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From: willner@cfa.harvard.edu (Steve Willner, OIR)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Ship survivability (USS Midway)
Message-ID: <1990Jun27.021023.1370@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 27 Jun 90 02:10:23 GMT
References: <1990Jun24.233636.24292@cbnews.att.com>
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From: willner@cfa.harvard.edu (Steve Willner, OIR)


I was going to post anyway, but the USS Midway fire makes this more
topical.  In reading Keegan's book (The Price of Admiralty, reviewed a
few days ago), I realized for the first time how badly protected were
the Japanese carriers sunk at the Battle of Midway.  Keegan criticizes
the construction of the British battleships employed at Jutland, but
fails to say a word about the Japanese carriers.

In brief, all four carriers succumbed to uncontrollable fires after
being hit by typically three or four bombs from dive bombers.
Admittedly three of the four carriers were caught while refueling and
rearming aircraft, but carriers ought to be designed to conduct those
operations in combat without gross hazards.  And Hiryu caught fire and
was sunk after being hit by four bombs in no special circumstances.

By contrast, the USS Yorktown was hit by three (or four?  Rats!  I left
the book at home.) bombs, including one down the funnel, and was ready
to launch planes again within two hours!  Then she was hit by two
torpedoes (from aircraft), which wiped out all power and gave her a 26
degree list.  She was abandoned but did not sink.  Next morning she was
taken under tow and probably would have made it back to Pearl Harbor
but for two submarine-delivered torpedoes, which finally sank her.  At
no point was the ship endangered by fire.

In reference to the recent explosion/fire on the USS Midway, 
terryr@ogicse.ogc.edu (Terry Rooker) writes:
> Basically there are fire and explosions on
> navy ships on a regular basis (no they don't happen everyday, but
> there are several a year).  Usually they get little or no press
> coverage, even in the local press.  

Certainly correct.  What bothers me is not so much that a fire occurred
but rather that it (reportedly) took 10-12 hours to put it out.  And
apparently the fire was in a storage area, not an ammunition or fuel
compartment.  This sounds a lot more like Hiryu's experience than like
Yorktown's.  Was the delay in putting out the fire the result of bad
luck?  Or peacetime careless practices?  Or is there a fundamental
problem?  Or have the facts been reported incorrectly?  I realize it
may take some time to know for sure, but I would be glad if people
kept these questions in mind and let us all know what they find out.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steve Willner            Phone 617-495-7123         Bitnet:   willner@cfa
Cambridge, MA 02138 USA                 Internet: willner@cfa.harvard.edu