Poking holes below the waterline

JCB · 02-18-08, 05:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobchase

Quote:

Originally Posted by JCB

Yes, I have seen many a hit below waterline with HE in my games. But does anyone know if it actually was possible IRL for a HE round to penetrate 2-3 meters of rock hard water (at the speed we are talking here...) and successfully explode upon impact with the hull? :hmm: My gut tells me that it won´t work as it does in game. However; it is still a game, so it doesn´t really matter. Any naval ordanance experts here? If my suspicions are true I will bring AP rounds for waterline shots as flavour.

JCB,
In my experience HE shells don't usually explode when they strike the water. (At least not the Russian and Chinese ones.) Whether it explodes when it hits the hull depends on the downward angle of the shot and the depth when it strikes the ship. I used to hear the 105's bounce off the hull all the time. You'd hear a big 'Ker-Plunk' followed by a 'ting' when the shell hit the hull and, maybe, a delayed 'boom' if it did actually explode. However, most of these rounds were shot near maximum range - not close in like your deck gun is. So the angle of the strike on us was nearly vertical. If you were unlucky enough to be on deck when they came in you'd see a 80' high plume of water followed by a huge 'KER - PLUNK'.

Bob

Wow! Perfect! That is what I was waiting to hear! Thanks a bundle Bobchase!

Now, as you say, the downward angle of the shots affects the shell. Say I aim to hit a merchant about a meter below the waterline 1200 meters away. At such a short distance the angle would be just a couple of degrees off the horizontal plane making the travel through the water a rather long one. Unfamiliar with the ballistics of the naval 88 used on the VII´s I would guess the shell would act like a torpedo for at least 3-5 meters before actually hitting anything. If your experience is true for the german shells as well we might suspect HE shells not performing the way it was intended to do, hitting and detonating upon impact with the ships hull, when traveling underwater first. A HE shell that don´t detonate is not a wery potent weapon, being relatively light and frangible compared to AP. This is very interesting information indeed, bobchase. The "ker-plunk" sound you heard - was that the sound of the shell hitting the water not detonating? In that case I´m fascinated by the ability of a compact lump of metal making those plumes.