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The Battle of North Cape how the Royal Navy sank the Scharnhorst

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In the battle of North Cape, on Boxing day 1943, a British and Norwegian force defeated and sank Scharnhorst, a powerful and fast German capital ship. Scharnhorst was referred to by the British at the time as a battlecruiser because of her speed, but by the Germans as a battleship. Whichever word you use she was a powerful and dangerous unit. The video below refers particularly to the role of HMS Norfolk, a county class heavy cruiser a third Scharnhorst's size, which could never have defeated the German capital ship on her own but scored a critical hit which took out Scharnhost's forward radar. That hit was pivotal to the allied victory. However, this was a victory which would not have been won without teamwork and the contribution of several allied vessels were essential.   The video below does also describe some of the other units which took part in the operation, including the battleship HMS Duke of York which did much of the damage to the German ship, and the cruiser HMS B...
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Thrawn on talents and abilities

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How HMS Warspite won the battle of Calabria in 1940

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HMS Warspite was in some ways the most successful battleship of the 20th century. This is the story of how "The old lady" pinned the ears f the Italian navy back off Calabria in 1940.
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Thrawn on his people, the Chiss

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Thrawn explains the Tie Defender

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In "Star Wars Rebels" and several of Timothy Zahn's books, the Grand Admiral was working to develop the Tie Defender, a fighter vastly superior to ordinary Tie Fighters (on any other fighter in space) which could have won th war for the Empire. In "Tales of the Empire" episode 2, "The Path of Anger" we learn that the brilliant engineer who designed this craft was Magistrate Morgan Elspeth, formerly a witch from Dathomir, and also how she became one of the then Admiral Thrawn's closest allies. In this fan faction video Grand Admiral Thrawn explains the Tie Defender and what it could have achieved for the Empire. Thrawn, Captain Pellaeon, and Colonel Tor Phennir dissect the failures of Imperial starfighter doctrine — and the starfighter that could have changed the entire Galactic Civil War.  
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The Glorious First of June - the battle both sides won.

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War, even more than politics or sport, is usually a zero-sum game; it is theoretically possible for both sides in a battle to meet their objectives for victory but it is extremely rare. However, on this one day of the year, I am always reminded of the one case I know of where both sides not only claimed to have won a battle, but both sides had a convincing case that they had succeeded in the objects for which they fought. On the "Glorious First of June" 1794, the Royal Navy Channel Fleet under Admiral Lord Howe (the prominent figure at left in the picture above) intercepted a French fleet under Admiral  Villaret-Joyeuse which was escorting a grain convoy. The battle took place about 400 nautical miles west of the French island of Ushant, near Brest. The French primary objective was to get the grain convoy through - there had been a poor harvest in France and there were serious food shortages causing much of the population to go hungry. The British primary objective was to est...
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Thrawn explains: how the rebels escaped at Hoth and turned a victory into strategic defeat

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In "The Empire Strikes Back" the empire conquers he planet Hoth, which was the Rebel Alliance HQ at the time. It should have been an overwhelming victory, but the rebel leadership and most of their forces escaped. In this piece of fan fiction, Grand Admiral Thrawn discusses with Captain Pellaeon and an Imperial general who had served at the battle under General Veers how the Empire came to suffer this strategic defeat.    
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