Quote:
Originally Posted by Lt.Fillipidis
A week ago i've got my hands on "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" film.
At some point of this ridiculously long film, a tug boat rams a german u-boat which looked like an IX to me. The tug boat collides with the boat and pierces the bow armor, causes the torpedoes to explode and the uboat sinks.
As far as im concerned, the mere tug boat is too light and its bow not pointy enough to do such damage but i would like a second opinion on that...
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It has taken me a while to respond because the Navy and my family have kept me busy!
I am not an expert on the German boats, so someone correct me if I am wrong here.
I believe the Type VII and Type IX boats were of single hull construction. That means that most, if not all, of the ballast tanks were internal to the pressure hull. The Type IX probably had external fuel tanks, called saddle tanks, on the outside of the hull, but all the ballast tanks were internal. Why is that important to this issue? Well, on a single hull submarine, the pressure hull is always directly exposed to the sea, unprotected by external ballast tanks, all along the length of the hull. This makes the pressure hull somewhat more vulnerable to damage, especially from ramming. The USN fleet boats were of a partial double hull construction, having ballast and fuel tanks wrapped around the pressure hull, protecting it to a degree. The pressure hull is only exposed at the extreme ends, at the foreward and after torpedo rooms.
On a single hull boat, any blow to the outside of the boat will be directly on the pressure hull. If it is breached in any way, you will get massed quantities of water in the "People Tank" and that will make for a very bad day.
Now, as to whether or not a small or medium size tug boat could breach the pressure hull of a submarine by ramming, that is very hard to say. There are a lot of variables involved. My gut feeling would be probably not. I think it would have a tendency to ride up and over the hull, causing damage to the superstructure and the topside equipment, but not to the pressure hull. This is all conjecture, though. If it was my submarine, I would avoid getting rammed by anything larger than a canoe at all costs.
You would have to have a very unusual set of circumstances occur to have the torpedoes explode from ramming. It is just not likely to happen. Torpedo explosive like Torpex is quite stable by nature. It has to be in order for the torpedoes to stand up to depth charging. Only a very hot fire or an explosion from another source would set off the warheads accidentally. If you get rammed you get a hole in the hull, water rushes in, your boat sinks, and you die. The torpedoes, though, should be safe!