Pinned post for Q&A :)

Met an elderly, British gentleman at church about 2001. He had been on the HMS Hermes while she was being sunk by all those dive bombers. He got so choked up, he couldn't finish the story while his cheeks were getting wet with tears.

Been a fan for years - I absolutely adore the fact you’re able to make this a profession for yourself. You do great work!

One could definitely criticize Somerville's decision to send Hermes and the two cruisers back to Ceylon, given that his two top theories about the Japanese were either that their attack had been delayed, or else that they were waiting for the Brits to return.  Otherwise I agree that he did the best he could under the circumstances.

I was fortunate enough to learn part of this story from Squadron Leader Leonard Birchall himself, one of the men on the PBY that reported the force/'Saviour of Ceylon', packed in with everyone in my Ontario elementary school gym to listen to his story in the early 2000s prior to his passing.

This is an action which hits close to home. My mother was engaged to AB John Quinn who was reported as missing presumed killed on HMS Hermes in April 1942. So I became quite familiar with the story of Hermes. She went on to marry my father, a USAAF P-38 pilot in 1947. My father died on 24 December at 100 after a long life lived well.

I remember reading the memoirs of a Japanese dive-bomber pilot, I believe his name was Zenji Abe, who described the raid as “using a sword to kill a chicken.”

The south Pacific war in1942 and 1943 is the most fascinating part of WWII

Being a Catalina pilot when enemy carriers are around sounds like it was a brutal existence.

I remember reading this many years ago.  After the declaration of war by Britain, it was not standing alone.  All its Dominions ( South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, India and Canada), and its colonies, and territories contributed their men, leading to men of all sorts of colours, with all sorts of unfamiliar shoulder patches to puzzle British civilians, e.g. ANZAC - Australia and New Zealand Army Corp, SA - South Africa, and so on.  It was especially surprising for British civilians to see dark skinned subjects of the Empire.
The story I read, decades ago, was of an Australian officer who was in London, on leave, with a friend of his, a dark-skinned Fijian officer.  They were in the City of London, the middle of London, just walking down the street, attracting many curious glances.  Eventually, a British civil servant in a  bowler hat, suit, tie and with a briefcase, approached the pair and started a conversation with the Australian officer, but was clearly very curious about the Melanesian Fijian officer and spent a lot of time looking at him and his shoulder patch  "Fiji".  He eventually asked the Australian officer what his companion's shoulder patch signified.   The Australian decided to take the piss, and told the curious Brit, that it was an acronym for "First Imperial Japanese Infantry" to the great amusement of the Fijian.

I love how IJN is completely failing in secrecy and all their plans are know to the allies before they even set sail, but they still manage to achieve an effect of surprise because of them failing to follow their own schedule due to absolutely stupid reasons 😂
It’s just a drunken master style

Somerville was dealing with a new type of warfare. They were still trying to figure out how to use it. Both sides experienced that issue.

Erebus and Terror are two ships dear to my heart. They have the legacy of the originals, who famously went missing searching for the northwest passage (recently discovered I believe). And I just love the idea of putting a full on battleship turret on a small(ish) hull. Dedicated shore bombardment ships that are way too overpowered, because the British could afford it. And in a bad situation, you have a mini battleship at your disposal.

Considering his overall lack of air cover, Sommerville was lucky to not suffer bigger losses. On the other hand, destruction of Soryu and Hiryu would be probably worth losing entire Eastern Fleet. Allies could replace losses, IJN not.

How dare that Catalina crew send a sighting report with info on the ships, their location and other useful data. Didn't they know that tradition required ambiguous data and absolutely no location data.

OMG I really wanted a video about the Indian Ocean Raid, since it caught my attention a few days ago, now here it is! You are great Drach, keep it up with your amazing work!

This one was information packed, and immensely enjoyable.  A great story so well told.

Thank you Drach for this banger! The Indian Ocean Raid is a subject I’ve long wanted an extensive treatment of, and you brought all guns to bear, as always.

Very informative. I had not realised the Japanese naval air forces were not trained in night fighting.

Somerville was reputed to have said on his first sight of the Eastern Fleet "Well there's many a good tune played in an old fiddle."

I cannot even imagine how you manage to have such an output of high-quality, long-duration videos on such niche topics. However, I am immensely thankful. Cheers Drach!