Pinned post for Q&A :)

I very much enjoyed the phrase, "They don't mind being British, but they'd rather be British somewhere very far away from Westminster." This was an excellent video from yourself and Mr. Sean Chick, thank you for sharing your collaborative expertise!

I really love that line about how the British Government woke up in the 1830s and discovered they had a world-spanning Empire. "How did this happen?" "Who authorized this to happen?" "Why did this happen?" I would speculate that the next question would have come from the Office of the Exchequer. "And who do we tax for making this happen?"

In your aside on the Korean War and the US's habit of demilitarizing between wars, in Korea my father was assigned to a US Army unit that, among other tasks, maintained and repaired landing craft. I remember him saying that the US essentially was just pulling old landing craft off the beaches from WWII and reusing them for use in the Korean assaults and that they had rusted out so badly that you could easily put your foot right through the hull plates.

One reason I love channels like this is that there's so much interesting history out there, but when I was in school ( 20ish years ago ) practically nothing on the rest of the world was ever really covered, not even in World History. Even the American History classes were pretty shallow and didn't really go into depth. Why to this day, I love learning stuff, but can't stand school. Thanks for the excellent hour vid, gonna have to go look at part one

a lot of the british empire was the government writing a letter saying something like "It is absolutely essential not to do A Thing!" while their expeditionary commander is writing his own letter saying "your majesty, I have done A Thing, you now own this land."

My uncle accepted the surrender of the German Danube Flotilla at the end of WW2 which included a number of monitors including former Austrian vessels.

I couldn't figure out how you and your team of researchers were able to glean so much obscure and detailed historical naval information and release quality videos so frequently. Then someone pointed out that it was just you, and I've since had to use a pair of roller wheels attached to my jaw so it won't drag the ground. In all seriousness, though, thank you so very much for sharing your vast historical and technical knowledge of navies and ships. These videos are truly an amazing body of work.

Not naval, but, when Korea kicked off, the Army Ordnance Corps swept through the Pacific islands, gathering up and reconditioning abandonded weapons, wheeled and tracked vehicles, as well as individual equipment; then shipping them to Korea. Something on the order of two Divisional sets were reused.

Finally, the part 2. Now we wait for the part 3 of the Nelson one

Your comment on the American Revolution also explains the American Gun Culture. The immigration 1640-1650 was mostly the Puritans (who were losing the English Civil War), and in the 1670-1680's were the Cavaliers (who had lost the English Civil War) so you had two groups of Englishmen united in the firm belief that the English Government were [REDACTED] no matter who they were, and the only protection to 'Will no one kill me this turbulent priest' was being armed, and your neighbors being armed.

I'm on a full military history binge today so this dropped at the perfect moment

Mentioning the USS Cabot makes me sad.....ugh. It was such a farce. I'm so glad the Orleck was saved and is now in a new home in Jacksonville. Also, so many of the Civil Monitors and Frigates had the best names ever put on a warship. Wabash, Monongahela, Weehawken, Catskill are some of my favorites.

Loved part 1, loved part 2. It's awesome to hear a colab between Sean and you, perhaps you can do something with Thersites on ancient naval warfare (maybe something on Metellus' fight with Cretan pirates?).

Go out to breakfast or stay home eat cold pizza while listening to Drac. This is really good pizza

You know it's a good talk when Yes Minister comes up. "In spite of its government..." perfect inclusion.

This is a fabulous discussion of world history! I've enjoyed it very much. Nearly spit my tea all over at the comment about America being founded on tax evasion and hasn't really changed!

drachnifel actually continuing a series lets go

I love the side bar stuff. So much depth of history in this. Amazing content

Pushed the "LIKE". Now to watch.

I studied British Empire as an option for a subsidiary subject in my (rather strange) London Univ.External degree back in 1970. I really enjoyed your succinct and amusing summary!

All good things come to those who wait...... and wait......... and wait lol. Happy it's here.

I like to think of the period Sean describes as the Great French war as World War 0.

Not through it yet, but 10 minutes in I think it was worth the wait.

Hi Drachinifel! Great video. In the late 1860s with friction from the Alabama claims the US built a class of extream wooded frigates for commerce raiding.

Regarding US response in the Korean War: a strategic constraint was the Truman Administration's evaluation/concern that USSR launched the Korean war as a ruse or diversion to strip forces out of Europe and Eastern NATO countries in preparation for a Soviet invasion into West Germany. Consequently, Truman could not move as many forces from Europe to Asia as desired.

Ngl, I really enjoyed the long ramble-chat about all things 19th century

This was by far the most interesting video I have seen on KZfaq for months. The delivery of information is so conversational and Interesting, you go off on so many tangents but they all relate back and just show off great knowledge. I’m laid up in bed with COVID at the minute - in the last weird hallucination phase where you’re dead tired but can’t sleep. I’ve been able to just lie here exhausted with my eyes closed and it’s really taken my mind off of the gross flu-like pain. So yeah, amazing content and I needed it today! Thank you

I loved the 3 phases of the British empire

The sequel we didn't know we needed

Very nice video, enjoyed the great comments and observations of Mr. Chick. I would agree that the Napoleonic Wars would probably produce the winner of the merchant capture competition, but it would be impossible to actually know since so many of those captures were re-captured by the side that lost it in the first place. This happened to probably half of the U.S. privateer captures in the War of 1812 (which was an incredibly huge number of merchant ships otherwise). The french and their allies also re-took a large percentage. Also, a surprising amount of merchant captures were later reversed in Prize Courts or other courts of law as being "neutrals" or otherwise ineligible for capture. So maybe, the later practice of the captor sinking the ships instead of trying for prizes is the safest measure, as it has no quibbles. It also was much less piratical and money-grubbing ;)

4:21 As i've heard from Dr. Alexander Clarke the irony is the states, "fighting for states' rights" had state guards that were among the best trained units in the South and their whole purpose was to constrain the rights of certain numerous individuals.

As always, your wendsday rum ration is one of my favorite things you produce. But I must point out, that you spoke very little on the second part of the civil war River war. Not a complaint! It was thouraly enjoyed. But you still have to produce part II. Darn good video none the less. Keep up the exceptional work. Thank you.

The perfect thing to listen to as I clock in.

Roflmao I laughed way too hard at this talk after a few beers. I absolutely love your sense of humor, Drach. I'm sad I live in the land locked part of the US and won't be able to meet you to express my gratitude for all the wonderful content you produce. You are an inspiration.

This was great. It started very focused and ended up being 2 guys vibing on random historical topics

My wife likes sound of rain as white noise to fall asleep to, but obscure naval history can't be beat in my eyes. Love the channel!

Ah the video with the dude who is occasionally possessed by the Devil.

It was the USS Miantonomoh ( try to say it?) that made the UK/Europe tour. I believe that voyage was more to say her's what you will have to deal with if you plan to threaten our coast, not that we will cross the sea to do battle with you. To the point that the Civil War USN was a rag tag fleet; it was. In order to maintain a recognized blockade of the Confederacy, the maritime rules required that the blockading party must have a "ship of war" every so many miles (don't recall the number)to have a legal blockade. This required a great number of ships, and some powers across the pond thought the USN did not have enough ships to maintain. If it floated and could navigate, put a gun and a flag on it, commission it, and you have a USN "ship of war". I've seen Mathew Bradey photos of a ferry boat with a gun on it.

Awesome. Glad your checking out New Orleans. I live here in Louisiana. Love your channel

question at 30 minutes leads to a 45 minute diversion... lol, I love you guys.

I thought the one gun on USS Princeton failed because it was a solid cast copy of the gun Erickson built. Where Erickssons gun has a set of compressed hoops for strength.

Waited 8 months for this Drach, I checked everyday for this video to come out. Now I watch it at 4am and fall asleep to it like everyother one of your videos 🗿

Remember to actually put the link to the previous part in the description.

A peacetime war crime...best comment I've ever heard regarding the scrapping of the Enterprise. Long live the Grey Ghost.

"Boarding" please make a series of Boarding ships, capturing ships. Before age of sail, during, and after please!! Like your cannons and ship building series... Thx!

There is so much information in this video that I wished it was three times as long

Thanks for the video, love Sean's work on the wargaming side😁

Came for the riverine history, stayed for the rambling naval discussion.

Good talk! Loved hearing who was looking for which lessons from each side and how they'd be implemented or not.

"Nah, what are you talking about Drach. I remember that one, it wasn't that long ago. I'll go look at it, see, it was only... 8 bloody months? How on earth has it been 8 months?"

I loved the stuff about the British empire at the end. Great fun.

It was the the USS Miantonomoh, Miantonomoh-Class monitor, that sailed to the UK in 1866.

Great collaborative video ..thank you Drachinator

5 min guide to warships splash screen at the start of an hour and 18 min video. got a good laugh out of me, cheers.

Ah, here we go! I've been thirsting for this Rum Ration! Cheers!

About the comment on the American War of Tax Evasion: You're not wrong, but it'd be more accurate to say that Britain had a habit of getting its colonies to support its military, and the 13 got sick of it long before Canada did. The whole quibble started when the Brits decided to pay for the French and Indian war by taxing the colonies directly (which they hadn't done before; they'd just taxed trade), and the colonists protested on the grounds that they didn't have a Member of Parliament to vote on the new taxes. Then everything escalated, war happened, several European countries saw a golden opportunity for revenge, and Britain lost the tax money and the Colonies to boot, and were very salty about it for while.

If you want to hear more from Sean Chick he does Sunday night live streams with "Thersites the Historian" every Sunday night. Thersites channel specializes in ancient Greek and Roman history but the livestreams topics range from WW2, Civil War, ancient history and even modern events.

Great second video. I would enjoy hearting you talking to Dr. Donald S. Frazier on the confederate Cottonclads and the homemade alternatives to mettle armored riverboats and harbor ships.

A video on the British naval officer involment in the wars of South America would be interesting. Peru vs Ecuador as a prime example.

Well, since you’re currently in the US and you’ll be going through Virginia twice, maybe you might have the time to take a stop at the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia and you might get to see some relics from CSS _Virginia._ Actually, they’re right outside of the museum. The CSS _Virginia’s_ drive shaft is sitting right next to the White House of the Confederacy (Jefferson Davis’s home) while its anchor and chain are just across the walkway. There’s also a few pieces of _Virginia’s_ armor on display inside the museum down in the sub-floor.

THANK YOU Drac and Shawn

After watching parts one and two today, it made me remember something I've been thinking about off and on when I had first started playing World of Warships during closed beta. There seems to be a vast and very rich history of Naval warefare between maybe the 1840's up to designs that inspired the ones that fought during WW1 that even people who would consider themselves fans of naval history either know practically nothing at all or something but if they had to write it out could barley be considered a paragraph. Pirate games increase the interest in the age of sail. Anyone who wouldn't agree that WW1 and up is HEAVILY showcased in media, etc. is an obvious troll. So I'm curious if what I've been thinking about is something others would also have intrest in. What if wows, or maybe they bring in a small team to make something like an offshoot, it doesn't even have to be wows at all but atleast a company competent enough to not make something awful. I don't see wows wanting to make a special event game with sub-tiers, they REALLY probabably want to redo the tier system where the amount of content lumped in is so great that current tier 10 battleships and I'm just using a single class for the example. What's currently tier 10 becomes a tier 20, 40?..... 100 even? A game with such limited selection you could get away with 5ish subtiers would be better than nothing, an extremely resticted but well thought out an executed would atleast be a goodstart, quality can't help but build a fanbase in todays age a very small BUT very rabid/loyal fanbase can wield a power greater than anyone even 20 years ago could never belive possible. There's enough of watching and in the current channels case listening to him, of course I say this now and I can't verify it without discarding my post but irl I'm really pressed for time, I probably don't have time for this shit now. He probably has a viewership that can rival some of the mid size and definitely the smaller sized TV and cable networks. Yet, he has nowhere close to the budget and definitely the pay they do. And he's not making big complicated shows drawing people in. It's, and I say this at the most basic level, and it's not meant as any type of insult towards him. But this channel is basically some dude sitting at his desk. Hell, he might do some of this on the toliet, who knows? But I mean why wouldn't you? I would I guarantee you that if I ever start a channel and never have to show my face, I'm doing a lot of it from the bathroom with some audio editing. It's not a black screen or that plus words, he does post up a lot of pictures and even if you"ve seen some already you haven't seen all of them so it would keep a fans intrest. But it's not nessicary to watch. The last few I've watched have been with the screen off and speakers up while I do stuff around the house. On a budget small enough that if you are able to have a computer and internet you have enough money and if you don't you're obviously smart enough to figure out how to get the money. And yes, the extreme amount of lazyness that's affected a sizeable chunk of the global population is being left out. The yes, they could, but meehh... the reason most of them watch a single channel on tv for so long is because they are too lazy to locate the remote control. An invention itself invented because people were too lazy to get up, walk over to the tv, and adjust things. AND the previous invention wasn't lazy enough, the cord was the leash they wanted to cut. But anger or a deep love of something has the powerful effect of making the lazy, not so.... and in most cases a short but useful amount of time. I'm looking back and so far I've said a ton without really saying anything at all so I'm going to chop a lot out because if no one really cares tha this is a waste of bandwith and if people are interested questions will be asked. Is anyone interested in a wows, wt ish naval combat game from 1840's the age of steam propulsion up to the time not being covered now or ever before? Basically, right up to before practically, every game seems to start at.

The statement by John Ericsson that the monitors (and hence monitor like vessels) would float on the seas like a duck was just a bit of an overstatement.

I think a video in the riverine warfare on the Paraguayan War would be quite interesting.

Yea

Been listening to sean chick for a while from his content with Thersites, really cool seeing him on this channel!

Finally it’s here, thank you!

Both sides shared a problem once the fighting started. They had maps that only showed the course of the rivers, main roads and railroad lines. None showed the secondary roads and trails going to the small towns in the rural regions so they had to get directions from the local residents and farmers. The accuracy of their information was dependent on their opinion of the war. They would send lost detachments down the wrong roads or trails to prevent them from fighting in their region. The Union Army used small steamboats to deliver supplies for the advancing units so their captains would hail locals ashore of the whereabouts of certain landings. The supply ships weren't escorted by gunboats so the captains were happy to unload anywhere it was quiet to get away before fighting erupted. The supplies were left lightly guarded so often were looted by armed locals after shooing the guards away.

Boy did Drach nail it when he said ," America is a country founded by some very rich people that wanted to evade paying taxes , and never stopped". We are a greedy bunch of tax evaders. Always have been. Always will be.

Very enjoyable--the accidental empire idea was new to me, but makes sense once you laid it out

The US during the Korean War, especially the first 6 months, were dragging tanks and trucks left on various island battlefields, shipping them to Japan to be refurbished, then sent on to Korea for use. Task Force Smith was given WWI arms to face T-34s. It didn't turn out so well.

Ah I thought you had forgotten about this! Thanks for finishing it up!

Drach, since you're heading to Mobile for the Alabama any chance you'll work in a side trip to Fort Morgan? It has quite a lot of US coastal fort history from just after the War of 1812 to WW II. The earthworks the Union used to rake it back are even still present. Damn the torpedoes and all that.

"America is a country founded on tax evasion." You're goddamned right, and we're proud of it!

Very interesting Video 👍

TY so much for your hard work Drach, you are the Ken Burns of you tube. have you ever been approached by a major tv channel like BBC or PBS (tv channel here in the states) to do a major documentary ? If not they are fools for not trying to hire you.

8 months ago? Shit, i could have sworn it felt like yesterday......

The competent USofA Admiral would probably sortie the fleet of coastal iron clads against the British ship of the line fleet if he got a dead calm to operate in.

Fantastic, it would be great to get your take on riverine warfare in the Vietnam War

Interesting how Great Britain was looking at the rise of the US and Germany (both without empires) with concern, while both the US and Germany were both looking at Great Britain's empire with envy. The grass is always greener...

LET'S DO THIS!!!

Thanks again! Alas I will miss you at the Iowa and Midway. I live in the area but will b we on the other coast for business ...

Wheres Nelson pt 3???

As always, lots to learn here. I will take issue with Drach's characterisation of the British Empire-building and governance. It may not look like it to us, but Britain was probably the tightest and among the most efficient governments of the C18 (relative to its rivals). It could raise taxes at a rate that France or Spain could only envy, and, from 1688 ran a fairly consistent strategic policy. It saw itself as a Protestant nation under threat from Catholic France, its leaders were aware that finance was the key to survival (Pitt remarked that 'modern wars are contentions of purse' - ie, that victory went to the one with the largest and most stable cash flow, and hence the best credit), and they set out to capture the key cash trades, both for themselves and to deny them to France. These were the India trade in textiles (India had a technology lead in weaving, dying and printing) and the West Indies trade in sugar. The two were connected, in that Indian cloth was the main commodity desired by Africans, so cloth paid for slaves, slaves made sugar, cloth and sugar paid for the navy, the navy enhances British trade and suppresses French trade and round you go. The East India Company was an arm of the British government, under its overall direction. The empire goes through phases, but only becomes an administrative loss after India goes (India paid for half the British army, among other things). Hence rapidly wound down after 1960. There's a lot of good administrative history on this - eg Knight's Britain Against Napoleon or Andress The Gathering Storm (both on the effort against Revolutionary and Napoleonic France) or Brewer's Sinews of Power on earlier periods.

This looks good!

Americans and British Navies staring at each other. Yelling insults at each other than firing shots. Would be pretty funny.

There was a lot more discussion of other matters here, than there was about the the river war in the American Civil War.

The making of this video took longer then the making of the CSS Neuse. Tar Heels will get that reference.

thanking you both

Always a decent production at Drachinifel. 👍👍

In 1865, the US had more ironclads than anyone - perfect for coastal defence against, say, the biggest navy on the planet having a go with their iron-clad frigates. Ideal for breaking blockades, but not so good against the same navy’s commerce raiders operating just offshore…which was an environment the Monitors were supremely ill-suited for.

At 18.15 wonder where that picture location with both English rifles [ Armstrong or Blakely?] And Dahlgren guns? Charleston? At the castle?

One of my favorite naval battles was at the blockade of the mississippi and the C.S.S. Arkansas

Remember there's no point in having a big fleet just to have one. Life isn't a video game. Post-Civil War, the U.S. understood this, and also understood they were under no direct threat from anyone. So, rather than frivolously spending on ships they didn't need, they contented themselves with quietly becoming an economic juggernaut. By 1914, they were the most powerful country in the world. I'd say it paid off.

the USN got the fleet when it was needed, also military spending has to be approved every 2 years

Kind of got distracted and lost towards the end, British Colonial History but here is a picture I took in the Admin Bldg of NAVBASE Phila in the 1950’s. There were eight civil war monitors kept in the fresh waters of League Island until the 1930’s. Unfortunately one were saved.

Very interesting video. Big fan of the channel as well.

There are some fascinating images of European river monitors in the video that I would love to know more about. Perhaps if a revised or extended version of the video is in our future, these could be labeled with a ship or class name and approximate time of service? That way those with interest would have a starting point for questions of further research? Just a suggestion. Something I would enjoy. Perhaps a video, or series of videos, on European river monitors would be interesting? I would love to see this. Keep up the awesome work Mr. Drach!

That was very interesting and entertaining. :)