“On July 2, while standing in dry dock in Brest, Eugen again received a hit from a 227-mm aerial bomb - this time a semi-armor-piercing one. A bomb dropped from a great height hit the forecastle to the left of the second tower, pierced both armored decks (80 mm armor) and exploded deep inside the case."
(From the article "German heavy cruisers in action: Hipper and others.")
"Repals", which had a more experienced crew, at first did a good job and dodged 15 (!!!) torpedoes. but 250-kg bombs did their job and immobilized the ship. "
(From the article "Combat aircraft. Mitsubishi G4M. Definitely better than many.")
The farther the era is from us, the more frivolous the description of combat damage becomes. Hit with a bomb - that's all. The bomb could be any, the result does not depend on it!
The cruisers will soon begin to sink from machine-gun bullets, and readers will wonder: what fools built such huge and weak ships?
Describing the details of the attack and the damage caused, the authors of opuses often do not even think about whether the given data looks realistic.
Semi-armor-piercing? Pierced 80 mm steel? Dear colleague, are you serious?
The MRT "Prince Eugen" had neither 80-mm deck armor, nor an explosion "deep inside the hull." But first things first…
250-kg aerial bombs against ships such as the Ripals are nothing
Here's a simple example.
When meeting with the same type "Rhinaun" German "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau" fled. The Germans understood that with their weapons they would not achieve quick positive results. Hits from 283 mm shells were not considered painful enough for Rhinaun.
You say, what have the bombs got to do with it?
The 250-kilogram AB in the armor-piercing version is not even an analogue of the 283-mm "panzergrenades" that were fired by the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau.
The bomb was significantly inferior in weight (250 versus 330 kg) and was even more inferior to the projectile in speed.
In its maximized version, when dropped from a height of five or more kilometers, the speed of a free-falling AB could approach the speed of sound. Alas, getting into a maneuvering ship with an unguided bomb from such a height was not easy. And as all the experience of the war testifies, it is impossible.
All successful attacks by bombers on ships were carried out from lower altitudes. When the bombs fell, they did not have time to accelerate over 100-150 m / s (0.3 … 0.5M). For comparison: the 283-mm "Panzergranata" left the gun barrel at three times the speed of sound, and at a distance of 15 km it still kept the speed of Mach 1.5!
The 3-5-fold difference in speed at the moment of hitting the target, it would seem, provides an exhaustive explanation of the thesis about the ineffectiveness of 250-kg aerial bombs against large warships.
But not everything is so simple under the moon. The bomb has a number of features that can affect the results of hitting the target.
1. The content of the explosive. About 30 kg for an armor-piercing AB caliber 250 kg. For comparison, the Scharnhorst's armor-piercing shell contained about 7 kg of RDX.
2. Angle of meeting with the target. Unlike shells that hit the side and deck at various disadvantageous angles far from the normal, the AB fall almost vertically.
In addition, armored decks were usually inferior in thickness to vertical protection. The opposite was observed in only a few types of ships (for example, the aircraft carriers "Illastries" and cruisers of the "Worcester" class).
Even at its low speed, the armor-piercing bomb had significant advantages over artillery shells! The method of its application made it possible to hit vital compartments, bypassing the meeting with thick belt armor and traverse bulkheads. And the explosion was more powerful than the explosion art. ammunition, due to the greater amount of explosives contained in the bomb.
As you already understood from the categorical tone, the statement about the obvious superiority of the bomb is very far from reality. With all the advantages mentioned, the bomb had several times lower speed, and no concessions in the form of a thinner decks could not compensate for this shortcoming.
The shell contained less explosives, but it is worth remembering the reserve of its kinetic energy. Even if the fuse failed, a "blank" with an energy of millions of joules could jam the artillery tower when hit, knock out a sheaf of deadly fragments from the back of the armor plate, and disrupt the operation of mechanisms with a shock shock. Even before the explosion, a shell could pierce half of the hull, causing destruction along the way tens of meters.
In general, the assertion that a 250-kg bomb, when used against an LCR, is hardly capable of more than a 283-mm projectile, remains valid. Where the power of 330 kg shells was lacking, no 250 kg bombs could immobilize the ship.
The higher filling factor (12% for the armor-piercing AB versus only 2% for the AP shell) also did not contribute to ensuring mechanical strength. A thin-walled bomb, even called an armor-piercing one, could not really penetrate anything. She lacked neither strength nor speed.
As for the "semi-armor-piercing" bombs (semi-armor-piercing with an even higher content of explosives and less durability), there was only one name from their "armor-piercing". The maximum that the hardened hull and the delayed operation of the fuse allowed was to break through the flooring and explode in the rooms under the upper deck.
And here are real examples. Meet with applause
Operation Wolfram, 1944. None of the fifteen (!) Armor-piercing, semi-armor-piercing and high-explosive bombs of 227 and 726 kg that fell into the Tirpitz could penetrate the main armored deck and hit the mechanisms of the power plant and the battleship's ammunition cellar.
The servants of anti-aircraft guns shot from machine guns, the burned out cockpits and radio room and the flow of water at the extremity - clearly not the result that the British Admiralty hoped for, sending a squadron of 20 pennants to the cliffs of the Alten Fjord, incl. six aircraft carriers.
They will come running there many more times: Operation Planet, Brown, Talisman, Goodwood. Three hundred sorties will have only two hits. Then the command will generally prohibit the use of aircraft carriers: carrier-based bombers could not raise bombs of the required mass to inflict significant damage on the Tirpitz.
Against the backdrop of the Ripals or Tirpitz, the German cruiser Prince Eugen seemed like a teenager among heavyweight boxers. LKR and LK were many times superior in size, armament and protection. But the example will be all the more revealing! Even this "squishy" survived under the bombs.
Hlupik was of the Admiral Hipper class and possessed horizontal defenses inaccessible to most "contract" cruisers of his era. Two armored decks - the upper and the main one, connected by bevels to the lower edge of the belt.
Those same "80 mm armor" indicated at the beginning of the article.
In reality, the thickness of the upper deck above the boiler rooms was 25 mm. Throughout the rest of it, it had a differentiated thickness from 12 to 20 mm. The lower (or main) armored deck, 30 mm thick, extended along the entire length of the citadel, with the exception of a couple of 40-mm sections in the area of the outer towers of the main battery.
This is the background. But actually, the detective himself
… Brest turned out to be a bad place. During the stay of the heavy ships of the Kriegsmarine, the British Air Force "dumped" 1, 2 kilotons of bombs onto the territory of the naval base. And this should have happened: one of the thousands dropped bombs overtook the MRT "Prince Eugen".
The hit of a semi-armor-piercing bomb weighing 227 kg fell on the left side, next to the bow turret of the main battery ("Bruno"). Having pierced both armored decks, the bomb exploded deep inside the hull, destroying the generator compartment and the bow artillery computing center. The epicenter of the explosion was less than 10 meters from the ammunition cellars of the main battery. But the detonation did not happen, despite the fact that at the time of the attack "Eugen" was in dry dock - it was not possible to urgently flood its cellars.
Such a description is found in Russian-language articles and monographs dedicated to the "Prince" of the Kriegsmarine. Who is the original source? Obviously, books and manuals compiled in the post-war years on the basis of translated German documents. With all due respect, the authors of those manuals, like their modern colleagues, often made up for the lack of information with their fantasies. How events most likely developed, from the point of view and competence of the authors themselves. “Difficulties of translation” also helped them a lot in this.
There are many funny contradictions in the descriptions.
Here is a description of the damage to the "Eugen", received before "imprisonment in Brest", in 1940. Here, a high-explosive (high-explosive !!!) bomb penetrates the armor protection, followed by a scrupulous listing of the damage on the upper deck (dropped boat, etc.). At the same time, for some reason, a dent is formed on the upper deck. The deck did not bulge in the opposite direction, as should have happened from an explosion inside the hull. What conclusion will the dear reader draw from all this?
And here's another hit. This time, the semi-armor-piercing bomb explodes directly near the artillery cellar.
There could be no protection below the main armor deck. The compartments were separated only by thin 6-mm structural steel bulkheads. The Germans did not unload their ammunition: the inhospitable Brest was not the place where one could feel at home. No extensive upgrades and repairs were made. The cruiser docked to inspect the starboard propeller, damaged by ice during the last "Rhine exercises".
To understand the absurdity of the situation with the surviving art. cellar, imagine that 65 kg of TNT would be exploded in the room next to you. It was such a charge that was contained in the British M58 semi-armor bomb weighing 227 kg.
The blast wave and the field of red-hot fragments were supposed to scatter the cellar and cause 100% instantaneous ignition of the caps with gunpowder. This was aggravated by the inability to flood the cellar and the destroyed adjacent compartments, in which a fire broke out.
The cruiser jerked and fell from the keelblocks, torn in half by the explosion
Unfortunately, nothing like that happened. The renovation work, interrupted by constant air raids, took five months (what is five months in the scale of a world war?). "Eugen" fled from Brest and fought the entire war.
The detonation of the cellar in Brest did not happen because the bomb exploded elsewhere, above the main armored deck … Having broken through the upper (12 … 20 mm) and a pair of thin decks under it (with a flooring thickness of 6 mm), the bomb reached the armored bevel, but could no longer pierce it. The explosion destroyed the crew quarters and personnel quarters on the upper decks. The main deck stopped the propagation of the blast wave and debris, protecting the ammunition storage.
In addition to the absence of detonation of artillery cellars, this picture immediately explains the unexpectedly high losses among the crew (60 dead, 100+ wounded).
Otherwise, how could so many people come to be in the rooms below the main deck when the cruiser was in dry dock? Eugen's mechanisms were inactive, generators were stopped, and the artillery computing center was not used.
With regard to the above-mentioned damage in the compartments BELOW the main deck, the fragile instruments of the artillery post could fail from the concussion caused by the explosion of 65 kg of explosives. The generators were also removed from their beds.
It comes as no surprise to mention the displacement of several sheathing sheets. That night, the dock with the cruiser was hit by a series of six bombs. With so many hits, the Germans had no shortage of nearby explosions that could damage the skin.
Let's proceed from common sense: a semi-armor-piercing bomb weighing 227 kg could not penetrate any "80-mm armor". She could not even penetrate the combined protection of two armored decks (12 … 20 + 30 mm).
For all those who are ready to accept as the result the destruction of cockpits and posts on the upper deck, punctured extremities or opened leaks from nearby explosions, I want to note the following.
The chance to hit an enemy ship is rare
The death of almost every ship was the end of a long and exhausting search for it and attempts to inflict at least some damage on it.
The blood of unsuccessful pursuers, sleepless nights at headquarters, risk, heroism, ingenuity and colossal efforts of entire fleets and air armies remained outside the framework of victorious reports.
Only the eighth American attack at the Battle of Midway brought them unexpected success. And what is "Channel Chase" worth! Or the "destruction" of the Finnish battleship "Vainameyen", which after the war became the Soviet monitor "Vyborg". Or the breakthrough of the Hyuuga and Ise from Singapore to Japan in 1945 - through the countless numbers of American military equipment on their way.
Hitting a ship is an unexpected chance.
And if you get a chance, you have to hit with all your might. Simply "scratching" such an adversary is a waste of time and military resources.
Damaged above the main deck, the "floating fortresses" of the first half of the twentieth century continued to pose a threat. And their refurbishment took too short a time. That did not allow neglecting the presence of this ship as part of the enemy's Navy when planning subsequent operations.
Of the 15 armor-piercing and 53 high-explosive bombs dropped by the planes, five hit the ship on the starboard side - almost in a straight line parallel to the center plane. Of the 5 bombs, only 2 exploded (both high-explosive, 227 kg). Scharnhorst received an 8-degree roll to starboard. The amount of water received reached 3000 tons (of which 1200 tons as a result of counterflooding), the stern draft increased by 3 m. Temporarily the bow and stern towers of the main caliber were out of order, as well as half of the anti-aircraft artillery. Two crew members were killed and 15 were injured. By 19:30 the ship was able to leave for Brest, having developed a speed of 25 knots … When Scharnhorst arrived in Brest on 25 July, the only visible evidence of damage was the increased draft. But the injuries invisible to the eye turned out to be very serious. Scharnhorst repair took 4 months.
(Combat chronicle of the battle cruiser "Scharnhorst".)
We just forgot what real units look like. Fearless warriors, for whom a missed blow is an excuse to stand up and strike back.
The confrontation between bomber aircraft and rank 1 ships during World War II had the most obvious consequences
Due to the protection and colossal size of the "sea fortresses" with a limited combat load of piston aircraft of that era, the effectiveness of the bombing was low.
Damage from bombs, especially above the waterline, could not disable ships from moving, disarm or disable them for a long time.
But the main problem was that bombs were sometimes the only possible aviation weapon.
The use of torpedoes required special conditions and reservations. Large ships were distinguished by powerful echeloned air defense. They were actively maneuvering, and the speed of approach of the attacking torpedo bomber, especially on catch-up courses and gusts of headwind, from the point of view of anti-aircraft calculations, differed little from the speed of a torpedo boat.
It also seemed unlikely to deliver a torpedo attack at the base: the anchorages of such important ships were always covered by anti-torpedo nets (Taranto and Pearl Harbor were entirely on the conscience of the victims).
Realizing that conventional methods were ineffective, the air forces of all participating countries sought a solution by increasing the caliber of their bombs. 227/250 kg - 454/500 kg - 726 kg (1600 lb) - 907 (2000 lb). You can recall the 797 kg Japanese armor-piercing bombs, created from blanks of 410-mm shells.
In the vast majority of cases - to no avail.
On the battleship "Marat" the Germans dropped a bomb weighing 1.5 tons, however, at that time their efforts were clearly redundant. The horizontal protection of the Marat (37 + 25 + from 12 to 50 mm) was inferior even to some heavy cruisers, and the Marat itself was only nominally considered a battleship.
But somewhere over the horizon there were real "sea fortresses". And something had to be done with them.
By the middle of the war, the Luftwaffe proposed a solution in the form of a guided bomb, which made it possible to significantly increase the drop height (5-6 kilometers) and, as a result, provide the bomb with a transonic speed. Of course, the Germans were not so naive as to rely on standard caliber bombs.
The Fritz-X was an unexpectedly large ammunition, weighing almost 1.4 tons. Surprisingly, this was not enough
In the course of special operations in the Mediterranean Sea, the Germans managed to achieve seven hits of gliding bombs, as a result, only one battleship, "Roma", was sunk. Everyone knows about him. It is little known that the Littorio, which was next to Roma, also received a couple of hits from Fritz-X that day. But I got to Malta without any delays or serious consequences.
Critical damage was achieved only in the event of a direct hit of the "Fritz" in the area of the ammunition cellars. However, in practice, the probability of his hitting even such a large-scale target as a battleship did not exceed 0. 5. The operator had no time to select the desired deck area - he would have hit the ship itself.
The most powerful and ultimatum weapon against "sea fortresses" was created in Great Britain. Having flown about 700 times to the Tirpitz parking lot, the British finally changed their minds and created the Tolboy - 5454-kg ammunition, equipped with 1724 kg of explosives. Fortunately, "Tirpitz" had not gone out to sea by that time. A couple of superbomb hits on a stationary ship from a great height put an end to the history of the "Lonely Queen of the North".
But, you must agree, in order to go from 250-kilogram bombs to five-ton "Tallboys", one had to be very disappointed in the power of standard aviation weapons.
The toughness of the large, well-defended rank 1 ships was truly amazing.
