HFQ Official Snippet #17

fallsfromtrees wrote:

phillies wrote:However, you want to be really, really sure that the barges are blown to smithereens, because you do not get a second chance to try this. Thus, the kerblammo may be healthy. Also, if the explosive is in fact newer than gunpowder, well, navy conservatism says it is a wee bit better, so we can use only 90% of what would otherwise be needed.

But you only need to blow a hole in the barge chain large enough to get one iron clad through. At that point, the ironclad drives off any defenders and you can send in the UDT divers to clear the remainder of the channel if you need to.

Hi fallsfromtrees,

I agree with your logic. However Phillies does have a point. The impulse of someone planning this sort of op would be that more is better on the size of the explosive package. This would be especially true is the explosive being used was new and unfamiliar to the planner who would be uncertain how big of a kaboom he would get for the size of the package.

Don

Also, the time delay says something, too.

phillies wrote:However, you want to be really, really sure that the barges are blown to smithereens, because you do not get a second chance to try this. ...

Without further comment:

"Well that oughta do it"

n7axw wrote:

fallsfromtrees wrote:But you only need to blow a hole in the barge chain large enough to get one iron clad through. At that point, the ironclad drives off any defenders and you can send in the UDT divers to clear the remainder of the channel if you need to.

Hi fallsfromtrees,

I agree with your logic. However Phillies does have a point. The impulse of someone planning this sort of op would be that more is better on the size of the explosive package. This would be especially true is the explosive being used was new and unfamiliar to the planner who would be uncertain how big of a kaboom he would get for the size of the package.

Don

I would also expect that the charges were large enough to dredge the river at the point which the ironclad will be planning to pass (as the barges were sunk as block ships and probably filled with rock). In which case everyone within a mile will be wearing sizeable pieces of river bottom.

Why do I have visions of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Hulls and water flying everywhere. Hahrlys asking "do you think you used enough boom sticks there Edwyrds?"


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHXK2t50S-8

bigrunt wrote:Why do I have visions of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Maybe because you clicked the link I posted earlier?

Great minds think alike, and that is a classic moment in American Film history.

fallsfromtrees wrote:But you only need to blow a hole in the barge chain large enough to get one iron clad through. At that point, the ironclad drives off any defenders and you can send in the UDT divers to clear the remainder of the channel if you need to.

n7axw wrote:
Hi fallsfromtrees,

I agree with your logic. However Phillies does have a point. The impulse of someone planning this sort of op would be that more is better on the size of the explosive package. This would be especially true is the explosive being used was new and unfamiliar to the planner who would be uncertain how big of a kaboom he would get for the size of the package.

Don

AirTech wrote:
I would also expect that the charges were large enough to dredge the river at the point which the ironclad will be planning to pass (as the barges were sunk as block ships and probably filled with rock). In which case everyone within a mile will be wearing sizeable pieces of river bottom.

You only need to dredge to about 13 feet - The draft on one of the ironclads is about 12 feet (MT&T April 896, chapter XI). There is going to be a limit on the size of the charges given the size of charge that a team can carry, and assuming that the river is more than 13 feet deep in the channel, all you have to do with the boulders that were piled in the barges is move them sufficiently to settle into the deeper portions of the river. If they are planting the charges more that 10 feet below the surface, the water is going to absorb a great deal of the blast, primarily in shifting a large amount of water - you will get a water spout that will drench everyone, but the blast effects, above the water, will be minimal.

U guyz is gettin too tek-ni-kal! I jus wanna see the earth shattering Kaboom!!!

"You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off" - springs to mind! I think this might turn out to be a bit of overkill on the 'boom' front as the new explosive turns out to be even better than predicted.


Oh - and thanks RFC; I was away over the weekend and was hoping for a Monday snippet - turns out I've missed a whole weekend of commenting and speculating.

XofDallas wrote:U guyz is gettin too tek-ni-kal! I jus wanna see the earth shattering Kaboom!!!

one or two more snippets, an you should get your wish - unless of course RFC shifts to another locale just before the explosion.