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The Drydock - Episode 022 (Patreon)

Published:
2018-12-28 19:17:02
Imported:
2023-02

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The Drydock - Episode 022

00:00:30 - Would Von Spee have been better off attacking Stanley Harbour? 00:03:36 - Does angling a ship actually help its armour? 00:06:59 - British Resupply-at-Sea during the Bismarck chase? 00:10:43 - Why don't warships use projectiles similar to those used in tanks? 00:17:16 - As guns got bigger, did battleship carrying fewer shells? 00:20:52 - Algerie - pre-war cruiser? 00:25:12 - Why did the turn of the century USN paint its ships white? 00:28:59 - How many Gerat 104's to sink an Iowa? 00:32:35 - What if Japan had been given parity in the Washington Naval Treaty? 00:37:05 - Birkenhead disaster and Victorian era officers new technology training Want to support the channel? - https://www.patreon.com/Drachinifel Want to talk about ships? https://discord.gg/TYu88mt Music - https://youtu.be/1Zzqio6jPRQ

Comments

Anonymous

Always love your videos sir.

Anonymous

Thanks Drach. Great Drydock, as usual. My thoughts on Birkenhead were that a wood ship, equally badly holed, may have floated for several hours or even days while settling vs the 20 minutes the crew and passengers got. Additionally, I do not believe that Captain Salmond had the ability to suspect how bad the damage was to his ship or what it would entail until carpenter / officers reports several minutes into the disaster. Further, I believe that almost all RN captains would have behaved identically, excepting perhaps the remarkable Birkenhead Drill. Birkenhead, being one of the iron hulled frigates (en flute - no guns), once holed would more sink quickly than a wooden counterpart due to wood's natural buoyancy, ceteris paribus. The initial decision by Captain Salmond to back her off the rocks proved incorrect. As events turned out, rather than try to pull her off the rocks, leaving her as was and waiting for succor would have been a better decision. I suggest Captain Salmond was behaving (at least initially) as if Birkenhead was wooden. His training and instincts were for wooden ships and thus he responded. Salmond knew a wooden ship would have been broken apart in a few tides or less. He also knew the best hope for a wooden ship was to get her off the rocks immediately. And he knew a wooden ship, however badly holed, still may have floated long enough to make landfall in Cape Town, or at least come into contact with another vessel. For example, the initial attempt at fothering a sail (for some readers - putting a sail under the ship to slow water from entering so the pumps could have a better chance at getting the water out) may make more sense on a wood ship than iron. I also suspect the rocks themselves would have done less catastrophic harm as quickly to a wooden warship. I am in no way condemning Captain Salmond. I believe Captain Salmond did as the vast majority of RN officers would have done at the time, as his instincts and training were for wooden vessels. As you know (but other readers may not) the purpose of the court martial is not necessarily to affix blame or exonerate, but also to prevent future problems. I am not sure the officers of the RN court martial identified the problem as one of iron vs wood. Again, the instincts and training of the officers making up the court martial would have been for wooden vessels. I do not know of similar disasters for iron hulled vessels at the time, but I feel certain there were some. I wonder if identifying the wood vs iron problem in Captain Salmond’s first reaction would have saved lives later on. (If indeed my supposition is correct, which to be honest I am not sure of - hence the question.) None of which takes away from the absolute bravery of the men performing the Birkenhead Drill. Both men and officers knew what would happen if they broke and if they did not. This was Victorian culture at its finest. Indeed, humans as our creator intended us. Definitely worthy of a separate video.