But all that said, in a pitch battle, RAMMING your target with prejudice was still a ‘theoretical’ option? And in the case of the Bismarck, or other captial ships, what happens when they are damaged, and unable to manuever?
GREAT examples by the way, what inspiration! :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramming
Interestingly enough, RAMMING was an option in wwII, and did occur on enough of a scale for command to issue orders in late 43 to consider other options BEFORE ramming another vessel. It seems that most incidences were surface ships ramming submarines.
In World War II, naval ships often rammed other vessels, though this was often due to circumstances, as considerable damage could be caused to the attacking ship. The damage that lightly constructed destroyers took from the tactic led to it being officially discouraged by the Royal Navy from early 1943, after the HMS Hesperus was dry-docked for three months following sinking U-357 in December 1942 and HMS Harvester was torpedoed and sunk following damaging her propellers during the ramming of U-444 in March 1943. USS Buckley (DE-51) rammed U-66; and HMS Easton rammed U-458.
On 29 January 1943 the Japanese submarine I-1 was rammed and wrecked by the New Zealand naval trawlers, Kiwi and Moa in shallow water at Kamimbo Bay, Guadalcanal during Operation Ke. The submarine of 2135 tons was much larger and more heavily armed than the minesweeping trawlers of 607 tons each.
During anti-submarine action, ramming was an alternative if the destroyer was too close to the surfaced submarine for her main guns to fire into the water. The tactic was used by the famous British anti-submarine specialist, Captain Frederic John Walker from December 1941 to the end of the war.
Superannuated British destroyer HMS Campbeltown was disguised as a German ship for the purpose of ramming the lock gates of the U-boat base at St. Nazaire on 28 March 1942. A large explosive time bomb charge in the bow of the ship exploded the next day, putting the dock out of commission for five years.
PT-109 was rammed and crushed by a Japanese destroyer, though the incident was at night and the PT-boat was idling to avoid detection, making it doubtful the destroyer’s actions were intentional.
HMS Glowworm rammed the German cruiser Admiral Hipper in a famous act of desperation.
Let me see if I can find some stories about the GLOWWORM!