Re: [GZG] Slightly OT - Hypothetical weapon question

Ryan Gill wrote:

> >As a minor threadjack, anyone have any opinions on the practicality
of
> >shooting a boat below the waterline at range?  The figure bandied
> >about was 2 ft (roughly 60 cm for the metric people).  Based on the
> >Mythbusters tests we were of the opinion that high velocity rifles
> >wouldn't be effective but shotgun slugs might be providing you don't
> >try to go too far below the waterline and from too far away.  Any
> >naval weapon capable of this short of a torpedo or a battleship class
> >gun?
>
>An M2 50 Caliber would be ideal.

Doubtful, since its rounds would also break up pretty quickly after 
entering the water. (OK, the Mythbusters didn't include a .50 HMG, but
they 
did test a .50-caliber sniper rifle, and its bullets behave pretty 
similarly to the HMG's when they strike water.)

>  You have automatic fire for walking rounds onto the target and enough

> power to hole both sides of the hull below the water line OR make one 
> hole and crack the block of the engine. That's just using ball OR AP 
> rounds. Combine in some Tracer and API and you get nice flames too.
>
>That'll work on anything from a Go-fast boat to a destroyer if you
catch 
>the destroyer's crew napping. (Look at how the British Royal Marines
led 
>by Fairly Famous Mills worked over the Argie Frigate Guerrico at South 
>Georgia Island).
>
>http://www.britains-smallwars.com/Falklands/South-Georgia.html

No mention of small-calibre rounds causing *underwater* damage there...
the 
Carl Gustaf tore up a serious hole just above the waterline (big enough
for 
waves to get in), and the Guerrico's superstructure and upper hull were 
pretty badly riddled, but the underwater hull was essentially intact.

Later,

Oerjan
orjan.ariander1@comhem.se

"Life is like a sewer.
  What you get out of it, depends on what you put into it."
-Hen3ry

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