How to Build a Battleships Main Guns - Is a Bigger Battery Better?

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Hear the voices of those who were actually there in 'Remembering Pearl Harbor', 'The Last Voices of WW1' and many others.

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Now I know everything I need to build my own naval guns. I'm off to the shed!

For the second voyage of HMS Beagle, famous for its influence on geologist Charles Darwin ideas, captain FitzRoy equipped the ship with brass guns at his own expense so they wouldn't interfere with magnetic instruments. His purchase of brass guns from Rio de Janeiro in 1832 shows that they were still relatively popular even at that date.

Drach, whenever you ask the question "should I do a video on the finer points of........", I can 100% guarante the answer is always yes, YES, A THOUSAND TIMES YES! Congratulations on you new arrival and great video as always.

As an engineer, I must compliment you on taking a very complex subject and presenting it simply enough that my wife actually listened. A very thorough and comprehensive look at a critical aspect of naval warfare.

Dear Drach, would you please do a video on the electrical systems of war ships in general and their history?

Great job, I am a Machinist and have been for decades... We still use some of these techniques to this day to produce very high pressure hydrologic and air cylinders for the military.

<sings> I like big guns I can not lie. You other sailors can't deny. When a ship sails by with itty bitty guns its not a threat. You wanna be rough you pull up in a tough. Cuz they notice when the barrels are thicc!

the liners of the 16" 50's on the Iowas, actually unwind, getting slightly longer with every shot fired. They start out flush with the muzzle, but gradually they get longer as the rifling is slightly unwound from the inertia of spinning a 2700 pound shell.

There is an amusing story about one of the M-class submarines having the muzzle of its 12-inch gun blown off during firing trails - the muzzle end remained attached to the rest of the gun by the wire winding, which unravelled as the muzzle part sank to the seabed, leaving the submarine anchored in place by its own gun.

My Grandfather was an engineer and said he was involved in making the guns for Nelson and Rodney; said they used deep wells full of whale oil to cool the vertically-lowered heated steel barrels.

I never leave home without my Drachinifel

You can see how expensive and specialised the gun making machinery was. So when a lot of it was scrapped after WW1, it was hard to reconstitute it in the run up to WW2, at least in Britain. For example, the 70 foot deep pits needed to assemble the guns and to cool them with oil (rape seed oil if I recall correctly) and the 70 foot long lathes and boring bars had to be recreated before any gun making could occur. Armour manufacture was similarly affected, which is why the belt armour for Duke of York was ordered from Czechoslovakia (and was got out by rail just before the Germans took over in Prague).

Tom Scott (The Older One) from the Battleship Texas has a very detailed video on the process of building Texas' 14 inchers. He deep dives into every single hoop and ring used as well as the assembly order. Very interesting!

The last time I was this early, HMS Captain was still afloat

Shipmate, I really like when you come over to America. I had gone to "A" School in Virginia Beach and there were a couple of chaps from the Royal Navy. Those guys were awesome! The way they carried themselves was impressive. We actually learned from them as well as the school Instructor. So, I will always have a fondness for anything from Britain and the Royal Navy in particular.

You've just kept me fascinated for a whole 39 minutes, on a subject I had zero expectations about. Superb material. Cheers.

I think, think my grandad may have been involved making these. He worked on a very long lathe in a Sheffield steel works connected with making big guns.

Any video you make is good for me! It’s interesting… and hear me out, I’m 58. I’m probably at least a couple of decades older than you, and although I’ve been something of a WW2 historian since I was around six years old, I have learned so much through your channel. For instance, until I became a “fan,” I never really understood the practicalities and/or conventions of warship guns. I never considered the tonnage or spatial budget necessary to construct a battleship or battle cruiser, so I often wistfully thought, “I wish the US would’ve made 18 inch guns.” It hadn’t occurred to me that that the weight of these and their barbettes were impractical for a ship that a) had to transit the Panama Canal, and b) needed the requisite speed to keep up with the fast carriers.
By now, I think I like the 15 inch guns ships like Valiant had as much as the 16” 50 cal. guns of the Iowas, knowing that while not having the range of Yamato’s guns, either could certainly put holes in her just the same. Only now do I get the balancing budget of propulsion vs. armor. vs. armament.

*you might appreciate this: several years ago I bought a cabin cruiser and fully intended to name her “Warspite.” Unfortunately, my girlfriend at the time hated that idea, and so I had to settle for “Rhiannon” (yes, like the Fleetwood Mac song). A decade on and she is gone as well as the boat, but I remain undaunted. If I ever get another boat, not only will she be awarded the name of the great battleship, I intend to fly the white ensign from her mast.

As someone with a background in engineering and physics, this has been one of my favorite videos you have released. Thank you for doing more in depth peices like this.