What If These Two Warships Met In Combat

Can ASW torpedoes hit surface targets ? I thought they were programmed to go far deeper to actually have a chance of hitting surface ships.
Even if they did, their warheads are for cracking sub hulls, how much damage would one do a surface ship compared to a Heavy Weight torpedo?
 
How much damage can the sea Dart do on the Belgrano?
Can't sink her, but taking out radars, optical rangefinders and the bridge could thoroughly mission kill her if the Harriers haven't already.
And realistically what would be the rate of fire of the sea dart ?
30 seconds per salvo according to https://www.navylookout.com/from-sea-dart-to-sea-viper-area-air-defence-for-the-royal-navy/

All in all, I suggest Belgrano definitely could sink Invincible, Invincible would be lucky/unlikely to sink Belgrano except maybe with a lucky bomb hit from a Harrier. But Belgrano doesn't have much chance of getting within range without being thoroughly mission killed with everything above the armored deck wrecked
 
Can't sink her, but taking out radars, optical rangefinders and the bridge could thoroughly mission kill her if the Harriers haven't already.

30 seconds per salvo according to https://www.navylookout.com/from-sea-dart-to-sea-viper-area-air-defence-for-the-royal-navy/

All in all, I suggest Belgrano definitely could sink Invincible, Invincible would be lucky/unlikely to sink Belgrano except maybe with a lucky bomb hit from a Harrier. But Belgrano doesn't have much chance of getting within range without being thoroughly mission killed with everything above the armored deck wrecked
The Belgrano's damage control was a joke, after the "refit" they had fire/flood doors with so much paint on them they couldn't be closed, that suggests they would be hard pushed to deal with a single hit from anything without losing the ability to fight the ship let alone anything else.
 
Last edited:
Interesting I read that the SeaDart turned the warhead off when in anti ship mode. Relied on KE of 1,200 lbs at over Mach 3. Mk 46 are/were used in CAPTOR mines. This means they should be able to target surface ships. They are sound guided so they should guide to the propellers. That would be a mission kill.
 
The Belgrano's damage control was a joke, after the "refit" they had fire/flood doors with so much pain on them they couldn't be closed, that suggests they would be hard pushed to deal with a single hit from anything without losing the ability to fight the ship let alone anything else.
Who did the refit? One of the junta's relatives?
 
Mk 46 are/were used in CAPTOR mines. This means they should be able to target surface ships.
I mean all LW ASW torps should be able to do it theoretically if you can remove safeties, the question is do they need a factory reset to be able to do it and can the CVs crew actually reprogram & remove the safeties built in to stop it from hitting the surface ships that fires it at a sub or does it require a different set of chips only available back at the factory fitted to the mine version?
 
USS Missouri (or other Iowa-class BB) vs Bismarck
Iowa vs. Vittorio Veneto.

Iowa vs. any Axis battleship which wasn't the best type from its Axis nation (Conte di Cavour, Andrea Doria, Scharnhorst, Nagato, Fuso, Ise and Kongo class battleships).

Iowa vs. any (Vichy) French battleship (Courbet, Bretagne, Dunkerque and Richelieu class battleships).

Iowa vs. Super Yamato, H class, O class or Design 65 battleships.

Iowa vs. any American, British, Chinese, Soviet, French or minor Allied such as Brazilian or Greek battleship (might require Vichy French-style change in loyalty of the Allied nation owning the battleship in question, capture or mutiny of the ship or massive diplomatic changes to the Allied nation owning the battleship in question).

And unless this thread is restricted to warships of the same type, too many warships to include.
 
Last edited:
I assume you mean the Carrier and not the Battlecruiser, though that would be closer to a fair fight. At least the Belgrano would get close enough to shoot back.
That would be one silly ISOT have HMS Invincible and Inflexible as well as HMS Carnarvon, Cornwall, Kent, Macedonia, Bristol and Glasgow, come out and bump into the Argentinian Operation Rosario invasion force on Thursday 1 April at close range? Do we have an order of battle for the Argentinian navy force?

The destroyer ARA Santísima Trinidad (type 42)
The submarine ARA Santa Fe (ex USN SS339)
The amphibious warfare ship ARA Cabo San Antonio (LST)
But what else was the covering force locally available?
 
That would be one silly ISOT have HMS Invincible and Inflexible as well as HMS Carnarvon, Cornwall, Kent, Macedonia, Bristol and Glasgow, come out and bump into the Argentinian Operation Rosario invasion force on Thursday 1 April at close range? Do we have an order of battle for the Argentinian navy force?

The destroyer ARA Santísima Trinidad (type 42)
The submarine ARA Santa Fe (ex USN SS339)
The amphibious warfare ship ARA Cabo San Antonio (LST)
But what else was the covering force locally available?

No isots are allowed in this thread.
 
I mean all LW ASW torps should be able to do it theoretically if you can remove safeties, the question is do they need a factory reset to be able to do it and can the CVs crew actually reprogram & remove the safeties built in to stop it from hitting the surface ships that fires it at a sub or does it require a different set of chips only available back at the factory fitted to the mine version?
If it doesn't actually require new hardware, then I suspect 820 NAS' engineering crew can do the required hacking if anybody can. The Bilge Pumps podcast had a big interview with their engineering officer over a couple of episodes - very switched-on guy
 
USS Washington vs The Bismark how would that go? I honestly give the edge slightly to the Washington
A more realistic one would be USS Texas and Bismark. Apparently Texas was on a neutrality patrol in the Denmark strait about 12 hours before Hood and Prince of Wales had their fateful encounter. I could see a spooked Bismark opening fire on a "RN Battleship", how long would Texas last?
 
A more realistic one would be USS Texas and Bismark. Apparently Texas was on a neutrality patrol in the Denmark strait about 12 hours before Hood and Prince of Wales had their fateful encounter. I could see a spooked Bismark opening fire on a "RN Battleship", how long would Texas last?
Not very. It does have torpedo bulges, that might help some against below waterline hits.

This looks like a mismatch. The New York's out ranged by 24 km and 9 knots slower. Both ships have radar.

New York
Main Guns

10 × 14 in (356 mm)/45 caliber guns
Effective firing range 12 km (7.4 mi) at 7.4° elevation
Maximum firing range 21 km (13.1 mi) at 15° elevation
Armor
Belt: 6–12 in (152–305 mm)
Bulkheads: 10 to 11 in (254 to 279 mm)
Barbettes: 5–12 in (127–305 mm)
Turrets: 14 in (356 mm) (face)
Decks: 1.5–3 in (38–76 mm)
Conning tower: 12 in
Speed 21 knots

Bismark
Armament

8 × 38 cm (15 in) SK C/34 (4 × 2)
Effective firing range 36.5 km (22.7 mi) with 800 kg (1,800 lb) shell at 30° elev.
Maximum firing range 55.7 km (34.6 mi) with 495 kg (1,091 lb) shell at 30° elev.
Armour
Belt: 320 mm (12.6 in)
Turrets: 360 mm (14.2 in)
Main deck: 100–120 mm (3.9–4.7 in)
Speed 30 knots
 
Top