Danger space, hitting space

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Bgile
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Re: Danger space, hitting space

Post by Bgile »

It doesn't look to me like the 22cm armor could be hit at all if the shell passed through the upper deck armor because the latter doesn't extend far enough forward. The side armor doesn't seem to extend high enough on the hull unless the hit is from very close range, but if it did hit that it would probably activate the fuse and the shell would explode before it reached the thicker armor in any case.

I agree it's likely that most of the time it would hit either the deck or the side armor first.
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José M. Rico
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Re: Danger space, hitting space

Post by José M. Rico »

The 5cm upper deck extends up to the bulkhead separating sections XXI-XXII (frame 224). The 22cm armored bulkhead is located on frame 202.7. As I see it, hitting the 22cm bulkhead without passing through any of the other mentioned plates first, is only possible by a shell with a very oblique trajectory entering the side just over the splinter belt. But then what would be the striking angle?
Bgile
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Re: Danger space, hitting space

Post by Bgile »

I'm referring to a shell coming from directly forward of the ship, which is coming down at approximately a 10 degree angle. It passes just barely over the side splinter armor in compartment XXII and hits the bottom of the 22cm armor, which ends at the panzer deck and goes up only one deck above the panzer deck.

The above describes the lowest trajectory that would miss the splinter armor. Any hit there or up to a deck height or so above that would pass over the splinter armor below the deck armor to hit the forward bulkhead.

Of course, that assumes it doesn't hit some machinery or whatever that would activate the fuze such that it would explode early.
RobertsonN
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Re: Danger space, hitting space

Post by RobertsonN »

In Breyer's Marine-Arsenal series booklet there is a photocopy of an official longitudinal plan of Schlachtschiff F with all armor thicknesses shown. The hull sides above the (60 mm) fore and (80 mm) aft belts were a uniform 35 mm Wh throughout. This would have been enough to initiate fuze action (1 in at normal impact for British shells I believe). The use of thin armor here was probably also intended to restrict splinter damage to the hull. The ships of the First War had much heavier fore and aft belts but I think used normal shipbuilding steel above these. Experience at Jutland showed a weakness here.
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