I always felt bad for the Italian Navy, such promising and beautiful ships sidelined for most of the war unable to truly prove their worth, even after joining the allies.
Battleships weren't obsolete for their roles until 1944 and only then because the remaining Axis surface units were unable to challenge after the Battle of North Cape (Dec 26, 1943) and Leyte Gulf (Oct 23-26, 1944) respectively. And even afterward the US holding the Iowas in mothballs was a big concern the Soviets had to / did take seriously with the ruinously expensive Kirov class BC's while in a world without the Iowas they wouldn't have had to build for having to kill an Iowa but massive overkill against anything else and thus inefficient munitions and ships.
@ Battleships were arguably obsolete even by the start of WWII, because the reason they became obsolete was that surface combat in general was becoming outmoded due to extended battle ranges.
@bkjeong4302 That's very much hindsight thinking, yes BB's played second fiddle to CV's more and more as the war went on but that didn't make them obsolete in either their primary mission as I've already posted let alone their other roles in fire support for landings where they can get closer without having to worry nearly as much about coastal defense guns as cruisers or destroyers and carrying massive AA batteries in escorting carriers with the same toughness against any return fire. If you want an obsolete on launch class of ships, the Alaska class 'large cruisers' are that standard since by the time they were laid down, let alone launched it was obvious there was no way any Axis power was gonna build any ship she was designed to fight... so instead you had a ship costing 3/4 of an Iowa to build (i.e. the USN could've easily completed Illinois and Kentucky), even more than that to crew that had cruiser armor and far less capable guns or ability to mount AA. They were decommissioned in pretty mych record time postwar despite being near new because they were almost as manpower and resource sinks as BB's without any advantage.
@ Battleships were not built for fire support, there were plenty of old battleships to use for fire support if they really needed battleships for it without the need to build any new ones, and their higher value and greater draft meant they were WORSE at getting closer to shore targets than destroyers (see: Omaha Beach). Plenty of cruisers and destroyers offered more AA for the buck than battleships; you don’t need battleship main guns to shoot down airplanes, you only need DP and AA guns.
@@bkjeong4302 Battleships were very useful, especially in the North Atlantic, where weather and the long winter nights often made flying impossible. While both Littorio, Richelieu and KGV were impressive and powerful ships, Bismarck was the best balanced of all the new battleships. The hull shape of the new US battleships were a poor fit for the often rough conditions in the North Atlantic.
An outstanding doco that described these beautiful ships, and the amazing conduct of the officers and men in very difficult circumstances. In hindsight one might describe the British attitudes to the Italian navy, and the sailors in particular as contemptuous, and even shameful. However, it is important to remember that previously they had been adversaries with deadly intent: becoming best mates overnight would be miraculous - and therefore, not likely! That said, some of the displays of pettiness were not their finest hour. It was interesting to note that ROMA had her own 'Ted Briggs' (another signalman who escaped death in a seemingly impossible situation). So, getting the job of 'Bunts' on the bridge need not always be seen as a bad number! Thanks for this - informative and entertaining as always. Cheers. 👍
The British attitude toward the Italians makes sense, they were adversaries for several years, and now a defeated enemy. Roma's loss was extremely sad, too many young men dying.
![Blox Fruits Dragon Rework Update [Full Stream]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EqDAp8udhm0/mqdefault.jpg)
Thanks for watching everyone! I hope you enjoyed, sorry for the change in schedules, I have a class during our normal 3:00 PM time.
Loving the Italian fleet history. Thanks for another great video.
Good work mate
Great Video!
I always felt bad for the Italian Navy, such promising and beautiful ships sidelined for most of the war unable to truly prove their worth, even after joining the allies.
Interesting, thank you@
Possibly Europe’s best battleships. Unfortunately, like every other battleship built around this time, they were pretty much obsolete upon launch.
Battleships weren't obsolete for their roles until 1944 and only then because the remaining Axis surface units were unable to challenge after the Battle of North Cape (Dec 26, 1943) and Leyte Gulf (Oct 23-26, 1944) respectively. And even afterward the US holding the Iowas in mothballs was a big concern the Soviets had to / did take seriously with the ruinously expensive Kirov class BC's while in a world without the Iowas they wouldn't have had to build for having to kill an Iowa but massive overkill against anything else and thus inefficient munitions and ships.
@
Battleships were arguably obsolete even by the start of WWII, because the reason they became obsolete was that surface combat in general was becoming outmoded due to extended battle ranges.
@bkjeong4302 That's very much hindsight thinking, yes BB's played second fiddle to CV's more and more as the war went on but that didn't make them obsolete in either their primary mission as I've already posted let alone their other roles in fire support for landings where they can get closer without having to worry nearly as much about coastal defense guns as cruisers or destroyers and carrying massive AA batteries in escorting carriers with the same toughness against any return fire.
If you want an obsolete on launch class of ships, the Alaska class 'large cruisers' are that standard since by the time they were laid down, let alone launched it was obvious there was no way any Axis power was gonna build any ship she was designed to fight... so instead you had a ship costing 3/4 of an Iowa to build (i.e. the USN could've easily completed Illinois and Kentucky), even more than that to crew that had cruiser armor and far less capable guns or ability to mount AA. They were decommissioned in pretty mych record time postwar despite being near new because they were almost as manpower and resource sinks as BB's without any advantage.
@
Battleships were not built for fire support, there were plenty of old battleships to use for fire support if they really needed battleships for it without the need to build any new ones, and their higher value and greater draft meant they were WORSE at getting closer to shore targets than destroyers (see: Omaha Beach).
Plenty of cruisers and destroyers offered more AA for the buck than battleships; you don’t need battleship main guns to shoot down airplanes, you only need DP and AA guns.
@@bkjeong4302 Battleships were very useful, especially in the North Atlantic, where weather and the long winter nights often made flying impossible.
While both Littorio, Richelieu and KGV were impressive and powerful ships, Bismarck was the best balanced of all the new battleships. The hull shape of the new US battleships were a poor fit for the often rough conditions in the North Atlantic.
An outstanding doco that described these beautiful ships, and the amazing conduct of the officers and men in very difficult circumstances. In hindsight one might describe the British attitudes to the Italian navy, and the sailors in particular as contemptuous, and even shameful. However, it is important to remember that previously they had been adversaries with deadly intent: becoming best mates overnight would be miraculous - and therefore, not likely! That said, some of the displays of pettiness were not their finest hour.
It was interesting to note that ROMA had her own 'Ted Briggs' (another signalman who escaped death in a seemingly impossible situation). So, getting the job of 'Bunts' on the bridge need not always be seen as a bad number!
Thanks for this - informative and entertaining as always. Cheers.
👍
The British attitude toward the Italians makes sense, they were adversaries for several years, and now a defeated enemy. Roma's loss was extremely sad, too many young men dying.
RN Roma was the most beautiful battleship to ever be created by human hands
Perhaps the Scharnhorsts looked even better. But the camo at 1:54 is unrivaled.
You mean Util HMS Vanguard was built
@ yea with her moving box looking bridge and her flat stern looking like she backed into something
Was interested until loss of warspite, crap !!!
Loss or damaged was the statement. She was severely damaged not lost.
HMS Warspite was hit but did not sink
Yes, I feel like people are miss hearing me. I said damaged or sunk, Warspite was damaged, USS Savannah was damaged, and HMS Uganda.