Basic Fleet Tactics - 1,000 years of holding the line

Pinned post for Q&A :)

If I've learnt anything from playing world of warships since closed beta, best tactics are for the destroyers to rush in and get sunk then the cruisers should hide behind islands until is too late to make any difference and the battleships should sail backwards keeping as far away from any enemy ship as possible.

this is gonna be good.

I'm retired now however I'd worked for 3 decades in a shipyard. I had never given any thought as to where or why the name forecastle originated. It would seem Drachinifel still is able to teach this old dog new shipbuilding facts. Thank you

No big shoota? No problem. We fight in glorious hand to hand, face to face melee combat.

I have done some sailing in Viking ships, and some getting in and out of them. It is actually quite difficult to board across the stern of a longship, even against the side of the ship. They are higher than they look. And you subject yourself to a "broadside" while going through a "bottleneck". The enemy can put three to five weapons on you and shoot on your friends behind you, while you cannot do the same to them. That is probably why it is written about when succeeding. It would take a skilled, tough, lucky and brave/insane warrior to go first.

Drach, two video ideas: 1. Details of just how Yorktown was repaired so quickly after Coral Sea, in time to fight at Midway. 2. A ship's guide to the Japanese WW2 destroyer Arashi. The fateful role she played at Midway is all I know about her.

I love that early tactics can be summed up with "sail me closer to the enemy! I want to hit them with my sword!

"Fully armored knights, leaping from fore and stern castles, literally, to make an impact." Hmm, analogue proto-Mechwarrior Death From Above attack

Nice 20,000 foot view. I like how you tie everything together narratively. That has a huge amount of value. As an addendum, it might be interesting to look at how task force formations developed during the interwar period under the influence of aircraft and submarines and the idea that a task force had to protect its most vulnerable asset: the aircraft carrier. Nimitz (before he was CINPAC) developed the idea of a circular formation, which became the standard for the US in World War II. What were the strengths and weaknesses of Japan’s and the UK’s approach to the same problem compared to the US approach. It’s yet another unfolding of “the line.” That would make a pretty interesting video.

It’s so nice to listen to someone talk about a topic that they are both knowledgeable in, and passionate about. Thanks, Drach!

That was outstanding. To me what was the most fun was starting to understand what was going on in so many marvelous naval battle paintings I’ve seen in the museums of the world (during the late age of sail). Thank you.

Next up we find Drach in his kitchen attempting to replicate Greek fire

Thank goodness! As an army guy, I've never really been able to entirely understand naval tactics until now. Thank you!

Sit down to enjoy with my cup of coffee for the day, about 20 minutes in realized this is a lot heavier of a topic and I need more coffee.

First time I’ve stumbled upon one of your videos here. I found this documentary very easy to watch, which sounds unassuming, but I think is a very under appreciated aspect of video-making. Many content creators hungry for clicks narrate at an almost breakneck speed in an overall sort of hyperactive level of presentation that bombards the viewer with quick flashes of captions and visual aides on top of the audio. I suppose it works for entertainment at least for those who don’t find it obnoxious and overwhelming to take in that much information at once. Here, your pacing was very pleasant as you explained certain intricacies or nuances in a manner and tone that almost guides the listener through the thought process of those making certain innovations like the height of the forecastle, etc. It was neither hyper nor droning and dragging. Really perfect for the mind trying to follow the information and wrap itself around new concepts. The simple visuals of amazing artwork depicting the relevant ships or the simple graphics demonstrating line formations and pursuits was perfect. Like a good teacher, you naturally hold people’s attention without gimmicks or bells and whistles and allow students’ minds enough of a chance to keep up with the information. I feel like I can watch these at the end of the day, learn a lot, and have it be relaxing and not demanding on my senses. Thanks, and take my sub! (Pun intended)

"Hold the Line!" Commissar intensifies

Would have been better if you had raw footage of a thousand years ago! Keep that in mind for next time please. :D All jokes aside I like this. I really like ship battles even though I could never have been an admiral unless someone wanted to lose an entire fleet.

Tactical formation had been the best force multiplier till very recent times(in historical perspective). WIth advancement of weaponry in silicon age after 1970 or so, force multipliers changed, and no one really deciphered them so far, in practice.

An excellent treatment of a central topic in naval warfare - as always.