Either my inbox is eating mails, or GURPSnet has been slow
lately. So how about this?
I've been wondering how the old rules reflect aircraft carrier
warfare, from late TL6 to TL8. My starting point is historical
TL6, simply because there is data. For TL7 and TL8, there are
only more or less realistic technothrillers.
The first step is to find her, the second step is to hit her,
and only the third step is to do sufficient damage to sink
her, but I'll start the other way around because I need to
know how many hits are required to start with.
* At TL6, ways to sink a carrier are:
- Fire from battleship or coastal guns (only if the admiral
rolls a critical failure).
- Submarine- or surface-launched torpedoes or mines.
- Aircraft-launched torpedoes.
- Aircraft bombs.
* TL7 adds new options:
- Guided anti-ship missiles, air/surface/submarine-launched.
- Ballistic missiles with a big boom (with a high yield to
compensate for the lack of terminal homing).
* I'm not quite sure what TL8 brings. Orbital ordnance? Homing
ICBMs? Direct energy weapons?
As a starting case, consider aircraft bombs. 1,000-lb. bombs
seem to be typical, which could be simulated as 500mm normal
or 400mm huge warhead. Either way, an APEX bomb impacting at
160 mph (see VE114) does 40d(2) crushing followed by 8,000d
explosive damage. On average, it will penetrate DR 280 and
then do 28,000 points of damage.
I get the feeling that I'm making two mistakes which cancel
each other by choosing 160 mph and APEX. A faster impact by
a SAPHE bomb could be more realistic. In the end, the only
difference would be 33% more concussion, so I'm not too
worried.
While 28,000 points of damage seem to be a lot, they must be
seen against the hit point totals of a large ship. For WWII,
I can find these:
* Casablanca, 2,787 tons, W:Leyte Gulf p.36
240,000 HP
top DR 130, side DR 130
720,000 gallons fuel, 144,000 gallons avgas
* Independence, 9,674 tons, W:LG32
150,000 HP
top DR 200, side DR 280
780,000 gallons fuel, 216,000 gallons avgas
* Illustrious, 28,661 stons, W:MP117
1,140,000 HP
top DR 360+110+100, side DR 360
1,624,002 gallons fuel, 26,001 gallons avgas
20,000 cf aircraft ordnance
* Essex, 32,000 tons, W:DF93
720,000 HP
top DR 105+210,105, side DR 280
2,080,000 gallons fuel, 212,310 gallons avgas
18,950 cf ordnance
* Taiho, 34,200 stons, W:MP121
1,440,000 HP
top DR 310+50+250, side DR 360
1,929,235 gallons fuel, 176,001 gallons avgas
29,000 cf aircraft ordnance
It is obvious that W:MP has "played with an expanded deck"
to get extra HPs where W:DF simply added extra mass for no
benefit. So maybe the Essex should be set at 1,440,000 HP,
too, or the Illustrious and Taiho trimmed back. W:MP goes
beyond extra-heavy, after all. Either way, a penetration
of the first armor layer is somewhere between "likely" and
"possible".
The basic damage rules mean it takes 9 bombs to sink the
Casablanca, 6 hits for the Independence, 26 (or 52) for
the Essex, 41 (or 21) for the Illustrious and 52 (or 26)
for the Taiho.
That sounds unrealistic, but gross structural damage isn't
the only shipkiller.
* The rules for flooding require 10% of HP in a single
attack (VE186). That means Casablanca and Independence
are at risk from this rule, the others are safe. Each
bomb will only bring a few dozen tons of water,
anyway.
It might be relevant that W156 dumps the single attack
restriction, by lumping waterproofing with sealing in
the loss of sealing rules. On the other hand, it
clarifies that there is a roll every minute to stop
flooding, not just one roll after one minute.
* Explosions are flame attacks, and they will trigger "a
fire" doing 2d. That's trivial damage, but fires can
spread if they are not contained, and that might add up.
With total compartmentalization, a fire is more likely
to die rather than spread, even without firefighting,
but it will take several 10-second-periods.
* Ammunition explosions may occur if the vehicle burns or
an attack exceeds 5% of HP. The odds are one in six, but
you roll each turn, and the fire will last at least 10
turns ... that means 84% probability for AT LEAST one
explosion.
The way I read it, ammo explosions are almost certain for
any explosive damage which penetrates the DR. They count
as flame attacks in their own right, so it snowballs if
there is ANY ammo left in the carrier.
That doesn't seem right, either.
The 3E fire rules are probably scaled to tanks and jets,
not large ships.
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