Re: Re: [GZG] John's Shipbuilding

["Grant A. Ladue" <ladue@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

   Hmm, I think you should also consider that scuttling and/or abandoning ship
 may be the only way to visibly demonstrate to the other side that you are no
 longer a danger that needs to be shot at.  This is certainly a reason why 
 ships were abandoned and scuttled in WW II.  So long as they were afloat and
 had crew aboard it was nearly impossible for the other side to tell whether
 they were still a target that needed to be attacked or not.  Typically the 
 other side wouldn't stop firing at a target until they could see the crew
 abandoning ship or the target was obviously foundering.
   In space combat, it might take the destruction of the target (scuttling) or
 ejection of the power core (in the appropriate genre's) to convince the other
 guy to stop firing on you.  In such a circumstance, abandoning ship may be the
 *only* chance to survive.


  grant



> 
> Another factor to consider when determining whether to scuttle your
> ship, or even whether to take to the escape pods, is the chance of
> survival.
> 
> Depending on the setting, some ships may be incapable of rescuing
> survivors from other vessels.  Submarines, in WW2, had to think hard
> about rescuing survivors in some cases.  In space, air, food and water
> will be in just as short supply for those ships.  It depends on the life
> support capability and the speed of jumping somewhere 'green' or being
> resupplied.  And all that presupposes they breathe air you can breathe,
> eat food you can eat, drink water you can consume.
> 
> Even if the opposition could rescue you, what are your chances if they
> don't ?  In any given battle, what are the chances there's any land
> nearby for your lifeboat to reach ?  In the Tuffleyverse, fighters
> aren't FTL capable, so escape pods probably aren't, so your chances of
> getting somewhere green from many of the battle sites before life
> support fails may be slim.
> 
> In the end, spacemen simply may not believe there's any chance of
> surviving if the ship is lost.  And from there, it's a pretty short leap
> to building ships with insufficient (or no) escape pods and lifeboats.
> And economically speaking, that's a big cash savings so it's not
> unrealistic that someone will suggest it.  So maybe most ships have just
> some shuttles, EVA suits, and the like, but no real plans to escape if
> the ship is lost.
> 
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