The critical analysis of I.M.Korotkin's book "Battle Damage
to
Surface Ships", "Sudpromgiz" Publishing House, 1960 (Chapter
6.
"Damage to Ships from Nuclear Bursts").
Part 1. Paradoxical Comparisons.
At the end of World War II the Americans obtained
the most
terrible kind of weapon - a nuclear explosive. And,
since the
conditions of the peace agreement obliged them to destroy a part
of captured ships from the Japanese and German
fleets, there
appeared a temptation to use the ships for testing the new means
of war, in other words to repeat almost the same experiments that
were made after World War I, when they subjected
the captured
German battleship "Ostfreesland" alongside
with their own
outdated battleships to air bombing. But unfortunately,
of the
experiments, this time no one investigated the outcomes of these
tests properly, no one understood of
the reasons of the
destruction of the ships. And no proper conclusions as to how
be
improved have been made up to now.
Let us analyze once again the published reports on the
damage
inflicted to some of these "guinea-pig" ships that lay closest to
the epicenter by the first Japanese light
cruiser "Sacava"
(displacement 6000 t, built in 1944). At the moment of the burst
the ship lay at the distance of 350 m from the epicenter.
The
ships hull was heavily destroy portside and sunk 25 hours
after
the burst.
2. Destroyer "Anderson" (displacement 1570 t, built in
1942).
The ship lay 500 m away from the epicenter, having
her stern
oriented directly at the c up from
the detonation of the
shipboard artillery ammunition and sunk. It was also
assumed,
that the intensive heat caused the detonation of
one of the
ships torpedoes.
3. Destroyer "Lamson" ("Mahen" class; displacement
1450 t,
built in 1936). The ship was oriented at 90
degrees to the
epicenter and only 350 M away from it. She capsized and
sunk 6
hours later.
4. Transport ship "Wyilem" (displacement 6900
t, built in
1944) 200 m away from the epicenter, the ships hull
ruptured
vertically in two cross-sections, inflamed and sunk immediately.
5. Transport ship "Carleil" ("William" class).
Being 400 m
away from the at once due to the heavy destruction of her
hull.
6. Light aircraft carrier "Independence" (displacement
11000
t, built in 1943). The ship was 700 m away from the
epicenter
facing it portside. Hi was demolished, 25 aircraft were blown off
the flight deck. The flying-off deck skewed, the hangar deck
got
heavily deformed, and wing bulkheads
in the hangar were
destroyed. The gasoline in the fire spread aft and
caused the
explosion of the torpedoes stored there. These internal
blasts
within a closed space heavily destroyed the
ships stern and
forced sections of the deck several ship suffered was estimated
as the heaviest among the ships that stayed afloat.
The Amazing Survivability of "Independence"
Fig.1. The photograph of "Independence"
Having read these li got convinced in the terrific destructive
power of nuclear weapons. Hardly anyone of them noticed that some
of Korotkin’s assertions about the damage were false. Therefore,
we will have to make an in-depth analysis of the text to open the
readers eyes to the reality. We can start from
the aircraft
carrier "Independence" that suffered "the heaviest damage". It is
no surprise that all the aircraft were blown off the flight deck:
simply not anchored to it. According to the pre-war regulations
of aircraft land parking that were in force not
only in the
Pacific zone, where strong winds are frequent, but even in the mi
winds occur very rarely, the airplanes had to be anchored for the
night to special ground pins with ropes. The velocity
of the
shock wave generated by an air explosion is 333 m/s, while
tha
only 40 m/s. No wonder the unanchored aircraft were
blown off
from the flight deck of "Independence" by the nuclear burst like
feathers. The force of the shock wave, however, rapidly decreases
for comparison, the aircraft carrier "Saratoga" that lay 2.5
km
away from the epicenter suffered no damage at all, with all
her
aircraft staying on deck. Here is what Korotkin wrote,
"A lig
with patches of the wooden deck burnt
away (rather, simply
charred - O.T.). The aircraft on deck were left intact." In other
words, the fact that the aircraft were blown off
the deck of
"Independence" that the force of the shock wave generated by
the
nuclear burst was that great.
Moreover, having examined the photograph of
this ship made
after its "corporal punishment", a clever and attentive
reader
may notice to his or her surprise that the island superstructure
of "Independence" was neither demolished, nor even damaged!
The
point is that the aircraft carrier was photographed from
below
her port side, and the superstructure can hardly be seen at such
an angle, because it is where it should always be - on starboard.
Only an attentive eye can notice at once the islands edge rising
slightly over the flight deck. So, left intact just exactly
the
same way as were the ships funnels that were
very small and
short, which was characteristic for this class of ships, shorter
even than the superstructure. That the ships
starboard, the
intact funnels cannot be seen in the photograph at all. All this
gave Korotkin a false ground to
write that "the island
superstructure was demolished". One can also see it crane
rises
intact too. Since long and high structures,
like cranes and
masts, are first to break under the impact of a shock wave, which
is well known to any specialist in structural strength, the above
facts prove that the shock wave was rather weak. The case
when
even the shipboard crane withstood the blast (the impact
could
not even turn its boom) shows that the burst was not as strong as
everyone imagined it.
How could Korotkin b so
inattentive when studying the
photograph and concluding that the island superstructure
was
demolished? Any schoolboy could easily catch him
in the lie.
Millions of people, with hundreds o among them, read
Korotkins
book, but unfortunately not a single one of them
noticed the
fraud for 37 years.. PRIVATE "TYPE=PICT;ALT=Picture
1"
The destruction of transverse bulkheads and flight
decks on
"Independence" were the result of the explosion
of gasoline
vapor, rather than the effect of the shock wave. Few people know
that common gasoline produces a much stronger explosion than
any
the explosive substance, simply because there is a plenty of
it.
For example, an explosion of aircraft fuel
vapor annihilated
large aircraft carrier "Taiho", as well as
American aircraft
carrier "Lexington". This is how it happ
case of "Taiho",
"…despite the relatively small damage inflicted by torpedoes, the
gasoline vapor from the damaged tank
and ruptured gasoline
pipelines filled literally each compartment
of the aircraft
carrier 90 minutes after the torpedo salvo from "Albacor" "Taiho"
was ripped into pieces by a monstrous
explosion..." (from
D.Horikoshi, M.Okumii "Zero", 1998, p.258).
The force of the explosion of gasoline is approximately
five
times is hi than that of the same amount of any other
organic
explosive, for example, TNT. It happens because all
kinds of
explosives are chemically fueled by ordinary atoms of carbon
and
hydrogen. This fuel amounts to only about 20 % (or one-fifth)
of
the total weight of the explosive, whereas the main
component
that consists of oxidizer - atoms of oxygen - amounts to as much
as 80 %! Gasoline, however, is a 100% chemical fuel composed
o
hydrogen only. It does not explode unless it gets mixed with
air
that supplies it with oxygen. Once such mixture is on
hand, a
small spark can trigger a very strong explosion. That is why
the
a closed space is so dangerous. I remember one case that happened
in 70-s at a small ship-building plant in Gorokhovets. For
some
reason, the workers who painted a tugboat brought a bucket
have
spilled the gasoline or tried to wash something with it, anyhow,
a sudden explosion of terrific force banged. As a
result, the
tugboat was warped to such a degree that
it could not be
restored. And that was an explosion caused by
one bucket of
gasoline only, whereas in case of "Independence" a whole
hanger
tank exploded heated by fire! No wonder the
hangar deck was
deformed, the flight deck skewed and the
internal bulkheads
destroye In other words, the extensive damage of "Independence"
resulted from an internal explosion of
a large amount of
gasoline, rather than from the nuclear burst, as
many people
think. The third explosion on the aircraft carrier was caused
by
the detonation of shipboard torpedoes in the
depot. One can
imagine what a vast destruction it invoked! It is quite
obvious
that it was not the impact from the nuclear burst that detonated
They were simply brought to red heat by the raging
flames of
tens of tons of spilled gasoline and exploded only due to
this.
This case seems to be usual - everything happened the way it shin
spite of this explosion "Independence" remained afloat!
In the sea battles of World War II a lot of
light aircraft
carriers hit by a single torpedo suffered extremely heavy damage
or even 20, 1944 the above-mentioned "Independence" was hit by
a
single torpedo launched from an aircraft and returned to her base
with great difficulty, while "Ark Royal",
a large aircraft
carrier o having taken a hit of one torpedo only. "Taiho "
sank
from one torpedo, "Sekaku" - from three, "Hiyo"
- from two,
"Formidable" - from two bombs. "Princeton", an aircraft
carrier
of the same c by one bomb. So, it would be very interesting
to
compare the destructive strength of a torpedo that explodes
in
water against ship's side with that of the tens of the same type
torpedoes store one must know the exact
number of aircraft
torpedoes stored on "Independence". But the organizers
of the
test failed to do so simple a thing, as to
send a competent
sailor aboard to count the test.
But we can do even without this data, suffice it
to compare
"Independence" with Japanese heavy cruiser "Mikuma". The point is
that they are fundamentally rather similar ships, at lea
class,
since "Independence" was originally designed and built as a heavy
cruiser, but in the process of construction was modified into
an
aircraft carrier. Thus, the part of "Independence" of a cruiser.
The standard displacement of the both ships was almost the same -
10,000 tons.
And here is what happened to Japanese cruiser
"Mikuma": she
was hit by several bombs dropped from US bo caused a great
fire
in her torpedo depot. As a result, the
torpedoes exploded.
Surprisingly, the torpedo warheads did not detonate at once (they
are often stored away from torpedo bodies), fire. Only about
80
minutes after the bomb hit the warheads detonated.
There were
total 24 warheads onboard, and they caused such a
very heavy
destruction to "Mikuma" that the cruiser became the
inflicted
damage, the ship sunk only eight hours later. Now
it becomes
clear how weak the explosion of 24 torpedoes was. Many
readers
might think that the author went nuts to
maintain that the
explosion of 24 Japanese torpedoes of 61-centimeter caliber, each
carrying 850 kg of explosive, which was at least twice as much as
in any foreign torpedo (for example, US torpedoes carried 330
kg
of explosive) can be weak. The actual explosion on "Mikuma"
was
equal to 50 ordinary torpedoes!
And still the explosion was relatively weak, because its
force
in the air (in the ships space above her waterline)
is much
weaker than the detonation of the same amount of explosive under
water. Remember how the hit of a single Japanese torpedo
easily
ripped sterns off US cruisers.
The explosion on "Mikuma" was equivalent to the
blast of 50
ordinary torpedoes, but the s break into halves,
because the
torpedoes exploded in the air. This
fact proves that the
explosion of torpedoes in the air does not mean an instant death
to a ship, though the formidable blast due to the vulnerability
of mechanisms that are usually ripped off their foundations). So,
it was simply amazing that after the explosion equivalent to
the
explosion of 50 foreign torpedoes afloat
for another eight
hours.
Yet, that is not all! "Independence", staying afloat after
the
blast of tens of her shipboard torpedoes, was left in the
test
range and a month later was exposed this time to an
underwater
one. But the ship persisted in her loathness to die. She
still
lay with no heel or trim as if nothing
happened. Inspection
parties could not detect any leak. And the ship actually survived
four terrific explosions: the first air nuclear burst followed by
the explosion of tens of tons of gasoline and the detonation
of
tens of shipboard torpedoes, and finally the underwater
nuclear
burst. If we compare burst with the explosion of torpedoes,
the
conclusion is obvious: the latter is more powerful; any ship
of
this class with the displacement of 10,000 tons could have never
survived four torpedoes hitting her from one side.
In other words, this fact shows that the ship could
withstand
nuclear bursts quite easily. What was really dangerous
for her
were the secondary effects of the burst., i.e., the explosions of
gasoline and torpedo warheads. Anyhow, there is no
doubt that
before sinking the ship withstood quite a lot of impacts
of fo
power. If we take into consideration that during World
War II
similar aircraft carriers quickly perished having been
hit by
one, two or three torpedoes, we have to acknowledge as true
the
following paradoxical conclusion: ships can survive
a nuclear
burst much easier compared to an underwater torpedo explosion.
My opponents are likely to state that both the inflammation
of
the air fuel, and the detonation of torpedoes were the results of
the nuclear burst, i.e. in the long run, the actual cause of
the
destruction of "Independence" was still a nuclear charge. No, the
main reason for all the destruction of the given ship wer of this
aircraft carrier. Firstly, the hangar gasoline tank was
placed
inside the ship under her deck. So, neither the shock wave,
nor
luminous radiation were able to directly act
upon the tank
occurred only because gasoline pipelines or the tank itself broke
under the blast, the gasoline spilled, and its vapor
exploded.
The designers should have foreseen such a case and should
have
taken measures to prevent the tank and
pipeline walls from
breaking. Even at that time the fact
that gasoline is an
extremely dangerous substance was well known. So,
the hangar
tank, for example, should have been installed on shock absorbers
a pipelines should have been made from rubber hoses that
easily
withstand shock loads, rather than from thin steel
pipes with
their walls less than 2 mm thick, or on the contrary, from durab
Had these measures been taken, the hangar tank would
not have
broken under the impact of the shock wave, thus causing fire
and
the explosion of all shipboard torpedoes. Now I hope everyone of
the gasoline tank and torpedo storage cellars were
much more
destructive than any nuclear burst. It is only sufficient to have
a look at the photo of "Independence" with her nose absolutely of
the nuclear burst just stroked it lightly.
On the contrary, the middle section of "Independence"
in the
area of her aircraft hangar, where the fire from
the aircraft
fuel raged, turned lit her stern, where
the torpedoes were
stored, is almost completely ruined. However, look closely at the
photo: despite such violence of destructive forces "Independence"
is not even going to sink. She shows neither roll, nor trim!
Try to understand the paradox of the situation:
there was a
nuclear burst, "Independence" caught a terrible gasoline
fire
that nobody tried to extinguish, (since there was nobody
aboard
the ship), later tens of shipboard torpedoes detonated and again
nobody tried to plug the holes, or to drain the water.
But the
long-suffering ship still did not sink. This
fact gives an
obvious proof that only underwater torpedo hits are dangerous for
a ship, while the explosions of gasoline and shipboard torpedoes,
though inflicting heavy damage to the ship's freeboard,
do not
bilge the hull.
Just compare how quickly other ships perished in similar
circu
carrier "Courageous" took two portside torpedo hits and sank
20
minutes later.
Aircraft carrier "Ark Royal" was
torpedoed by a German
submarine, taking one starboard torpedo hit. The shi almost
at
once. Eight operating drain pumps produced poor effect,
and 14
hours later "Ark Royal", abandoned by the crew,
capsized and
sunk. Compare this event with the case of "Mikuma" that remained
afloat for 8 hours after her 24 torpedoes
of 61-cm caliber
exploded.
Aircraft carrier "Eagle" was attacked by a
German submarine
near Malta and was hit by 3-4 torpedoes. As a result, the
ship
sunk within a short period of time.
On September 15, 1942 "Wasp" was
attacked by a Japanese
submarine and took three starboard torpedo hits
in her nose
section. The ship's torpedoes detonated causing gasoline
fires
followed by internal explosions. The crew had
to leave the
burning and listed ship that was sunk in a short while by several
torpedoes launched from a US destroyer.
In this connection, I would like to
draw an analogy with
Russian cruiser "Ochakov", which also suffer of her
freeboard,
but remained afloat. At that time the ship was taking part in
a
revolt lying out of Sebastopol. She was shot at by
anyone who
felt like shooting: ground artillery with its 3-inch
with its
11-inch guns, battleships of the Black Sea
fleet armed with
12-inch major caliber guns. The shells literally riddled the ship
through. The cruiser burnt for two days. Since
the crew no
struggle for her survival: no one tried to extinguish the fire or
to drain the water. But, despite of the fact that
the ship's
freeboard was riddled with holes, she had no underwater holes.
S
out from within, but remained afloat.
Later "Ochakov" was
repaired and sailed the seas for many years.
This torture was very similar
to the one suffered by
"Independence". The latter had her burnt in raging flames for
a
long time with no one onboard to struggle for her survival.
And
yet, the outcome was the same - the aircraft carrier
remained
afloat!
This amazing survivability of the ships of different
classes
and different times is explained not by their high strength,
but
by the fact that all of them
- "Independence", "Mikuma",
"Ochakov" suffered only freeboard damage. The conclusion is:
an
air nuclear burst is to sink a surface ship laying as near as 700
meters from the epicenter.
World War , ship, battleship, cruiser , Destroyer,
sank, aircraft carrier , Pacific, sea, Saratoga, torpedo,
bomb, waterline, tank, gun, epicenter, flight deck
At the end of World War II the Americans obtained
the most
terrible kind of weapon - a nuclear explosive. And,
since the
conditions of the peace agreement obliged them to destroy a part
of captured ships from the Japanese and German
fleets,