[TorpX]

I just wrote a offhand description of the RFB damadge model.
I don't know if the damadge zones in the superstructure would be affected by what happens in the hull, or vice-versa. From what others have said, shell damadge accomplishes little unless the hits are near the waterline, but the fires appear to be located in the superstructure.

To use an example: I broke into a convoy at night and was shelling a tanker. My hits were toward the stern, and it was soon a mass of flames. I thought it was finished, or at the very least, crippled. I started on other targets, only to see five min. later the fires out and the tanker sailing away. The fires seem to be for visuals only. This is in RFB. IDK about TMO or stock.