The Drydock - Episode 107

Dry Dock Question: USS Minneapolis and USS New Orleans suffered the loss of portions of their bow at the battle of Tassafaronga, the Minneapolis losing back to forward of A turret and New Orleans losing her forward turret but keeping B turret. Both ships were repaired and New Orleans used Minneapolis's b turret in place of her lost A turret. Where did the spare turret for Minneapolis come from, did a new turret have to be manufactured from scratch? In more general terms what "spares" are made for warships. Are most major spare parts the result of items already procured for cancelled hulls or do the try and build a few extra turrets as a production run. I know they make extra barrels for various guns as these are a wear item, but I am thinking of other major assemblies, like stem castings, rudders, things like that. Thanks!

Dry dock Question: In an alternate universe where Austria-Hungary can lend its support to the German fleet at Jutland, what sort of a difference would it make if they were able to contribute all four Tegetthoffs to join the German fleet? If this impact would be negligible, would it make much more difference if they were Ersatz Monarchs?

QnA: How were messages conveyed between warships and task forces in the Dreadnought era? I understand that ships tended to use signal lamps within a formation to maintain radio silence and encrypted transmissions when communicating beyond line of sight, but what about when a battle has begun? Did the ships within a task force continue to use their signal lamps, or did they just throw caution to the wind and use a shortrange radio the moment they came under fire?

Q/A What were the basic training (physical and mental readiness) differences compared to joining the army? Was it harder or easier and how did this vary across the major naval powers in ww1/ww2?

There is no better sound on earth than Bagpipes vanishing into the distance.

The Senkari

Mildly disappointed that this one doesn't have the answer to the Elbonian question yet...

leops1984

Thanks Drach! Enjoying a cold beer and a drydock after a long day. Cheers!

Q - If a full invasion of the Japanese home islands had been necessary what role was envisioned for the Royal Navy?

Mark Persad

Welcome to Drachinifel's "Solved Mysteries"

Matt Osborne