Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wasatch!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!bellcore!faline!thumper!ulysses!att!cbnews!goofy!Apple.COM!livesey@apple.com From: goofy!Apple.COM!livesey@apple.com (John Livesey) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Ship armor Message-ID: <6030@cbnews.ATT.COM> Date: 28 Apr 89 03:24:06 GMT References: <5929@cbnews.ATT.COM> <5981@cbnews.ATT.COM> Sender: military@cbnews.ATT.COM Organization: Apple Computer Inc, Cupertino, CA Lines: 36 Approved: military@att.att.com From: goofy!Apple.COM!livesey@apple.com (John Livesey) The moderator writes: >[mod.note: True. Events at Jutland led to major redesign of the >battlecruisers then building, and of warships in general, in the British >fleet. In particular, new antiflash systems were installed to prevent >turret fires from quickly spreading to the magazines. Actually, it goes back further than that. At the battle of Dogger Bank, a German Battle Cruiser suffered a turret fire from similar causes, and by the time of Jutland, the German Navy had made its powder-handling procedures safer. The British had not suffered a similar incident at Dogger Bank, and had not learned the same lessons; they learned them at Jutland. >Still, HMS Hood, completed well after Jutland, suffered the same >fate. - Bill ] No-one really knows what happened to the Hood; there were less than ten survivors. There are three popular theories. One that deck-mounted rockets ignited, causing an explosion. One that a turret hit caused a magazine explosion. One that a shell hit short, turned almost horizontal, and penetrated below the armour belt as the Hood heeled. The danger of such incidents was understood. The Hood was building at the time of Jutland, and was suspended for a redesign that led to heavier armouring. However, by the time that the Hood was sunk, it was over twenty years old, and both technology and tactics had changed enough to render the original design invalid; about as significant as, say, sinking the Balgrano in the Falklands, and not very instructive about contemporary ship design. jon.