Video
What books did I bring for #NavHistAus23?
Study What books did I bring for #NavHistAus23?, a Dr. Alex Clarke video from 4 Jun 2023, with 16 time notes. Topics include Australian Defence, Maritime Museums, Naval Aviation.
Time notes
- 6:41QuestionWould the Imperial Japanese Navy have accepted a treaty deal that scrapped one Nagato-class ship and left Japan at a three-to-one disadvantage?AnswerQ&A
No. Japan would not accept the stated loss of a Nagato-class ship and the three-to-one disadvantage.
- 7:00Choosing a World War II reference workNotable Point
Richard Overy's broad World War II history works as a quick reference, while its omissions show the limits of any single-volume survey.
- 8:55Warship plans and HMAS DiamantinaChapter
Builder's plans make unfamiliar warship designs easier to read, and preserved HMAS Diamantina lets visitors examine a rare River-class frigate at full scale.
- 12:08Reading Mahan through his essaysNotable Point
Mahan's essay collection offers a compact route into his ideas and a source of quotations for later historical writing.
- 14:10A convoy memoir for corvette historyNotable Point
Robert Harling's first-hand memoir adds the lived experience of convoy work and corvette service to technical research.
- 22:09QuestionDo you have a favourite Tribal-class destroyer?AnswerQ&A
No simple favourite is named, but HMS Nubian's ending affected the writing most strongly and made her the hardest section to complete.
- 24:52RAF formation, service politics, and logisticsNotable Point
An independent air service was probably inevitable, but its composition turned on wartime politics, institutional reputations, and conflicting engine-accounting systems.
- 27:01Corbett and readable maritime strategyNotable Point
Corbett's strategy writing supplies quotations for a revision aimed at making naval history accurate and hard to put down.
- 32:08QuestionWould bringing the Blackburn Skua into service earlier make the programme better?AnswerQ&A
Yes in timeline terms, because earlier service could put the Fleet Air Arm onto its second dive-bomber design by 1939.
- 36:02QuestionWhat technologies should Australia prioritise to deter China?AnswerQ&A
Prioritise rapidly deployable uncrewed and missile systems now, build helicopters, refuelling capacity, and frigates next, and sustain the SSN and longer-range air-defence effort for long-term deterrence.
- 39:46QuestionHow should a large force of Blackburn Rocs be used if they are not wanted on carriers?AnswerQ&A
Use them as night fighters to protect naval bases.
- 40:17QuestionWere German ships often overweight because of their machinery?AnswerQ&A
Not chiefly. The larger problem was continuing to add equipment after a design was settled, increasing complexity and displacement.
- 42:54QuestionWould Britain have been economically better off forming a single British Airways in 1946?AnswerQ&A
Possibly in hindsight. Policymakers already expected a single large corporation to be viable, but events did not meet that expectation.
- 43:40QuestionHow should a large fire-control suite be judged when its demonstrated ability to engage many targets produced little practical benefit?AnswerQ&A
Compare the extra engagement capacity with its opportunity cost, including the weight that could have supported other equipment.
- 44:25QuestionDid British plans made during World War II generally assume that the empire would survive afterward?AnswerQ&A
Yes. Many postwar assumptions were based on imperial survival, even though history did not follow that path.
- 51:34QuestionWould a large force of Sea Hurricanes and Grumman Wildcats put the Royal Navy in a better position in 1939?AnswerQ&A
The Sea Hurricanes would help considerably, while the Wildcats' value depends on whether the counterfactual supplies later-standard aircraft or their weaker 1939 form.