What level of damage could we be looking at if the Luftwaffe successfully managed to strike an Illustrious class carrier with (one) Fritz X gliding bomb? Given the fact that the RN armored carriers are renowned for their ability to absorb Kamikazes and brush them off (literally and figuratively) would a Fritz X successfully punch through? Not to mention the fact that HMS Warspite was severely damaged by a Fritz X which im assuming is much more armored then an aircraft carrier.
Isn't the aircraft launching & trying to control said Nazi super-weapon going to be a sitting duck for carrier CAP? Wikipedia claims the controlling aircraft was unable to evade fighters whilst it was trying to land the Nazi super-weapon on target: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_X#Combat_procedureWhat level of damage could we be looking at if the Luftwaffe successfully managed to strike an Illustrious class carrier with (one) Fritz X gliding bomb? Given the fact that the RN armored carriers are renowned for their ability to absorb Kamikazes and brush them off (literally and figuratively) would a Fritz X successfully punch through? Not to mention the fact that HMS Warspite was severely damaged by a Fritz X which im assuming is much more armored then an aircraft carrier.
Yes in reality the launch aircraft would be a sitting duck, this is hypothetical lucky shot.Isn't the aircraft launching & trying to control said Nazi super-weapon going to be a sitting duck for carrier CAP? Wikipedia claims the controlling aircraft was unable to evade fighters whilst it was trying to land the Nazi super-weapon on target: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_X#Combat_procedure
(Okay, it's Wikipedia, but still...)
If you want to authorial handwave stuff, for dramatic narrative purposes, you can handwave anything. Heck: I think there's a scene in that Sahara film where the protagonist shoots down a helicopter with an American Civil War era ship, somewhere in the middle of the Sahara desert. (Even in the original book it's kind of complicated just what the ship is doing there, although 20th century use of it for helicopter shooting down is not involved; I'm not sure the film even attempted anything more than a half-baked explanation for the ship's presence.)Yes in reality the launch aircraft would be a sitting duck, this is hypothetical lucky shot.
Allied anti-aircraft fire was more accurate than their Italian counterparts. The carrying aircraft would also have to fly over the escorting destroyers and cruisers.Isn't the aircraft launching & trying to control said Nazi super-weapon going to be a sitting duck for carrier CAP? Wikipedia claims the controlling aircraft was unable to evade fighters whilst it was trying to land the Nazi super-weapon on target: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_X#Combat_procedure
(Okay, it's Wikipedia, but still...)
Not all bomb hits are created equally
There would be conditions where a Fritz X would have sunk Warspite and not sunk Roma!
Its entirely possible that a Fritz X could sink an Illustrious
But at the end of the day its a 1400 KG weapon with a 320 KG warhead and the class suffered significantly larger hits than that and survived.
Several light cruisers were thought to have been hit by the weapon and while crippled they were not sunk
Therefore I think its unlikely.
I thought that the Fritz x usually punched right through any ship it hit because it was traveling so fast. I mean right through the deck out the bottom of the hull.