Message from @RMS_Gigantic

Discord ID: 636259719190675466


2019-10-22 17:35:04 UTC  

Or, in the case of USS Constitution, keep it in active commission in the US Navy and keep the ship sailing under her own power 200+ years later

2019-10-22 17:35:12 UTC  

Somehow I don't think the military planners are of the same opinion

2019-10-22 17:35:38 UTC  

as far as warrior's death is concerned

2019-10-22 17:35:46 UTC  

They actually do, because if you keep ships as museums, there exists a possibility to return them from the mothball

2019-10-22 17:36:08 UTC  

Anyway, contrast USS Constitution with HMS Victory, the latter of which looks like the ship's on fucking life support: https://www.nmrn.org.uk/sites/default/files/styles/event-image-large/public/field/image/how_adjustable_steel_props_will_look_on_hms_victory_credit_nmrn_2.png?itok=A074yAfu

2019-10-22 17:37:06 UTC  

I was referring to the "warrior's death"

2019-10-22 17:37:38 UTC  

not that armoured carriers make sense nowadays....

2019-10-22 17:37:41 UTC  

That idea of preferring a ship be sunk than scrapped dates back nearly 200 years on this side of the Atlantic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Ironsides_(poem)

2019-10-22 17:42:20 UTC  

American "history" lmao

2019-10-22 17:42:23 UTC  

No such thing

2019-10-22 17:44:38 UTC  

He says as the UK scraps would-be historical sites, while the Old Statehouse in Boston still stands from the days of the Boston Massacre

2019-10-22 17:44:41 UTC  

I love how Yanks get so proud of the frigates like the USS constitution when their navy was literally just those 3 frigates

2019-10-22 17:45:03 UTC  

6, though the real thing to be proud of is the 33-0 battle record on Connie

2019-10-22 17:45:25 UTC  

HMS Shannon hoves into view

2019-10-22 17:45:57 UTC  

Yeah the constitution was a really good design, but not good enough to hold a candle to the RN of the time

2019-10-22 17:46:51 UTC  

It was successful enough to outrun what it couldn't outgun or outgun what it couldn't outrun, and indeed as shown by the 57-hour chase involving 5 smaller Royal Navy ships, they could even outrun ships that were SUPPOSED to be able to outrun them

2019-10-22 17:47:38 UTC  

Basically the interwar UK battlecruiser doctrine

2019-10-22 17:48:05 UTC  

Yeah it was a fine ship, but there is a mystique around those ships that aint really justified

2019-10-22 17:48:45 UTC  

They DID pull experimental designs that proved to work, like the diagonal braces in the hull

2019-10-22 17:48:57 UTC  

e.g a really well managed RN frigate like the Shannon managed to beat the USS Chesapeake

2019-10-22 17:48:58 UTC  

Otherwise, they didn't, and weren't designed to, compete with ships of the line

2019-10-22 17:49:00 UTC  

hence their speed

2019-10-22 17:49:08 UTC  

and razees were shown to handle them well

2019-10-22 17:49:42 UTC  

They only did so well because the cream of the RN were in Europe dealing with Napoleon

2019-10-22 17:50:14 UTC  

presumably being manned by the sailors the UK had to impress into service due to lack of domestic manpower

2019-10-22 17:50:24 UTC  

which is the biggest reason the US even got involved to begin with

2019-10-22 17:51:01 UTC  

I mean they probably wanted a land grab in Canada whilst Britain was distracted

2019-10-22 17:51:08 UTC  

and used impressment as an excuse

2019-10-22 17:51:37 UTC  

That was a minor factor among those who wanted to expand, which was still a comparatively fringe idea by that point given that the Louisiana Purchase was only made a decade prior

2019-10-22 17:52:21 UTC  

One attempt was already made at ~~Canada~~ British North America in the Revolutionary War, in which the southern Quebecois were sympathetic, but the northern Quebecois were less interested, to say the least

2019-10-22 17:53:16 UTC  

You can tell how significant impressment was as a factor by the fact that a Quasi-War was also started with France, which by this point had no further territory within American reach

2019-10-22 17:53:20 UTC  

That was the one led by Monrgomery if i remember right

2019-10-22 17:53:45 UTC  

TL;DR, don't fuck with American ships

2019-10-22 17:54:12 UTC  

Fucking with American ships in various capacities was what led the US to get involved in the War of 1812, the Spanish-American War, World War I, and World War II

2019-10-22 17:54:14 UTC  

Yeah dont fuck with American ships or you may have to come and burn the capital city down

2019-10-22 17:54:31 UTC  

And then retreat in the face of an overwhelming American force of literally nobody

2019-10-22 17:54:44 UTC  

because **ANNUIT COEPTIS**

2019-10-22 17:54:51 UTC  

I mean Admiral Cockburn was an absolute lad

2019-10-22 17:55:15 UTC  

And the tornado-spawning hurricane that tossed British artillery and damaged ships while putting out their fires was an even bigger lad

2019-10-22 17:55:41 UTC  

Went to the office of a newspaper that chatted shit about him to take all their letters so they couldnt print his name

2019-10-22 17:55:58 UTC  

Then spend the night working his way through the neighbourhood's women