Complete directory
Explore every watch point in reverse video-date order, then in timestamp order within each video.
Tsingtao provides the starting point for a counterfactual in which the January 1939 confrontation grows into an earlier war in the Far East.
From Tsingtao 1939: WWII but in January & against Japan - P1 Introduction to Patreon Video 4 ·
The incident is placed amid the Sino-Japanese War, attacks on foreign interests, Soviet-Japanese fighting, and a Europe already strained by Munich and the Spanish Civil War.
From Tsingtao 1939: WWII but in January & against Japan - P1 Introduction to Patreon Video 4 ·
Britain and the United States could support Chinese Nationalists while American oil, steel, and scrap exports still sustained Japanese military industry.
From Tsingtao 1939: WWII but in January & against Japan - P1 Introduction to Patreon Video 4 ·
Treaty ports, foreign possessions, and advancing Japanese forces left Hong Kong exposed and made Tsingtao strategically significant.
From Tsingtao 1939: WWII but in January & against Japan - P1 Introduction to Patreon Video 4 ·
The Nanking Massacre, the capture of Wuhan, and air raids on civilian areas show the violence already surrounding any foreign naval intervention in China.
From Tsingtao 1939: WWII but in January & against Japan - P1 Introduction to Patreon Video 4 ·
Soviet aid to China and Japan's limited 1938 clash at Lake Khasan fed a belief that outside powers could be tested without provoking a general war.
From Tsingtao 1939: WWII but in January & against Japan - P1 Introduction to Patreon Video 4 ·
Extensive American trade sustained Japan's war effort even as relations worsened, while its naval air arm had not yet reached the strength associated with the later Pacific War.
From Tsingtao 1939: WWII but in January & against Japan - P1 Introduction to Patreon Video 4 ·
The seizure revolved around a slow merchant vessel with a tangled registration, ownership, and operating history, and an uncertain account of its voyage.
From Tsingtao 1939: WWII but in January & against Japan - P1 Introduction to Patreon Video 4 ·
HMS Birmingham and the small sloop HMS Folkestone raced from the Weihaiwei base toward the seized merchantman, revealing the value of local naval presence.
From Tsingtao 1939: WWII but in January & against Japan - P1 Introduction to Patreon Video 4 ·
Japan's January 1939 carrier-fighter force still relied on Nakajima A4N biplanes, sharply limiting the capability later associated with the Zero.
From Tsingtao 1939: WWII but in January & against Japan - P1 Introduction to Patreon Video 4 ·
Three Japanese heavy cruisers confronted HMS Birmingham and lightly armed HMS Folkestone, creating a sharp imbalance in firepower but a dangerous diplomatic tripwire.
From Tsingtao 1939: WWII but in January & against Japan - P1 Introduction to Patreon Video 4 ·
Missing Foreign Office records prevent certainty about the merchantman's reported diplomatic papers, although a routine communique is treated as more likely than a British back channel.
From Tsingtao 1939: WWII but in January & against Japan - P1 Introduction to Patreon Video 4 ·
Captain Eric Brind and Birmingham's experienced China Station personnel could draw on local languages, relationships, and regional knowledge during the confrontation.
From Tsingtao 1939: WWII but in January & against Japan - P1 Introduction to Patreon Video 4 ·
Birmingham placed itself between the merchantman and Japanese cruisers, while Folkestone's shallow draft and modest profile made a second British ship a pointed but less provocative signal.
From Tsingtao 1939: WWII but in January & against Japan - P1 Introduction to Patreon Video 4 ·
Sunday delays and boat-borne messages frustrated negotiations until Captain Brind declared that the British ships and merchantman would leave at eight the next morning.
From Tsingtao 1939: WWII but in January & against Japan - P1 Introduction to Patreon Video 4 ·
Edward Ashmore combined local language and family experience with the low rank of a midshipman, making his party capable but difficult to portray as an aggressive escalation.
From Tsingtao 1939: WWII but in January & against Japan - P1 Introduction to Patreon Video 4 ·
Ashmore, a petty officer, and four ratings prevented another boarding through formal obstruction, creating a tiny but politically potent tripwire aboard the merchantman.
From Tsingtao 1939: WWII but in January & against Japan - P1 Introduction to Patreon Video 4 ·
Folkestone, SS St Vincent de Paul, and Birmingham left Tsingtao in that order while Japanese and British guns were trained across the confrontation, yet no shots were fired.
From Tsingtao 1939: WWII but in January & against Japan - P1 Introduction to Patreon Video 4 ·
The slow escort to Shanghai becomes the setting for a conjectured clash between a more cautious Japanese Navy and army officers pressing it to avenge a perceived dishonour.
From Tsingtao 1939: WWII but in January & against Japan - P1 Introduction to Patreon Video 4 ·
In the video's legal interpretation, Japan may have had a valid complaint about the declared voyage, while the seizure violated flag-state jurisdiction in international waters.
From Tsingtao 1939: WWII but in January & against Japan - P1 Introduction to Patreon Video 4 ·
The scenario diverges when Ashigara pursues the slow convoy in daylight and torpedoes the merchantman while avoiding direct fire on the Royal Navy escorts.
From Tsingtao 1939: WWII but in January & against Japan - P1 Introduction to Patreon Video 4 ·
HMS Emerald retained her original seven six-inch guns until a wartime reduction made after 1943.
From An Introduction to the "E" Class; part 2 - HMS Enterprise ·
Enterprise and Emerald combined unusually large light-cruiser dimensions, high speed, long range, modest armour, and a heavy torpedo outfit.
From An Introduction to the "E" Class; part 2 - HMS Enterprise ·
Enterprise tested a forward twin six-inch turret that helped develop arrangements later used in Leander and Arethusa-class cruisers.
From An Introduction to the "E" Class; part 2 - HMS Enterprise ·
Large light cruisers were intended to counter surface raiders, while lighter cruisers handled scouting and commerce protection.
From An Introduction to the "E" Class; part 2 - HMS Enterprise ·
Enterprise joined the Fourth Cruiser Squadron in the East Indies while the Navy continued to monitor the fatigue and reliability of her experimental turret mount.
From An Introduction to the "E" Class; part 2 - HMS Enterprise ·
Enterprise helped remove Haile Selassie from French territory amid fears that an Italian reaction could widen the Abyssinian crisis.
From An Introduction to the "E" Class; part 2 - HMS Enterprise ·
Liverpool and Manchester relieved Emerald and Enterprise in the Far East because both classes occupied a similar large-light-cruiser role.
From An Introduction to the "E" Class; part 2 - HMS Enterprise ·
Enterprise's 1938 voyage carrying crews to China also placed another large light cruiser in the region without presenting the movement as a direct challenge to Japan.
From An Introduction to the "E" Class; part 2 - HMS Enterprise ·
Enterprise carried £10 million in gold to Canada on a strategic financial mission that relied on cruiser speed and range.
From An Introduction to the "E" Class; part 2 - HMS Enterprise ·
From 1940, Enterprise moved from the Home Fleet to Force H, Malta aircraft-delivery duties, South African waters, and the Indian Ocean hunt for Admiral Scheer.
From An Introduction to the "E" Class; part 2 - HMS Enterprise ·
Enterprise volunteered to recover survivors from HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire despite uncertainty over the continuing Japanese carrier threat.
From An Introduction to the "E" Class; part 2 - HMS Enterprise ·
A year-long refit updated Enterprise before she returned to operations against German destroyers and torpedo boats and then supported bombardment forces.
From An Introduction to the "E" Class; part 2 - HMS Enterprise ·
As the lead ship of Utah Beach's Sub-Group U, Enterprise bombarded coastal defences and fired about 9,000 six-inch shells during the Normandy campaign.
From An Introduction to the "E" Class; part 2 - HMS Enterprise ·
Enterprise retained her six-inch battery while wartime refits multiplied her pom-pom and 20 mm anti-aircraft weapons; the stated torpedo totals conflict.
From An Introduction to the "E" Class; part 2 - HMS Enterprise ·
The cruiser is placed within the Royal Navy's longer Enterprise tradition, including a later namesake conducting survey work at Beirut in 2020.
From An Introduction to the "E" Class; part 2 - HMS Enterprise ·
Enterprise and Emerald were begun in private yards but completed at naval dockyards; Enterprise's heavier forward turret also required careful weight balancing.
From An Introduction to the "E" Class; part 2 - HMS Enterprise ·
The E class combined selective armour with a heavy torpedo battery so a large light cruiser could survive long enough to close with powerful surface raiders.
From An Introduction to the "E" Class; part 2 - HMS Enterprise ·
Enterprise carried one aircraft for most of her career, moving from the Fairey Flycatcher to the Seafox and later the Kingfisher.
From An Introduction to the "E" Class; part 2 - HMS Enterprise ·
The introduction places the E class in a design sequence after the C and D classes, arguing that the D ships had unrealized upgrade potential while the E ships already embodied part of the next development.
From An Introduction to the "E" Class; part 1 - HMS Emerald ·
The E class addressed surface raiders, while earlier C and D cruisers were built for fleet fighting and scouting.
From An Introduction to the "E" Class; part 1 - HMS Emerald ·
The chronology weakens a simple German-cruiser origin story for the E class because much of the supposed threat was uncertain or incomplete when Britain made its decisions.
From An Introduction to the "E" Class; part 1 - HMS Emerald ·
Emerald combined two Shakespeare-class destroyer machinery sets to deliver 80,000 horsepower, a 33-knot top speed, and an 8,000-nautical-mile economical range.
From An Introduction to the "E" Class; part 1 - HMS Emerald ·
The unbuilt Euphrates prompts a counterfactual in which a British-friendly Irish Free State establishes a navy around an E-class cruiser.
From An Introduction to the "E" Class; part 1 - HMS Emerald ·
On commissioning in 1926, Emerald joined the Fourth Cruiser Squadron in the Indian Ocean and remained in the East Indies until 1933.
From An Introduction to the "E" Class; part 1 - HMS Emerald ·
The Royal Navy assembled cruisers, destroyers, a minelaying sloop, and gunboats from the China and East Indies stations as an immediately available force for Nanjing.
From An Introduction to the "E" Class; part 1 - HMS Emerald ·
British, American, and Italian warships confronted violence at Nanjing with enough concentrated firepower to overmatch the forces ashore.
From An Introduction to the "E" Class; part 1 - HMS Emerald ·
Emerald's East Indies posting balanced rapid access to China with the need to avoid making her part of the permanent deterrent facing Japan, the United States, and China.
From An Introduction to the "E" Class; part 1 - HMS Emerald ·