Operation Chastise

[MikeMeech]

So - in use against ships, Highball was expected to slam into the ship's hull, bounce off, sink, then explode? I guess they wouldn't work unless under water then. If on land or stuck on a ship's superstructure - it wouldn't detonate?

Hi
The point of the weapon was to explode beneath the water which would enhance the effect and cause more damage to the capital ship. The HIGHBALL was for use against ships in harbour or at anchor with it 'bouncing' over anti-torpedo nets (as with UPKEEP when used against the dams) and exploding about 30 feet down therefore avoiding the ships main armour protection on the sides and decks.

Mike

 

[buffnut453]

Sounds like a similar approach to modern torpedoes which can be set to explode beneath a ship instead of trying to punch a hole in it. An explosion beneath a ship generates an upward force that the ship's structure is simply not designed to take, often causing the target to split into two sections.

Here's a fun video for those interested:


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6zQ0wBvh18

 

[EwenS]

Hi
The point of the weapon was to explode beneath the water which would enhance the effect and cause more damage to the capital ship. The HIGHBALL was for use against ships in harbour or at anchor with it 'bouncing' over anti-torpedo nets (as with UPKEEP when used against the dams) and exploding about 30 feet down therefore avoiding the ships main armour protection on the sides and decks.

Mike

See my post #11. Also intended originally for ships on the open sea and later against land targets. Not sure how the fuzing would have worked in the latter case.

 

[EwenS]

Sounds like a similar approach to modern torpedoes which can be set to explode beneath a ship instead of trying to punch a hole in it. An explosion beneath a ship generates an upward force that the ship's structure is simply not designed to take, often causing the target to split into two sections.

Here's a fun video for those interested:


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6zQ0wBvh18

Magnetic exploders for torpedoes allowing them to run under the target vessel have been around since the 1930s. However they did not always prove reliable. Hence the problems experienced by Ark Royal's Swordfish in May 1941 when they mistakenly attacked the Sheffield. For the next, and successful, attack on Bismarck they reverted to contact pistols. Other nations experienced similar reliability issues.

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

Magnetic exploders for torpedoes allowing them to run under the target vessel have been around since the 1930s.

The other aspect is that aside from exploding under the unarmored underside, for a brief moment the explosion evacuates water from its location, meaning that for a brief moment there's very little water there and the ship's keel lacks support from aforementioned water and is much more susceptible to breaking. It's kind of an artificially-induced sagging effect, accompanied by the damage imparted by the charge itself.

 

[33k in the air]

Magnetic exploders for torpedoes allowing them to run under the target vessel have been around since the 1930s. However they did not always prove reliable. Hence the problems experienced by Ark Royal's Swordfish in May 1941 when they mistakenly attacked the Sheffield. For the next, and successful, attack on Bismarck they reverted to contact pistols. Other nations experienced similar reliability issues.

The U.S. also (in)famously had problems with the magnetic detonator on its torpedoes during WWII . . . along with a host of other problems.

 

[WATU]

So - in use against ships, Highball was expected to slam into the ship's hull, bounce off, sink, then explode? I guess they wouldn't work unless under water then. If on land or stuck on a ship's superstructure - it wouldn't detonate?

Correct. It needed the water pressure at a depth of 30ft to cause a detonation.

 

[Marcel]

I read that Geoff Rice lost his bomb while hitting the water either just before or just after passing the "Afsluitdijk". They claimed it did not explode, probably because of shallow water. But I've never read that they found an upkeep bomb either in the Waddenzee or IJselmeer. I wonder what happened to it. Did it explode at a certain point and nobody made the link to Chastise?

 

[EwenS]

I read that Geoff Rice lost his bomb while hitting the water either just before or just after passing the "Afsluitdijk". They claimed it did not explode, probably because of shallow water. But I've never read that they found an upkeep bomb either in the Waddenzee or IJselmeer. I wonder what happened to it. Did it explode at a certain point and nobody made the link to Chastise?

According to Stephen Flower in "A Hell of a Bomb" the bomb was fuzed two minutes short of Vlieland. He pulled up to avoid a sand dune and crossed the island. He then climbed to confirm his position before turning south east as briefed. Flying into the moon he found judging height difficult as he dropped down again. Just as the altimeter reached zero, the aircraft shuddered, the props hit the water, the bomb was torn off, hitting the tailwheel on the way and pushing it through the tailplane spar. A wave of water was scooped up, and passed down the fuselage, upsetting the Elsan toilet en route, and leaving the tail gunner up to his waist in water, before exitting via the spent ammunition link chutes. Flower then continues:-

"Furious with himself, Rice made his exit between Texel and Vlieland, avoiding some flak and searchlights by flying under them. His bomb was thought to have exploded on its own a month later; certainly a massive explosion south of Texel was heard by people living on the island."

 

[Marcel]

According to Stephen Flower in "A Hell of a Bomb" the bomb was fuzed two minutes short of Vlieland. He pulled up to avoid a sand dune and crossed the island. He then climbed to confirm his position before turning south east as briefed. Flying into the moon he found judging height difficult as he dropped down again. Just as the altimeter reached zero, the aircraft shuddered, the props hit the water, the bomb was torn off, hitting the tailwheel on the way and pushing it through the tailplane spar. A wave of water was scooped up, and passed down the fuselage, upsetting the Elsan toilet en route, and leaving the tail gunner up to his waist in water, before exitting via the spent ammunition link chutes. Flower then continues:-

"Furious with himself, Rice made his exit between Texel and Vlieland, avoiding some flak and searchlights by flying under them. His bomb was thought to have exploded on its own a month later; certainly a massive explosion south of Texel was heard by people living on the island."

Interesting! I never found anything about that earlier.
I wonder what his source was.

 

[Marcel]

According to Stephen Flower in "A Hell of a Bomb" the bomb was fuzed two minutes short of Vlieland. He pulled up to avoid a sand dune and crossed the island. He then climbed to confirm his position before turning south east as briefed. Flying into the moon he found judging height difficult as he dropped down again. Just as the altimeter reached zero, the aircraft shuddered, the props hit the water, the bomb was torn off, hitting the tailwheel on the way and pushing it through the tailplane spar. A wave of water was scooped up, and passed down the fuselage, upsetting the Elsan toilet en route, and leaving the tail gunner up to his waist in water, before exitting via the spent ammunition link chutes. Flower then continues:-

"Furious with himself, Rice made his exit between Texel and Vlieland, avoiding some flak and searchlights by flying under them. His bomb was thought to have exploded on its own a month later; certainly a massive explosion south of Texel was heard by people living on the island."

Just read the same story in " The dambuster raid" by John Sweetman.

A month later inhabitants on Texel reported a tremendous explosion south of the island. This may well have been Rice's mine, whose hydrostatic pistols had at length been activated by deep water, but no firm evidence supports this contention

Alas, no source, so I don't know if these authors just repeat each other