Quote:
Originally Posted by jivemi
Well my understanding is that basically in order to destroy a heavy tank you gotta score a direct hit. To immobilize a close miss (or direct hit by lower caliber). Battleships were designed to kill other BBs and heavy cruisers by direct fire with their main armament while saving their secondaries--mostly 4- or 5-inch--for smaller targets like destroyers or torpedo boats. Given that even large tanks are even smaller targets and that the BBs were firing indirectly in your trial, who's to say that the result was unrealistic?
Just my two centavos; perhaps someone better informed might help us out here. Cheers.
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They would, as others have pointed out, have been using High Explosive shells not AP. Armour piecing shells were for use on armoured warships (Cruisers and above) and, occasionally, concrete gun emplacements, etc. HE was used against smaller warships and land targets. Battleship shells used at Normandy could be up to 16 inch (406mm) size
Here are a couple of WWII RN instructional films, in colour, about Naval Gunfire support. The first one is a deliberate bombardment of a known position, the second a more 'off the cuff' shoot, against enemy SP Guns.
The Cruiser is a Colony class Light 6 inch Cruiser, the Aircraft Fleet Air Arm Seafires (naval version of the Spitfire). Warships could, of course, also use ground FOO control
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2qIU5SH_s8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-OLPzwpAuU