Question: Affect of Napalm on WWII Carriers?

Agreed. Maybe a combination APHE/I device would make more sense. High explosives scattering chunks of lit thermite and Napalm inside a ship would do some pretty nasty things. Probably not kill a ship, but it would certainly tie up DC for a long ass time. Incidentally, I'm thinking a Thermite charge would be a better choice of filler than Napalm for Anti-shipping work. Think about it, It's hot enough to violently launch balls of boiling metal into the air, it can't be smothered, and it requires a lot more water than a DC team probably has on hand to stop the reaction, but if there isn't enough, LOL Steam explosion. Oh, and It'll probably melt through a couple of Decks before anyone can stop it.

dropping it on a transport, however, could be really effective
 

NothingNow

Banned
dropping it on a transport, however, could be really effective

Anything would be really effective against a transport, even a conventional HE bomb fitted with a slightly reinforced nose would be amazing. Conventional incendiaries of the time would reduce the ship to a battered and burned out hulk.
 

Sior

Banned
Napalm was first used as fuel for flamethrowers and went on to be used more prevalently in firebombs.[1]
In 1942, researchers at Harvard University found that a jelly gasoline-like substance burnt more slowly and thus was far more effective. They found that mixing an aluminum soap powder of naphthalene and palmitate (hence na-palm), also known as napthenic and palmitic acids, with gasoline produced a brownish sticky syrup that burned more slowly than raw gasoline. This new mixture of chemicals was widely used in the Second World War in flame throwers and fire bombs. Napalm bombs burned out 40% of the area of Japanese target cities in the World War.[citation needed] Useful weapons continued to be improved, and napalm was no exception. With many more chemical compounds available after World War II, the safer (in storage) and just-as-effective napalm B compound was developed.[2]
On July 17, 1944, napalm incendiary bombs were dropped for the first time by 14 American P-38 Lightning aircraft of the 402d Fighter Squadron / 370th Fighter Group on a fuel depot at Coutances, near St. Lô, France.[7] Further use of napalm by American forces occurred in the Pacific Theater of Operations, where in 1944 - 45, napalm was used as a tactical weapon against Japanese bunkers, pillboxes, tunnels, and other fortifications, especially on Saipan, Iwo Jima, the Philippines, and Okinawa, where deeply dug-in Japanese troops refused to surrender. Napalm bombs were dropped by aviators of the U.S. Navy, the United States Army Air Forces, and the U.S. Marine Corps in support of their ground troops.[8]
 

mats

Banned
I think i once a Nat geo doc about the battle of midway, where they said that the americans had some sort of substance in their fuel pipes (?) i think it was carbon related, but i could be wrong.
 
Delivery

To deliver Napalm you have to overfly the target, in a straight line, at low altitude. Against a manouvering ship, under heavy AA fire, and knowing that if the AA hits your napalm tanks you're go make a very big fireball, I think all pilots would rather carry Bombs...
 

CalBear

Moderator
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I think i once a Nat geo doc about the battle of midway, where they said that the americans had some sort of substance in their fuel pipes (?) i think it was carbon related, but i could be wrong.


The U.S. used CO2 to flush out their fuel delivery systems if they had enough warning time (the Lexington was lost because the ship's commander failed to order this, at the time experimental, action and Wasp was lost after a surprise torpedo attack ruptured her in-use fuel system).

Overall USN damage control was far ahead of the IJN methods, and U.S. "open hanger" designs proved to be a considerable advantage under most circumstances compared to the Japanese "closed hanger" design.
 
Napalm might have been used effectively to 'kill' a carrier from commencing flight operations for awhile as it would have burned and destroyed a much larger portion of the flight deck, but, unless you get a Midway type situation of planes/bombs crowding the deck (where it doesn't matter so much what you use as long as you hit) it will be less effective than normal AP bombs and certainly torpedoes in actually sinking the carrier.

And as noted Brit carriers would have laughed at this with their armored flight decks.

Although maybe a hybrid AP/incendiary type bomb designed exclusively for anti carrier operations would work, but that seems to be a steep price to pay when regular AP bombs and torpedoes are goo for all enemy ships...
 
Look, using napalm is like hitting a nail in with a screw-driver. It might work, but why bother when you can use a hammer. Why bother using napalm which MIGHT get the job done, when you can use torpedoes or bulk-head penetrating weapons to a much greater effect. It makes no sense, Aircraft carriers aren't made of wood. Based on research above it was available and the Americans didn't use it against carriers because they had better alternatives. It would probably be detrimental for them to use napalm against ships and short of ASB and no right minded general would continue to use such an ineffective weapon again and again.
 
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