what else, the QE-class and the R-class battleships certainly gave the British taxpayer a ~lot~ of bang for their money.
"no one is going to sacrifice a perfectly good battleship, along with its entire crew for no good reason."
Emperor Hirohito: hold my sake, and watch this.
Sabaton should do a song about this.
They have a email to request songs
sabaton need more songs about the british tbh, especially given how mad some of their operations where
"AND THEN THE HMS REVENGE ARRIVED!!!"
Sabaton should do a song about Warspite tbh
@@lewisirwin5363 coming up the french channel side!
This may be the coolest WWll trick I hadn't heard of!!!
That's an old but very effective trick, keep them looking at the left hand while you hit them with the right.
I was expecting a rundown on the Vesuvius Dynamite Cruiser. She had 3 15 inch guns fixed at an elevation of 16 degrees protruding through the deck. Instead of gun powder or cordite, the shells were launched by pressurized air. The whole ship had to turn but the amount of air expelled could be modified to "dial in" range. The shells were packed with TNT, which was too sensitive for a standard gun. Basically, this ship could sail in at night, and launch without any telltale report or muzzle flash. Allegedly, it was quite terrifying.
Actually, TNT is one of the *least* shock sensitive high-explosives, and was regularly used to fill "modern" gun shells, with gunpowder or cordite being used as propellant. Some earlier explosives such as Picric and Gelignite were markedly more sensitive, and these would have been the impetus for an air-powered gun.
@@Kromaatikse They used dynamite, not TNT. Despite the AC/DC song, those are two difference substances.
Dad and I played a MIDWAY game for years. US player can search any 3x3 square so long as he controls MIDWAY. IJN has a limited range to search. I took IJN, held station for the first movement turn so he would scout closer than I really was. I managed to sneak into striking range and had found his carrier fleet. I wiped out his fleet before he thought to put up CAP and next turn moved on Midway.
He called me a cheater but sometimes a slow moving fleet can sneak in and drive home a dagger.
Nothing better than Battleship 15 inch surprise butsex!
I can't help but think of Kryten in Red Dwarf popping up behind the Inquisitor and saying "Excuse me sir, could I possibly just distract you for a brief moment."
Thanks for another great learning video Dracher! Very interesting however it does make sense that HMS Revenge was used for this project. Why? it completed a "bombardment cycle" of the name. HMS Revenge/Redoubtable 1891-1894 was the oldest active battleship in the RN to see action during WW1. She shelled (say that 5 times fast!) German artillery positions in 1914/15 off the coasts of Belgium and France, with great success I should add, releasing her name to Dreadnought HMS Revenge on August 2 1915.
Only the Royal Navy could turn a battleship into a ninja.
A feint in football and soccer like war pays dividends. Well done. Thanks.
Great video on a subject of great interest. Operation Sealion....even though never excecuted the moves and counter moves in preperation. This was a classic case of misdirection. Any shore bombardment by battleships is a story I like to hear.
Thumbs up from a US Navy sailor.
Don’t apologize for giving us great content! Always have a couple of videos in the “can” as a backup and holiday submission. Relax and we will enjoy.
Sneaky sneaky sneaky
And this is a raid I'd never heard about until this video.
2:49 No one expects the German Panzer Division!! Well played, good sir!
This should be a Warships operation.
Britain in WWII: an entire nation playing the trope of Guile Hero to the hilt.
(That hilt usually ending up in contact with the back of some poor German sentry, courtesy of Msrs. Fairbarne and Sykes.)
All warfare is based on deception - Sun Tzu
British: tone for some mindfuckery
Reminds me of how to undo velcro quietly.
As always, another wonderful piece of history most of us knew nothing about.
I love listening to this story. It NEVER gets old & I know I've listened to it at least 20 or 30 times. I know the Brits also did a lot of fake tanks & trucks & such to fool German Reconnaissance into thinking one thing or another.
“I do not say he cannot come. I only say he cannot come BY SEA.”-Winston Churchill, 1940.
This was said about Napoleon by Admiralty Lord St. Vincent 140-ish years before WWII. Besides, if Churchill did repeat it, it doesn't make any damned sense considering sea wasn't the only method of getting to the UK at this point.
Luke Freeman >> Mhm. Thanks! I was unaware of that, good to know. Churchill probably quoted it knowingly.
And, yes, you make a good point; but consider that the Kurt Student & the ‘Fallschirmjager’ were (for all that they were an elite corps) like all paratroopers, in the end only light infantry. So there would be no tanks and the the RAF would have something to say about it too. Look at the German airborne invasion of Crete in 1941, a near-run thing with very high casualties.
I don’t think Hitler really even WANTED to invade Britain; he seemed in his insane way to admire the British Empire.
Cheers.
Did Churchill actually say this? The quote itself originates from the Napoleonic wars.
What a remarkable story , thank you for posting !
The Biggest danger to the Revenge was the RAF Level Bombers targeting the docks.
Thank you most informative and as well always well presented. Keep up the good work as we here across the pond do enjoy it.
Awesome video, using a magicians trick of distraction to make a battleship invisible.
When I only have a few mins to spare this is one of my "go to" videos. One, I really love the fact that they had this idea & decided to try it. Two, the fact that it really worked is incredibly hilarious. And finally, three, Drach displays his art of writing and storytelling very very well.
That is my story & I'm sticking to it.👍 🤟 ✌️ 👌
#231 Thanks for the information about HMS Revenge. Cleaver usage like this and the HMS Warspite raid at Narvik helped to win the War.
Love this! You have a great way of making people laugh and still learn
This makes me think of Sir Francis Drake and his night attack on Cadiz in Spain on April 29th 1587, which helped England defeat the Spanish Armada one year later.
That was very interesting and an event I did not know of. Thanks for sharing this.
this has gotta be one of my favourite ww2 stories god damn thats amazing
Excellent. Informative and entertaining. Not always an easy feat.👍👍👍👍👍
Good luck with the special for next week and this was a nice distraction!
There must have been 'something' about the "R' Class. At one stage in WW1 HMS Ramilles was painted pink and yellow in a dazzle camouflage. The Imperial War Museum has a painting of it.
There is a model of it here: www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/download/file.php?id=69275&sid=c972f0a7e01e26bb94083678be186bda&mode=view
Must've been for attacking at dawn or something.
Maybe World of Warships camos are more historically accurate than we thought...! I don't know about your average U-boat captain, but that hurts my eyes to look at to the point where accurate fire would be impossible. Can't beat a good bit of the ol' razzle dazzle, I guess!
Any battleship can be stealth until you fire those wonder main guns.
So basically have the mighty *HIGH GROUND*
Brilliant! A very nice story, and well told.
I love your dry humor!
This is really a great video Drach!
Just found your channel and am both grateful and thrilled. Two videos in and already a subscriber for life.
You taught Me Something Today!
Thank You!!!
Watched this a second time. Still gives me a chuckle. The only thing that would have confused them more hanging fishing nets from the mast and maning the rails with crew armed with fishing rods! Fish and chips anyone?
The USS Washington benefited from a distraction at the 2nd Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, although in that case, it was USS South Dakota.
Outstanding history.
Absolutely love it ! Sort of reminds me of Muhammad Ali in the ring with other boxers, get them looking at this hand, and then knock him out with the other one..... 😂
Sounds more like a Battleship Commando Raid................LOL
More like saying “Look, a flying saucer...I mean air raid” long enough for a ship sailing slightly faster than a snail to reach bombardment range.
Wonder how stealthy it would of been when it's docked up to your port deploying commandos xd or ramming a drydock
@@reign_of_stuka8991 St. Nazare raid, right?
I really enjoyed your video. Thank you.
I never heard of that mission before. Thank you for this video. Your channel is great. Keep up the good work.
Escellent video there and something I never knew about,
It's less about active stealth and more about misdirection.
As you pointed out every eye was skyward during the raid and any explosions from Revenge's guns would have been written off to bombs hitting.
I wonder if the modern stealth systems like paint and hull design would survive battle damage? What happens to the stealth rating if that paint is burnt off fom a fire or the hull is no longer that nice angle?
John Fisher oh yes, a shell hole will definitely show up on any radar screen
The point of modern stealth systems it to avoid getting shot at in the first place. If you incur battle damage, it has already failed.
That barge thing at 02:15 is kind of neat.
Would you ever consider doing a video on makeshift armed barges like that.
There's one with AA on it instead of 88's as well I fergot how many guns there were in each 4 turrets but there was alot
I think it's an SF40 of some description, it could be the Liechte variant but I think that's the one with the 20mms not the 88s...
A virtually invisible battleship, what a concept. That's one way to keep a battleship from being sunk. If you can't see her, you can't hit her, and she can unleash hell on you. Of course, in this day and age, you''d need more than just distraction to accomplish this. But still...... :)
I would love to see episodes on WWII corvettes and destroyer escorts.
First Drach video I watched amazing how far you have come
Interesting, never heard about this.......when are Trumpeter going to make a 1/700 scale R class ?
They don’t have one? Also is Trumpeter really that amazing? Cause the only thing I gather is that they’re expensive as models go. Granted said models do look nice. But I’ve got a 1/350 Academy Warspite and she came out fine. I even built a little motorized Nishimo battlecarrier New Jersey, and she’s a beauty. All she needed was some paint and a little love.
They already have - We just haven't seen it yet. ;)
I don't know. When are fools going to stop bringing their T.D.S. into literally everything?
Apologies. I misread you. If I was going to wish for anything, it would be more radio-controlled WW2 hulls
Fredrick the Great would have certainly approved of this as an excellent example of his quote: “L’audauce, l’audace, toujours l’audace”
This is how I buy cookies when my kids are around. I put one box in sight (the decoy) and hide one back in the cupboard somewhere. I get at least a few that way. Usually Tahitis.
REALLY makes you wonder that the British Navy couldn't imagine the Reichsmarine pulling off something similar with the Channel Dash two years later.
Did they put any darker paint on it for the mission?
Grey is actually better than black at night
@@Scoobydcs Hmm. Ok, fair enough.
Yeah, ironically enough a pure black shape is really easy for our eyes to spot in most night conditions.
@@Drachinifel Well, I'll be darned. I bet it made preparation a little simpler to not have to do anything to the ships themselves.
@@Drachinifel : I remember reading of experiments with dim lights on deck to make the blackist areas less black and harder to see. I don't think it was ever used in practice.
*laughs in USS Washington* the king of sneaky BattleBoats
steven vaughn and of electrical outage!
USS South Dakota would be the king of electrical failures. Washington saved the day and doomed Kirishima.
USS Massachusetts also had electrical faults but performed anyway.
Warspite laughs in Warspite.
Sneaking up on battleships using radar is all well and good.
Sneaking up on destroyers and a U-boat at the same time is patrician tier stealth fuckery.
@@psikogeekkirishima was doomed by wrong ammo loaded :D
@@bairdrew AND some Italian heavy cruisers...
Q&A. A vs question
A squadron of Fletcher DD or Weapon class DD vs Shimakaize class in an attack on a French BB. Which groups is most likely to succeed?
Shimakaize, hands down, faster and with a 15 long lance broad side !
Never heard of this Op before learnt something today - typically aggressive Royal Navy Op one step away from St Nazaire.
Stealth by distraction. Beautiful.
Ze bombers!
Holy.. those is big bombs!
Shoot ze sky more!
Huzzah for the Revenge!
Q&A have you done a visit about the giant Aircraft Carriers of refrigerated ice and sawdust that were considered at the time? Would the self generated fog bank have been considered Stealf at the time?
It's due a video around March/April
@@Drachinifel very Cool!
That's a brilliant plan
O was unaware of this action. Thank you for that.
When I saw the title, I had assumed that it would have been something like how the F16 fighter jet became much more stealthy when they added a light to make the air intake stop being such a contrasting dark spot.
I have heard that lights used to match the brightness of the Bristol Beaufighter to the sky behind it made it practically invisible, so I can be forgiven for getting the subject of the video soooo wrong.
I wonder what the results might have been with the same plan and execution , if the British had sent two battlsehips, instead of one? It would probably have either slowed the plan down, or caused confusion among the British fleet.
I'm confused at 1:25 you where meant to show a picture of HMS Revenge and it's stealth capability , instead it just appears to be a picture of the ocean :)
02:50 Wonder how many even caught that. No one expect the Spanish Panzer!
Really interesting vid i didnt knew this happend. More vids like this pls also your channel needs more subs these vids are amazing
@Drachinifel: Could you explain what the pipes running diagonally from each side I've noticed on some WWI battleship were for, please?
Torpedo nets. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torpedo_net