Could whale oil fuel Götheborg's diesel engine in the past?
The fuel follow-up exposes another limit on taking a modern engine into a period without its supporting industries.
From Bruships 226: Naval History Questions Answered Live... ·
Complete directory
Browse all time notes.
Explore every watch point in reverse video-date order, then in timestamp order within each video.
Why a modern Fairmile motor torpedo boat is unlikely
The Fairmile remains a source of design ideas, but modern propulsion and uncrewed requirements point toward a new vessel rather than a reproduction.
From Bruships 226: Naval History Questions Answered Live... ·
Why yachts do not convert neatly into missile boats
Deck strength and available power limit the proposed conversion of large yachts into wartime missile boats.
From Bruships 226: Naval History Questions Answered Live... ·
When a medium power should choose a nuclear carrier
Carrier propulsion should follow operating distance, air-wing launch needs, port access, fleet logistics, and the number of hulls a navy can sustain.
From Bruships 226: Naval History Questions Answered Live... ·
Building a European fleet independent of US support
A proposed European fleet starts with replenishment capacity, then confronts command authority, competing national industries, and dependence on American systems.
From Bruships 226: Naval History Questions Answered Live... ·
European air-defense missiles and the size of their user fleet
The discussion connects an air-defense system's prospects to its number of ships, missile stocks, and users.
From Bruships 226: Naval History Questions Answered Live... ·
Why European autonomy still depends on transatlantic supply chains
The panel compares reciprocal F-35 dependencies with an interwar counterfactual in which substitute suppliers take time to establish.
From Bruships 226: Naval History Questions Answered Live... ·
Why ships benefit from GPS and Galileo together
Separate satellite constellations and multiple receivers give ships position readings to compare when a signal is spoofed or equipment fails.
From Bruships 226: Naval History Questions Answered Live... ·
Are navies building more ice-strengthened warships?
The January 2026 discussion identifies no official general trend and mentions Finnish and Swedish work alongside the effects of the peace dividend.
From Bruships 226: Naval History Questions Answered Live... ·
Blackburn's small airliner in a 100-seat design question
The panel's airliner search settles on a much smaller Blackburn design offered in monoplane and biplane forms.
From Bruships 226: Naval History Questions Answered Live... ·
Could Ukraine field a modern CSS Alabama?
A hypothetical Ukrainian commerce raider raises questions about neutral shipping, international support, and the practical cost of obtaining and arming a ship.
From Bruships 226: Naval History Questions Answered Live... ·
Arming a nuclear-powered icebreaker
An armed icebreaker's combat system must be engineered around freezing mechanisms, ice accumulation, and launcher clearance.
From Bruships 226: Naval History Questions Answered Live... ·
Would an arm launcher help protect an icebreaker's missiles?
Protected missile storage shifts part of the ice problem to the exposed launcher mechanism.
From Bruships 226: Naval History Questions Answered Live... ·
The Declaration of Paris and later armed merchant ships
A brief discussion contrasts the declaration's intended framework with the later practices cited by the panel.
From Bruships 226: Naval History Questions Answered Live... ·
Why the Baltic favors conventional submarines
Geography pulls Baltic and Canadian submarine requirements apart: shallow regional waters reward SSKs, while Canada needs oceanic endurance.
From Bruships 226: Naval History Questions Answered Live... ·
The smallest practical modern convoy escort
Modern sensors and missiles prevent a return to Flower-class dimensions even for a deliberately austere convoy escort.
From Bruships 226: Naval History Questions Answered Live... ·
British design help for Japan's Ryūjō concept
British assistance would frame Ryūjō around a mission choice between an economical cruiser carrier and a larger fleet carrier.
From Bruships 226: Naval History Questions Answered Live... ·
The panel's disagreement over the risk of a Greenland seizure
A January 2026 discussion weighs existing US access and the costs to NATO against the warning that states can act against their own interests.
From Bruships 226: Naval History Questions Answered Live... ·
Containerized missiles as a threat in port
The closing exchange asks whether port storage changes the container-missile threat, then questions the availability of long-idle containers.
From Bruships 226: Naval History Questions Answered Live... ·
The Cuxhaven Raid and the origins of carrier strike
The 1914 Cuxhaven Raid shows the Royal Navy using ship-launched aircraft offensively and drawing early lessons about purpose-built carriers.
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The RNAS in Belgium and the recovery of downed pilots
The Royal Naval Air Service combined coastal-front support with improvised pilot recovery while the Navy developed aviation ships.
From What if the Royal Navy carried out a carrier strike against Wilhelmshaven in WWI? Patreon Live ·
How Fisher delayed an early purpose-built carrier
Royal Navy design work had advanced far enough for a purpose-built carrier to be laid down in 1915, but Fisher's return disrupted the construction path.
From What if the Royal Navy carried out a carrier strike against Wilhelmshaven in WWI? Patreon Live ·
Japanese naval aviation at Tsingtao before Cuxhaven
Japanese seaplane operations around Tsingtao show that offensive naval aviation preceded the Royal Navy's larger Cuxhaven Raid.
From What if the Royal Navy carried out a carrier strike against Wilhelmshaven in WWI? Patreon Live ·
An uncertain surviving Short seaplane in Greece
A possible Short seaplane in a small Greek museum is known only through uncertain notes and a poor photograph, so its identity remains unconfirmed.
From What if the Royal Navy carried out a carrier strike against Wilhelmshaven in WWI? Patreon Live ·
The Sopwith Cuckoo and the planned 100-aircraft strike
A planned Wilhelmshaven attack depended on mass-producing the Sopwith Cuckoo and assembling roughly 100 to 120 carrier torpedo bombers.
From What if the Royal Navy carried out a carrier strike against Wilhelmshaven in WWI? Patreon Live ·
Why early aerial torpedoes struggled in shallow harbors
Early torpedoes tended to dive, bottom out, or run beneath ships, while lax nets and cold, under-crewed ships could still make Wilhelmshaven vulnerable.
From What if the Royal Navy carried out a carrier strike against Wilhelmshaven in WWI? Patreon Live ·
Why a tension wire limited torpedo-release speed
The Swordfish's tension-wire arrangement improved shallow-water entry, but excessive aircraft speed could drag the torpedo and upset its attitude.
From What if the Royal Navy carried out a carrier strike against Wilhelmshaven in WWI? Patreon Live ·
How harbor routines could expose German battleships
Torpedo nets, shore accommodation and holiday staffing determine whether an apparently safe anchorage can withstand a sudden carrier raid.
From What if the Royal Navy carried out a carrier strike against Wilhelmshaven in WWI? Patreon Live ·
Hermes, Eagle, and the Royal Navy's carrier experiments
Hermes and Eagle emerged from years of experiments with twin islands, recovery ramps, hangar height, and landplane operations from ships.
From What if the Royal Navy carried out a carrier strike against Wilhelmshaven in WWI? Patreon Live ·
How hangar height consumed a carrier's weight allowance
Tall early hangars gave way to lower treaty-era designs because reducing weight high in the ship also reduced the ballast needed for stability.
From What if the Royal Navy carried out a carrier strike against Wilhelmshaven in WWI? Patreon Live ·
The torpedo arithmetic behind a 120-aircraft raid
Royal Navy planners could derive the 100-to-120-aircraft requirement from expected torpedo failures and the hits needed to write off a German battle squadron.
From What if the Royal Navy carried out a carrier strike against Wilhelmshaven in WWI? Patreon Live ·
Could Fisher's large light cruisers have become carriers?
Courageous, Glorious, and Furious could have supported their shallow-water Baltic mission more effectively as aircraft carriers than as lightly protected gunships.
From What if the Royal Navy carried out a carrier strike against Wilhelmshaven in WWI? Patreon Live ·
Were land-based torpedo bombers available in World War I?
Land-based torpedo aviation existed as a developing option, but float-equipped aircraft still dominated wartime practice.
From What if the Royal Navy carried out a carrier strike against Wilhelmshaven in WWI? Patreon Live ·
Why 9.2-inch guns suited Fisher's Baltic ships better
A faster-firing 9.2-inch battery better matched the shallow-water cruiser threat, while 15-inch guns reflected Fisher's effort to preserve his battlecruiser concept.
From What if the Royal Navy carried out a carrier strike against Wilhelmshaven in WWI? Patreon Live ·
Which ocean liners made useful carrier conversions?
Fast liners offered attractive carrier hulls, but their wartime transport value made conversion a costly tradeoff.
From What if the Royal Navy carried out a carrier strike against Wilhelmshaven in WWI? Patreon Live ·
Britain's carrier force before the Washington Treaty
Argus, Furious and other conversions were already available, while Eagle and Hermes were still being completed as Britain entered the treaty era.
From What if the Royal Navy carried out a carrier strike against Wilhelmshaven in WWI? Patreon Live ·
Who joined the Royal Naval Air Service?
The Royal Naval Air Service drew energetic, independent-minded personnel rather than simply absorbing spare destroyer crews.
From What if the Royal Navy carried out a carrier strike against Wilhelmshaven in WWI? Patreon Live ·
How could a hybrid carrier recover seaplanes?
A stern recovery ramp offered a practical way to combine a flight deck with seaplane handling, although converted liners raised stability concerns.
From What if the Royal Navy carried out a carrier strike against Wilhelmshaven in WWI? Patreon Live ·
How much credit should Max Horton receive for Atlantic ASW?
A qualified assessment separates Horton's competent command from the institutional groundwork laid before his arrival.
From What if the Royal Navy carried out a carrier strike against Wilhelmshaven in WWI? Patreon Live ·
Could German air arms coordinate Wilhelmshaven's defence?
Weak German interservice coordination makes a rapid, unified response to an unexpected carrier raid less credible.
From What if the Royal Navy carried out a carrier strike against Wilhelmshaven in WWI? Patreon Live ·
How modern air-dropped torpedoes enter the water
Modern air-dropped torpedoes use parachutes and internal stabilization rather than the tension wires used by early torpedo bombers.
From What if the Royal Navy carried out a carrier strike against Wilhelmshaven in WWI? Patreon Live ·
How the Admiralty encouraged private aviation research
Indirect procurement let the Royal Navy sustain speculative industrial research without pretending that every idea was ready for a formal program.
From What if the Royal Navy carried out a carrier strike against Wilhelmshaven in WWI? Patreon Live ·
Could an early Hermes have become an amphibious ship?
Treaty classification, more than physical possibility, would decide whether an early carrier could be repurposed for amphibious work.
From What if the Royal Navy carried out a carrier strike against Wilhelmshaven in WWI? Patreon Live ·
How the Royal Navy rehearsed carrier operations ashore
Pegged deck outlines let the Royal Navy investigate carrier operations ashore alongside trials at sea.
From What if the Royal Navy carried out a carrier strike against Wilhelmshaven in WWI? Patreon Live ·
Could a torpedo attack close the Kiel Canal?
The canal was a difficult torpedo target because its gate structures were large relative to contemporary aerial torpedo warheads.
From What if the Royal Navy carried out a carrier strike against Wilhelmshaven in WWI? Patreon Live ·
Two plausible paths to a Wilhelmshaven carrier strike
The counterfactual branches between accelerating the historical Cuckoo force for 1917-18 and building Courageous, Glorious, and Furious as carriers for a 1916 attack.
From What if the Royal Navy carried out a carrier strike against Wilhelmshaven in WWI? Patreon Live ·
How peacetime sketches mapped German naval bases
Sketches made by British midshipmen during friendly prewar visits later gave the Royal Navy detailed maps of German naval bases.
From What if the Royal Navy carried out a carrier strike against Wilhelmshaven in WWI? Patreon Live ·
How an earlier Cuckoo order could reduce production delays
An earlier Cuckoo program gives Blackburn more time and fewer competing aircraft projects, making a 1917 strike plausible within the counterfactual.
From What if the Royal Navy carried out a carrier strike against Wilhelmshaven in WWI? Patreon Live ·