Search found 52 matches

by frankwl
Thu Jun 16, 2011 7:58 pm
Forum: Naval History in General
Topic: Greatest admiral of all time
Replies: 219
Views: 214455

Re: Greatest admiral of all time

The Japanese military (not to be confused with the Japanse people) made the classic mistake of believing its own PR. Convinced of their martial and moral superiority they took on the U.S. and as a superb middleweight bushwhacked the heavyweight United States thinking that bloodying its nose would ca...
by frankwl
Thu Jun 16, 2011 7:12 pm
Forum: Naval History in General
Topic: Greatest admiral of all time
Replies: 219
Views: 214455

Re: Greatest admiral of all time

Excuse me, Karl, I was being sarcastic. Don't quote me out of context. Best.
by frankwl
Thu Jun 16, 2011 2:03 pm
Forum: Naval History in General
Topic: Wikipedia - Word of Warning
Replies: 21
Views: 18696

Re: Wikipedia - Word of Warning

Hello, you have to pardon my ignorance, I've never read Scharnhost stopped to rescue survivors, only that most everyone from Glorious died. And you're absolutely right about Aboukir et al and the shock wave that sent through the Empire. Discarding the fact that those obsolete ships should never have...
by frankwl
Thu Jun 09, 2011 8:15 am
Forum: Naval History in General
Topic: June 6th, 1944: Operation Overlord
Replies: 14
Views: 14401

Re: June 6th, 1944: Operation Overlord

I'm glad somebody remembers Canada and Juno beach, you'd hardly know that happened if the movie industry was responsible for world history. For that matter you'd have to beat a Canadian over the head before they remembered what their country did on D-Day in spite of the fact that Juno was second onl...
by frankwl
Wed Jun 08, 2011 2:59 pm
Forum: Naval History in General
Topic: Wikipedia - Word of Warning
Replies: 21
Views: 18696

Re: Wikipedia - Word of Warning

Hello Mike, there are worse things to be than a Royal navy officer of the old school. This sounds so raciist, which I'm not, but if I had to be wounded and taken prisoner I'd prefer it to be on a British or American ship of war. Odd people ... do their level best to kill you then bend over backwards...
by frankwl
Wed Jun 08, 2011 2:05 pm
Forum: Naval History in General
Topic: Greatest admiral of all time
Replies: 219
Views: 214455

Re: Greatest admiral of all time

Oh, all right, the Empire of Japan was incompetent. But that makes their opposition look really stupid at battleship row on Dec. 7, 1941, Bataan and Corrigidor, when Prince of Wales and Repulse were sunk, Clarke field, chasing the Royal Navy (!) out of the Indian Ocean, the fall of Singapore, Hong K...
by frankwl
Wed Jun 08, 2011 12:15 pm
Forum: Naval History in General
Topic: Wikipedia - Word of Warning
Replies: 21
Views: 18696

Re: Wikipedia - Word of Warning

I'd rather Wikepedia existed than not but I'd never take it as the final authority on anything. It's a good guide to what one should verify and research on any subject . So goes for any encyclopedia. I've known contributors to Brittanica whose interpretations and relating of "facts" was, w...
by frankwl
Sat Jun 04, 2011 7:47 am
Forum: Naval History in General
Topic: Greatest admiral of all time
Replies: 219
Views: 214455

Re: Greatest admiral of all time

I notice that the great Danish admiral Juel doesn't even make the list although his tactics of breaking the line and achieving local superiority anticipated Nelson by many years. And Juel was fighting other Scandanavians, the toughest sailors that ever put to sea. Hell, I'll vote for Nelson for his ...
by frankwl
Sat Jun 04, 2011 7:09 am
Forum: Naval History in General
Topic: The Greatest Naval Battle in History
Replies: 257
Views: 277610

Re: The Greatest Naval Battle in History

Okay, I give up and accept I'm just another grumpy old man. I will never again object to a ping or a pong or anybody's right to sign off with anything they choose. All the best.
by frankwl
Thu Jun 02, 2011 3:59 am
Forum: Naval History in General
Topic: The Greatest Naval Battle in History
Replies: 257
Views: 277610

Re: The Greatest Naval Battle in History

Thank you very much. I loved Hunt For Red October but missed that completely, advanced senility I guess. That movie, combined with what has been revealed lately about the brushes between Soviet and American submarines during the Cold War makes one gulp.
by frankwl
Wed Jun 01, 2011 9:54 am
Forum: Naval History in General
Topic: Jutland: 95 years already!
Replies: 37
Views: 18827

Re: Jutland: 95 years already!

People live a short time in comparison to their history so they forget what went before. Jutland guaranteed an Allied victory, a starving Germany and Austria, a revolution that ousted the Kaiser, the Weimar Republic, the rise of Hitler and the Second World War. Heck, we're still living with the cons...
by frankwl
Wed Jun 01, 2011 9:29 am
Forum: Naval History in General
Topic: The Greatest Naval Battle in History
Replies: 257
Views: 277610

Re: The Greatest Naval Battle in History

Actually neither do I, although I've been a James Bond fan even before there were movies about 007. But the pinging and ponging thing is used frequently as a corollary to comments and always attributed to Sean Connery so I made an assumption. I suppose it's some piece of pop culture that passed me b...
by frankwl
Sun May 29, 2011 8:23 am
Forum: Naval History in General
Topic: The Greatest Naval Battle in History
Replies: 257
Views: 277610

Re: The Greatest Naval Battle in History

Am I missing something due to my advanced age? Why this constant, and annoying, reference to a ping pong lame line from a James Bond movie? Does it have some secrete Masonic significance?
by frankwl
Sun May 29, 2011 7:01 am
Forum: Naval History in General
Topic: The most beautiful name for a warship?
Replies: 50
Views: 51739

Re: The most beautiful name for a warship?

Not fair Mr. Heidenriech (tongue in cheek). Spanish warships have the advantage of being named in one of the most euphonic languages in the world. Santisima Trinidad rolls off the tongue like something one would whisper to a lover, not in reference to one of the most powerful battleships in the worl...
by frankwl
Sun May 29, 2011 12:24 am
Forum: The Ironclad & Pre-dreadnought Era (1860-1905)
Topic: CSS Hunley
Replies: 8
Views: 12140

Re: CSS Hunley

The Hunley gets a lot of ink, largely I guess because submarine technology was new and exciting at the time, but basically its story is depressing with some brave men drowning or suffocating on the bottom without having achieved much. More uplifting is the overall history of the leapfrogging of nava...