1000 Pounders versus Battleships

[Feltan]

Q: In a CMH game in early '42, some Dauntless dive bombers out of Port Moresby hit the BB Matsu with 3 one thousand pound bombs. I was dismayed at the results. One hit each to deck, turret and belt armor, but none penetrated. Apparently, no significant damage. Is this fog of war, or normal/expectd behavior? If it is normal, what is a person to do since IIRC the thousand pounder is the largest ordanance available?

Regards,
Feltan

[Tiornu]

Historically, dive bombers were not a great choice for attacking battleships, which are designed to defeat much larger projectiles traveling at much higher speeds. The exception that proves the rule is Marat. A Stuka hit her with a 500kg bomb and detonated her forward magazine. (The other three turrets were all back in action within a month.) Deck protection on the Sevastopols was poor by pre-WWI standards; a typical WWII light cruiser might be better off.
Of all the bombs that hit Yamato and Musashi, how many caused serious damage? Some sections of Mutsu's deck armor rate as the most bomb-resistant of any battleship ever built; amidships, though, the decks are weaker than you'd find in an unmodernized US standard.

[Nikademus]

+ 1000'bers used in WitP (early 42) are GP (HE) types not designed to penetrate heavy armor. If in harbor and shallow water, a good close near miss would be a better thing than a direct hit for the mining effect on the hull. (not represented in the game however)

[crsutton]

In game terms, it is going to bounce every time. It can knock out guns and do system damage. No penetration though.

[saj42]

IIRC Later in the war your medium bombers have the chance to carry 2000lb AP bombs[;)]

[Feinder]

While historically your bomb would have some chance of penetrating and hitting a vital somewhere, in WitP it's an all-or-nothing roll.  WitP assumes that the entire deck is completely armored and uses it's highest rating (instead of tapering to either end, much less having any weak spots at all).
 
All&nbsp;WitP does is, roll penetration vs. armor.&nbsp; If Penetration >= armor, you can&nbsp;do damage based on the effect rating.&nbsp; If penetration < armor, you might as well be&nbsp;dropping ping-pong balls.
&nbsp;
-F-&nbsp;

[Historiker]

The exception that proves the rule is Marat. A Stuka hit her with a 500kg bomb and detonated her forward magazine. (The other three turrets were all back in action within a month.) Deck protection on the Sevastopols was poor by pre-WWI standards; a typical WWII light cruiser might be better off.

The Marat was hit by a 1000kg AP bomb, not a 500kg. Moreover, some sources quote that it was a 1800kg AP bomb...

[Ron Saueracker]

Big problem with damage model is the fact that the ship paint may as well be the armor. Hopefully the AE damage model corrects this.

[marky]

bombs dont work too well on BBs. they slow em down and do damage but not really good at sinking em outright. though against the AI once i sank the Mutsu in a raid on Kwajalein with a 1000 pounder IIRC

however, the same problems dont exist against carriers of course [:D]





fuel AND mag explosion [:D]

all 1000 pounders, this was against Swift IIRC a cpl days ago

all in all bombs dont really kill BBs, torps kill BBs

[marky]

except in some cases of course like poor Arizona&nbsp;[:(]

[bradfordkay]

Feltan wrote: " Q: In a CMH game in early '42,"

The Company of Military Historians has developed a mod for WITP? Is there a link to it on their website? Or is it merely a game between CMH members?

[Tiornu]

The Marat was hit by a 1000kg AP bomb

Ah! I did not know that. Thanks.

[Feltan]

ORIGINAL: bradfordkay

Feltan wrote: " Q: In a CMH game in early '42,"

The Company of Military Historians has developed a mod for WITP? Is there a link to it on their website? Or is it merely a game between CMH members?

Hahhahaa......oh Lord. I was thinking of work things when I wrote that. The acronym police are going to be after me now!

Regards,
Feltan

[Zebedee]

Every IJ player knows the pain of bouncing 250kg (c.500lb) bombs off the British CVs' armoured decks...
&nbsp;
Leave my BBs alone! [:'(]

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: marky

except in some cases of course like poor Arizona [:(]

Arizona was hit with a battleship AP projectile converted to a bomb. They were specifically intended to penetrate the deck armor of battleships. They also carefully worked out the correct altitude from which they had to be dropped to achieve the needed velocity upon impact.

Edited to add: I'm uncertain if they were even used anywhere other than Pearl Harbor.

[castor troy]

ORIGINAL: Zebedee

Every IJ player knows the pain of bouncing 250kg (c.500lb) bombs off the British CVs' armoured decks...

Leave my BBs alone! [:'(]

I guess I´ve seen more Allied bombs bounce off Japanese ships than Japanese bombs bounce off Allied ships. Japanese 250kg AP bombs penetrate every deck armor of every Allied ship class except BBs and British CVs. In stock and several mods, 500 lb bombs don´t even penetrate a Japanese CL´s deck armor, let alone CA´s armor.

[SireChaos]

ORIGINAL: castor troy

ORIGINAL: Zebedee

Every IJ player knows the pain of bouncing 250kg (c.500lb) bombs off the British CVs' armoured decks...

Leave my BBs alone! [:'(]

I guess I´ve seen more Allied bombs bounce off Japanese ships than Japanese bombs bounce off Allied ships. Japanese 250kg AP bombs penetrate every deck armor of every Allied ship class except BBs and British CVs. In stock and several mods, 500 lb bombs don´t even penetrate a Japanese CL´s deck armor, let alone CA´s armor.

That´s because - AFAIK - the Allied 500lb bomb is GP, not AP. And BTW, 250kg is 551lb, not 500lb - not that this would make much of a difference on its own.

Though you are right, it is awfully frustrating to have your carriers strike at the KB, and then see all those 500lb bombs bounce of Shokaku´s or Akagi´s flight deck like hailstones.

[Historiker]

That don't look that inffective to me...
Every time, TBs were involved in the battles as well, and every time, I (Allied) sank him at least as much he He sank me...

[Ron Saueracker]

ORIGINAL: Feinder

While historically your bomb would have some chance of penetrating and hitting a vital somewhere, in WitP it's an all-or-nothing roll.  WitP assumes that the entire deck is completely armored and uses it's highest rating (instead of tapering to either end, much less having any weak spots at all).

All WitP does is, roll penetration vs. armor. If Penetration >= armor, you can do damage based on the effect rating. If penetration < armor, you might as well be dropping ping-pong balls.

-F- 

What was needed was a much more realistic damage model, which included such things as differentation between flight deck and main deck armour (magazine armour 4 decks down should not make the wooden flight deck armour plated) basically making CVs with internal protection armoured flight deck with full a/c capacity, differentation between armoured and non armoured areas of the hull and superstructure...c.mon, if a shell hit an unarmoured spot like say, the bow, it should penetrate, not bounce off because the belt is a certain thickness. Flooding, hull and superstructure damage should have been more permanent requiring serious yard time as should machinery damage. Crew factors needed to finally make it into a game which deals with individual pilots and weapons for a change too.

[herwin]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

ORIGINAL: marky

except in some cases of course like poor Arizona [:(]

Arizona was hit with a battleship AP projectile converted to a bomb. They were specifically intended to penetrate the deck armor of battleships. They also carefully worked out the correct altitude from which they had to be dropped to achieve the needed velocity upon impact.

Edited to add: I'm uncertain if they were even used anywhere other than Pearl Harbor.

They weren't. They were specially adapted for the Pearl Harbor attack to deal with the line of battleships that could not be hit with torpedoes.