No combustibles sure would help a vessel survive longer.
The torpedoes are the deadliest weapon against a ship.
Does kind of make one wonder how an Iowa class BB would stand up
to hits like this.
I heard that an Iraqi anti-ship missie was guiding on the Wisconsin but
a Royal Navy destroyer shot it down. Like, to see a corroboration
of that.
The MK-48 hit directly below the gun mount where weapons store would be.
A 500lb bomb hit directly above the engine room.
She would have been conclusively and rapidly sunk by either.
“I heard that an Iraqi anti-ship missie was guiding on the Wisconsin but
a Royal Navy destroyer shot it down. Like, to see a corroboration”
modern anti ship missiles couldn’t cope with the Wisconsin. They are designed for thin skinned modern warships that are essentially not armored at all. The dreaded exocet of the Falklands and the tanker war world barely scorch an old battle wagon.
Those were taken down by armor piercing bombs and shells that aren’t around today.
If Iraq had his the Wisconsin with an Exocet or similar missile then the only proper response for the Damage Control officer would have been to send out a seaman apprentice to sweep up the fragments and paint over the scorch mark.