Sailor Steve |
06-22-09 01:34 PM |
@ Nictalope: good find. I have always been one of the leading proponents of the "nothing but HE" school of thought, based mainly on NJM Campbell's Naval Weapons Of World War Two, which didn't say outright but had the cryptic message "AP and Illuminating for destroyers and minesweepers", which of course lacking other evidence would indicate that u-boats didn't carry them. Which of course would make sense, because a submarine wouldn't have a need for them. But "what makes sense" is often wrong, and so am I. I was surprised earlier to find that US subs carried a variety of shells, and now it looks like the Germans did too. Thanks for that info.
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Originally Posted by Nictalope
(Post 1121342)
AP seems to me a little bit out of place too,
and also those almost useless AA (to me, despite they were used)
but perhaps not the SAP?
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I'm pretty sure that true AP shells didn't come in any size smaller than 8" in the WW2 period, and that "AP" is actually referring to SAP, or 'Common'.
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Anyway, the HE came with nose fuze and base fuze,
so the latter would fill the gap for non-armored ships,
exploding somewhat further inside the hull?
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According to MJ Whitley's German Destroyers of World War 2 the "based-fuzed HE", or HEmh, as he calls it, was the German designation for what the British called SAP. It was mainly used against light armor, and was expected to penetrate roughly 1/3 of its own diameter, which means a standard u-boat shell would penetrate about 30mm of actual armor. Since destroyers carried exactly no armor and I don't see submarines fighting a light cruiser with the deck gun, I still have to wonder what they would use it for.
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