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were of en achieved even from consid rable distances .
Sim il ar effects to those produced bv direct hits can be
attained only by bombs dropped near th e s id ewall of commercia l
vessels up to 8 , 000 t ons ,
libh tly protected warships such as
destroỵers an d cruisers un to 4 , 000 t ons , an d small aircraft
carriers .
Large transport vPssels and cruisers ^f nore tran
8 ,
000 tons usua ll y ave double bottoms and several aterti h t
cotnpartments extendin over tnree quarters of the vesse l ' s
len; th . Th e bow and the rear ,
bowever ,
have only on e simple
hull .
For
this reason the effect o f di rect hits would be overchelming
against this type of vessel so lon as the bomb penetrates
deeply i nto the s hi p ' s bodv .
Inderwater dama es to the bow and
stern correspong to those aciieved a ainst unprotected vessels .
Modern battleships and large aircraft carriers have well con-
•
structed un derwater pro tection at ridship : this extends to about
hal f tbe entire length of the ship in order to reduce the e ff ect
br ea t l y
of torpedoes .
This will also 3: Y reduce the effectiveness
of near :zisses of hi;h - explosive b owb s :ve iohin less than
2 ,
200 pounds in co lparison vdith direct hits by armor- piercing
bombs of equal ca lib er .
I1ear misses can achieve considerable
effectivenPSS ,
if they dron near the unprotected bow or stern .
If the bombs are dropped out of flat dives ,
they can be brouv h t
so close to the ship 's wall that its hi her explosive contents
can produce mere results than aircraft torpedoes of equa l
weigh t .
Unprot°cted ships and unportected bows and sterns f
.
. a jor warships suffer the same d araaaes irom this type of attack
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