Little Brother, your wife is hot and has a great sense of humor. You need to keep her happy and make sure she has no doubt about whether you love her. I hope the two of you have a fucking awesome life together. BTW I love all of your videos, but if you could put out more short-form vids again. I get that you've got a life, but it really does take up the time between the long-form videos. L8R on. Keep up the great work. #GreatestMilitaryHistoryTeacherEver
World in WWII: "Hey, is it better to make bigger explosions or more accurate ones?" America: _sitting on nukes and VT fuses_ "Unfortunately for you, I don't have to choose."
That sums especially the WW2 Doctrine of the German Military up! Also as German Historian who has a Grandfather who experienced the VT Fuze during the Battle of the Bulge (as a Target of course): My Grandfather is now 104 Years old and still kicking and since the End of WW2 also has been working together with the US Military regarding his Experience against Soviet Partisan Warfare and indeed is one of acouple of Dozen former W-SS Soldiers who were officially invited by the US Military to the USA to give Lectures but also to the yearly Normandy Remembrance Events. Anyway: So my Grandfather who is still alive now was with the 1st W-SS Division "LAH" as Panzergrenadier in the Battle of the Bulge and he always told me how when he was around La Gleize in Belgium they heard what sounded like a Rocket fly towards them but then exploded above them showering them in Shrapnels, lucky for them, they were inside a Farmhouse there so nobody was KIA but a few were wounded. I didn't think about this until i saw this Video in my Notifications, never looked much into it since then either, just thought i share that! Prost & Cheers from the Snow-Covered Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps
Ironically, we actually used a weaker explosive compound in our conventional shells. It traded power for stability and industrial scalability. That said, it wasn't really that much weaker, almost indistinguishable on the battlefield anyway.
"Does anybody else remember back in 1942 when...." No, i dont remem- "Yeah, neither do I, but we're gonna talk about it anyway." Lol, I i love thus guy
Hell, even as a German Historian i didn't remember or think much about this until this Video popped up in my Notifications And as someone with a Grandfather who experienced the VT Fuze during the Battle of the Bulge (as a Target of course): My Grandfather is now 104 Years old and still kicking and since the End of WW2 also has been working together with the US Military regarding his Experience against Soviet Partisan Warfare and indeed is one of acouple of Dozen former W-SS Soldiers who were officially invited by the US Military to the USA to give Lectures but also to the yearly Normandy Remembrance Events. Anyway: So my Grandfather who is still alive now was with the 1st W-SS Division "LAH" as Panzergrenadier in the Battle of the Bulge and he always told me how when he was around La Gleize in Belgium they heard what sounded like a Rocket fly towards them but then exploded above them showering them in Shrapnels, lucky for them, they were inside a Farmhouse there so nobody was KIA but a few were wounded. I didn't think about this until i saw this Video in my Notifications, never looked much into it since then either, just thought i share that! Prost & Cheers from the Snow-Covered Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps
It's amazing how height requirements get thrown out the window when the military just needs all the dudes it can get. Not sure how your gp lost those 2 inches, but this nation owes him a great debt.
@@alejandrogonzales7022 oh he was a 5in and 3in battery ensign so he was in charge of a anti aircraft section but the 5in dual turret batteries were used in shore bombardment so FE is accurate when they changed target scope from anti aircraft to shore they changed ammunition and those rounds came from its own magazine to make sure VTs were never used in Bombardment
Back in college almost 50 years ago I visited the home of a recently retired Kodak engineer. On his bookshelves there was a small dusty cut-away model of the VT fuse and shell. I knew what it was without asking because of my lifelong interest in the whats and whys of WW2. He was both surprised and pleased when I asked him about it. I enjoyed listening to his description of the times, the urgency, and the development in a Top Secret bubble. Such an honor and unexpected privilege to learn from an original.
Dude was one of the greatest leaders of men. He wanted to know EVERYTHING about his weapons so he could use them proficiently and possibly make them better. Better weapons=fewer friendly casualties, it's not rocket science (as of that point anyway). He wasn't afraid to learn from his men and they weren't annoyed to learn from him.
@@paulshirtliff5972 Their politics are definitely a joke (a horrible joke) but their military is no laughing matter, they might be more dominant than ever.
7:59 The answer to "How long does the battery last?" cracked me up and reminded me of airborne school. Instructor: "Airborne, when your main parachute fails to open, how much time do you have to deploy your reserve?" Students: Stunned silence. Instructor: "The rest of your life."
Here's the fun bit: The battery doesn't activate until the fused round is fired out of the cannon. I would say that it saves on battery life but truth be told: the battery doesn't *exist* until the chemicals for a wet cell battery (which don't come pre-mixed) are mixed and activated by the action of the fused round getting fired out of the cannon. How did they pull this off? They put the chemicals in a glass capsule which was made to be just strong enough to survive transit and shipping... but just weak enough to break when it's fired.
This is the same way old sea mines ( the spiky ones) work! When a spike gets forced in by the side of a boat, it crushes a glass vial, releasing the acid to complete a lead-acid battery that powers the detonator. Once the battery is completed by the acid - kaboom!
@@phredphlintstone6455 The same kind of sign was in the WWII British parachute packing sheds "If your parachute fails to open please come back and complain". We have a somewhat odd sense of humour.
The guy 14:50 who's pushing a cart full of shells while also holding a cigarette in his mouth gives so much 1940s homefront factory worker energy it's almost unbelievable.
Yeah, it's not hard! Correctly seating the brushes might be, depending on the motor. Now, it you can let the brushes just "wear in", then it's dead easy. If you need them to actually contact the commutator correctly, then you need fine grit sandpaper to get the brushes to fit exactly. There are other ways to do it, but sandpaper is the fastest IMHO.
When an anti aircraft shell is too sensitive and explodes on a bird, it’s a modern miracle. BUT WHEN I’M TOO SENSITIVE AND EXPLODE ON A BIRD THEY TELL ME I RUINED THANKSGIVING???
Believe it or not, I’m currently watching this video from General Electric here in Evendale, Ohio! While machining parts for an F129 engine “in the background”. I do enjoy hearing about the history of this company and the things we’ve done for our warfighters
"Mommy, I want to ask Santa for Christmas lights for our tree this year!" Uncle Sam shows up in a bootleg Santa suit and yells "Too bad! They're killing nazis! Here's a toy train."
Whats even better is since metal was needed for the war, Santa will bring little johnny a paper train that he gets to fold and build himself that runs on paper track with wooden axles
I was EOD and while in school we learned about the VT fuzes. It’s wild how we were able to miniaturize the electronics back then. The primary fuzing before for anti-air was called PTTF. “Powder train time fuze.” The PTTF had a small channel filled with gun powder with several flash holes along the length of the channel. When you set the fuse the powder train would be lit and burn up until the selected detonation hole that corresponded to the second delay. The also had mechanical clockwork fuzes as well called Mech-Time or MT that had a watch like mechanism inside that would wind down but that as well had to be set prior to firing. WW2 is just wild what inventions they came up with and how fast they rolled those out. From the start of the war in 1939 until 1945 it’s almost like a totally different conflict with the technology advances.
@@Snoopyflyingace80 Lol right? I thought they were joking saying there was a test at the end of the first day. (Morgan Freeman voice) "They were not joking."
As a former 0811 (Field Artillery Cannoneer) in the Marines, I really enjoyed this video-great breakdown of the VT fuze and its impact on WW2! That said, I was surprised you didn’t mention 'Shake and Bake'-classic artillery tactics. WP to flush ‘em out, HE to finish the job. It would’ve been a perfect example of how fire missions evolved alongside tech like the VT fuze. Still, this was an awesome deep dive into an underrated war-winning innovation. Keep up the great content!
I don’t think they did Shake and Bake during WW2, at least not in the European Theater. My only gripe was when he said direct impact was the only artillery shell they had; the timed fuses were also used for air bursting shrapnel shells since as early as WW1. God I do love artillery, though I wasn’t an artillerymen myself when I was army (was tank crewmen, 120 smooth bore but no lanyard) I really got into learning about it afterwards. What gun were you slinging shells into;105 or 155?
Fun fact and a small nitpick. The first USS laffey was a small Benson class destroyer that was sunk near the Solomon islands while charging down the battleship Hiei. The second (the one that survived an hour of kamikazes) was actually an Allen M Sumner class destroyer, not a fletcher, making it the pinicale of ww2 us navy destroyer design and you can still visit her today in South Carolina. Thanks for another amazing video!
I just wanted to let you know that I went and visited my uncle who is one of the number one historians for the Air Force, and he was taking me through this museum in Dayton, Ohio, and he was telling me a whole bunch of these stories, and I had mentioned your videos, and he replied, saying that he loved them and how historically accurate they were and he would watch them pretty regularly.
I just today came across your channel and love it. My Dad was a WWII veteran. He flew off Jeep carriers and was a ball turret gunner on the Grumman Avenger. I’m so thankful that people like you are telling these stories. It means a lot to old guys like me to hear what the brave men and women did for the United States of America in a time of crisis. Thank you and subscribed!!!
Hello Mr. Chubby Electron Dude, I would like to suggest the following topics for future videos: •John Rabe - the Nazi who saved hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians during the Japanese invasion of Nanjing. Then the people of Nanjing saved him and his family from starving to death in post-war Germany. •Deborah Sampson - basically the Mulan of the American Revolution. You reference Disney's Mulan all the time, so this seems like a natural fit. •The B-29 Superfortress - arguably the most expensive project of WWII, even surpassing the Manhattan Project that produced the first atomic bombs (which the B-29 ended up delivering). Incredibly ambitious for the time, The B-29's development was a total shitshow, including one case where an early prototype crashed into a meat packing plant. But with a lot of work, plus assistance from NACA, the predecessor of NASA, the B-29 went on to become a crucial part of Allied victory in the Pacific campaign. •John Ripley - the Marine who did a 3-hour Ninja Warrior act - while being shot at - to plant explosives on a tactically critical bridge during the Vietnam war. •USS Enterprise (CV-6/CVN-65/CVN-80) - the legendary aircraft carrier that basically carried the entire Pacific war from Pearl Harbor to Okinawa, then was reincarnated as the world's first nuclear aircraft carrier and continued to serve from the Cuban Missile Crisis to the GWOT (taking a break in the 80s to star in Top Gun), and is now being reincarnated again as a Ford-class supercarrier. •The USS Barb (SS-220) - I know you already did a video on this WWII sub in your early days, but there's so much more to the story than could be told in that 5-minute TikTok. •Theodore Roosevelt - I mean, it goes without saying, really...
I would also suggest the Kiwi legend Charles Upham from New Zealand, 2 Victoria Cross recipient and would of got more if rules and regulations didn't appear
9:43 yes. Ching Lee was definitely instrumental at getting the proxi fuse into production, but the guy who put Ching Lee into that position, Ernest King, definitely deserves his own video. Also the paper pushers weren’t scared of “FRANTIC” because they had never seen it before, they were scared because Admiral Lee had a habbit of going to Admiral King when ever the paper pushers weren’t acting fast enough, which might get you assigned to a detail in a place you didn’t want to be a death sentence to any hope of a happy naval career. Seriously admiral King is immensely instrumental in kicking the navy into gear for WWII.
The funny thing about America is that if you step back and look at the big picture, you'll soon find that the US has like fifty different "things that won the war," from Garand to Deuce and Half to Mustang to B-17 to Essex to Fletcher to VT to STS to Radar CIC. The reality is that after a certain point a materiel advantage becomes a tech advantage since you have more resources to develop better things. We had just as many "wonder weapons" as the Germans. The difference is that we could put them all into mass production. Just don't ask about the torpedoes.
Hey, once the BuOrd was appropriately dangled out the window by their ankles, the Mark 14 turned into a very reliable weapon that stayed in service for decades. Just took someone shaking up BuOrd enough to let some actual testing happen so they could fix the faults every weapon has starting out.
having the resources doesn't mean you'll know how to use them well, the Soviet Union had also a shit ton of resources and guess what: they sucked at ww2 (in fact in all wars), they barely survived thanks that Moustache Man decided to play "fuck it we ball" and fought in more fronts than people he had, being one of those fronts... the United States and the Allies, and the US fought the germans in several points over the Atlantic, Europe, North Africa and North Sea, WHILE they were fighting the Japanese in the whole ass Pacific Ocean, the soviets? they had a single front and somehow managed to loose 100 times more men and equipment against a single enemy
Nic, occasionally you ask for suggestions. How about Americas fresh water aircraft carries. The USS Wolverine and Sable. Two coal fired, steam powered, side wheel cruise ships converted into carries and used to train the navy's fly boys during WW II. Lake Michigan is where navy aviators went to get carrier qualified before being sent to the fleet. The ships were based out of Chicago's Navy Pier.
Fire control specialists here (13j), we actually still use the VT fuse in artillery to this day. Not to blow up planes but as more of an air burst. We can also program it to do a lot more than what it originally did. I’ve been to that museum and it’s really awesome to see all the technology that was required to send one shell down range. For example, we use laptops to do most of the calculations for artillery nowadays but back in WW2 the computers they used were the size of a small bus. Really cool stuff, love your videos. There’s a reason we’re called the king of battle😉
The modern systems work vastly differently. It's reading its altitude and the microprocessor sends the detonation charge at the selected altitude. The old system relied on the feedback signal to attain enough voltage to initiate detonation. The early airburst fuses for arty used similar though. But these modern fusing, are fkn leaps and bounds more advanced. Some use 3 sensors for altitude detection... and we're heading to using mostly guided munitions anymore, at least 155mm.
Quick fun fact...the smallest size shell that could mount a VT fuse was a 3"....so all the 20mm and 40mm anti aircraft guns cannot use them. The VT fuze even caused the Navy to move away from 20mm and 40mm guns as the war progressed. By the end of the war, the US was mounting twin automatic 3 inch AA gun mounts. as the main surface to air weapon.
That was only part of it. The 20s and 40 weren't big enough to blow an aircraft apart on a direct hit, something that became a lot more important after the enemy decided to try to hit a ship when they were going down almost exclusively.
@@OverlordGrizzaka I could the wrong, but I'm pretty sure you're thinking about .50cal. If I remember correctly, they were phasing out the .50cal in favor of the 20mm Orlikon (sp?) and 40mm Bofors specifically for the reason you mentioned. 20mm and 40mm cannons (especially the 40mm) could absolutely destroy planes in a hurry. *Edit* I stand corrected. I found the reference you're talking about. So the same logic was applied twice.
@ After the Kamikaze tactics became the standard for the Japanese as Fat Electrician notes, the Navy even started phasing out the 40mm gun mounts. Look at the Des Moines class heavy cruisers right at the end of the war...no 40mm guns, and only 12 single mount 20mm Oerlikons.
@aethyr6776 it's true for both scenarios. The 50s and 1.1 inch were replaced with the 20s and 40s, which were good and could take planes down, but they could rarely kill them in place. They started adding the 3 inch because it was small enough that it could fire more than a few rounds per minute like the 5 inch and was still big enough to simply blow one apart without letting it fall and potentially the pilot driving it into a ship. This was of course after the kamikaze made it's debut at Leyte.
LOL, going to nit pick here... My grandfather used them in their Army Pak 75's. He was 82nd 456th PFAB and 101st 463rd PFAB. So 75 mm would be the smallest.
The pure excitement of a sweaty kid barely visible behind the guns at 23:23 would also be my exact reaction to an invitation to restore something so cool
still one of my favorite youtubers to watch. im ex military from Oklahoma actually spent loads of time in ft.sill. funny thing is two weeks ago was my first time at sheels in iowa city. im a travel nurse now and was happy to see what the fuss was all about. anyways just keep doing what your doing. maybe i can get some merch while im here in iowa for the next several months.
You were correct, the VT fuse was more important than Little Boy, because Little Boy had a VT fuse. That is why Little Boy leveled Hiroshima from a certain altitude.
@@derekmonroe3691 Little Boy used barometric fuses to activate radar altimeters. "The radar altimeters used were modified U.S. Army Air Corps APS-13 tail warning radars, nicknamed "Archie", normally used to warn a fighter pilot of another plane approaching from behind.[36]"
@markdavis8888 Thanks for the info! I remembered from long ago it used barometers and 3 safety interlocks for the fuse but wasn't sure of the specifics.
@@derekmonroe3691 Yes little boy had a barometric fuse but also a radar fuse and a mechanical timer. It used all three. www.osti.gov/opennet/manhattan-project-history/Science/BombDesign/fuzes-detonators.html about half way down.
My dad (deceased) was an engineer with the Army who participated in the VT Fuze. He talked about how difficult the engineering was to develop the fuze. He was one of the couple hundred officers that went into the Pacific fleet and told the Captains to only shoot shells with the new fuze over water and that this was top secret. The fuze was important to Britain in shooting down German “buzz bombs” that were terrorizing the people. The fuze helped turn the tide in the Pacific theater defending ships from Japanese “kamikaze attacks. The VT fuze was considered one of the three top technologies (radar, VT Fuze, hydrogen bomb) that helped win WW2.
My grandmother worked at RCA in Bloomington making these during the war. She was a supervisor and was one of the only people allowed to walk the entire line, aka knew what they were making.
@@AD-pp3oi I’ve often wondered what were the actual numerical odds of that happening. I mean it has to be at least one in a few hundred thousands. At least.
I didn’t find a video explaining it but a quick search suggested the odds were 1 in 13 million. Sources were unclear how fast the pitch was but estimates suggest 100 mph at least. All this to say Randy Johnson had an impressive MLB legacy that I’ve not done enough research on only to be overshadowed by a 1 in 13 million probability pitch.
You forgot the cost per unit; at the start, it was almost 20 dollars per, but once they got ramped up, the cost per unit fell to just a couple of dollars, if that. The VT-Fuse was maybe the most important invention in WW-II. Throw in our ability to well transport stuff, build stuff and not be ever short on things like food and ice cream, not only would end the war with relatively light losses compared to other waring nations, it transformed the way America fights- It started with the Fuse and well these days we shoot missiles with swords at people from aircraft where the pilot sits in AC comfort drinking a coke in Utah!
More than breaks even when you're literally cutting the AA shells/aircraft downed ratio down to a literal hundredth. Standard shells/rounds are fairly cheap but when you're literally chucking thousands into the sea it ceases to be cheap very quickly.
27 December 1972 was my ship’s last fire mission. The ammunition per barrel for that mission was: first round, Willie Pete, next 10 rounds were a mix of 2 rounds of VT and 8 rounds of Point Detonation. We destroyed three batteries of coastal defense guns. My ship was a Gearing class destroyer with two, twin barrel 5 inch mounts.
Slight correction: it was the Allen M. Sumner class destroyer laffey that fought off some 20-50 japanese planes and won. Downing 13 planes in all during that engagement The Benson class version of laffey was even more insane compared to the Allen M. Sumner version USS laffey engaged the cruiser Aoba, heavily wounding the japanese cruiser. Forcing her to return back to Japan for extensive repairs. She then fought against the Hiei some time later during the first battle of Guadalcanal. Laffey got so close to Hiei, Hiei couldn't even depress her main and secondary guns low enough to shoot her. Laffey would cause significant damage to her superstructure and the bridge of Hiei, even wounding the commanding admiral on board. With the combined efforts of both laffey and San Francisco, Hiei was so badly damaged from this engagement it would leave her crippled. She would be sunk the next day with the combined efforts of both Enterprise and Washington.
@@thefoxogaming4092 when he said Fletcher class laffey my inner boat-tism immediately kicked in. Because the first WW2 laffey was the Benson class destroyer which went tow to tow with ship classes that were significantly above her weight class and still kicked their asses in. And the Allen M. Sumner class destroyer (the pinnacle of American destroyer design in ww2) which got targeted by several japanese fighter wings and won. Albeit wounded. My boat-tism came from an Australian, drachinafel and playing a boat gacha game for six years or longer.
@frednone agreed. Her single action over in the first battle of Guadalcanal would make for an EXCELLENT movie. Fucking bring back Michael Bay for this one.
Thank you for what you do. As a combat vet and a proud american, your no bullshit approach to providing detailed insight..regardless of the subject matter...is interesting, entertaining, and most importantly a significant reminder of the sacrifices made for our freedom. Thank you.
let me tell you this sir my 12 year old grandson has been watching your videos he's learned more about American war history then I could teach him you're telling stories of the real heroes! you're doing something that's amazing.( we must teach our children) the sacrifices that so many men and women made! this country boy appreciates this very much!!!!!
No doubt he is learning that nobody else on the side of the allies did anything remotely useful to win WW2, the USA did it all by themselves. Even though they didn't decide to actually join in until December 1941, a little over 2 years after the war started, when Britain and her other allies had already thwarted the Nazi's invasion plans and severely depleted the German Lufwaffe and Navy. I'm sure he's learning that it was America that invented everything including RADAR, SONAR, bunker busting bombs and the jet engine etc. He's probably learning that it was good old American scientists who created the Atomic bomb, not an international team including a few disaffected Germans and the sharing of years of research done by other countries. No doubt he's learning there were no American misfits who took military service over a prison sentence, or people with little education and few prospects in civilian life, nor that they initially served in a chronically underfunded and much reduced army. God bless America... because God IS American too! 😂 Warning: This post may contain sarcasm that will upset the sensibilities of many proud, righteous and thoroughly uninformed Americans. 🤣
@@another3997 My father served before and during WW2. He didn't mention any of that. On the other side of the family, my grandfather did mention that rations for Allied prisoners of war, in Germany, were beyond sparse, but held no malice because they saw the german soldiers weren't getting much more than they had.
That's awesome, your grandson is learning some really colorful language in the process as well. 🤣 But probably nothing that he doesnt already know at 12 years old.
@@texasted73 I’ve been forwarding them to my 16 year old godson in a liberal bastion in Colorado. 😆 His favorite Fat Electrician vignette- the “bullet” shot into space via underground nuke testing!
German Historian here who has a Grandfather who experienced the VT Fuze during the Battle of the Bulge (as a Target of course): My Grandfather is now 104 Years old and still kicking and since the End of WW2 also has been working together with the US Military regarding his Experience against Soviet Partisan Warfare and indeed is one of acouple of Dozen former W-SS Soldiers who were officially invited by the US Military to the USA to give Lectures but also to the yearly Normandy Remembrance Events. Anyway: So my Grandfather who is still alive now was with the 1st W-SS Division "LAH" as Panzergrenadier in the Battle of the Bulge and he always told me how when he was around La Gleize in Belgium they heard what sounded like a Rocket fly towards them but then exploded above them showering them in Shrapnels, lucky for them, they were inside a Farmhouse there so nobody was KIA but a few were wounded. I didn't think about this until i saw this Video in my Notifications, never looked much into it since then either, just thought i share that! Prost & Cheers from the Snow-Covered Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps
My buddies grandpa was in the SS he still has his Luger. The USA has a massive German population in the Midwest lol they still taught German in highschool I graduated in 2015 in Ohio
@@Ecosse57 I’m American 🇺🇸 I was talking about my buddy. I know I have family that fought on the right side and probably the wrong side as well. I’m proud of my Opa that fought in Vietnam and had his bronze stars! Three combat tours he had. He joined in 59 and flew for the forest service in North Carolina after 32 years in the United States Army
At 14:50 there is a man pushing a cart full of assembled artillery shells... while smoking a cigarette inside a munitions factory. Those were the days. That man believed in neither health or safety 😁
Well, unless the explosives are directly open to the cigarette falling into them, it's unlikely the heat of a cig would make them go off. Now, gunpowder/cordite/whatever-used-to-make-shell-go-mach-jesus on the other hand...
I can speak from experience about training with the German Army throwing artillery rounds down range with a cigarette in my mouth and a beer on standby .
Fun fact... we all have the civilian version of the VT in our home microwave ovens... they are named magnetrons and what emit the radio waves that cook your food. Hence the old name for them... Radar Range.
@ Thanks Josh, just a girl that like military history and anything mechanical. Changed the timing belt and water pump on my Lexus over Covid all by myself using RUclips and Amazon for parts, OEM right out of Japan!
NAWS China Lake, where I live, extensively tested and and refined the VT Fuzes. China Lake also took part in Project Camel, which developed the explosive lenses for Fat Man
@@squarewave808 Yes. As well as the AAM-N-5 Meteor, AGM-45 Shrike, AGM-62 Walleye, Hopi, Tomahawk, JSOW, JDAM, and many others. But my favorite was the China Lake Grenade Launcher.
Holy hell, you need to come to Peterson SFB in Colorado to the museum on base. The vets that run that place are so awesome and have some great stories about the planes and rockets they have as static displays.
Would love to see your take on the USS North Carolina... the most decorated battleship DURING WW2. The rest of the battleships more decorated had to go through MULTIPLE wars (Korea/Vietnam) to get the decorations needed to top the USS NC, but none of them damaged a restaurant getting parked for display.
@ -- Enterprise is NOT a "battleship". Specified "battleship" due ot the class, and the fact that the USS NC gets overlooked due being a smaller class of battleship than the "Iowa Class' battleships that get most of the attention due to their size
I've honestly known about the proximity fuse story for a while now, i'm glad you did a video about it so every one else can see how far ahead america was pulling by the mid to late war.
It’s amazing to think that while being humble, you have a decent understanding of WW2, then you watch a video like this, this fuse literally changed everything
Right? That's and some documentaries on the Battle of the Bulge also mention that "airburst rounds" helping clear out the forest of Germans not inside bunkers. I also love that Patton called it a "funny fuse" too. I know he probably meant funny as in weird, but it could also be funny at how devastatingly effective it is.
Bro i am beyond excited about your new show. I can safely say your show has helped me stay sober i watch it on the playlist and let her run, thank you for doing what you do. Not gonna lie the time between episodes feels longer everyweek. Still love deeing it when i get home from work now. Went from no job and trying to stay sober too full time employment and having full custody of my daughter. Seeing where you started to where you are and where your headed is an inspiration my friend. Love every minute of your shows even my daughter knows what day your ahow comes out now.
Initially they were made for the 5 inch AA shell but eventually they were made for the 90 mm AA shell. The Germans did capture two at Monschau but couldn't figure out how they worked. Adm. Willis Lee was a truly 'unsung hero' of the war.
Was super exited when i saw this one. I live in a little town in Rural Pennsylvania called Emporium where most of the electronics for the Proximity fuse were made. The old Sylvania tube factory is still here but some foreign company bought it, stripped out all the metal from the building, and then left. So it isn't safe to enter anymore. We have a place called "The Little Museum" where we have a display on these including one of the actual fuses.
I have worked as an engineer at the Applied Physics Lab for twenty five years, the proximity fuse is still a mater of huge pride. You should do a vid on the Pluto mission or when we put a lander on an asteroid. Keep up the most excellent work!!
I was going to say, it was a great video but I was disappointed he didn’t mention the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (though he did use a diagram with an APL watermark)
Highly recommend The National Museum of Nuclear Science & History in Albuquerque, really is the museum of the cold war. And sometimes you can buy radioactive Trinity mementos.
The Admiral Nimitz National Pacific War Museum in Fredericksburg, TX gives you a two-day ticket because that's how long it takes you to go through everything. It's located in Fredericksburg because that's where Admiral Nimitz lived where he grew up - it's right by his childhood home.
Lubbock, Texas has the Silent Wings Museum centered around preserving and promoting the history of the WW2 Military Glider Program. Excellent overlooked gem of a museum that is housed in the older air terminal across the runway at Lubbock International Airport.
I think you should start your own production company and make movies about all these things that Hollywood either won’t or will screw up. You’re great keep up the amazing work!
The VT fuse was a real superweapon. It's not flashy like the V-2, it doesn't have the terrifying presence of a King Tiger tank, it doesn't dissolve its pilots with acid fuel like the Me-163. It is mass producible and it kills bad guys in such huge numbers that it makes traditional tactics no longer viable. Also USS _Laffey_ tanked two nuclear bombs after the war and is now a museum ship. So much for being a tin can.
That was the second Laffey. She took like two bad hits in that fight and still made it back, being labeled as “The ship too angry to die.” The first one fist fought an IJN battleship.
From what I've seen and read, the Allen M Sumner USS Laffey took 4 bomb hits and 6 kamikaze hits. The stern certainly took a serious beating with multiple impacts and being set ablaze basically from the first hit.
By far the best documentaries EVER! Truly appreciate your content! Instead of watching TGIF my family watches The Fat Electrician or Fat Files on Friday nights. Thank you!
A friend of mine told me once the. Reason, so much good technology gets held up by bureaucrats in the military process. It's because they haven't been in the field. Having bullets whiz by their head short enough of a period to remember what it's like to try to cover and save your a** every second that you are out there. His solution was, if a warp breaks out, you send the bureaucrats and the officers out there for a month in the field and then see how quickly things get done
USS Laffey was not a fletcher class Destroyer, it was an Allen M. Sumner class Destroyer. Key difference between the fletcher class and the Allen M. Sumner class was that the latter has dual 5 Inch turrets and about 4 of them
She was also the second USS Laffey of the war. The first was a Benson class numbered DD-459. She was sunk on the 13th of November after going toe to toe with the battleship Hiei wounding Admiral Abe, and killing his chief of staff.
The Laffey you are talking about was Allen m Sumner Class USS Laffey DD-724 which suffered roughly 6 hits from kamikaze attacks and did not falter. (also nicknamed The Ship That Would not Die) Not the Benson class USS Laffey DD459 which was sunk after going toe to toe with the battleship Hiei (they were actually heading for the same spot). Getting so close, Laffey nearly collided with Hiei missing the battle ship by 20 feet (completely forgot to mention that this was a night battle). Laffey would then rack the bridge of the Hiei with every gun she had. Wounding Hiei's Admiral and killing his chief of staff. however she was surrounded with a battleship on her stern, a second on her port side beam, and two destroyers (Yukikaze and Terizuki) on her port bow, fighting all of them in a point blank duel. however she was hit with one of Hiei's main guns and a torpedo from Yukikze hit her aft, blowing off her fan tail, which was the final blow for Laffey. Of the 247 on bord, 59 were killed including the commanding officer and 116 were wounded. She would receive the Presidential unit citation, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (Three Bronze service stars) and the WWII Victory medal. (side note, DD-459 was sunk at Guadalcanal and DD-724 partook in D-day and currently resides at Patriots point, SC next to USS Yorktown CV-10) Edit: Yarnhub did a video about DD-724 ruclips.net/video/4USZyXLsLgA/видео.htmlsi=u1EEO439rdGvT-yi
Great video as always! I hope you can do the most decorated ship in WWII, USS Enterprise soon! The story will be even more epic with your storytelling!
As a 13M, glad to hear more about Artillery. Not many people talk about Field Artillery. Miss the job, but not the place.Can still hear the Paladin's training.
For $8 a month, it's worth it. It started out as basically "uncensored" youtube content, and i subscribed just to help support the guys ... but with the exclusives coming out now, it's definitely worth $8.
Got Try Some LMNT: DrinkLMNT.com/fatelectrician
Hello
Please do a video on the Do335 or XP55
You should do a video about the A-6 Intruder
Little Brother, your wife is hot and has a great sense of humor. You need to keep her happy and make sure she has no doubt about whether you love her. I hope the two of you have a fucking awesome life together. BTW I love all of your videos, but if you could put out more short-form vids again. I get that you've got a life, but it really does take up the time between the long-form videos.
L8R on. Keep up the great work.
#GreatestMilitaryHistoryTeacherEver
Might be the best ad read you've done yet, and that's saying a LOT.
World in WWII: "Hey, is it better to make bigger explosions or more accurate ones?"
America: _sitting on nukes and VT fuses_ "Unfortunately for you, I don't have to choose."
Lmao
America in Korea we can now do both at the same time, don't tempt us
😂😂😂😂😂
That sums especially the WW2 Doctrine of the German Military up!
Also as German Historian who has a Grandfather who experienced the VT Fuze during the Battle of the Bulge (as a Target of course):
My Grandfather is now 104 Years old and still kicking and since the End of WW2 also has been working together with the US Military regarding his Experience against Soviet Partisan Warfare and indeed is one of acouple of Dozen former W-SS Soldiers who were officially invited by the US Military to the USA to give Lectures but also to the yearly Normandy Remembrance Events.
Anyway: So my Grandfather who is still alive now was with the 1st W-SS Division "LAH" as Panzergrenadier in the Battle of the Bulge and he always told me how when he was around La Gleize in Belgium they heard what sounded like a Rocket fly towards them but then exploded above them showering them in Shrapnels, lucky for them, they were inside a Farmhouse there so nobody was KIA but a few were wounded.
I didn't think about this until i saw this Video in my Notifications, never looked much into it since then either, just thought i share that!
Prost & Cheers from the Snow-Covered Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps
Ironically, we actually used a weaker explosive compound in our conventional shells. It traded power for stability and industrial scalability.
That said, it wasn't really that much weaker, almost indistinguishable on the battlefield anyway.
"Does anybody else remember back in 1942 when...."
No, i dont remem-
"Yeah, neither do I, but we're gonna talk about it anyway."
Lol, I i love thus guy
Hell, even as a German Historian i didn't remember or think much about this until this Video popped up in my Notifications
And as someone with a Grandfather who experienced the VT Fuze during the Battle of the Bulge (as a Target of course):
My Grandfather is now 104 Years old and still kicking and since the End of WW2 also has been working together with the US Military regarding his Experience against Soviet Partisan Warfare and indeed is one of acouple of Dozen former W-SS Soldiers who were officially invited by the US Military to the USA to give Lectures but also to the yearly Normandy Remembrance Events.
Anyway: So my Grandfather who is still alive now was with the 1st W-SS Division "LAH" as Panzergrenadier in the Battle of the Bulge and he always told me how when he was around La Gleize in Belgium they heard what sounded like a Rocket fly towards them but then exploded above them showering them in Shrapnels, lucky for them, they were inside a Farmhouse there so nobody was KIA but a few were wounded.
I didn't think about this until i saw this Video in my Notifications, never looked much into it since then either, just thought i share that!
Prost & Cheers from the Snow-Covered Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps
The High BMI Electronics Individual is an underrated comedian!
if you ever get the chance, the British War Museum is amazing
dialogue meme not funny, try harder
@@davemccage7918 AKA Chubby Electron Guy
Excited for this one…. Grandfather was a 5in and 3in naval gunner in WW2 and they were told they would be court martialed if they talked about it
yeah adds up
It's amazing how height requirements get thrown out the window when the military just needs all the dudes it can get. Not sure how your gp lost those 2 inches, but this nation owes him a great debt.
@@alejandrogonzales7022 oh he was a 5in and 3in battery ensign so he was in charge of a anti aircraft section but the 5in dual turret batteries were used in shore bombardment so FE is accurate when they changed target scope from anti aircraft to shore they changed ammunition and those rounds came from its own magazine to make sure VTs were never used in Bombardment
@@alejandrogonzales7022 BOOMER ALERT!!!!! 🚨🚨🚨🚨
Renter showed up @@TimeToGetFunkyy
Back in college almost 50 years ago I visited the home of a recently retired Kodak engineer. On his bookshelves there was a small dusty cut-away model of the VT fuse and shell. I knew what it was without asking because of my lifelong interest in the whats and whys of WW2. He was both surprised and pleased when I asked him about it. I enjoyed listening to his description of the times, the urgency, and the development in a Top Secret bubble. Such an honor and unexpected privilege to learn from an original.
"Was I the fucking fat kid? Don't worry about it; I had a great childhood." Priceless.😂
Here's to us fat kids who had great childhoods.
@@JediKnight19852002would it count if I was a twig turned fat kid?
Really I don't see the fat electrician as really fat at all. He's got some plush to him but calling that fat feels excessive
@@AngelDame17 He's the F.A.T. (Freakin' Awesome Teacher) Electrician.
Admiral Lee famously, and against regulations, had a VT fused turned into a cross section on his desk so he could examine it.
Dude was one of the greatest leaders of men. He wanted to know EVERYTHING about his weapons so he could use them proficiently and possibly make them better. Better weapons=fewer friendly casualties, it's not rocket science (as of that point anyway). He wasn't afraid to learn from his men and they weren't annoyed to learn from him.
Now usa your a joke just look in mirror for half a second you ll start laughing
@paulshirtliff5972 yeah because we're playing with two hands tied behind our back, give us a reason the change the game again and see though.
@@paulshirtliff5972 Their politics are definitely a joke (a horrible joke) but their military is no laughing matter, they might be more dominant than ever.
Ik this is random but syndicate is easily my favorite assassin's creed as well,
7:59 The answer to "How long does the battery last?" cracked me up and reminded me of airborne school. Instructor: "Airborne, when your main parachute fails to open, how much time do you have to deploy your reserve?" Students: Stunned silence. Instructor: "The rest of your life."
Here's the fun bit:
The battery doesn't activate until the fused round is fired out of the cannon. I would say that it saves on battery life but truth be told: the battery doesn't *exist* until the chemicals for a wet cell battery (which don't come pre-mixed) are mixed and activated by the action of the fused round getting fired out of the cannon. How did they pull this off? They put the chemicals in a glass capsule which was made to be just strong enough to survive transit and shipping... but just weak enough to break when it's fired.
@chaz706 yeah guy, we literally just watched this.
This is the same way old sea mines ( the spiky ones) work! When a spike gets forced in by the side of a boat, it crushes a glass vial, releasing the acid to complete a lead-acid battery that powers the detonator. Once the battery is completed by the acid - kaboom!
What do you do when the reserve fails?
Write a letter to the manufacturer.
@@phredphlintstone6455 The same kind of sign was in the WWII British parachute packing sheds "If your parachute fails to open please come back and complain". We have a somewhat odd sense of humour.
The guy 14:50 who's pushing a cart full of shells while also holding a cigarette in his mouth gives so much 1940s homefront factory worker energy it's almost unbelievable.
As an electrical tech, I gotta say I appreciate how fast you were like "no it's not, I know how to replace brushes"
The look of glee when he was told they'd let him work on it, too...
I like circuits too, love to see it
@@xxpoisonblxx Sounds like a new video I would love to see.
Yeah, it's not hard! Correctly seating the brushes might be, depending on the motor. Now, it you can let the brushes just "wear in", then it's dead easy. If you need them to actually contact the commutator correctly, then you need fine grit sandpaper to get the brushes to fit exactly. There are other ways to do it, but sandpaper is the fastest IMHO.
@@jeromethiel4323 I just do the good old giant piece of sandpaper around the rotor trick
When an anti aircraft shell is too sensitive and explodes on a bird, it’s a modern miracle. BUT WHEN I’M TOO SENSITIVE AND EXPLODE ON A BIRD THEY TELL ME I RUINED THANKSGIVING???
How was Christmas?
@ my attorney has advised me not to speak about Christmas.
@@davidjames2788 gotcha.
Bunker down for Valentines Day. 😁
That turkey fetish is something even the Fat Electrician wouldn't do a video about
I'm convinced that Nic has a Ching Lee body pillow
I would not be surprised if he has an 8x10" picture of Ching Lee somewhere in his house.
For his birthday his ole lady puts on the thick glasses and leans in and whispers "frantic" in his ear... 😂
Why not he is the best admiral ever
@@mightymikethebearit hangs in his gun safe like the patron saint of shooting stuff.....+10 to accuracy
That’s Funny! Also a great history lesson this one and Augustus ‘Ching’ Lee.
Believe it or not, I’m currently watching this video from General Electric here in Evendale, Ohio! While machining parts for an F129 engine “in the background”. I do enjoy hearing about the history of this company and the things we’ve done for our warfighters
I'm a big fan of your company's flying gun. ;)
Bro! That cut from Chevy Chase to “Kickstart My Heart” was one of the most badass things ever!
Came here to say this but I knew in my heart it had already been said
13:17
The only way it could have been better is if there was a quick cut to "proportional"
Editor crushed it on this ine
I kind of want a full edit of that to ww2 vids, esp task force 58.
There is no way you just drop the hardest ww2 america edit with kickstart my heart in the middle of the video and don't even acknowledge it
13:23
If you showed that edit back in the day I think we would’ve had a bigger conscription
@@DaveAndBusterNut No it would have lowered conscription, because we would all be running to volunteer so we could "get us some of that"
@@DaveAndBusterNutlol it was literally a navy commercial from the early 2000's he didn't make the edit.
I thought the same, also no fear of copyright either lol
"Mommy, I want to ask Santa for Christmas lights for our tree this year!"
Uncle Sam shows up in a bootleg Santa suit and yells "Too bad! They're killing nazis! Here's a toy train."
Uncle sam busting in in a camo santa suit like the kool aid man
@@STOPDELETINGMYCOMMENTSFASCISTSshoots rpg at wall and leaps through the hole.
@@karal_the_crazy OOOH YEAHHHH
Whats even better is since metal was needed for the war, Santa will bring little johnny a paper train that he gets to fold and build himself that runs on paper track with wooden axles
@@STOPDELETINGMYCOMMENTSFASCISTS Yohoo Baby! Oh No!
I was EOD and while in school we learned about the VT fuzes. It’s wild how we were able to miniaturize the electronics back then. The primary fuzing before for anti-air was called PTTF. “Powder train time fuze.” The PTTF had a small channel filled with gun powder with several flash holes along the length of the channel. When you set the fuse the powder train would be lit and burn up until the selected detonation hole that corresponded to the second delay. The also had mechanical clockwork fuzes as well called Mech-Time or MT that had a watch like mechanism inside that would wind down but that as well had to be set prior to firing. WW2 is just wild what inventions they came up with and how fast they rolled those out. From the start of the war in 1939 until 1945 it’s almost like a totally different conflict with the technology advances.
Can't remember if it was an 8 or 16-point hit. The test problems for those could get dicey lol
@@Snoopyflyingace80 Lol right? I thought they were joking saying there was a test at the end of the first day. (Morgan Freeman voice) "They were not joking."
As a former 0811 (Field Artillery Cannoneer) in the Marines, I really enjoyed this video-great breakdown of the VT fuze and its impact on WW2! That said, I was surprised you didn’t mention 'Shake and Bake'-classic artillery tactics. WP to flush ‘em out, HE to finish the job. It would’ve been a perfect example of how fire missions evolved alongside tech like the VT fuze. Still, this was an awesome deep dive into an underrated war-winning innovation. Keep up the great content!
I don’t think they did Shake and Bake during WW2, at least not in the European Theater. My only gripe was when he said direct impact was the only artillery shell they had; the timed fuses were also used for air bursting shrapnel shells since as early as WW1. God I do love artillery, though I wasn’t an artillerymen myself when I was army (was tank crewmen, 120 smooth bore but no lanyard) I really got into learning about it afterwards. What gun were you slinging shells into;105 or 155?
Imagine being that poor sod in a foxhole when first the earth is set ablaze by WP and then when you run for cover, the treetops start exploding...
As a former redleg myself, seeing the title made me smile and immediately click!
Fun fact and a small nitpick. The first USS laffey was a small Benson class destroyer that was sunk near the Solomon islands while charging down the battleship Hiei. The second (the one that survived an hour of kamikazes) was actually an Allen M Sumner class destroyer, not a fletcher, making it the pinicale of ww2 us navy destroyer design and you can still visit her today in South Carolina. Thanks for another amazing video!
I was thinking the same thing bout the laffey.
Those 5"/38 twin mounts came in to view, and it was. . . Wait a minute. I was going to guess Gearing
Thanks. Saved me the trouble.
USS Laffey
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Laffey_(DD-724)
.
Was looking for this comment,
Speaking of Laffey #2, that would be a great video
I just wanted to let you know that I went and visited my uncle who is one of the number one historians for the Air Force, and he was taking me through this museum in Dayton, Ohio, and he was telling me a whole bunch of these stories, and I had mentioned your videos, and he replied, saying that he loved them and how historically accurate they were and he would watch them pretty regularly.
I just today came across your channel and love it. My Dad was a WWII veteran. He flew off Jeep carriers and was a ball turret gunner on the Grumman Avenger. I’m so thankful that people like you are telling these stories. It means a lot to old guys like me to hear what the brave men and women did for the United States of America in a time of crisis. Thank you and subscribed!!!
Hello Mr. Chubby Electron Dude, I would like to suggest the following topics for future videos:
•John Rabe - the Nazi who saved hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians during the Japanese invasion of Nanjing. Then the people of Nanjing saved him and his family from starving to death in post-war Germany.
•Deborah Sampson - basically the Mulan of the American Revolution. You reference Disney's Mulan all the time, so this seems like a natural fit.
•The B-29 Superfortress - arguably the most expensive project of WWII, even surpassing the Manhattan Project that produced the first atomic bombs (which the B-29 ended up delivering). Incredibly ambitious for the time, The B-29's development was a total shitshow, including one case where an early prototype crashed into a meat packing plant. But with a lot of work, plus assistance from NACA, the predecessor of NASA, the B-29 went on to become a crucial part of Allied victory in the Pacific campaign.
•John Ripley - the Marine who did a 3-hour Ninja Warrior act - while being shot at - to plant explosives on a tactically critical bridge during the Vietnam war.
•USS Enterprise (CV-6/CVN-65/CVN-80) - the legendary aircraft carrier that basically carried the entire Pacific war from Pearl Harbor to Okinawa, then was reincarnated as the world's first nuclear aircraft carrier and continued to serve from the Cuban Missile Crisis to the GWOT (taking a break in the 80s to star in Top Gun), and is now being reincarnated again as a Ford-class supercarrier.
•The USS Barb (SS-220) - I know you already did a video on this WWII sub in your early days, but there's so much more to the story than could be told in that 5-minute TikTok.
•Theodore Roosevelt - I mean, it goes without saying, really...
Teddy Roosevelt.. Steve "Stakuyi" Bell could help with that
The battle of samar
I would also append Léo Major of the 22nd Voltigeurs (the infamous 'Vandoos') onto your requests; the liberator of Zwölle.
@@AlechiaTheWitchThat’s another great one. Pretty well known though, so I bet it’s already on his to-do list.
I would also suggest the Kiwi legend Charles Upham from New Zealand, 2 Victoria Cross recipient and would of got more if rules and regulations didn't appear
9:43 yes. Ching Lee was definitely instrumental at getting the proxi fuse into production, but the guy who put Ching Lee into that position, Ernest King, definitely deserves his own video. Also the paper pushers weren’t scared of “FRANTIC” because they had never seen it before, they were scared because Admiral Lee had a habbit of going to Admiral King when ever the paper pushers weren’t acting fast enough, which might get you assigned to a detail in a place you didn’t want to be a death sentence to any hope of a happy naval career. Seriously admiral King is immensely instrumental in kicking the navy into gear for WWII.
The poignant Drachism "Semper Iratus"
The god emperor of the US navy
The funny thing about America is that if you step back and look at the big picture, you'll soon find that the US has like fifty different "things that won the war," from Garand to Deuce and Half to Mustang to B-17 to Essex to Fletcher to VT to STS to Radar CIC. The reality is that after a certain point a materiel advantage becomes a tech advantage since you have more resources to develop better things. We had just as many "wonder weapons" as the Germans. The difference is that we could put them all into mass production.
Just don't ask about the torpedoes.
To give the devil his due, they did eventually fix the torpedo problem.
Hey, once the BuOrd was appropriately dangled out the window by their ankles, the Mark 14 turned into a very reliable weapon that stayed in service for decades. Just took someone shaking up BuOrd enough to let some actual testing happen so they could fix the faults every weapon has starting out.
having the resources doesn't mean you'll know how to use them well, the Soviet Union had also a shit ton of resources and guess what: they sucked at ww2 (in fact in all wars), they barely survived thanks that Moustache Man decided to play "fuck it we ball" and fought in more fronts than people he had, being one of those fronts... the United States and the Allies, and the US fought the germans in several points over the Atlantic, Europe, North Africa and North Sea, WHILE they were fighting the Japanese in the whole ass Pacific Ocean, the soviets? they had a single front and somehow managed to loose 100 times more men and equipment against a single enemy
A whole ton of boots on the ground didn't hurt either. Thank You, from USA B as Nick calls us British. Want some leaf water??
Liberty ships, jeeps, and C-47s won the war.
Nic, occasionally you ask for suggestions. How about Americas fresh water aircraft carries. The USS Wolverine and Sable. Two coal fired, steam powered, side wheel cruise ships converted into carries and used to train the navy's fly boys during WW II. Lake Michigan is where navy aviators went to get carrier qualified before being sent to the fleet. The ships were based out of Chicago's Navy Pier.
Fire control specialists here (13j), we actually still use the VT fuse in artillery to this day. Not to blow up planes but as more of an air burst. We can also program it to do a lot more than what it originally did. I’ve been to that museum and it’s really awesome to see all the technology that was required to send one shell down range. For example, we use laptops to do most of the calculations for artillery nowadays but back in WW2 the computers they used were the size of a small bus. Really cool stuff, love your videos. There’s a reason we’re called the king of battle😉
Hlc is this your alt?
Are the more programmable ones the CVT's? Just wondering.
... because like the kings of old, you sit at the back lines and take credit for the victory?
The modern systems work vastly differently. It's reading its altitude and the microprocessor sends the detonation charge at the selected altitude. The old system relied on the feedback signal to attain enough voltage to initiate detonation. The early airburst fuses for arty used similar though. But these modern fusing, are fkn leaps and bounds more advanced. Some use 3 sensors for altitude detection... and we're heading to using mostly guided munitions anymore, at least 155mm.
AKA the Department of “I don’t care what you play..Just play it LOUD!!”
Quick fun fact...the smallest size shell that could mount a VT fuse was a 3"....so all the 20mm and 40mm anti aircraft guns cannot use them. The VT fuze even caused the Navy to move away from 20mm and 40mm guns as the war progressed. By the end of the war, the US was mounting twin automatic 3 inch AA gun mounts. as the main surface to air weapon.
That was only part of it. The 20s and 40 weren't big enough to blow an aircraft apart on a direct hit, something that became a lot more important after the enemy decided to try to hit a ship when they were going down almost exclusively.
@@OverlordGrizzaka I could the wrong, but I'm pretty sure you're thinking about .50cal. If I remember correctly, they were phasing out the .50cal in favor of the 20mm Orlikon (sp?) and 40mm Bofors specifically for the reason you mentioned. 20mm and 40mm cannons (especially the 40mm) could absolutely destroy planes in a hurry.
*Edit* I stand corrected. I found the reference you're talking about. So the same logic was applied twice.
@ After the Kamikaze tactics became the standard for the Japanese as Fat Electrician notes, the Navy even started phasing out the 40mm gun mounts. Look at the Des Moines class heavy cruisers right at the end of the war...no 40mm guns, and only 12 single mount 20mm Oerlikons.
@aethyr6776 it's true for both scenarios. The 50s and 1.1 inch were replaced with the 20s and 40s, which were good and could take planes down, but they could rarely kill them in place. They started adding the 3 inch because it was small enough that it could fire more than a few rounds per minute like the 5 inch and was still big enough to simply blow one apart without letting it fall and potentially the pilot driving it into a ship. This was of course after the kamikaze made it's debut at Leyte.
LOL, going to nit pick here... My grandfather used them in their Army Pak 75's. He was 82nd 456th PFAB and 101st 463rd PFAB. So 75 mm would be the smallest.
The pure excitement of a sweaty kid barely visible behind the guns at 23:23 would also be my exact reaction to an invitation to restore something so cool
still one of my favorite youtubers to watch. im ex military from Oklahoma actually spent loads of time in ft.sill. funny thing is two weeks ago was my first time at sheels in iowa city. im a travel nurse now and was happy to see what the fuss was all about. anyways just keep doing what your doing. maybe i can get some merch while im here in iowa for the next several months.
You were correct, the VT fuse was more important than Little Boy, because Little Boy had a VT fuse. That is why Little Boy leveled Hiroshima from a certain altitude.
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhaha
Little boy used a barometric fuse.
@@derekmonroe3691 Little Boy used barometric fuses to activate radar altimeters.
"The radar altimeters used were modified U.S. Army Air Corps APS-13 tail warning radars, nicknamed "Archie", normally used to warn a fighter pilot of another plane approaching from behind.[36]"
@markdavis8888 Thanks for the info! I remembered from long ago it used barometers and 3 safety interlocks for the fuse but wasn't sure of the specifics.
@@derekmonroe3691 Yes little boy had a barometric fuse but also a radar fuse and a mechanical timer. It used all three. www.osti.gov/opennet/manhattan-project-history/Science/BombDesign/fuzes-detonators.html about half way down.
My dad (deceased) was an engineer with the Army who participated in the VT Fuze. He talked about how difficult the engineering was to develop the fuze. He was one of the couple hundred officers that went into the Pacific fleet and told the Captains to only shoot shells with the new fuze over water
and that this was top secret. The fuze was important to Britain in shooting down German “buzz bombs” that were terrorizing the people. The fuze helped turn the tide in the Pacific theater defending ships from Japanese “kamikaze attacks. The VT fuze was considered one of the three top technologies (radar, VT Fuze, hydrogen bomb) that helped win WW2.
Hydrogen bomb came later, and is a fusion warhead, not fission.
@@Maria_Eriasbig bada boom is big bada boom
My grandmother worked at RCA in Bloomington making these during the war. She was a supervisor and was one of the only people allowed to walk the entire line, aka knew what they were making.
Lol was Ft on the best anti air gun in the USN. Didn't know much about the proximity fuses or why they were called vt fuses.
@@Maria_Erias”That helped win WW2,” yea uh, hydrogen bomb definitely counts, and he said nothing about whether it was fusion or fission, so tf?
My favorite part was Patton going:
“The shell with the funny fuse.”
It cracks me up everytime
I mean when Patton was young they still did cavalry charges and did mass bayonet charges on a regular basis.
It was still Top Secret, so he had to use obscure terms.
@@jarink1 It still can be funny. Not mutually exclusive.
Best editing job ever…👍🏻 all the cuts and clips were f@ucking priceless…! Keep the episodes coming 👍🏻🫡🇺🇸🫡
The War Department "hears" about a large order for parts from a hearing aid company....
There's gotta be a joke in there somewhere.
It's called the V.A..
I wrote a paragraph then decided you didn't need my B.S..
@@marvinmurphy5523 VA and bs? Sounds about right.
The addition of the Randy Johnson clip for the “blowing up birds” bit was perfect. That clip will always get a laugh outta me.
The most random thing ever 😂
@@AD-pp3oi I’ve often wondered what were the actual numerical odds of that happening. I mean it has to be at least one in a few hundred thousands. At least.
@@JeremiahHildebrandt Someone has done the math. I saw the video. Baseball guys love their numbers.
I didn’t find a video explaining it but a quick search suggested the odds were 1 in 13 million. Sources were unclear how fast the pitch was but estimates suggest 100 mph at least.
All this to say Randy Johnson had an impressive MLB legacy that I’ve not done enough research on only to be overshadowed by a 1 in 13 million probability pitch.
You forgot the cost per unit; at the start, it was almost 20 dollars per, but once they got ramped up, the cost per unit fell to just a couple of dollars, if that. The VT-Fuse was maybe the most important invention in WW-II. Throw in our ability to well transport stuff, build stuff and not be ever short on things like food and ice cream, not only would end the war with relatively light losses compared to other waring nations, it transformed the way America fights- It started with the Fuse and well these days we shoot missiles with swords at people from aircraft where the pilot sits in AC comfort drinking a coke in Utah!
So casual yet so scary.
Like it made a difference. Always one in the thread
Good job the Brits gave the US this technology/concept then if it was so important.
We can fire a warning shot with a cruise missile, and ACTUALLY have it be a proper warning
More than breaks even when you're literally cutting the AA shells/aircraft downed ratio down to a literal hundredth. Standard shells/rounds are fairly cheap but when you're literally chucking thousands into the sea it ceases to be cheap very quickly.
27 December 1972 was my ship’s last fire mission. The ammunition per barrel for that mission was: first round, Willie Pete, next 10 rounds were a mix of 2 rounds of VT and 8 rounds of Point Detonation.
We destroyed three batteries of coastal defense guns. My ship was a Gearing class destroyer with two, twin barrel 5 inch mounts.
Slight correction: it was the Allen M. Sumner class destroyer laffey that fought off some 20-50 japanese planes and won. Downing 13 planes in all during that engagement
The Benson class version of laffey was even more insane compared to the Allen M. Sumner version
USS laffey engaged the cruiser Aoba, heavily wounding the japanese cruiser. Forcing her to return back to Japan for extensive repairs.
She then fought against the Hiei some time later during the first battle of Guadalcanal. Laffey got so close to Hiei, Hiei couldn't even depress her main and secondary guns low enough to shoot her. Laffey would cause significant damage to her superstructure and the bridge of Hiei, even wounding the commanding admiral on board.
With the combined efforts of both laffey and San Francisco, Hiei was so badly damaged from this engagement it would leave her crippled. She would be sunk the next day with the combined efforts of both Enterprise and Washington.
Good catch! I was about to say the same thing. As soon as I saw the pictures on the screen, my antenna went up.
This man speaks tism
@@thefoxogaming4092 when he said Fletcher class laffey my inner boat-tism immediately kicked in.
Because the first WW2 laffey was the Benson class destroyer which went tow to tow with ship classes that were significantly above her weight class and still kicked their asses in.
And the Allen M. Sumner class destroyer (the pinnacle of American destroyer design in ww2) which got targeted by several japanese fighter wings and won. Albeit wounded.
My boat-tism came from an Australian, drachinafel and playing a boat gacha game for six years or longer.
Thanks, you saved me a bunch of typing. Would love to see FE do vid on the Benson class Laffy.
@frednone agreed. Her single action over in the first battle of Guadalcanal would make for an EXCELLENT movie.
Fucking bring back Michael Bay for this one.
First time sub-minute TFE video, well worth it, VT Fuze was amazing
Edit: I meant to click the vid.
0:15 THE PIGEON GUIDED BAT BOMB
Actually that entire project actually paved the way for dog training in a lot of ways.
Yeah, I hear they deployed countless thousands of those with their Gloster Meteors launched from the pykrete aircraft carrier
Thank you for what you do. As a combat vet and a proud american, your no bullshit approach to providing detailed insight..regardless of the subject matter...is interesting, entertaining, and most importantly a significant reminder of the sacrifices made for our freedom. Thank you.
let me tell you this sir my 12 year old grandson has been watching your videos he's learned more about American war history then I could teach him you're telling stories of the real heroes! you're doing something that's amazing.( we must teach our children) the sacrifices that so many men and women made! this country boy appreciates this very much!!!!!
No doubt he is learning that nobody else on the side of the allies did anything remotely useful to win WW2, the USA did it all by themselves. Even though they didn't decide to actually join in until December 1941, a little over 2 years after the war started, when Britain and her other allies had already thwarted the Nazi's invasion plans and severely depleted the German Lufwaffe and Navy. I'm sure he's learning that it was America that invented everything including RADAR, SONAR, bunker busting bombs and the jet engine etc. He's probably learning that it was good old American scientists who created the Atomic bomb, not an international team including a few disaffected Germans and the sharing of years of research done by other countries. No doubt he's learning there were no American misfits who took military service over a prison sentence, or people with little education and few prospects in civilian life, nor that they initially served in a chronically underfunded and much reduced army. God bless America... because God IS American too! 😂 Warning: This post may contain sarcasm that will upset the sensibilities of many proud, righteous and thoroughly uninformed Americans. 🤣
@@another3997 My father served before and during WW2. He didn't mention any of that. On the other side of the family, my grandfather did mention that rations for Allied prisoners of war, in Germany, were beyond sparse, but held no malice because they saw the german soldiers weren't getting much more than they had.
@@another3997 - You haven't been watching Fat Electrician much, have you?
That's awesome, your grandson is learning some really colorful language in the process as well. 🤣 But probably nothing that he doesnt already know at 12 years old.
@@texasted73 I’ve been forwarding them to my 16 year old godson in a liberal bastion in Colorado. 😆
His favorite Fat Electrician vignette- the “bullet” shot into space via underground nuke testing!
After asking if she drank water, should have asked her: "Did you try some Ibuprofen?"
I was waiting for that, lol
Tell her to change her socks!
Change your water, drink your socks.
"Your cramps and headache are not service related"
Check her core temperature.
23:34 he didn’t say it 😮
Came to say the same thing!
I’m very bothered by this
No quack bang out ?
Quak bang out ! There you go✓
Remember lip stick -- wife got to go
Great content always. Pace-Ludicrous speed. Humor- A+. Editing- spot on. Yes sir. May I have another!
23:23 The way you perked up is like a child that was told they could get one more cookie if they do something.
German Historian here who has a Grandfather who experienced the VT Fuze during the Battle of the Bulge (as a Target of course):
My Grandfather is now 104 Years old and still kicking and since the End of WW2 also has been working together with the US Military regarding his Experience against Soviet Partisan Warfare and indeed is one of acouple of Dozen former W-SS Soldiers who were officially invited by the US Military to the USA to give Lectures but also to the yearly Normandy Remembrance Events.
Anyway: So my Grandfather who is still alive now was with the 1st W-SS Division "LAH" as Panzergrenadier in the Battle of the Bulge and he always told me how when he was around La Gleize in Belgium they heard what sounded like a Rocket fly towards them but then exploded above them showering them in Shrapnels, lucky for them, they were inside a Farmhouse there so nobody was KIA but a few were wounded.
I didn't think about this until i saw this Video in my Notifications, never looked much into it since then either, just thought i share that!
Prost & Cheers from the Snow-Covered Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps
Thank you for sharing your grandfather’s perspective.
Drink one for,I was ingermany in vilseck,germany.1990-1992
My buddies grandpa was in the SS he still has his Luger. The USA has a massive German population in the Midwest lol they still taught German in highschool I graduated in 2015 in Ohio
bless your grandfather and thanks for sharing a bit of history.
@@Ecosse57 I’m American 🇺🇸 I was talking about my buddy. I know I have family that fought on the right side and probably the wrong side as well. I’m proud of my Opa that fought in Vietnam and had his bronze stars! Three combat tours he had. He joined in 59 and flew for the forest service in North Carolina after 32 years in the United States Army
At 14:50 there is a man pushing a cart full of assembled artillery shells... while smoking a cigarette inside a munitions factory. Those were the days. That man believed in neither health or safety 😁
Well, unless the explosives are directly open to the cigarette falling into them, it's unlikely the heat of a cig would make them go off. Now, gunpowder/cordite/whatever-used-to-make-shell-go-mach-jesus on the other hand...
I can speak from experience about training with the German Army throwing artillery rounds down range with a cigarette in my mouth and a beer on standby .
The lack of government was what saved the government. Keep it small.
Safety 3rd......health 7th
Didn't even have his reflector belt on. Truly a man who knows no fear.
Wow,this is next level documentary entertainment! My coworker recommended this channel and this is my first time watching. Definitely a fan now!!!!
Been waiting for you to cover the VT fuze, this was a huge gamechanger.
Fun fact... we all have the civilian version of the VT in our home microwave ovens... they are named magnetrons and what emit the radio waves that cook your food. Hence the old name for them... Radar Range.
@@debbiestimac5175 the more you know!
@ Thanks Josh, just a girl that like military history and anything mechanical. Changed the timing belt and water pump on my Lexus over Covid all by myself using RUclips and Amazon for parts, OEM right out of Japan!
1:05 The face of man who realizes he wins the war by loosing this battle 🤣😈
please learn how to spell losing
NAWS China Lake, where I live, extensively tested and and refined the VT Fuzes. China Lake also took part in Project Camel, which developed the explosive lenses for Fat Man
I believe the AIM-9 Sidewinder was also developed there.
Proximity fuses are in fact based. I can't tell you how many Jets I slapped out of the sky in War Thunder with these.
@@squarewave808 Yes. As well as the AAM-N-5 Meteor, AGM-45 Shrike, AGM-62 Walleye, Hopi, Tomahawk, JSOW, JDAM, and many others. But my favorite was the China Lake Grenade Launcher.
Holy hell, you need to come to Peterson SFB in Colorado to the museum on base. The vets that run that place are so awesome and have some great stories about the planes and rockets they have as static displays.
Would love to see your take on the USS North Carolina... the most decorated battleship DURING WW2. The rest of the battleships more decorated had to go through MULTIPLE wars (Korea/Vietnam) to get the decorations needed to top the USS NC, but none of them damaged a restaurant getting parked for display.
Love that boat been on her many times
wait, it wasn't the USS Enterprise the most condecorated ship?
@ -- Enterprise is NOT a "battleship". Specified "battleship" due ot the class, and the fact that the USS NC gets overlooked due being a smaller class of battleship than the "Iowa Class' battleships that get most of the attention due to their size
Anyone who is ever in or near Wilmington, NC owes it to themselves to tour _North Carolina._ It’s a great museum ship.
23:20 The way your eyes lit up after he said you could come work on that thing... Lol
Shweet, Over encumbered sparky has blessed us with another history lesson, I wait for these like a child before the TV on Saturday mornin.
My grandmother Rosemary was a riveter, she made troop carriers for the Army after leaving Germany. :)
I've honestly known about the proximity fuse story for a while now, i'm glad you did a video about it so every one else can see how far ahead america was pulling by the mid to late war.
It’s amazing to think that while being humble, you have a decent understanding of WW2, then you watch a video like this, this fuse literally changed everything
Nukes were the knockout punch, but the VT Fuses were 10 rounds worth of body shots in the clinch
Perfect description!
IIRC Little Boy used a VT Fuze so there's that. But it has been a while since I read anything about the three suns, so grain of salt.
OMG Ive watched the “Over doing it” montage about 5 times and it still cracks me up! Well done! 🔥
21:12 That stare to those doubting the effectiveness when General Patton is praising it is hilarious
Right? That's and some documentaries on the Battle of the Bulge also mention that "airburst rounds" helping clear out the forest of Germans not inside bunkers.
I also love that Patton called it a "funny fuse" too. I know he probably meant funny as in weird, but it could also be funny at how devastatingly effective it is.
“Getting aggressively drunk with my friends” Im dying
The dying the morning part is the problem.
Bro i am beyond excited about your new show. I can safely say your show has helped me stay sober i watch it on the playlist and let her run, thank you for doing what you do. Not gonna lie the time between episodes feels longer everyweek. Still love deeing it when i get home from work now. Went from no job and trying to stay sober too full time employment and having full custody of my daughter. Seeing where you started to where you are and where your headed is an inspiration my friend. Love every minute of your shows even my daughter knows what day your ahow comes out now.
Initially they were made for the 5 inch AA shell but eventually they were made for the 90 mm AA shell. The Germans did capture two at Monschau but couldn't figure out how they worked. Adm. Willis Lee was a truly 'unsung hero' of the war.
Was super exited when i saw this one.
I live in a little town in Rural Pennsylvania called Emporium where most of the electronics for the Proximity fuse were made. The old Sylvania tube factory is still here but some foreign company bought it, stripped out all the metal from the building, and then left. So it isn't safe to enter anymore.
We have a place called "The Little Museum" where we have a display on these including one of the actual fuses.
I have worked as an engineer at the Applied Physics Lab for twenty five years, the proximity fuse is still a mater of huge pride. You should do a vid on the Pluto mission or when we put a lander on an asteroid. Keep up the most excellent work!!
APL is an amazing place to work for sure.
I was going to say, it was a great video but I was disappointed he didn’t mention the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (though he did use a diagram with an APL watermark)
The idea of touring military museums is a great one. I’d highly recommend visiting the National World War 2 Museum in New Orleans
Been there 3 times definitely spend all day there it's awesome oh and the civil war museum is right next door
Highly recommend The National Museum of Nuclear Science & History in Albuquerque, really is the museum of the cold war. And sometimes you can buy radioactive Trinity mementos.
Ever come to London, The Imperial War Museum is an absolute must visit.
The Admiral Nimitz National Pacific War Museum in Fredericksburg, TX gives you a two-day ticket because that's how long it takes you to go through everything. It's located in Fredericksburg because that's where Admiral Nimitz lived where he grew up - it's right by his childhood home.
Lubbock, Texas has the Silent Wings Museum centered around preserving and promoting the history of the WW2 Military Glider Program. Excellent overlooked gem of a museum that is housed in the older air terminal across the runway at Lubbock International Airport.
Dude, your storytelling is AWESOME. Keep bringing these videos
I think you should start your own production company and make movies about all these things that Hollywood either won’t or will screw up. You’re great keep up the amazing work!
Most of the history buffs I know don't really grasp how big of a deal the VT fuse was for the war.
You should do a video about the A-6 Intruder
That and how many people don’t know what it was.
You spoil us, the Pepperbox episode with you and HLC was awesome and I really hope you continue with more episodes!
I miss my pepper box😢
The BEST storyteller on RUclips. Love your content. Best wishes for you and your family
i have learned more in this channel than i can remember from history class, i love to show your videos to people
'Leave my lipstick 💄 on something .I.'... 'uh.. I gotta go😅...' Gotta love these 2🫶🫡💯
"'Perfect' is the enemy of 'done'."
-Ancient Engineering Proverb
Now I want to see the video where you restore that AA turret. Your skills + your passion + curators permission = great result for both parties.
Fuck yeah, got the chubby electron guy to watch while going back home from work!🎉🎉
ive known about the proximity fuse for decades now, but this is the 1st time ive realized the scale it had on the course of the war. thanks dude!
14:51 You can tell ir's the forties, even the guy moving munitions has got a cigarette in his mouth.
He knows what he's doing. The cigarette gives him his power.
@13:24 "kick start my heart" and a airfield full of B29s - awesome!! :)
"necessity is the mother of invention"
"nobody learns faster than someone being shot at"
I’m not joking the fat electrician video release is the biggest destresser in my day. I needed this one bad
Found this out in 1977. Even General Patton was impressed by this charming device. Science is cool.
Your work in creating engaging and fact giving history lessons is continually astounding. Keep up the amazing work Nic 🤜🤛
The VT fuse was a real superweapon. It's not flashy like the V-2, it doesn't have the terrifying presence of a King Tiger tank, it doesn't dissolve its pilots with acid fuel like the Me-163. It is mass producible and it kills bad guys in such huge numbers that it makes traditional tactics no longer viable.
Also USS _Laffey_ tanked two nuclear bombs after the war and is now a museum ship. So much for being a tin can.
That was the second Laffey. She took like two bad hits in that fight and still made it back, being labeled as “The ship too angry to die.” The first one fist fought an IJN battleship.
From what I've seen and read, the Allen M Sumner USS Laffey took 4 bomb hits and 6 kamikaze hits. The stern certainly took a serious beating with multiple impacts and being set ablaze basically from the first hit.
@ I couldn’t remember the exact numbers just remember she got mauled and survived. So went with a conservative number.
@kusanagi54321 always remember the events from Dogfights: Long Odds
"Ohhh, Now you fucked up!, you fucked up now!"..... priceless
By far the best documentaries EVER! Truly appreciate your content! Instead of watching TGIF my family watches The Fat Electrician or Fat Files on Friday nights. Thank you!
A friend of mine told me once the. Reason, so much good technology gets held up by bureaucrats in the military process. It's because they haven't been in the field. Having bullets whiz by their head short enough of a period to remember what it's like to try to cover and save your a** every second that you are out there. His solution was, if a warp breaks out, you send the bureaucrats and the officers out there for a month in the field and then see how quickly things get done
I support this plan against inaction.
Was on a sub many years ago and a Commander told me half of all naval officers would get fired within 6 months if we went to war.
USS Laffey was not a fletcher class Destroyer, it was an Allen M. Sumner class Destroyer. Key difference between the fletcher class and the Allen M. Sumner class was that the latter has dual 5 Inch turrets and about 4 of them
She was also the second USS Laffey of the war. The first was a Benson class numbered DD-459. She was sunk on the 13th of November after going toe to toe with the battleship Hiei wounding Admiral Abe, and killing his chief of staff.
3 dual turrets, not 4
@@TrevJamesBailey oh my fault
@Battlemage15 oof yeah I googled it after I posted this comment
“Chubby Electron Guy” 😂 20:48
Thorough preparation and research, brilliant explanation, superb delivery, very very impressive, thank you.
The Laffey you are talking about was Allen m Sumner Class USS Laffey DD-724 which suffered roughly 6 hits from kamikaze attacks and did not falter. (also nicknamed The Ship That Would not Die) Not the Benson class USS Laffey DD459 which was sunk after going toe to toe with the battleship Hiei (they were actually heading for the same spot). Getting so close, Laffey nearly collided with Hiei missing the battle ship by 20 feet (completely forgot to mention that this was a night battle). Laffey would then rack the bridge of the Hiei with every gun she had. Wounding Hiei's Admiral and killing his chief of staff. however she was surrounded with a battleship on her stern, a second on her port side beam, and two destroyers (Yukikaze and Terizuki) on her port bow, fighting all of them in a point blank duel. however she was hit with one of Hiei's main guns and a torpedo from Yukikze hit her aft, blowing off her fan tail, which was the final blow for Laffey. Of the 247 on bord, 59 were killed including the commanding officer and 116 were wounded. She would receive the Presidential unit citation, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (Three Bronze service stars) and the WWII Victory medal. (side note, DD-459 was sunk at Guadalcanal and DD-724 partook in D-day and currently resides at Patriots point, SC next to USS Yorktown CV-10)
Edit: Yarnhub did a video about DD-724 ruclips.net/video/4USZyXLsLgA/видео.htmlsi=u1EEO439rdGvT-yi
Great video as always! I hope you can do the most decorated ship in WWII, USS Enterprise soon! The story will be even more epic with your storytelling!
@@magnusyuen5257 a RUclipsr has done a full breakdown of Enterprise's service (it's a full 8 hours from gat I've remembered)
A 20-minute video about a proximity fuse no complaints here.
As a 13M, glad to hear more about Artillery. Not many people talk about Field Artillery. Miss the job, but not the place.Can still hear the Paladin's training.
Yup... you're a medic...
"I have a headache"
"Did you drink water?"
"Oh you did? Try Motrin."
That national lampoon's Christmas vacation segment was top teir, absolute masterpiece!
That museum promo at the end is the first to make me consider Pepperbox.
I'll think about it.
For $8 a month, it's worth it. It started out as basically "uncensored" youtube content, and i subscribed just to help support the guys ... but with the exclusives coming out now, it's definitely worth $8.