Pinned post for Q&A :)

My grandfather served aboard Hilary P. Jones DD 427. She spent most of the war in the Atlantic, escorting supply ships from Newfoundland and fending off U-Boats

“World’s cutest little mainmast.” - Drach, 2023

My father served on a Gleaves class destroyer, the USS Woolsey, DD-437, during WWII in the Med from 1939 - 1945. He joined the Navy 2 weeks after his 17th birthday and was always proud of his service, as am I. Thank you for providing this video.

USS Laffey, dd-459...gold medal knife-fighter of the USN.

My father was on the USS MacKenzie (DD-614) during the war. Mainly used as convoy escort but did sink a sub. At one point they went to help at Anzio. He told me lots of stories lol. I myself worked on the flight deck of the JFK and then went to a P-3c Squadron out of NAS Brunswick ME. VP-8. It was nice to see this show up this morning to remind me of my pap. Thank you.

I served on the U.S. Cowell, DD547 in the mid 60’s … navigation officer. She was a very decorated WW2 Fletcher’ can that was the best over all destroyer considering armament, versatility , numbers produced and combat record. I remember her fondly.

My father served on USS Frankford (DD497). He never talked about his service and it was only after he was gone that I found out about DESRON 18 and its activities at Omaha Beach. I just tell my sons, "Your grandfather had a very busy morning."

Man the benson class were an absolute awesome design and concept for a destroyer, I really enjoy playing my uss benson in world of warships legends 😊😊😊

My grandfather served on USS Carmick DD-493 during the Korean war. I believe served on her after she was converted to a minesweeper DMS-33.

Excellent video as always. You should cover the italian regina elena class battleships

This made me appreciate naval architects.

How about a video on what the best armament a destroyer should have had based on the action they saw in WW2?

"Benson-class destroyer, Laffey, awaiting your orders... Commander, these ears aren't real... you don't need to stare at them..."

Interesting. Never heard of the Benson class destroyer before. Pre-Fletcher class I'm guessing. You can see a lot of the Fletcher's design in this ship. Especially with it's superstructure. Thanks Drachinifel

"Hiei, Kirishima, and Friends" sounds like the title to yet another battleship anime

when you take into consideration that 35k shp was more installed power than the Queen Elizabeth class battleship had, and was only 10k less than Nelson, it is quite the demonstration of the rule that every knot increase in speed needs an exponential increase in power. that is also a very interesting camo scheme at 02:12 sort of Hokusai-ish.

Drach, gotta warm yet little warship heart to elicit so many “my father/uncle/mom served” remarks. Makes ME cry reading them.

I just bought some Benson class destroyers for Victory at Sea, and I always love to watch your overviews of ships that make up my US and IJN fleets! Thanks for doing so much research and making such a great ship history series!

My dad was on the USS Murphy DD-603. He was wounded off the coast of French Morocco by the Vichy French shore batteries. The ship had green shamrocks painted on the stacks(funnels).

My grandfather served aboard the lead ship of the class - USS Benson (DD-421) from ‘43 to ‘46. My gramps and the Benson were in lots of theaters in the war - convoys in the North Atlantic, Mediterranean supporting the landings in Sicily, Italy and Southern France, and eventually they headed for the Pacific. My grandfather was at the helm when they transited the Panama Canal. In the Pacific they were in Hawaii, Wake Island, Okinawa and did escort and patrol duty between the Philippines and Tokyo Bay. One hell of a journey.

Now I can't get this song out of my head: "Benson, Arizona, blew warm wind through your hair. My body flies the galaxy, my heart longs to there. Benson, Arizona, the same stars in the sky. But they seemed so much kinder, when we watched them, you and I." - source, the movie, "Dark Star" - author, John Carpenter

I was actually at NARA looking through engineering drawings for this class a little over a month ago as part of a ship’s history project for the Laffey. In the microfilm reels I found a set of 1937 dated contract plans for the Benson class that actually had the same torpedo arrangement that the Sims class had originally launched with, but otherwise almost the same as the as-commissioned design for Benson with a couple of idiosyncrasies such as a crows nest on the foremast and a different type of 5” director. I also found another unlabeled one with a wiring diagram/deck plan that suggests a superstructure more similar to the Mahan class, but with a breakwater in front of the #1 5” gun. I’m still not entirely sure where the latter fits in. But I found it interesting that the Bureau of Construction and Repair actually considered that torpedo arraignment for the Benson class.

Sometimes the little guys are just as interesting as the big behemoth's, thanks to Drachinifel.

Great videos on the WW2 ships as usual. Thanks Drach. 🙂

This is interesting, also I have a suggestion for a ship from the Royal Thai navy, the Thonburi class, HTMS Sri Ayudhya.

The 3 most common unit chits on WW2 tabletop games(circa late '70's); Hurricanes-1940 Britain. Rifle Divisions- 1941 Russia. Benson Class DD's -1942 Solomons. ;-)

Thanks for the info on my namesake destroyer. Not being that interested in US destroyers I hadn't been aware of them.

My dad was on DD602 Meade when she was launched. Trained off the coast of Florida as a sonar sailor and headed to Guadalcanal for the sea battle against the Japanese navy, Iron Bottom Sound.

My Dad, was on the USS Lansdale, the Gunner on the number 2 mount when the Destroyer DD 426 was torpedo by a Heinkel He 111’s. Dad said they were silhouetted by the explosion of high explosives aboard SS Paul Hamilton which blew her out of the water with 580 souls lost. Before the Lansdale sank after being torpedoed they still were fighting an it is reported that they shot down three planes. The last of those planes flew away from the bow, Dad’s gun mount…He tracked it an fired. He was sure they hit that plane and that was the last plane accredited to the Lansdale that night before she sank. Dad was in the water for about 6 hours as he held up another sailor with his life-vest the two of them shared it and they both were picked up by the destroyer escort Menges. Two German pilots that they had downed also were picked up by the Menges but the pilots were hidden by the officers aboard Menges in fear the surviving sailors would try to kill them. Dad said as the Menges would make a sweep picking up sailors, always moving at a reduced speed, the men in the water praised the ship, but as it would pass by an turn around to make another pass…the sailors in the water would curse at Menges and “you never heard such language in your life,” he told me laughing. Dad never saw the sailor he held up again, and thought he had passed away that night from hypothermia. In the 90s they had several ship reunions and the sailor that he held up was there and ran over to Dad and gave him a big hug. Thank you for sharing for all the sailors that served on Benson class destroyers.

Would like to see all of the GUIDES in order in a playlist

My favourite are the British trible class hmcs Haida and hms Cossack 🎉😊great gun boats

Excellent video, as always. Thank you.

DD 602 USS Meade. I had a great uncle that served on that ship for a good chunk of the war.

Another excellent video.

Awesome. My Great Grandfather (who i grew up with) served on DD 608 "USS Gansevoort". Thank you

How about a video on the Landing Ship, Tank? My grandfather served on one in the Pacific for a good portion of his Navy career (also serving as an Armed Guard in the Mediterranean for a while).

First time I've heard of the USS Benson was playing Wolfpack on the Amiga, loved it! I thought I'd include a bit about the destroyer and tactics used in my history G.C.S.E (though really what I included was 95% irrelevant, I couldn't remember anything else that was more pertinent.....) I got an E.

She is a cute little destroyer! Probably tuff in heavy seas? 🇺🇲👍

Definitely a move in the right direction

The bunnygirl ships.

Thanks Dracj

Great job thank you

“World’s cutest little mainmast.” - Drach, 2023. USS Laffey, dd-459...gold medal knife-fighter of the USN..

It’s time for the history and drama of HMS Canopus please. Tanks.

Grandad served from ‘42 until war’s end aboard USS Boyle DD-600

I served ex Benson (DD-14) after The Moon landing, great ship. she was replaced with tripod mast and AN/SPS-6B, SPS-10 & MK-25 Fire Control (analog based). More than 53 years ago....

You should make video about DD-459, fighting Hiei like a boss

👍Thank you for video.

Would like to know about the Battleship Arkansas and any war time activity recorded.

My Dad was on DMS-38/DD-627 USS Thompson

Drach! a guide for La Galissoniere is already on the list?

37 knots- enabling water skiing by the captain?

RIP admiral Benson. Died tragically when he slipped on a crab and fell down some steps.

All US warships that i am familiar with spread out the power plant a lot, for exactly the reasons you stated. Damage control is a thing, and keeping your machinery spaces spread out means that any single failure won't kill the ship. Nuclear powered ships have the nuclear plants isolated and separated, and the machinery spaces isolated and separated as well. So you could theoretically power one engine room from it's opposing reactor, supposing that you took a hit or multiple hits that knocked out systems for both propulsion systems. Same for the electrical system. And don't get me started on the other redundancies designed in. For example a modern aircraft carrier can be steered by at least 3 different methods. Including mechanical winches (powered by the crew). Slow, but you could theoretically steer the ship that way.

Please review the USS Chicago-CA/CL-29.

semper fi semper fortis

Benson: "Get back to work or you're fired!"

Ah the Benson is devastating in WoWS:Blitz

Yo, Drachinifel, you think you can put some of these videos together for easier reference? Like put all of the British Cruisers you've covered so far into a joint video or more? The same for all the others. That way, it would be easier to reference them later. Mostly easier.

Do a video on the USS Liberty!

In the gotcha game azur lane the benson class destroyers are all bunny themed. 😄❤🐰

I suppose at some point someone will have shouted "Benson,, Benson.. Ohh Jesus Christ,,, BENSON!!!" (Dated joke and reference, i know) when seeing this class/ship..

5:33 This wasn't Admiral "Tug" Benson was it?

IJN Yubari is next :P

There is a naval version of the SIMs?

Great show your straight forward approach and simple yet informative dialogue is refreshing 🎉...

5:43 can#t help but hearing the opening verse of "Wolfpack" by Sabaton

Fletcher: "Daddy?" 😁

In the opening, one of the battleships fire and a bunch of white stuff goes flying like confetti. What is that?🤔

Just watched a fact doc. on YT; that stated the Benson was sunk in the battle off/of Sammar.

Uss duncan dd-445

Your timing is IMPECCABLE I was working on this ship in World of Warships Legends and needed a great guide for it. Great work.

Aww yeah my girl laffey 1. Nothing like a destroyer that embodied the "BRING US CLOSER I WANT TO HIT THEM WITH MY SWORD" mentality, knife fighting a battleship to the end. US DD's were really crewed by absolute barking lunatics.

I never clicked so fast before.

didn't realize how similar Benson/Gleaves were to Fletcher, at least armament wise -- kind of like baby Fletchers then? Was the real difference that Fletcher had additional displacement and therefore space for upgrades and new systems while Benson didn't? Otherwise, why is Fletcher considered one of the best DD designs of all time while Benson isn't really talked about and just sorta gets lumped in with all the other USN interwar DDs?

“Admiral Benson!” “Really? That’s my name too!”

👍

The USS Bensonmum was a classy ship.

Not a single Admiral Benson joke? Or Drach never watched Hot Shots...that would make me sad

Keep up the great work!! looks like some person decided to imitate you with a crap channel and a Female Robo Reader Voice They say imitation is the best Flattery but still really? Thanks for these awesome videos!!

🐉Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club Member 1968-69🐉

Very interesting. I've formed an opinion that RN destroyers went into WW2 with better AA capability than the USN's. The American destroyers had the edge in ASUW. ASW? About the same.

Feeding the algorithm

Yeah. 1600 tons was still not good enough. Close(r), but no cigar Solid content

The Benson had tasty coscouse.

The advertisement lasted longer the the video’… lol

May-Han class? Is that a new class or something?

What weight gain; Benson, 1620 tons Fletcher, 2050 tons Burke, 8300 tons to start, now 9500 tons Perry class frigate (not a real destroyer) 4200 tons, Constellation class frigate, (also not a real destroyer) 7300 tons. Freedom Class LCS, 3400 tons, too small to be useful. (And fancy drive system keeps breaking).

It's always told that destroyers and other surface combat ships have torpedo launchers. Did they really use them (must have been, otherwise the launchers wouldn't have been installed) and under what conditions? For me (in my imagination) these ships are more the artillery on the water, so fighting with guns. And no, I'm not asking for a friend🙂.

Jai himnd

110th, 8 July 2023

BZ

That type of ship....a single hit could easily sink it, no matter what type of hit it was. Ha. Now were talking about torepedos that didn't work? What difference would it make how many there were?

Jai hind

Why does the butler of an 80's TV show have a warship named after him? ^-^

Now do the USS Liberty 🗽

In an emergancy the most expensive thing you can do is bet everything on the wrong option. When in a hurry building two classes to the same specifications greatly increases your chances of getting a good class of ships.

I'm continually disappointed, sickened really, with the politicians of the 20s and 30s. They ought never to have tied the hands of our naval designers and architects with ridiculous treaty limitations on efficient and effective designs of our naval ships. They were also terribly shortsighted as to the very real potential threats that improving aircraft designs would likely exist in the near future. Many lives could have been spared with wisdom, foresight and a sense of personal responsibility to give our forces the best equipment that could be built. But politicians are often just simply self-serving bought and paid for elitists focused only on their own personal interests and corrupt gain. The war brought all of this truth to the surface. Politicians still tend toward corruption.