two eels for KGV

[Zakalwe]

Wow!

For the first time ever (I own SH3 since the day of release) I encoutered a taskforce.

BDU told about a Taskforce leaving Scapa, heading south West of Ireland. As I was patrolling south of Ireland, I decided to try an intercept. On Mar. 16 `41 my watch crew found smoke on the horizon. If the taskforce doesn`t alter the course we will be in an almost perfect position. Only problem, perfect visibility, daytime around noon and the sea is like a giant mirror. When the distance was around 9 km I ordered periscope depth and silent running. When the distance was down to 5 km I saw the leading escort was an old Town Class. The Taskforce had Nelson, KGV, one Dido and four escorts. As they were steaming along with 17 knots and the leading escort was old (and therefor I hoped the sensors weren`t good) I decided to try to attack KGV, which was trailing behind the leading Town Class. When she (the Town Class) passed me, she was only 900 m away at the nearest point. the biggest problem was, from my estimated firing position, I was in danger of being run over from the Dido Class cruiser. I had only two G7E torps in the tubes, so I didn`t expect much. I ordered full stop, and fired the two torps at around 1,500 m (one under the bridge and one under the second funnel, magnetic pistol, 11 m depth), then "Kleine Fahrt voraus" and 70 m depth. It was close, when the Dido ran over me, I was only at around 20 m, the engines and propellors were really loud. Both torps hit and immidiatly came the message "Enemy destroyed". I had to avoid DC`s for the next hour, but no prob, I escaped without a scratch.

Oki, I`m somewhat proud of setting up such a nice attack (the most thrilling for sure, including rising blood pressure), but two eels for KGV? Had it been one of the old WWI BB`s, no prob. but KGV is one modern design, with much better torpedo protection, I thought. I only hoped to slow her down, so I possibly could finish her off later. As I have the event cam on, I saw her sinking on even keel, no explosions what so ever.

Not that I`m complaining, but I`m a little puzzled, I admit......

The crew got a ration of Beck`s Beer after that, of course.

Z.

PS.: Today I visited "Laboe Ehrenmal" and "U-Boot Ehrenmal Möltenort" including U-995 near Kiel. I`ll post some pics later.

[Spruence M]

Yes, Wierd. Expessailly when a Large Cargo took 4 torpedoes about an hour ago and kept trucking...

[LoneTraveller]

That's pretty good to sink a battleship in 2 torps. I usually throw 4 to make sure (cause of the dod crap )

[Shelton]

wow u did really well - congrats - looks like you hit her in the right areas!! congrats on your BB sinking too.

[TarJak]

As the only ship of this class sunk by torpedoes, HMS Prince of Wales was in Malayan waters by 5 or 6 eels dropped by Japanese aircraft it is hard to say exactly what it would take for a U-boat to kill them. the likelyhood is that these torpedoes were impact pistols aimed at the side of the ship rather than chancing a magnetic pistol shot which would be a tough one to master for an airlaunched torp in WWII using Japanese technology at the time.

Whilst most battleships of this class carried some of the heaviest armour of any British ship afloat at the time. Most of the thickness was on the sides and not under the bottom to the keel, so theoretically 2 keelbuster shots using magnetic pistols could cause enough damage for the keel to break and therefore sink the ship. Additionally it may be theoretically possible for the first torpedo to cause enough damage for the second to be able to pass into a vital area like the boilers or magazines and cause a catastrophic explosion.

I think however it is probably not the most likely outcome but stranger things have happened. The main decided as to what sinks a ship is not necessarily how many torpedoes hit it but what they hit and what gets damaged and how badly when they hit.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by TarJak

As the only ship of this class sunk by torpedoes, HMS Prince of Wales was in Malayan waters by 5 or 6 eels dropped by Japanese aircraft it is hard to say exactly what it would take for a U-boat to kill them. the likelyhood is that these torpedoes were impact pistols aimed at the side of the ship rather than chancing a magnetic pistol shot which would be a tough one to master for an airlaunched torp in WWII using Japanese technology at the time.

Whilst most battleships of this class carried some of the heaviest armour of any British ship afloat at the time. Most of the thickness was on the sides and not under the bottom to the keel, so theoretically 2 keelbuster shots using magnetic pistols could cause enough damage for the keel to break and therefore sink the ship. Additionally it may be theoretically possible for the first torpedo to cause enough damage for the second to be able to pass into a vital area like the boilers or magazines and cause a catastrophic explosion.

I think however it is probably not the most likely outcome but stranger things have happened. The main decided as to what sinks a ship is not necessarily how many torpedoes hit it but what they hit and what gets damaged and how badly when they hit.

Precisely

Historically...torpedoes fired at ships with armoured protection were generally set at 'impact' because they were perceived to be the most reliable

[papa_smurf]

Thats some damn fine shooting - drinks are on me

[Canovaro]

Congretulations, don't bother how it sank.

[nikbear]

Congratulations no matter how it happened,the ship went down to snake town and thats all that matters good shooting