The belt and the scarp was the same as on Bismarck. The Bismarck's IZ was against the German 15" gun out to 30,000 meters.Gopher wrote:1/ Twins Armour belt was designed to keep out 330 mm shells
This is the case with any WW2 warship.2/ I have just read the combat reports of every single engagement the twins fought in versus warships and mechanical breakdown of one system or another is a theme, machinery even when not in action being sensitive
These "experts" are not very expert if they claim a separate system for the medium artillery.3/ According to experts the secondary fire control was poor, Ardent and Acasta were able to loose something like 6 torpedo salvos and achieve a hit hardly a convincing performance which leads me to believe the first hit was an outlier
4/ Yes 15 inch shell could do the twins great harm
Of course, especially to the lightly protected sensors and soft portions of the ship as on any warship. However, the vitals of a Scharnhorst were must less vulnerable to 15" fire than any other battle cruiser listed in this thread.
Wow that must have taken some time to research every single ship lost in WW2. Of course, all destroyers and cruisers are comparatively fragile compared to capital ships. You do know that the Germans used much less volatile propellant and placed most of it in metal cartridges?5/ Well the Royal Navy spent more of its time in harms way until the Allies could bring overwhelming force to bear against the IJN then they took that crown. The RN suffered more hits and with the biggest ordinance, ships were also hit carrying out evacuations or loaded with ammunition running supplies. Sometimes they burnt for days due to damage and in the number of ships sunk the percentage that suffered explosions destroyers and up was less than the USN or KM. I researched every single loss plus ships that were heavily damaged, and your welcome to do the same and attempt to prove me wrong. So pertaining to the Hood due to the massive damage the RN suffered and did not blow up there was either something fundamentally wrong with the design or the hit was a fluke as in RN warships magazine explosions despite huge damage were rare and some that suffered them even survived.. I lean toward fundamental problem. My two theories are the HA magazine blew up in one of the Counties (just like Blutcher) so something is dodgy there or after the the Bismarck chase the first thing they did to Renown was stick bigger and better magazine valves on her. I think a cordite fire perhaps had too big a build up of pressure and the collateral evidence is Renown.
The bomb in question caused heated materiel to be sucked into ammunition handling rooms below the armoured deck and set off the equilvalent of a cordite flash which gutted the ship. The magazine was promptly flooded which saved the ship from totally blowing up , without looking up the precise details that is what I believe happened
Are you referring to the Gniesenau bomb hit at Kiel?
According to G&D the bomb did not penetrate the armoured deck system but splinters entered through a open ventilation shaft. Whitley reports that it was fuel fumes entering through a the ventilation shaft. It was a spreading fire. Yes, your correct, the ship did not blow up.