The Battle of Empress Augusta Bay with special guest Drachinifel-Episode 220

Comments · 444

• JI

  @jimdavidsmith4374 · 3 years ago

  I'm always impressed by Drachs' ability to speak on Naval History, off the top of his head.  The depth and breadth of his knowledge is truly impressive.

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• PH

  @philb7789 · 2 years ago

  Love the videos with Drac. You watch one of his videos and 3 hours later you’re learning about French steel manufacturing for ship building in WW1 and wondering how in the heck you got here. Great work gentleman.

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• PE

  @pedenharley6266 · 3 years ago (edited)

  I knew a gentleman in his final years who had been a plank owner on Montpelier and had served on that ship on a 40mm mount throughout the war.  As a child he had known true poverty during the depression, and while he didn’t talk too much about the fighting his ship saw with a kid like me, he always wanted to talk about the gedunk aboard his ship.  He loved ice cream and he had never eaten so much good food before in his life.   I had been looking forward to this episode as I remember this now deceased friend.  Thank you for making it, and tonight I will lift a bowl of ice cream in memory of Jim and in thanksgiving for his service and that of his shipmates.

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• BL

  @blueboats7530 · 3 years ago

  USS Foote was towed to Florida Island (Solomons) for integrity repairs, then was barge towed all the way to San Pedro for full repairs and modernization.  Participated in combat for the last year of the war, remarkable.

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• SA

  @saenole66 · 3 years ago

  Outstanding episode. Drachinfel is a wonderful resource. He did an episode on 18th century shipboard food and actually cooked some hardtack biscuits and salted beef and ate it with his wife laughing in the background. He is a treasure.

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• LT

  @lt.petemaverickmitchell7113 · 3 years ago

  Drach! This is awesome glad to see you.<br>Hey now let’s just work in a way to reinforce that Warspite is the greatest battleship ever and we’ll be good.😂😉

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• JD

  @jdunlap2 · 3 years ago

  Another outstanding episode gentlemen! Really appreciate Drachinifel&apos;s unbiased views as well! Regarding the question near the end about the location of the repair base the USS Foote was towed too, here is an excerpt from her history from &nbsp;Naval History and Heritage Command. &quot;Putting into Vella Lavella 1 October 1943 with an LST convoy which she had joined at sea, Foote joined in fighting off an enemy air attack later that day, splashing at least one plane. She escorted the LSTs back to Guadalcanal, returning to convoy duty until covering the landings on the Treasuries 26 and 27 October. She put out from Purvis Bay 31 October to bombard Buka and the Shortlands, neutralizing enemy airfields to prevent air opposition to the Bougainville landings. Alerted to the movement of an enemy task force, Foote made contact by radar in the early morning of 2 November, and in the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay which followed, she was hit by an enemy torpedo which blew off her stern, as the other ships of her division launched the torpedo attacks which helped sink two Japanese ships and turned back the planned assault by the Japanese task force on the shipping off Bougainville. With 3 killed and 17 wounded, Foote&apos;s men kept their ship afloat despite the fact that both engines were stopped, steering control lost and the main deck awash aft. They also manned their guns to splash at least one wave of Japanese planes which attacked the American ships the next morning. She was towed into Purvis Bay 4 November for repairs.&quot; &nbsp;Also, the battle damage report from Navsource.com indicates several fuel oil tanks were damaged and exposed to the sea which probably explains the report the water in the fuel that shut down the boilers. Again, my compliments to Seth, Captain Toti and Drachinifel for another outstanding broadcast!

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• CH

  @Christopher-os7eo · 3 years ago

  Awesome overload this morning. My two favorite channels combined!

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• DO

  @dougm5341 · 3 years ago

  Thanks guys for making my boring evening more enjoyable. &nbsp;Your efforts are greatly appreciated….

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• DA

  @davemachoukas6175 · 3 years ago

  Can&apos;t beleive you don&apos;t have more subscribers. &nbsp;You re very good at what you do. Thank you for your hard work and dedication.

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• OL

  @OldNavyVet1972 · 3 years ago

  My father was a radioman on the bridge of the USS Stanley during this battle. A couple of years before he died he was telling me this story and I asked him to write it down. He conveyed the chaos of the night and the air attack the following day. I am grateful he wrote this and will pass it to my children. Recently, I was reading about the Stanley engine room crew. They had an exhaust leak and had to tend the boilers through the night using oxygen canisters. God bless them all

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• FO

  @FoxMarrion · 3 years ago

  Drachinifel is an outstanding presenter of naval history, and your vision and analysis is pertinent and valuable as we are heading for war and it is our future advisary whom has the manufacturing advantage in the coming war.

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