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Explosives are really dangerous to carry around. Go looking through the fates of ships lost in WWI and II (last time there was a fair amount of ship combat goin

by asark 7y ago

Explosives are really dangerous to carry around. Go looking through the fates of ships lost in WWI and II (last time there was a fair amount of ship combat going on) and there's an awful lot of "several rounds hit but everything was basically fine, except then one hit the magazine, blowing the ship in two and sinking her", or a fire starting and doing something similar, or a smaller cache of explosives readied for immediate use in a gun blowing up and causing massive damage, or whatever. Not sure if that's the reason, but it's probably a reason.

vkou 7y ago
It wasn't even shells hitting magazines. It was shells hitting gun turrets, with the explosions reaching the magazines. In the Battle of Jutland (The largest naval battle of WWI), the Royal Navy lost three capital ships (Two battlecruisers and a heavy cruiser) to single shells that struck their gun turrets, detonating their ammo magazines. The gun turrets were, in theory, supposed to be sealed off, by blast doors, from their magazines - but in order to increase fire rates, it was standard practice to leave those doors open in combat. The Germans, not being suicidal lunatics, kept equivalent blast doors closed, which is why none of their capital ships went up in flames, despite taking a lot more damage.
- CapricornNoble 7y ago
  As an addendum: The Royal Navy had a long and well-established tradition of exceptionally well-drilled gun crews, probably going back almost 150 years from WWI through the Napoleonic era. It could be argued that their fast-firing and disciplined gunnery were decisive in more than one British victory. HOWEVER....as you point out this led to objectively-suicidal practices....What's that term for when you've been doing a risky job for so long you don't realize how dangerous your habits are? Yeah Royal Navy gunnery is a textbook example of that.

by asark 7y ago

vkou 7y ago

It wasn't even shells hitting magazines. It was shells hitting gun turrets, with the explosions reaching the magazines. In the Battle of Jutland (The largest naval battle of WWI), the Royal Navy lost three capital ships (Two battlecruisers and a heavy cruiser) to single shells that struck their gun turrets, detonating their ammo magazines. The gun turrets were, in theory, supposed to be sealed off, by blast doors, from their magazines - but in order to increase fire rates, it was standard practice to leave those doors open in combat. The Germans, not being suicidal lunatics, kept equivalent blast doors closed, which is why none of their capital ships went up in flames, despite taking a lot more damage.

CapricornNoble 7y ago
As an addendum: The Royal Navy had a long and well-established tradition of exceptionally well-drilled gun crews, probably going back almost 150 years from WWI through the Napoleonic era. It could be argued that their fast-firing and disciplined gunnery were decisive in more than one British victory. HOWEVER....as you point out this led to objectively-suicidal practices....What's that term for when you've been doing a risky job for so long you don't realize how dangerous your habits are? Yeah Royal Navy gunnery is a textbook example of that.