Quote:
Originally Posted by Sailor Steve
One of the greatest fears a sailor has is a fire at sea, because contrary to popular belief a fire can easily burn hot enough to eat through steel. An aircraft carrier is full of aviation gasoline, which is specifically designed to burn a hot as possible, so a fire on board a carrier is a bigger problem than on any other ship. Also a carrier has a huge open hangar where the planes are stored and refueled. There is a constant wind running through the hangar due to some large openings in the sides that let in fresh air, as fumes from the fuel can make it hard to breath.
All of this together - special hot-burning fuel, a large open space with a breeze running through it to get ride of the fumes from the fuel - combine to make a prime place for a good uncontrollable fire. That's why carriers were favorite targets for kamikazes...and submarines.
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But most critical was a fatal design flaw in American carriers: a wooden flight deck. In an effort to keep the center of gravity lower, the wooden flight deck was used. But it meant that bombs and kamikazes blasted right through the deck into all that av fuel below. Scratch one carrier.
The British did it right, using steel flight decks. Kamikazes and bombs exploded relatively harmlessly on the flight deck, they polished it off and resumed business as usual. Yes, "polishing it off" could involve some really gruesome work, but the ship was not in danger unless there was an elevator parked on the hanger deck giving the explosives access. They tried not to let that happen.
