I hope you all enjoy this video! I'd like to hear all of your thoughts on Queen Mary and her career, as it seems her destruction is what most people know her for.

@lloydknighten5071

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for downloading this video on H.M.S. QUEEN MARY. You were right. Her career was impressive. It is shame that QUEEN MARY was lost due to unsafe powder handling practices.

@hazchemel

Жыл бұрын

yeah thanks for reminding us of her eventful life and good gunnery. and that she exceeded projected max speed.

My Great Uncle, George Edward Suffill, served on HMS Queen Mary and was lost at Jutland. I inherited his medals and Death Plaque together with a few photos of him and the the ship. He will not be forgotten.

@Susy5solo

Жыл бұрын

My Gt uncle Albert was on the New Zealand and was spotting in the crows nest and told me as a boy of how he witnessed the loss of the QM. Impressive ship. The blame lies with Beatty and his leadership for focussing on rate of fire rather than adhering to the safety precautions that were in place. The lion very neatly went the same way when one of her turrets was hit, her gun captain flooded the magazine which probably saved her.

@Wee_Langside

2 ай бұрын

​@Susy5solo in doing that he lost his life.

My uncle, George Herbert Breeden served and died on HMS Queen Mary in 1916. My Mother used tell me about him when I was very young in the early 50's. She knew about the doors being left open and the piling of explosives in gangways and how the ship exploded. But to be able to see it on here is amazing and I thank you for letting me see something that I had only heard about over 70 years ago.

My Grandpop Bill ( William French ) was a young cook on the QM and one of the lucky 12 that survived . He couldnt recall how he ended up in the water . As a career navy man he went on to serve in other capital ships and was a CPO ( chef ) onboard HMS Ark Royal when torpedoed off Gib in WW2 where fortunately, the crew survived . Grandpop Bill retired to Chatham and lived out his life there amongst fellow RN vets .

@coolstorybrooooo7643

Ай бұрын

Fucking badass. Mine was there in Warspite as a gunner.

Interesting, thanks. I think you were (very) kind about Beatty. The fact the Queen Elizabeth's got behind was mainly because there was a signaling failure so they turned late, the problem about fire distribution was also caused by a signalling failure and there was another when Beatty turned after the Run South which nearly lost Warspite. There was also a signalling failure at Dogger Bank because of Beatty's desire to grandstand. His flag lieutenant was responsible and after the war Beatty said ' that man caused me to lose three batles' (or words to that effect). He didn't seem to realise he should have made sure his subordinates were up to the job. Of course there were other problems, eg British rangefinders were too short for the ranges the battle was fought at, Evan-Thomas wasn't used to the way Beatty handled his ships which was very different to the way Jellicoe did (and Beatty didn't bother to brief him) and, arguably, battle cruisers were were designed to run down surface raiders not fight in line of battle.

Well done for producing a video on this ship, she and her crew deserve to be remembered. The ship's navigation officer was Commander Harry Pennell who took part in Captain Scott's second Antarctic expedition 1910-13. He commanded the Terra Nova when Scott was ashore, and is mentioned many times in the diaries of Scott and books written by those who survived - he was clearly very highly regarded. He was still in the ship at the time of her destruction.

Very nice video good history and lots of detail keep up the very good work

Your posts along with your confidence and enthusiasm gathers momentum. You seem to take a genuine interest in a subject many of more advanced years are unaware, disinterested. People like you are a rare commodity today to take great pains in your research with books many of us have in their collection yet rarely open nowadays. The internet has dusted off cobwebs,thrown open doors and invited discussion and debate. May you be encouraged to surge forward whilst you take priority with your studies

Beatty was a flash cove and a back stabbing careerist with friends in the highest places. He's also burried in Dingley Church Cemetery, Northants a few graves from my Great Grandfather Frederick

Well done! And yes, Massie's book is the go-to reference in my opinion. "Dreadnought" was just as good.

My Great, Great Uncle was a stoker on this ship, Killed at Jutland.

Thank you for an excellent video.

The lesson was not fully learned, as the loss of HMS Hood shows in WW2. There the unsafe ammunition stowage was due to her not having a proper refit earlier due to her busy schedule.

@bernhardlangers778

3 ай бұрын

I am sorry, but what you are saying is flat out incorrect and confuses two different aspects. At Jutland flash doors, which were specifically designed to prevent fires and explosions from spreading, were left open. Also, large amounts of cordite were stockpiled in turrets, which presented a great threat should the turret get hit. Hood had all those safety features in place. Her loss will likely never be 100% understood, but there are two schools of thought: 1. Her deck was penetrated and the shell made it into the magazines. Penetration tables, as well as the fall of shot at the range she was hit, make this assumption questionable. 2. Her bow created a bow wave which, at high speed, would make it so, that the water would be at a low point just before her aft main magazine. It is assumed a shell penetrated the secondary magazine, with the resulting cook off overcoming the bulk heads. This would also explain the column of flame as described by Captain lLeach aboard prince of Wales.

@TheRealRedAce

3 ай бұрын

@@bernhardlangers778 I am not incorrect. Hood had no proper magazine storage for her AA ammo, which was as bad as leaving the doors open. Also there was no magazine for her torpedoes which were stored high in the ship - pretty much where the large boat-deck fire from ready-use AA ammo was. Unfortunately, details were covered up regarding Hood's loss by certain interested parties, to avoid guilt for her problems/shortcomings being assigned to still-serving personnel. This has, as intended, caused enough uncertainty to prevent the truth being known or even properly investigated.

@bernhardlangers778

3 ай бұрын

@@TheRealRedAce There is a great video highlighting different theories on Drachinifel's channel. All backed up by data and scrutinized by eyewitness accounts. 45 minutes well spent, highly recommended.

@TheRealRedAce

2 ай бұрын

@@bernhardlangers778 I'm interested in facts rather than theories - most theories don't make sense.

great video, thanks for the education

My great Gratfather was a CPO Stoker on HMS Queen Mary, . His name was Fred Ward, but he served in the RN under the name George Wood. My grandmother did not know of this until she was visited at her home in Portsmouth to be officially advised he had died at Jutland. She subsequently married another stoker who survived WW1 My grandfather was also lost to Gernman action in WW2 when a delayed action bomb detonated killing 29 people in 1941 not far from HM Dockyard portsmouth. The family home was also destroyed by bombing.

I just discovered your channel with this video on HMS Queen Mary. I then decided to take a look at some of your other videos, especially your early ones. You have come a long way in your presentations, congratulations. Your initial videos had a very rushed feeling, and you raced through your narration, a common mistake with young public speakers. This lead to a dufficulty in understanding. However, you have matured greatly in your presentation, your voice is clear and well annunciated, and you proceed through your narration at a stately pace, allowing the listener to digest what you are saying. Kudos. You clearly spend time on researching your subject, which is critical in the field of history. You tube is replete with poorly researched history channels. Dont worry about pushing out content, just make the content you do post well researched and well presented. With that you will succeed. And don't worry about the gnit pickers, they delight in complaining about everything ( you prinary language is obviously American English, so not pronouncing the names of German or other foreign ships flawlessly isnt important) I wish you great success with your channel, and look forward to exploring all the videos you have posted and will post. You've earned a new subscriber today and im sure as more get to know your channel you will grow considerably.

@ImportantHistory

Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much for your kind words! Just a couple things I'd like to comment on. My narration has certainly improved over time, and with some better equipment and some audio tweaking, anyone can sound good! Research has certainly improved as now I have a pretty extensive library to draw on when making these video, and for pronunciations, I try my best I struggle most with German and UK place names because they always have some quirk with them. Sorry for rambling on, but again thank you!

@briannicholas2757

Жыл бұрын

@Important History I know I told you not to worry too much about foreign pronunciations, but I'll caveat that with watch out for nautical pronunciations. They get tricky. I noticed in your first channel dash video you pronounced the word Quay as kway. It a nautical word so it's actually pronounced as Key. Quayside would be pronounced keyside, etc. To help with this unique nautical language, I recommend reading some good naval fiction like Patrick O'Brien's Aubrey Maturin series, Alexander Kent's Bolitho series or Dudley Pope's Lord Ramage series. And of course C S. Forrester's classic Hornblower series. There's even a great lexicon published to accompany the Aubrey Maturin series, which is a great help with nautical terms and pronunciations. The stories a great reading and they really give you a feel for nautical life and its jargon. Although you focus on 20th century navies, the age of sail is the roots of navies, and Navies are very much attached to their traditions and customs. Research and nonfiction accounts are very important, but a bit of well written nautical fiction is a big help too. Keep up your great work, you have a great flare for this.

Another fine video. Thank you.

27.5 knots is 32 mph! For a battle ship built in 1911? WOW!!!!!!

@Antmann71

Жыл бұрын

Imagine waterskiing behind her!😂

@kenneth9874

Жыл бұрын

Definitely not a battleship

The Cats and the British battlecrusiers and Battleships in WW1 and WW2 where such nice looking ships,very good video and channel. Have you considered doing videos on Admirals and Captains or just the crewmen and history of them? Thanks for the great content.

@HighlanderNorth1

Жыл бұрын

What do you mean by "Cats"?

@justin3415

Жыл бұрын

the lion and tiger classes or sub classes where called fondly by the royal navy the splendid Cats because they where very well nice looking and well made and there names.

@HighlanderNorth1

Жыл бұрын

@@justin3415 Ahh. It actually should've been obvious.

@justin3415

Жыл бұрын

@@HighlanderNorth1 no worries.

@ImportantHistory

Жыл бұрын

I’ve considered doing histories on Captains and Admirals, namely Jellicoe. As I think he takes an excessive amount of criticism. However, people tend to be interested in the history of the ships and crew more, so that’s what I try to cover.

Very nice explosión!!!💥

Only two British ships took part in all four battles between German and British fleets: HMS Birmingham and HMS Southampton, both light cruisers. A young naval Lt. on the Southampton, Steven King-Hall wrote about the actions in his book: North Sea Diary 1914-1917, now in reprint.

The big problem with Jutland was the battlecruisers were locked in combat with ships they weren't designed to fight. They were supposed to be fighting heavy cruisers, but ended up fighting battleship calibre armed ships. This was compounded by the poor shell handling within the BC squadron. Beatty should have ran the moment he knew he was up against heavy German units.

@lumberlikwidator8863

9 ай бұрын

Many accounts portray Beatty as a narcissist with an outsized ego who boasted that when his ships met those of Hipper he’d deal with them, no doubt about it. He is also believed to have failed in his mission at Jutland, as he did not provide his superior Jellicoe with the bearing, course and estimated speed of Scheer’s main battle fleet. After the battle he falsified the tracking of his battlecruisers and performed a dastardly character attack on Jellicoe, who was by all accounts a solid tactician and was on the verge of inflicting great damage to Scheer’s battle line, only to be thwarted twice by Scheer’s risky and unexpected battle turn-away. Jellicoe was a fine naval officer but not much of a politician, and Beatty was much more of a politician than a solid naval tactician. The career of David Beatty is a classic case of upward failure, and events imply that he was the wrong man for the job. Thousands of his sailors paid the price for his incompetence and arrogance, while poor Jellicoe was unfairly castigated after the battle.

@michaelkovacic2608

4 ай бұрын

The Lion class were designed to fight German 11inch battlecruisers.

Fabulous effort and subscribed. Very informative. Especially knowing New Zealand was taking part. Been a New Zealander and typing from. It seems to this day, this battle on the high seas, is contentious as to who won the Day. A battle that did not need to take place, but politics said it had to take place. Like the Bismarck, it did not have to sail, but politics demanded the ship set sail.

Impressive work.

Its worth mentioning that it wasn't just stacking of Cordite. Drachinifel did a video which delved into the issues with the cordite itself and how it degraded over time. Green Boy shells also cannot be inored as a contributing factor to ship losses. In short, the faulty fuses meant the German ships received much less damage than they should have and probably indirectly contributed to the loss of British ships. Also worth noting that the Flagship, HMS Lion, would have been lost too if the turret roof didn't blow off

@johnfisher9692

Жыл бұрын

Actually the flagship of the Battle Cruiser Fleet was HMS Lion. She was saved by the same method that saved SMS Seydlitz at Dogger Bank, the courage and heroism of the ships crew. Without that self sacrifice Seydlitz would have blown up due to the fires.

@Joshua-fi4ji

Жыл бұрын

@@johnfisher9692 you're right, I apologise. Got Lion and Tiger muddled up. Now edited original comment to correct it.

@markstainton9080

Жыл бұрын

I didn't know about the roof blowing off but I did read that Flooding "Q" turret was vital.

It is hard to imagine a single naval design philosophy that cost more lives than the British battlecruiser concept. When you have battleship guns on a ship without the armor to take equivalent hits, you have a ship that is just as dangerous as an actual battleship on the offense but much easier to take out of the fight. And since the primary tactical goal is to take enemy guns out of the fight as quickly as possible, they warrant being fired upon even over actual battleships. The German battlecruisers, on the other hand, had battleship-like armor but intermediate guns, but those guns could still penetrate the armor of the British battlecruisers. I did the total once, and it was something like 6000 lives lost due to this horribly flawed concept, although there may have been more that I missed.

@snebbywebby2587

Жыл бұрын

Royal Navy battlecruisers themselves wasn’t the reason that cost lives that day. The invincibles and indefatigables were never intended to engage other battlecruisers but rather smaller ships that they could run down. Which they did exceptionally well in the one instance that they were used as such. They shouldn’t have been in a battle line in the first place. The 13.5 inch ships were, hence the thicker armour resistant to 11-12 inch guns. What killed Queen Mary was the absolutely abhorrent ammunition handling that turned the whole turret into a magazine.

@colinr1960

Жыл бұрын

Battlecruisers took the name because they were the combination of battleships and cruisers - carrying a battleships guns but a cruisers armour. As a concept they were a good idea…if they stuck to what they were designed for - to take on enemy cruisers. Having the larger guns the RN and their admirals were lulled into thinking of them as the equal of battleships. They were not. See HMS Hood Vs Bismarck. Similar guns but no where near the armour. The design was fine. The use of them was not.

@eze8970

Жыл бұрын

@@colinr1960 To be fair, HMS Hood was a lot older than Bismarck. Most ships would suffer from the improvement of technology, whatever their design. The captain knew the armour it had would be better at closer range, which he was trying to do when HMS Hood had her fatal shot. The RN still planned extra battlecruisers, so the concept was still believed in, but which were cancelled due to the Washington Naval Treaty. If you are faster than the opposing ship, then you 'should' be able to control an engagement.

@WardenWolf

Жыл бұрын

@@colinr1960 Yeah, except even the Germans used them as such. Every nation that ever built battlecruisers ultimately used them alongside battleships because they were capital ships in their own right and too valuable and too few in number to be used hunting cruisers. It's not a matter of "they used them wrong", it's that the original concept was flawed as cruisers could be built in at least 10x greater numbers than a single battlecruiser. The British battlecruiser design concept was hugely flawed compared to the German one. The German battlecruisers were at least sound ships in the line of battle, whereas the British ones were deathtraps.

@MichaelKennedy-tr1xc

Жыл бұрын

I think the battlecruiser concept was successful in the Battle of Cotonel and Falklands where speed and range destroyed Admiral Von Spees ships without them having large enough guns to return fire over that distance. Maybe this gave a false sense of security to the Royal Navy. Speed was their armour as the doctrine went. A flawed doctrine I agree limiting the type of opponent you can engage without excessive risk.

I enjoyed that. Subbed. 😊

I always wondered at the wisdom of naming a ship after a well known symbol. It makes the hit to morale that much worse when it sinks.

@norbertwerner6926

Жыл бұрын

Her Serene Highness Princess Victoria Mary Augusta Louise Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes of Teck = Queen Mary The Teck is a hill in Germany, Baden-Württemberg, near Stuttgart.

You, Greg's Airplanes and Automobiles, Armoured Carriers, WWII US Bombers and Skynea History are a refreshing change to the usual fanboy infested military history channels out there. Stay humble. Humility is a virtue to be respected. Si vis pacem, para bellum

Got say when were the wrecks surveyed?, I doubt there was any facility to survey the wrecks in the 1920s and HMS Indefategable in particular was subjected to salvage by Dnaish scrappers especailly around 1925 when explosives were used to open up the wreck in addition to the explosion that destroyed it in 1916, That it was only fairly recently that British historians were able to revisit the wreck in 2016 and observe not silk bags but Clarkson cases widely distrubuted around the almost flattened debris field, which seems to be more of a consequence of the enthusiastic Danish Salvers than the explosion -especially as there is some evidence -including Danish Archive Photos (which I'm not privy to) of large sections of barbette and turret armour at Esjberg in 1925.

I idea about the battle cruiser sounds really good on paper, but didn't hold up in real life performance. From everything I have read it might have worked if they would have stayed with using them for cruisers and destroyers. But what history shows is during war it wasn't practical.

Failure of leadership but no court martial of senior officers

The speed of shooting was more important, they thought, still thinking of Nelson style fleet actions.

@norbertwerner6926

Жыл бұрын

But as fast you can shoot, you must hit your target too Many BC waste their ammunition, without any hit.

@davidedbrooke9324

Жыл бұрын

@@norbertwerner6926 exactly, good for wooden ships yards apart, not for modern warships.

@glenchapman3899

Жыл бұрын

@@davidedbrooke9324 Not really. Until the evolution of missile armed ships. Weight of shot was still the overriding principle in naval warfare

@davidedbrooke9324

Жыл бұрын

@@glenchapman3899 Sorry, no you’re wrong. With the advent of longed distances accurate gunnery was key, weight of shot is useless if inaccurate . This is why the Germans did well at Jutland.

@glenchapman3899

Жыл бұрын

@@davidedbrooke9324 Until the advent of radar, long range hits never exceeded 3% with the average being closer to 1% Which is getting into blind squirrels and nuts territory.

In addition to Queen Mary, her half sisters Princess Royal, Kongo, Hiei, Kirishima and Haruna all met with violent deaths. Only Tiger and Lion survived.

@ImportantHistory

2 ай бұрын

Princess Royal survived the war and was scrapped in the 1920s. It is true Lion and Tiger survived the battle of Jutland, Lion came close to suffering the same fate as Queen Mary was it not for the efforts of the crew of Q turret and better cordite handling practices on the Lion under AC Grant. It’s certainly true that the Kongo class took inspiration from the splendid cats!

@Will_CH1

2 ай бұрын

@@ImportantHistory I stand corrected

@ImportantHistory

2 ай бұрын

All good man, could you be thinking about indefatigable and invincible? They were the other two battlecruisers lost at Jutland.

Gunnery/ petty officer Francis, gives a amazing record of, how he and 20 men escaped, aft section of queen Mary

The map of “British Isles” c minute 5 seemed post war? Not that it matters i suppose.

@ImportantHistory

Жыл бұрын

Yes, I have several maps that I use and I grabbed the wrong one for this video. Sorry about that.

I love the videos, I'd just work on pronunciation of the names more is all.

Speed shooting is great, as long as you can hit something. Queen Mary missed, Daflinger didn't.

@covertops19Z

Жыл бұрын

Proof postive, hits count!, always.

I understand Beatty had the Germans under he’s guns for 10-15 minutes and didn’t open fire If that’s correct Why !

@robertewing3114

9 ай бұрын

This was to demonstrate to US navy how not to do it when US provided a battle squadron to the Grand Fleet later.

Scarborough is pronounced “scar-bruh”. Similar to “Edin-bruh” or “Middles-bruh”.

The only question I have is what are those approximately 45 degree metal pieces along the right side of the ship. I've seen them on other ships and can't figure out what they are for. You see about 12 of them at 4:16 in the picture. Please anyone?

@davidbrimson83

Жыл бұрын

Anti-torpedo nets. They were only effective at very low speeds and so were deleted later.

@donaldgrant9067

Жыл бұрын

@@davidbrimson83 Oh thank you. Anti torpedo nets were hung from them. I would never have guessed that one, thought they had something to do with docking the ship. Interesting.

@davidbrimson83

Жыл бұрын

@@donaldgrant9067 I meant to add that they are booms which held the net away from the ship's side. Shouldn't be too hard to do a search for pics which show them deployed.👍

@donaldgrant9067

Жыл бұрын

@@davidbrimson83 Thank you I figured that out when you said what they were for. Did anyone try to make a frame to hold them in place under power?

Heath would not take blame for faulty safety measures of for failing to keep Jelico informed then manoeverd to get Jelico.s job.

Interesting that there are so many possible reasons as to why the British lost so many ships in this battle yet perhaps it was simply a case of poor design, poor leadership, poor crewing and over confidence by the British

Tyrwhitt is pronounced Tirrit.

Your map of the UK is wrong for WWI. All of Ireland should be in red. Thee was no Northern Ireland at that time. This is important, as Queenstown (in the South) was a vital Royal Naval base during the war. That said, your work is excellent. Thank you.

@ImportantHistory

Жыл бұрын

Yeah that’s a big time oopsie, I have a map that I work with in Adobe illustrator and I forgot to use the WW1 North Sea map I have.

@andrewemery4272

Жыл бұрын

@@ImportantHistory Please keep up the good work anyway, we really enjoy it.

Needs maps 🙄

Jutland is Pronouced, "Yootland".

@steffenb.jrgensen2014

Жыл бұрын

In Danish it is "jylland", but in English "djutland"

Ì enjoyed that video 📹 👌 👍, I was always curious about the battlecruisers at Jutland.

You can replay the light and weather conditions online. What you immediately notice is the British ships are partially backlit by a setting sun whereas the German ships were in the gloom making them more difficult to range accurately. It is what it is I suppose and The RN should have predicted this. In the end, I think our eagerness to get at the Germans resulted in us ignoring ship built in safety systems, (cordite strewn on the floor for ease of access and speedier loading and firing...)who OK`d THAT, led to a lot of men dying unnecessarily. Brave lads nonetheless.

CROSSING THE T

@norbertwerner6926

Жыл бұрын

And the German Fleet answers with "turn in line". Which was unknown to the RN

@Horsa-sr8oz

Жыл бұрын

That cannot be true. The Japanese used the 180 degree turn multiple times at Tsushima. The problem with this maneuver is simply the leader became the lead. The Royal Navy had become rather moribund and a rigid command structure was enforced. Falkland Islands, Dogger Bank amongst other operations showed serious problems which were never addressed until after Jutland. Beatty was completely outmaneuvered at Jutland. He did however set up the Grand Fleet to deliver a major victory. Jellicoe responded well initially but rightly or wrongly turned away from the German torpedo attack.

@joangratzer2101

Жыл бұрын

@@norbertwerner6926 YES; OF FURTHER IMPORT THE GERMANS CROSSED THE TEE ON THE BRITISH TWICE BY SCHEER RUNNING HIS FLEET THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF THE BRITISH BLOCKADE OF WILHELMSHAVEN PORT, ALLOWING HIS SHIPS TO FIRE BOTH SIDES AT THE BRITISH. SHIPS LOST GERMANY 11 ENGLAND 14.