Battleship Caliber Heavy AA

[jatzi]

I'm just curious, the game has the option to have heavy AA shells for your battleship guns and I'm just curious if anyone has ever seen it happen. It would be the coolest thing to see it happen to me, like when I saw my destroyers sink a sub in tactical combat. 

[gurudennis]

I don't think I've ever seen those in action, but apparently the idea is not as outlandish as it would appear at first glance. I was reading a memoir by a Bismarck survivor just recently and stumbled upon a passage describing how their anti-torpedo-bomber routine included firing the main caliber into the water just ahead of an approaching plane to create a solid curtain of water that would be deadly to fly into. He describes the use of this technique on both occasions when the Bismarck came under TB attack prior to her final firefight. That being said, at least in this case study the method clearly wasn't very effective.

[nimrod]

I haven't ever used the heavy AAA shells. But it would be awesome to see some planes brought down by those "San Shiki" types.

[lakel]

It's been pretty well agreed that even 6" isnt the most practical AA gun, and above falls off very fast. Far as the Sanshiki shells, they also had the issue of seriously deteriorating barrels versus standard shells.

Fairly confident the Heavy AA shells in game as well top at 6", maybe 8" guns in any case.

[wlbjork]

Aug 18, 2021 18:28:52 GMT -6 gurudennis said:

I don't think I've ever seen those in action, but apparently the idea is not as outlandish as it would appear at first glance. I was reading a memoir by a Bismarck survivor just recently and stumbled upon a passage describing how their anti-torpedo-bomber routine included firing the main caliber into the water just ahead of an approaching plane to create a solid curtain of water that would be deadly to fly into. He describes the use of this technique on both occasions when the Bismarck came under TB attack prior to her final firefight. That being said, at least in this case study the method clearly wasn't very effective.

I thought splash barrages were widely used during WW2, though I could be wrong. As you say, they are ineffective due to having to aim well short of the aircraft although getting smacked by several tonnes of water thrown up by the blast wouldn't do the aircraft much good - even less if the air intakes sucked in some water and that entered the carburettor.

[eaterofsuns]

As far as the historical record shows, I don't believe any very large caliber guns have ever claimed a plane kill. There are simply too many factors working against a large gun trying to hit a tiny plane. That said, the idea still sounds like a fun dead end to explore in a sim game such as this.

[jatzi]

Yeah it's a horribly ineffective method of trying to shoot down aircraft and that seems to be represented in game. I always use heavy AA shells in the hope of seeing a hit. I think I did once but I cant remember. Would be cool if someone had. Or if the devs had seen it in their tests. Or if they could talk more about it? The manual doesnt have a lot of info on super heavy AA shells. Which guns are they used on, the ammo used, the conditions they might be used under