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Through history there have been some truly amazing, capable warships like the mighty HMS Warspite or the legendary USS Iowa. But this list of five ships... is different. For reasons ranging from confused purposes, poor design choices and just plain old bad luck, here are five of history's worst warships!
0:00 Introduction
0:36 HMS Captain
06:49 USS Vesuvius
09:40 HMS Powerful
13:00 HMS Courageous
16:25 USS William D Porter
Oceanliner Designs explores the design, construction, engineering and operation of history’s greatest vessels- from Titanic to Queen Mary and from the Empress of Ireland to the Lusitania. Join maritime researcher and illustrator Michael Brady as he tells the stories behind some of history's most famous ocean liners and machines!
#history #engineering #war #ww2 #naval #maritime #documentary
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Could you make a what if Oceanic 3 was built I think it would be interesting
Mike, you forgot to mention the SIXTH worst warship in history. She was the H.M.S. VICTORIA. She was top-heavy, had too low a freeboard, and had a massive main gun turret; which caused the ship to sink in minutes.
Do you plan on meeting up with Drachinifel during his trip to Australia?
I'am actually impressed with knowledge and the work you put in the video....and i know what i'am talking about, becouse i was marine engineer for 8 years and fisherman until today. But i also have slovenian bestseller book. Novel about life and contraband in the 80s on the merchant ship. So, good work, keep it real and greetings from Slovenia, brother.....
Sapient was a great interesting and enjoyable book
The kamikaze pilot missed the William D Porter, and yet, still managed to sink the ship with the explosion? If that’s not the finest example of the saying “Task failed successfully”, then I don’t know what is.
Great video from Sam O Nella
Asians win even in failure
@@cpt_nordbartthat's all I could think about.
That's failure with flying colors!
Miss the ship's hull. Bomb explode under the ship. Creates a gigan bubble that lift the ship over theceater thus snapping it.
A correction regarding the section on HMS Captain. The ship was being built by a private yard according to the instructions of it's designer, the admiralty had already pointed out the ships many flaws and had no interest in building such a ship themselves but Coles was an influential man and was allowed to use a private yard to build the ship for the navy despite his lack of experience. HMS Captains loss proved that this was a mistake and future ship construction would be fully controlled by the admiralty.
It is probably lucky that Captain Coles went down with HMS Captain...
It’s a safe bet that at least one man in the Admiralty privately thought ‘Oh thank God’ when hearing that Cowper Coles was no longer around.
I was just about to post the same point myself. Not good that such an omission of fact happened on a channel normally so good for accuracy...
@@johncunningham6928 , was going to say, he wouldn't have been very popular had he survived.
I believe it was well noted that HMS Captain was sailing with other ships that also encountered the same storm, all of which came through relatively unscathed. Just a truly tragic and awful ship all around.
With the HMS Captain, you skipped over the whole crucial piece of the story; its designer Cowper Coles. He designed the ship, fought with the Admiralty for years, got the press on his side and moved forward with a design that was dangerous. The Admiralty wanted a less revolutionary design. They feared the ship would sink, and when Coles refused to make the necessary design changes they approved it, but only with the understanding that if the design was failure it would be the responsibility of Coles and the builders
Also, before the development of Captain began Coles was arguing against the issues Captain was most problematic for; excessive topweight, low freeboard, and minimal stability Thus he designed his perfect ship, with extremely low freeboard and dangerous levels of instability. Captain being the last royal navy warship built without Admiralty oversight and engineering.
A line from the Navy court marshal over the sinking of the HMS Captain says it all. "the Captain was built in deference to public opinion expressed in Parliament and through other channels, and in opposition to views and opinions of the Controller and his Department" Basically they just told the British Government "We told you this was a bad design, you didn't listen, stop trying to meddle with the navy's business."
He did cover that part....He just didn't name Coles or go into the fight details as much. But covered the basics for the most part. He could've added the detail of the PRESS being weaponized to push the ships construction more clear admittedly.
Just a small issue, the construction of HMS Captain was actually opposed by the Admiralty, it was her designer which made a list of stupid decisions, the Admiralty actually had a competing design and refused to take the Captain after she was constructed, but parliament forced them to take her.
I think the Vasa takes the cake as the most efficiently-bad warship. Not a minute of wasted time in proving itself. Inspiring, really.
I'm surprised she didn't make the list, but it's also nice to learn about ones I hadn't heard about before.
Shinano: "I was sunk at my test-drive" Vasa: "Hold my crispbread"
the English "grace dieu" might be up there in bad design
Strong breeze and down she goes... only good bit is that the area where she settled kept her remarkably well preserved allowing for her to be salvaged.
A sistership to Vasa actually did have a long career before it was deliberatly sunk nearby Vaxholm to prevent the russians to get in to the harbour of Vaxholm.
The thing about the HMS Captain was that it had little to no support from the Royal Navy. They didn't like the design, and it was only built and put into service because the designer Cowper Phipps Coles managed to get public support for his design. When the ship sank, the Royal Navy instituted a policy which ended outside interference in ship designs; everything would be "in house" from then forward.
Yeh apparently Michael has decided to ignore that massive and we'll known part of the story to get a few cheap comments and likes...
I'd like to throw in an honorable mention for IJN Mogami which had a rather interesting service life. A notable story of firing 6 torpedoes at USS Houston, all of which missed, but 5 did hit, and sink, friendly targets of the Japanese fleet, including one carrying Lieutenant General Imamura
Don't forget that she also had rammed her sister IJN Mikuma in which made both of them have to reduce speed and this lead to a bombing raid carried out by USS Enterprise where Mikuma was sunk
Ouch!
It was one of those strangely beautiful ships, even after being rebuilt as a half carrier/half cruiser. Also, a floating example of how "multi-role" typically translates as "not particularly good at anything".
Well, given the rivalry between the Japanese navy and army I'd say it managed to kill one enemy. ;)
@@timtheskeptic1147 the f35 would like to have a word about multirole, as the multirole aircraft is most capable fighter aircraft ever ;)
Something interesting about the use of the word "terrible": at the time British warships still used the word, its definition was more akin to how we'd use the word "terrifying" today than to describe something as bad. The French actually used and continue to use the word in this vein: two different French warships (a large destroyer and a ballistic missile submarine) have used the name Le Terrible.
Like Tsar Ivan the Terrible?
My former university lecturer is currently leading an effort to find the 'Captain', and the latest report says they're fundraising for an ROV expedition to look at a promising lead.
Drachinifel just posted a video about this
Furious, Courageous's half sister was even weirder. Instead of four 15 inch guns, she was to be armed with just two 18 inch guns, which were the largest that the British ever put on a ship. Half way through construction though they removed the forward gun for a small flight deck and just kept the rear one. A while later they removed the rear one as well and added a flight deck as well. But it was not connected, superstructure was still there, and only when the rest of her sisters were converted to carriers did she get a proper flight deck.
I believe they were nicknamed "Spurious and Outrageous" but I can't think of the last one!
@@christopherhill4438 perhaps Inglorious?
@@christopherhill4438 "Laborious/Uproarious" (Glorious) and "Curious" (Furious)
And became the ugliest carrier of the war. Even moreso when she got the 4” guns and tiny island. Still Males me wish Wargaming chose Courageous/Glorious instead of Furious for the mid-tier carrier
@@christopherhill4438 Spurious, Uproarius and Outrageous I believe. HMS Furious was temporarily the most heavily armed aircraft carrier in the world. One 18" gun and a flight deck. Insanity but experimental insanity. I have a lot of time for the early conversions. They taught a lot of lessons.
I would have loved to have heard the board of inquiry for the Porter. "So, would you care to explain why you fired a live torpedo towards a friendly ship that also just happened to be carrying the President of the United States?" 😂😂
"I didn't vote for him. Sir." 😊😂
"He's a democrat sir"
Looking at The Captain I thought, this is brilliant! Since the waters around England are known to be so calm and easy this design will surely never be in danger of being overwhelmed by waves. 😁
'British ridiculousness' has kept the World laughing at a respectful distance up to this very moment!
Exactly! What in the world could possibly go wrong!?
She actually sunk in the Bay of Biscay, a notoriously stormy stretch of sea. There appears to have been some sort of political in-fighting between the professionals in the Admiralty [ who opposed building the ship] and politicians responding to a publicity campaign run by Cowper Coles. One of the officers lost was the son of a politician who had insisted he serve aboard to prove his support of Coles was right.
Yeh except the story told here wasn't true, so...
Britannia rules the waves. So waves will do as Britannia says and stay calm.
There's an old book I picked up recently that I think you would find quite interesting, Mike. It's called 'The Noronic is Burning' and is about the fire aboard the Great Lakes cruise liner SS. Noronic, and the subsequent investigation into what happened. As far as I can tell, 'The Noronic is Burning' is the only book that was ever written about the event.
Fires aboard passenger ships would indeed make a good video. The Morro Castle, the Scandinavia Sun, the Dona Paz, Nironic, and others.
The ship's name was spelled S.S. 'Naronic'. Get your facts together.
@@charlestaylor253 The Noronic and the Naronic are 2 different ships. SS. Noronic burned in Toronto Harbour in 1949, and SS. Naronic sank in a storm in the North Atlantic in 1892.
@@charlestaylor253 ouch that’s gotta hurt
@@chuckaddison5134 not trying to be "that guy" but i think you mean the Scandinavian Star? (unless you mean another ship and i'm just very wrong)
The battlecruiser concept actually worked quite well when deployed in it's intended role. During the battle of Falkland Islands, British battlecruisers HMS Invincible and HMS Inflexible absolutely destroyed entire von Spee's cruiser squadron. Unfortunately, the battlecruisers were more often used as cheaper battleships, which proved to be quite deadly.
Battlecruisers worked well at the tactical level when used correctly, but at the strategic level they just cost too much to be justifiable for their role of cruiser killers. It’s only once battlecruiser designs intended to kill other capital ships came along that they really became sensible at all levels.
@@bkjeong4302 You are right, also the role of cruisers as merchant raiders have been increasingly taken over by submarines diminishing the need to for 'cruiser killers'.
@@misarthim6538 Very true. They suffered because of misuse, they were supposed to follow the doctrine of outgun anything you cant outrun and outrun anything you cant outgun. Instead they were being used as ships of the line....
Like HMS Hood trying to go head to head with the Bismark.
@@lawv804 That was actually a roughly even match, partly because Hood was a battlecruiser specced like an unusually fast fast battleship, and Bismarck was a partly obsolete battleship (well, even more obsolete than the entire battleship concept already was) for WWII standards meaning that the two ships actually had a similar amount of speed, firepower and protection.
The Porter's story was even more amusing than you say. "Ordered ... for a full inquiry" is an understatement. In actuality, the whole ship's crew was told to consider themselves under arrest until that inquiry was finished. (Legend says they were arrested and chained, but even the real thing is already over-the-top).
The Captain took its designer with her and the Admiralty (which had never exactly approved of the Captain) resolved never again to allow a private individual to build a RN vessel. I pity the poor matelots who had to suffer.
Ah yes, because the problem was TOOOTALLY that it was built by a "private individual". Who do you think the royal navy employs to design ships? Soldiers? Civilian engineers of course. Let's not act like the ship sunk because "muh incompetent civvies". It sunk because the people who ordered it never actually wanted it, took no serious part in the design, and didn't provide crucial input into the design. You get what you pay for. Don't blame others because the people you employed to design a ship couldn't read your mind.
I remember the Porter's story from a Sam O'Nella video, and still love the way it was mentioned as the kamikaze plane suddenly finding itself under the ship and going "oh yeah, *clears throat violently* banzai! :D" (followed by explosion)
Competing with Willy Dee as an extrenely unlucky ship, I present to you the heavy cruiser Mogami. To make it short... She's suspected to have sunk up to 5 friendly ships after missing her original target with a spread of torpedoes (either by herself or combined with Fubuki's torpedoes as well). Next, she rammed her sister ship Mikuma during the battle of Midway, and last but not least, during the battle of Surigao Strait she rammed another heavy cruiser, the Ashigara-class Nachi: that collision caused issues like a fire that, a while later, reached her loaded torpedo tubes and making them explode.
+1 Another great example of a ship that should have been on this list.
Hey, atleast she has a hand in sinking ships.
Friendly I think you mean, as 'allied' is a descriptor of their opponents in that war. In Mogami's case I think luck had less to do with it than competence.
@@mandowarrior123 the only incompetence was the helmsman (and possibly the captain). But other than that she did ok and had a hand in sinking enemy ships. But in terms of the level of incompetence, I wouldn't put her ramming her sister ships above almost sinking the US pride battleship with the president on board and the depth charge incident. The only "bad luck" part about the Willie D was the kamikaze she shot down still managing to sink the goddamn ship even in death.
@@mandowarrior123the
Its stupid, but I had a hard day full of mean heartless peoples. Hearing "its your friend Mike" really moved me. Thanks for the quality content. This nice video took me out of my day and made me relax a little.
My great uncle served aboard the USS Missouri. Saturday nights, after a few pints, he'd tell us kids random war stories and remarked how he and the crew would just wish the Wille D would just run aground somewhere.
As a guy from Sweden I´m kind of suprised of not seeing the royal ship Vasa not in the video. It´s the ship that don´t really have a good record so.
+1 yet another ship that should have been on this list.
I agree, you would think that a ship that hardly made it out of the port before sinking because of slight breeze to be on this list. I visited the Vasa museum this summer, it was ming boggling to see the huge ship that spent over 300 years in the bottom of the ocean preserved in whole, with skeletons and facial reproductions of the deceased found on board.
Weird that your section on the Captain skips the whole drama regarding the ships design and construction to begin with - namely that it was the pet project of an influential British dude and that the navy didn't actually want it anyway, but the designer had so many connections he forced it through anyway.
That was weird, the British Admiralty really was forced unto this
Strange that, it's almost like this video was pandering to a particular audience.
@@rustlemyjimmyswhich one?
There was also the part about the Porter stationed in Alaska (after the Iowa incident), where a shell was fired into the base commander's yard during a party. As if the ship or its crew needed another black mark. I did almost expect the Vasa to be on the list, as the rest of the ships were on for boneheaded designs, but she never really got to be a warship given that she outdid the Captain in waterline armament and being under-ballasted, so the first cannon salute toppled her. On top of that, the design just didn't work right and the port/starboard sides were asymmetrical due to different countries' definition of "one foot".
Legend Mikey. Loved the empress video. Can’t wait for the live stream
I don't think you can say that Jutland disproved the battle cruiser idea. All it proved was that if you try to use battle cruisers against battleships, while also going against just about every best practice when it comes to ammunition handling, then they're going to have a bad time. I think a better representation of being used for their intended purpose, was the battle of the Falkland Islands.
I've always thought of it, as people trying to use a fine knife as a screw driver, or good adjustable wrench as a hammer. They can work very well for their intended purpose, but if you try using them for something their not made for, they'll not work well and you'll probably end up ruining them.
I second this statement. When used to bully smaller ships like they are intended, Battlecruisers are really good at killing other cruisers.
The battlecruisers of both sides were never intended to fight battleships, nor did they do so voluntarily. It's an old myth that battlecruisers were meant to be part of the battle line. At Jutland, the British and German battlecruisers engaged each other, not the battleships.
@@Cailus3542 Firstly, we shouldn't just say "battlecruisers" as a whole as there are at least 3, if not 4 generations of battlecruisers. What's true for 1st gen battlecruisers (eg Invincible & Indefatigable) is not nessasarily true for 2nd or 3rd gen ones. Okay, during a fleet battle (like Jutland) the battlecruisers were meant to scout for the fleet and engage the opponents cruiser (or battlecruiser) screen, allowing your destroyers etc freedom of action for when the battleships engage. But once you've sunk the enemy cruisers and the battleships are engaging, you've got a bunch of ships with battleship calibre guns, what are they going to do, go home then? No, the intention was for the battlecruiser squadron engage the enemy battleships, adding their weight of fire, while not receiving much in return because they should be firing at the battleships, then to accelerate out in front of the rest of the battle line and cross the T of the enemy. But then by the time you get to 3rd gen battlecruisers (eg Hood, the "basically a fast battleship" stage), they definitely were being thought of as being used to go toe to to with battleships when the need called for it.
Mike's dipping into Drachinifel territory with this one.😀
The Willie D also was transferred to the Pacific fleet after the whole "oops almost blew up the President's boat" incident, with a new captain. When it was there, moored in an Alaskan harbor, several drunk crew members decided to fire the 5 inch. It just so happened the shell hit the yard of the base commander, while he was hosting a reception. Funny enough, that was her last mistake. She participted in the Philippines campaign, and then was sunk as described in the battle of Okinawa. The crew did manage to keep it together after tanking that hit for 3 full hours, and no one was killed while abondoning ship, so in that sense it was rather lucky.
Another great video! If you haven't covered the story before, I think you should make a video on the disastrous journey of the Kamchatka.
Hi Mike, really enjoyed this. Something worth mentioning about the Courageous class is that their lightweight construction was a result of a desire to end the stalemate on the Western Front by attacking Germany via the Baltic sea, shallow draught being a necessity for this work. Unfortunately, this resulted in such flimsiness that Courageous took significant structural damage to her foredeck and hull whilst running at speed in a heavy head sea. They really were just glorified high- speed monitors, which, predictably for the RN, still found themselves in the battle line, though fortunately for the crews, without seeing any significant action.
Thanks for another awesome video. A small notice, yes, the Courageous class was officially build as Baltic sea focused ships, but I've read in several books that it was apparently a disinformation to fool German command, and their actual function was "finishing off" enemy ships after large naval battles, similar to quirky Arrogant-class "ramming cruisers", albeit being a way more bigger than them. P.S. I recommend to read about Peresvet-class pre-dreadnaughts, basically they're the russian version of Powerful-class cruisers. A good candidate for one of the worst ships.
been loving your most recent videos! i love the "bad ship makeover" videos! please do more
Your greeting these days never fails to make me smile - so good to know we have a friend out there.
Love the fancy suit. Great video as always. Love the tie
When your only good quality is that you're good at shooting down aircraft, and you're sunk by an aircraft that's exploding *below you*, that's not bad luck, that's a bad joke.
Imaging being a ship so goofy your own torpedo wants to sink you
Kamchatka!!!
Unfortunately some WW2 US submarines were lost to their own torpedoes which circled back. Don't remember if they were Mk 14's.
The fact that the William D. Porter was able to inflict significant damage upon the enemy and sank with no loss of life is in my opinion the very definition of lucky.
Same I also think if they shot down planes, they did thier jobs. Planes that were probably bombing larger ships in a formation they were escorting
Your take on the Willie D's luck reminds me of Roscoe Turner. Race pilot Roscoe Turner was well in the lead of one race and just about set to win it when his engine came apart in his face. Through sheer skill, guts and luck, he managed to make a safe landing. (He didn't even crash!) As he staggered away from his plane an onlooker came up to him and said, "Gee, Roscoe, what bad luck that you lost the race!" "BAD luck?" Roscoe boomed. "Boy, when something like that happens to you and you walk away from it, that's GOOD luck!"
@@jasonstanley7326 Running AA picket was an important role for US Destroyers.
The Fletchers only had shooting enemy warships as a secondary purpose, after all. Their primary purpose was to add their battery of five 5" guns to the carrier's.
TBF, at the time, "terrible" would have been more commonly used in the sense of "causing terror, alarm or fear" when that HMS Terrible (the 6th or 7th ship to bear the name) was launched, much like "awesome" used to mean "inspiring a feeling of reverantial respect combined with fear or wonder".
my grandfather served for 2 years on a gearing-class destroyer (a second upgrade/successor to the fletcher), the Newman K. Perry which was nicknamed the "Bloomin Newman" due to the amount of collisions it had and its participation in "Operation Crossroads" the 1946 atomic bomb test.
My next door neighbor was the commanding officer of the Newman K Perry. CDR Curtis Christopher Davis. He and my father were good friends. Everyone called him Skip.
Really enjoy these videos you put together Mike. Well produced, nice range and mix of old film clips and images, and on some...really well done animations. Been subbed for a while, and recommended this channel as nice, light easy to digest viewing...while still being interesting and informative. Just wanted to say thanks for doing them!
Alternate names for the ships on this list, based on performance: HMS Captain = HMS Bloop Bloop Bloop USS Vesuvius = USS Pop Gun HMS Powerful and HMS Terrible = HMS White Elephant and HMS Awful HMS Courageous = HMS Paper Cannon USS William D Porter = USS Jonah
Good timing Mike 😁 just in time to watch while I count inventory
Happy counting!
Inventory of what
@@goosehubtheshipnerd Cannabis 😶🌫️😆
@@NealBones right…
Hello there, Mr. Brady! Great to have a new video!
You forgot how the Willie Dee’s crew got drunk and fired a 5 inch shell into the base commanders front lawn while he was holding a party
HMS captain started the fine British tradition of proving privatization doesn't work. 😮💨
Love ya Michael doin a great job!☺️
No mention of Vasa (enough said), HMS Indefatigable (a ship designed to kill cruisers that could easily be killed by those same cruisers), Surcouf (why not to combine subs, cruisers and aircraft carriers on a single ship), Duquesne (a cruiser with virtually no armour that could easily have been beaten into a burning wreck by almost any contemporary destroyer, let alone another cruiser) or the French floating abominations/predreadnoughts? William D. Porter doesn’t deserve to be on this list, and I’d argue HMS Powerful doesn’t either. The loss of Glorious was even stupider than the design of her class. She was sunk literally because her captain was too stupid to check where the enemy was (even though he easily could have); if he hadn’t been that stupid, Glorious would have found out where the German forces were before the Germans even knew she was there and simply gotten out of the way.
The Duquesne-class gets a bit of unfair treatment. Alex Clarke did a good video last year looking into what that class were intended to be and why they were what they were. There was logic behind it, not bad design.
Also: - I-400 class submarine and aircraft carrier hybrid. After Admiral Yamamoto died no one knew what to do with them - KMS Graf Zeppelin, again a ship no one knew what to do with it. Wasn't even completed - SMS Lützow, only lasted 3 months before getting sunk at Jutland - IJN Ise class battleship after being converted into battleship-carrier hybrid - KRI Irian, basically a big f*ck you to Dutch aircraft carrier
The battlecruiser concept proved itself at the battle of Falkland. It was never supposed to fight the enemy capital ships, as Jutland would prove painfully. The Courageous - class was old admiral`s folly and no one had guts and self sacrifition to oppose. Best thing that could be done was a conversion into carriers, which was marginally successful. But the idiocy of Fisher`s baltic dream don`t make the whole concept of BC:s a failure. It became obsolete in the introduction of fast battleships. And as the british battlecruisers got more armour during the interwar period (and Hood even under construction during the WW1, after the lessons from Jutland) it can be argued that all the RN battlecruisers were more like fast battleships in the eve of WW2, albeit with only marginally sufficient protection.
I've been searching for the ship Hms Captain and her story of her poorly designed low freeboard for some time now, and stumbled upon your video. Thanks for the relief!
kzhead.info/sun/gdOfhcypn1-Jao0/bejne.html Here's a slightly more in depth video from a naval historian
Mike, as entertaining and fascinating as the normal kinds of content is that you regularly provide, the funny quips and smile that sarcastically said "what could go wrong?!" we're absolutely priceless. I loved it!
In historical sinkings, even when there were no casualties, I always think of the ship's cat(s). I'm sure their survival was rare. Rest in peace, feline comrades ❤️
I'm not so sure, as animals often senses danger before humans do. If the rats are the first to leave, the ship's cat would probably follow shortly after.
@blondbraid7986 Sensing danger is different from being able to escape it. And while cats are agile and generally good at looking out for themselves, a sinking ship is a fraught place. As they submerge, cavernous spaces fill with water and anything nearby can get sucked inside. You can fall through air pockets too, and if it's a military ship, burning oil floating on the water is often a danger as well. Good hearted people might think of the cat, but wouldn't necessarily want to risk being trapped inside the ship trying to catch the wiley critter. In general, animal suffering wasn't a high priority in times past.
Oscar/Unsinkable Sam, survivor of the Bismarck, HMS Cossack, and HMS Ark Royal: "Weakness disgusts me."
@remkirkthegamer1157 sure, there are some. Most weren't so lucky.
I listened to Sapiens audio book many years ago. It was narrated by the author. If you are interested in history, anthropology, archeology; you won't be disappointed with this book. It was incredibly fascinating and educational for a layman.
Question, mainly for the people here. Oceanliner designs + central crossing + skynea history + maybe drachinifel = the naval history squad. Could it happen? Should it happen? On a better note, i think it would be cool to see a list of the some of the most let down ships in history. Ships that set out to achieve great things only to be let down by a mix of bad decisions, bad luck, poor construction or design flaws among other factors.
I’d love to at least see an Ocean Liner Designs + Drach collab!
@@andrewp8284 A colab on armed merchant cruisers / raiders would be an obvious choice. The UK - Austraila time difference might make it a bit difficult though
Lmao - the WDP was so goofy it's kind of charming. Thanks for another smashing doc, Mike!
Love your channel! I learn so much every time I watch your videos. Recently, I got to see the titanic! Wow, just wow. To see a piece of the hull and touch a piece of steel from her was just an amazing experience. To see the engine telegraph and everything else that museum had to offer. It makes it so real again great channel. It would be immensely fun if you did like a meet and greet Titanic/ship seminar here in America. maybe like Duluth.
Again a really good video from the friendliest ship yt channel out there.
This was a great video! I thoroughly enjoyed it and knew nothing of any of these ships beforehand. Good job and I hope to see more of these types of videos coming.
Where is Indefatigable? the Dreadnought armored cruiser that could have it's armor beaten by armored cruisers, ships that (A) she was intended to dominate, and (B) her predecessors (the Invincible class) could easily withstand as seen at the Battle of the Falkland Islands, even the Indefatigable's sisters were better protected than her, and I'm not even talking about the skirt and pendant
I expect Mike is trying not to clone a recent(ish) video that Drachinifel made on some poor engineering choices on warships, including some different vessels as well.
@@oriontaylor or spare the repeated beatings the Invincible and Indefatigable classes.
HMS Furious is my personal favorite of the Courageous class, she was finished with an aft mounted turret sporting a single 18-inch gun while forward of her superstructure was a flight deck for launching and recovering aircraft making her the most heavily armed aircraft carrier ever commissioned. Landing procedures for aircraft was also hilarious, you would fly your aircraft into the exhaust smoke from her funnel and at the last second swing around to dodge the superstructure and funnel hopefully bleeding off enough speed to come in to a graceful landing on the flight deck and not hitting the only appreciably armored part of the ship: the conning tower.
I think it's worth mentioning that the designer of HMS Captain had friends in high places... Also, the British admiralty DID NOT want her!
It reminds me of a friend who was a Naval Architect statement " The path to progress, is paved by over the path of failure"
Another interesting posting Mike, however I would add another ship to the list: the Russian "Novgorod", a circular monitor! While not being totally uncontrollable as sometimes described, they did have a tendency to spin unless very carefully handled. The "Powerful" and "Terrible" were successful in that they met the intended criteria, but those criteria were based on faulty intelligence of the capabilities of the Russian cruisers. They introduced watertube boilers saved weight and could produce the high output levels of steam to make their top speed. Like much new and unfamiliar technology the crew took time to learn to handle the boilers efficiently, but the ships proved good steamers and the high freeboard enabled them to maintain speed in a seaway. Unfortunately there was not a real role for them in the late Victorian Navy. One point: I do not like the use of "The HMS ...", members of the RN would never use "the" and "HMS" together. Say it in full and it sounds rather ridiculous: "The Her/His Majesty's Ship...". On the other hand "The USS" is quite permissible.
+1 that's atleast 4 other ships mentioned in the comments that deserved to be on this list over some of the entries.
The Novgorod wasn't the only one, there was a sister ship 'Popov' too, named after the ships designer Vice Admiral Andrei Popov.
You so need to make a video about the Russian Baltic Fleet in the Russo-Japanese war.
Actually, there are two very good videos about the 'Voyage of the Damned' on Drachinifel's channel
That was what inspired IJN doctrine during WW2, focusing on a single decisive battle
Your videos are very well put together! I am glad I found this channel! Keep the good stuff coming Mike!
You should definitely do a collab with Drachinifel
Talking about courageous class. We shouldn't have miss the JMS Furious's 18 inch guns. Really the biggest glass cannon ever.
Admiral: "We need names for those two ships - that must be powerful" Queen: "Powerful is a good name for that ship" Admiral "No, that's terrible" Queen: "Fine, so that ship is Terrible and the other ship is Powerful. I admire how you find all this names for our ships."
This was just the most sheer FUN I've had with your episodes...and I thought I had a lot of fun with all the others, too. I just loved it! Mahalo!
Somewhere in the North Sea, HMS Indefatigable is breathing a sigh of relief at not being included.
Not the Indie! 😂
I love that show!
@Tenacious Rodent I honestly don't know what show you mean. If my comment is a reference to a show that's totally coincidental.
@@bo7341 Hornblower.
@@bo7341 I think it was more in reply to my comment which was yes....a Hornblower reference!
Admiral Kuznetsov probably is not considered old enough to be present on the list.
I've found your channel just a couple days ago and I'm delighted! Thank you for the content you're creating, it's really awesome and binge-worthy (I'm in fact trying to pace myself, lest I run out of videos to watch lol)
That was fun! Very informative and enjoyable to watch. Subscribed.
Hi Mike 👋 I have been subscribed to your channel for a while now, and I have to say that I'm truly enjoying your content:) So much history and facts that I learn from:) Personally, my heart is with Titanic ❤️ In my opinion, nothing comes close to her:) Tragic story nevertheless, but she has always fascinated me:) I just wanted to say thank you for what you do, and keep these videos coming:) Best regards, Nikki from Norway
Thanks so much Nikki!
Mike, I don't know how familiar with the game "Stormworks", but several people have built ships in it similar to the HMS Captain shown. And, much like the Captain, they also tend to flounder in rough weather😂
HMS Commodore by GBDanny96 is an example
Read of the Captain many years ago. In St Flannan's Cathedral in Ballina Co Clare on the banks of Loch Derg there is memorial plaque on the wall inside the cathedral to someone lost on the Captain.
I don't think I've ever commented on an ad before, but I've read "Sapiens" and consider it a watershed book in describing human development. I'm now reading the sequel, "Homo Deus" which is just as interesting.
You didn't mention the Swedish warship Vasa, which was so top-heavy she sank at the dock before ever getting to sea at all. (The Swedes somehow managed to raise her, and she now enjoys a happy and successful career as a tourist attraction in a museum.)
Indeed, as a Swede, I'm borderline offended she wouldn't make the list.
Then there’s USS Galena - an ironclad that was so bad at being an ironclad that it’s armor was stripped off.
OT: What a great choice of background music! the Divertimento n° 138! My post are sometimes critical but, all in all, your videos are a pleasure to watch! Thank you Mike! 👋👋👋
Aww you do long form videos too?!! I've only ever seen your titanic shorts until this popped up in my recommended and when I clicked I recognized you immediately! Awesome, I like long form so much better. You got a new subscriber
Honestly I don’t think the Willy D deserves to be on this list. Bad luck? Perhaps. But in combat she and her crew performed their duty til the end and that’s something worth remembering.
Most of her screwups also never happened (the torpedo incident, however, is real).
Wasn't there a sailor that survived the willy d, the lusitania, and the titanic?
That was cool. Thanks my friend Michael. Ok, here we go. Have you ever considered a retrospective of USS Indianapolis? I realize it wasn't the ship's fault but it IS a fascinating story of naval history none-the-less.
Fascinating information! As always great video Mike!
Love your channel, and glad you’re doing warships as well!
The admiralty wanted nothing to do with Captain; it truly was public and parliamentary pressure that got her built.
The Captain reminds me of a couple of warships built by the US Navy in I think the 1840s. They wanted to augment her sails with steam engines, but instead of going with the new screw propeller design they took two paddlewheels, turned them 90 degrees, and mounted them below the waterline. Very weird design, and I don't know if they saw much action.
Interesting, a quick search finds out that it was called the "Hunter Wheel" (named after its creator) and they indeed tried it on a couple of ships in the 1840s just to find out that the power loss was enormous and propellers were the future anyway. I presume they mainly wanted to try hide the large and fragile paddlewheels from enemy fire. ...but what I was not able to quickly find was any drawings how the mechanisms actually looked like. Paddlewheels are after all humongous.
Just a great channel, interesting history, very well presented, and what a lovable well spoken dude!
Surprised that the VAASA was not on the list, if not number 1.
William D Porter is one of the ships I wish was in Azure Lane. Just imagine her as a bad luck plagued chaos magnet constantly accidnetelley shooting at her fellow ship girls and just always getting into bad situation but somhow getting out ok...when asked why they keep her around Enterprise just shrugs and awkwardly says "Shes good at shooting down aircrafts...i guess."
Just discovered your channel via the algorithm today. Fantastic content, and by looking at the catalog, I will greatly enjoy watching them all.
I love how the Courageous class were 'protected cruisers' with essentially no protection at all
Should research the Russian circular war ship for another completely useless warships
Point of order: the actual worst warship in history didn't make this list. No ship can ever top the Russian Armed Auxiliary ship Kamchatka.
I can see torpedo boats... 🤪
This video has some of the best editing of any Oceanliner Designs vid so far
I heard about an incident that some people say didn't happen. After the torpedo incident with the USS Iowa, the destroyer and her crew were sent to Alaska (I think) where they did a lot of training. They were able to prove their worth during that time and were given orders to deploy to the front in the Pacific. In celebration, one of the crew fired one of the guns towards shore (since they practiced that too, I believe) but this shell landed in the base commander's front yard. Allegedly the incident was swept under the rug since the ship was leaving the next day and the commander didn't want to do paperwork. This was not part of official records which is why most say it didn't happen.
Surprised to not see Regalskeppet Vasa featured here as that is definitely the pinnacle of bad ship engineering. Maybe the video should be titled History's Worst British Warships?
Us Sam O’ Nella Fans know ALL about the Willy D!
Ha - a great idea for a video, and brilliantly presented again. You are SO entertaining and fun to listen to.
I'd love more videos on Warships! Also the name of this video cracked me up xD
Yay another great video