Had there been better military preparation and resources available (I.E. more submarines, better/more aircraft and better information control centres for things such as radar) could the British have put up more of a fight or even outright repelled the Japanese’s invasion of Thailand and Malaya? in the initial period of Dec 41 to March 42. And what would a Force Z with proper air cover/carrier escort have been able to achieve in reality. May have asked this already not sure, not sure phones playing up PS love your content, maybe consider HMS Hermes (R12) for a future video, considering the fact for the time at least the ship still exists.
What exactly did they have in mind with these rubber flight decks? I'm having trouble computing the logic of coating your flight deck with a vegetable-derived compound with a low melting point in a ship of war likely to be exposed to naked flames.
“The patron video for this month is....*sigh* the Gothic-class Cruiser of the Imperial Navy....at least they’re not making me do any more French Pre-Dreadnoughts”
My stepfather served on HMS Colossus in the war. He served as a mechanic servicing and repairing the aircraft F4U Corsair's, Seafires and Barracudas. I always remember looking at the photos of the crossing the line and the aircraft RIP Geoffrey Guy My mentor and hero
Served on Melbourne 77 to 79. Despite her chequered reputation she was a fine ship, and a very happy ship. i enjoyed my time on board, and saw a lot of the world.
Was doing my Midshipman’s time on Melbourne during Ex Kangaroo 3 (1978). Can remember watching an Air Intercept Controller successfully vector an A4 onto an F111 that was doing about twice its speed. As he was falling rapidly behind the A4 pilot claimed, rather plaintively, that he had thrown his flight manual at the F111 as they passed.
I love the (historical) Royal Navy's sense of scale. "I say, we're running a bit short of mid-size carriers. We need to order some more. I think another 16 should do the trick."
Could you do a film on the USS Wolverine and the other baby-sized training carriers that operated in the Great Lakes? They were vital to US air supremacy in the Pacific and yet they seem overlooked.
IX-64 USS Wolverine and IX-81 USS Sable, they operated on the Lake Michigan to give trainees carrier landing experience on relatively calm waters before risking a blue water action.
@@nk_3332 Not just calm waters(the Great Lakes can have very tough storms - see the SS Edmond Fitzgerald - and LOTS of winter ice - as I understand it, U boat free waters was the deciding factor
@@barryjones8842 That's Lake Superior, Lake Michigan is the good tempered one, and yes there are storms, but nothing like those ship-eating monsters on Superior. Big waves on Michigan are 10 feet/3 meters. Big waves on Superior are 30 feet/10 meters. As for U-Boat free, the Germans sent Roosevelt a picture of the Chicago skyline through the periscope of a U-boat. The world's largest ASW array guards the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed, because those two together are one of the largest shipping lane anywhere in the world.
I call bunk, the only two German subs are the U-97 from WWI which was sunk post war and the U-505 captured one WWII. Explain how a Nazi sub could run the locks to get in there undetected? I think you are thinking of the periscope footage of New York Harbor which is real
My Dad served on HMAS Melbourne "Majestic" and HMAS Sydney "Terrible", Sydney was a troop transport for the Vietnam war. I remember walking through them when I was a kid, great times. Cheers.
Thank you so much for this video. My dad served on the HMCS Magnificent. The “Maggie” as he called her. I’d often wondered where all 3 of the Canadian aircraft carriers came from. (The Magnificent, Warrior, and the Bonaventure.) It’s not like we had a ship builder that could have made them. The last to be scrapped was the “Bonnie”. On 28-Oct-1970 she was towed out of Halifax harbour by the tug Fuji Maru, just 4 years after a $17,000,000 refit. It became a popular sailors legend that the Vikrant, that was finally scrapped in 1997, was in fact the Bonnie, renamed. Such was not the case, of course. In reality, if you bought a Honda in the early 70’s, it was probably made from some of the metal that was in the Bonaventure. If you happen to have, or find a book titled “Sea Wings, a pictorial history of Canada’s waterborne defence aircraft”, on pages 124 & 125 there is a group photo of an Avenger squadron. My dad is in that picture.
The Bonnie's still sorely missed. I've sat around chatting with old timers who searched on her. Honestly, I've never understood why we didn't replace her with another smaller carrier or two. If Spain and Italy can manage to field a few light carriers, Canada certainly could manage one or two in the same size range (and has more than enough coastline to justify it). Hell, the Americans would probably be happy to build us a modified LHA/LHD (the light carriers used as amphibious assault ships by the US Marines) tweaked to spec. Something like the USS America (which lacks the well deck typical of those ships, focusing more on aviation) would be perfect four our smaller navy and would help the US recoup their development costs (and sell some F-35Bs).
My Dad served on HMS Warrior when she went out to the far east at the fall of Dein Ben Phu. They took all her aircraft off & went to North Vietnam & evacuated refugees from Haiphong. He was one of the helicopter pilots on board, Lt. Jack Palmer MBE.
"STC pattern for the Essex" Random Grimdark reference is random. Besides, even if they had been available, those AdMech loons would've stuck legs on it and called it a God Machine.
Just going to add a little bit about INS Vikrant, former HMS hercules as it plays a very important role in Indian naval history, INS Vikrant was laid down as HMS Hercules for the British Royal Navy during World War II, but construction was put on hold when the war ended. India purchased the incomplete carrier in 1957, and construction was completed in 1961. Vikrant was commissioned as the first aircraft carrier of the Indian Navy. She did not see any action despite India being involved in a few wars due to various reasons until 1971. In 1971 as the threat of war with Pakistan grew, she was moved from her dock in Mumbai on the Western coast of India to the Eastern coast at Vishakapatnam. At this time, she had developed fatigue cracks on her boilers leading to them being run at reduced pressure. This lead to Vikrant being limited to just 15 knots. This low speed led to aircraft landing at near stalling speeds. This was fixed by lighting the airframes of the Aziles and SeaKings that made up the air compliment of the carrier. After the outbreak of hostilities, Indian intelligence reported that a US made Pakistani Tench class submarine, the PNZ Ghazi was dispatched to interdict the carrier. Of it's three escorts, only 2 carried SONAR making a sub a major threat to the ship. Fortunately the Ghazi sunk off Vishakapatnam under mysterious circumstances. Meanwhile aircraft from the carrier struck Chittagong and Cox bazars harbours rendering these inoperable for the rest of the war. She was crucial in maintaining the blockade of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). Vikrants actions gained its crew 2 Mahavir Chakras (2nd highest gallantry award in India) and 12 Vir Chakras (Distinguished Flying Cross equivalent). She left the operational area once her fuel levels dropped below 25%. After the war, Vikrant was extensively modernised, with new radar, boilers and AA systems. The steam catapult was replaced by a Ski-ramp to facilitate operations of the newly acquired Sea Harriers. She was laid up and decommissioned in 1997, serving as a museum ship in Mumbai (Where I had the chance to visit her albielt I was very young and hardly remember it). Unfortunately the state couldn't find a partner to run the museum on a permanent basis and she was closed to the public in 2012. Vikrant was scraped near Mumbai in 2014. A new 40,000 tonne conventional carrier, currently in its final phases of construction in India, will carry on it's legacy.
It will be very interesting to see the extent of Anglo-Indian design legacy in the new indigenous Indian carrier. INS Vikrant was among other things a beautiful looking ship.
The Indian Navy has a very peculiar skill in Making warships last a very long time on a small budget. It’s quite impressive. With HMS Hermes/ INS Viraat being another stellar example, in service from 1959 - 2013.
Interesting tid bit about the HMAS Melbourne: When the ship was taken out of Australian service, it was, somewhat controversially, sold for scrap the the Chinese in 1985. Rather than scrapping the ship, the Chinese made an extensive study of her over a number of years, effectively acquiring aircraft carrier technology from the Melbourne, subsequently utilised in the building of the first PRC fleet carrier. So in this way, the Class lives on.
FYI the ship was first sold to South Korea and then to China and when the Chinese got the vessel it was already full of markings in Korean indicating it was very thoroughly studied. Furthermore the subsequent study by Chinese navy concluded the ship design is too small for China's needs and it cannot be scaled. So the whole project was cancelled and the ship was scrapped as planned.
Pretty versatile ships as well, operating everything from Fulmars to Tracklers to Skyhawks. Not bad for a design supposed to only last three years and built with scantlings made from old bully beef tins. :-)
@@therake8897True, and while the increased height helped the class handle the later jets like the Skyhawk, their low top speed was a bigger hindrance than a somewhat lower hanger height. If Veinticinco de Mayo could have done 30 knots like a larger and more powerful carrier, the strike package of Skyhawks waiting on deck could have been launched against the British fleet in the Falklands. The possible outcome makes an interesting speculation.
@@phinix250 I think that a tier 6 (maybe 8) CV can get Die Hard on a pair of tier 10 DDs is something of an accomplishment. Not a particularly sought after one, but still an accomplishment of some note.
An Aussie ship, Voyager, with a drunk Captain, and a Yank ship, Evans, with an OOD that didn't know what he was doing and didn't follow his Captain;s 'Night Orders'. if you know anything about navigating warships, you'd know when in formation with a carrier she is the guide ship. When she needs to turn onto a flying course, into the wind, all the other ships keep station on her. And if they get it wrong there's no hand brake on an aircraft carrier - it's their own fault.
Phenomenal 'bangs for the buck' ships. Yet another example of a 'stop gap' weapon system lasting far longer than originally anticipated. Thank you very much for this.
Drachisms of the day; 1:12 Without access to the standard template construct pattern for the Essex class... 4:47 After some changes to the parking arrangements... The air group of 48 aircraft was established Edit:. As said in the magnificent video. I'm hoping KK comes back to do these again!
as BFG tabletop player, I have to say Drach could do another full series on all of the 40k ships before even touching anything non-Imperial. and it would be fcking hilarious, because the insanity of 40k.
They were not DESIGNED to last only three years in service, it was calculated they would likely be lost and need replacing after three years active wartime service. Similarly Lancaster Bombers were expected to be lost after just eight weeks, but many survived much longer. The expected lifespan was a wartime calculation to do with attrition rates and production schedules, so they would know when to build replacements in their planning of future orders.
More Canadian content: HMCS GATINEAU (Restigouche class) can be seen at 4m48s...and maybe (can't be sure) HMCS PROVIDER (fleet replenishment) to starboard of the carrier. BONAVENTURE was a much admired vessel and I actually, as a white twist cadet, walked its flight deck. It's anchor forms part of a memorial in Point Pleasant park in Halifax, N.S., close to where annual Battle of the Atlantic ceremonies take place each first Sunday in May.
Oh how I wish Canada had kept our carriers. Frankly even just keeping 1 of them up would mean more power then our entire current navy combined lol. Also they were beautiful ships.
The Royal Netherlands Navy acquired the Colossus-class Venerable in 1948, and commissioned her as HNLMS Karel Doorman. Karel Doorman was sold to Argentina and scrapped in India 1999
Thanks for that - always found these ships and their destinies fascinating. Loved the STC joke - could do with one of those for the Type 26's & 31's, as its the only way we are going to get respectable numbers these days. Enjoy your channel, some more collabs with the German / Austrian boys would be good, as whilst with land and air warfare they know their stuff. With Naval they are lost at sea......
Fun fact: A11 Minas Gerais worked as a helicopter most of his carrer due to his Catpult being broke and having no spares to fix it. It went on large repairs/modernizations in 1994, including the V-2 25 De Mayo (by that time recently decomissioned by Argentina) Catpult, new sensors and other stuffs. After the refit it was supposed to last fully operational up until 2010, Brazil even Purchased A4-Ku from Kuwait to have a strike force (using the same plane Australia and Argentina used before and one of the few somehow modern jets those ships could operate). Things seemed OK for A-11 but in 2000 France put Foch and Clemenceau on sale at a simbolic price of just $12 millon dollars, and Brazil purchased Foch. Foch, now renamed A-12 Sao Paulo was able to run at 30knots (compared to realistic 22 from A-11) and could carry about 50% more aircraft than A-11... therefore A-11 while still capable of sailing and being recently modernized was sold for scrap... The irony is that A-12 worked kind of "OK" for the first 4 years but then their engine blowed up... it went for 4year repair and after that when it went back to the sea, broked up just a few weeks later... it never sailed again, wasting a lot of resources from Brazilean Navy. Looking back in time they would had been much better off by keeping A11 up to 2010 like planned, maybe 2012-2015 with luck
Apparently Melbourne was used by the Chinese For experimentation and as a learning exercise in carrier design and operations after we sold her to them for Scrap.
@@therake8897 Indeed, must have just been two small boys a hammer each working on that one. :-) The Australians left most of the deck landing system and steam catapults intact when it was sold, along with quite a lot of what was considered obsolete electronics. The Chinese set about reverse engineering everything, and there's a better than average chance the catapult system on the next generation of PLAN carriers may have parts that look familiar to an old salt from the Australian Navy.
My Grandfather was EO of Venerable. He stood by her at Lairds and took her to Aus before a dash to Hong Kong for liberation. They were the slowest ship on the way north and had run the machinery up to achieve half a knot more than she had done on trials, at 25.5 knots, however venerable was making smoke? A signal came from the flag ship "stop making black smoke" Granddad told the captain, if they wanted the half knot then they would have to have smoke. Venerable's captain sent that message back to Flag. After a long pause the signal came back "25.5 knots". Under Argentine flag, that ship provided a serious threat to the British Falklands task force, being loosely shadowed by a nuclear submarine back into the Argentine cost, (just after the Belgrano was sunk with great loss of life). She had poor machinery and could not get the speed needed to fly off her fully loaded Skyhawks. It was very fortunate for the British carriers that the wind was light, so she had no head wind to help get the air speed over the deck.
That is usually how it goes. Some quick, cheap thing lasts years while that exspensive item that was built to last is in the rubbish heap almost before you know it.
Nothing says you have the confidence of your boss like the statement "We fully expect you to be sunk scrapped or decommissioned within 3 years! Welcome aboard!"
Speaking of Karel Doorman, she was present in Indonesian waters during the West Papua Crisis in the 50s. And when she went to Perth the local harbourmen refused to dock her in support of Indonesia, so they had to lash her planes together on deck and use the planes to move her to dock. Poor girl. Please do an episode about her.
My father tells a similar story about Melbourne docking in Hobart in the early 50s. He was invalided out of the Navy a few years later due to hearing loss - ie no such thing as ear muffs or OH&S issues when revving turboprop engines...
@@FallenPhoenix86 She was part of the initial invasion and the flagship of the fleet so yes she was involved and fought even if she did retreat later on. but thats, not the point anyway, the point is the irony of having a britsh built ship fighting the British.
Thanks for another great video drach! Build design a ship for 3 years and it ends up operating it for 60 sounds almost like a Royal Navy Tradition in itself:-)!
Read somewhere that HMAS Melbourne was only the third carrier in the world to be equipped with an angled flight deck. Not sure why HMAS Sydney was not similarly modified. Sydney ended its days as a troop transport during the Vietnam War, and eared the nickname The Vung Tau Ferry.
Oh, T8 premium carriers for -France -PAN-EU -PAN-America -PAN_Asia -Britain and -the Commonwealth incoming... and all are basically same. WG rubs its hands :D
I believe there's a mistake; because the Dutch carrier (the Karel Doorman) was modernized in Holland and sold to Brazil, renamed as the A11 Minas Gerais, and not the Australian carrier... Wich means that the 25 de Mayo (Argentina) was not the Karel Doorman.
You might also mention HMAS Sydney’s role as a transport during the Vietnam war. Retired as an aircraft carrier and bound for the scrap heap, she was pressed back into service and carried a great deal of Australian Army equipment to and from Vietnam, including motor vehicles on the former flight deck. She was used because the communist-controlled wharf labourers (longshoreman’s) union (the WWFA) in Sydney and other Australian ports refused to load commercial ships supporting the Australian troops in Vietnam, and threatened to black ban any cargo ship that was loaded by army personnel. So the army themselves loaded all their big stuff onto HMAS Sydney and she carried it to Saigon, and back. I don’t think any other aircraft carrier has performed a similar army transport role, unless it was US CVs bringing stuff home in 1945.
My grandfather Cliff was a 'Warfie' [Wharf Labourer] and would brissle if any body said they were communist controlled, sure they were left leaning, but it was in their charter not to become involved in any doings the political sphere.
@@nevillemignot1681 That’s interesting. The rank and file of the WWfA no doubt had a range of opinions, but most historians agree that the Communist Party of Australia had effective control of the union during the 1940s to 1970s, and perhaps even before that. Sorry I can’t quote an academic source, but a lot of information came out when the Communist Party of Australia split after the fall of the Soviet Union and can be googled. It must be borne in mind that CPA members did not advertise this fact - there were Ministers in the Whitlam Labor government of 1972-4 such as Arthur Gietzelt who were members of both the Australian Labor Party and the CPA but did not admit to the latter membership until the 1990s. CPA membership was organised on a cell basis and there was no public membership list.
@@nevillemignot1681 I thought I was saying that your grandfather was telling you the truth about what he believed but that the way the CPA operated was subtle, secret and designed to hide its operations. Wharfies were mainly concerned with industrial issues - more allowances and better conditions.
@@glennsimpson7659 Look, i am just telling what my greadfather told me, he also told me he worked on the wharf's in wartime, that control of them were given over to the Army.
Drach you raised my interests what would a British Built Version of the Essex Class be like? What would it be armed with? What would it's air groups and electronics be like? Would they modify them to have the Atlantic Bow of the later ones? Also how would they name them? That could be a special video, some year down the road.
While i can't answer the technical side of that question, the royal navy tended to take names of capital ships and fleet carriers from the same "list", as such the ship names would likely be from an Age of sail warship with historic importance, or a previous ship that had been decommissioned or lost previously (The exeption to this is if sinking was especially bad leading to the name being "retired" e.g Hood or Barham).
Always find this class interesting considering they were WW2 ships which served so many nations post-war with the last one (Vikrant being scraped in 2014!). Just a shame the Indians couldn't keep the Vikrant museum, but I'm hoping on someone preserving the HMS Hermes of Falklands fame. Also interesting that the Argentine carrier fought the British in 1982 after leaving the UK over 30 years earlier.
Sorry to bust your bubble, but INS Viraat aka HMS Hermes is scheduled for scraping. There were tries to turn it into a museum but alas nothing came of it
@@soham6649 Not true actually. There has been a huge outcry to prevent this after they announced the scrapping and even if she can't be saved in India there is a businessman from the UK is verry willing to bring her back and make her a museum here.
aren berberian The Veinticinco de Mayo did not "fight" the British. The joke ran that the engines kept failing just inside territorial waters while RN submarines were just outside licking their lips! The aircraft complement flew from land bases instead.
@@Wombat1916 Yes but she launched the initial invasion even if she did retreat later on. But thats, not the point here, the point is the irony of having a British built ship vs the British.
A guide on RN AA guns of WW-2 would be interesting. Pom-Poms, Oerlikons, Bofors etc in their varying mounts both in numbers of guns per mount and the reasons for the seemingly endless changes of them being switched out then back again on some ships.
Essex STC? By the Omnissiah, that is the most glorious archiotech! I know a certain Fabricator Locum who would pay dearly for such a thing. I thought that template was lost on Undiene during The War of The Beast.
Very informative as always packed in 10 minutes or so. For a future class to look at, how about the USCG HEC class of ships. Some of which are over 50 years old and still in front line service. Others are in the service of other countries. Thank you very much!
I remember HMS Triumph mothballed in Chatham dockyard until the early eighties when she went for scrap. Was she the last of her class in service with the Royal Navy?
Canada's Bonaventure was a bit of a scandal. It was retired without a replacement in the early 1970's by the Pierre Trudeau government, considered to be one of the more left-wing governments in Canadian history and quite anti-military. There were rumours that aerial surveillance had discovered her not scrapped in Taiwan as it should have been, but actively serving in the Taiwanese navy. Canada's naval aviation today consists of aging CP-140 Auroral/CP-140A Arcturus patrol planes (based on the Lockheed P-3 Orion) and Cyclone and Cormorant helicopters (the former off the decks of RCN warships, and the latter used in the search-and-rescue role from shore bases). All aircraft today are operated by the RCAF, which makes for interesting quarterdeck parades with 2, and possibly 3, services' dress uniforms on parade. Interestingly, the Cormorants have extremely high airframe hours, with Cormorant 901, currently stationed at Canadian Forces Base Comox with 442 Squadron, having the highest number of airframe hours on any of the AW101s anywhere in the world.
I won't get into Trudeau the First since, as an American, nothing good will come of it. However, I really doubt the validity of the rumor. Taiwan had no jets capable of carrier work in 1971. The first helicopters really capable of being safely operated from a carrier were the Blackhawks received in 1986. Given that the US was really Taiwan's only source of military equipment, it seems unlikely we would have seen some evidence of it, and we wouldn't have been pleased if Taiwan had tried to pull a stunt like that. Finally, most of the steam catapult equipment was removed before Bonaventure was towed off to help repair the catapults on HMAS Melbourne. Canada does need to make some decisions about her airpower soon. As you say, the Cormorants are about worn out, the Cyclone deliveries are much slower than forecast. The Aurora fleet is being nursed along with reduced flying hours until the structural rebuild program is completed, and even that program is unlikely to extend the out of service date for more than six years or so. My understanding is the Arcturus fleet has already been retired. The Hornet fleet has suffered a fairly high attrition rate, and the total is now down to about 85 aircraft, and some of them are already over 30 years old. Compare this to the Royal Norwegian Air Force, a country with about 20% the population of Canada, and a GDP only about 22% that of Canada. They have an air force with 46 much more modern F-16's and 19 F-35A's, soon to increase to a total of 33. Canada does have NATO obligations, and it's starting to fall behind on those due to the shrinking size and general aging of the air fleet. I hope you finally get a government that pays more attention to defense than the current one. On the plus size, however, Canada does have two of the last Hawker Hunters still in service, albeit being flown by a contractor.
Not the version I read in the Hamilton Spectator years ago. Bonnie left port after a major refit bound for Taiwan and the scrappers, Vikrant left port desperately in need of a refit. The sister ships passed each other deep in the Indian Ocean. The Bonnie arrived in Taiwan needing a major refit to continue service, while Vikrant arrived home from exercises no longer in need of a refit.
Will you do an individual ship review on HMS Colossus/FS Arromanches with a focus on its service record in the French Navy? Contents and materials are exceptionally scarce on the Arromanches.
The Colossus Warrior & Venerable got sold to 3 countries 1 became Arromanches (HMS Colossus Mk 2) and 2 became Independence (HMS/CS Warrior) and 25th of May (HMS Venerable then NLMS Karel David Doorman Mk 2).
I remember Leviathan, she rusted away in Portsmouth dockyard and was used as storage. I used to wander the ship on occasion but she was just a shell of what she could have been, money wasted as is so often the case.
Would agree with Firefly, but Sea Fury was postwar in service and the Firebrand was pretty awful Winkle Brown said the views for take off and landing were deadly. Blackburn made some awful aircraft except the Buccaneer which was a world beater. The later Seafires were much improved and excellent point defence fighters but still lacked range to be otherwise effective naval fighters. British Pacific Fleet except some Seafires and Fireflys was virtually all American in 1945, as the Barracuda lacked range for the Pacific
Love your 5 minute presentations but it Does mean you have to provide a lot of information in a short time. This last video was particularly difficult as the class of a given ship bounced around a bit. Is there a chance to start or end the video with a graphic showing the progression in b&w for those of us who difficulty following the presentation? Thoughts?
Clerk .. may i help you? Yes I'd like some cheap carriers ... clerk ...double the life boats? Can you imagine the budget just for emergency gear on a super carrier .. the Ford.. Bush. Life boats like crazy.
It’s very unfortunately that HMAS Melbourne wasn’t replace because Falkland War n it wasn’t until Timor conflict that RAN realised how vulnerable they were in handling transportation troops/supply. I still reckon 3rd Canberra class LHD should be built for air support with F35 on board.
Was any thought given to post Montana battleship design, same with the Japanese A-150 or German H class? Or do these designs represent the end of battleship era on paper.
The Majestic Class ... Their Longevity may the most sincerest flattery for their designers .....loaded with Corsairs only . Possibly the most potent warship for the dollar $ .... Protection...?
I have some ideas for videos, the Midway-class, Lexington-class carrier, USS Langley, USS Sabel, USS Wolverinve, HMS Porcupine, the U-505, USS Barb, USS Sliversides and the Liberty Class Cargo ships.
Pinned post for Q&A :)
Need more info on the rubber flight deck experiments.
Had there been better military preparation and resources available (I.E. more submarines, better/more aircraft and better information control centres for things such as radar) could the British have put up more of a fight or even outright repelled the Japanese’s invasion of Thailand and Malaya? in the initial period of Dec 41 to March 42. And what would a Force Z with proper air cover/carrier escort have been able to achieve in reality. May have asked this already not sure, not sure phones playing up PS love your content, maybe consider HMS Hermes (R12) for a future video, considering the fact for the time at least the ship still exists.
What exactly did they have in mind with these rubber flight decks? I'm having trouble computing the logic of coating your flight deck with a vegetable-derived compound with a low melting point in a ship of war likely to be exposed to naked flames.
favorite 40k ship or general opinion of 40k ships?
I wonder why you don't make video's on submarines. Is it because their stats are most often classified?
"Standard Template Construct needed"
"Praising the machine spirit"
Yup, Praise the emperor indeed, Drach. Now I want a 40K ships special!!
I would PAY to see Drach look at Imperium 40k ships
Coming April 1st, 2020: 5 Minute guide to Macragge's Honour, Gloriana-class Battleship
@@sreckocuvalo8110 Or the Mobile fortress monastery Phalanx
Just think of all the Drach-isms he could make if he did the Imperium Fleet...
“The patron video for this month is....*sigh* the Gothic-class Cruiser of the Imperial Navy....at least they’re not making me do any more French Pre-Dreadnoughts”
My stepfather served on HMS Colossus in the war. He served as a mechanic servicing and repairing the aircraft F4U Corsair's, Seafires and Barracudas.
I always remember looking at the photos of the crossing the line and the aircraft
RIP Geoffrey Guy
My mentor and hero
Served on Melbourne 77 to 79. Despite her chequered reputation she was a fine ship, and a very happy ship. i enjoyed my time on board, and saw a lot of the world.
Was doing my Midshipman’s time on Melbourne during Ex Kangaroo 3 (1978). Can remember watching an Air Intercept Controller successfully vector an A4 onto an F111 that was doing about twice its speed. As he was falling rapidly behind the A4 pilot claimed, rather plaintively, that he had thrown his flight manual at the F111 as they passed.
I love the (historical) Royal Navy's sense of scale. "I say, we're running a bit short of mid-size carriers. We need to order some more. I think another 16 should do the trick."
You know what? Make that 22.
@jrd33 Not to mention the sheer number of escorts built for those carriers - each one needed a whole handful of cruisers and destroyers to protect it.
Could you do a film on the USS Wolverine and the other baby-sized training carriers that operated in the Great Lakes? They were vital to US air supremacy in the Pacific and yet they seem overlooked.
How have I never heard of these? Amazing!
IX-64 USS Wolverine and IX-81 USS Sable, they operated on the Lake Michigan to give trainees carrier landing experience on relatively calm waters before risking a blue water action.
@@nk_3332 Not just calm waters(the Great Lakes can have very tough storms - see the SS Edmond Fitzgerald - and LOTS of winter ice - as I understand it, U boat free waters was the deciding factor
@@barryjones8842 That's Lake Superior, Lake Michigan is the good tempered one, and yes there are storms, but nothing like those ship-eating monsters on Superior. Big waves on Michigan are 10 feet/3 meters. Big waves on Superior are 30 feet/10 meters.
As for U-Boat free, the Germans sent Roosevelt a picture of the Chicago skyline through the periscope of a U-boat. The world's largest ASW array guards the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed, because those two together are one of the largest shipping lane anywhere in the world.
I call bunk, the only two German subs are the U-97 from WWI which was sunk post war and the U-505 captured one WWII.
Explain how a Nazi sub could run the locks to get in there undetected?
I think you are thinking of the periscope footage of New York Harbor which is real
My Dad served on HMAS Melbourne "Majestic" and HMAS Sydney "Terrible", Sydney was a troop transport for the Vietnam war. I remember walking through them when I was a kid, great times. Cheers.
I served on both carriers. 1969-71
Thank you so much for this video. My dad served on the HMCS Magnificent. The “Maggie” as he called her. I’d often wondered where all 3 of the Canadian aircraft carriers came from. (The Magnificent, Warrior, and the Bonaventure.) It’s not like we had a ship builder that could have made them. The last to be scrapped was the “Bonnie”. On 28-Oct-1970 she was towed out of Halifax harbour by the tug Fuji Maru, just 4 years after a $17,000,000 refit. It became a popular sailors legend that the Vikrant, that was finally scrapped in 1997, was in fact the Bonnie, renamed. Such was not the case, of course. In reality, if you bought a Honda in the early 70’s, it was probably made from some of the metal that was in the Bonaventure.
If you happen to have, or find a book titled “Sea Wings, a pictorial history of Canada’s waterborne defence aircraft”, on pages 124 & 125 there is a group photo of an Avenger squadron. My dad is in that picture.
The Bonnie's still sorely missed. I've sat around chatting with old timers who searched on her. Honestly, I've never understood why we didn't replace her with another smaller carrier or two. If Spain and Italy can manage to field a few light carriers, Canada certainly could manage one or two in the same size range (and has more than enough coastline to justify it). Hell, the Americans would probably be happy to build us a modified LHA/LHD (the light carriers used as amphibious assault ships by the US Marines) tweaked to spec. Something like the USS America (which lacks the well deck typical of those ships, focusing more on aviation) would be perfect four our smaller navy and would help the US recoup their development costs (and sell some F-35Bs).
@@paranoidrodent unfortunately it was a sign of things to come, as the CAF has remained criminally underfunded, especially after the cold war
My Dad served on HMS Warrior when she went out to the far east at the fall of Dein Ben Phu. They took all her aircraft off & went to North Vietnam & evacuated refugees from Haiphong. He was one of the helicopter pilots on board, Lt. Jack Palmer MBE.
"STC pattern for the Essex" Random Grimdark reference is random. Besides, even if they had been available, those AdMech loons would've stuck legs on it and called it a God Machine.
Just going to add a little bit about INS Vikrant, former HMS hercules as it plays a very important role in Indian naval history,
INS Vikrant was laid down as HMS Hercules for the British Royal Navy during World War II, but construction was put on hold when the war ended. India purchased the incomplete carrier in 1957, and construction was completed in 1961. Vikrant was commissioned as the first aircraft carrier of the Indian Navy. She did not see any action despite India being involved in a few wars due to various reasons until 1971.
In 1971 as the threat of war with Pakistan grew, she was moved from her dock in Mumbai on the Western coast of India to the Eastern coast at Vishakapatnam. At this time, she had developed fatigue cracks on her boilers leading to them being run at reduced pressure. This lead to Vikrant being limited to just 15 knots. This low speed led to aircraft landing at near stalling speeds. This was fixed by lighting the airframes of the Aziles and SeaKings that made up the air compliment of the carrier.
After the outbreak of hostilities, Indian intelligence reported that a US made Pakistani Tench class submarine, the PNZ Ghazi was dispatched to interdict the carrier. Of it's three escorts, only 2 carried SONAR making a sub a major threat to the ship. Fortunately the Ghazi sunk off Vishakapatnam under mysterious circumstances.
Meanwhile aircraft from the carrier struck Chittagong and Cox bazars harbours rendering these inoperable for the rest of the war. She was crucial in maintaining the blockade of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). Vikrants actions gained its crew 2 Mahavir Chakras (2nd highest gallantry award in India) and 12 Vir Chakras (Distinguished Flying Cross equivalent). She left the operational area once her fuel levels dropped below 25%.
After the war, Vikrant was extensively modernised, with new radar, boilers and AA systems. The steam catapult was replaced by a Ski-ramp to facilitate operations of the newly acquired Sea Harriers.
She was laid up and decommissioned in 1997, serving as a museum ship in Mumbai (Where I had the chance to visit her albielt I was very young and hardly remember it). Unfortunately the state couldn't find a partner to run the museum on a permanent basis and she was closed to the public in 2012.
Vikrant was scraped near Mumbai in 2014.
A new 40,000 tonne conventional carrier, currently in its final phases of construction in India, will carry on it's legacy.
It will be very interesting to see the extent of Anglo-Indian design legacy in the new indigenous Indian carrier. INS Vikrant was among other things a beautiful looking ship.
I just read this whole thing imagining Drachinifel's voice. Excellent writing!
The Indian Navy has a very peculiar skill in Making warships last a very long time on a small budget. It’s quite impressive. With HMS Hermes/ INS Viraat being another stellar example, in service from 1959 - 2013.
Interesting tid bit about the HMAS Melbourne: When the ship was taken out of Australian service, it was, somewhat controversially, sold for scrap the the Chinese in 1985. Rather than scrapping the ship, the Chinese made an extensive study of her over a number of years, effectively acquiring aircraft carrier technology from the Melbourne, subsequently utilised in the building of the first PRC fleet carrier. So in this way, the Class lives on.
Disappointing that she wasn’t kept as a museum ship
Lmao
Treasonous Fabians, Hawke and Keating, are responsible.
Was that the one where they also forgot to rip out the catapult first as well?
FYI the ship was first sold to South Korea and then to China and when the Chinese got the vessel it was already full of markings in Korean indicating it was very thoroughly studied. Furthermore the subsequent study by Chinese navy concluded the ship design is too small for China's needs and it cannot be scaled. So the whole project was cancelled and the ship was scrapped as planned.
Like the Essex class the Colossus/Majestic class was used for pretty much every mission a carrier could do.
I know right the major difference 9 of these were given to other countries but Yorktown Lexington & Hornet were museum carriers.
The UK and Commonwealth have some of the best ship names ever.
And some of the names are truly legacy names as well.
It’s a numbers game...
I am more of a battleship guy but I like how this one looks: very clean and sleek without it becoming bland like a lot of carriers...
The Centaurs were similarly attractive and clean looking carriers as well.
Pretty versatile ships as well, operating everything from Fulmars to Tracklers to Skyhawks. Not bad for a design supposed to only last three years and built with scantlings made from old bully beef tins. :-)
@@therake8897True, and while the increased height helped the class handle the later jets like the Skyhawk, their low top speed was a bigger hindrance than a somewhat lower hanger height. If Veinticinco de Mayo could have done 30 knots like a larger and more powerful carrier, the strike package of Skyhawks waiting on deck could have been launched against the British fleet in the Falklands. The possible outcome makes an interesting speculation.
Many thanks! My Dad served on the Warrior, Magnificent and the Bonaventure.
HMAS Melbourne has 2 destroyer kills to her name. Sadly they were TKs so she spent a lot of time pink...
Good Old Melbourne, proving that ramming is still a viable tactic (if they do not suspect it - especially if they are your allies)
@@phinix250 I think that a tier 6 (maybe 8) CV can get Die Hard on a pair of tier 10 DDs is something of an accomplishment.
Not a particularly sought after one, but still an accomplishment of some note.
@@aftp4i94 Both destroyers tried to cut across her bows...so a bit of their own own goal
An Aussie ship, Voyager, with a drunk Captain, and a Yank ship, Evans, with an OOD that didn't know what he was doing and didn't follow his Captain;s 'Night Orders'. if you know anything about navigating warships, you'd know when in formation with a carrier she is the guide ship. When she needs to turn onto a flying course, into the wind, all the other ships keep station on her. And if they get it wrong there's no hand brake on an aircraft carrier - it's their own fault.
@@dmenace9827 Flight Corpen.
Phenomenal 'bangs for the buck' ships.
Yet another example of a 'stop gap' weapon system lasting far longer than originally anticipated.
Thank you very much for this.
Drachisms of the day;
1:12 Without access to the standard template construct pattern for the Essex class...
4:47 After some changes to the parking arrangements... The air group of 48 aircraft was established
Edit:. As said in the magnificent video. I'm hoping KK comes back to do these again!
April 1st 2020 I NEED a 5 min guide to 40k ships. The old battlefleet gothic lore for ships is dope
as BFG tabletop player, I have to say Drach could do another full series on all of the 40k ships before even touching anything non-Imperial. and it would be fcking hilarious, because the insanity of 40k.
Necrontyr525 Yeah lol, the Drachisms would be the best ever
"Drach-isms" is officially a word now.
How about Drach and Spacedock team up and do it?
Now?
They were not DESIGNED to last only three years in service, it was calculated they would likely be lost and need replacing after three years active wartime service. Similarly Lancaster Bombers were expected to be lost after just eight weeks, but many survived much longer. The expected lifespan was a wartime calculation to do with attrition rates and production schedules, so they would know when to build replacements in their planning of future orders.
@draginifel I spotted you outside the Den Helder Maritime Museum today, I hope you had a great time there.
Great video Drach, the Collossus class had an interesting design.
that 40k reference
He could easily work "the emperor protects" into an IJN episode.
More Canadian content: HMCS GATINEAU (Restigouche class) can be seen at 4m48s...and maybe (can't be sure) HMCS PROVIDER (fleet replenishment) to starboard of the carrier.
BONAVENTURE was a much admired vessel and I actually, as a white twist cadet, walked its flight deck. It's anchor forms part of a memorial in Point Pleasant park in Halifax, N.S., close to where annual Battle of the Atlantic ceremonies take place each first Sunday in May.
Huzzah, the British carrier spam.
Oh how I wish Canada had kept our carriers. Frankly even just keeping 1 of them up would mean more power then our entire current navy combined lol. Also they were beautiful ships.
The Royal Netherlands Navy acquired the Colossus-class Venerable in 1948, and commissioned her as HNLMS Karel Doorman. Karel Doorman was sold to Argentina and scrapped in India 1999
Love your channel! Thanks for your effort and humor, it’s refreshing.
Thanks for adding this class to your impressive library of work.
Great video. Never knew this part in the evolution of the modern carrier, Thank you.
I love the subtle 40k references peppered into your videos
Brilliant as always, sir. Thanks for taking the time to do these videos.
I never thought about a specific built repair carrier to follow the front line carriers and cycle out aircraft. Mind blown.
What a Majestic Colossi they are.
Vikrant saw combat service as late as 1971, in the Bay of Bengal. Three years indeed !
Shame they shut down the museum and ended upscraping such a historic ship.
Binayak Choudhury h
@@Aren-1997 Agreed. Shame indeed. Goddamn bureaucrats!
A big peice of India's great story was lost with Vikrant.
Ah ha. This explains why HMS Vengeance was such a neat stand in until both HMAS Sydney and Melbourne were delivered. :)
Thanks for that - always found these ships and their destinies fascinating. Loved the STC joke - could do with one of those for the Type 26's & 31's, as its the only way we are going to get respectable numbers these days. Enjoy your channel, some more collabs with the German / Austrian boys would be good, as whilst with land and air warfare they know their stuff. With Naval they are lost at sea......
Awsome as usual, your fast becoming the reason I have UA-cam installed
Without access to the standard compact for the Essex Class? Why did England not have access to it?
Fun fact: A11 Minas Gerais worked as a helicopter most of his carrer due to his Catpult being broke and having no spares to fix it. It went on large repairs/modernizations in 1994, including the V-2 25 De Mayo (by that time recently decomissioned by Argentina) Catpult, new sensors and other stuffs. After the refit it was supposed to last fully operational up until 2010, Brazil even Purchased A4-Ku from Kuwait to have a strike force (using the same plane Australia and Argentina used before and one of the few somehow modern jets those ships could operate).
Things seemed OK for A-11 but in 2000 France put Foch and Clemenceau on sale at a simbolic price of just $12 millon dollars, and Brazil purchased Foch.
Foch, now renamed A-12 Sao Paulo was able to run at 30knots (compared to realistic 22 from A-11) and could carry about 50% more aircraft than A-11... therefore A-11 while still capable of sailing and being recently modernized was sold for scrap...
The irony is that A-12 worked kind of "OK" for the first 4 years but then their engine blowed up... it went for 4year repair and after that when it went back to the sea, broked up just a few weeks later... it never sailed again, wasting a lot of resources from Brazilean Navy. Looking back in time they would had been much better off by keeping A11 up to 2010 like planned, maybe 2012-2015 with luck
And now the Brazilian are selling the Sao paulo carrier and have the former hms ocean
Apparently Melbourne was used by the Chinese For experimentation and as a learning exercise in carrier design and operations after we sold her to them for Scrap.
@@therake8897 Indeed, must have just been two small boys a hammer each working on that one. :-) The Australians left most of the deck landing system and steam catapults intact when it was sold, along with quite a lot of what was considered obsolete electronics. The Chinese set about reverse engineering everything, and there's a better than average chance the catapult system on the next generation of PLAN carriers may have parts that look familiar to an old salt from the Australian Navy.
Saw you at the Dutch Naval Museum Drach! hope you had fun on your tour!
My father was on Hms Triumph from launch around 45 /46
My Grandfather was EO of Venerable. He stood by her at Lairds and took her to Aus before a dash to Hong Kong for liberation. They were the slowest ship on the way north and had run the machinery up to achieve half a knot more than she had done on trials, at 25.5 knots, however venerable was making smoke? A signal came from the flag ship "stop making black smoke" Granddad told the captain, if they wanted the half knot then they would have to have smoke. Venerable's captain sent that message back to Flag. After a long pause the signal came back "25.5 knots".
Under Argentine flag, that ship provided a serious threat to the British Falklands task force, being loosely shadowed by a nuclear submarine back into the Argentine cost, (just after the Belgrano was sunk with great loss of life). She had poor machinery and could not get the speed needed to fly off her fully loaded Skyhawks. It was very fortunate for the British carriers that the wind was light, so she had no head wind to help get the air speed over the deck.
Omg a 40k refrance if I wasn’t already subbed I would sub for that
That is usually how it goes.
Some quick, cheap thing lasts years while that exspensive item that was built to last is in the rubbish heap almost before you know it.
Kinda like the Land Rover and the Austin Champ.
I did not know much about them.
But they are beautiful ships
Nothing says you have the confidence of your boss like the statement "We fully expect you to be sunk scrapped or decommissioned within 3 years! Welcome aboard!"
Quite the busy bee Drachs! Wonderful job tho as usual😎
Wow what a nice STC reference...FOR THE EMPEROR!
Pretty good video. I used to work with a guy who flew MIG's off the Vikrant
Melburn or Melbun are preferred pronunciation: there might be a "o" in there but we dwellers of said city don't use it in speech.
Speaking of Karel Doorman, she was present in Indonesian waters during the West Papua Crisis in the 50s. And when she went to Perth the local harbourmen refused to dock her in support of Indonesia, so they had to lash her planes together on deck and use the planes to move her to dock. Poor girl. Please do an episode about her.
Pinwheeling is the term as I recall. Using the air group instead of tugs.
And also ironically fought the British in 1982 during the Falklands wars.
My father tells a similar story about Melbourne docking in Hobart in the early 50s.
He was invalided out of the Navy a few years later due to hearing loss - ie no such thing as ear muffs or OH&S issues when revving turboprop engines...
@@Aren-1997
Not really fought as such, we sank the Belgrano and the 25 de Mayo skidaddled back to port without having actually done anything.
@@FallenPhoenix86 She was part of the initial invasion and the flagship of the fleet so yes she was involved and fought even if she did retreat later on. but thats, not the point anyway, the point is the irony of having a britsh built ship fighting the British.
Thanks for another great video drach! Build design a ship for 3 years and it ends up operating it for 60 sounds almost like a Royal Navy Tradition in itself:-)!
Read somewhere that HMAS Melbourne was only the third carrier in the world to be equipped with an angled flight deck. Not sure why HMAS Sydney was not similarly modified. Sydney ended its days as a troop transport during the Vietnam War, and eared the nickname The Vung Tau Ferry.
I served on HMAS Sydney ďuring national service 1956 great ship John Speed
Colossus was a nice looking boat.
Boat?
Oh, T8 premium carriers for
-France
-PAN-EU
-PAN-America
-PAN_Asia
-Britain and
-the Commonwealth
incoming... and all are basically same. WG rubs its hands :D
I believe there's a mistake; because the Dutch carrier (the Karel Doorman) was modernized in Holland and sold to Brazil, renamed as the A11 Minas Gerais, and not the Australian carrier... Wich means that the 25 de Mayo (Argentina) was not the Karel Doorman.
Negative. Karel Doorman was sold to argentine.
It's one of history's more amusing facts that temporary solutions are often the longest-lasting.
Simplicity is reliability......
I like how I am just minding my own business watching another "5 minute" video and DRACH throws a WarHammer 40k reference at me.
Have you done a series on the ebrus class of monitors? If so thank you. Keep up the great work.
great ships
You might also mention HMAS Sydney’s role as a transport during the Vietnam war. Retired as an aircraft carrier and bound for the scrap heap, she was pressed back into service and carried a great deal of Australian Army equipment to and from Vietnam, including motor vehicles on the former flight deck. She was used because the communist-controlled wharf labourers (longshoreman’s) union (the WWFA) in Sydney and other Australian ports refused to load commercial ships supporting the Australian troops in Vietnam, and threatened to black ban any cargo ship that was loaded by army personnel. So the army themselves loaded all their big stuff onto HMAS Sydney and she carried it to Saigon, and back. I don’t think any other aircraft carrier has performed a similar army transport role, unless it was US CVs bringing stuff home in 1945.
My grandfather Cliff was a 'Warfie' [Wharf Labourer] and would brissle if any body said they were communist controlled, sure they were left leaning, but it was in their charter not to become involved in any doings the political sphere.
@@nevillemignot1681 That’s interesting. The rank and file of the WWfA no doubt had a range of opinions, but most historians agree that the Communist Party of Australia had effective control of the union during the 1940s to 1970s, and perhaps even before that. Sorry I can’t quote an academic source, but a lot of information came out when the Communist Party of Australia split after the fall of the Soviet Union and can be googled. It must be borne in mind that CPA members did not advertise this fact - there were Ministers in the Whitlam Labor government of 1972-4 such as Arthur Gietzelt who were members of both the Australian Labor Party and the CPA but did not admit to the latter membership until the 1990s. CPA membership was organised on a cell basis and there was no public membership list.
@@glennsimpson7659 Look, i was only telling you what my grandfather told me, if you want to dismiss completely what he said, please do.
@@nevillemignot1681 I thought I was saying that your grandfather was telling you the truth about what he believed but that the way the CPA operated was subtle, secret and designed to hide its operations. Wharfies were mainly concerned with industrial issues - more allowances and better conditions.
@@glennsimpson7659 Look, i am just telling what my greadfather told me, he also told me he worked on the wharf's in wartime, that control of them were given over to the Army.
Great info!! Please cover the Centaur class (Centaur, Bulwark, Albion, Hermes).
Drach you raised my interests what would a British Built Version of the Essex Class be like? What would it be armed with? What would it's air groups and electronics be like? Would they modify them to have the Atlantic Bow of the later ones? Also how would they name them? That could be a special video, some year down the road.
While i can't answer the technical side of that question, the royal navy tended to take names of capital ships and fleet carriers from the same "list", as such the ship names would likely be from an Age of sail warship with historic importance, or a previous ship that had been decommissioned or lost previously (The exeption to this is if sinking was especially bad leading to the name being "retired" e.g Hood or Barham).
Good looking ship. I didn't know anything about them other than the basics.
Thank you.😀
Always find this class interesting considering they were WW2 ships which served so many nations post-war with the last one (Vikrant being scraped in 2014!). Just a shame the Indians couldn't keep the Vikrant museum, but I'm hoping on someone preserving the HMS Hermes of Falklands fame. Also interesting that the Argentine carrier fought the British in 1982 after leaving the UK over 30 years earlier.
Sorry to bust your bubble, but INS Viraat aka HMS Hermes is scheduled for scraping. There were tries to turn it into a museum but alas nothing came of it
@@soham6649 Not true actually. There has been a huge outcry to prevent this after they announced the scrapping and even if she can't be saved in India there is a businessman from the UK is verry willing to bring her back and make her a museum here.
aren berberian The Veinticinco de Mayo did not "fight" the British. The joke ran that the engines kept failing just inside territorial waters while RN submarines were just outside licking their lips! The aircraft complement flew from land bases instead.
@@Wombat1916 Yes but she launched the initial invasion even if she did retreat later on. But thats, not the point here, the point is the irony of having a British built ship vs the British.
We shared the women we shared the wine but keep your mits off our standard construct pattern.
Great videos, always learn something new :)
A guide on RN AA guns of WW-2 would be interesting. Pom-Poms, Oerlikons, Bofors etc in their varying mounts both in numbers of guns per mount and the reasons for the seemingly endless changes of them being switched out then back again on some ships.
Essex STC? By the Omnissiah, that is the most glorious archiotech! I know a certain Fabricator Locum who would pay dearly for such a thing. I thought that template was lost on Undiene during The War of The Beast.
Very informative as always packed in 10 minutes or so. For a future class to look at, how about the USCG HEC class of ships. Some of which are over 50 years old and still in front line service. Others are in the service of other countries. Thank you very much!
I remember HMS Triumph mothballed in Chatham dockyard until the early eighties when she went for scrap. Was she the last of her class in service with the Royal Navy?
Will you do anything about the tribal class destroyer’s.
Canada's Bonaventure was a bit of a scandal. It was retired without a replacement in the early 1970's by the Pierre Trudeau government, considered to be one of the more left-wing governments in Canadian history and quite anti-military. There were rumours that aerial surveillance had discovered her not scrapped in Taiwan as it should have been, but actively serving in the Taiwanese navy. Canada's naval aviation today consists of aging CP-140 Auroral/CP-140A Arcturus patrol planes (based on the Lockheed P-3 Orion) and Cyclone and Cormorant helicopters (the former off the decks of RCN warships, and the latter used in the search-and-rescue role from shore bases). All aircraft today are operated by the RCAF, which makes for interesting quarterdeck parades with 2, and possibly 3, services' dress uniforms on parade.
Interestingly, the Cormorants have extremely high airframe hours, with Cormorant 901, currently stationed at Canadian Forces Base Comox with 442 Squadron, having the highest number of airframe hours on any of the AW101s anywhere in the world.
So please tell us how he got elected.... (SOMEBODY wanted him)
Tinfoil hat territory regarding Bonnie serving in Taiwan...
I won't get into Trudeau the First since, as an American, nothing good will come of it. However, I really doubt the validity of the rumor. Taiwan had no jets capable of carrier work in 1971. The first helicopters really capable of being safely operated from a carrier were the Blackhawks received in 1986. Given that the US was really Taiwan's only source of military equipment, it seems unlikely we would have seen some evidence of it, and we wouldn't have been pleased if Taiwan had tried to pull a stunt like that. Finally, most of the steam catapult equipment was removed before Bonaventure was towed off to help repair the catapults on HMAS Melbourne.
Canada does need to make some decisions about her airpower soon. As you say, the Cormorants are about worn out, the Cyclone deliveries are much slower than forecast. The Aurora fleet is being nursed along with reduced flying hours until the structural rebuild program is completed, and even that program is unlikely to extend the out of service date for more than six years or so. My understanding is the Arcturus fleet has already been retired. The Hornet fleet has suffered a fairly high attrition rate, and the total is now down to about 85 aircraft, and some of them are already over 30 years old. Compare this to the Royal Norwegian Air Force, a country with about 20% the population of Canada, and a GDP only about 22% that of Canada. They have an air force with 46 much more modern F-16's and 19 F-35A's, soon to increase to a total of 33. Canada does have NATO obligations, and it's starting to fall behind on those due to the shrinking size and general aging of the air fleet. I hope you finally get a government that pays more attention to defense than the current one. On the plus size, however, Canada does have two of the last Hawker Hunters still in service, albeit being flown by a contractor.
Not the version I read in the Hamilton Spectator years ago. Bonnie left port after a major refit bound for Taiwan and the scrappers, Vikrant left port desperately in need of a refit. The sister ships passed each other deep in the Indian Ocean. The Bonnie arrived in Taiwan needing a major refit to continue service, while Vikrant arrived home from exercises no longer in need of a refit.
@@canuckled I've heard that one as well... It's even nuttier than the notion that the Taiwanese used her.
Will you do an individual ship review on HMS Colossus/FS Arromanches with a focus on its service record in the French Navy? Contents and materials are exceptionally scarce on the Arromanches.
Kinda funny that they had such epic names for smaller carriers: Colossus, Leviathan, Majestic, even the most venerable name, Warrior.
The Colossus Warrior & Venerable got sold to 3 countries 1 became Arromanches (HMS Colossus Mk 2) and 2 became Independence (HMS/CS Warrior) and 25th of May (HMS Venerable then NLMS Karel David Doorman Mk 2).
I remember Leviathan, she rusted away in Portsmouth dockyard and was used as storage. I used to wander the ship on occasion but she was just a shell of what she could have been, money wasted as is so often the case.
Really good ships. Royal Navy always designed and built good carriers even if British carrier aircraft in WW2 were pretty terrible.
Would agree with Firefly, but Sea Fury was postwar in service and the Firebrand was pretty awful Winkle Brown said the views for take off and landing were deadly. Blackburn made some awful aircraft except the Buccaneer which was a world beater. The later Seafires were much improved and excellent point defence fighters but still lacked range to be otherwise effective naval fighters. British Pacific Fleet except some Seafires and Fireflys was virtually all American in 1945, as the Barracuda lacked range for the Pacific
Drach, please, please, please, please, please, PLEASE do a 40K ship review!
My grandad Peter balder was a Pettie officer on this ship he’s 97 soon looking at his photos the other day
Appreciate the 40k reference
Can you please review the STUF ship Atlantic Conveyor.
Have you done any reviews of submarines?
Love your 5 minute presentations but it Does mean you have to provide a lot of information in a short time. This last video was particularly difficult as the class of a given ship bounced around a bit. Is there a chance to start or end the video with a graphic showing the progression in b&w for those of us who difficulty following the presentation? Thoughts?
I never realized that the Australian and Canadian navies operated aircraft carriers, my God the Canadian navy can barely operate 6 frigates today.
Notification squad 💪
My dad sailed in Bonaventure.
Nice STC joke
What year was that photo @2:05 with the helicopters taken?
Clerk .. may i help you?
Yes I'd like some cheap carriers ... clerk ...double the life boats?
Can you imagine the budget just for emergency gear on a super carrier .. the Ford.. Bush.
Life boats like crazy.
It’s very unfortunately that HMAS Melbourne wasn’t replace because Falkland War n it wasn’t until Timor conflict that RAN realised how vulnerable they were in handling transportation troops/supply. I still reckon 3rd Canberra class LHD should be built for air support with F35 on board.
Was any thought given to post Montana battleship design, same with the Japanese A-150 or German H class? Or do these designs represent the end of battleship era on paper.
Dead as development concepts. The only real work was on updates of the Iowa class. This lead to their 1980's refitting.
The Majestic Class ... Their Longevity may the most sincerest flattery for their designers .....loaded with Corsairs only . Possibly the most potent warship for the dollar $ .... Protection...?
KarelDoorman was equiped with an angled deck. Where was this done and when?
Do you have any info on aircraft carrier hms triumph my day served on her as a radio aircraft electrician I can’t find anything
I have some ideas for videos, the Midway-class, Lexington-class carrier, USS Langley, USS Sabel, USS Wolverinve, HMS Porcupine, the U-505, USS Barb, USS Sliversides and the Liberty Class Cargo ships.