Fire on a ship!

[Daedalus]

Does anyone know or have you seen a ship Blow up from a fire ?
I have had some damaged in battle and on fire , the fire would grow and the ship would sink but not blow , at least I have not see one do this yet.

I am wondering if it is possible for a ship to blow up from the fire reaching the ammo or shells?
Or a cargo ship to blow from fire or torpedo , shell hitting there cargo. That is if there cargo will blow up.

[bill44]

It should blow up if fire reaches the magazine, or it has explosive cargo. I have not seen this either, maybe Jim, Norm, or Bullithead might be able to shed some light on it

[Daedalus]

It should blow up if fire reaches the magazine, or it has explosive cargo. I have not seen this either, maybe Jim, Norm, or Bullithead might be able to shed some light on it

Ok, Thanks for answering this for me, I was just thinking about it in the game the other day and I saw that I have not even checked up on this.

I have seen the warships go up with a main hit, but I was in the works of sinking a cargo ship and it was burning and smoking , then I thought to my self , will this blow if it had ammo for cargo?

I am going to have to get myself to do a little more reading on the rest of this game. lol and here I have been playing RJW for a year or more now and I have not found out all that is in the game . :nuts:

[Bullethead]

It should blow up if fire reaches the magazine, or it has explosive cargo. I have not seen this either, maybe Jim, Norm, or Bullithead might be able to shed some light on it

I can't give you any insights on the workings of the code (I have no idea how it works), and my observations are the same as yours. I've never seen a ship blow up from a prolonged fire, AFAIK.

But from an historical POV, I wouldn't expect iron/steel warships to blow up very often from prolonged fires. When magazines are threatened by fire, the crews flood them, so that they can't explode. While I can think of a number of non-wood warships that blew up after prolonged fires, most of them were carriers in WW2, and the explosions there were mostly gasoline, which just made the fires worse instead of blasting the ships to bits. The regular warships that blew up after long fires were very rare (thanks to magazine flooding), and all those that I can think of only blew up after being abandoned, so the final explosions had no effect on the overall outcome.

Cargo ships, OTOH, frequently blew up from fires. When loaded with dangerous stuff, they had a lot more of it aboard than warships, and it wasn't as well protected. So in the game, if any ship was to blow up from a big fire, it would be a maru, which the game has carrying military supplies such as ammo. OTOH, the majority of military supplies don't explode (troops, horses, wagons and harness, food and cooking gear, blankets and tents, boots and buckles, and all their paperwork), so I think it's wrong to regard all marus as floating bombs ;). Besides, even if marus did blow up from fire periodically, it would only be a graphics thing instead of having a real effect on the battle. Any time you get a maru buring well, it's going to sink eventually anyway because the small crew can't put the fire out.

[Daedalus]

I can't give you any insights on the workings of the code (I have no idea how it works), and my observations are the same as yours. I've never seen a ship blow up from a prolonged fire, AFAIK.

But from an historical POV, I wouldn't expect iron/steel warships to blow up very often from prolonged fires. When magazines are threatened by fire, the crews flood them, so that they can't explode. While I can think of a number of non-wood warships that blew up after prolonged fires, most of them were carriers in WW2, and the explosions there were mostly gasoline, which just made the fires worse instead of blasting the ships to bits. The regular warships that blew up after long fires were very rare (thanks to magazine flooding), and all those that I can think of only blew up after being abandoned, so the final explosions had no effect on the overall outcome.

Cargo ships, OTOH, frequently blew up from fires. When loaded with dangerous stuff, they had a lot more of it aboard than warships, and it wasn't as well protected. So in the game, if any ship was to blow up from a big fire, it would be a maru, which the game has carrying military supplies such as ammo. OTOH, the majority of military supplies don't explode (troops, horses, wagons and harness, food and cooking gear, blankets and tents, boots and buckles, and all their paperwork), so I think it's wrong to regard all marus as floating bombs ;). Besides, even if marus did blow up from fire periodically, it would only be a graphics thing instead of having a real effect on the battle. Any time you get a maru buring well, it's going to sink eventually anyway because the small crew can't put the fire out.

Yea, I was just thinking of the cargo ships that would have been carrying fuel or ammo. I was not sure even if the cargo would have been setup like that in the game or not. Or if it was just coded as cargo. It was just something I was thinking about at the time and thought I would check.
Thanks for getting back on this for me.

[Bullethead]

You know, on further review, I've thought of a number of regular warships that had major explosions as a result of big fires. None of these explosions blew the ships to pieces, but all of them caused extensive damage that resulted in some of these ships being lost eventually. But they were something of a special case: WW2 Japanese heavy cruisers.

These ships carried large numbers of "Long Lance" torps amidships, both in the tubes and reloads. Not only did these have huge warheads, but they were also full of pure oxygen, which when added to fire is more spectacular than gasoline. When fires reached this area, there were often massive explosions which totally wrecked the midships sections of these ships. Because this area was built more as a superstructure than as part of the hull proper, these explosions didn't break the hull apart or let in much water. However, because the torps were right above the engineering spaces, the ships were often brought to a halt with no more power for pumps or fire hoses, and this resulted in their eventual loss.

[Daedalus]

You know, on further review, I've thought of a number of regular warships that had major explosions as a result of big fires. None of these explosions blew the ships to pieces, but all of them caused extensive damage that resulted in some of these ships being lost eventually. But they were something of a special case: WW2 Japanese heavy cruisers.

These ships carried large numbers of "Long Lance" torps amidships, both in the tubes and reloads. Not only did these have huge warheads, but they were also full of pure oxygen, which when added to fire is more spectacular than gasoline. When fires reached this area, there were often massive explosions which totally wrecked the midships sections of these ships. Because this area was built more as a superstructure than as part of the hull proper, these explosions didn't break the hull apart or let in much water. However, because the torps were right above the engineering spaces, the ships were often brought to a halt with no more power for pumps or fire hoses, and this resulted in their eventual loss.


Now that would make for a bad day at sea!

[Bullethead]

Now that would make for a bad day at sea!

Also a rather predictable disaster....

In fact, it was predicted. The original designer, Hiraga, refused to put torps over the engineering spaces for this very reason, and had enough clout to have his way. However, then the various treaties kicked in, putting the IJN squarely being the USN in numbers, so they wanted lots of "Long Lance" torps as an equilizer. So the IJN managed to get Hiraga "promoted upstairs" and sent on a long trip to the UK. With him out of the way, the IJN was able to force his replacement, Fujimoto, into refitting Hiraga's designs with massive amounts of torps, and to design subsequent classes with them from the start.

There was, however, some concern because Hiraga had had a point. So the standard practice in any action was to train the tubes out where the torps could be jettisoned if necessary, and also to prevent them from exploding while actually within the ship. But this didn't do anything to protect the reloads, which only had 1" splinter shields over their warheads. So the inevitable happened a number of times. Some of the ships affected were saved, usually due to being in or near port when it happened, but for others this was a mortal wound.