[motto]

Around forty years ago I was involved in a discussion about what would and what would not penetrate a carrier hull in the way of small arms fire. This came about because there was an abandoned, stripped out, hacked around carrier hull laying around on a property where my workmates used to hold occasional social functions (read 'booze-ups').

It was decided that the only way to settle the argument was to carry out some practical testing. Subsequently a return was made to the site in the cold light of day and all of us completely sober with a selection of firearms and ammunition. Firing was at right angles (square on) and carried out at a range of 30 to 40 feet with the impact area being on standard thickness hull armour ie not frontal. To the best of my memory the findings were as follows:-

.303 Mk 7 Ball - A bit of a dent, bullet vaporised.
.577/450 Martini Henry - A shallower dent, bullet vaporised.
.303 AP (don't recall Mk No) - Consistent penetration of tungsten carbide core.
30-06 AP - Inconsistent penetration of hardened silver steel core. Core break-up.

Nothing we had would penetrate the frontal armour.

The dimple in Michaels picture is nothing like a bullet strike, either AP or Ball. The edges are too defined.

David