Avro Lancaster Ship buster

[tigercat]

So say you wanted to optimise a Lancaster for shipbusting

For example how many RP3 could you fit on a Lancaster .

Or if you went crazy how many 20mm in its wing or maybe 40mm cannot  of the Hurricane tank buster

I believe it could carry a Torpedo ?

Or
.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiny_Tim_(rocket)

Maybe dazzle camouflage to confuse the  Flak gunners.

[Rick Lowe]

A good opportunity to use some of the 109-style Prop Swirls...
And maybe add some fixed m.g.s in the nose, to keep the a/a gunners busy?

The Vickers 40mm sound good, what about something larger?
If the Mossie can carry a 6-pounder... 

What about a 4,000-pound Cookie with a contact fuse? 
Sink it through sheer blast effect!

[PR19_Kit]

What about a 4,000-pound Cookie with a contact fuse? 
Sink it through sheer blast effect!

Not a good idea if the Lanc was still at low altitude above the cookie when it went off. 

Perhaps the cookie could have a chute attached to its tail to slow it down relative to the Lanc?

[tigercat]

The 17 Pounder had this variant

Mark III
Royal Navy adaptation for use on landing craft, generally similar to the Mk. I, but included an automatic loading system. Unused.

Maybe one mounted on a Lancaster

[kitnut617]

After the war, the main weapon against capital ships was the Tallboy after the No.9 and No.617 squadrons used them against Tirpitz and others. There was also a plan to have 'guided' Tallboys using captured German technology.

I have a plan where later, TSR2's got to use guided Tallboys, like this :



Here's what it looks like next to a 2000lber, you can see the Tallboy in the TSR2 weapons bay.

[PR19_Kit]

Here's what it looks like next to a 2000lber, you can see the Tallboy in the TSR2 weapons bay.

You don't even have to glue it in there, it fits like it was designed to! 

I did that with my 'Time Warp' TSR2 in 2013.

[kitnut617]

  Kit!

Great minds think alike -- 

[PR19_Kit]

It does tend to remind you just how big a TSR2 is, doesn't it? 

[kitnut617]

As were most of the projects back then ---

[jcf]

The USAF used the Tarzon, a guided Tallboy, during the Korean War dropped from B-29s.
The B-36 could carry two*, but whether or not any B-36 were actually converted is a
matter of debate.

Actually hitting a moving ship is something of a questionable proposition as the Tallboy
raids against the Tirpitz, which was a stationary target, used a lot of bombs and took
three raids by a relatively large number of aircraft for a single target and 78 bombs
were dropped in the three raids. A questionable use of resources.

Hitting a moving ship with a thin-skinned blunt-cylinder 'cookie' is even more unlikely.

*Which seems low as one of the "official" B-36 bombload configurations was four Tallboy,
three Grand Slam was another, the megaload was one Grand Slam and one 43,000 lb T-12.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASM-A-1_Tarzon



Tarzon used the control system of the earlier 1,000 & 2,000 lb Razon, which itself was a
developmentof the Azon, also in 1,000 &. 2,000 lb versions. Azon was used in WWII in
both Europe and Burma with the first missions in June 1944 against targets in France.
Azon was carried by the B-24. Razon had been ready for combat by 1945 but was only
used during the Korean War.

Contrary to what some folks believe Azon, Razon and Tarzon were not based on Fritz X or
other German technology.

[PR19_Kit]

Actually hitting a moving ship is something of a questionable proposition as the Tallboy
raids against the Tirpitz, which was a stationary target, used a lot of bombs and took
three raids by a relatively large number of aircraft for a single target and 78 bombs
were dropped in the three raids. A questionable use of resources.

Sinking the Tirpitz was surely a political target, and no limit on the amount of resources would have been expended to ensure it was sunk.

The first two raids were hampered by the smoke defences around the ship and cloud cover as well.

[jcf]

The problem with using the 40mm S would be that the relatively low velocity 40X158
cartridge (at 615 m/s it had by far the lowest muzzle velocity of all of the airborne
anti-tank cannon used) meant that the heavy projectile (1,130 grams) started to
drop fairly quickly, which means that the big Lanc would have to get close for it to
be effective. The S gun armed Hurricanes were removed from the anti-tank role
because they were too vulnerable to AAA.

The Molins has possibilities, but you'd probably be better off with as many 20mm as
you could fit in the nose, in place of the fwd turret and crew positions rather than the
wings. The rate of fire and the ability to carry far more rounds would make up any
perceived deficiency in calibre.

[Pellson]

I think it's easy to forget that capital ships might not be the most preferred target for such an aircraft. Rather, putting holes in submarines, torpedo boats and other more lightly skinned vessels might have been more desirable and also, as a consequence, have provided less screen for another asset to fight before getting at the mentioned capital ship.

For ships up to and including destroyer size, I think an armour piercing 20mm round in enough numbers would be a significant threat.

[Rheged]

For putting holes in anything below cruiser size, there's a lot to be said for the "Rocket Spear"

Thus sayeth Wikipaedia :-  Soon after some encouraging results from the initial deployment, trials of the weapon (25 lb solid head) were conducted against targets representing U-boats. It was discovered that if the rockets were fired at a shallow angle, near misses resulted in the rockets curving upwards in seawater and piercing the targets below the waterline.The first U-Boat destroyed with the assistance of a rocket attack was U-752 (Kapitän-Leutnant Schroeter), on 23 May 1943, by a Swordfish of 819 NAS. The rockets used on this occasion had solid, cast-iron heads and were known as rocket spears. One of these punched right through the submarine's pressure hull and rendered it incapable of diving; the U–boat was scuttled by its crew. On 28 May 1943, a 608 Squadron Hudson destroyed a U-boat in the Mediterranean, the first destroyed solely by rocket.
 
There's also this graphic description by survivors :-
The weapon was fired at such close range that the rocket was still burning when the spear smashed its way into the engine-room. Once inside the hull of the submarine it ricocheted off the engines, and thrashed wildly about before tearing a way out on the opposite side of the boat. On its passage back into the sea it ripped a second hole three feet wide.    OUCH!!

[kitnut617]

And that's where a Triplex comes into play -- with three 3" rocket motors and 7.2" shell warhead





Of course you could upgrade and use some Red Angels -- with six 3" rocket motors and 11.5" warhead