American Civil War, not Second World War, but...

[MisterCairo]

This is a cool story.

The first submarine to sink another vessel with a torpedo, the Confederate sub H.L. Hunley which sank the Union ship USS Housatonic, itself sank because, get this, its own torpedo created a shock wave that came back to kill the crew:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/hunley-submarine-1.4259123

https://i.cbc.ca/1.4259141.15035105...g_gen/derivatives/16x9_620/usa-h-l-hunley.jpg

 

[p51]

This is a cool story.

The first submarine to sink another vessel with a torpedo, the Confederate sub H.L. Hunley which sank the Union ship USS Housatonic, itself sank because, get this, its own torpedo created a shock wave that came back to kill the crew

Nobody knows for sure why the Hunley went to the bottom.

 

[MisterCairo]

Nobody knows for sure why the Hunley went to the bottom.

Funny, the article seems to suggest they do.

 

[p51]

Yes, but there are several theories as to why the Hunley went down. None of concrete.
I've kept a close watch on the discoveries as the submarine was recovered, preserved and slowly excavated for all the silt.

 

[scotrace]

I have to say this seems awfully plausible, given the use of a spar to deliver a heavy charge at close range, the certainty of heavy recoil, the lack of attempts to save themselves, and undamaged skeletons still at their stations. Whatever killed them, killed them where they squatted in an instant. Barring an alien death ray, an extreme blast shock while confined in a tiny tin can makes sense.

You have to wonder at the genius that didn't realize the kickback would be devastating.

 

[Hurricane Jack]

Lack of oxygen.

 

[M Hatman]

Did not the "Turtle" (a revolutionary war era uderwater craft) use a spar to place charges simularly? I do know other ships, boats and even ironclads used spars to deliver explosive charges......
M

 

[GHT]

You have to wonder at the genius that didn't realize the kickback would be devastating.

Barnes Wallis certainly realised the reaction that such an explosion causes. His so called earthquake bomb sank the German battleship, Tirpitz.
Barnes Wallis' idea was to drop a large, heavy bomb with a hard armoured tip at supersonic speed (as fast as an artillery shell) so that it penetrated the ground like a ten-ton bullet being fired straight down. It was then set to explode underground, ideally to the side of, or underneath a hardened target. The resulting shock wave would produce the equivalent of a 3.6 magnitude earthquake, destroying any nearby structures such as dams, railways, viaducts, etc. Any concrete reinforcement of the target would probably serve to enclose the force better.

In the case of Tirpitz, one bomb achieved a direct hit, but two others landing close by created such a shock that the rising water caused Tirpitz to capsize.

 

[MisterCairo]

Well, I guess if I have to choose between a scientist who recreated the conditions of the blast and measured results, or the musings of Internet armchair theorists, I will go with...

 

[Big J]

I find this really fascinating.
And I know this is going to sound really stupid, but ironclads and submarines in the Civil War sounds just so...steampunk.

These guys were on the cutting edge.

 

[Hurricane Jack]

Well, I guess if I have to choose between a scientist who recreated the conditions of the blast and measured results, or the musings of Internet armchair theorists, I will go with...

MC, it's not just the "musings of Internet armchair theorists". The article does refer to other scientists believing the crew most likely died from Hypoxia. But it's not like autopsies could be conducted on the remains. Of course these other scientists most likely already have their PhD's & their reputations & CV's are already established.

There are really very few ways this could have happened with each of the 8 crew members found still at their positions & leaving virtually everything else intact. Even candles & I believe a clock were found undisturbed & in position in the silt. The Hypoxia as it occurred would have been very similar to what happened in 1999 to those aboard with Payne Stewart when the door seal failed on their LearJet depressurizing the cabin. They simply were deprived of oxygen.

 

[Hurricane Jack]

Speaking of ironclads I've known for a while that a great-great grandfather on my maternal side served on a Union gunboat in the Civil War. That little bit of information I found in his obituary but I couldn't seem to find him in the rolls to learn more. I recently found him. Long story short he served on the USS Benton from it's commission in 1862 thru the duration of the war. I'm just beginning to study the War records of the Benton now but it fought in several battles on the Mississippi River, the Yazoo River, & was at the Battle of Vicksburg. After Vicksburg the Benton was boarded by Gen William T. Sherman to congratulate the men.