Bomb splash at sea

[Unkempt]

Not sure this is really the right forum, but anyway:

 

Suppose an aircraft drops a bomb to hit a ship at sea but misses. This would be a 100/250lb bomb, for example from a Walrus. I assume the bomb would go off in the water. What would the splash look like? How high would it be? Does anyone know of any images or film illustrating this? I'm thinking of a diorama, but I'm not really sure if what I'm thinking of would work. Thanks!

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Hello unkempt ... as there are loads of photos of various explosions in water i wouldnt know where to start. Ive seen stills and video over the years. Try googling war correspondent footage, gun camera footage of naval air strikes. Possibly strafing runs on naval targets as these sometimes included smaller bombs carried by fighters. The RAF & Coastal Command carried 60lb rockets that were used on strafing strikes of maritime targets. maybe news reels of front line naval combat of ww2. You should be able to find something with those types of queries. I hope this helps. 

[Unkempt]

Yes, it's all a matter of scale, really, and knowing which ones are real... plus, searching for 'bomb splash' gets me an awful lot of kids' toys. I'll try the IWM archives.

[JackG]

 This is a video of a 250 lb blast, not a bomb though, but I think it comes close to portraying of what happens to the surrounding water:

 

 

regards,

Jack

[Finn]

Here is a ship being skipped bombed, the smaller splashes are the bombs (most likely 500lbs) skipping off the water:

 

 

and then going off:

 

 

with one hitting the ship.

 

Jari

[JPuente54]

Unkempt, you might want to post this question in the "Diorama" forum; those would be the guys who have the expertise for making the bomb blast(s) in water. And, how to create them using various acrylic resins, and, paints that will help you achieve a realistic look.

HTH

Joe

[Rob G]

From my reading, there are a number of factors - the size of the bomb, and the depth at which it detonates, as well as the fuse type. Big bombs make for big explosions. Shallow detonations are the spectacular ones, throwing water all over, while deep detonations tend to just raise a large boil on the waters' surface. Contact-fused bombs will explode on impact, leading to a shallow detonation effect, while anything with a delay fuse will wait before going bang, leading to the deep explosion and the boil.

 

That said, nothing is ever cut and dried, so make it look like you think it should, and the critics can take a long walk off a short jetty.