Re: [GZG] Slightly OT - Hypothetical weapon question

Sorry I haven't replied until now; real life is a bit busy :-(

A long time ago, Ryan Gill wrote:

> >In gelatin.	I am unaware of any firearms round designed for firing
> >through water from air, though I understand some special forces have
> >firearms (and rounds) designed for underwater use, I'm not aware of
> >any that are designed for shooting through water after being fired
> >above it.  This is more a statement of my ignorance of such things
> >than of their non-existence, but I try to be well-read.
>
>Through water, no, but what were the rounds used on Japanese and German

>shipping by US B25s and Bristol Beaufighters?

US B-25Gs and Hs used 75mm explosive shells. Those particular models
were 
developed specifically for anti-shipping strikes, presumably because the

nose-mounted 0.50" gunpacks in earlier B-25 variants were considered 
insufficient for the task.

The Beaufighter's main armament consisted of four 20mm Hispanos in the 
nose. While some marks of Beaufighters also had four 0.50" HMGs in the 
wings, the 20mm cannon were far more destructive... I don't think you'll
be 
able to single out any sinkings where the HMGs were decisive from all
the 
ones where the cannon did the vast majority of the damage :-/

>That seemed to do RATHER well at riddling them with holes and otherwise

>making life horrible for the Axis crews.

Well, yes. HE shells are quite good at blowing large holes in things.
That 
doesn't say very much about the non-explosive 0.50" HMG bullets,
unfortunately.

>  The Mosquitos of RAF Bomber and Coastal Commands also did rather well

> against German E Boats.

The Mossies were armed with 20mm Hispanos and .303"-cal MGs, not 0.50"
HMGs.

In addition to this, there is a wee bit of difference in trajectory
between 
a projectile fired more or less horisontally from one boat to another 
(which was the original premise of this thread) and a projectile fired
at a 
downwards slant from an aircraft to a boat. The air-launched projectile 
doesn't need to go nearly as far through water to reach the underwater
part 
of the target's hull (in fact, if it goes through the deck it can
penetrate 
the hull from the inside, only entering the water *after* it has holed
the 
hull).

All in all, I don't think that these examples of aircraft armaments are 
very useful for discussing how far HMG bullets can travel through water
and 
still be dangerous to a target boat :-/

Ah well. I'll stop discussing this now, before I write something I'm not

allowed to :-(

Regards,

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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