What duties were the crew of a damaged ship assigned to whist in port for repairs or upgrades? For repairs or upgrades lasting several months or more, would they be retained for crewing the ship once it was repaired or reassigned entirely?
Not only did Deutschland try to launch herself, skipping the traditional champagne bottle christening for good luck, but on her way down the slipway she passed under a ladder, broke a mirror, and had a black cat cross her path. Truly star-crossed.
Then there's HMS Formidable, she actually launched herself during the ceremony, but as that was unfolding she was given a champagne bottle christening which came in clutch, therefore giving her good luck because, well, she was going to need it. Formidable didn't fall or tilt over whatsoever and was perfectly fine when she came down into the water, so there's that.
@@adamtruong1759 wait.. dint formidable also killed a woman after she suddenly launched herself? it was even on the newsreel as the old timey narrator nonchalantly spoke about it.
It doesn't help that they still had Deutschland-class battleships still in the Navy when these Deutschland-class pocket battleships were built. It's a bit confusing.
@@LiveErrors It's still awkward to have multiple different Deutschland class ships sailing in a Navy at the same time. Why not a Deutschland class Submarine and Deutschland class Destroyer while we're at this lack of imagination?
@@grumpyboomer61 Yeah, but an earth wall and a few sandbags, and unless you are within the containment area that something small is just an unwelcome neighbour. A Tallboy and you want to be one city block over.
And now having seen the explosion ok not so small in its own right, and I can't even comprehend being anywhere one exploding after falling from 30000ft
No, that is a Tallboy exploding after the explosive payload has sat there degrading for nearly 70 years. The bang from a brand new one was significantly larger. And of course, Tallboy was simply a scaled-down prototype for its big brother: Grand Slam!
If she was to star in a film they could have used her in the film about the Graf Spee in 1955, replete with Captain Langsdorf, Captain Dove and 11 inch flipping guns
Just goes to show what a friend lot the Brits are. That torpedo that nearly blew off her stern wasn't an act of malice, they were just trying to fix a design flaw in explosive fashion.
Another would be the _St. Lo_ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_St._Lo The _St. Lo_ was one of two _Casablanca Class_ Escort Carriers to be renamed because of the new, larger carriers coming out after the Essex class - these ships giving up their names for the larger vessels. Here's a list of the ships of this class - showing the names of those that were changed. These two ships were originally going to be named _Midway_ and _Coral Sea_ but - when the Navy preferred to have more substantial ships named after these two battles - these ships were re-named the _St. Lo_ and the _Anzio_ Curiously - the new _Midway Class_ carriers (the largest in the world for some time) also had a ship re-named. The second ship of the class, which was going to be named _Coral Sea_ was re-named the _Franklin Delano Roosevelt_ because of that Presidents death - with the name _Coral Sea_ going to the third ship of the class. So - there were TWO aircraft carriers which _were_ going to be named _Coral Sea_ which ended up being named something else. None of the other ships were lost besides the _St. Lo_ but ... the _FDR_ had a somewhat troubled life and was scrapped 13 years before the actual _Coral Sea_ with the _Midway_ becoming a memorial ship in San Diego Bay. Of coarse ... the _St. Lo_ had also previously been named the _Chapin Bay_ so ... maybe it's really unlucky to have a ship re-named twice ... Just found out as I was researching this that the _Anguilla Bay_ had been renamed the _Salamaua_ ... was damaged - but repaired. .
My father in law lives in city of Swinoujscie (Swinemunde before war) where Lutzow was sank and he written a book about her sinking. We even traced a relative of one of the bomber crew (the Lancaster that was shot down during the raid) to see if he had any stories about the raid (he was very glad he could tell us stories about his father). Father in law also restored a monument that was placed there for the crew of Lancaster. Also placement of unexploded Tallboy was very unfortunate - these piers/jetties/whatever they are called on the right side of the picture are actually docking ports for a ferry that goes around to other side every 30 minutes. Each ferry takes 300 people/70 cars. Just imagine if the bomb exploded on it's own.
Seriously... "Stop worrying. It's just a precaution! When... *cough*, I'm sorry, I mean IF you get sunk, we don't want you to soil the good name of Germany."
I know she was called an unlucky ship but every time she sortied she returned home. She didn't do much but when she did something, she came back. That is lucky to me.
@@kreol1q1q It also wasn't exploding in conjunction with an impact, if I recall correctly the Tall Boy bombs were designed to have as much velocity as possible (pushing Mach 1) when they hit, to the end that the ones that struck the Tirpitz actually detonated UNDER the ship after passing completely thru the deck armor and hull.
I am sorry to disappoint you but that's not what it looks like... I mean the defusal operation was done by using deflagration - burning the charge without explosion - and it went well for few seconds, burning about 50% (probably, we will never know) of torpex inside. Then the rest of charge exploded, but because the bomb casing was already open - the detonation of the rest was also weaker... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deflagration
There's footage of the bombing mission to take out Lutzow that shows one bomb splashing down in the water and not exploding. It's almost certainly the exact same bomb that blew up in the river.
I must say I'm impressed how you avoided naming the port Lützow was bombed in. A bit of a shame though, as listening to you trying to pronounce Świnoujście (or Swinemünde for that matter) would be be very interesting in a sadistic kind of way.
@@mwnciboo Germany had relatively few ships at the end of WW1 that could have had a purpose in WW2 Actually, it disappeared on Sep. 3 1939 when the Brits did the thing Hitler was told they wouldn't do If they hadn't declared war, Ol' Adolf would have gotten some more time to get his shipyards churning out some more capital ships (plan Z - Although Britain would probably never have given the Germans the chance to complete it)
Wow, I'm really impressed that the Tallboy was still viable after alllllllll this time underwater! 🤯 Makes you wonder about that broken arrow in Georgia. 😱
My thoughts exactly. Although I'm pretty sure it was a low order detonation. Judging by the videos of tirpitz being attacked by tallboys, those explosions were massive.
@@jmrico1979 Apparently they tried to burn the torpex which obvious went wrong. Seeing that a tunnel/aquaduct was close blowing it up was not a good idea. I doubt if the torpex had contact with water as the bomb was high grade steel and thick walled as it was designed to smash deep into the ground. It easily could have survived the impact with the water and bottom intact. And bombs and mine can survive that long. They are still a thread for fishersman in the Northsea.
Yes, at worst a jettisoned nuke would be a dirty bomb, but it would be an ecological disaster. :( A nuke with safeties in place is highly unlikely to detonate correctly. It's interesting to imagine though, that it could be recover and operated successfully by unauthorized parties... If the Tallboy was internally intact and viable, a nuke could be too.
Lützow was engaged by the Korpåsen Battery on the 9th of April 1940. The battery was a modern 15cm battery and it forced her to retreat out of gun range after suffering heavy damage.
Those are pretty small guns for a capital ship over that comfy little structure, but still, can't be very safe or comfortable when they have to be fired. I'm wondering about the blast effects...
Most likely the officers mess. The stern of the superstructure was a reasonably common place for that. Meanwhile the captain's quarters were most often placed in the main superstructure, and I know that Graf Spee had the captain's quarters there too, so it isn't too much of a stretch to assume the same held true for Deutschland/Lützow. Though it should be noted the two ships had rather different main superstructures, so a difference in that placement wouldn't be too weird.
Thanks, you were the first source who explained the tall boy detonated on a drone. I was trying to work out how it detonated during defusing operations and no one was injured!
I always loved the design of the Deutschlands, especially given their commerce surface raider roles. Evading enemy fleets and attacking merchant ships definitely gives off swashbuckling vibes.
@Drachinifel , In your last stream, I suggest you add the Ning Hai Class Light Cruisers(light cruisers built by Imperial Japan for the Republic of China back in the time before ww2) into your list if u had not done so, I hope u see this comment Edit r 4 spelling errors
I learn something new every video i watch. Ive always loved history. Especially world history. Im one of an entire line on both parents side that have served. So far ive been able to trace back pre-revolutionary. We even had family fighting each other during the civil war.
The RAF left one Tallboy behind. Just in case Lutzow made a return. Soviet pilots pretending to be Spanish. Then North Korean and possibly North Vietnamese. It would be interesting to see their passports.
I read an account of the RAF torpedo bomber attack on the Lutzow. It was at night, and the Lutzow had several DDs as escort. None of the German ships fired a shot at the attacking Beaufort, so it was able to get in close and make a solid hit. Apparently, the German crews were told there was a Ju-88 operating in the area that night, and mistook the Beaufort for that 88.
@@disunityholychaos7523 that account is in a book by Ralph Barker. It was published in the US as "Torpedo Bomber" a paperback from Ballantine in the early 70s. It was also published in the UK as "Ship-Busters". The book covers Beaufort ops in the North Sea and Channel, then moves to ops in the Med around Malta, then moves back to ops around England late in the war. I found it a fascinating read. Besides the attack on the Lutzow, it covers the torpedoing of Gneisenau in Brest and the "channel dash" when Scharnhorst and Gneisenau ran up the English Channel, in broad daylight, and a lot more.
Good episode. I was reminded of a self-published on Amazon novel ('Ring On Main Engines' by Anthony Molloy, 2013) where the plotline is that after Hitler's taken some of his 'special' pills (speed) he has the brilliant idea of running the Channel Dash in reverse. The resulting task force ('Gruppe Wurger') which comprises Tirpitz, Scharnhorst, Lutzow and around twelve destroyers does not get too far before the speed has worn off and they get a recall, helped on their way by a Dunconian bluff on the part of some British Destroyers.
Very interesting tale of,the service of Lutzow (or lack of it) but I would be interested in a more in-depth look at the technology of the Panzerschiffs. What I know is that they were just about the first large all-welded ships and that almost uniquely among big warships, they were diesel powered.
One book I read on warships in WWII discusses the design of the Panzerschiff, particularly noting the steps taken to cram such a powerful ship into a 10,000 ton displacement as per Treaty of Versailles restrictions: 1) Diesel power instead of steam turbines 2) Extensive use of welding instead of riveting 3) Understating the displacement by about 30% :D
@@wheels-n-tires1846 It's a powerful ship for tier 6. DPM is very low, though. 20 second reload for only 6 barrels in 2 turrets. Being a tier 6 cruiser, can't do a secondary build either. When facing same tier or lower she's (he's?) a goddamn tank. Being bottom tier is a fast way back to port, even though you have a heal.
@@zoranocokoljic8927 I think you're right about battle damage. The narrative was just talking about the invasion of Norway, where Lutzow took several 15 cm hits that, among other things, disabled the center gun of the forward turret.
@@jmrico1979 USS Phoenix was a Brooklyn class light cruiser in WWII, sold to Argentina postwar. She had a couple of names in Argentine service if I remember right, but she last went by "General Belgrano". Then the Falklands happened.
I enjoy your posts by much. I especially enjoy the design/development histories. The histories of destroyer design were top notch but the last one left me hanging when there was no follow up on destroyer development in the Second World War. A history of the USN’s Fletcher, Sumner & Gearing classes would be welcome as well as coverage of the RN & IJN efforts to compensate for their respective lack of high angle and dual purpose heavy anti aircraft weapons.
Very nice video, only one thing, the Kriegsmarine didn't use the KMS infront of their ships names. The Kaiserliche Marine used SMS, but germany stopped using prefixes after 1918.
@tokul76 isn't that a liberty ship packed to the brim with unexploded shells though? probably best advice would be to just not go anywhere near the coast in europe. though even inland. well.. we still find ordnance every few years in NL as well.
Thanks for this episode. I would like to see a story about the USS West Virginia, (the Wee Vee), as I am from that state originally, and I always found the fact of her resurrection at Pearl Harbor to return to the front lines inspiring. Could you PLEASE? Happy New Year, and many more.
Does anyone have deck plans for this ship? The structure underneath the after turret has large rectangular windows and curtains, so I think it might have been a wardroom for senior crew, like officers or NCO's, or maybe VIP quarters or something. It definitely has a "luxury" look to it.
I once met an unapologetic German.........he said "We should have had more u-boats." In a sick but remarkably thoughtful way, I do believe he hit the nail on the head, IF hindsight be as 20/20 as we think. When we look back on these "not one thing or the other" constructions, we wonder.......what WERE the Nazis thinking of with this ship? It was a sea going Tiger tank that could be, and was, ultimately surrounded by a bunch of Shermans and suffered death by a thousand cuts. The ship was a big thumb your middle finger at the English and French but as a realistic ANYTHING..........surface combatant or raider.......... it was like bringing your penny loafers to a basketball game. Too slow to be a cruiser, with only two powerful but relatively slow firing turrets, the lummox was a bit of a white elephant from a practical standpoint, far better at making an impression on fools than achieving any viable result. The Joe Biden of bloated cruisers/dietetic battleships. I think the Nazis wanted to achieve something like that of the idiotic Austro-Hungarians who gave us the Szent Istvan!
France had depended a great deal on its North African colonies in the Great War and one purpose of the class was to interdict communication between the colonies and metropolitan France. The French were concerned enough that they built the Dunkerques as a response. Of course, how realistic the idea of German raiders in the Med - with no bases and facing the choke point at Gib (even if the UK wasn't a belligerent, easy for the Marine Nationale to seal off) is open to question. They also dominated the Baltic - three modern, fast armored cruisers against two decrepit, poorly maintained and worse trained Russian dreadnoughts is pretty good odds. The Swedes and Finns were sympathetic to Germany and poor Poles didn't stand a chance and knew it. They sent most of their fleet to Britain when war broke out.
I would like you to cover the ship USS Kidd. It would be nice to cover both the past ships and the current one to see how she lives up to the name. I know the WWII one is a floating museum in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and I have a few pictures of it.
Seems to me the tallboy exploding was for the best. Would have been a lot more dicey moving a deactivated but still massive and old explosive like that to a designated disposal location in my mind.
3:36 in addition the kriegsmarine tried to confuse the allied command by having a ship with the same name (albeit unfinished) sold to sovjet union as part of the hitler/stalin pact
Re the Blucher, watch the opening of The Kings Choice to see how effective pre-WW1 whitehead torpedoes, 19th century shore guns in an 18th century fort were against a ship so new the paint hadn't dried yet.
As a kid, dreamed of digging her up and rebuilding her as the awesomest personal yacht...🤣 Lots of research, but never could find out how much was actually left before burial...😞
@@wheels-n-tires1846 im still puzzled where she is actually buried when i checked the map of her last location, some say in or near the parkingllot or below the trees, but im worried it is also a burial ground of the leftover remains of the dead sailors in below her ship and then buried with it.
I think the 11-inch guns, while interesting was the wrong choice for the role they were supposed to do as you don't have the penetration to take on battleships while being overkill for everything else but limiting ammo that can be carried and weighing a whole lot.
@@WALTERBROADDUS 1.Deutschland/Lutzow could not out run battleships as it only had a speed of 28 knots which most battleship could do or where faster. 2. If the the role was killing merchant ships an 11-inch gun is massive over kill an 8 or 6 inch gun would work fine and weigh less.
@@WALTERBROADDUS The UK had the Hood, Renown & Repulse and considering that Admiral Graf Spee was mission killed and then forced to scuttled by two light and one heavy cruiser it really did not outgun its way out because of the slow rate of fire and running out of ammo.
If I was redesigning the Deutschland class, I would replace the 11-inch guns for 8-inch guns on a one to one base & change the 8 15cm (5.9 in) & the 3 8.8cm (3.5 in) for a uniform 12.7cm (5.04 inch) if a dual-purpose mount could be made or 10.5cm (4.1 inch) to have a useful secondary battery for anti-ship and anti-aircraft. With the lighter weight of the armament, I would try to increase the speed to 32 knots so it could work in the cruiser line and round out the armor.
@@ottovonbismarck2443there was a vending machine that sold cans of Bitburg in my barracks (Rose Kaserne, Bad Kreuznach). Did the job. But 6packs of Becks in bottles was only $1.75 at the post exchange. 1984.
Serious question: while the 'pocket battleships' had a fearsome reputation - as exemplified by the hunt for the Graf Spee - is there much evidence to back the reputation up? Graf Spee really seems to be the only one that ever fought an actual battle and while it wrought havoc on Commodore Harwood's force, it was in turn badly hit enough by three smaller ships to run for cover in Montevideo. So were they any good, or was picking off merchant ships about the best they could manage?
Arguably the last iteration of one of the ideas behind the battlecruiser, faster than anything that could defeat the armour, well enough armed and armoured to kill anything that could catch it so essentially a long ranged cruiser killer. Barring Hood, Repulse, Renown, Strasbourg and Dunkerque, the lattter pair being designed for the purpose. Armour scheme left a bit to be desired as Graf Spee found out :-)
@@andrewfanner2245 That actually reminds me a bit of the "let's create something completely new" mentality that led the Royal Air Force up the blind alley of the 'bomber destroyer' concept and the Boulton Paul Defiant, i.e. focussing on filling a niche that didn't actually exist instead of optimizing classes that did already exist.
@@andrewfanner2245 Surely the Alaska Class at the end of WW2 were battle cruisers? I know the Americans had a phobia about using the term 'battle cruiser' (I have no idea why), but the Alaska class ticks almost every box in the definition of battle cruiser, far more than many ships that were formally described as that.
One more cool thing about that tallboy: you can probably see it go IN the water in the sequence starting at 0:52 in this video: ruclips.net/video/vt4iqwkTJkQ/видео.html - note that one of the splashes is much smaller than the others, and is at the right spot in the channel. Credit: A poster on The War Zone noticed this first. And so did someone else in the comments.
Have you ever done an overview or, preferably, in depth analysis of the attack on Pearl Harbor? If not, could you do one. I've heard, and read, multiple different causes of the attack, including who knew what and why didn't they tell anyone. I enjoy your videos and have learned a lot I never knew about naval warfare.
*"Hmph! I'm Deutschland, the first ship of the Deutschland-class! A prestigious individual such as myself wouldn't be sent into smaller battles. As such, it's only natural that I don't have many of these petty achievements. It's called spiritual leadership! Hmph! Lützow? ...Shut up! Like I'd care about that!"* *"From now on, you are Deutschland's servant! You should feel honored. Also, don't answer me with "mhm." You will answer me with "yes, ma'am" from now on. Are we clear?"*
i just started world of warships a few days ago got myself up to the kaiser working towards the carrier they have in the german navy any hints tips for what i shuold be going for?
Sadly you didn't mention that the Blyth based British submarine Spearfish was the vessel that damaged her stern, especially when one bears in mind that Spearfish was later lost with only one survivor. My uncle John Mordue was one it's crew.
Pinned post for Q&A :)
Is the sinking of HMS Glorious avoidable had she not detached from the convoy after evacuating Narvik?
Great video!
Love to see a video of the ww2 dkm lightcruiser class Königsberg.
On the German aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin what was the plan for pilots were they going to come from the luftwaffe or kriegsmarine?
What duties were the crew of a damaged ship assigned to whist in port for repairs or upgrades? For repairs or upgrades lasting several months or more, would they be retained for crewing the ship once it was repaired or reassigned entirely?
Q&A: To what degree can a wooden keel be repaired?
RIP to the Rather Brave Bomb Defusal Drone.
F
Latom!
Hopefully got to enjoy a wee dram of single malt first.
Drone's last words: "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe."
On the positive side, that part of the channel is now several feet deeper.
Not only did Deutschland try to launch herself, skipping the traditional champagne bottle christening for good luck, but on her way down the slipway she passed under a ladder, broke a mirror, and had a black cat cross her path. Truly star-crossed.
couldn't have done much for the black cat on the slip-way either:)
Then there's HMS Formidable, she actually launched herself during the ceremony, but as that was unfolding she was given a champagne bottle christening which came in clutch, therefore giving her good luck because, well, she was going to need it. Formidable didn't fall or tilt over whatsoever and was perfectly fine when she came down into the water, so there's that.
@@adamtruong1759 wait.. dint formidable also killed a woman after she suddenly launched herself? it was even on the newsreel as the old timey narrator nonchalantly spoke about it.
@@disunityholychaos7523 I'm pretty sure the lady was just a wife of a dock worker, not the same lady that gave the ship good luck.
@@disunityholychaos7523
€
Deutchland: I shall defend my namesake's honour
German navy: we're changing your name
Lützow: well now i am not doing it
that pretty much is what the sailors superstition says as well, Renaming a ship in the middle of its service will curse it.
Tyrrhenia/ Lancastria being a supreme example.
It doesn't help that they still had Deutschland-class battleships still in the Navy when these Deutschland-class pocket battleships were built. It's a bit confusing.
@@Edax_Royeaux sure when you say it like that, but then remember that Pocket-Battleship was a term coined by the British Media
@@LiveErrors It's still awkward to have multiple different Deutschland class ships sailing in a Navy at the same time. Why not a Deutschland class Submarine and Deutschland class Destroyer while we're at this lack of imagination?
I cannot imagine what a bomb disposal officer feels when he's told they have found an unexploded Tallboy.
Well I'm sure he was happy that he was already wearing his brown pants that day
Change of underwear ? Suddenly remembers an appointment elsewhere ? Abrupt case of "man flu" ?
It hardly matters. A little 50 pounder will kill him just as dead.
Something that size? You'd never know what hit you. Something small, on the other hand? "This could hurt".
@@grumpyboomer61 Yeah, but an earth wall and a few sandbags, and unless you are within the containment area that something small is just an unwelcome neighbour. A Tallboy and you want to be one city block over.
Deutschland/Lutzow: heads out
Bad luck: *Hello there*
sounds like the zevenprovincien, a name change to soerabaja . got bombed 3 times ,and sunk twice.
Hey, at least the crew mostly survived
I wasn't aware Bad luck was an Obi Wan fan
@@joshthomas-moore2656 If you have a 50% chance of chosing the right option , your chance of chosing the wrong option is 100%
@@marcusfranconium3392 You lost me
So THAT'S what a Tallboy looks like when it goes iff underwater.
Definitely worth the wait.
That was rather small compared to the physics involved dropping it from 30000ft then exploding.
here's the video
ruclips.net/video/-iSRkvAupT8/видео.html&feature=emb_title
@@SZKARLUPIEN Thanks for that link, the last view of the explosion shows just how devastating the Tall Boy was, 75 years after it was dropped.
And now having seen the explosion ok not so small in its own right, and I can't even comprehend being anywhere one exploding after falling from 30000ft
No, that is a Tallboy exploding after the explosive payload has sat there degrading for nearly 70 years. The bang from a brand new one was significantly larger. And of course, Tallboy was simply a scaled-down prototype for its big brother: Grand Slam!
I see this ship would have had a really nice career in slapstick movies.
Would have been a heck of a lot easier on the poor crew!
If she was to star in a film they could have used her in the film about the Graf Spee in 1955, replete with Captain Langsdorf, Captain Dove and 11 inch flipping guns
Put it in a comedy troupe along with William D. Porter and Aoba. Hijinks guaranteed.
Not as much as the Kamchatka...
Just goes to show what a friend lot the Brits are. That torpedo that nearly blew off her stern wasn't an act of malice, they were just trying to fix a design flaw in explosive fashion.
It would be interesting to see statistics on renamed ships vs bad luck.
Another would be the _St. Lo_
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_St._Lo
The _St. Lo_ was one of two _Casablanca Class_ Escort Carriers to be renamed because of the new, larger carriers coming out after the Essex class - these ships giving up their names for the larger vessels.
Here's a list of the ships of this class - showing the names of those that were changed.
These two ships were originally going to be named _Midway_ and _Coral Sea_ but - when the Navy preferred to have more substantial ships named after these two battles - these ships were re-named the _St. Lo_ and the _Anzio_
Curiously - the new _Midway Class_ carriers (the largest in the world for some time) also had a ship re-named. The second ship of the class, which was going to be named _Coral Sea_ was re-named the _Franklin Delano Roosevelt_ because of that Presidents death - with the name _Coral Sea_ going to the third ship of the class. So - there were TWO aircraft carriers which _were_ going to be named _Coral Sea_ which ended up being named something else.
None of the other ships were lost besides the _St. Lo_ but ... the _FDR_ had a somewhat troubled life and was scrapped 13 years before the actual _Coral Sea_ with the _Midway_ becoming a memorial ship in San Diego Bay.
Of coarse ... the _St. Lo_ had also previously been named the _Chapin Bay_ so ... maybe it's really unlucky to have a ship re-named twice ...
Just found out as I was researching this that the _Anguilla Bay_ had been renamed the _Salamaua_ ... was damaged - but repaired.
.
It really depends HOW AND IF your a believer in " bad luck".
@@jerrymccrae7202 I believe in that. And is good luck.
@@jerrymccrae7202 It would seem that ... the greater impact random chance had on one's life - the more superstitious one might be ...
.
@@BobSmith-dk8nw hi thx 4 your reply..also just thought if you think it bad you will make it so.
My father in law lives in city of Swinoujscie (Swinemunde before war) where Lutzow was sank and he written a book about her sinking. We even traced a relative of one of the bomber crew (the Lancaster that was shot down during the raid) to see if he had any stories about the raid (he was very glad he could tell us stories about his father). Father in law also restored a monument that was placed there for the crew of Lancaster.
Also placement of unexploded Tallboy was very unfortunate - these piers/jetties/whatever they are called on the right side of the picture are actually docking ports for a ferry that goes around to other side every 30 minutes. Each ferry takes 300 people/70 cars. Just imagine if the bomb exploded on it's own.
It must suck to have your ship renamed to emphasise that it's fairly expendable.
Seriously... "Stop worrying. It's just a precaution! When... *cough*, I'm sorry, I mean IF you get sunk, we don't want you to soil the good name of Germany."
And then it survives nearly the entire war while the other, fancier, ships have long been sent to the bottom of the ocean.
I know she was called an unlucky ship but every time she sortied she returned home. She didn't do much but when she did something, she came back. That is lucky to me.
Last time I was this early, Kamchatka was still seeing torpedo boats
Do you see torpedo boats?
@@christopherreed4723 a weather balloon confuses the AA crew.
Kamchatka is still out there seeing torpedo boats - Worst Ghost Ship Ever!
...on her slipways
The ship may have been unlucky but I guess the crew was luckier than those of most other ships that gloriously sank with 80% of their men.
Anybody else hear horses whinnying every time he says “Blücher”?
"What knockers"
Every time and in every video Drach does... when he says 'Blucher".
You beat me too it!
ruclips.net/video/bps5hJ5DQDw/видео.html
@@stopspammandm 🤣😎
Always fun to see what a Tallboy *actually* looks like exploding.
From a safe distance!
@@paintedblue1791 From a safe distance indeed. But I suppose that this explosion wasn't a big as a "younger" tallboy could do.
I think the yield was said to be much smaller due to age and the effects of being submerged for quite a while.
@@kreol1q1q It also wasn't exploding in conjunction with an impact, if I recall correctly the Tall Boy bombs were designed to have as much velocity as possible (pushing Mach 1) when they hit, to the end that the ones that struck the Tirpitz actually detonated UNDER the ship after passing completely thru the deck armor and hull.
I am sorry to disappoint you but that's not what it looks like... I mean the defusal operation was done by using deflagration - burning the charge without explosion - and it went well for few seconds, burning about 50% (probably, we will never know) of torpex inside. Then the rest of charge exploded, but because the bomb casing was already open - the detonation of the rest was also weaker...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deflagration
There's footage of the bombing mission to take out Lutzow that shows one bomb splashing down in the water and not exploding. It's almost certainly the exact same bomb that blew up in the river.
It was simply biding it's time
@@mpetersen6 Just a very long fuse, ticking away. Somebody got seconds and years mixed up. /i
Playing the long game, one day another Lützow will be docking there in the far future.
I must say I'm impressed how you avoided naming the port Lützow was bombed in. A bit of a shame though, as listening to you trying to pronounce Świnoujście (or Swinemünde for that matter) would be be very interesting in a sadistic kind of way.
Or he can say Pig-inlet : )
He has enough fun saying Schleswig-Holstein.
A beautiful ship, love the big gun on a small hull concept. This was all moot with the new found power of the airplane
Last time I was this early Hitler still thought the surface fleet was viable.
Any chance of a viable surface fleet disappeared to the bottom of Scarpa flow on 21 June 1919.
I don't think he ever thought a surface viable.
@@mwnciboo
Germany had relatively few ships at the end of WW1 that could have had a purpose in WW2
Actually, it disappeared on Sep. 3 1939 when the Brits did the thing Hitler was told they wouldn't do
If they hadn't declared war, Ol' Adolf would have gotten some more time to get his shipyards churning out some more capital ships
(plan Z - Although Britain would probably never have given the Germans the chance to complete it)
Nah,they don't have the resources neither the engineer and design director
@@mwnciboo Given geography, it disappeared with passage of the First Naval Law
Thanks for letting the world know there is interesting history other than Stalingrad.
Thank you, Drachinifel.
Really elegant and graceful ship! Gotta be one of the best looking of its era!
The fact the ship was launch prematurely, while a politician is talking, is indeed funny.
"Ugh, screw this blowhard, I wanna get going already!" - Deutschland, her launching ceremony.
Captain (To the Allies): STOP BLOWING HOLES IN MY SHIP
Allies: Break out the Tall Boys
Allies (to the germans): you done goofed.
Wow, I'm really impressed that the Tallboy was still viable after alllllllll this time underwater! 🤯 Makes you wonder about that broken arrow in Georgia. 😱
My thoughts exactly. Although I'm pretty sure it was a low order detonation. Judging by the videos of tirpitz being attacked by tallboys, those explosions were massive.
Luckily nuclear warheads are less likely to randomly explode, but would be a rather bad day I imagine....
@@jmrico1979 Apparently they tried to burn the torpex which obvious went wrong. Seeing that a tunnel/aquaduct was close blowing it up was not a good idea. I doubt if the torpex had contact with water as the bomb was high grade steel and thick walled as it was designed to smash deep into the ground. It easily could have survived the impact with the water and bottom intact. And bombs and mine can survive that long. They are still a thread for fishersman in the Northsea.
At worst it would be a dirty bomb.
Yes, at worst a jettisoned nuke would be a dirty bomb, but it would be an ecological disaster. :( A nuke with safeties in place is highly unlikely to detonate correctly. It's interesting to imagine though, that it could be recover and operated successfully by unauthorized parties... If the Tallboy was internally intact and viable, a nuke could be too.
Lützow was engaged by the Korpåsen Battery on the 9th of April 1940.
The battery was a modern 15cm battery and it forced her to retreat out of gun range after suffering heavy damage.
02:30 those portholes/windows have curtains! Is that the officers mess, or the Captain's stern cabin?
Those are pretty small guns for a capital ship over that comfy little structure, but still, can't be very safe or comfortable when they have to be fired. I'm wondering about the blast effects...
Most likely the officers mess. The stern of the superstructure was a reasonably common place for that. Meanwhile the captain's quarters were most often placed in the main superstructure, and I know that Graf Spee had the captain's quarters there too, so it isn't too much of a stretch to assume the same held true for Deutschland/Lützow. Though it should be noted the two ships had rather different main superstructures, so a difference in that placement wouldn't be too weird.
"The captain told no jokes. He was astern captain." I recall that from Mad magazine when I was a kid.
Thanks, you were the first source who explained the tall boy detonated on a drone. I was trying to work out how it detonated during defusing operations and no one was injured!
I always loved the design of the Deutschlands, especially given their commerce surface raider roles. Evading enemy fleets and attacking merchant ships definitely gives off swashbuckling vibes.
The new year brings a new video from Lord Kamtchatka :-) Many thanks
Considering not even the initial launch went to plan I'm not sure it was the name change what did it...
Preemptive bad luck, the universe knew her name would be changed and wanted to get a head start.
@Drachinifel , In your last stream, I suggest you add the Ning Hai Class Light Cruisers(light cruisers built by Imperial Japan for the Republic of China back in the time before ww2) into your list if u had not done so, I hope u see this comment
Edit r 4 spelling errors
Could probably add in the footnote, "not very well known in modern times until China resurrected them as a pair of jailbaiting waifus"
@@Psike81 Dammit.
just wanna say thank you ! I've chosen this this eras war ships as a subject to study, and you are the best teacher !
I learn something new every video i watch. Ive always loved history. Especially world history. Im one of an entire line on both parents side that have served. So far ive been able to trace back pre-revolutionary. We even had family fighting each other during the civil war.
My grandfather saw this ship in a spanish port in the 30's
Nice window dressing 2:31
beautiful ship design
The RAF left one Tallboy behind. Just in case Lutzow made a return.
Soviet pilots pretending to be Spanish. Then North Korean and possibly North Vietnamese. It would be interesting to see their passports.
I read an account of the RAF torpedo bomber attack on the Lutzow. It was at night, and the Lutzow had several DDs as escort. None of the German ships fired a shot at the attacking Beaufort, so it was able to get in close and make a solid hit. Apparently, the German crews were told there was a Ju-88 operating in the area that night, and mistook the Beaufort for that 88.
wait.. is it some article?, book source or wiki? i wanted to search it up.
@@disunityholychaos7523 that account is in a book by Ralph Barker. It was published in the US as "Torpedo Bomber" a paperback from Ballantine in the early 70s. It was also published in the UK as "Ship-Busters". The book covers Beaufort ops in the North Sea and Channel, then moves to ops in the Med around Malta, then moves back to ops around England late in the war. I found it a fascinating read. Besides the attack on the Lutzow, it covers the torpedoing of Gneisenau in Brest and the "channel dash" when Scharnhorst and Gneisenau ran up the English Channel, in broad daylight, and a lot more.
Good episode. I was reminded of a self-published on Amazon novel ('Ring On Main Engines' by Anthony Molloy, 2013) where the plotline is that after Hitler's taken some of his 'special' pills (speed) he has the brilliant idea of running the Channel Dash in reverse. The resulting task force ('Gruppe Wurger') which comprises Tirpitz, Scharnhorst, Lutzow and around twelve destroyers does not get too far before the speed has worn off and they get a recall, helped on their way by a Dunconian bluff on the part of some British Destroyers.
Happy New Year Drach! Thanks for everything!
Ah yes the return of the British Acme Anvil!
I now have an image of Lutzow with a tiny umbrella open on her main mast
@@andrewreilly8791 I imagine the Shadow of Impending Doom slowly appearing on her and Tirpitz both will have a "HELP!" sign in German!
F for that brave drone.
Very interesting tale of,the service of Lutzow (or lack of it) but I would be interested in a more in-depth look at the technology of the Panzerschiffs. What I know is that they were just about the first large all-welded ships and that almost uniquely among big warships, they were diesel powered.
One book I read on warships in WWII discusses the design of the Panzerschiff, particularly noting the steps taken to cram such a powerful ship into a 10,000 ton displacement as per Treaty of Versailles restrictions:
1) Diesel power instead of steam turbines
2) Extensive use of welding instead of riveting
3) Understating the displacement by about 30% :D
Excellent video.
Should give that Drone a medal 🏅 Gone But Not Forgotten 👍
I heard about the tallboy bomb going off when it made it into the news. But I didn't realize that it was connected to the Lützow
This one hell of along time to come, cant wait for the scheer later
Thanks drachnifel! Love the videos as always!
I'm excited because the next panzerschiff Drach will cover is Adm. Scheer and she has a interesting fact about her resting place.
Deutschland class pocket battleship is my favorite in WoW.
One of the tankiest cruisers at tier 6, but holy hell those guns do NOT represent German gunnery accuracy.
Been thinking about getting it forever.... Is it any good???
Love the ship historically but...
@@wheels-n-tires1846 It's a powerful ship for tier 6. DPM is very low, though. 20 second reload for only 6 barrels in 2 turrets. Being a tier 6 cruiser, can't do a secondary build either. When facing same tier or lower she's (he's?) a goddamn tank. Being bottom tier is a fast way back to port, even though you have a heal.
so the image at 3:51 has the forward turret with only two guns, where'd the other one go?
Huh?
The two guns you see are elevated, the middleon is not (battle damage?) and is hidden fom the view, most probably.
@@zoranocokoljic8927 I think you're right about battle damage. The narrative was just talking about the invasion of Norway, where Lutzow took several 15 cm hits that, among other things, disabled the center gun of the forward turret.
A sneaky ship, from launch to scuttling
Excellent as ever
Drach - Proving that changing the can be bad luck.
USS Phoenix - That for sure.
name maybe?
@@jmrico1979
USS Phoenix was a Brooklyn class light cruiser in WWII, sold to Argentina postwar.
She had a couple of names in Argentine service if I remember right, but she last went by "General Belgrano".
Then the Falklands happened.
Awesome been waiting for the other Pocket Battleships. Hope to see Admiral Scheer next
I enjoy your posts by much. I especially enjoy the design/development histories. The histories of destroyer design were top notch but the last one left me hanging when there was no follow up on destroyer development in the Second World War. A history of the USN’s Fletcher, Sumner & Gearing classes would be welcome as well as coverage of the RN & IJN efforts to compensate for their respective lack of high angle and dual purpose heavy anti aircraft weapons.
RIP underwater demolition drone. You served your country well.
It is pretty normal though that any ship that gets renamed winds up in the briney deep
4:05 so how does the screw shafts supposed to work when the back end is like that?
Classic Drach!!! - 'a rather brave drone...'!!!
Should it be awarded a DSM (Drone Submersible Medal)?!
Very nice video, only one thing, the Kriegsmarine didn't use the KMS infront of their ships names. The Kaiserliche Marine used SMS, but germany stopped using prefixes after 1918.
The poor brave drone never felt a thing. sm
Are there any records of Tall boy usage and recorded hits?
Because I am now really worried to travel ANYWHERE near Tirpitz sank
@tokul76 isn't that a liberty ship packed to the brim with unexploded shells though? probably best advice would be to just not go anywhere near the coast in europe. though even inland. well.. we still find ordnance every few years in NL as well.
Thanks for this episode. I would like to see a story about the USS West Virginia, (the Wee Vee), as I am from that state originally, and I always found the fact of her resurrection at Pearl Harbor to return to the front lines inspiring. Could you PLEASE? Happy New Year, and many more.
Does anyone have deck plans for this ship? The structure underneath the after turret has large rectangular windows and curtains, so I think it might have been a wardroom for senior crew, like officers or NCO's, or maybe VIP quarters or something. It definitely has a "luxury" look to it.
I once met an unapologetic German.........he said "We should have had more u-boats." In a sick but remarkably thoughtful way, I do believe he hit the nail on the head, IF hindsight be as 20/20 as we think. When we look back on these "not one thing or the other" constructions, we wonder.......what WERE the Nazis thinking of with this ship? It was a sea going Tiger tank that could be, and was, ultimately surrounded by a bunch of Shermans and suffered death by a thousand cuts. The ship was a big thumb your middle finger at the English and French but as a realistic ANYTHING..........surface combatant or raider.......... it was like bringing your penny loafers to a basketball game. Too slow to be a cruiser, with only two powerful but relatively slow firing turrets, the lummox was a bit of a white elephant from a practical standpoint, far better at making an impression on fools than achieving any viable result. The Joe Biden of bloated cruisers/dietetic battleships. I think the Nazis wanted to achieve something like that of the idiotic Austro-Hungarians who gave us the Szent Istvan!
Erm, the Deutschland was designed and built before the Nazis took power in 1933.
France had depended a great deal on its North African colonies in the Great War and one purpose of the class was to interdict communication between the colonies and metropolitan France. The French were concerned enough that they built the Dunkerques as a response. Of course, how realistic the idea of German raiders in the Med - with no bases and facing the choke point at Gib (even if the UK wasn't a belligerent, easy for the Marine Nationale to seal off) is open to question. They also dominated the Baltic - three modern, fast armored cruisers against two decrepit, poorly maintained and worse trained Russian dreadnoughts is pretty good odds. The Swedes and Finns were sympathetic to Germany and poor Poles didn't stand a chance and knew it. They sent most of their fleet to Britain when war broke out.
I would like you to cover the ship USS Kidd. It would be nice to cover both the past ships and the current one to see how she lives up to the name. I know the WWII one is a floating museum in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and I have a few pictures of it.
Seems to me the tallboy exploding was for the best. Would have been a lot more dicey moving a deactivated but still massive and old explosive like that to a designated disposal location in my mind.
Used effectively as an oversized antitank gun during the german retreat
3:36 in addition the kriegsmarine tried to confuse the allied command by having a ship with the same name (albeit unfinished) sold to sovjet union as part of the hitler/stalin pact
I somewhat happen to like more of these underdog ships than to fancy capital ships. Nice Video!
This ship has a march written for her. Just a melody with no words iirc.
"Panzerschiff Deutschland"
Re the Blucher, watch the opening of The Kings Choice to see how effective pre-WW1 whitehead torpedoes, 19th century shore guns in an 18th century fort were against a ship so new the paint hadn't dried yet.
I think everyone knows about Admiral Scheer . Lutzow class panzerschiffe which is now know as a nickname "The buried battleship".
As a kid, dreamed of digging her up and rebuilding her as the awesomest personal yacht...🤣
Lots of research, but never could find out how much was actually left before burial...😞
I am thinking too
@@wheels-n-tires1846 im still puzzled where she is actually buried when i checked the map of her last location, some say in or near the parkingllot or below the trees, but im worried it is also a burial ground of the leftover remains of the dead sailors in below her ship and then buried with it.
Great info! Cheers!
I hope they find her wreck. Graf Zeppelin was found,wonder when they find Luitzow.
Well they recently found Karlsruhe so it’s possible they locate it. Leipzig is out there too looking to be discovered.
Is it Saturday? I don't know anymore
Can you cover the Spanish cruiser canarias?
I think the 11-inch guns, while interesting was the wrong choice for the role they were supposed to do as you don't have the penetration to take on battleships while being overkill for everything else but limiting ammo that can be carried and weighing a whole lot.
Wrong. The role was killing merchant ships. It's guns are plenty for the job. It's designed to outrun a battleship.
@@WALTERBROADDUS 1.Deutschland/Lutzow could not out run battleships as it only had a speed of 28 knots which most battleship could do or where faster.
2. If the the role was killing merchant ships an 11-inch gun is massive over kill an 8 or 6 inch gun would work fine and weigh less.
The US and UK had no battleships of that speed when built. The guns let them outgun any heavy cruiser that could catch them.
@@WALTERBROADDUS The UK had the Hood, Renown & Repulse and considering that Admiral Graf Spee was mission killed and then forced to scuttled by two light and one heavy cruiser it really did not outgun its way out because of the slow rate of fire and running out of ammo.
If I was redesigning the Deutschland class, I would replace the 11-inch guns for 8-inch guns on a one to one base & change the 8 15cm (5.9 in) & the 3 8.8cm (3.5 in) for a uniform 12.7cm (5.04 inch) if a dual-purpose mount could be made or 10.5cm (4.1 inch) to have a useful secondary battery for anti-ship and anti-aircraft. With the lighter weight of the armament, I would try to increase the speed to 32 knots so it could work in the cruiser line and round out the armor.
Fun fact, in America a 24 fluid ounce beer can is also a Tall Boy.
Problem is, it doesn't contain REAL beer. Anyway, canned beer is barbaric. With best regards from Germany, have a Happy New Year, cheers ! :-)
@@ottovonbismarck2443there was a vending machine that sold cans of Bitburg in my barracks (Rose Kaserne, Bad Kreuznach). Did the job. But 6packs of Becks in bottles was only $1.75 at the post exchange. 1984.
Always wondered why the Lutzow looked so different from her sisters like Graf Spee, such as the location and shape of the bridge.
They iterated on the design so much, like the Hipper's, that Deutschland, Scheer and Graf Spee were almost individual sub-classes.
Serious question: while the 'pocket battleships' had a fearsome reputation - as exemplified by the hunt for the Graf Spee - is there much evidence to back the reputation up? Graf Spee really seems to be the only one that ever fought an actual battle and while it wrought havoc on Commodore Harwood's force, it was in turn badly hit enough by three smaller ships to run for cover in Montevideo. So were they any good, or was picking off merchant ships about the best they could manage?
I think most of that reputation comes from Bismarck sinking the Hood. (Yes that's inaccurate but I've often seen it described as one)
Arguably the last iteration of one of the ideas behind the battlecruiser, faster than anything that could defeat the armour, well enough armed and armoured to kill anything that could catch it so essentially a long ranged cruiser killer. Barring Hood, Repulse, Renown, Strasbourg and Dunkerque, the lattter pair being designed for the purpose. Armour scheme left a bit to be desired as Graf Spee found out :-)
@@andrewfanner2245 That actually reminds me a bit of the "let's create something completely new" mentality that led the Royal Air Force up the blind alley of the 'bomber destroyer' concept and the Boulton Paul Defiant, i.e. focussing on filling a niche that didn't actually exist instead of optimizing classes that did already exist.
@@andrewfanner2245 Surely the Alaska Class at the end of WW2 were battle cruisers? I know the Americans had a phobia about using the term 'battle cruiser' (I have no idea why), but the Alaska class ticks almost every box in the definition of battle cruiser, far more than many ships that were formally described as that.
@@Dave_Sisson fair remark, hence "one of the ideas." The exact purpose of the Alaskas never seems to have been quite clear:-)
One more cool thing about that tallboy: you can probably see it go IN the water in the sequence starting at 0:52 in this video: ruclips.net/video/vt4iqwkTJkQ/видео.html - note that one of the splashes is much smaller than the others, and is at the right spot in the channel.
Credit: A poster on The War Zone noticed this first. And so did someone else in the comments.
Have you ever done an overview or, preferably, in depth analysis of the attack on Pearl Harbor? If not, could you do one. I've heard, and read, multiple different causes of the attack, including who knew what and why didn't they tell anyone.
I enjoy your videos and have learned a lot I never knew about naval warfare.
Actually being awake 14 minutes after a release is nice
It looks like the Graf. Spee
*"Hmph! I'm Deutschland, the first ship of the Deutschland-class! A prestigious individual such as myself wouldn't be sent into smaller battles. As such, it's only natural that I don't have many of these petty achievements. It's called spiritual leadership! Hmph! Lützow? ...Shut up! Like I'd care about that!"*
*"From now on, you are Deutschland's servant! You should feel honored. Also, don't answer me with "mhm." You will answer me with "yes, ma'am" from now on. Are we clear?"*
Someone plays Azur Lane.
What a clear difference from your sister Graffy...hmmmm...... Well, I guess you'll kill me for thinking about her anyways...
This video is dedicated to the brave bomb defusal drone. 5:50 My its sacrifice be remembered.😢
Drone: "I'll be back."
Drone lives matter. 🤖
i just started world of warships a few days ago got myself up to the kaiser working towards the carrier they have in the german navy any hints tips for what i shuold be going for?
Check out the channel "fun n games with Terry"... He does awesome reveiws and strategy vids... Ive learned a ton from him!! (USNvet, JRDJ Fleet)
I think this was the Duetch version of "please Mr Custer, I don't wanna go"
Does anyone know the reason the NASDAP gave the German people for the renaming?
Apparently Hitler was concerned of the effect on morale if a warship named 'Deutschland' was sunk in action.
1:40 thats not entirely true. The emden did a lot of ambassador work traveling the world in peacetime.
F in chat for EOD drone, lost but not forgotten
Sadly you didn't mention that the Blyth based British submarine Spearfish was the vessel that damaged her stern, especially when one bears in mind that Spearfish was later lost with only one survivor. My uncle John Mordue was one it's crew.
There is a lot of information about Spearfish on a site named (ironically) uboat.net.
@@dovetonsturdee7033 Thanks.
"Trust me; it's a cruiser. I swear it is."
I'm wondering exactly how they found the thing there in the first place...
Aerial recon
has the wreck of Deutschland/Lutzow been located?
Didn't the German navy rerate the class as heavy cruisers?