pinehilljoe
Senior Airman
- 723
- May 1, 2016
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One of the D.E.s at the Battle of Samar used star shells after using up everything else. It set the upper works of an IJN cruiser ablaze and was surprisingly effective.
Fleet oiler aside, the best target for napalm would be the IJN's matchstick aircraft carriers.Napalm arrived later in the War. Are there any documented uses of Napalm as an anti shipping weapon?
White phosphorus will react with the aluminum upperworks to drive intense fires.
How many WW II ships used aluminum upper works?
It did become rather popular in the 1950s.
In his autobiography ADM J J Clarke said to sink a ship you need to let water in. I would not want to be an AAA gunner onboard a ship hit by napalm. The 50 to 100 exposed mounts with sailors manning them would be the targetIf everything goes really well dropping fire on a ship might be effective. But your odds are better if you just focus on letting water in.
If I remember correctly the USN Cleveland Class Cruisers were designed for an Aluminium superstructure, but they were not built as such due to the need of Aluminium for aircraft production. This in turn led to them having weight issuesI think some of the IJN heavy cruisers did have aluminum in the construction of the upper works. This was a nod (a very small nod) to the Washington Naval Disarmament Treaty to keep the weight down somewhat on their WAY oversized cruiser displacements. I believe this, and not so good welding techniques, led to many structural failures during the 4th fleet exercises. At least I think it was the 4th Fleet exercises.
Any combustion will.Didn't napalm not also consume oxygen that people needed to breathe? Many Japanese in their tunnels were not crispy after an attack but asphyxiated.
Any combustion will.