How does an underwater torpedo impact causes fire amid warships?
In: 139
Depends on the model of torpedo but for the basic concept:
Torpedo hit the ship from below, and explode. The explosion is made by gunpowder (or other combustible) being ignited which breach the hull. Once the hull is breached, the explosion seeps inside and explosion are usually a mix of high air pressure and fire. So you can set things in fire from below.
I guess the confusion comes from “How can something that makes fire be underwater?”
To that the answer is: You need 2 thing for fire to be able to exist. Combustible and Oxidizer. So basically, you need something that can burn and oxygen. Water usually stops fire because it stops the fire from having access to oxygen. But here is the great thing about many explosive: When you ignite the powder, it breaks down into both Combustible and Oxygen. So basically, most forms of explosive contain everything you need for the fire to exist. And as stated, water doesn’t extinguish fire, it gets between the combustible and the oxygen preventing fire from starting. But if you”ve got everything already packaged, you can make fire underwater. Until you run out of either.
First, consider what is war and what are weapons? Boiled down to the fundamental, weapons are about directing and projecting energy to a destination from a source. The more energy, the more destructive.
In order to move and deliver the energy of the weapon, war vehicles themselves have to be capable of maneuvering and surviving on the battlefield. Therefore the vehicles themselves have not only to carry the stored energy of the weapons but also have sufficient stores of energy to move fairly quickly.
Well all that energy is fine when contained and controlled. But any disruption (say fuel tanks and pipes) or early detonation of weapons will result in an uncontrolled release of energy. Heat is one of the more fundamental forms of energy and therefore it is a very common outcome – things burn or explode.
A warship generally holds thousands of tons of fuel. Not to mention probably tons of explosives.
Modern torpedoes cause a shock wave below the boat.
This does two things,
* flexes the middle of the boat upward,
* followed by the boat falling into the gas filled bubble where the torpedo exploded.
This breaks all kinds of things in the boat.
Military Boats are usually filled with weapons / munitions, fuel, and electrical systems. Tossing, mixing and stirring all this together tends to cause a fire.
Sometimes the munitions explode from the shockwave.
these are what cause the fire.
Remember that some detonations (like ANFO) require oxygen for combustion. These can only happen in the air filled environment of the boat, and above the water.
Other detonations happen when unstable molecules (TNT, TNP, Nitroglycerine) break apart because they are unstable. These can happen without oxygen.
Many packaged explosives for underwater use either have an oxadising agent or don’t need oxygen.
Ships are filled with oil, fuel, and other things that can easily catch fire. Ships are also filled with wiring that carries electricity. A torpedo that explodes can break open a pipe carrying fuel and rip some wires that spark. The fire can start on the ship itself.
They usually don’t. What you see in TV shows and movies is largely a Hollywood invention, like a hand grenade creating a massive fireball. If you ever see a real hand grenade go off (hopefully from behind a ballistic shield), you’re going to be massively disappointed (they’re still deadly as hell, mind you, just not visually impressive or even interesting).
A modern torpedo is much the same in that regard. The warhead detonates using whatever explosive mixed with whatever oxidizer, and creates a pressure wave many times greater than the pressure of the surrounding water. It’s this pressure wave that does most of the damage. The torpedo doesn’t even have to make contact with the hull to do some serious damage to the hull of a ship or submarine (although it certainly helps). The rest of the damage is caused by the water rushing back in to fill the void left by the explosion.
Any fires caused by torpedo detonations are because something on the ship or sub ignited due to the pressure wave.
Non sequitur: I read this as “underwear torpedo” and it gave me great pause as to the quality of my morning coffee. I’ll have another cup, just to be sure, but the image in my mind cannot be blurred. That is all.
Carry on…
An example might help. In WWII the Japanese aircraft carrier Taiho was hit by a single torpedo from the submarine USS Albacore. the torpedo caused some flooding and some structural damage, but no immediate fires.
However that structural damage had ruptured some fuel lines, which bring aviation gas from their storage tanks to the hanger where the planes are fueled. That gas accumulated, then started evaporating filling large parts of the ship with vaporized fuel. More and more of the ship was filled with the fuel vapor until somehwere it found an ignition source and BOOM.
Navy guy here. Modern torpedos are honestly incredibly terrifying weapons. The warheads are so big there’s basically no way to survive them. The fire is the least of our worries. An Arleigh Burke destroyer, about 500 feet long (or whatever foreign equivalent you want to insert here) would have its back broken. AKA, the keel would snap in half and the entire ship would Titanic in about 15 seconds. As you can see from he first 30 seconds of this video, t[he shockwave is amazing and would kill much of the crew outright and the two halves may very well be lifted out of the water by the massive explosion.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O736ClrS-K8)
Latest Answers