MODERN WARSHIPS FIGHT PIRATES SKIN
MODERN WARSHIPS FIGHT PIRATES CRACK

The cannonballs are simply not energetic enough. Even at point-blank hull-to-hull type ranges they're unlikely to do damage. Your average 'pirate ship' was maybe a 24-gun ship. The missiles are gratuitous overkill, and the small-arms, while incapable of sinking a ship, are MORE than capable of rendering the Zumwalt immune to boarders until the ammo gives out. That's not even counting the guided missiles (ostensibly the ship's main armament) or any personal small arms the crew has. Except it's worse than that, because a 155 round is so nasty even a near-miss could wreack havoc on something a flimsy as a pirate ship. Even assuming a paltry 10% hit ratio that's 92 'pirate ships' sent to the bottom. They're also meant to target ships that are moving at speed, which your sailing ships are def NOT doing. Again, this would quite literally reduce any given 'pirate ship' to matches in a VERY short amount of time. If you want to save on 155 rounds you engage with your 57mm cannon, capable of over 200 rounds per minute and a range of about 10 miles. a 155 round into any of the brigs, sloops, or even non-pirate ships-of-the-line of 'pirate times' would utterly annihilate the wooden sailing ship in question. For comparison, your enemies have a range of a couple hundred yards, less if they actually want to hit with a decent amount of shots. 2 155mm cannon with a range of about 80 nautical miles. You'd probably be engaging with it's main guns. If she's surrounded by foes, then the guns come into play. The ship could literally sail such that an enemy approaching it from a single direction would NEVER be able to get a broadside in range. Speed may come down eventually (not sure what 'low fuel' actually entails) but being independent of the wind and mobile to the tune of say, 10 knots (1/3 the Zumwalt's max listed speed, which is itself probably and undersell) makes it invulnerable-by-proxy. The doors on modern warships are metal bulkhead doors so, while the pirates might board you, they can not get inside of your ship with the breaching tools they might have so, ultimately, you could just choose not to shoot anyone, and just wait the pirates out.Ī Zumwalt class destroyer (not a battleship by any means) is faster, better armed, and wind-independent. It also has some 30mm guns with an undisclosed amount of ammo which can also go through a wooden ship like butter.īut, let's say you fire all of your ammo from all 5 destroyers sinking 5000ish pirate ships and they just keep coming, you'd still be fine. With computer aided targeting, and how slow wooden ships are compared to modern ones, you could probably get close to 100% accuracy with these too. Each one of these could sink a pirate ship in 1 hit.

Since the OP stipulates that the ship is fully loaded (unlike any real world Zumwalt), this will give it a lot of killing power. It is also designed to carry over 900 rounds of 155 mm anti-armor shells. Each one designed for destroying modern targets with pinpoint accuracy.

MODERN WARSHIPS FIGHT PIRATES CRACK

Also, modern warships tend to have inner hulls so, even if a cannon ball somehow manages to crack the outer armor, the cannonball will still be stopped long before penetrating to hit the inner hull so, the ship will not be flooded.Īs for armament, the USS Zumwalt carries 80 Long range missiles. While this is thinner than an ironclad, modern steel is about 5-10 times as strong as it was during the civil war so, the armor is still comparable if not better.

MODERN WARSHIPS FIGHT PIRATES SKIN

While the exact thickness of the USS Zumwalt's hull is unknown, the outer skin of most modern warships is 25 to 50 mm of armor grade steel or an equivalent armor composite. The USS Zumwalt is armored to to survive modern high-velocity auto-cannons. in which case, it would be a massacre.Įven a civil war era ironclad could take countless shots from the kinds of weapons used by Caribbean pirate ships so, a 21st century warship could literally just sit there and take whatever shots the pirates make at them. The Mobility of the USS Zumwalt would normally allow it to just avoid the pirates, but lack of fuel could force the ship to have to stand and fight.

Modern warships fight pirates