Admiral Andrew Cunningham - Boers, Beatty and Bolsheviks (Part 1)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 18 ก.ย. 2024
- Today we take a look at the start of the career of Admiral Cunningham, one of the greatest 20th century Admirals of the Royal Navy.
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Pinned post for Q&A :)
In most discussions about the Battle off Samar it is claimed that without Taffy 3, Centre Force would have destroyed the American transports and resulted in the loss of large numbers of American troops and/or supplies. However, considering that the Philippine landings started on October 20 while the Battle off Samar was on October 25, and based on primary American records from the landing forces, it would appear that the majority of not only the troops but also most of the supplies had already been unloaded by the time the engagement took place. With Task Force 38 about to make its way back south in a matter of hours, preventing Kurita from staying around long enough to attack any further reinforcement/resupply vessels, is there an strong argument for Operation Sho-Go never actually having any chance of success simply due to poor timing even if Taffy 3 put up no resistance whatsoever?
Greetings! If this question was asked before, please direct me to the correct Drydock. Hypothetical scenario> The battle of Coral Sea goes better for the Japanese and they only lose the Shoho with no damage to the other carriers, but the Americans still lose the Lexington. Thus, Admiral Yamamoto would have all six carriers (perhaps not with a full complement of elite pilots) for the battle of Midway while Admiral King would only have 3. In this situation, do you believe the US Navy would still look for a fight, or would they conserve their strength for a better opportunity?
if Admiral Henderson got much larger budget to his Naval infrastructure and bases plan, what things could’ve been done to commonwealth dominion and colonial assets to improve them?
Was there a particular doctrinal reason imperial Russian navy destroyers typically had so many twin torpedo launchers? Had they never considered triple tubes? Or was it meant to give a greater broadside of torpedos?
Dumb administrivial question: Why did the channel start out with a text-to-speech app doing the narration? You've got a good voice for such things, so it seems odd you'd not have been making use of your talents from the start.
Moment of silence for the paper-pusher that was atomized by a wandering Admiral Fisher.
Amen.
Well, now _that's_ done, what needs _doing?_
@@AnimeSunglasses well we happen to now have some papers that need pushing. I can assign you to that job. Just be careful about wandering admiral fishers
@@Its-Just-Zip Would it be Admiral Fishers or Admirals Fisher?
@@JediKnight19852002 I'm assuming the British Admiralty realized the kind of weapon they had in Admiral Fisher and there's just multiples of him wondering around looking for hapless paper pushers to atomize
I was dumbfounded after the end of my previous life. I had stepped out into a hall and suddenly there was a sensation of intensely painful burning freezing piercing slicing pressure coming from my side, and then I was at the pearly gates. I was confused… firstly that I had gone up… I was a British colonialist, I knew what I had done, but the Angel reassured me that it was out of pity for the fate that had just befell me. When I asked what happened to me, they said I stepped out in front of Admiral Fisher which prompted him to start yelling at me. Close casket funeral because it was just a pile of towels they had used to clean up the hallway afterwards inside.
My late husband, Captain C.H.P. Shaw, RCN , was the son of the late Captain A.P. Shaw. RN, who served for many years as Cunningham's secretary. I have his book, inherited by my late husband, A Sailors Odyssey, in which A.P. Shaw is listed 8 times in the index. The inscription on the first page of the book reads - To Tim, his nickname, in memory of our long and happy association from Andrew Cunningham.
Atomised by a wandering Admiral Fisher.... What a glorious sentence.
Cunningham’s description of himself as “enlightened lazy” meaning work harder now to get it right the first time so you don’t have to go back and fix it later is exactly my own motto. And here I thought I invented the concept lol.
Me too! I used the term "enlightened laziness". A manager didn't like that term and said that it was my term. But, ha!
I like Cunningham's concept of "enlightened laziness", described at 3:20. Unfortunately, I'm usually not very good at implementing it in practice.
Words to live by.
Same here. Not the "enlightened" bit, anyway.
Sounds like Robert Heinlein (also a Navy man ) might have gotten his 'Lazy Man' from this concept.
@lamwen03 Good point! I just found that Heinlein's quote, and it sounds similar indeed.
Indeed. I've got the laziness part down, it's the enlightened stuff I have yet to master...
Drach, that is a totally engrossing account, told with great elan. Can't wait for pt.2
Mention of "Meatface" and Somerville reminds me of the reputation these 2 had, during the Mediterranean campaign, of sending very ribald and witty signals to each other, eg- " How was your slap in the belly with a wet fish?" "At my age, hits below the belt don't amount to much".
My Father served under ABC on Warspite start to finish. Great Man thanks.
Prop to Admiral Raby for his toughness despite having a Victoria Cross in his chest quite literally
When the Queen pins your VC (literally) to your chest, you know you’ve earned it.
Reminds me of Teddy Roosevelt getting shot and still giving a speech
I have to wonder how some of these entitled men got awarded and yet a Corporal would be overlooked
@@Rusty_Gold85 Because it's the rarity that make artificial things valuable. If you give award "a Corporal" questions are which Corporal and why not the other one? Why do you think that Corporal deserve it more than 2 billions other Corporal that were doing different things at the time? At which point the only choice is to award multiple Corporals and what about that one Sergeant who clearly deserved it? And 10 million other Sergeant who did other things?
On top of a fact that the awards hold a lot more value when it comes from high ranking people, and they have better things to do other than personally giving medals to 100,000 people in a single event.
Another good one, Drach. IMO Arbuthnot deserves his own episode in this series. By many accounts something of a despot. Extreme physical fitness enthusiast, at a time when this was regarded as peculiar. Was once assaulted when ashore by disgruntled sailors, but put several of them in the hospital. A real fire eater, who unfortunately got his command annihilated at Jutland for little result.
Based on the Wikipedia entry for Arbuthnot, it seems like his inflexibility & disregard for other ships got himself & his command sunk. An interesting character, but not a good captain whenever initive was required. I'd be curious to know how fair an assessment that actually was.
For me the result of a squadron being destroyed raises the question of what the doctrine for engagement of the enemy was. While "straight at 'em, with guns blazing" isn't awful, some rule of thumb regarding ratios of forces ...
Point being, some thought needs to be given to whether various possible attacks can possibly succeed, and what success means.
@@PadraigTomas Well, from what I've read, Arbuthnot wouldn't have been able to see that he was leading his ACs into the field of fire of the main German battle line. But he saw a disabled German AC, and got the bit in his teeth. His funnel smoke fouled the range for the British main force. So, even if you can't fault him for going up against the entire German navy (because he couldn't see them), this maneuver was still what you could call a dick move.
Our greatest admiral since Nelson. There's a pub named after him in Bracknell. You know you're a great man when the British name pubs after you in your own lifetime! The foraging Lieutenant Colquhoun's name is pronounced "Ca-hoon".
My father Lt/Cdr T. N. Mayfield (dec.) serves under ABC in WW2 when on Ark Royal in Force H. He always spoke warmly of Cunningham who was well liked by all who served under him. Fascinating history, thank you. Tom Mayfield (ex boy tiff)
Simply wonderful Drach - Cunningham was everything an Admiral should be and explains so much more clearly than what I have previously read about how he got there.... Can't wait for the next part!
At Cunningham's funeral, Eisenhower read out an epitaph he had written. In it, he said that of all his subordinates, Cunningham was the only one who truly knew how to wage war.
I suspect the Boer War name Drach was struggling with is Colquhoun, which is usually pronounced car-hoon.
I love that it's spelling has almost not relationship to how you say it :D
@@Drachinifel seeing as how Cunningham didn't like languages, this seems like a fitting aspect of the bio :)
@@Drachinifel I think it's a Scottish name. I've also heard it pronounced col-hoon which is slightly closer to the spelling.
@@Drachinifel If you liked that one, try "Recorded as Featherston, Featherstone, Fetherston and the similar Featherstonhaugh or Featherstonehaugh believed to be the longest English surname, and which is also pronounced and recorded as Fanshaw ".
@@lamwen03 Featherstonhaugh is my nan's maiden surname. Another peculiar one is Cholmondeley. Pronunciation is two syllables as well.
You tell a fascinating story with such flair. I especially like the way you describe the Admiral's early temperament with enough detail that the listener can follow how it benefited him over time (by this I don't mean privilege; rather, the way his basic personality allowed him to continue to seek out and be appointed to positions that increasingly showed his fitness for greater command. In genetics this is referred to as a gene-environment correlation. Too many biographies of great men assume that they were born that way and that the greatness simply followed). The Royal Navy did well to see the potential in this young sailor and to train and advance him so systematically.
ALWAYS a good day when a new offering by Drach is found!
Admiral Cunningham. When your badassitude is so badass a total badass calls it badass in words so politely badass it makes the whole thing that much more badass.
Good show sir.
(For clarity, referring to the recommendation from the mentioned future tank fighting senior badass)
Cunningham is one of the greatest British naval commanders, perhaps only second to Nelson. He definitely deserves more recognition.
Yes, but Thomas Cochrane is up there! Search TH-cam for: Thomas Cochrane: Craziest Sea Captain in History. He wasn't crazy, Napoleon referred to him as the Seawolf. In South America the Spanish named him the Devil. As commander of the fleet he set Chile free, and he rescued Brazil from the Portuguese. He was an admiral in 4 navies. The series Hornblower is based on him, as is the series Master and Commander.
@@ianlowery6014 Obviously Cochrane is great, but in my eyes, he's really more of this roguish hero rather then military commander. I don't think he ever commanded more then 5 ships together. That's not to throw shade on him, he's one of my favorite figures in naval history and just absolutely brilliant sailor and commander, just a different breed.
I was hoping to find a biography of this man; thanks for creating it!
John Winton has also written an excellent biography of Admiral Cunningham - well worth reading.
A sailors odyssey is his official autobiography, hard to find but there’s a few copies kicking about
A sailors odyssey is his official autobiography, hard to find but there’s a few copies kicking about
A sailors odyssey is his official autobiography, hard to find but there’s a few copies kicking about
You have a definite knack for picking some of the most interesting personalities to feature on your Channel. Thank you.
4:52 am in San Diego here. I actually went all the way back and researched the Boer wars. The British sure got a lot of medals fighting farmers. Admiral Beatty was brilliant with those dodgy ships. I like submarine(dad) novels as a kid I.e. torpedo running straight, hot,…I showed my dad a novel by this Commander Edward L. Beach. He scoffed. Lately I find a sub captain named ‘Beach’…well, damn funny. Hate to have him see this comment. Don’t know much about Bolsheviks. My favorite war was The war of the roses.”Take my roses eh?” That war continues to this day. Thanks for your informative fun, as usual. 😂Curtis(edited for content)BT3 BRYANT ADVANCE BOILER TECHNICIAN U.S.S. Gridley CG-21(533 foot long guided missile cruiser, flagship 7th fleet, Pacific.10-17-84.This is actually fascinating. Cunningham especially.
I wouldn’t talk about giving out medals for fighting farmers
It's amazing how many medals the US military received for losing a war to a bunch of Vietnamese rice farmers.
Beach was actually a very capable WWII US submarine commander
When in the middle of painting a hot Queensland house being told to wait til the next episode of one of my favourite admirals is a melting moment.
Can't wait for part 2 of this absolute badass' story. A real fighting admiral.
An absolutely lovley story of a fantastic cafeer of an legendary Admiral. 1000 thanks for this story Drachinifel (Dragnagel in Swedish I believe. Dont know if it still exists in the Swedish Navy but my old grandpa born in 1893 used it when he told US kids about his exoerience in the Swedish Navy on The small so called Pansarskepp Äran (Honour) during early 100hundreds)).
This story brings all my memories of mygrandfather back. I can see him telling his stores with a smile when AI was a very young boy dreaming about a career in the Swedish Navy. ❤️❤️❤️😀👍.
Cunningham was truly a sailor’s sailor. All the skill, knowledge and drive of Fisher with the courage and dash of Beatty - with none of the ego and @sshole-ness of either.
Ehhhhhhhhh
That was a very enjoyable look at one of my favourite fighting admirals. Looking forward to the remaining parts, particularly his WW2 adventures.
Finally, I've been waiting for this for so long, since your video on Admiral King in fact. Thanks a million!
Prolonged contact with salt water seems to encourage Patience.
This is great. I have the utmost respect for admiral Cunningham, this is based on his WWII record. Loving the deep dive on him!
Anyone else notice that the funniest shenanigans that occur in war are when future admirals are involved?
How many people remember _anything_ about that one engineering mate who his untimely death at Jutland? The shenanigans are remembered because of the man, not the man because of the shenanigans.
One of your best Drach.
An insightful review of exciting times in the Royal Navy from when Britain was Great.
I thought I recognized that school. Other alumni included Sandy Woodward, commander of the taskforce at the falklands.
Sir John Woodward.
Thank you for an excellent video. Cunningham, largely due to additional research prompted by your previous video's on the man, is my favourite Admiral
my goodness it’s videos like these that suggest Drach is a natural-born professor. Almost a shame he’s too good for even that, glad we can all share his knowledge on here
A couple of biographies mention that, as a midshipman, Cunningham was present at the funeral of Admiral of the Fleet Provo Wallis.
While I knew a lot about Cunningham and quite a few other important RN officers mentioned here, it was the first time hearing of Cunningham's adventures in the Baltic and this of Admiral Sir Walter Cowan. That man has quite a story to himself, serving from 1884 during the war against the Mahdi in Sudan, up to 1931 and then again for four more years from 41 to 45. From the rule of the Machine gun all the way to the Atom bomb, all as an active officer, not a desk jockey
I’ve always enjoyed your videos. This one was is now one of my favorites.
One thing I really am impressed by is how you’ve continued to improve as a storyteller. It’s great when what was always enjoyable only becomes more so over time. Your hard work is noticed and appreciated.
GREAT STUFF ON ABC!
Pronunciation of weirdly spelled Scots names: Colquhoun is - K'hoon; Arbuthnot is - arbuthNOT; Wemyss is - WEEMS.
There are plenty other conundrums: Kirkcudbright (a town) is Kirkoobri; Cockburnspath is COHbr'nspath
Brilliant as usual, thank you for your efforts to continue our education & review.
6:08 - Interesting - The three decker in the rear was originally named HMS Prince of Wales, but when her sea-going career ended her engines (she was a screw First Rate of 120 guns) were removed (to be used in a new ironclad) and she was renamed HMS Brittania to replace a previous HMS Brittania (also a 120 gun First Rate) as the training ship at Dartmouth. But I can't find any information about the two decker hulk ahead of her, I assume the two were permanently connected by the gangway (or whatever you call that passageway between the two hulls).
34:22 "A night terror." I LOVE THE DRACH-MAN!
Ah yes, the most cunning ham of all.
The craftiest of cured meats
Envy kills.
@@ph89787 Envy kills.
Down voted that wretched pun. (hope that cures you...)
Thank you, Drachinifel.
On my grandmother's side of the family they are related to the clan Cunningham and I was very surprised and very excited it was kind of like unintentional timing..
I have been waiting for this one. Happy Drachmas
A very informative and excellent presentation which I thoroughly enjoyed. Thank you. Percy Scott got a mention in connection with guns/mountings and the Boer war. He wrote an excellent account of his naval career which is both informative and entertaning. One of the unsung innovators and whilst his work on Director firing is well known, less so perhaps is the Navies ambivalence to the extent that several Captains removed his fire control system. Strange given Scotts ships gunnery results. His ideas spanned a great deal more and might prove a worthy subject for a video.
Love it mate. Great to learn more about the men who made things happen. --- I know information is sparse on the Battle of the Yellow Sea (prior to Tsushima) and the Russian commanders leading up to and during, but a video to your standards on this event would be great also. Especially as this contributed so much to development of the dreadnought era.
Boyo, this made a bad morning so very much better. Waiting on this one.
I love these biographies that you do Drach. Very enjoyable.
How good of story teller do you need to be to make a 45 minute video feel like a 15 minute snippet.
Historical Footnote on the mysterious instrument mentioned around 20:00 - that did, I believe, evolve into the famous “Turbo-Encabulator” of 1950s fame, as well as later versions, including the “Retro-Encabulator”.
The German equivalent was very sensitive to operator mismanagement and carried the rubric "IST EASY TO SCHNAPPEN DER SPRINGENWERK" next to the blinkenlights in the front panel.
Anyone else wish Cunningham got a ship named after him?
To these days I don't understand how he and Fisher never got ships named after them.
@@SeveralWeezelsInaTrenchcoat
If Hood’s sister ships had been built, Fisher and Jellicoe would have been decent names for them. Cunningham not so much because much of his career was later down the line.
@@bkjeong4302 Yeah, but think of the nicknames...
@@bkjeong4302no the admirals class that were planned: Nelson, Rodney and Asnon.
@@Duke_of_Petchington
Yeah but those names got used for other ships.
Thanks Drach
A great video about a brave man who went above and beyond his duty.
A fantastic engrossing story brilliantly told.
Outstanding account. I really enjoy: the quality of your research; the construct of your script and the manner of your presentation which engages, entertains and educates. Thank you.
Great subject to cover - in case of interest, I think the training Brig HMS Martin's figurehead is the northern one of 2 mounted in the front of the wardroom HMS Nelson (the other being HMS Seaflower).
Great video, Drach. Excuse a soldier's ignorance but what does the phrase "paid off" mean as you used it in this video? Does it mean the ship was decommissioned? I'm sure it has nothing to do with the expense of the ship having been recouped by the owning country. Sorry for not understanding the basics.
It means that a ship is going to be emptied, all pending wages and debts paid, personnell shooed out to other ships or destinations, and ship has to be drydocked or undergo long maintenance work or has to be put in reserve or, but not necessarily, decommissioned and scrapped (although in the end, had to happen somehow). As the ship will be unavailable for quite some time, the crew is paid-off and not retained nearby.
In the old days a ship would be commissioned for a voyage with a relatively fixed crew, once that voyage ended the ship was 'paid off', ie all crew were given their relevant back pay and sent on to other duties (in the Age of Sail technically the non-officers were out of a job) and the ship was taken in hand for refit/repair/reserves. They'd then put together a new crew when she was ready to go back out to sea again.
@@sandrodunatov485 Thank you. Didn't realize sailors we're not paid until the end but it makes sense, I guess.
@@Drachinifel Thank you. If the sailors we're not paid until the end of the voyage, how did they have the money to drink themselves blind when in port?
@@coldwarrior78 depending in the ship and its location the crew received periodic pay packets but with this being the age of cash only for many it was impossible to carry something like 3 years pay for the whole crew aboard. :)
Drach: Consider doing a program on the USN's paddle wheel carriers in 1942-1945. It should generate real interest. Names were Sable and Wolverine.
Have my boat. I mean, vote.
Alas, both are cast off at least once.
Lookup the WTTW Chicago PBS station documentary Top Guns of 1943 . It covers Sable and Wolverine .
Some wonderful ship names back then?
It's one of my favorite things about the Royal Navy in its prime, there were some truly amazing ship names floating around because there was just so many ships that there was no possible way that they could use naming schemes similar to what the US uses today (mostly to be fair because the UK is just so much smaller but also it would be impractical for several other reasons)
Fantastic looking forward to the next part
Drach, another exceptional, enlightening, educational video. My hat is of to u. Please come to Sydney sometime so your Australian fans can meet you :)
What a fascinating character
Drac: the main and most powerful guns used by the Boers were French De Bange not Krupp , the krupp gun s were about 75/77 mm whereas the De Bange at Ladysmith were 155 mm the guns being called Long Tom.
Both of my grandfathers were prominent Royal Navy officers. One was known as ‘Prothero the Bad’. There are many stories about Reginald Charles Prothero. He was captain in command of the 'Doris' in 1898, mentioned in this video. It was he who realised the idea of dismounting some of her 4.7-inch guns to assist at Magersfontein, and at the relief of Ladysmith. It was during his battle leadership of the Naval Brigade that he was seriously injured. The British officers were still using their bright full uniforms and waving swords around, which made is easy for the Boer sharpshooters to pick out such prize targets. A little later, they started to be a little more intelligent, and used khaki uniforms.
From 1902 until 1904, he commanded the new Formidable Class battleship ‘Implacable’, completed in 1901. She had 15,000 tons and HP, and was armed with four 12” guns, twelve 6”, and could reach a speed of 18 knots flat out.
In 1903, he was knighted for his services in the Boer War, and retired as Rear Admiral. He then married a lady of half his years, had three children, and left them on an inadequate naval pension in sad poverty.
Been waiting for this, thanks and happy New Year Drach.
Thanks, very well put together and narrated!
am a murican but love these biography pieces regardless of whether they brits or muricans. ty
really enjoyed that, looking forward to part two.
RN pencilpusher: you've encountered an wondering Admiral Fischer
ADM Fischer used Atomize, it was super effective.
now *that's* up my alley
Thoroughly enjoyable
Another winner Drach. Good job.
Interesting guy.
Being stabbed by Queen Victoria is almost as bad as being shot in they eye by Napoleon. (Poor Masséna)
She was still not amused after meeting the Tenth Doctor and Rose.
"No no it's not Sire's shot! It's mine!" - Berthier
@@Aelxi *wink wink*
Eagerly awaiting part 2 👍
Just one word - EXCELLENT
Up to your usual high standards. Looking forward to the next installment of this biography.
Excellent video.
Love this stuff. Thanks again Drach
These long form biographies are probably my favourite content of your's
props to admiral cunningham for starting a career in undertale youtube videos
Apart from one minor incident when they crashed into another train heading north.
LOL> The way he just glosses over things.
HMS Terrible - given sailors tendency to give less than flattering nicknames to their ships , I wonder if that ship ended up being called acceptable or passable .
I've been hoping for a long time now for a Drach treatment of ABC - and I know I wasn't alone. And now it turns out, we get it in a two parter!
Hooray. I just got the autobiography for Christmas also x
Very interesting.
Another brilliant upload, you sir are on a roll.
@42:50 Holy crap! Where's that guy's video!?
Coming next year :)
Definitely points for consonance with that title...
Excellent and Outstanding!!!
Bravo very well done Drach
Wonderful - thank you Drach!
"...or had possibly been atomized by a wandering Admiral Fisher." Possible Drachism of the day?
12:17 - reference to the battle of Diamond hill (called the battle of Donkerhoek by the Boers) was fought on 11 and 12 June 1900 about 20 km east of Pretoria, about 20 km south of the present day Cullinan (where the Cullinan diamond was found) There is still a very well preserved military cemetary with about 60 British and Australian war graves. I had a small piece of land about 2 km south of the Boer positions on the hill (still standing and also well preserved by the Kleinfontein community). On my piece of land there were still gun positions visible, built with rocks.
Is the HMS Hawke the same HMS Hawke that collided with the RMS Olympic?
Indeed :)
Oops
I'm saving that quote about the unusual instrument for the future!
Thanks Drac. Another Great job...
What an incredible fellow...
Ahh excellent! I’m reading his autobiography at the moment! Get anything nice for Christmas Drac?
It’s a great read,one of my favourites.
Excellent
I should have mentioned this on King and Lee's videos, but I hope you do one on Nimitz too.
Thanks!