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Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahha!

You, dear sir, have tumbled upon the dirty little secret nobody in the Navy wants to talk about!

In over 75 incidents of real-world weapon explosions, accidents, collisions, and sinkings since the end of WWII (the beginning of the electronics age/missile age/radar/CIC/combat systems age, NOT ONE destroyer sized ship has survived (able to keep weapons, power and propulsion going) EVEN ONE hit from ANY weapon of ANY kind: even duds take out a ship completely.

(again, remember the criteria: have power, have combat systems, have propulsion, and (oh by the way) stay afloat.

EVERY destroyer-sized ship has been put out of action, and been down for periods ranging from one hour to as much as sinking completely - after just one hit.

On the other hand, no ship larger than 15,000 tons has been put out of action by a single hit, and most merchant designs (even the Liberty) have simply shrugged off the damage and continued steaming after taking mine, torpedo, and bomb damage.

Interestingly enough, the Forrestal took a beating when they had their accident. They cooked off something like 10 1000lb bombs, that is a LOT of energy. Granted, they didn't have the bombs penetrating below decks and going off, but they were still able to steam at 20 something knots after the accident.

Actually, the Taiho (Japanese navy's largest and most modern carrier in WWII) sank after taking one torpedo. Apparently, her crew didn't realize the danger they were in and kept steaming right along at full speed. The fumes from a ruptured avgas tank were sucked throughout the ship, and it became one, giant fuel/air bomb. The invevitable spark destroyed her, and she sank with three quarters of her crew (sunk by the submarine USS Cavalla)

Fascinating post - it kind of lends credence to the value of a stealth ship - one that will always get the first shot off. hat is the conventional weight of a destroyer v. a frigate or cruiser?

Since you seem very knowledgable about these things let me ask you this: I saw a show on the Washington Monument - they said it weighs about 85,000 tons. Has there ever been a warship that big? A WWII battleship was around 35,000 if I remember correctly.