Ukraine War

[jimmyjazz 46,225]

Early in my career I worked doing research on guns that shot high kinetic energy tank rounds.  Once a projectile gets through the armor, everyone inside is fucked.  The overpressure alone probably kills most of the personnel, but whatever gets in ain't getting out, and it just sorta bounces around taking out anyone in its path, which is everyone.  It probably takes well less than a second.

Now, getting the projectile through the armor is the hard part.  It was a literal arms race of armor not all that unlike chain mail, which led to segmented hinged projectiles, and up and up.  Crazy medieval stuff.

[Anastasis 23,491]

5 hours ago, WhatTheBuck said:

You forgot Anastasis.

 

[TwiceHorn 31,554]

55 minutes ago, Tuco said:

Not a dumb question at all.  My uneducated guess is that it is a question of size and compactness.  

If you hit a tank with an armor piercing ordinance, let's say you get a 1" hole in the armor and 20 cubic foot fire ball/shrapnel on the backside.  The tank is pretty much crew space, engine, fuel and ammo.  Chances are pretty good you will hit something that will take the tank out of the battle. 

If you hit a ship with the same ordinance, with the same hole and fireball, it's more likely you will take out space.  Maybe a couple of sailors.  Maybe some important system.  But if you don't hit fuel or ammo, that ship is still in the battle.  Even if you hit it below the water line, they will close off the segmented hatch and patch it later.  If you've ever watched footage of WW2 naval battles, those ships can take a ton of damage and stay in the fight.  Until, suddenly, a lucky hit gets the fuel or ammo, and then it's over.  Which is why fuel and ammo are heavily armored.  

Yep.  HIstorically, anti-ship weapons were humongous as a result of this.

The 16-inch guns on Missouri class BB shot projectiles weighing one TON.  And it had nine such guns.

A WWII era torpedo warhead carried 500 lbs of explosive, give or take.

Granted, these weapons were designed to take out other armored warships, but it usually took multiple hits, even lucky ones, to take out a small one, or even an unarmed and unarmored merchantman.

The modern Harpoon missile has a 500 lb warhead, and the Exocet 400 lb.  They are made more lethal by their accuracy, but I think it's expected to require more than one hit to sink anything other than a smaller vessel.

Edited March 30, 2022 by TwiceHorn

[Royalfan5 2,355]

6 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Yep.  HIstorically, anti-ship weapons were humongous as a result of this.

The 16-inch guns on Missouri class BB shot projectiles weighing one TON.  And it had nine such guns.

A WWII era torpedo warhead carried 500 lbs of explosive, give or take.

Granted, these weapons were designed to take out other armored warships, but it usually took multiple hits, even lucky ones to take out a small one, or even an unarmed and unarmored merchantman.

Just look at the sheer amount of ordinance that it took to put the Yamato, Musashi, and Bismarck down. 

[Biff Tannen 45,750]

48 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Early in my career I worked doing research on guns that shot high kinetic energy tank rounds.  Once a projectile gets through the armor, everyone inside is fucked.  The overpressure alone probably kills most of the personnel, but whatever gets in ain't getting out, and it just sorta bounces around taking out anyone in its path, which is everyone.  It probably takes well less than a second.

Now, getting the projectile through the armor is the hard part.  It was a literal arms race of armor not all that unlike chain mail, which led to segmented hinged projectiles, and up and up.  Crazy medieval stuff.

[Longhorn_Fan68 33,900]

3 minutes ago, Royalfan5 said:

Just look at the sheer amount of ordinance that it took to put the Yamato, Musashi, and Bismarck down. 

That was nearly 80 years ago. surely there are better methods now?

[Royalfan5 2,355]

Just now, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

That was nearly 80 years ago. surely there are better methods now?

80 years of better damage control in theory too. 

[Longhorn_Fan68 33,900]

1 minute ago, Royalfan5 said:

80 years of better damage control in theory too. 

keep in mind we're still talking about Russia here

[TwiceHorn 31,554]

3 minutes ago, Royalfan5 said:

Just look at the sheer amount of ordinance that it took to put the Yamato, Musashi, and Bismarck down. 

Yep.  And even a modern 500 lb gravity bomb contains less than 200 lbs of explosive.

You pretty much have to blow the shit out of a ship of any size to completely take it out of a fight.  And the repairs that can be made in short order to warships (probably not by Russia, but by us during WWII), is astonishing.

Read about USS Yorktown between Coral Sea and Midway.

[jimmyjazz 46,225]

7 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

 

Fortunately, we weren't very successful in creating something that worked well in practice.  I like to think I did my part for world peace by failing.

[TwiceHorn 31,554]

5 minutes ago, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

That was nearly 80 years ago. surely there are better methods now?

Other than accuracy, there really aren't.  Theoretically, you can put a Harpoon in the superstructure, or fuel bunkers, or propulsion (if you know where it is), or put a hole at the waterline.

[Felix 607]

500 lbs of modern explosives are considerably more powerful than the WWII equivalent.  Same across the board.  Big reason why smaller and smaller cartridges generate equal or greater muzzle velocities.  Powder is better.

[Tuco 5,084]

Other than accuracy, there really aren't.  Theoretically, you can put a Harpoon in the superstructure, or fuel bunkers, or propulsion (if you know where it is), or put a hole at the waterline.

I worked with a guy whose previous job was working on tomahawk missiles. He said it was a good day for him when he found out the version he was working on would not be a nuke vehicle.

[Brisketexan 105,438]

2 hours ago, Royalfan5 said:

Just look at the sheer amount of ordinance that it took to put the Yamato, Musashi, and Bismarck down. 

The Bismarck.   Yeah, sink that fucker.

 

 

[Make em eat Taco Bell 1,549]

4 hours ago, Dutchrudder said:

Shit man, he's gonna include that announcement in his inaugural address, along with removing sanctions from Russia, something about Ukraine being run by the Bidens Clintons, announcing Sidney Powell as his acting AG appointee and launching investigations into Hunter Bidens laptop and the 2020 election. 

exactly

[WhatTheBuck 28,806]

5 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

if elected, 30 mins after his inauguration (in front of a record breaking crowd!!!), he pulls the US out of NATO and all US military forces from Europe 

And South Korea.

[WhatTheBuck 28,806]

5 hours ago, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

dumb question amnesty: why are ships so difficult to take out? wouldn't they be one of the easier targets?

I’m no expert. But terrorists blew a massive hole in the hull of the USS Cole and she didn’t sink.

[Bojack 2,082]

9 hours ago, Ag with kids said:

Interesting...didn't realize this post was in CR.  I can't select CR from the list of forums, but apparently I can reply to a notification.

Going to have to get them to fix that glitch.  I don't want to interact in this cesspool.

I love how your very avatar is some political idiocy that suggests that people upset about the election of Trump are triggered snowflakes.  All the while, you freely post everywhere but the only place that's supposed to be for politics.

[Longhorn_Fan68 33,900]

14 minutes ago, Bojack said:

I love how your very avatar is some political idiocy that suggests that people upset about the election of Trump are triggered snowflakes.  All the while, you freely post everywhere but the only place that's supposed to be for politics.

Oh, it goes well beyond that. They have electively asked the admins to restrict their access because they simply can't control themselves. They have so little self control that they asked this board to disappear from their options. We're at some peak meta level of snowflake here. So much so i think we need to move to molecular stratum. I'll let someone smarter than me take it from there.

Edited March 30, 2022 by Longhorn_Fan68

[WhatTheBuck 28,806]

*I

[Shaddie 1,651]

6 hours ago, 'stache said:

Snowflake triggered. You should know better, lol.

Hahaha. Just caught up after a long day. I saw the “I asked mods to take me off cr threads.”  
 

Next I guess Nowthis will be asked to be taken off the pegging threads. 

[Brisketexan 105,438]

7 minutes ago, Shaddie said:

Next I guess Nowthis will be asked to be taken off the pegging threads. 

Why would anyone want to do that?

I mean, ummmm, asking for a friend.

[TwiceHorn 31,554]

47 minutes ago, WhatTheBuck said:

I’m no expert. But terrorists blew a massive hole in the hull of the USS Cole and she didn’t sink.

And the Cole is a destroyer, a relatively small vessel at 7000 tons.  It's not armored per se, but probably designed better to take hits than some kind of freighter or troop transport, even if it is a military variant.

The 5000 ton Sheffield was sunk by the Argies using a single Exocet, in what was probably a lucky hit that took out the fire control main.

The 14000 ton Atlantic Conveyor took two Exocets and sank only under tow, but it was pretty effectively disabled.  It is probably pretty representative of the type of ships the Ukes need to take out to disrupt logistics further.

Edited March 30, 2022 by TwiceHorn

[Shaddie 1,651]

10 hours ago, Ag with kids said:

Interesting...didn't realize this post was in CR.  I can't select CR from the list of forums, but apparently I can reply to a notification.

Going to have to get them to fix that glitch.  I don't want to interact in this cesspool.

Jesus man. Grow a pair. You have bad takes  and when people give you shit and remember beyond a week ago you cry. 
 

I was blitzed when I did that post but your shit is so bad it stays with me. Just own your craptastik shit. 

[Biff Tannen 45,750]

56 minutes ago, WhatTheBuck said:

I’m no expert. But terrorists blew a massive hole in the hull of the USS Cole and she didn’t sink.

Because they have bulkheads

[bolverk 29,728]

5 hours ago, Tuco said:

Not a dumb question at all.  My uneducated guess is that it is a question of size and compactness.  

If you hit a tank with an armor piercing ordinance, let's say you get a 1" hole in the armor and 20 cubic foot fire ball/shrapnel on the backside.  The tank is pretty much crew space, engine, fuel and ammo.  Chances are pretty good you will hit something that will take the tank out of the battle. 

If you hit a ship with the same ordinance, with the same hole and fireball, it's more likely you will take out space.  Maybe a couple of sailors.  Maybe some important system.  But if you don't hit fuel or ammo, that ship is still in the battle.  Even if you hit it below the water line, they will close off the segmented hatch and patch it later.  If you've ever watched footage of WW2 naval battles, those ships can take a ton of damage and stay in the fight.  Until, suddenly, a lucky hit gets the fuel or ammo, and then it's over.  Which is why fuel and ammo are heavily armored.  

[Bullneck 19,215]

5 hours ago, Tuco said:

Not a dumb question at all.  My uneducated guess is that it is a question of size and compactness.  

If you hit a tank with an armor piercing ordinance, let's say you get a 1" hole in the armor and 20 cubic foot fire ball/shrapnel on the backside.  The tank is pretty much crew space, engine, fuel and ammo.  Chances are pretty good you will hit something that will take the tank out of the battle. 

If you hit a ship with the same ordinance, with the same hole and fireball, it's more likely you will take out space.  Maybe a couple of sailors.  Maybe some important system.  But if you don't hit fuel or ammo, that ship is still in the battle.  Even if you hit it below the water line, they will close off the segmented hatch and patch it later.  If you've ever watched footage of WW2 naval battles, those ships can take a ton of damage and stay in the fight.  Until, suddenly, a lucky hit gets the fuel or ammo, and then it's over.  Which is why fuel and ammo are heavily armored.  

Quote

HMS Hood

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

 

 

Jump to navigationJump to search

This article is about the Admiral-class battlecruiser. For other ships of the same name, see List of ships called HMS Hood.

Hood, 17 March 1924
History
United Kingdom
Name	Hood
Namesake	Admiral Samuel Hood
Ordered	7 April 1916
Builder	John Brown & Company
Cost	£6,025,000
Yard number	460
Laid down	1 September 1916
Launched	22 August 1918
Commissioned	15 May 1920
In service	1920–1941
Identification	Pennant number: 51
Motto	Ventis Secundis (Latin: "With Favourable Winds")[2]
Nickname(s)	The Mighty Hood
Fate	Sunk during the Battle of the Denmark Strait, 24 May 1941
Badge	A Cornish chough bearing an anchor facing left over the date 1859[1]
General characteristics
Class and type	Admiral-class battlecruiser
Displacement	46,680 long tons (47,430 t) (deep load)
Length	860 ft 7 in (262.3 m)
Beam	104 ft 2 in (31.8 m)
Draught	32 ft (9.8 m)
Installed power	24 Yarrow boilers 144,000 shp (107,000 kW)
Propulsion	4 shafts; 4 geared steam turbines
Speed	1920: 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph) 1941: 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Range	1931: 5,332 nautical miles (9,875 km; 6,136 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement	1919: 1,433 1934: 1,325
Armament	As built: 4 × twin 15 in (381 mm) guns 12 × single 5.5 in (140 mm) guns 4 × single 4 in (102 mm) AA guns 6 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes 1941, as sunk: 4 × twin 15 in guns 7 × twin 4 in AA guns 3 × octuple 2 pdr (40 mm) AA guns 4 × quadruple 0.5 in (12.7 mm) MGs 5 × 20-barrel "Unrotated Projectile" mounts 4 × 21 in torpedo tubes
Armour	Belt: 6–12 in (152–305 mm) Deck: 0.75–3 in (19–76 mm) Barbettes: 5–12 in (127–305 mm) Turrets: 11–15 in (279–381 mm) Conning tower: 9–11 in (229–279 mm) Bulkheads: 4–5 in (102–127 mm)

HMS Hood (pennant number 51) was a battlecruiser of the Royal Navy (RN). Hood was the first of the planned four Admiral-class battlecruisers to be built during the First World War. Already under construction when the Battle of Jutland occurred in mid-1916, that battle revealed serious flaws in her design despite drastic revisions before she was completed four years later. For this reason, she was the only ship of her class to be completed, as the Admiralty decided it would be better to start with a clean design on succeeding battlecruisers, leading to the never-built G-3 class. Despite the appearance of newer and more modern ships, Hood remained the largest warship in the world for 20 years after her commissioning, and her prestige was reflected in her nickname, "The Mighty Hood".

Hood was involved in many showing-the-flag exercises between her commissioning in 1920 and the outbreak of war in 1939, including training exercises in the Mediterranean Sea and a circumnavigation of the globe with the Special Service Squadron in 1923 and 1924. She was attached to the Mediterranean Fleet following the outbreak of the Second Italo-Ethiopian War in 1935. When the Spanish Civil War broke out the following year, Hood was officially assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet until she had to return to Britain in 1939 for an overhaul. By this time, advances in naval gunnery had reduced Hood's usefulness. She was scheduled to undergo a major rebuild in 1941 to correct these issues, but the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939 kept the ship in service without the upgrades.

When war with Germany was declared, Hood was operating in the area around Iceland, and she spent the next several months hunting for German commerce raiders and blockade runners between Iceland and the Norwegian Sea. After a brief overhaul of her propulsion system, she sailed as the flagship of Force H, and participated in the destruction of the French fleet at Mers-el-Kebir. Transferred to the Home Fleet shortly afterwards, Hood was dispatched to Scapa Flow, and operated in the area as a convoy escort and later as a defence against a potential German invasion fleet.

In May 1941, Hood and the battleship Prince of Wales were ordered to intercept the German battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, which were en route to the Atlantic, where they were to attack convoys. On 24 May 1941, early in the Battle of the Denmark Strait, Hood was struck by several German shells, exploded, and sank within 3 minutes, with the loss of all but three of her crew of 1,418. Due to her publicly perceived invincibility, the loss affected British morale.

The RN conducted two inquiries into the reasons for the ship's quick demise. The first, held soon after the ship's loss, concluded that Hood's aft magazine had exploded after one of Bismarck's shells penetrated the ship's armour. A second inquiry was held after complaints that the first board had failed to consider alternative explanations, such as an explosion of the ship's torpedoes. It was more thorough than the first board but concurred with the first board's conclusion. Despite the official explanation, some historians continued to believe that the torpedoes caused the ship's loss, while others proposed an accidental explosion inside one of the ship's gun turrets that reached down into the magazine. Other historians have concentrated on the cause of the magazine explosion. The discovery of the ship's wreck in 2001 confirmed the conclusion of both boards, although the exact reason the magazines detonated is likely to remain unknown since that portion of the ship was destroyed in the explosion.

 

[Bullneck 19,215]

6 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

Early in my career I worked doing research on guns that shot high kinetic energy tank rounds.  Once a projectile gets through the armor, everyone inside is fucked.  The overpressure alone probably kills most of the personnel, but whatever gets in ain't getting out, and it just sorta bounces around taking out anyone in its path, which is everyone.  It probably takes well less than a second.

Now, getting the projectile through the armor is the hard part.  It was a literal arms race of armor not all that unlike chain mail, which led to segmented hinged projectiles, and up and up.  Crazy medieval stuff.

Fuzzy memory here, but aren't those "sabot" rounds?  

There is also something called the Monroe Effect, where a shell doesn't have to penetrate the armor.  The impact and heat generated causes spalling of superheaded metal on the back side of the armor (the tank interior) that burst throughout the tank and kills everyone inside.  

Like I said about 100 pages ago, being a tanker is great until it isn't. 

6 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

whatever gets in ain't getting out, and it just sorta bounces around taking out anyone in its path, which is everyone.  It probably takes well less than a second.

There's a joke about the amphibious tractor, which has walls made of aluminum plate: "It can stop a .50 caliber bullet.  But it takes both sides."

 

 

Edited March 31, 2022 by Bullneck

[Bullneck 19,215]

4 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

The 16-inch guns on Missouri class BB shot projectiles weighing one TON.

For comparison sake, the M-198 (95 lb shell) replaced the M-101A1 (33 lb shell) about the time I got to the FMF in 1984.  

[Judge Roybeanbag 11,821]

13 minutes ago, Shaddie said:

Jesus man. Grow a pair. You have bad takes  and when people give you shit and remember beyond a week ago you cry. 
 

I was blitzed when I did that post but your shit is so bad it stays with me. Just own your craptastik shit. 

I don’t want to interact in this cesspool, yet I did, but it’s not my fault.

Own your shit, corps turd.  

[Shaddie 1,651]

27 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Why would anyone want to do that?

I mean, ummmm, asking for a friend.

Noted: I am NOT a brisket friend. 

[henrygandorf 29,195]

thread.

[Ag with kids 581]

3 hours ago, Shaddie said:

Jesus man. Grow a pair. You have bad takes  and when people give you shit and remember beyond a week ago you cry. 
 

I was blitzed when I did that post but your shit is so bad it stays with me. Just own your craptastik shit. 

Apparently, your shittastik inclusion of me in that post has broken the CR block I'd requested.  I asked for it because anything I post on here will be neg repped.  And that's bullshit.  I had one poster literally go and neg rep posts I made on Food and Travel and Lulz...probably about 50 neg reps.  Just because, I guess a) I'm an Aggie and/or b) I'm not a liberal.

I haven't posted on here since last year...until you fixed the glitch...so I want a fucking red Swingline stapler out of this deal...

[henrygandorf 29,195]

[Gatorubet 30,321]

9 minutes ago, Ag with kids said:

Apparently, your shittastik inclusion of me in that post has broken the CR block I'd requested.  I asked for it because anything I post on here will be neg repped.  And that's bullshit.  I had one poster literally go and neg rep posts I made on Food and Travel and Lulz...probably about 50 neg reps.  Just because, I guess a) I'm an Aggie and/or b) I'm not a liberal.

I haven't posted on here since last year...until you fixed the glitch...so I want a fucking red Swingline stapler out of this deal...

Who fathered your kids?

[Macanudo 13,017]

4 minutes ago, Gatorubet said:

Who fathered your kids?

Certainly not Albert Einstein.

Probably Johnny Manziel.

[Sawbonz 27,596]

3 hours ago, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

Oh, it goes well beyond that. They have electively asked the admins to restrict their access because they simply can't control themselves. 

So that’s why they want the govt to outlaw homosexuality 

[WhatTheBuck 28,806]

24 minutes ago, Ag with kids said:

Apparently, your shittastik inclusion of me in that post has broken the CR block I'd requested.  I asked for it because anything I post on here will be neg repped.  And that's bullshit.  I had one poster literally go and neg rep posts I made on Food and Travel and Lulz...probably about 50 neg reps.  Just because, I guess a) I'm an Aggie and/or b) I'm not a liberal.

I haven't posted on here since last year...until you fixed the glitch...so I want a fucking red Swingline stapler out of this deal...

Negged. 

[Tuco 5,084]

Apparently, your shittastik inclusion of me in that post has broken the CR block I'd requested.  I asked for it because anything I post on here will be neg repped.  And that's bullshit.  I had one poster literally go and neg rep posts I made on Food and Travel and Lulz...probably about 50 neg reps.  Just because, I guess a) I'm an Aggie and/or b) I'm not a liberal.
I haven't posted on here since last year...until you fixed the glitch...so I want a fucking red Swingline stapler out of this deal...

Jesus, I don’t really remember who this dipshit is, but I kind of want to neg him just for the fuck of it. (Shaggy does not bring out the best in me sometimes.)

[Nivek 16,992]

Early in my career I worked doing research on guns that shot high kinetic energy tank rounds.  Once a projectile gets through the armor, everyone inside is fucked.  The overpressure alone probably kills most of the personnel, but whatever gets in ain't getting out, and it just sorta bounces around taking out anyone in its path, which is everyone.  It probably takes well less than a second.
Now, getting the projectile through the armor is the hard part.  It was a literal arms race of armor not all that unlike chain mail, which led to segmented hinged projectiles, and up and up.  Crazy medieval stuff.

Have you made a tie that can self strangle people when activated?

[jimmyjazz 46,225]

Just now, Nivek said:

Have you made a tie that can self strangle people when activated?

Shhh.

[Ag with kids 581]

34 minutes ago, Gatorubet said:

Who fathered your kids?

I made 2 and bought the other 7.  Those are the ones I raised.

I also may have fathered your kids...she was easy those evenings...

[TwiceHorn 31,554]

3 hours ago, Bullneck said:

Fuzzy memory here, but aren't those "sabot" rounds?  

There is also something called the Monroe Effect, where a shell doesn't have to penetrate the armor.  The impact and heat generated causes spalling of superheaded metal on the back side of the armor (the tank interior) that burst throughout the tank and kills everyone inside.  

Like I said about 100 pages ago, being a tanker is great until it isn't. 

There's a joke about the amphibious tractor, which has walls made of aluminum plate: "It can stop a .50 caliber bullet.  But it takes both sides."

 

 

Yeah, there's two schools of thought on armor destruction:  shaped charges that direct the force of an explosion into a small area that creates a jet of molten metal that penetrates the interior, and high-velocity rounds that force their way in.  Broadly speaking, the missiles employ the former, and artillery the latter.  And yes, sabot rounds are one way of achieving higher velocity.

[Ag with kids 581]

 

9 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

Early in my career I worked doing research on guns that shot high kinetic energy tank rounds.  Once a projectile gets through the armor, everyone inside is fucked.  The overpressure alone probably kills most of the personnel, but whatever gets in ain't getting out, and it just sorta bounces around taking out anyone in its path, which is everyone.  It probably takes well less than a second.

Now, getting the projectile through the armor is the hard part.  It was a literal arms race of armor not all that unlike chain mail, which led to segmented hinged projectiles, and up and up.  Crazy medieval stuff.

So...I did this shit too...

Perhaps at a certain place in DFW???

[Horn Under a Bad Sign 20,506]

4 hours ago, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

Oh, it goes well beyond that. They have electively asked the admins to restrict their access because they simply can't control themselves. They have so little self control that they asked this board to disappear from their options. We're at some peak meta level of snowflake here. So much so i think we need to move to molecular stratum. I'll let someone smarter than me take it from there.

I don't really understand it. So @Ag with kids literally can't control himself when it comes to whatever board he's posting on and has therefore asked the mods to keep him from posting on this board?

As Maude would say, that's strongly vaginal. 

[Gatorubet 30,321]

34 minutes ago, Ag with kids said:

I made 2 and bought the other 7.  

Was a pizza place involved?

[Biff Tannen 45,750]

1 hour ago, Horn Under a Bad Sign said:

I don't really understand it. So @Ag with kids literally can't control himself when it comes to whatever board he's posting on and has therefore asked the mods to keep him from posting on this board?

As Maude would say, that's strongly vaginal. 

You mean coitus?

[Guest Lobo]

Only if she's done her kegels.  

[956 Worldwide 34,794]

14 hours ago, Tuco said:

Not a dumb question at all.  My uneducated guess is that it is a question of size and compactness.  

If you hit a tank with an armor piercing ordinance, let's say you get a 1" hole in the armor and 20 cubic foot fire ball/shrapnel on the backside.  The tank is pretty much crew space, engine, fuel and ammo.  Chances are pretty good you will hit something that will take the tank out of the battle. 

If you hit a ship with the same ordinance, with the same hole and fireball, it's more likely you will take out space.  Maybe a couple of sailors.  Maybe some important system.  But if you don't hit fuel or ammo, that ship is still in the battle.  Even if you hit it below the water line, they will close off the segmented hatch and patch it later.  If you've ever watched footage of WW2 naval battles, those ships can take a ton of damage and stay in the fight.  Until, suddenly, a lucky hit gets the fuel or ammo, and then it's over.  Which is why fuel and ammo are heavily armored.  

All of this, plus ships have much better defenses and are much harder to get close to.  They are constantly moving.  Anything that’s going to sink them has to be correspondingly more accurate, faster, bigger, more expensive, etc. 

[TXSG8R 3,362]

12 hours ago, Bullneck said:

Fuzzy memory here, but aren't those "sabot" rounds?  

There is also something called the Monroe Effect, where a shell doesn't have to penetrate the armor.  The impact and heat generated causes spalling of superheaded metal on the back side of the armor (the tank interior) that burst throughout the tank and kills everyone inside.  

Like I said about 100 pages ago, being a tanker is great until it isn't. 

There's a joke about the amphibious tractor, which has walls made of aluminum plate: "It can stop a .50 caliber bullet.  But it takes both sides."

 

 

I thought Penetrator rounds had multiple components, one being a softer alloy that would superheat and follow the penetrator head to bounce around the crew chamber?