Naval History Forums

If it wasn't the boilers alone then I would guess that. Now that I imagine the scenario... think about all the ammo and shells suddenly falling from the ceiling to floor. All it takes is one 15in sliding across the declining wall to start an explosion! But it is a definite that her boilers were hot enough to blow when she flipped, steam was coming out of her funnels even as she was listing. But yes, the magazines must have gone as well...

Actually Legend-

I wonder if it was the boilers that popped. I saw the aftermath of a boiler explosion just recently. It was a modern presha model that blew. Its must have gone at around 750kpa. Th shed it was housed in had the doors blown out and the sheet metal walls were buldgd in many places. The shed was only of light construction.

On doing the change over to PSI 750 kpa is nothing really. I think, and im only going off this, ship boilers operated in the 380PSI range which equals over 2000 Kpa. If the Barham's boilers did go boom and they were fully pressurized the the resulting blast would have no where to go in a capsized ship would it? Its either pushes the water out of the way or push the hull out of the way.

I also looked on Youtube and viewed some WW2 footage of strafing runs on steam locomotives. When the Locos were hit they let go in a big way. If it was the boilers on the Barham that went it would have to have been more than one that let go to cause the damage it did. Maybe a combination of the two?

I wonder if all her boilers were both online and running at full pressure? I would say no, to both questions. Maybe worth looking into.

Google reckons it was a magazine explosion, but the footage really looks like the explosion comes out of the engine rooms. But it also looks like it comes straight threw a very strongly armoured part of the ship....

Most commentators say it was a magazine explosion. At the point of detonation the ship was on its side, it wasn't fully capsized, so the boilers could blow with the force of the explosion upwards, not displacing the water underneath. I'm inclined to think both boilers and magazine blew.

I'm sure we can all think of many cases where ships turned over without the boilers blowing up, or if they did we don't notice. Bismarck and Blucher are two that come to mind right away, and there are many others. If a boiler blew up and the force somehow penetrated the outside, I think you would see a white cloud of steam. When I see strafing of locomotives I seem to recall a white cloud of steam coming out of the stack and little streams of steam where the bullet holes are.

When boiler rooms are hit by torpedoes or shells you hear of people being scalded, but not the bottom of the ship being blown out. I really don't think the force can be compared to hundreds of tons of cordite or other gun propellant. The little shed you mentioned with the bulged walls would cease to exist. It would not even be there anymore.

Bismarck had her engines cooled down by the point that she went down. To get a bang like that you need the superhot temperatures that only a large naval boiler can give you, and it has to be at about full power to be hot enough. When that cold seawater comes pouring into the space via damage or exaust the water evaporates instantaneously and the resulting steam is enough to purst a battleship hull, as seen with Barham!

Also the flooding into Bismarck's engine rooms was gradual process and not a case of sudden engulfment, as with Barham.

You guys really should endeavor to correct the official records, since you seem to have determined something quite contrary to the published accounts.

If I look at the video closely (it was taken from QE iIrc), you can see a circular shock wave at the water surface at the moment of the explosion. The centre of this circle in the rear third of the ship, slightly behind the main mast. It barely reaches forward to the bridge at maximum extension. That would indicate an magazine explosion, not a boiler explosion.

But I think there have been enough eyewitnesses, who had a different angle, so they probably gave a reliable account on what happened.

RF wrote:I haven't heard anything about this, but bearing in mind the size of the ship and the increased search technologies and capabilities now available it is only a matter of time before most of the remaining wrecks are found.

A real challenge would be to find the wreck of hilfskreuzer Michel - at the bottom of the Mariana Trench and possibly one of the deepest wrecks there is.

couldn't help but notice your mentioning of the mariana Trench. Since the Mariana Trench is in fact the deepest trench in the ocean, we might have to wait a century or two before we are able to obtain the technology to raise it. lol

CSS-Emerald-Isle wrote:

RF wrote:I haven't heard anything about this, but bearing in mind the size of the ship and the increased search technologies and capabilities now available it is only a matter of time before most of the remaining wrecks are found.

A real challenge would be to find the wreck of hilfskreuzer Michel - at the bottom of the Mariana Trench and possibly one of the deepest wrecks there is.

couldn't help but notice your mentioning of the mariana Trench. Since the Mariana Trench is in fact the deepest trench in the ocean, we might have to wait a century or two before we are able to obtain the technology to raise it. lol

Since that isn't where it is, that isn't the problem.

She was sunk in the SIBUYAN Sea, and rests in water less than a mile deep, so raising artifacts shouldn't be a major problem. However is she not considered a War Grave and therefore off limits to salvagers?

@ Rf not to be picky but isn't the quote "Give me one Ping, Vasily, One Ping only please".

It seems that the wreck of Musashi has been examined more closely?

==> https://twitter.com/PaulGAllen/status/5 ... 2522982400


Does anybody know more about it?

My Japanese gf told me this morning & translated a bit.just one picture though.
We went to the yamato museum it's worth a visit.
Can the swedes remove a chunk for raising I think it's a war grave so too early to start that talk having just found it..I don't think that bit is true..
I hope it is as the pic indicates upright but if it capsized as said then it would have vomited the turrets.