American oil production and Canadian imports
Domestic petroleum and Canadian supplies limit the oil-pressure argument in the Vietnam discussion.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
Complete directory
Browse all time notes.
Explore every watch point in reverse video-date order, then in timestamp order within each video.
Port Stanley if von Spee arrived before Sturdee
If von Spee reached Port Stanley first, shore-obscured British battleship fire would probably drive him away and turn the battle into an ocean search.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
British and Commonwealth support for Vietnam peace efforts
British and Commonwealth support for a Vietnam peace settlement was closely conditioned by the American position in this assessment.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
When hardtack likely left Royal Navy rations
Hardtack's disappearance as a major Royal Navy ration is tentatively placed around the 1900s, with changing recipes complicating the date.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
A 1940 war gives Britain an escort advantage
Delaying the outbreak of war by a year would enlarge Britain's anti-submarine escort force faster than Germany could enlarge its U-boat arm in peacetime.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
Geese and the limits of low-level flight training
A Canadian Air Force officer's reported experience links restrictions on low-level flying to the danger geese pose to fast jets.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
Germany's submarine disadvantage in a 1938 war
Germany's low submarine production weakens the case that fighting during the 1938 Munich crisis would have been advantageous.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
Hood's deferred fire-control modernization
Hood's basic radar fit was intended to be replaced by better radar and fire-control equipment during a larger refit.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
Service identity as a military institution
A fictional admiral's worldview illustrates how service and regimental identity can divide insiders from the civilians they protect.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
Why British carrier construction mattered
Keeping carriers under construction while pausing battleships could preserve the ships required for several British naval missions.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
Admiralty and Dreyer fire-control tables
The Admiralty Fire Control Table is tentatively distinguished by greater accuracy and more data inputs.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
Czech defences and industry in a 1938 war
A 1938 war would confront Germany with fortified Czech mountain borders while denying it the factories acquired after Munich.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
The arithmetic behind King George V's 14-inch guns
Britain's 14-inch choice could be defended politically and by a planned twelve-gun broadside, but the case weakened when the finished design carried only ten guns.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
Strategy can mean avoiding a catastrophic defeat
A tactical victory can still leave a worse strategic position through destruction, proliferation, and lasting hostility.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
Fighter screens, missile reserves, and delayed sensor reports
Stand Defiant links the placement of a fighter screen to missile shortages and delays in reports from widely spread sensor drones.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
Deception can make victory unaffordable
Uncertain reinforcements make a likely tactical victory too costly for a fictional commander whose fleet must survive the wider war.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
An interwar naval race would reward quality over numbers
Without effective naval treaties, Britain would still answer American and Japanese battleship construction, but the contest would likely emphasize the largest and best ships rather than German-style numerical parity.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
Why Hood and Rodney received the Dreyer Mk V table
The Dreyer Mk V fit on Hood and Rodney is linked to commissioning and upgrade dates.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
Hood's four-inch battery and weight limits
Hood's weight problem could require gun positions prepared for later installation or compensating weight reductions elsewhere.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
Strategic intelligence means deciding with an incomplete picture
The battle in Stand Defiant combines incomplete battlefield information with knowledge of other powers and the limits of a fleet that has no reserve behind it.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
Why Britain occupied Iceland in 1940
Britain occupied Iceland to prevent a small German seizure from creating an air and naval base that would endanger Atlantic convoys and require a costly amphibious recovery.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
Graf Zeppelin could force a North Atlantic carrier hunt
A completed Graf Zeppelin could make a German Atlantic task force dangerous enough to draw several British carriers and a fast capital ship into a dedicated hunt.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
Fire-control backups from duplicate tables to local control
Duplicate fire-control positions and local gun control offered alternatives when a warship's main system failed.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
How a German attack on Ireland could aid Atlantic convoys
A German airborne attack on Ireland would be hard to sustain and could push Ireland into the Allied camp, opening valuable Atlantic bases for convoy and anti-submarine operations.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
Why gunnery officers needed to check the tables
Officers needed enough practical knowledge to recognize when a fire-control table or computer was giving an implausible result.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
Plan Kathleen and the absence of Irish government support
Plan Kathleen lacked Irish government involvement, while cooperation with Nazi Germany offered the IRA a hazardous course.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
Irish convoy assembly and forward escort bases
Irish access could permit convoys to assemble while underway and place escort groups closer to their Atlantic operating areas.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
North Carolina Scheme XVI or King George V?
A comparison of North Carolina Scheme XVI and King George V ends with a personal preference for neither design.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
Shared design faults and sister-ship modifications
A flotation problem in one ship normally prompts modifications to its sisters.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
Matching velocity to intercept a missile swarm
Five fictional destroyers must match a missile swarm's velocity before their limited counter-missiles, lasers, and shields can protect a planet.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
How a blocking escort force defeats stealth raiders
Fictional stealth raiders lose their advantage when attacking fighters brings them within reach of a prepared escort squadron.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
Samar and the destroyer's duty to protect others
The Battle off Samar supplies a historical model for fictional destroyers protecting civilians while the main fleet is out of position.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
Jamming and command delay in missile defence
Successive jammer bursts disrupt a fictional missile screen while a four-second command loop prevents timely targeting corrections.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
Launcher endurance and safe interception courses
Sustained fire damages a fictional squadron's launchers, forcing shield sweeps on courses that remain safe after propulsion failure.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
Regimental identity in the 4th Royal Tank Regiment
Stuart Crawford recalls the 4th Royal Tank Regiment's Scottish identity, relations with other armoured regiments, and disappointment over its eventual amalgamation.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
Why science fiction calls so many warships cruisers
Science fiction borrows the word cruiser because historically it described a flexible cruising role as well as a broad place below capital ships in the fleet hierarchy.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
Treaty loopholes and a giant pre-dreadnought
A hypothetical treaty exemption for pre-dreadnoughts could produce a ship of more than 30,000 tons with four 18-inch guns and 16-inch wing-turret secondaries.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
Why US troops could remain in a British-defended Europe
Even if a stronger Britain could cover European defence, American troops would still bind US and British policy together and demonstrate a shared commitment against another power.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
War suits and the composition of a combat patrol
A fictional combat patrol raises a force-composition question: whether to field one war suit, a coordinated group, or an armoured vehicle.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
Fisher's Dreadnought and the value of gun volume
Fisher's preference for enough guns to sustain long-range fire makes twin 14-inch turrets more plausible than single 16-inch mounts in this counterfactual.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
French battleships if Italy stays outside the naval treaty
Keeping Italy outside the naval treaty is proposed as the route to French Normandie and Lyon battleships.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
Heavy gunships, cruisers, and fictional fleet choices
The heavy gunship is the larger option; cruiser flexibility suits the preferred style of play.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
How a 14-inch Dreadnought could accelerate gun escalation
Beginning HMS Dreadnought with 14-inch guns could force later British classes toward 16-inch weapons, triple turrets, or still larger calibres much earlier.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
Mutually supporting Battlestar groups
In Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock, mutually supporting groups of three let smaller Battlestars screen larger ships while adding strike capacity.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
Allied unity and an American us-or-them outlook
An us-or-them view of the Cold War helps explain the importance attached to public allied unity despite criticism of American conduct.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
A December 2022 operational pause: training and logistics
A December 2022 assessment describes a temporary operational pause while Russia trained and equipped conscripts and Ukrainian logistics were stretched after an advance.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
Small Battlestars as escorts
Small Battlestars earn their place by escorting larger ships in Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·
Chieftain performance depended on maintenance
A Chieftain in working order and properly maintained offered excellent road and obstacle clearance.
From Bruships 95: Science Fiction, Including Paddle 'Corn Oil' (Aka BioDiesel) Battleship Twist... ·