The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

[lordroel]

May 26, 2021 17:21:34 GMT stevep said:

May 26, 2021 14:04:50 GMT lordroel said:

The Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay - episode - 88

  I've heard a bit about this before, although not of those wooden ships and how they became a nature reserve.  According to one source I've seen the US government spent more money on the massive merchant ship programme that it would have done if it had completed the 1916 naval programme and it causes problems on the world market because of the surplus of ships it created.  Hindered as well by the fact that US shipping costs were simply too high so they could only really operate on the protected US internal trade lines.  Sounds like at least some good came out of the project, for the local wildlife.

But do you agree, the War was to short for the United States to fully use their ship building program.

[stevep]

May 26, 2021 17:38:00 GMT lordroel said:

May 26, 2021 17:21:34 GMT stevep said:

  I've heard a bit about this before, although not of those wooden ships and how they became a nature reserve.  According to one source I've seen the US government spent more money on the massive merchant ship programme that it would have done if it had completed the 1916 naval programme and it causes problems on the world market because of the surplus of ships it created.  Hindered as well by the fact that US shipping costs were simply too high so they could only really operate on the protected US internal trade lines.  Sounds like at least some good came out of the project, for the local wildlife.

But do you agree, the War was to short for the United States to fully use their ship building program.

  Fortunately it ended when it did and that was before they could really get things going.  However the massive size of it was really always going to be unworkable once peace came.  True some people expected the war to continue into 1919 but even then relatively little of those new ships are likely to have entered service.

[lordroel]

May 26, 2021 18:34:50 GMT stevep said:

May 26, 2021 17:38:00 GMT lordroel said:

But do you agree, the War was to short for the United States to fully use their ship building program.

  Fortunately it ended when it did and that was before they could really get things going.  However the massive size of it was really always going to be unworkable once peace came.  True some people expected the war to continue into 1919 but even then relatively little of those new ships are likely to have entered service.

Well what they could not do in the 1917/18 period, the learned from to do it in the 1941/45 period i guess.

[stevep]

May 26, 2021 18:37:50 GMT lordroel said:

May 26, 2021 18:34:50 GMT stevep said:

  Fortunately it ended when it did and that was before they could really get things going.  However the massive size of it was really always going to be unworkable once peace came.  True some people expected the war to continue into 1919 but even then relatively little of those new ships are likely to have entered service.

Well what they could not do in the 1917/18 period, the learned from to do it in the 1941/45 period i guess.

  To a large degree, although of course they had a lot more time there and the US military infrastructure was considerably boosted by allied military purchases before WWII even started.  Plus while I'm not sure off-hand how balanced shipping demand and capacity was after 1945 with nay powers largely devoid of merchant shipping and especially Britain's position as the primary merchant shipping power destroyed there was less competition for a major new US merchant fleet.  At least until what were then basically 3rd world producers such as Japan started challenging it in following decades.

[lordroel]

Voyager 2 and the Grand Tour - episode - 89

[stevep]

May 28, 2021 12:45:18 GMT lordroel said:

Voyager 2 and the Grand Tour - episode - 89

  Gods that make me feel ancient.  I remember the excitement of their launch as a teenager and when they visited Jupiter and Saturn and gave so many surprises. 

[lordroel]

Charge of the 26th Cavalry - episode - 90

[lordroel]

Pueblo Colorado: The Great Flood of 1921 - episode - 91

[lordroel]

USS Texas and Omaha Beach - episode - 92

[lordroel]

The History Guy Podcast - Cold War Chronicles: Able Archer and Oleg Gordievsky - episode - 93

[lordroel]

The Boston Broad Street Riot of 1837 - episode - 94

[lordroel]

The Darien Venture: Scottish Panama - episode - 95

[stevep]

Jun 14, 2021 14:04:06 GMT lordroel said:

The Darien Venture: Scottish Panama - episode - 95

  Actually the Scots intervened in the English civil war three times, once against James I, then in alliance with him then as mentioned, after his execution with his son James II.

  Also it should be remembered that for much of this time England/Netherlands under William III were allied with Spain among other powers against Louis XIV's France in the Nine_Years_War so it was to be expected that there wouldn't be support from the monarchy for an intrusion into what had long been Spanish influenced if not formally controlled territory.  Probably if the effort had been made a decade later when Spain - largely - was allied with France against the Grand Coalition it would have had support from London and the Netherlands.  Coupled with the issues of the climate and disease, which were as he said the main killers it was always a long chance for success but was a massive attempt for what was then such a small nation.

[lordroel]

USS Texas and Operation Dragoon - episode - 96

[oscssw]

May 26, 2021 18:34:50 GMT stevep said:

May 26, 2021 17:38:00 GMT lordroel said:

But do you agree, the War was to short for the United States to fully use their ship building program.

  Fortunately it ended when it did and that was before they could really get things going.  However the massive size of it was really always going to be unworkable once peace came.  True some people expected the war to continue into 1919 but even then relatively little of those new ships are likely to have entered service.

Got to agree it was fortunate the war ended on Nov 11, at 11AM 1918.  That said, it was a blood bath right up to the end.

The American Expeditionary Forces sustained more than 320,000 casualties in the First World War, including over 53,000 killed in action, over 63,000 non-combat related deaths, and 204,000 wounded.  Most of those losses occurred late in 1918.  The first US troops did not enter the trenches until October 1917 and that was a single Division, the First Infantry.

The real blood letting for US troops did not start until  St. Mihiel, beginning September 12, 1918, followed by the Battle of Argonne September 27 to October 6, 1918 with The Americans suffering 192,000 casualties in the battle including 26,277 killed.

Not much compared to the French and Brits but it all happened in a very short time.