If the three way Mexican Standoff between the three South American countries turned into a three way war who would come out on top? (Maybe not on top, but who would lose the least?)
I can’t help but imagine two guys designing the 1st one of these, listing off all the features and then exclaiming “Brilliant!” like in those old Guinness commercials.
So just like with the Vickers 6-toner (tank of the 1920s), that saw massive international export success, these cruisers would recieve one look from the British who said "What is this piece of junk?!" and ignore one of the decade's most successful designs xD
What the Admiralty didn't like about the Elswick cruisers was their commercial origin. They no longer trusted anyone in the private sector to design a warship for the RN, ever since the Captain' disaster. (Captain had been a private venture too, designed by Coles without direct input from the Constructor's department of the Admiralty and built by Lairds incorporating much of their house style. Even though White was working for Armstrong as their chief designer at the time, the knowledge that Elswick cruisers were optimised for a competitive export market meant that they were built to slightly 'different' standards than the RN was after. High speed, strong armament and low displacement suggested, to the Admiralty at least, weaker scantlings than required in an RN ship or else a reduction in range or seakeeping. Actually, none of that was really the case, but it's easy to see why they thought that. What the RN wanted was Grade A seakeeping, the longest range possible on coal alone and enough ship to do all that and carry the firepower of an Elswick cruiser. When White came back to the Admiralty to take up the post of Director of Naval Construction (after Nathaniel Barnaby left), his own cruiser designs were consistently under criticism from observers who considered the whole lot either too large and costly for their armament (as with the Astraea through Eclipse classes), or too slow and wet for the roles they were assigned (Medea and Apollo classes especially). Like Reed, White preferred not to have too many stipulations to interfere with his creative freedom *but* , unlike Reed, White did not display any tendency to argue his case to the Board of Admiralty and thus flourished creatively in the private sector, while Reed successfully pushed innovation in the *public* sector instead. And, in the end, the Admiralty's reluctance to invest in Elswick designs meant they missed out on some good warships and left their legacy protected cruisers looking very weak and valueless by 1910, while old Elswick 2nd-class cruisers were still looking like viable fighting units; those who weren't wearing out after many years of service at least! They fought in many wars, fought hard, took hits, sank enemies, sustained losses - all the things a good, sound, hard-fighting type ends up doing. From the British naval architectural perspective, they were to protected cruisers what the 1930s 'Tribal' class were to fleet destroyers.
Chile ordering a ship like that is not a surprise once you get to know the country a little better. It seems to have been able to make very effective decisions over its history, surviving amid much larger neighbours as a result.
It would be most interesting to review the British Hawkins class cruisers - if Elswick cruisers were the progenitors of cruisers generally, then the Hawkins class might be said to be the progenitors of all 8” cruisers.
Just found your videos on some of the Naval ships and classes, and I've got to say, I am very impressed and like the ship classes being broken down plus having the ships speed, armor, and guns being explained and after even showing what ships came from other earlier designs, thanks for sharing your knowledge on these ships, from simple wooden sloops to massive dreadnought battleships
I enjoy your delivery very much. Your use of sarcasm and/or dry humor along with your tone and inflection of voice turn what can be a dull subject into a very enjoyable one. Three cheers!
Thank you again! What is the handsome ship at 00:05:27? Very well balanced lines. Oh, never mind, I should have waited a little longer, I got my answer. First class as usual.
The W in Elswick is silent, therefore pronounced Elsick. The gun shop at Elswick where large guns where cast, still existed in the 1970's when I was an apprentice at Vickers. The area is now a business park with most traces of heavy industry gone.
An you do a vid on ships magazines and the mechanisms for getting the shells tothe guns and the 'quick firing 6 inch guns, thanks. Great vids, always informative and interesting!
Well done, particularly the history of and reasons for development of the cruiser.
5 лет назад
you put on a great historical show.!! i remember a successful man saying ," if you don't know where you're going , you may not like where you wind up". and you don't know where you're going IF you don't know where you've been. HISTORY IS VERY IMPORTANT. most people don't know anything past LAST WEEK.!!!
Doesn't really fit into a Q&A and I don't know, if it has been adressed, but history and development of destroyers as a class and the various rolles they performed (including specialised classes).
Just wanted to say hi and thank you for the channel. I was always a huge fan of warships growing up, collecting books on the different classes and such and this series is really great. Several years ago I was working on a tabletop warship game, focusing on big gun capital ships, and this makes me want to drag those notes out again. I guise if I had to suggest a ship, assuming you haven't already covered it, I was a fan of the Baltimore class cruisers.
My scout troop spent a weekend literally camping on and crawling around the USS Massachusetts, so that would be another one that would really interest me.
Any student of naval history has to know about Elswick and Esmeralda. As the protected cruisers gave way to the light cruisers, the former were often reconfigured into minelayers- that having come to represent a new and deadly weapon against modern warships. USS Milwaukee was a prime example of this.
Hms calypso is wrecked in by Lewisporte Newfoundland ive bin thre its vary nice and theres another ship there to. Great job on the vid drach keep up the great work
Thanks Drach I have read a lot about teh 'Elswick' cruisers and their place in history but really enjoyed learning more about this fascinating period and the role it played in the development of technology. You could say our current tech level is a result of the race to produce the perfect ship, which pushed the tech at the time to the utmost limits of what it could do, and sometimes beyond. Mr White deserves a place in history through his brilliance and hard work.
The Elswick shipyard was the Silicon Valley of its time, innovating cruiser design rapidly. They had started with the famous "flatiron" gunboat, designed by Rendel.
A bit late, but thanks for this video on an overlooked subject. If you get the chance, go to The Discovery Museum in Newcastle or Cragside ( Lord Armstrong's country pile near Rothbury), they have lots of beautiful ship models of these cruisers made by the company at the time. P.s. the 'w' is silent! See also Alnwick and Berwick...
I don't know if Drach studied History at college, but at university he studied engineering. So isn't a historian by 'profession'. Just very very well read :) so don't be discouraged.
The two spanish ships Isla de Luzon and Isla de Cuba fought in the spanish-american war in the battle of manila. They survived the battle more or less and were captured by the us-fleet, who used them after the war.
When I worked in a machine shop at Elswick you could still see at low water the remains of a slipway at the Water Street end of the works.We later went to the new factory at Scotswood which was named Armstrong Works. Many thanks for these excellent vids.
I know she's not a worship, as defined by your normal videos. But here's one that might be interesting especially with your ability to do good research. Can you do turbina? I know she's preserved in the museum so modern footage of her can't be too hard to get but I'd love to hear more about her other than just the static pictures that people seem to display all the time.
Lindy beige did a great video on tuebinia. I dare say the issue for Drach is she's so far north of him. Given the state of the trains it's probably less hassle to fly to the US to cover a ship lol
As always, great video - thank you so much for doing these! I remember you talking about damage control in one of the drydocks episodes (I think) and saying that the topic would really deserve its own episode. If there aren't any plans for this, I'd like to suggest it as a topic!
@@LV_CRAZY no, both types were under construction at the same time. The Montana's would have been battleship versions of the Alaska class cruisers, useless. Fortunately the U.S. figured it out before completing them. Would have been mothballed shorty after completing. Too slow to support carriers would have meant the Iowa's would have still been the answer later in life.
Not too much to say. They were to be super heavy battleships, essentially the Iowas with better immunity to the Mk8 AP shell and 12x16" guns, for a truly staggering throw weight. However, it was recognized fairly early in development that carriers were more important and the fast battleship's new role was carrier protection, so the first two potential units were rescheduled as Iowas (Kentucky and Illinois) and the rest loitering in planning until cancelled. It was decided that 45K ton carriers (Midway) were more important than 75K ton battleships, especially with newer heavier aircraft coming out and the fact the USN already had 10 fast battleships and a couple of super heavy cruisers without much of a role.
I had no idea I live a few 100m from the old Elswick Yard. I thought all the yards were further down the Tyne. Until I saw the picture in the video of the cruiser passing the swing and high level bridges. Need to go do some more reading up on the local history I think
I know this is an old post and am just one of hundreds late to the game. The Royal Navy of the c. 1860s era was brilliant. There was only one American warship from the American Civil War that impressed them, the USS Wampanoag ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Wampanoag_(1864) ). Wampanoag could be argued to be the first battle cruiser, she had a good gun armament, and an excellent steam plant capable of > 17 knots, amazing for the time. She was scrapped in 1869.
The Ventico de Mayo.... Theres a model of the ship in The Discovery Museum, Blandford Square, Newcastle. In their "Story of the Tyne" exhibition along with many others incl. the IJN Naniwa and huge HMS Nelson plus River Tyne diorama. Which ship had the better career for the Argentine Navy I wonder? The cruiser or the carrier?
Hey thanks for the videos these always make my day. If you need any more video ideas (lol) could you do some videos about naval tactics and how they change?
The numbered guides are supposed to be around 5min long. This is a more in depth look at a class and it's impact. This was back when the channel didn't really do videos that went longer than 10 mins very often
"Els'ick croosas! The one yeh gorra gan yhem for!" Built about 2 miles from where Im sitting. Indeed, in honour of Admiral Togo there is a Mikasa House down on the Tyne in Scotswood Business Park. "Geordie ships, we are here! Whoa! Whoa! Geordie ships we are here! Slap the enemy with a Christmas tree!" (Adapted from a terrace chant at SJP). After the Esmerelda, the next best thing about Chile on Tyneside was the Robledo Brothers who won the FAC with NUFC in the 1950s.
Hey Drach, could you define what turtleback armor is? Also, I've often heard it said that the Bismarck's anti-aircraft batteries were designed with faster aircraft in mind, with a significant amount of automation involved, and this prevented them from being able to engage the attacking Swordfish effectively. Given the rather poor state of the Fleet Air Arm at the time in terms of advanced attack aircraft, exactly which aircraft did the Germans have in mind when designing and building the ship's AA defenses?
The general rule in warship design is to use one’s own weapons systems as a basis for the design, given the fact that you know more about them than any possible enemy’s weapons. So if the design parameter is to shoot down attacking aircraft, the characteristics of one’s own aircraft are the obvious starting point. This is what got Admiral Tom Phillips into trouble in Prince of Wales - he assumed that because the RAF was not capable of torpedo attacks at ranges of greater than 100 miles from the coast, the Japanese were similarly limited. That said, the Kreigsmarine had very sophisticated stabilised AA directors in its larger ships (those 4 dome-like things on Bismarck’s superstructure) which were quite capable of tracking Swordfish and passing firing solutions to the AA guns. However, the operators had to start the process by estimating the target’s range, speed and crossing angle, with the accuracy of the solution improving as the operator continued to track the target. So if they trained with 200 mph German aircraft, they would be likely to start with that as an opening setting, and would take time to dial down and obtain a firing solution for the 100 mph (or less in a headwind) of the poor old Stringbag. Also, the Germans were firing explosive 20mm and 37mm shells designed to rip metal aircraft apart and which may not have detonated on the canvas fuselage and wings of the Swordfish.
The thing about the guns not tracking slow moving swordfish I think is nonsense. I've never read about it and the accounts of the swordfish crew state the aa guns were very accurate. The thing about not being able to hit slow swordfish seems to track back to an old history channel documentary. It seems to be false. If anyone can offer evidence I'd be happy to be proven wrong.😊
Great piece yet again. One little thing though, the 'w' is not pronounced in Elswick. The Elswick works were a very large employer on the Tyne, the owner Lord Armstrong's house at Rothbury is preserved and open to the public, with hydroelectric powered lighting and hydraulic lift.
Oh my; an Englishman commenting on a mispronunciation. My take on it is that the producer of these vids gets more words right than wrong. I enjoy how BBC pedantically enunciates non-English words and names, while saying Wooster(Worchestshire). I wonder if the w was pronounced knowing it was silent to make the overall video more understandable to the larger audience.
@@johnivkovich8655 it was also my thought that the 'w' being pronounced would help those searching from just hearing it. I too enjoy BBC mispronunciations especially when on the same article two announcers choose two different pronunciations of the same word. I am local to Elswick and a lot of local names have peculiar pronunciation so I did not expect Drach to pronounce it like a local, but he seems a stickler for correctness.
@@johnivkovich8655 regards (mis) pronunciation there is a 15s clip 'John Fashanu Day Today' from an old comedy show you may appreciate, also on a nautical theme if you visit Tyneside the Turbinia is at a local museum.
Hey, Drach. Great video. If/When you do a video on the Italian _Condotierri_ -series of light cruisers, are you doing them in one video, or as a separate series of videos.
The good old days when companies would just build a ship speculatively and flog it to any passer by... from South America way or anyone else with the funds
This still happens at times. Usually with light patrol craft but generally the capital investment is too much for companies to risk now. Plus 120 years ago there generally was some sort of war on the horizon and the state of technological advances meant that a minor nation was usually shopping 😂
Bill Wurtz: " Japan wanted some Huge Boats, With Guns, so they payed Britain, France, and the United States to build them some, and it all went well except for the French one that Died in a Tornado. (IJN Unebi 1886) "
Could you do one about Japanese Submarine development and maybe one about Japanese submarine operations in WW2? I do not think the latter is ever paid attention to, except for the Midget subs in Pearl Harbor and I-400 subs. Thanks
something really important about the armored cruiser Esmeralda. During the Panama crisis in 1885, a fleet of American wooden frigates broke a treaty with Colombia and landed troops in Panama City. Faced with the American intervention, Chile sent the Esmeralda with the mission of preventing any attempt to take over the region. Although it came after Colombian troops arrived in the area and the Americans withdrew, the incident was much commented on in the USA, where the press and congressmen said that "the Esmeralda could have sunk the entire American Pacific fleet in Panama, without take damage, not once. " Chilean naval superiority (at that time Chile had half a dozen armored ships) was one of the impulses of the Mahan doctrine that led to the creation of the modern US navy. The cruiser Esmeralda was sold to Japan in 1895, renamed Izumi, where it participated in the war against China and in the battle of Tsushima in the war against the Russian Empire.
The gun dual between battleships, especially in the case of battle of Jutland (battle between battle cruiser fleet) and the battle of Denmark Strait has always proved German advantages in gunnery accuracy. I would appreciate a lot, if you could make a video on battleship fire control development: how are the destructive naval guns directed?
Could you do a video on the effect of passenger ocean liner through war time? Mostly like steam ships through the World Wars. Some were troopships and some where hospital or merchant raiders or such.
Pinned post for Q&A :)
Any chance to uss monitor or css Virgina?
@@markmorganakathekosherham1838 why not both? :D
Would japan still build the yamato class if they completed the 8-8 program?
If the three way Mexican Standoff between the three South American countries turned into a three way war who would come out on top? (Maybe not on top, but who would lose the least?)
7.2 town/Cleveland classes against 1 Yamato.
I can’t help but imagine two guys designing the 1st one of these, listing off all the features and then exclaiming “Brilliant!” like in those old Guinness commercials.
"Range, Armour and Speed at the Same Time..? Brilliant! Brilliant! (clink!)
🧠👍🏻
Hahaha
This ship honestly needs more recognition. She’s the Dreadnought of cruisers!
It's nice that our work in Shipbucket did land on this channel as visualization of ships.
So just like with the Vickers 6-toner (tank of the 1920s), that saw massive international export success, these cruisers would recieve one look from the British who said "What is this piece of junk?!" and ignore one of the decade's most successful designs xD
What the Admiralty didn't like about the Elswick cruisers was their commercial origin. They no longer trusted anyone in the private sector to design a warship for the RN, ever since the Captain' disaster. (Captain had been a private venture too, designed by Coles without direct input from the Constructor's department of the Admiralty and built by Lairds incorporating much of their house style.
Even though White was working for Armstrong as their chief designer at the time, the knowledge that Elswick cruisers were optimised for a competitive export market meant that they were built to slightly 'different' standards than the RN was after. High speed, strong armament and low displacement suggested, to the Admiralty at least, weaker scantlings than required in an RN ship or else a reduction in range or seakeeping.
Actually, none of that was really the case, but it's easy to see why they thought that.
What the RN wanted was Grade A seakeeping, the longest range possible on coal alone and enough ship to do all that and carry the firepower of an Elswick cruiser. When White came back to the Admiralty to take up the post of Director of Naval Construction (after Nathaniel Barnaby left), his own cruiser designs were consistently under criticism from observers who considered the whole lot either too large and costly for their armament (as with the Astraea through Eclipse classes), or too slow and wet for the roles they were assigned (Medea and Apollo classes especially).
Like Reed, White preferred not to have too many stipulations to interfere with his creative freedom *but* , unlike Reed, White did not display any tendency to argue his case to the Board of Admiralty and thus flourished creatively in the private sector, while Reed successfully pushed innovation in the *public* sector instead.
And, in the end, the Admiralty's reluctance to invest in Elswick designs meant they missed out on some good warships and left their legacy protected cruisers looking very weak and valueless by 1910, while old Elswick 2nd-class cruisers were still looking like viable fighting units; those who weren't wearing out after many years of service at least! They fought in many wars, fought hard, took hits, sank enemies, sustained losses - all the things a good, sound, hard-fighting type ends up doing.
From the British naval architectural perspective, they were to protected cruisers what the 1930s 'Tribal' class were to fleet destroyers.
@@KrillLiberator "they are commercial!" - Sir Humphrey Appleby
Chile ordering a ship like that is not a surprise once you get to know the country a little better.
It seems to have been able to make very effective decisions over its history, surviving amid much larger neighbours as a result.
Chile was the main source for nitrates used in explosives and propellant. So everyone tried to supply them the best to keep them happy.
There are some rather spiky mountains between them and their neighbors.
@@toomanyhobbies2011 Chile = Mordor?
@@Orinslayerbut with better seafood and llamas
It would be most interesting to review the British Hawkins class cruisers - if Elswick cruisers were the progenitors of cruisers generally, then the Hawkins class might be said to be the progenitors of all 8” cruisers.
Just found your videos on some of the Naval ships and classes, and I've got to say, I am very impressed and like the ship classes being broken down plus having the ships speed, armor, and guns being explained and after even showing what ships came from other earlier designs, thanks for sharing your knowledge on these ships, from simple wooden sloops to massive dreadnought battleships
Drachinifel, you and Mark Felton should do a video together!
522nd Gaming agreed! That would be an awesome collaboration between two great channel
Magnificent idea! Hope it comes to fruition!
If i were allowed 2 subscriptions it would be Felton and Drachinifel
Been There , Done That. Not Waiting !
No. You are way better than mark. Don't do it
Well done. That Esmeralda is a beautiful ship, easy to imagine it being a dangerous foe.
The Russians found it dangerous, it would be involved in the Battle of Tsushimi as the HIJMS Izumi
Great video. I always wondered about the evolution of early cruisers.
Great video!
Just so you know, the ‘w’ in Elswick is silent, as is other places in the north like Alnwick.
Els-ick.
I only live down in Teesside. And here we say the w....
He is right, els-ick is the correct prenunciation.
C S yup, El-Sick it is. Not only was I born there but I served my apprenticeship in Armstrong’s Elswick Works
I've watched almost all of these & me thinks this is the best laid out & presented of the lot.👍👍
10:34 ... DANM YOU BRASIL... another in a long line of disappointments
I enjoy your delivery very much. Your use of sarcasm and/or dry humor along with your tone and inflection of voice turn what can be a dull subject into a very enjoyable one. Three cheers!
Thank you again!
What is the handsome ship at 00:05:27? Very well balanced lines.
Oh, never mind, I should have waited a little longer, I got my answer.
First class as usual.
Armada de Chile cruiser "Esmeralda". Fine lines indeed.
I noticed the same thing. Beautiful indeed!
The W in Elswick is silent, therefore pronounced Elsick. The gun shop at Elswick where large guns where cast, still existed in the 1970's when I was an apprentice at Vickers. The area is now a business park with most traces of heavy industry gone.
Interesting. I live in teesside and we say Elswick with the W. So did my grandad who was born in trimdon in the 20s
0:21 Love the flying debris as the big guns fire.
The Bagged Cordite Change.
Charge, predicted text again.
i've always been fascinated by the Elswicks. Well done as usual......
An you do a vid on ships magazines and the mechanisms for getting the shells tothe guns and the 'quick firing 6 inch guns, thanks. Great vids, always informative and interesting!
Excellent piece, the amount of research necessary explains why this was delayed as you said in your introduction.
Well done, particularly the history of and reasons for development of the cruiser.
you put on a great historical show.!! i remember a successful man saying ," if you don't know where you're going , you may not like where you wind up". and you don't know where you're going IF you don't know where you've been. HISTORY IS VERY IMPORTANT. most people don't know anything past LAST WEEK.!!!
Please do a video on the Doterel class sail and steam sloop HMS Gannet (1878) that is preserved at Chathem in Kent.
Just wanted to tell you how much I enjoy your videos and the great job you do with them! jb
Very interesting. The first one was a beautiful ship, the turtle back armor gave her an unusual look for the period.
Thank you for explaining where modern gun cruisers came from.
Yes WoWs players like me are finally getting a shout out!😬 Thanks Drachinifel😀
Good things come to those who wait patiently! Thanks Drachinifel!
It seems there is always something interesting to see when one browses around.
Doesn't really fit into a Q&A and I don't know, if it has been adressed, but history and development of destroyers as a class and the various rolles they performed (including specialised classes).
That was excellent. I had not realised how short lived the class was.
Just wanted to say hi and thank you for the channel. I was always a huge fan of warships growing up, collecting books on the different classes and such and this series is really great. Several years ago I was working on a tabletop warship game, focusing on big gun capital ships, and this makes me want to drag those notes out again. I guise if I had to suggest a ship, assuming you haven't already covered it, I was a fan of the Baltimore class cruisers.
My scout troop spent a weekend literally camping on and crawling around the USS Massachusetts, so that would be another one that would really interest me.
I really love the 19th century stories and the images you use!!
(and also explanations of the construction processes)
Thanks for a superb video about the development of the "modern" cruser.
Any student of naval history has to know about Elswick and Esmeralda. As the protected cruisers gave way to the light cruisers, the former were often reconfigured into minelayers- that having come to represent a new and deadly weapon against modern warships. USS Milwaukee was a prime example of this.
Hms calypso is wrecked in by Lewisporte Newfoundland ive bin thre its vary nice and theres another ship there to. Great job on the vid drach keep up the great work
Thanks Drach
I have read a lot about teh 'Elswick' cruisers and their place in history but really enjoyed learning more about this fascinating period and the role it played in the development of technology.
You could say our current tech level is a result of the race to produce the perfect ship, which pushed the tech at the time to the utmost limits of what it could do, and sometimes beyond.
Mr White deserves a place in history through his brilliance and hard work.
The Elswick shipyard was the Silicon Valley of its time, innovating cruiser design rapidly. They had started with the famous "flatiron" gunboat, designed by Rendel.
Very nice, informative and fun. Thank you.
A bit late, but thanks for this video on an overlooked subject. If you get the chance, go to The Discovery Museum in Newcastle or Cragside ( Lord Armstrong's country pile near Rothbury), they have lots of beautiful ship models of these cruisers made by the company at the time. P.s. the 'w' is silent! See also Alnwick and Berwick...
That is an absolutely beautiful ship.
I wish I studied history in college and become a military historian. I love this channel.
I don't know if Drach studied History at college, but at university he studied engineering. So isn't a historian by 'profession'. Just very very well read :) so don't be discouraged.
The two spanish ships Isla de Luzon and Isla de Cuba fought in the spanish-american war in the battle of manila. They survived the battle more or less and were captured by the us-fleet, who used them after the war.
Fascinating stuff.
Thank you.
☮
When I worked in a machine shop at Elswick you could still see at low water the remains of a slipway at the Water Street end of the works.We later went to the new factory at Scotswood which was named Armstrong Works. Many thanks for these excellent vids.
Excellent video.
And yes, I do have the Albany in World of Warships.
Thanks Again, I always enjoy learning the linage of ships and technology. I have missed History Channel Great Ships series. But you far exceed them.
I love this channel! Finding out so much, so many things to research.
Great video, solid research.😀
Great video! As previously expressed it was interesting to see the evolution of curisers.
I know she's not a worship, as defined by your normal videos. But here's one that might be interesting especially with your ability to do good research. Can you do turbina? I know she's preserved in the museum so modern footage of her can't be too hard to get but I'd love to hear more about her other than just the static pictures that people seem to display all the time.
Lindy beige did a great video on tuebinia.
I dare say the issue for Drach is she's so far north of him. Given the state of the trains it's probably less hassle to fly to the US to cover a ship lol
As always, great video - thank you so much for doing these!
I remember you talking about damage control in one of the drydocks episodes (I think) and saying that the topic would really deserve its own episode. If there aren't any plans for this, I'd like to suggest it as a topic!
Can you please do a video about the *_Montana Class Battleship_* that was never built.
Second.
Wasn't it built as the Midway class, as far as the hull and machinery was concerned?
@@LV_CRAZY no, both types were under construction at the same time. The Montana's would have been battleship versions of the Alaska class cruisers, useless. Fortunately the U.S. figured it out before completing them. Would have been mothballed shorty after completing. Too slow to support carriers would have meant the Iowa's would have still been the answer later in life.
Not too much to say. They were to be super heavy battleships, essentially the Iowas with better immunity to the Mk8 AP shell and 12x16" guns, for a truly staggering throw weight. However, it was recognized fairly early in development that carriers were more important and the fast battleship's new role was carrier protection, so the first two potential units were rescheduled as Iowas (Kentucky and Illinois) and the rest loitering in planning until cancelled. It was decided that 45K ton carriers (Midway) were more important than 75K ton battleships, especially with newer heavier aircraft coming out and the fact the USN already had 10 fast battleships and a couple of super heavy cruisers without much of a role.
@@jmk1798 was the montana even laid down?
I'm honored to know that one of these cruisers was named in honor of my birthday: Cinco de Mayo.
Two big gun turrets on the centerline fore and aft and secondary armament along the side? They were ahead of their time.
I really appreciate your videos. The amount of information learned. And since I am kinda new. I have a lot of catching up to do.
Fantastic video thank you! Love these pre-dreadnought histories
Esmeralda is a handsome looking ship, great content as always.
You should do HMCS Sackville (Flower class corvette) or the HMCS Boneventure (one of the Canadian Aircraft carriers from back in the day)
I had no idea I live a few 100m from the old Elswick Yard. I thought all the yards were further down the Tyne. Until I saw the picture in the video of the cruiser passing the swing and high level bridges. Need to go do some more reading up on the local history I think
Truly Fascinating!!!!
I press the like button before I even watch your post! Sail on Sail On Sailor
Nice! I have the 2 Chinese cruisers in 1/350 scale!
I know this is an old post and am just one of hundreds late to the game. The Royal Navy of the c. 1860s era was brilliant. There was only one American warship from the American Civil War that impressed them, the USS Wampanoag ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Wampanoag_(1864) ). Wampanoag could be argued to be the first battle cruiser, she had a good gun armament, and an excellent steam plant capable of > 17 knots, amazing for the time. She was scrapped in 1869.
Would you kindly do a video on the USS Chester (CL1) class of cruiser?
The Ventico de Mayo.... Theres a model of the ship in The Discovery Museum, Blandford Square, Newcastle. In their "Story of the Tyne" exhibition along with many others incl. the IJN Naniwa and huge HMS Nelson plus River Tyne diorama.
Which ship had the better career for the Argentine Navy I wonder? The cruiser or the carrier?
i am looking forward to your video on the nelson class and battleship mikasa keep up the great work
Hey thanks for the videos these always make my day.
If you need any more video ideas (lol) could you do some videos about naval tactics and how they change?
For the Chacabuco, you need to make the emphasis on the U. Is ChacaBUco. On the "Co" you have to get the sound lower. The rest is pretty much perfect.
Great Video!
How is this not a guide, with a number?
This seems like a very important video in the storyline.
The numbered guides are supposed to be around 5min long. This is a more in depth look at a class and it's impact. This was back when the channel didn't really do videos that went longer than 10 mins very often
"Els'ick croosas! The one yeh gorra gan yhem for!"
Built about 2 miles from where Im sitting.
Indeed, in honour of Admiral Togo there is a Mikasa House down on the Tyne in Scotswood Business Park.
"Geordie ships, we are here! Whoa! Whoa! Geordie ships we are here! Slap the enemy with a Christmas tree!" (Adapted from a terrace chant at SJP).
After the Esmerelda, the next best thing about Chile on Tyneside was the Robledo Brothers who won the FAC with NUFC in the 1950s.
Hey Drach, could you define what turtleback armor is? Also, I've often heard it said that the Bismarck's anti-aircraft batteries were designed with faster aircraft in mind, with a significant amount of automation involved, and this prevented them from being able to engage the attacking Swordfish effectively. Given the rather poor state of the Fleet Air Arm at the time in terms of advanced attack aircraft, exactly which aircraft did the Germans have in mind when designing and building the ship's AA defenses?
The general rule in warship design is to use one’s own weapons systems as a basis for the design, given the fact that you know more about them than any possible enemy’s weapons. So if the design parameter is to shoot down attacking aircraft, the characteristics of one’s own aircraft are the obvious starting point. This is what got Admiral Tom Phillips into trouble in Prince of Wales - he assumed that because the RAF was not capable of torpedo attacks at ranges of greater than 100 miles from the coast, the Japanese were similarly limited. That said, the Kreigsmarine had very sophisticated stabilised AA directors in its larger ships (those 4 dome-like things on Bismarck’s superstructure) which were quite capable of tracking Swordfish and passing firing solutions to the AA guns. However, the operators had to start the process by estimating the target’s range, speed and crossing angle, with the accuracy of the solution improving as the operator continued to track the target. So if they trained with 200 mph German aircraft, they would be likely to start with that as an opening setting, and would take time to dial down and obtain a firing solution for the 100 mph (or less in a headwind) of the poor old Stringbag. Also, the Germans were firing explosive 20mm and 37mm shells designed to rip metal aircraft apart and which may not have detonated on the canvas fuselage and wings of the Swordfish.
The thing about the guns not tracking slow moving swordfish I think is nonsense. I've never read about it and the accounts of the swordfish crew state the aa guns were very accurate.
The thing about not being able to hit slow swordfish seems to track back to an old history channel documentary. It seems to be false.
If anyone can offer evidence I'd be happy to be proven wrong.😊
Great piece yet again. One little thing though, the 'w' is not pronounced in Elswick. The Elswick works were a very large employer on the Tyne, the owner Lord Armstrong's house at Rothbury is preserved and open to the public, with hydroelectric powered lighting and hydraulic lift.
Oh my; an Englishman commenting on a mispronunciation. My take on it is that the producer of these vids gets more words right than wrong. I enjoy how BBC pedantically enunciates non-English words and names, while saying Wooster(Worchestshire). I wonder if the w was pronounced knowing it was silent to make the overall video more understandable to the larger audience.
@@johnivkovich8655 Another Englishman commenting on spelling, it's Worcestershire :-)
@@johnivkovich8655 it was also my thought that the 'w' being pronounced would help those searching from just hearing it. I too enjoy BBC mispronunciations especially when on the same article two announcers choose two different pronunciations of the same word. I am local to Elswick and a lot of local names have peculiar pronunciation so I did not expect Drach to pronounce it like a local, but he seems a stickler for correctness.
@@gwtpictgwtpict4214 Lovely; and thank you for the smile that I now have.
@@johnivkovich8655 regards (mis) pronunciation there is a 15s clip 'John Fashanu Day Today' from an old comedy show you may appreciate, also on a nautical theme if you visit Tyneside the Turbinia is at a local museum.
Hey, Drach. Great video.
If/When you do a video on the Italian _Condotierri_ -series of light cruisers, are you doing them in one video, or as a separate series of videos.
Probably one longer video :)
@@Drachinifel
Oh, okay.
That might end up being as long as your Drydock episodes.
Fascinating - well done.
The good old days when companies would just build a ship speculatively and flog it to any passer by... from South America way or anyone else with the funds
This still happens at times. Usually with light patrol craft but generally the capital investment is too much for companies to risk now.
Plus 120 years ago there generally was some sort of war on the horizon and the state of technological advances meant that a minor nation was usually shopping 😂
anybody knows what ships are in the picture at 2:26 or what picture this is?
1:52
Nice piece of kit. Whats the name of that ship?
Would you consider making a separate video about the Ottoman Navy's protected cruiser Hamidiye / Hamidije?
Great video.
Any chance you’ve a video comparing Elco’s, Vosper’s, Higgins, and E-boats? And fer that matter Sub Chasers?
I would love to have you do the USS Helena not the cruiser but the patrol gunbost
Air in the upper part of a ship is not as bad as water in the lower part of the ship. Just goes to show that you can learn something new every day.😏
Q&A: Although this would be conjecture overall, what do you believe happened to the IJN Unebi of 1886?
Bill Wurtz: " Japan wanted some Huge Boats, With Guns, so they payed Britain, France, and the United States to build them some, and it all went well except for the French one that Died in a Tornado. (IJN Unebi 1886) "
Interesting article I enjoyed the video. Thanks
Another great video.
Which turret ship is that @1:50?
Thank you that was informative and enjoyable.
Could you do one about Japanese Submarine development and maybe one about Japanese submarine operations in WW2? I do not think the latter is ever paid attention to, except for the Midget subs in Pearl Harbor and I-400 subs. Thanks
Cant you make a video about Swedens battleships???? Would be great!!!!!!!
We had battleships in service until 1967 I belive.
3:25 you crack me up sometimes 😎.
something really important about the armored cruiser Esmeralda.
During the Panama crisis in 1885, a fleet of American wooden frigates broke a treaty with Colombia and landed troops in Panama City. Faced with the American intervention, Chile sent the Esmeralda with the mission of preventing any attempt to take over the region.
Although it came after Colombian troops arrived in the area and the Americans withdrew, the incident was much commented on in the USA, where the press and congressmen said that "the Esmeralda could have sunk the entire American Pacific fleet in Panama, without take damage, not once. "
Chilean naval superiority (at that time Chile had half a dozen armored ships) was one of the impulses of the Mahan doctrine that led to the creation of the modern US navy.
The cruiser Esmeralda was sold to Japan in 1895, renamed Izumi, where it participated in the war against China and in the battle of Tsushima in the war against the Russian Empire.
Well done...😀😀😀. From Germany
Good historical review!
The gun dual between battleships, especially in the case of battle of Jutland (battle between battle cruiser fleet) and the battle of Denmark Strait has always proved German advantages in gunnery accuracy. I would appreciate a lot, if you could make a video on battleship fire control development: how are the destructive naval guns directed?
Do I see this class of cruiser as the inspiration for the Victoria Louise class of protected cruiser ?
Excelente materia, Chile marcando vanguardia por algunos periodos en este campo.
Could you do a video on the effect of passenger ocean liner through war time? Mostly like steam ships through the World Wars. Some were troopships and some where hospital or merchant raiders or such.
Thanks for the video, I learnt quite a bit. (It might take multiple viewings for it all to stick tho' )