Timeline for In what war would a 2020 Australian patrol boat with only guns make a difference?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
11 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jul 28, 2020 at 22:25 | comment | added | Mark | @PausePause, the patrol boat is unarmored. It's probably got enough incidental armor from making it storm-worthy to stop small-arms fire, but round shot will go straight through. | |
| Jul 28, 2020 at 19:34 | comment | added | Ryan_L | Another advantage to the Aussie boat is its speed; it can maintain 25 knots for hours. That's basically magic compared to anything before about 1920. WW1-era torpedo boats could do 25 knots for a brief period, but they were steam powered. Eventually the stokers will tire out and they'll fall back to around 10 knots. The Aussie is better armed too, so it can just stay out of range and pepper their targets with impunity. It's even better against sailing ships because the Aussie doesn't care about the wind. | |
| Jul 28, 2020 at 19:27 | comment | added | bta | @RhandalAllen - That's probably your biggest threat from cannons: hitting exposed crewmen or non-armored surfaces. A cannon could trash any of the radar/imaging equipment on top of the bridge, and a shot through a bridge window could kill key crew members and destroy important controls. Those are all small targets and thus harder to hit than the broad side of the hull, but they are indeed vulnerable. | |
| Jul 28, 2020 at 18:57 | comment | added | user69651 | Thanks again. Just a few more thoughts. Can't cannon balls shatter the glass on the bridge (tinted in black), leaving the bridge crew exposed? Or wreck the 25mm Bushmaster at the bow? Or the 2 machine guns which got to be manned manually, leaving the machine gunner exposed? | |
| Jul 28, 2020 at 18:56 | vote | accept | CommunityBot | ||
| Jul 28, 2020 at 17:40 | history | edited | K. Morgan | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Add details on why cannons aren't much of a threat.
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| Jul 28, 2020 at 17:36 | comment | added | K. Morgan | I think enough cannon balls could certainly make it a non-threat for a while (hence the bit about coastal forts), I just doubt any 18th century ship would be able to hit it. Even ignoring the vast difference in maneuverability, the maximum effective range for an 18th century cannon was maybe 2km, below the effective range for the M242 Bushmaster (3km) and well below its maximum range (6.8km). | |
| Jul 28, 2020 at 17:19 | comment | added | PausePause | @RhandalAllen It's unlikely. The round shot from a cannon may dent the patrol boat's armor but it's unlikely to penetrate. Round shot would be able to disable components of the patrol boat such as a direct impact on the radar device but would be unable to sink the ship outright. quora.com/Would-an-old-cannon-be-able-to-damage-modern-warships | |
| Jul 28, 2020 at 16:55 | comment | added | user69651 | Thanks. Couldn't cannon balls from 18th century warships still wreck this patrol boat though? | |
| Jul 28, 2020 at 15:15 | comment | added | Andrew Brēza | This is a great answer | |
| Jul 28, 2020 at 10:47 | history | answered | K. Morgan | CC BY-SA 4.0 |