Why we sank

[Vacillator]

That's fair enough Jim, but what I thought was interesting was that he said he was being hit 30m under the water (okay the conning tower is higher) so I wasn't sure whether that was historically possible. I'm still not sure

[Catfish]

Hi,
an attacking plane could certainly have an impact to flooding cells, pressure bottles, pipes and certainly the outer Diesel saddle tanks, however i doubt an MG shell would have even put a dent into the pressure hull

Greetings,
Catfish

[seafarer]

High velocity rounds tend to disintegrate on hitting water and rarely penetrate more then a couple or few feet. Even 20mm cannon rounds won't penetrate very far.

At a keel depth of of 30m, the upper deck of even a even a type IX is what, 15-20m below water, so no way an aircraft machine gun or cannon round would penetrate that much water. Pieces of rounds may float down and tink against the hull, but in the real world, no .303 or.50 or 20mm round would have caused any damage.

[Vacillator]

Originally Posted by seafarer

High velocity rounds tend to disintegrate on hitting water and rarely penetrate more then a couple or few feet. Even 20mm cannon rounds won't penetrate very far.

At a keel depth of of 30m, the upper deck of even a even a type IX is what, 15-20m below water, so no way an aircraft machine gun or cannon round would penetrate that much water. Pieces of rounds may float down and tink against the hull, but in the real world, no .303 or.50 or 20mm round would have caused any damage.

That's pretty much what I was thinking