WWII armor vs modern weapons

Warship design and construction, terminology, navigation, hydrodynamics, stability, armor schemes, damage control, etc.
Francis Marliere
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WWII armor vs modern weapons

Post by Francis Marliere »

gents,

sorry of the question has already been discussed, but I wonder about the ability of WWII armor to protect a ship from the impact of an antiship missile. What would happen if an old style cruiser, such as ARA General Belgrano (former USS Phoenix, BROOKLYN class) is hit by an Exocet ?

Best regards,

Francis
paul.mercer
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Re: WWII armor vs modern weapons

Post by paul.mercer »

Hi Francis,
I've often wondered about hat too, i would think that a modern 'Exocet' type missile on a cruiser like the 'Belgrano' would be pretty devastating even though she would have had thicker armour than HMS Sheffield for instance who seemed to have a lot of flammable material on her. No doubt a fully fledged 'modern' battleship like and Iowa or a Yamato would fare better
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marcelo_malara
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Re: WWII armor vs modern weapons

Post by marcelo_malara »

Take a look to an unexploded Exocet´s warhead, not easy to stop!

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/hypersc ... 10434.html
dunmunro
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Re: WWII armor vs modern weapons

Post by dunmunro »

Francis Marliere wrote: Fri Nov 22, 2019 8:46 am gents,

sorry of the question has already been discussed, but I wonder about the ability of WWII armor to protect a ship from the impact of an antiship missile. What would happen if an old style cruiser, such as ARA General Belgrano (former USS Phoenix, BROOKLYN class) is hit by an Exocet ?

Best regards,

Francis
Subsonic missiles like the Exocet have a very limited ability to penetrate armour and if the missile strikes a non armoured portion of the ship, the main armour, and lighter splinter protection, will help limit the extent of the damage. A WW2 kamikaze with a SAP bomb, is a very good analog for an Exocet.
OpanaPointer
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Re: WWII armor vs modern weapons

Post by OpanaPointer »

Ship killers these days are all that into armor penetration, are they?

If I wanted to mess with a KGV I'd pepper the superstructure with Hellfire missiles.
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