Naval Engineering - What happens when a shell hits a battleship?

Today we take a look at the basics of what happens when a shell hits battleship armour, and some real-life examples, illustrating additional effects beyond what you might otherwise imagine.

Sources:
Trials against Baden - Warship 2007

[SS-ectu]

One of the close calls I had was when a defective 5" 38 HE round exploded right outside the gun mount during a training exercise. It left a sizeable dent on the frontal armor right where I was stationed. Some of the shrapnel flew back onto the bridge, too.
Yes, I have tinnitus.

[ceralis]

It needs to be pointy, pointy is scary... ~ Admiral-Gerneral Aladeen

[b.thomas]

Hail to we nerds of Naval trivia that find videos like this interesting. Because my wife walked in while I was enjoying a ginger ale and some chips while enjoying this video and she laughed, gave me a hug and left, knowing that I'm again cramming knowledge into my head that will serve no useful purpose if a zombie apocalypse ever breaks out.

[bodan]

Perhaps a little unrelated, but the glass marble example mentioned, triggered an old funny memory from school.
The school I attended has four floors, and in one location there are stairs with an open volume through all floors
down to the basement floor. Thus five floors. The floor at the bottom is smooth stoned slabs, very tuff and hard.
So... one day walking the stairs, holding a small billiard ball that I inexplicably had found somewhere, an intrusive
thought raised it's stupid head. I could not resist, so from the top of the stairs, looking down an estimated 18 m(?),
I threw the billiard ball, balancing force with control, as hard as I could down towards the bottom of the stairs.
I expected the ball to shatter, but to my surprise, the ball bounced back high enough for my friend standing one
floor below me to catch it. Examining the ball, there was little to see, just a small mark of contact. Looking at the
stone floor... there was a somewhat larger mark of contact. The slab was cracked to each corner, with a very
visible crater at the convergance of those cracks, but it had not shattered either. Physics is fun, in theory and
practice. We the started to calculate the G-forces involved, but decided to go talk to the girls walking by instead.
That is at least how I choose to remember the end of the story... 🙂

[barry]

Amazing thanks, my grandfather was an engineer at chatham docks, sadly died trying to save the life of a friend who inadvertently fell into the water just after they left the security gate on shore leave! The friend could not swim so my grandad dived in and its believed he struck his head fatally. Still have the plaque given to my grandmother by the King.

[rickyfrax]

My answer would be "a significant emotional event"

[space_artist_real]

As a mechanical structural engineer, this is an excellent explanation for the phenomenon and their effects in shell impacts, shockwave, compression and what their stresses want to do to the shell. Putting down this basis is very good for the explanations with armored caps.

Also, the sacrificial role of the AP cap, made to take the worst of stresses of the impact. A sacrificial penetrator made to push the strongest part of the armor out of the way of the shell, and get itself out of the way by shattering. I never thought a shattering object could be used to absorb energy, but I guess what actually happens is this does the inverse, concentrate energy inwards to create damage.

[gsbeak]

Very interesting video !
Being a non native English speaker, thank you for speaking so intelligibly. You are very easy to understand contrary to a lot of other anglophone youtubers.

[jukeseyable]

Yes more examples and assesments of shell impacts. All of them that you have, can be a new series

[mitchm]

Aw hell yeah, engineering Drach is one of my very favorite varieties of Drach

[DrJaneLuciferian]

Absolutely, I'd love to hear more detail from WWII. Particularly any advancements in armour composition and AP materials.

[felixcat]

An excellent, detailed explanation narrated in a clear, concise manner.

Technical enough to be relevant, clear enough to be understood by people without engineering knowledge.

The narrator achieved that difficult task of giving a clear, detailed explanation without alienating or boring viewers that don't know enough about the specific subject.

The knowledge from this video increases my respect for the men that faced these weapons in war.

My father and several uncles served in the Royal Navy and my uncle, whom was a gun layer, revealed absolutely horrific details of what occurred on board during and post engagements.

I understood why such information was voluntarily suppressed and never made public.

I considered myself extremely fortunate to have been born after the war had ended, what our forces endured for the length of that conflict was something that today's generation would find impossible...

[michaelmorley]

I would like to see another video on this subject: WW2 incidents, and maybe something on cruiser-level armor and guns.

[jimutermark]

Excellent video, Drach! Your explanations were clear enough the a very non-engineer, political scientist could understand. Count me as a vote for further videos on this topic regarding WWII ships!

[trickydicky]

I was a GMG in US navy in the early, mid 80’s. As a child, I was fascinated with the type vessels you cover. I was shocked at what little armor our gun turrets were provided with. Different era, I understand, but I realized I didn’t want to be in a Savo Island, type battle. Lol

[TheROMaNProject]

This is the best video I’ve yet to watch on the topic of modern naval shells, with appropriate pictures accompanied by succinct narratives, Thank you.

[craigbinder]

Anyone else have his naval engineering playlist on repeat honestly endlessly fascinating

[peterschorn]

My takeaway: Given sufficient energyu--

Every elastic collision becomes an inelastic collision and
Corollary: Newtonian mechanics become fluid mechanics

[madmeh]

Yes, please, of course! More information about shell impacts on WW2 ships. Awesome work Drach!

[moistmike]

SUPER INTERESTING! Battleships and their guns are fascinating bits of historical technology. The battles these ships fought are covered in minute detail, yet the actual, physical effect of their weapons on an unfortunate competitor is rarely ever explained. Good on yer Drach!! ; D