# Spoiler Alert "The Last Ship"



## GBNorman (Nov 12, 2018)

If you watch "The Last Ship" and have not yet seen the Series Finale (s5e10), let the record note this "Spoiler Alert".

I know we have expertise on this point around here,  but how believable is it that a DDG could sink a BB by ramming it?

Could the DDG even stave it?

Enquiring mind wants to know.


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## ehbowen (Nov 12, 2018)

The armor on a battleship is mainly concentrated at the belt to prevent penetration of incoming shells. It's known as the "all or nothing" concept...vital spaces such as main machinery, gunfire control, and the gun turrets are heavily protected; other spaces such as crew berthing and mess decks have little or no protection at all.

I'm not aware of any studies done on an actual ramming. If the ramming was aimed at midships, there would be four layers of fuel tanks and void spaces to penetrate (each with about one inch thick steel plate) before you encountered the armor belt and, behind it, a large open main machinery space. I haven't been watching the series, but if the BB was crewed and active then Condition Zebra should have been set, with a very intensive watertight integrity maintained all the way up to the main deck. But, even if the BB was completely unmanned, there is still built-in watertight integrity up to the third deck, which should still be above the waterline if there is no other damage to the ship.

There is a great deal of kinetic energy in a ramming, but the BB's structure should do a better job of dissipating it than the bow of a DDG. Unless the DDG penetrated far enough in to split the actual keel (highly unlikely), the BB would not break in two. Even in a complete break-in-two situation, the two halves should not sink unless there was pre-existing battle damage such as a torpedo hit or similar. (Iowa-class BBs were designed to take a direct hit from a fairly large Japanese torpedo and survive...damaged, but survive.)

If the BB was crewed and armed, how did the DDG even get close enough to make ramming a factor? During my time on board, we even "sunk" a couple of aircraft carriers in war games...not sure I should share details here, but strange things can happen in the night watches. Particularly if you have a Spanish-speaking lieutenant from East L. A. on the bridge....

Disclaimer: All of the above is based on experience as a mid-grade enlisted sailor aboard a US Navy Iowa-class battleship.


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## Ryan (Nov 12, 2018)

I concur.

Swap roles around, and even Fitz had a hole poked in her in the middle of the night during standard condition IV steaming the crew was able to keep her afloat.


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## ehbowen (Nov 12, 2018)

Some light reading for you, Mr. Norman. Please note that the third deck level, which is the lowest fore-aft passage, is right at the design water line. Of course, "knee knockers" for the watertight doors increase the free surface level another foot and a half or so. And the third deck passage ("Broadway") is only continuous through the spaces protected by the armor belt, and is subdivided by numerous watertight doors at each major bulkhead (8 frames or 32 feet apart): https://maritime.org/doc/plans/bb63.pdf

The attached photo is a view looking down Broadway, fore to aft I believe. The monorail is for handling heavy equipment such as pumps and motors headed for the repair shops; the sections which extend through the watertight doors are pinned in place and are removed when the ship is underway unless actually in use (and phoned in to Damage Control Central as a watertight integrity exception). Note the high knee knockers at each watertight door. Typical throughout the ship below decks.

Edit To Add: The monorail is also the way that ammunition (16" shells, 2000 lbs each, and powder cans, 350 lbs each) was to be transferred between gun turrets when necessary while under way. I was willing to grant the makers of the movie _Battleship_ their premise, right up to the point where they had those half-dozen sailors hand-carrying a 16" shell. Wouldn't it have been equally cinematic to use this?


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