Talk:General Discussion/@comment-4010439-20140614190942/@comment-23.28.25.108-20140615212445

what Kevadu said.

The BBs in WWI had torpedos, since the idea was that battles would be at fairly short range, and a battleline of 20-30 ships made for a decent target. However, in practice, it rapidly became obvious that gunfire was happening at longer ranges, and the torpedos just weren't coming into play. The underwater tubes compromised watertight integrity and armor schemes, the deck torpedos made a dangerous explosion waiting to happen if enemy shells hit (torpedo storage was one possibility on what did in HMS Hood). The between-war refits of the older BBs from pretty much all the countries included removal of the torpedo armaments as a matter of course. The Germans included torpedo armament on their capital ships, despite the drawbacks, due to their primary function as commerce raiders. Its easier to sink a cargo ship with a single torpedo than using the big guns, basically.

HMS Rodney claimed a hit on Bismarck during his final battle, and if so, that is the only recorded instance of one BB hitting another with a torpedo.

queek