Just wanted to say: "you know it's going to be a good day when you find an hour-long Drach video in your recommendations!"

drach, what happend to the USS Franklin video?

How would you defend Manila or Santiago de Cuba against the Americans?

The image at time stamp 4:58 appears to be building 128 in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. This used to be a machine shop for making marine engine components. I am happy to say that this has been fully restored and is now being used for the manufacturer of clothing, helmets, and body armor for special forces. It would be great if you could dig into the history of the BNY for a future episode.

7:11 during the age of sail, did the crown or Royal Navy have managers of the forest?

I thought it was hilarious 🤣🤣

Ah, the breeches buoy! We had to practice with that to verify that we knew *how* to do it (but almost never used it in practice - helicopters were quicker, easier, and safer), and to do so loaded our chaplain - a full commander :-) - into it and proceeded to haul him over to the other ship. On the way back the guys tending the line just *couldn't* keep it taut and he got dunked ever so gently into the briny. He returned to our deck sputtering like a wet hen. And everyone felt just *awful*! :-)

Given how "useful" most officers are, "walking organ donors" fits.

I've seen it done. 1977, but our ship didn't have a helo.

@@dropdead234 As Abraham Lincoln is alleged to have said, "I can easily make more Generals, Mules cost money!"

I checked the video time hoping it was 8hrs lol. Ever heard of dan carlin hardcore history? His stuff is 6 hrs and longer its crazy

​@Darthdoodoo his series about the how and why japan became the way it did was fantastic. i think it was called "supernova in the orient "

​@Darthdoodoo I tried some Hardcore History but it is quite a time investment and I struggled with him jumping around and felt it needed to be better organized.

Wars also tend to be mostly boring (punctuated with extreme violence and sheer terror) and a huge hassle for all involved ;)

I think the best example of this is the Berlin airlift. Nearly 300.000 flight delivered 2.3 million tons of food, fuel and supplies in 11 months. It was a big blow to the soviet union and most likely prevented the West from having to start a war against to east to free Berlin.

70% of any army is logistics. Probably more for a Navy since it has 0% chance of foraging.

Amateurs study tactics, professionals study logistics.

An army marches on its stomach. ~ Napoleon. My soldiers can eat grass if they have to, but my tanks gotta have gas. ~ George Patton. My soldiers can walk to the front and fight. Why can't you start a western front? ~ Stalin. Western allies: Err....sea, ships, logistics.

@Jo Daniel what has that got to do with pirates of the Carribbean?

Oh, is that why it's called the Wednesday Rum ration

@@sergarlantyrell7847 Very clever. Hip, hip…

@Baby Maybe Actually I served on a Frigate, a submarine and a carrier so I can throw the black shoe, brown shoe or bubble head call sign depending on the situation. 👍

Baby Maybe me: FFG43, SSN680, CV64, and LCC19 (the second ugliest ship in the Navy after LCC20 lol)

@@francescomiele6601 I know, right? Had to invent the infographic just to show how badly it went down. Edit: fact-checked myself; Charles Joseph Minard was far from the first author of an infographic, and the history of the medium is great: www.smithsonianmag.com/history/surprising-history-infographic-180959563/

Ahhh, the roboute guilliman speciality

Currently doing a degree in military history This phrase is one that gets thrown around a LOT.

Nothing worst than being unprepared or runing out of ammo lol

Usually expressed as: “An army marches on its belly.” “Une armée marche avec son estomac.” N

Not if you're the Swiss Navy.

Kinda salty

That's what not to do when the bird shits on you - THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER!

"Doch wär für uns das Wasser zum trinken gedacht Hätte Gott den Ozean nicht salzig gemacht" - "Blau wie das Meer" from Mr. Hurley & Die Pulveraffen

We just need to modify our kidneys with cells from a cats kidney apperently cats can drink saltwater without any problem

I'm sure that went soo well for the Japanese

If we believe hard enough, shells will start shooting out of our guns! -wait, this isn't 40k-

@@Big_E_Soul_Fragment Too orkish for IJN, IMO.

@@theleva7 Idk, maybe just a touch too much. They did build the Yamatos, planned bigger ones and flew themselves in to ships, after all.

Or just pour crude oil

Can't wait for a detailed look at the logistical supply chain!

@@Highwind79 It's a book 3 inches thick. That's vol. 1.

@@deathsheadknight2137 And VOL1 is mostly made of "Tables of contents"

In the long view of logistics, that pretty much is a quick summary. I sometimes wonders if logistics officers were prescient about strategy and tactics, so they could start moving the supplies before the commanders asked for it ASAP.

Hour long “quick looks”, 5 minute guides actually being closer to 20... makes me wonder how a “quick” chat over “one” beer would go with Sir Drach 😉😎

I agree, my great grandfather apparently spent most of ww1 floating around in hospital ships as he apparently repeated the process of arriving in the combat area, getting on his horse, falling violently ill, riding a ship back to england getting back to full health, essentially getting back on his horse, then falling into near death illness and being carted back to england again (cant verify if its accurate, but its the story i was told)

Fun fact. The current Hospital ships, converted tankers, were built at the same pier as the Exxon Valdez. I spent a year and a half watching that from pier 1 at NavSta San Diego next door to NASSCO.

@@Colt45hatchback Well...your grandfather seemed to be similar to our local pastor/chaplain than...That lazy,actively work avoiding overweight man is sick again...And promptly,the church is visited more during services...

@@NashmanNashhaha im not 100% sure he was actively avoiding work/the war more likely he was just not forged from the right material, my mum is quite often sick also, guess it was just bad genes/poor immune system, although she has been known to be a little alergic to continued effort, so maybe a bit of both haha

@@Colt45hatchback Oh,in no way i meant to accuse your grandfather of being some sort of coward or opportunist(is it written that way?)..Just from your story,his "bad luck"(or in his case very good luck,apparently having collected several guardian angels and chained them to a wall..considering you may not be writing on youtube today if it were different ) is somewhat similar to my local chaplain...Although...that chaplain IS rather lazy(please don´t disturb on mondays...Sir,you have a 7 day work week,that´s why you get around 40 days of instead of the usual 24ish),i still doubt that he would injure himself on purpose

Very much so. Large and very capable logistics is also the reason that there are only two navies in the world that are genuinely capable of operating anywhere.

The ability to do that is also the main reason why the UK were able to defeat Argentine in the Falklands war.

@@DarkFire515 French navy can do it too...

The Armed Forces Canada maintains fleet resupply capability for world wide reach. NATO, in its anti-piracy mission, is dependent on replenishment at sea. The US Navy calls it Underway Replenishment (or UNREP). I know from personal experience that even replenishment of food from the quayside is an arduous task. It can take an long afternoon to resupply a ship of 150 sailors, or several days for a aircraft carrier. Resupply at sea in the 1940's required going along side three ships for the various parts of the logistical train. Oil came from the AO ship, explosives from the AE ship and food and spare parts from the AK ship. Every one is praying to Daniel Bernoulli that the ships are not sucked together.

@@steveschulte8696 With RAS or UNREP the main advantage is, that all that stuff comes pre packaged. If you are in peacetime ops and replenish every week, a frigate with 250 sailors needs ~5 tonnes of foodstuffs. A modern aircraft carrier with nearly 5000 sailors needs ~100 tonnes of food in 7 days.

I had no idea how complicated this was... thanks for the fun facts Erik!

I've read that growing masts was quite the process. Pick out a likely candidate then cut down other trees around it to strengthen the trunk by exposing it to more wind.

I've read that foresters would use 'braces'. Devices that would force the tree to branch/grow into specific shapes. Ostensibly, this gave the wood a natural-shape and a natural-strength when it was harvested.

Even though upper masts were generally pieced, it still took good wood. And the lower masts took some damned big trees in Ships O' th' Line.

Now I want a video on choosing masts for age of sail ships!

Commodore Gandalf!

Never anger a logistics officer for they are overworked and quick to reroute you to Alaska.

"Where should I dump this load of Pipe Weed?" "How the hell should I know?! Do I look like the Beach Master?!" Saving Private Baggins

God yes... a 286 at a screaming 16Mhz and a green screen CRT. Running Windows '67 with less memory than Ronald Reagan.

@@darrellsmith4204 Don't you mean less memory than Biden? Otherwise, no shit. And DB4. Gads, what headaches. Still, I remember freezing outside a computer store at 5 AM because there was a shipment of 56.6 modems arriving that day and they would be sold first come, first served. People today do not understand the thrill of hearing your modem actually connect.

Wayne, Oh you poor bastard! I was a company quartermaster and had to get that stuff to the forward pits. I believe the correct reply is oh you poor bastard 😜 Cheers Bro’ Mark

@@whiskeytangosierra6 Either/or.. And try to explain to kids these days about 14.4 dial up modems.

@@darrellsmith4204 14.4 was fast U late to the party Bro

@Graf von Losinj Ammo factories are real easy to blow to hell.

I thought the first rule was don't start a war with your source of fuel and food *cough* Barbarossa *cough*

I thought it was "Never engage in a land battle in Asia."

@@benholroyd5221 The first rule of warfare is, "Never start a war with Russia when fighting anybody else. If you haven't noticed it is always the first rule of warfare. Over on Science & Futurism with Isaac Arthur it has become something of a running joke.

@@calvingreene90 Id say the rule should more accurately be, don't invade Russia from central Europe. The Japanese didn't really do badly against them, neither did the afghans or the fins

I'd reckon the pros and cons of superfiring are obvious. Pros are taking up less deck space and a full arc of fire. Cons are much higher centre of gravity and more exposed to fire.

I see an one-hour venture into all possible turret designs in our future.

I´d think a Con to the superfiring layout is about ranging where because one turret is higher/lower, the relative angles to get the shells to hit a target will be different from one turret to another (IE: one turret will have to be elevated less or more depending) but by the time of WWII, those issues were mostly sorted out

@@KPen3750 I do not see a 3 or 4 meter difference in the hight of the guns being very important when firing at targets like ships and fortresses.

@@calvingreene90 Lest see at 3 meter (30 feet) the shell hits, at 4 meters it misses by a inch, thus does no damage, no difference you say.

Such a way with words, one of the reasons I love this channel. "Slightly Sinky" snicker, chortle.

Nice description of Tirpitz.

On USS BUTTE (AE-27) we were told that someone did the math and if we went up all at once in the middle of the ocean it would take eight minutes for the sea to go back to normal.

@@williamgoin139 how many tons of tnt where on board

My (American) grandfather was not subject to the draft, for the same reason.

The channel was only CG voice when I got here. And I miss it. The C made some spectacularly bad/funny mistakes. Especially with "naw__tit__ickle" words and phrases. Ship names were always a crapshoot.

the robovoice reminds me of the meme channels that use the robo voice.

Completely agree, there was never been a robo voice channel that I would watch until I found this one

The American Military Best Logistics train on the planet.

If you added up all the war goods made by all the countries fighting, Americans made just shy of half, and we got a late start. You have to build it before you can ship it.

@@lordgarion514 There's a reason for that, starting with two key factors: 1) The USA wasn't being bombed, so its industry wasn't taking any damage 2) The USA is _big_ . CONUS alone is almost a quarter bigger than all of non-Russian Europe _combined_ .

@@GoranXII Oh indeed, there were many reasons for America being able to do what it did. The abundance of natural resources being a major one. But even with all the advantages we had, it was far from certain that we could pull it off with such a late start.

IIRC there were but a small handfull of these vessels. Not enough to have a proper war. We couldn't have used those BBs if they'd not been creamed.

@@its1110 Still couldn't use them after they were repaired. The US Navy was so short of fleet oilers it was we can supply the carriers or the older battleships but not both. Carriers won. Battleship support had to wait till the North Carolina and South Dakota class fast battleships became available with their more efficient engineering plants.

We will go our own way again.

Actually colonial rebellion.

@@calvingreene90 eh depends on which side your on as an ungrateful colonial I'll stick with revolution

In the context of the military, shouldn't that be 'once a day'?

@@whyjnot420 Not really as militaries clock is just a reskinned Civilian timepiece still a 24 hour period of real time.

I am sorry if the humorous intent of my question was lost in transmission. Also, they make 24 hour analog clocks, electrical and mechanical as well.

Well ... actually ... 24 Hour Clocks are the exception - depending on where you are - most of the clocks are standard civilian office clocks - because they are cheaper. .

@@BobSmith-dk8nw That was only a reply to the statement of the clocks used being analog, trying to make the point that just saying analog does not automatically make them 12 hour clocks. While today the argument of 24 hour analog clocks being that much more expensive is questionable due to how cheap a quartz clock can be made, that is easily still true when talking mechanical clocks/watches, also its not only more complex, it requires more precision in any given space. Another big reason for 12 hour clocks is that a 24 hour analog clock is harder to read for many people due to everything being squeezed into smaller increments. Yet another reason for 12 hour analog time pieces is simply tradition, a 12 hour cycle for the day goes back thousands and thousands of years (as does the base 60 used for min and sec). Tradition is why you will also see the roman numeral of IIII used instead of the more modern IV for 4. I actually prefer to wear mechanical pocket watches myself, old school hand wound. I have a couple of electric quartz ones as well. Anyways, like I said I didn't by any means want to even hint at implying that 24 hour analog timepieces were common, only that they are a thing and that it is wrong to conflate analog with 12 hour. Also my original comment was simply a joke about military time. One other thought about how cheap clocks can be these days, I remember in high school, the clocks in the classrooms were all analog. Yet I do not think any one of the ones in classrooms actually did any work other than moving the hands, as they were all maintained and controlled by a central system. They might have been semi-independent and had proper movement, but they were certainly able to be manipulated remotely. None of this involved wireless of any kind as these clocks had been there since the 1970s or 60s when the school was built (and I graduated in 98 for some context). All were wired into the schools electrical and you could see them move when being set from time to time, was always weird seeing the clock suddenly seemingly speed up for a min as the time was set ahead or back for whatever reason. If they were actually controlled completely from a central location, that would mean there was nothing but a couple of motors to keep them moving and if they were semi-independent, that means their movement did not need to be precise at all since all they would need is a periodic update from the control system. Both factors would mean any individual timepiece used in that system would be cheaper than a fully independent one (in theory anyways). And its not like you need the precision of a marine chronograph to tell you class has ended so extra cheap is fine there, perhaps even desired. Didn't mean for this to get as long as it did so I will end it there.

They were an amazing change to commerce. Extensive systems were relatively recent, waiting for the steam engine to run pumps and such for construction and better explosives and harder drill steels. And Engineers to brain it all out via the Art of Hydraulics. And today so much are now ruins.

@@its1110 England still has an active and regrowing system. I watch several narrowboat KZfaq channels. very calming.

Not many countries. Some yes, but once the railway was invented it quickly overtook the canals. There was an extensive canal network in the UK, US, Germany, China, France & the Benelux. There wasn't much in Eastern Europe, Italy, Japan or Australia. It's bit like the telephone network: those who came late tended to skip a step, like Sub-Saharan Africa going straight to cell-phones.

Rivers in North America, then trains and the Mississippi and it tributaries and then the interstate highways and the intercostal water way.

@@Delgen1951 and then there's those two bicycle builders from "Ahia" who decided that a heavier than air machine that could fly into the wind while carrying ppl was possible.

Straight to the red seat for those officers, guessing those ladies were carrying unwelcome guests 😎

Well, that is quite a story! I thought LST meant Large Slow Target.

Not to mention that the Philadelphia Naval yard was only about 2 hours away. And electrified so no need to burn either coal or oil. Baltimore harbor was also close and a quick connection to Newport News and Norfolk.

Big place that. I was a station keeper at the Harrisburg Reserve Center. I think THAT reserve center existed to provide reserve officers to support the base. And when I was in the fleet, LOTS of mail from there.

Many writers tend to aviod it like the plague because they realise, that their super cool army of doom the dark lord sends to crush the noble rebellion will have all the staying power of a dry leave in a wildfire should the rebels realise how fragile the army of doom's logistical situation is and start to employ scorched earth and guerilla warfare. Having the super cool army of doom desintegrate into mutineering bands of starving soldiers long before reaching the rebel strong hold is somewhat anticlimactic... Also: Writing a story that is internaly consistent is hard work...

@@Bird_Dog00 I thought it was more that many authors don't understand that it exists, kinda how much most authors don't understand how basic science or math exists.

Thats always

@@Bird_Dog00 after reading this, I have a big question. How the fuck does logistics work in the Star Wars Universe (for example)????? Like props to the Republic and Empire for managing to maintain these huge fuck off capital ships and never seeming to have any fuel shortages etc

@@SpiritOfMontgomery There's a whole lot on Star Wars logistics actually. It's just mostly on extra side material, fan speculation, the side stories etc., and is left out of the movies for obvious reasons.

Which created a whole new problem, I'm sure.

Was that for boilers or more modern engines?

@@CSSVirginia A well washed T-shirt works as a reusable coffee filter.

@@calvingreene90 Gotta do what you gotta do. I have worked with guys that get down right hostile without coffee.

Did the crew throw the Captain and the Navigator overboard?

Months before a big invasion operation they and the CBs would bop into some little remote atoll, w/in heavy bomber range of the targets, and build some airfields and supply and repair facilities. Then they'd run the operation out of there for a couple-few months. ... Then bop off and leave the place just as remote as it'd been for a couple hundred years. Read up on the Cargo Cult religions of the Pacific.

Anything related with the Pacific Theater of Operations... mind boggling the logistics involved with that. 🤯

@@CFarnwide Absolutely, an almost unbelievable amount of coordination involved to win the war in the Pacific. Could the USSR have done this? The answer is NO.

@@73Trident I seem to remember someone mentioning the logistics involved to win the war and how staggering they were... but wanted everyone to remember the logistics involved AFTER the war was won. Getting everything and everyone home safe was no easy task.

@@CFarnwide we didnt bring everyone home really. We maintained occupation armies in both Japan and Germany for nearly a decade after. And then the Cold War fired up and we had to increase troop levels again. We STILL Ahave troops along the DMZ in Korea, Marines on Okinawa and Airmen and Ground forces at Landstuhl in Germany.

Don't forget the most important item of all..... tea!

@@Grimmtoof Cocoa!

Logistics is infrastructure. Infrastructure is often and badly taken for granted by people who have never had to do it. ... and they YELL. "We told you this would happen in 3 months 5 months ago... and we've been working our asses off (while you didn't even notice) since 2 months ago. Now it's STILL gonna take 2 months to fix." (Saw a whole IT department burn-out and quit.)

Ahem..."mess things up"? Surely the logistics section would have been, shall we say, more colourful with their language than that?

You might add in the right order of priority loading and unloading . Failure to " combat load " was a big problem at guadalcanal, market garden, and stalingrad. When Hershey bars and beer come before bullets and weapons your army will have problems doing what it's supposed to do.

@@terencewinters2154 Personally, I'd say that combat loading is part of the "right stuff, right place, right time" algorithm. If you don't have the right stuff in the right quantity then logistics has failed anyway. And yeah, Stalingrad, where I believe the German logistics train managed to waste at least one precious supply flight by sending a plane load of condoms to their beleaguered troops - *WRONG* stuff, wrong place, wrong time.

Not to forget the proverbial Mr. Murphy, who *always* gets a win somewhere.

Texas City!

World War Two - Port Chicago.

there's a massive crater in the English countryside (which I believe Tom Scott actually did a video on too) that's a better lesson than the Beirut port explosion in terms of improper ammunition storage imp. 😬

@@francistheodorecatte ah yes, the military accident that created the Hanbury Crater on November 27, 1944 was, at the time, the largest non-nuclear explosion ever to have occurred in the world. It occurred when some 3,500-4,000 tons of bombs, shells and rifle ammunition exploded at RAF Fauld, a bomb dump in a disused gypsum mine.

Ah, you were in the fun Navy. We only had one beer day (two per sailor) for a 9-month deployment. USS Essex, LHD-2

USS Camden (AOE-2) 92-93

@@tfwomble The Powerful Pachyderm of the Pacific!

I love seeing the Working Navy representing here- "Haze gray and underway" A Gang on AOE 2 Camden and RAS Div on AOE 7 Rainier.

@@tfwomble USS Camden "90-"94 M-Div

I love how they sometimes call the consciptts for shps in 40K "human fuel".

Yeah I caught that one too!

Grim but hilarious nonetheless!

yummy.

@@kaltaron1284 Applicable to both modern day and 40k

I have that book. It's a Fascinating read.

Hate to be the pedant, but it is 'Beans, Bullets, and Black Oil' a rare book

@@admiralsirrusty3465 Whoops!. My brain apparently went into vapor lock on that one.

$100 at Half Price Books, $183 at Amazon if you want a book. $2.99 on Kindle if you are into that.

@@williamgoin139 Also available free on google books

Last time i was that early, SMS Cap Trafalgar was dressed as RMS Carmania

Last time I was this early "Kamchatka" wasn't under attack.

Hahaha, love that story!

Bunga Bunga!

guess who gets to oversee the new guy?

@@Delgen1951 The NCO who pissed someone off.

Audible decided if you cant beat em join them

If somewhat feebly.

No No No man, are you insane, fire the bread and create a new currency based on biscuit crumbs!

Or launch a boarding action with the ship's cats!

And the kitchen sink

Let's not forget potatoes!

Load the baguettes!

Are you sinking or you got a hole in one of the pipes

@@toveychurchill6468 I'm happy to report that the skip is NOT sinking. However the midshipman is reporting multiple Japanese torpedo boat sightings coming from all directions.

@@eric24567 Well that sounds unfortunate,for rest of the squadron , we'll just cross fingers and hope your gunnery won't help making enemies for Russia

@@toveychurchill6468 No need to worry, Kamchatka has guns but they're in storage. We will toss binoculars just like Admiral Rozhestvensky has showned us many times. For the Tsar!! Yes I had to google Rozhestvensky's name.

was looking for the Kamchatka comment

o god

Binoculars: Why do I hear boss music!? Edit: spelling

@@kingquackie7284 Fish: why are there binoculars in the water.

Nah, just a Japanese torpedo boat. Move along, nothing to see here.

Open fire don't let it come close! For the love of God why.

His novels do a pretty good job on logistics, in general. Food and the men are so often his subjects.

I half suspect that computer documentation was invented solely so that the bureaucrats could force people to do even more of it. Or at least not be beaten to death by their own paperwork.

The saying in aerospace engineering is that when the weight of the paperwork is equal to the weight of the aircraft the aircraft is ready to fly.

Is that because you have to move a load of things out the way to take on the supplies... and then put it all back after?

@@wraithcadmus No, the 'clear lower deck' just means all the junior sailors not senior or officers. So it's 'stop what your doing, and come load stuff onto the ship' and because you are the low life's you get to be part of the bucket brigade and carrying supplies onto the ship.

Supply Drop Unlocked for In-Game Currency!

Only if their ammo/weapon is same as yours

nice of them to load their ammo into lifeboats while sinking

There’s a quote from Rommel during the African campaign when asked about supplies “get them from the British”

That is how Finland got ammo and weapons in the winter war take them from the dead Sovjet soldiers it's not like they need it anymore

Probably not much. It ain't Navy turkey if it hasn't been sitting in the back of the freezer for at least 4 months.

The Navy has that sort of thing perfected. Un-rep ships bring the stuff out to the carrier groups, surface groups, and other ships a month or two prior to the day of, they sit in a freezer until the day of. Subs that are out at sea on their 90 day patrol mission simply stuff them in the freezer such that they're the next thing to get pulled out and cooked on the right day. One of the most fascinating aspects of logistics is just the sheer amount of planning and attention to detail that allows them to simply have on hand the stuff necessary for a turkey dinner 70 days out at sea.

@@ashesofempires04 Yeah, the degree of planning that goes into simply packing the freezer is nuts. USN logistics manages to casually achieve detail levels that can be terrifying. True S tier status.

We were sailing through a tropical depression one Thanksgiving. When the ship took a 45 degree roll the oven doors popped open and the turkeys slid across the floor - cooks had to chase them down and put them back in. Most of us were too seasick to eat much anyway.

@@tomhath8413 I was fortunate - I would have been one of those that could eat. Weather thinned out supply lines.

Especially the French

We’re sorry we don’t have extra supply for ammo of your caliber for the time being please come back after a few months

So ship A want 100 shells in 23 different calibre?

Would definitely buy that book.

It takes on average 10 military personnel to support ONE combat soldier. Throw in the civilian workers and you're looking at about 35 people per soldier. Yeah, that's not ships, but the principle is the same. And every sailor is counted as a combatant.

Two is one, one is none!

I ran across a PDF of the WW-2 USN battle damage control manual somewhere. Just the basics for all hands... not the details for E Dept. Interesting.

Start with his "Oh lord the ship is...(on fire, flooding, etc.)" video for damage control and the basics of field repairs. Thumbnail is of a Destroyer Escort being cut in half by a torpedo.

15m in, he's talking about ammo... just waiting for him to rag on Italy!