Bismarck, Gneisenau, Yamato … Pearl Harbor! But is it fair to judge the combat stability of a whole class of ships based on several episodes? After all, more than 150 cases of aerial bombs and torpedoes hitting the LKR and LK are known!
Is “150” unrealistic a lot? Of course, because most of the hits were not remembered by anything. Information about them has been preserved on the pages of monographs that are interesting only to model historians.
Statistics will help to analyze the situation.
If every second hit causes consequences similar to the Bismarck and Gneisenau, then this is a fiasco for everyone who made the decision to build large ships.
If most of the hits failed to cause significant damage, then the conclusion will sound differently.
The fleet included a class of military equipment with very impressive capabilities
Large highly protected ships, unlike "disposable" destroyers and submarines, could hold out under the onslaught of entire fleets and air armies! Then they healed the received wounds and again threw themselves into the "hell".
Personally, I am amazed by the lines of the combat chronicle. "After three months of repair, I found full combat readiness." Or: "The hit of an aerial bomb damaged the air duct and disrupted the operation of the boilers on the starboard side, after 24 minutes the Nagato was in full swing again."
Absolute "terminators", unstoppable and practically indestructible machines. These qualities explained their strategic "weight" and significance in the theater of operations. And the attention and resources of the enemy, which they attracted to themselves.
As for stories such as the failure of the Gneisenau (1942-27-02), no one denies that a heavily protected ship may one day be killed by a bomb of not the largest caliber. But what is the probability?
"Golden Bullet". So poetically called a successful hit, which unexpectedly had serious results
During the war years, there were five "golden" hits in LKR and LK, which every lover of maritime history knows about. These are bombs and torpedoes. The results of the artillery duels will be reviewed another time.
1. A torpedo that jammed the Bismarck's rudder at 12 ° to the left.
The result of the hit was the Bismarck's helpless circulation in the middle of the Atlantic. The slow-moving British battleships were able to overtake the "fugitive" and put an end to the impressive ocean chase (in which about 200 ships took part).
2. Torpedo hitting the left propeller shaft of the Prince of Wales aircraft.
The deformed rotating shaft even more "turned" the side, and the water coming through its shaft soon flooded the engine room of the LB, de-energizing the entire stern.
With the reigning confusion on board the battleship, the absence of an air defense order and the fury with which the Japanese pilots attacked the "Z" formation, the ship was doomed for sure. But the first hit made the Prince of Wells' position so difficult it made it hopeless.
3. "Night of Taranto".
Two of the three torpedoes hitting the "Littorio" hit in the area of the 163rd and 192nd frames (according to Italian tradition, the numbering was carried out from the stern). There was no PTZ in the nose itself, and due to the proximity of two explosions, the tightness of the watertight bulkheads in the entire bow of the hull was broken. By morning the Littorio sank with its nose to the bottom.
Can two torpedoes be considered a "golden hit" 45 minutes apart? The Italians allowed "whatnot" to shoot their ships with impunity!
However, it's a shameful fact. A battleship built to the latest standards of the era, drowned by just two torpedoes. The third hit in the stern had no significant consequences.
But … this is Taranto, gentlemen. If someone seriously believes that in war, always and everywhere, luck will breathe in the face, and the enemy will be ugly to blunt, then this hope will evaporate in a day.
4. Hit of a 450 kg bomb on the Gneisenau.
On an icy February night, 30 bombers made a single hit on the ship. The bomb was unable to penetrate the main armored deck, but after 25 minutes the flame spread into the barbette of tower "A" through an uncovered hatch. Ammo detonation!
5. The death of "Arizona".
There is no doubt that the 800-kg "armor-piercing", carved from the blank of a 410-mm projectile and dropped from a height of 3 km, was obliged to penetrate the horizontal protection of the "Arizona". On the other hand, none of the six similar 800-kg bombs that hit other American battleships could cause significant damage.
The bomb that hit Arizona was undoubtedly gold.
Examples of other successful attacks
The hits that led to the death of LK Barham or LKR Congo are not "golden hits" in the sense that such ships were designed before the outbreak of the First World War. When torpedo bombers and submarines were considered science fiction.
The danger of the consequences when torpedoing these ships was thought back in the 1920s. Measures were taken, but the outdated design did not allow realizing the necessary level of protection against the threats of the new era. This is the harsh law of war: sometimes you have to go into battle knowing that your options are limited.
The bleak situation for ships of a past era was alleviated by the rarity of torpedo attacks carried out on them. Despite all the activity of the German submariners, of the five Queens, only one Barham could be sunk.
Hit "Marat". The first question is: which is a highly protected ship by the standards of the 40s? The second point: the Germans were so close that their dive bombers had the opportunity to reach the main base of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet with a 1000-kg bomb load!
The almost complete destruction of the battleship "V. Virginia "as a combat unit - that's right. What was the ship supposed to turn into after 7 or 9 torpedo hits? No one was able to repeat a pogrom like Pearl Harbor with the same outfit of forces.
Hit Roma: the first in history (and lastly) the use of guided bombs, which resulted in the death of a large ship.
Who among the sailors suspected the danger of aircraft flying at high altitudes? Aimed bombardment from a height of 6000 m at a moving target was considered impossible. No one made evasive maneuvers, no one tried to disrupt the attack.
The second hit "Fritz" caused a fire in the engine room, twenty minutes later the fire crept up to the ammunition cellars. The question remained: did anyone fight the fire, given the Sabbath on board? If it becomes a discovery for someone, then the Italian squadron was going to surrender to Malta, the officers of "Roma" took on board the family, the personnel were demoralized. If the war for all ended yesterdaywho wanted to die in the fire and smoke of the engine room, saving the ship?
To your attention - a combat chronicle of 10 (ten) large ships of the WWII period
Figures and short excerpts of the most impressive moments.
10 ships. 30 combat episodes with damage. 70 hits from aerial bombs, torpedoes and explosions on sea mines. Of which none of them became "golden bullets".
The list was formed from the ships of the Axis countries, since they were subjected to continuous attacks and blows from superior allied forces. They were "flapped" harder. Among the Allies, probably only Worspite went through such vicissitudes.
Scharnhorst
Withstood 6 hits of aerial bombs and 1 torpedo hit - from a sunken destroyer, which until the last defended the dying AV "Glories". Also, the German LKR was twice blown up by mines when breaking through the English Channel.
After four years of unsuccessful attempts to blockade and destroy it, the Scharnhorst was nevertheless overtaken and sunk by the British Ekadra in the battle at Cape North Cape (December 1943).
Gneisenau
During his active participation in hostilities, he was twice torpedoed, twice undermined by magnetic mines. Withstood hits of 4 aerial bombs.
“The explosion caused significant damage to the hull and flooded several compartments, causing a roll of 0.5 ° to the port side. The shock damaged the right low-pressure turbine and the equipment of the aft rangefinder station. Repairs were carried out at the floating dock in Kiel from 6 to 21 May … After a short test run 27th he returned to Kiel in full combat readiness."
(Consequences of a meeting with a magnetic mine. Detonation of a couple of hundred kg of explosives under the bottom of the Gneisenau!)
The 5th, last aerial bomb became fatal for the German monster. Usually, citing Gneisenau as an example, only this last hit is mentioned.
Tirpitz
The Tirpitz was really standing. The entire British fleet ran in his place and around him.
For four years of raids, the British managed to achieve 17 hits of aerial bombs on the strongest ship in the Atlantic. Even 726 kg of "armor-piercing" was dropped on it, but the second "Arizona" from "Tirpitz" did not work. And when they finally guessed what means were needed against him, the war was already drawing to a close.
What can the analysis of the results of the use of 5-ton "Tollboys" give? One or two of these bombs will sink the ship. Any ship. But "Lancaster" of a special modification with a bomb that did not completely fit in the bomb bay appeared in the sky over "Tirpitz" only in the fall of 1944. Previously, for some reason, it was not. Weird. What do you think?
Littorio
Familiar name, "drowned man" from Taranto!
After that night attack, the Littorio was raised and rebuilt in less than five months. And the more he was not so disgraced. Over the next years, "Littorio" withstood the hits of 3 bombs and 1 torpedo. And every time the damage inflicted did not lead to a loss of progress, or to the failure of the battleship.
The last wound to him was caused by the German guided bomb "Fritz-X", but the damage from it was so small that home-grown fans of the "wunderwaffe" prefer not to remember about this case.
Vittorio Veneto
The ship, of the same type "Littorio", was torpedoed twice - in 1941 and 1942. Every time he got to the base on his own, underwent repairs and returned to the combat strength.
In August 1943, while at the pier in La Spezia, "Vittorio" came under attack from the "Flying Fortresses". The battleship was hit by two 907 kg armor-piercing bombs, not counting the close gap that opened another hole. The wounds turned out to be serious: the board was damaged on an area of tens of square meters. m, the ship received 1,500 tons of water. Nevertheless, this story had a natural ending:
“On June 16, Vittorio Veneto was docked, and on July 1, they took it out. We must pay tribute to the Italian engineers and workers: the hull work took only two weeks - a very short time for such a volume of damage."
(Battleship Vittorio Veneto (Vittorio Veneto, 1937). History of creation and service of the battleship of Italy.)
Yamato
The flagship of the United Fleet was greeted with a brutal welcome by the US Navy three times: 2 bombs and 1 torpedo (not counting close explosions).
In December 1943, a torpedo launched by the Skate boat overtook the Yamato and flooded the aft tower cellars. He calmly crossed the ocean and stood up for repairs. Three months later - in full combat!
Bomb damage during the Philippine campaign (autumn 1944) caused extensive flooding (3,300 tons of water), but the next day, the Yamato was clearly not acting as it should be for a heavily damaged ship.
This was followed by a breakthrough into Leyte Gulf, many hours of battle and three close explosions of aerial bombs. Despite all the efforts of the Americans, "Yamato" got out of the hellish "brazier", from under the air strikes of a group of 500 aircraft. He left for Brunei. Less than six months remained before his death.
In the last battle, the Americans had the opportunity to concentrate an air army of 300+ aircraft on one Yamato. However, it would be interesting to simulate the situation: in place of the Yamato there is a more advanced ship of the Iowa type or the British Vanguard. Would the pilots then be able to cope before dark? If they fail, the next morning he will run aground off Okinawa and continue to spin the nerves of Taffy 58, the largest squadron ever to sail the oceans.
But this is the lyrics. Facts - "Yamato" easily tolerated single hits.
Musashi
In March 1944 he was "treated" to a torpedo fired by the submarine "Tunny". The only consequence was the renovation, which lasted a whole month.
Of interest is the last battle of "Musashi", more precisely, the moment at about two o'clock in the afternoon on October 24, 1944. According to the reports of the American pilots, according to which the chronology of the battle was reconstructed by the minute, by that time the Musashi got at least 7 aerial bombs and 8 torpedoes … Despite this, he continued to shoot back, maneuver and maintain a course of 20 knots!
"Golden hits" did not happen that day, "Musashi" sank long and tediously. The air wings of eight aircraft carriers had to "hammer" him throughout the day. The forces for other ships of the Japanese formation (among which there were such "goodies" as "Yamato" and "Nagato"), the numerous American aircraft carriers no longer had enough.
After the sinking of "Musashi" it was concluded that it was necessary to carry out torpedo attacks from only one side. Otherwise, the hits mutually "neutralize" each other, causing counterflooding. Such a powerful ship remains on an even keel for too long, maintaining its speed and combat effectiveness. Which jeopardizes the entire plan to counter the enemy squadron.
Shinano
The third Japanese super-battleship to be converted into an aircraft carrier. Nevertheless, it retained the identity of its brothers in size and design of the lower part of the case.
The Shinano story once again underlines how difficult it was to sink a ship of this type with torpedoes. Having received four hits in the central part of the starboard side, for several hours he continued to move on the same course and without reducing speed!
The dark humor of the situation is that the Shinano was not completed. He walked with unpressurized bulkheads, and there was no regular amount of means for pumping water.
As a result, even in such conditions, it took a full six (SIX!) Hours until the spread of water caused a dangerous list.
The combat chronicle of the Japanese battleships contradicts any conclusions based on the story with the Bismarck, which lost control of the impact of one (or two) torpedoes.
Nagato
A happy ship that has been in hell itself. However, without noticeable consequences. During the battle for the Philippines, he suffered 4 bomb hits in two days. The consequences of one of them were described at the beginning of the article. The rest were even less important.
In the summer of 1945, during another raid on the Yokosuki harbor, "Nagato" was hit by two aerial bombs that caused him cosmetic damage. Then a real farce began. Throughout the war, the enemy was unable to inflict serious damage on the Nagato, so the Japanese had to do their best to mislead American aerial reconnaissance. Ballast tanks "Nagato" were filled with seawater so that the battleship "donkey" as deep as possible in the water. All this time, the crew was refueling and preparing to go on a military campaign in order to finally break the enemy's template (the exit was canceled at the last moment - August 45).
Nagato met the end of the war at the gun of Iowa, which is why she was absent from the Tokyo Bay ceremony. The Yankees suspected that the old samurai had retained full combat capability and was still a threat to them.
Ise
Another sea monster that the Americans were so "happy" about.
He was greeted by an armada of 85 dive bombers and 11 torpedo bombers. Thanks to active maneuvering, "Ise" avoided almost all hits, except for 1 bomb, which struck the ledge of the stern catapult. On the same day, when he encountered another wave of attacking aircraft, he received another aerial bomb (the effect of which was similar to the effect of moonlight on the rails).
However, the meeting with a hundred combat aircraft could not pass without consequences.
The sea boiled from 34 close rifts. The results were terrifying - all the paint was peeled off, the seams of the casing parted from hydrodynamic shocks, causing several small leaks in the underwater part of the hull. Worse, due to the ingress of seawater into the fuel oil tanks, the efficiency of the starboard boilers has decreased. And over 100 sailors (5% of those on board) were injured by fragments of nearby explosions …
What is the interest of the situation?
In previous discussions, my opponents have repeatedly mentioned that close explosions were almost more dangerous than direct hits to the ship. As the Ise example demonstrates, this is not at all obvious. Only the proposal for top-mast bombing was "more effective" (three times "ha"). Against ships with a side thickness many times greater than the thickness of the armored deck.
As for the damaged "Ise", he got to Cam Ranh, from there he moved to Singapore (incidentally hitting a sea mine). He took on board a strategic cargo of non-ferrous metals, evacuated a thousand Japanese specialists, and departed for Japan along with the Hyuga aircraft of the same type. A barrier of 25 American submarines placed on the way did not yield any results.
Towards the end, being in Kura in the role of a floating battery, "Ise" was successfully attacked three times by the US Navy aircraft. The first two attacks (2 and 5 hits, respectively) were not enough, "revenge" for Pearl Harbor did not work. Despite the damage received, the veteran ship (1915) did not capsize, did not burn down, and its ammunition did not detonate. On the contrary, three days later, through the efforts of the remaining crew members, it was put on an even keel. Repair work was underway on board, the Ise was getting ready to be docked.
The third raid on Ise, carried out at the very end of the war, on July 28, 1945, has no sensational connotation. If a ship allows dozens of aircraft to bomb itself with impunity, nothing will help it.
5 "golden bullets" against dozens of other attacks with the opposite result
In order to avoid accusations of bias, examples of allied battleships can be mentioned: torpedoing North Caroline and Maryland, kamikaze attacks on American battleships (7 cases), bombs hitting Tennessee … Consequences of attacks on ships built to the same security standards, had the same results. Nothing different from Axis battleships.
There is no reason for doubt, the "floating fortresses" were significantly superior in combat stability to ships of all other classes. Could it be otherwise? They were created with the expectation of fierce enemy fire.
The discussion of large ships cannot be forced into any framework. To give an example of another "wunderwaffe", which put an end to the whole class of military equipment.
Have you seen examples?
Each method brought good luck only a limited number of times. In other cases, for some reason, he stopped working.
There is an episode when the "Roma" almost sank from the close explosions of 907-kg bombs (the Italian "losers" really got it).
On another occasion, dozens of nearby explosions did not in the least affect the combat capability of the Ise LK. Just as the consequences of the explosion at the side of the invincible "Worspite" were not reflected. I quote: "the damage did not prevent him from going to sea" (air strike in Alexandria, 1941)
For every successful hit, there are always a lot of examples when the ship came out "dry" from the enemy's attacks, having only scratches.
The introduction of the Fritz-X guided bombs in the Luftwaffe's arsenal made large ships easy targets? In the course of the discussion, it suddenly turns out that “just one plane with a penny bomb” is not enough. The effective use of the wonderful ammunition was only possible with perfect weather and air superiority over the theater of operations.
Of course, ships don't fight alone. They are part of the system. In this case, it is a significant element capable of destabilizing the situation in the theater of operations by its very presence.
At the end of the story, you can ask a simple question. If 70 years ago they knew how to build such tenacious units, is it possible to learn from past experience in the interests of the modern Navy?
Nobody talks about complete immortality. But firing one more shot than your opponent can do can be invaluable.
