Pinned post for Q&A :)

Treaty cruisers did well despite the lightness of their armor. As the Salt Lake City at the Komandorski Islands. Shortly after, Kiska was retaken, the Japanese had already evacuated, leaving only some dogs and hot coffee, when Navy secretary Frank Knox asked Admiral King what does this mean, King said the Japanese are very clever, their dogs can brew coffee.

The 70 degree elevation of the main armament wasn't only theoretical. There is a book online by a former crew member of HMAS Shropshire in which he relates how the ship fired its 8 inch guns under control of the barrage director against Japanese aircraft at Lingayen Gulf. According to his account the results were highly effective - shells bursting in the vicinity of large aircraft such as Betty bombers could pluck both wings off and rip the fuselage in two. Evidently this caught the attention of the Japanese, with Tokyo Rose claiming in a broadcast that the Australian Counties were deploying a new weapon - some kind of flame thrower which pulled aircraft out of the sky! Certainly both cruisers were subject to many attacks at Lingayen, with Shropshire escaping unharmed, but Australia taking five Kamikaze hits - perhaps this could be a reason for them being so heavily targeted. The Shropshire also took part in the Battle of Surigao Strait (and in a situation similar to that of the Norfolk at the Battle of North Cape) she was using cordite without flash suppression, unlike the American 6 inch cruisers in her group. This had the effect of exaggerating the size of her muzzle flashes in the dark and caused the battleship Yamashiro to target her . She was straddled, but not hit. Maybe the large muzzle flashes of her 8 inch guns explains the Japanese conclusion of her using flame throwers at Lingayen.

My father (Ldg/st KX 108902 Stanley Higgins) was a stoker onboard HMS Dorsetshire From June 1940 until her sinking in April 1942. During the final Bismarck action on 27th May 1941, he was off watch from his stoker's station in the boiler rooms, and was at his action station in a damage control party. Part way through the action he was told by the party leader to go "up top" to see what was happening, and he witnessed the flaming, smoke shrouded wreck of Bismarck being pounded before its sinking. After being stood down from action stations, all available hands were called to "man the sides" and help in the rescue of the Bismarck's survivors. he took part in the rescues, and during his assistance, one particular survivor called Friedrich Junghans, gave dad his "erkennungsmarke" or ID tag in gratitude. It is currently on display in the Merseyside maritime museum in Liverpool, UK. 11 months later on 5th April 1942, at the time of Dorsetshire's own sinking, he was again very luckily off-watch from the boiler rooms ("lucky" as no-one on duty there survived the sinking) and was again called to action stations, at this time he was a leader of a damage control party up near the Dorsetshire's bows adjacent to the ships "paint locker". Very shortly after the commencement of the Japanese air attack, all comms in the ship were lost, though it was all too apparent that Dorsetshire was receiving a heavy pounding, with the ship heeling over and quaking from the impact of the Japanese bombs and the many near misses. During the chaos and din of the Japanese dive bombing attack, one concussion dislodged a length of heavy suction hose from a bracket on the compartment's bulkhead, the heavy, solid hose, known as an "elephant's foot", hit dad on the head, knocking him senseless for several seconds. On regaining his wits in the now blacked out darkness of the compartment, sensing that the ship was starting to list heavily, he ordered the party to get on the upper deck via a ladder leading to the "bosun's hatch" in the compartment roof. The first man up the ladder shouted that he couldn't unlatch the hatch "dogs". and dad used a crowbar to release the latches and the party crawled out into the burning sunlight on the rapidly inclining foredeck. One party member, a South African named David van Zyl, confided to dad that he couldn't swim and despite desperate pleas from dad for him to jump overboard, he tragically went down with the ship, the rest of the party all survived. The two cruisers each had a complement of approx 650-700 men on board. After both were sunk, only one intact lifeboat remained afloat from the two ships, This was used to hold the many severely injured sailors while the less heavily wounded and healthy (including my dad), had to cling to assorted flotsam. The sinkings took place at around 2:00pm on a sunday afternoon, they floated through the first night, and right through the following Monday, suffering horrible burns under the tropical sun whilst being crusted in salt from the seawater, dad said the saving grace was the men slathered themselves in thick oil from the sunken ships fuel tanks which began to surface a couple of hours after the ships had gone down, this gave some protection and relief, but they all increasingly believed that in their exhausted state that they were to die during that second night. The British Eastern fleet commander was aware that the two ships were overdue and mercifully sent a light cruiser and 2 destroyers to make a sweep. But it was a Fairey Swordfish from Ceylon that spotted a reflection of the rays of the dying sun on a biscuit tin that had been tied to an oar and held upright being rotated by a man in the boat full of wounded. A message was sent from the aircraft and shortly before sunset, the 3 ships (HMS Emerald, Panther & Paladin) arrived on the scene and rescued 1120 sailors from the approximately 1400 men who were on this ships before their sinking, after having spent 33 hours clinging to wreckage. He "Crossed the bar" in 2013 aged 93. Great vid as usual from your channel, all the best.

They should’ve made Norfolk a museum ship. It really deserved it

Cumberland appeared in the movie Battle of River Plate. Reprising her part in arriving after the battle reinforcing Ajax and Achilles.

I've always thought the County Class cruisers were gorgeous ships. The clean line from bow to stern and those three stacks make it stand out in the best way. Especially when you compare it to the other treaty era cruisers.

Great vid, the Counties were a very very handsome and useful class of ships, that did well enough when put to the test.

Thank you! Family served on both HMAS Australia 2 & HMAS Canberra in WW2. As a matter of interest, at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra Australia, is one of HMAS Australia 2's 8 inch gun turrets including the breach. It's impressive to say the least.

Any chance of doing a history of the Tiger class? My buddy served on HMS Blake just before she was retired from service in 1979. He went on to serve on type 42's. But he always referred to old snaky as being a proper ship!

I would like to see a video on the York class, specifically HMS Exeter and her epic performance during and after the battle of the River Plate.

Cumberland also came up fast after the Battle of River Plate to help trap the Graf Spee. When Harwood asked how she came so quickly from the Falkland's, Cumberland replied by signal lamp... A-N-T-I-C-I-P-A-T-I-O-N. You have to admire a Captain so direct.

My father was on the “lovely” London after she was refitted. He loved his time aboard mainly around the South China Sea and western Pacific. Unfortunately the Chinese made a mess of her when they when to the aid of the Hms Amethyst in the Yangtze and she was decommissioning and scrapped in 1950. I have his campaign medal for that action at home.

Imagine flying your bomber over a british heavy cruiser and an 8in shell comes through your fuselage and tears the plane in half

My Father served on Corvettes in the British Pacific war against the Japanese. He started as a Sonar operator hunting Japanese Subs, Then due to a ear infection after swimming in a bad pool in Egypt stop over in early 1940 on their way through the Suez Canal, Had to do the Depth Charges instead. He always said how amazing the class was nicknamed the Gray Hound of the Sea? A very good class of ship very fast sleek and powerful for it's class.

Cruisers. My kind of ship. Sleek design but still had big guns. Same way I like my ladies. ;)

The HMS /HMAS Shropshire steamed 300000 N/m in WW2 and only lost 6 men in accidents

The Countys were excellent seagoing ships, with good endurance/range. As mentioned in video, with most Treaty cruisers, it was difficult to get a full combo of armor, speed and armament on the 10,000 tonnes. Also, the heavy cruisers were expensive ships, these had an average cost of close to 2,000,000 GBP each vessel. The HMS Devonshire evacuated the Norw. king and government from Norvay on 7 Jun 1940.

Thank you. My Grandfather served in HMS KENT and survived the Italian torpedo strike in 1940. He was an 18-year old Midshipman at the time.

The shot of HMS London at around 5:30 in the video is after her rebuild to something resembling an eight-inch gunned member of the Town class light cruisers (note twin rather than triple stacks) "From March 1939 she was under reconstruction at the Chatham Dockyard, and was much altered in appearance. Replacement of her machinery was considered, but later abandoned. She was given a new superstructure above the main deck and in many ways resembled a Fiji-class light cruiser. Her single 4-inch gun mounts were changed to twin mounts, and several 20mm AA guns and radar were added. In addition, she was fitted with a 3½-inch cemented armoured belt, 8 feet deep down from the main armoured deck which covered the machinery spaces. The reconstruction work was finally completed in March 1941. The refit was planned to be implemented to other ships of the County class, but due to wartime pressures no other ships were reconstructed." This might really be because the refit was not successful as it overstressed the hull "London's refit became a disaster. she emerged at 11,015 tons, the extra weight workers slapped on to her created unmanageable stress. When the hull began to crack, the upper portion was reinforced; leaks then opened in the lower portion. Water got into fuel oil, fuel oil got into the magazines, forming pools deep enough to require bucket brigades. The problems went unchecked until 1943" My personal opinion is that this is evidence that the Royal Corps of Naval Constructors was undermanned and overworked as these stress problems should have come out in a thorough analysis of the design before it was approved. A similar near disaster had occurred when the stability of the Hunt class escort destroyers was miscalculated. This was discovered in the inclining experiment of the first to be completed, when she tried to capsize. www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/inclining-experiment "The demanding specifications in an overworked Admiralty design department resulted in a major design miscalculation. When the detailed calculations were done the centre of gravity was lower than expected and the beam was increased. As the first ships were being completed it was found that the design was as much as 70 tons overweight, top-heavy, leaving them dangerously deficient in stability. The first twenty ships were so far advanced in construction that it was necessary to remove the 'X' 4-inch gun mount and add 50 tons of permanent ballast. These ships became the Type I group and had the multiple 2-pounder guns relocated from behind the funnel to the more advantageous 'X' position. The design deficiency of the Type I was rectified by splitting the hulls lengthwise and adding a 2½ foot section, increasing the beam to 31 ft 6 in and the margin of stability sufficiently for the designed armament to be shipped. These ships became the Type II group, and also had a revised design of bridge with the compass platform extending forwards to the wheelhouse face" There just weren't enough naval architects (even with temporary wartime appointments from civilian life) to do the normal process of checking one another's work as required by the King's Regulations

Thank you, I enjoy your videos. I have many of the ships you discuss in my 1/2400 scale waterline collection. I created a simulator to go with them and my friends and I have war gamed many scenarios' over the years. Back in the 90's when I was building it I poured over my books and visited the library to get what information I could. Your channel would have been a Godsend. The ships maker did have a game with them, but it was not realistic enough for me. Took me two years to tweak it so it was both realistic and playable. Oddly enough my Warspite always gave better than she got, my Brother hated to see her steaming his way.

Excellent, educational, and entertaining, as always. Keep up the good work.

Something I recommend finally put into video, thank you for doing this 👍

My favourite class(es) of heavy cruiser, thanks Drach.

Thanks for the great video! I've always thought these were the best looking Royal Navy cruisers.

Great video as always sir. Thanks for putting this out there.

In Asia, people talk about navies in WW2, most concentrated at IJN, then Kriegsmarine and put USN behind them; other navies have been forgotten in the most of naval talks.

I’ve been waiting for this one. Thank you!

Grandfather served on the Shropshire, nice to get some more info on the ship.

My grandfather would have been happy to see this story about the heavy cruisers my grandfather join the navy in 1930 till 1954 he was on board HMAS Canberra in the battle of the Coral sea and then he's not ship was HMAS shropshire he was a chief Gunnery officer at the battle in the Philippines which was called the battle of Leyte gulf right up to the end of the world war 2 where the Japanese surrendered in Tokyo bay it's codename in World war 2 was ( porthole) that was the battle at layte gulf the men on the ship called it the lucky ship. On behalf of my grandfather I thank you for doing this excellent worth.There is so much more I could add to this story that isn't funny. Lest We forget

The County Class and sub-classes were one of the few treaty cruisers armed with 8" guns that offered a truly balanced design. This included armor effectiveness and interior roominess. This allowed for the large increases in anti aircraft batteries during WW2 along with the necessary personnel and ammunition. Although these ships were built ~a decade earlier and weighed ~4k tons less, they were not outclassed by the German Hipper class despite the engagement with the Hipper where the Hipper came out ahead. 4k tons and 10 years of improvements should have made it an easy contest for the overweight and newer German counterpart. These County Class vessels were very well utilized and seemed to turn up everywhere starting with the Cumberland going to Montevideo after the Graf Spee, and the Norfolk, Suffolk and Dorchester being involved with the Bismarck action. The Dorchester sent some of the last torpedoes into the Bismarck and picked up several hundred survivors before leaving after a report of a U-Boat sighting. Spanish operated County Class vessels operated into the 1970s and were among the last comprehensively armored vessels to remain in service. That says a lot for their overall design which in a word - it "worked".

My favourite among ww2 cruiser classes.

One of my favourite cruisers

6:38 Caniares class :) Canarias. Canary Islands

I would love a video about the pompoms! :)

Morning from America

One of the 8 inch guns from Australia is on display at the National War Museum. Also as a side note, Australia was the first ship hit by Kamikaze.

Suggestion if you would like to do a generic topic, how about an episode on camouflage or dazzle?

While as you mention that the Canarias was the longest surviving County Class Cruiser, the first cruiser of this type that was lost in action (during the Spanish Civil War) was its subclass sister, the Baleares (both named after Spanish island groups).

hey can you do a video on the Kaiser class of Battleships of the Imperial german navy.

Cornwall was painted white with yellow funnels pre war .looked spectacular according to my father.

good afternoon from Baltics :)

My late father spent hours on the Cumberland, waiting for the tide in the Solent, after the Cumberland filled its condenser with mud. He was aboard to run a torsion meter test on the prop shafts. His company designed the torsion meter to monitor the amount of twist in the shaft while rotating under power.

Thank you for this.

Good looking ships!

Awesome!

Good morning from Sweden

Always had a soft spot for the Counties.

So jealous of those guys playing Deck Hockey at 3:10..... On a WOODEN deck. We played it on a Frigates flight deck...with that special paint that had grit in it.... The blood!!!!

Using your guides for ships for playing warthunder cheers drach all thee info is all here

7:44 also worth mentioning, the Devonshire was also the ship that transported the Norwegian King Håkon 7, Crown Prins Olav, who was to be Norways "commander in chief" during the war( and ofc future king), and the Norwegian (exile)Government from the north Norway to London leaving at 7. june 1940.

Good 10 AM from the UK

Fantastic !

Suggestion: a discussion on the DesMoines class heavy cruisers of the US Navy.

Video about Finnish coastal defence ships Ilmarinen and Väinämöinen

It would be nice to do a brief of HMAS Australia II - quite an active vessel

The British County Class and the American New Orleans Class of Heavy (8 inch main armament) were the best of the Treaty Heavy Cruisers. IMHO.

Picture at 8:41 is the docks of my hometown of Vancouver

Yess

Now that Exeter has made it into World of Warships I'm hoping we get to see a County-class representative soon. Or better yet a full Royal Navy CA line, I do believe there should be just enough designs around to make it although maybe one or two filler ships might be needed, although I'd appreciate if they included *any* line from the Regia Marino first since it's about damn time we get some Pasta Boats..

Enjoyed the video, thanks. My father served on the Cumberland from the start of WW2, from the dash to Montevideo and battle of Dakar where Cumberland was hit. Shortly after the outbreak of WW2 Cumberland and Graf Spee were on a converging course near the Cape Verde islands but Graf Spee's seaplane spotted Cumberland and was able to alter course undetected. My father said it was a happy ship but they hardly got shore leave, were constantly at sea. My father eventually had enough and transferred to the FAA! Do you know if any of these photos are of Cumberland?

30 MAR 2019 @ 16,00 UTC If practicable, could you review the USS Indiana (BB-58) and/or USS Blessman (DE-69)? My father served aboard the Indiana for the Guadalcanal landings and later aboard the Blessman as commander of UDT-32, earning 9 battle stars in the Pacific theatre. Thank you.

Those look like real Navy fighting ships!

The cruiser shown at @8:14 is at the Olde Pier B-C in Vancouver, British Columbia.. That being Grouse Mountain in the background, which is a local ski hill..

My Grandad was on the HMS Berwick doing the arctic run for Russia.

The photo at 6:12 must be from HMAS AUSTRALIA.... because that is her CO, CAPT E.F.V Dechaineux DSC RAN. He was one of 30 men killed when a kamikaze aircraft hit the bridge at Leyte Gulf... Navies are often family affairs as I am sure many here would be aware. Peter Dechaineux, his son, was still serving during my time as an RAN Officer in the 80's and early 90's... he retired as a Commodore. CAPT Dechaineux was awarded the Legion of Merit by the US....and one of our Collins Class submarines was named after him.

good still kinda morning from denmark

I can hardly wait to see what the Patreon Choice will be! I hope it's something obscure.

The County Class were good ships.

Would you do a video on the RCN’s St Laurent class destroyer escorts , nicknamed cadillacs, of the 1950’s and 60’s.

Australia was one of the first ships to be kamikazed when the bridge was demolished, the same bridge and captain as illustrated.

Can you do a video of the Bayern class battleships of the German Navy

Watching the 1957 film Battle of the River Plate yesterday I noticed that the HMS Cumberland showed up minus any turrets and Rear Admiral Hardwood didn't notice. Wouldn't have been much use against the Graf Spee.

Would love to see one and the Escort Carriers

SHIP FOR REVIEW - HMS Jervis Bay. A remarkable end. I've a family connection as her Surgeon was my family's doctor prior to the war and he went down with the ship.

My mate’s father worked for a guy who was in destroyers in WW2. He swore blind that he followed HMS Norfolk on the ship’s rangefinder as she caught up with a convoy and she was going 44 knots! Now I have a suspicion that the RN may have been a little economical with the actuality on the installed horsepower of their ships, but this seems a bit extreme.

How about adding a caption box to each photo, say what each ship is (name, class etc) and when the photo was taken? More work for you I know, but I feel it would be helpful.

You know it was a decent ship when the video is quit short.

A question for your Drydock series, what we're the large clocks used for on the mast of Battleships?

In the fighting at sea His Majesty's Australian ship "Canberra" has been sunk, as has already been announced. His Majesty's Government considered that the Commonwealth Government should not bear this grievous loss, following the sinking of other gallant Australian ships. We have therefore decided to offer freely and unconditionally the transfer of His Majesty's eight-inch gun cruiser "Shropshire" to the Commonwealth Government. The offer has been most warmly received. Churchill below 85 Hansard WAR SITUATION (Hansard, 8 September 1942) (parliament.uk)

Hello , Kindly look into doing a Guide on the Crown Colony Class Cruiser HMS Nigeria penant number 60...........she is named for Nigeria who gained independence on October 1st 1960 and we are 60 years old this year. So a lot of 60s.......... and she was part of a team that captured an Enigma Machine and code books........Thanks in advance

Classic Brit cruisers.

The Shropshire the Lucky Ship had a very busy war. She steamed 300000n/m just in Australian Service She was at the Battle of Suriago Straits and scored the first hit on one of the Japanese B/ships She was at the landing of the USArmy in the Philippines in 44 and from 13 miles away she was supporting the troops in bounds of less than 100 yards She was at the Battle of Leyte Gulf and her radar was picking up the incoming Japanese planes well before the USN She went to action Stations as did the HMAS Australia well before the USN and later on the USN Admiral said and i QUOTE" When the Aussies say there is something coming believe them" end quote In Australian service she never lost a man in action although 6 died in accidents and drowning.

Hows about doing a video on the E class cruisers, Enterprise and Emerald :)

Can you do a video on the Urca de Lima?

we need these babies in World of Warships!!

Just a slight complaint about your logo. HMS Splendid on the cap-band suggests a Royal Navy sailor. However, moustaches have not been allowed in the navy for 150+ years. Clean shaven or a full beard, nothing in-between. A sailor would make a request of a senior officer, "permission to grow?". Then after, usually, a week of not shaving the results would be inspected. If the full beard was not sufficiently well-developed the sailor would be ordered to resume shaving.

My Grandfather Served on Berwick as an sonar operator

Word was that this class had quality of life issues with berthing and mess decks not staying dry during heavy weather and seas.

Should do HMAS Canberra

Have you done the video of the Surrey class yet Drach?

So if Devonshire had responded to glorious do you think it could have helped the destroyers or do you think it would have just added a heavy cruiser to Scharnhorst and Gneissenau's talley

I've always wondered about the use of torpedo launchers on surface vessels. Is the benefit of having them, exceed the lost weight for other weapons or armor? 1959 seems to have been a bad year for WW2 era warships. A lot of the best known British and American warships got scrapped that year!

What about the London it received a crown colony cruiser rebuilt

Please do a research videos on the United States Navy's ADAMS class destroyers and also on the KNOX class Destroyer Escort/Fast Frigate of the USN.

Have you done a guide on the admiral hipper class?

Any chance of an article on the Town-class cruisers (my grandfather served as a pompom gunner on one of them)

Wonder how the Counties compared with the Pensacolas head to head.

Great ships, but they looked extremely old-fashioned. Rake of the (many) funnels, stern etc.

Just out of curiosity, what is your policy regarding the grammatical correctness of the use of "the" before the initialism "HMS"? I know you used it in some of your older videos but have not noticed it recently. Was this a conscious change in scripting?