What happened to bombs that missed ?

[Andre Chissel]

Dear all,

This may be a daft question but can anyone enlighten me regarding what happened to the bomb when a Luftwaffe aircraft targetting a ship dropped its bomb and it missed the ship ?

Assuming that it was fully armed when it hit the water, did it explode when it hit the water ? Did it explode several metres below the waterline ? Was it crushed by water pressure ? Did it explode when it hit the sea bottom ?

Many thanks

Andre

[Blackie]

Andre, I can respond to this as a retired Navy Torpedoman, familiar with ordnance.
Assuming the fuse was for armour piercing, it probably would not explode on contact with the surface or bottom nor would it likely detonate from sea pressure. In very deep water it could crush but if it did explode at great depth, it would be greatly contained by the forces of pressure (44lbs PSI every 100'). The resistance of the water would have it almost floating to the bottom so there would be little impact force.
A contact fuse would likely explode on contact with the surface but these would likely not be used against shipping.
Of course, there are exceptions to every rule and I am sure these occurred. A large bomb falling from a great height will put quite a plume of water up, without exploding. If you see shock waves moving from the center, it went boom.

Hope that helps some.

[Andre Chissel]

Dear Blackie,

Thank you ever so much for your reply. I asked the question because I am researching convoy KMF-5 and I have spoken to an eye witness (a former soldier) onboard the troopship Cameronia (and below decks - in fact below the waterline) when an aerial torpedo struck the Cameronia. Amongst the things that he was able to recall was that he heard "depth charges" exploding.

I actually believe that he was mistaken as no official report mentions depth charges being dropped either by the Cameronia or one of the Escorts and furthermore why would they as it was an aerial torpedo.

However, along with a Ju 88 torpedo bomber, there were a pair of Ju 88 level bombers that were also simultaneously attacking the Cameronia at the time the torpedo hit the ship and I was wondering whether dropped bombs from these level bombers (if they exploded) could have been mistaken by the former soldier for depth charges.

My reasoning is that he arguably would not be able to distinguish between an exploding bomb and a depth charge because he would not have heard the difference before and he was also below decks at the time in the dark trying to get up on deck.

Maybe it was "an exception" as you say. Maybe it was imperfect recollection from a 90 year old. Having said that, in just this tiny aspect, I do not want to dismiss what he said, I just want to find an explanation for it as I do not believe depth charges were dropped. If this chap srecalls hearing what I will call "additional explosions" where could they have come from ?

Any further comments woudl be welcomed and thanks once again for finding the time to reply to my post. I really do appreciate it.

Andre

[lwd]

Also remember that those devices don't necessarily work as planned. An AP bomb may detonate on contact and an HE one may not. Hitting the watter was enough to initiate the fuzes in at least some AP shells but I'm not sure about bombs. Your hypothesis about the bomb sounding like depth charges sounds reasonable to me.

[Blackie]

Andre, based on the additional information I would agree with your analysis that the explosions were from the bombs. As I said earlier, we really don't know what type of ordnance was. It would be very difficult, I would think, to know the difference in the sound... depth bomb or other. I have heard underwater explosions and while I can't tell you exactly what made them I can tell you I was VERY glad to hear them fade in our wake!

Although you state the attack was from the air, did the escorts know this for certain at the time? I could see them thinking it was a submarine attack and responding with depth charges in the heat of battle. The reports are written after the fact and they can omit data that they seem unnecessary. I doubt you will ever know the exact details from something so long ago, even from witnesses. My advise is to keep it simple and stick to the facts as they are or become available.

Good luck and the best.
Blackie

[phylo_roadking]

Would the various anti-handling fuses to prevent unexploded items being defused not trigger on hitting a "surface" - like water from a height?

[Andre Chissel]

Dear Blackie,

Yes, I will keep it simple ! Yes the Escorts knew, the one log book page that I have from one of them positively states aerial torpedo - of course that does not mean to say that a submarine might not have been around but no other record about the incident mentions one at this time and the Brocks benefit being put up by the AA from the Cameronia at least would have made everyone aware of what was happening - there was a full moon and dawn was no too far off making visibility good.

Andre

Dear Phylo

Welcome to the fray - you make an interesting point can anyonme verify this as a possibility ? Certainly anti-handling devices were about at this time.

Thanks

Andre