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TorpX · 02-11-12, 12:39 AM

I've gotten the impression that the whole gun vs. ship thing is very "hit or miss", no pun intended.

During Operation Drumbeat, Hartigen (?) certainly sank some ships exclusively with shelling, but I think this was at close range where they could place shells at the waterline, and may have been helped by the tendency of the merchant crews being eager to abandon ship. On the other hand, I recall on one of O'Kane's patrols they tried to sink an armed yacht with their gun (I'm not sure if it was a 3 inch or 4 inch); they had to engage from a distance, and failed to sink it after using up most of their ammunition. I don't think they were able to get too many hits. This surprised me, as I would have thought a wooden yacht could be blasted to splinters by high-explosive shells.

02-11-12, 12:39 AM	#11
TorpX Silent Hunter Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 3,975 Downloads: 153 Uploads: 11	I've gotten the impression that the whole gun vs. ship thing is very "hit or miss", no pun intended. During Operation Drumbeat, Hartigen (?) certainly sank some ships exclusively with shelling, but I think this was at close range where they could place shells at the waterline, and may have been helped by the tendency of the merchant crews being eager to abandon ship. On the other hand, I recall on one of O'Kane's patrols they tried to sink an armed yacht with their gun (I'm not sure if it was a 3 inch or 4 inch); they had to engage from a distance, and failed to sink it after using up most of their ammunition. I don't think they were able to get too many hits. This surprised me, as I would have thought a wooden yacht could be blasted to splinters by high-explosive shells.