Re: IJN and Pearl Harbor: oil fields were left intact?
- From: Jim Lillie <jimlillie@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 03 Jun 2007 16:10:22 -0400
Richard Macdonald wrote:
Figure a fuel oil tank 30 ft across and 25 feet high contains an internal
volume of 17,670 cu.ft. or 238,564 US Gallons weighing about
1,860,800 lbs., or 930 tons. Now how thick a steel do you have to
use to hold in this kind of weight. Will a 20mm even dent that steel?
The only significant figure is the '25 feet high'. This is the hight of a 2 story house. How thick is the water pipe in your basement?
20mm, 50 cal, probably even 30 cal / 7mm rounds should penetrate. So then there are little streams spouting. But - fuel oil does not ignite readily. IIFF you put an adequate incinderary in the puddle, then you will have a fire. This then has the possibility of heat weakening the plate to catastrophic failure. This then has the possibility of adjacent tanks failing. If IF and if.
A dive bomber should be able to hit a tank, before any fires are smoking. A level bomber carpet an area with small bombs / bomblets. Mixed with the right incinderaries this should be successful.
But this would require mission planning, not last minute strafing.
Jim Lillie
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