Is it possible to kill a ship with a machine gun?

[Gloom Demon]

I have recently tried to sink the "Elnya" tanker with the UH-1H. After running out of Hydra's? I have made quite a few strafing runs with the machine gun and, to my amazement, have managed to sink it. Well - if the UH-1H was equipped with a cannon I can imagine that could sink a ship, however I seriously doubt that a machine gun could do it... Is it possible to sink a ship with a machine gun IRL? Or is it a limitation of the current damage system in DCS?

 

P.S. I do recall that ED did something, so that buildings could not be destroyed by cannon shots, maybe the same should be done about ships and machine guns?

 

P.P.S. I reran the mission and have managed to sink the "Elnya" tanker with the machine gun only (not using rockets). It did take half of the available rounds though...

Edited December 17, 2013 by Gloom Demon

[Cibit]

Did you hover close or strafe it? :)

[Gloom Demon]

The first time I did strafing passes - I am very bad at hovering, unfortunately :-(

 

For the second time I simply placed the tanker near the shore, landed nearby, aimed at the ship and pulled the trigger. Killing it with strafing runs would have taken too much time.

[Cibit]

I simply placed the tanker near the shore, landed nearby, aimed at the ship and pulled the trigger.

 

:megalol:

[ARM505]

The 'hit point' system at work.

[Grim_Smiles]

I have recently tried to sink the "Elnya" tanker with the UH-1H. After running out of Hydra's? I have made quite a few strafing runs with the machine gun and, to my amazement, have managed to sink it. Well - if the UH-1H was equipped with a cannon I can imagine that could sink a ship, however I seriously doubt that a machine gun could do it... Is it possible to sink a ship with a machine gun IRL? Or is it a limitation of the current damage system in DCS?

 

A tanker IRL? No, you'd run out of rounds in the Huey first. Definitely a damage system issue.

[Scrim]

At best you could hope to sink it indirectly, by damaging volatile cargo on the deck. But practically speaking, no. Not even the rockets should be enough (won't penetrate far enough, to low caliber, not enough of them on one Huey, etc.).

[Cibit]

Shoot lots of little holes at the waterline it will turn into a sieve:music_whistling:

[camsr]

There are lots of weird inconsistencies in how targets are damaged. M818 in A10C for instance, by default only takes one bullet to kill, and it doesn't matter where it's put. A hitbox system would be really cool, so potential gas tank shots get the kill easily, but hitting across the canopy does nothing.

[Grim_Smiles]

Shoot lots of little holes at the waterline it will turn into a sieve:music_whistling:

 

Edit: I'm assuming you are being sarcastic BTW based on your smiley:D, but I figured I'd answer this anyway for the benefit of the OP.

 

Even that wouldn't be enough, certainly not something the size of a tanker IRL. It isn't enough to just poke holes in the side of the shell, you have to rupture enough compartments inside the ship that she can no longer remain afloat. 7.62 rounds from miniguns won't penetrate very far in. Unless she loses main and emergency power and the crew is too dumb to dog down all the water tight doors and hatches, she's not going down from lots of little poke holes that size. Even if something like that scenario did happen (though I can't see a crew not closing the WT doors) it would take her a long time to sink from that.

 

Even with the rockets fired by the Huey at the waterline, the Huey doesn't carry many and I don't see them penetrating far enough to rupture enough bulkheads inside. Even if it did, and I kind of doubt it, it wouldn't cause the ship to sink anywhere near as quick as it does in DCS. Unfortunately in DCS a vehicle or ship is simply destroyed or not. You don't have to sink her to take a ship out, but that isn't modeled in the sim.

 

I would say in a real scenario the best option for the Huey would be to spray the deck and bridge to kill crew - but in real life I don't see a Huey being sent after a ship that size, they would hit her with something made for it. My understanding is the the Elnya is a replenishment tanker for military vessels, so she's likely much hardier than a regular civilian ship.

 

This is a tanker that collided with a bulk carrier ship. You can see the gash goes below the waterline. I don't see anything the Huey carries that can cause worse than this:

Edited December 19, 2013 by TooTall

[Darkwolf]

It's DCS.

 

You can't sink ship with dedicated anti-ship missiles, yet with a 7.62 minigun you can.

 

At least, we know what to use now to sink those frigates. :D Thanks !