Ammo ship explosions - ot

[Dili]

Bombay, Tripoli foto here http://conlapelleappesaaunchiodo.blogsp ... -bari.html

[tc464]

ORIGINAL: czert2

Well, since port explosions did realy damage to its surrondings - it is here chance to add if ship explode in port it will damage his surondings too ? so far it is limited only to that ship.

I'm not a sailor or anything but I have worked on some former ordnance depots, and here is the way its been explained to me by some old timers...During WW2 convoys formed up as usual, but ships carrying ammunition were loaded elsewhere. For instance, cargo ships loaded in New York harbor, but bulk ammunition ships loaded at Raritan Arsenal, NJ and NWS Earle, NJ. This was done to minimize damage to New York harbor and was a result of several incidents in the area like the 1943 Bayonne fire, the Nixon Nitration Works blast in 1924, and the TA Gillespie plant blast in 1917 and 1919 (iirc).

[EHansen]

This just came up in a PBEM game of mine:

Massive Explosion during unloading of xAP Macdhui at Torokina

She sank with all hands lost.

[jmalter]

the AE game-engine will sometimes throw you a KABOOM, these are extremely low-%age events. I recall a post about a boiler explosion onboard an LST, wildly inappropriate as LSTs were diesel-powered.

my own personal moan is when I hear a KABOOM during a combat-replay - it might be a friendly or enemy ship striking a mine, but often it's an IJN 4E flying-boat (presumably on a NavS mission), getting a lucky hit on one of my AOs.

IMO the occaisional random-damage inflicted in the game is far less than the historic record would warrant. Many USN ships were damaged by grounding & docking accidents, and more than a few disappeared during extremely heavy weather. To say nothing about the high attrition of pilots & airframes of airgroups engaged in 100% training.

[wdolson]

The random events like air ops losses and ships damaged or lost in accidents is less than historical, but if it was historical players would be screaming about the losses.

I have a book on warship losses of WW II and I happened to pick it up last night. It lists every warship loss from the war in chronological order along with cause and location. There are many explanatory paragraphs about the surrounding situations in many cases. The first three French losses were due to accidents. The first was a cruiser that was unloading mines in Casablanca when one of them went off. A bunch of other ships were damaged as well as the dock facilities. By May 1940 two more destroyers were lost due to accidents in port. One was when a torpedo caught fire.

Bill

[obvert]

I wonder if anyone ever thought maybe it was a poor choice to name a ship designed to be packed full of explosives after active volcanoes; AE Mt Hood, AE Vesuvius, AE Mt Shasta, ... etc.

When Mt Hood blew up a lot of ships nearby were obliterated as well. USS Mindanao here.

[Barb]

I think that the names for ammunition ships were chosen for purpose - to remind crews they are literally sitting on "active volcanoes".

As to USS Mindanao - well, the problem of air ventilation and air conditioning is finally solved... [:D]

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: Barb

I think that the names for ammunition ships were chosen for purpose - to remind crews they are literally sitting on "active volcanoes".

As to USS Mindanao - well, the problem of air ventilation and air conditioning is finally solved... [:D]

[:D]

[koniu]

ORIGINAL: LargeSlowTarget

Liberty Ship S.S. John Burke was carrying ammo when hit by an Kamikaze off Mindoro in Dec 1944, blowing up in a tremendous explosion.

First time i saw this i was sure that i am watching nuclear explosion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMs4IJQVRYM

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: koniu

ORIGINAL: LargeSlowTarget

Liberty Ship S.S. John Burke was carrying ammo when hit by an Kamikaze off Mindoro in Dec 1944, blowing up in a tremendous explosion.

First time i saw this i was sure that i am watching nuclear explosion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMs4IJQVRYM

That is horrible.

The narrator on the video is incredibly annoying. Doesn't know where to point his camera? Was he watching a different film clip?

[JohnDillworth]

In WWI a ship loaded with munitions blew up in Halifax Harbor leveling a neighborhood and killing 2,000 people.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Explosion

[slane_slith]

The nastiest thing to me was all the people that were blinded. They were looking out their windows at the burning ship and BOOM.