#105
Post
by critical mass » 16 Mar 2019, 13:01
It´s a technical question, and not too dissimilar to the problem of navy turret roofs. AP (or for that matter HE) strikes come from extern and put pressure on the plate and it´s connections along a different plane and from a different direction and regime than propellant pressure buildt up slowly (at first) from within. It´s not too difficult to provide constructional solutions for angular connectors which become weak from attack of one direction and strong in resistence to attack from a different one.
The opened weld line of the TIGER sponson side plate, which did not completely seperated shows this, along with failure of the sponson side plate / to front plate connectors, it also failed along all it´s connections with the thinner roof plates. The hull roof plates, originally connected with the sponson side plates bend up by overpressure (caused by, what cannot be anything else than overpressure from the ammunition storage in the sponsons underneath them) with the largest gaps beeing between at what previously had been the connection to the side plate, implicating that the rupture first originated along the connection with the side sponson plate. This appears to me as a desirable failure once the ammunition caught fire.
However, unless primary source evidence gives support also from the document side, I would hesitate to state this in anything else than an informal board. What I intended to point out with this is, that one should be open to view weld failures with consideration paid to more aspects than rigidity of the weld under attack. Welds are constructional components of the hull and therefore, one might argue that the reduction in focus on ballistic factors to judge wwlds may not be to their full credit.