Quote:
|
Originally Posted by MRV
As far as I know on both ends of the world battleships had thick armor in the area around their waterline, where they COULD but not HAD TO survive around 4 Torp hits. (there can always be a weak spot in the material and its giving in).
|
I've done a lot of research on ship sinkings over the years, and this is one of the things about capital warships which is confusing to most people. Battleships did have a lot of armor at the waterline, but that armor is pretty much useless against torpedoes. It is designed to resist a high-speed projectile, and since a torpedo is relatively slow, and basically a great big HE shell, the armor should keep torpedoes out with no problem. Unfortunately, water doesn't compress, and the torpedo's explosion is fully directed at the armor. No matter how thick or how strong, the armor cracks. Also, armor weighs a lot, so the thickest main armor cannont be extended too far above or below the waterline, meaning there's a good chance the torpedo will go right under it.
The attempt to counter this was begun toward the end of World War One with the development of the Torpedo Defense System. This consists of a large underwater area being 'bulged', or having a secondary hull several meters outside of the main hull, and comprised of inner chambers, some filled with oil or some other light liquid, and some being empty. The idea is that when the torpedo hits this outer bulged area will be destroyed, but the main hull will not be compromised. Since this system is so complex, and by nature has to be very wide to work, it is usually only seen on battleships.
Yamato,
Musashi, and of course
Shinano, all had a bulge 3.5 meters wide (if I recall correctly), and it was twice as high, the upper and lower sections butting together. As I remember from Joe Enright's book
Shinano, one of the main things that made that ship an easier kill was the fact that she was running light, and the torpedoes hit right on the seam between the two bulges, rendering them practically useless.
In the case of
Yamato, one aerial observer noted that several torpedoes were stopped by her bulges, but once a bulge is hit it is no longer any good, and at least one torpedo was seen to pass right through a hole left by an earlier one, and explode in an engine or boiler room.
Java was a cruiser, and I don't remember if she was bulged at all. If so, it was much poorer protection than that carried by battleships. The Long Lance was the most powerful torpedo used, so I'm not surprised it only took one to sink her. Also, they weren't carried by submarines.