Dilandu wrote:
With all respect, but 300 pdr is a total weight of the rocket. Not just the warhead. The weight of warhead is MUCH smaller.
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No they aren't. The mass that would reach the target would be barely 1/3 of initial, and only part of said mass would be a warhead.
This is always the case.
“The range of the eight-inch, seven-inch and six-inch rockets are from 2,000 to 2,500 yards, and the quantities of combustible matter, or bursting powder, from 25 pounds and upwards to 50 pounds. The 42-and 32-pounders are those which have hitherto been principally used in bombardment. These convey from 10 to seven pounds of combustible matter each and have a range of upwards of 3,000 yards.
“The 42-and 32-pounder rockets may also be used as explosion rockets and the 32-pounder armed with shot or shells; thus a 32-pounder will range at least 1,000 yards, laid on the ground and armed with a 5 1/2-inch howitzer shell, or an 18-or even a 24-pounder solid shot.
https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily ... red-glare/So the payload for a 32 pounder Congreve Rocket wasn’t terrible. The payload to weight ratio of the 300 pounder will be worse but assuming it could handle a 8” payload it would have been roughly equivalent to a 68 pounder.
The Japanese 138lb bomb has a warhead of 66 lbs.
Currently, I couldn't see how even a single deck penetration might be achieved this way.
No penetrations are required for a mission kill if you set the ship on fire and blow up the unarmored portions of the deck. Most shallow penetrations aren’t going to be critical anyway unless it’s a magazine or engine. Mostly you want to put non-critical stuff like the ships laundry and other stuff to absorb damage.
With respect to angle guns, it depends on what the church was fielding. A 24 pounder howitzer isn’t going to penetrate 1” plate any more than a 32 pounder Congreve. If you don’t think a 300 lb Congreve with an 8” payload will penetrate then neither will an 8” mortar.
When you design a warship it’s always a balancing act to maximize the immunity zone against the most likely threats, carry enough guns that are big enough and still have enough speed and range. I might not have bothered with 1” worth of deck armor and armored lighter overall for higher speed given the steam engines are likely not very efficient yet. If there was no need to worry about QF guns I might have opted for a armor lay down like a protected cruiser vs late 19th century pre-dread armor design.
If my main batteries out range the most common angle guns fielded by the church army I’m not going to spend a lot of effort defending against them when the coastal batteries and ship batteries aren’t generally the higher angle mortars and howitzers.
Bombardment rockets? It’s such a wierd scenario I wouldn’t have considered them either. I’d have gone with less armor overall than historical for more tactical speed or strategic range since by the time I’m facing armored steam ships built by the church I’m going to have dreadnoughts style ships coming off my slips. Time doesn’t favor the Church and the tech disparity will only grow even without electricity or radio.
I’m more likely to lose a battle because I’m late because I needed to stop for coal (or plain couldn’t get there) or let a fleet get away because I’m a knot too slow than end up facing a bunch of heavy bombardment rockets that the Church didn’t have when I was designing the ship.
Even if that turns out to be wrong it iseasily understandable why a ship designer might scrimp on deck armor and not some criminally stupid decision. Hell, I’d have spent more effort on mine/torpedo defense than worry about plunging fire the Church doesn’t have or likely good enough rangefinders and ROF to make it effective even if it did.
I seriously hoped for at least one mad fanatic among Shan-Wei followers (seriously, after the destruction of Solar System and extermination of all other human race, it's pretty hard to believe that on the side of Shain-Wei concentrated only Generic Good Guys), who made some really mad things out of revenge.
