With steeply sloped belts, shells falling at plus 25* angle of fall can have a pathway opened up by the belt's slope right downward into the wing tanks, which does not require the shell first to traverse much water. One of the reasons why the KGV class went to the not so sloped external belts, was because it would be less vunerable to this type of hit at longer battle ranges. This was probably due to the wave form while the POW was making high speeds in rough seas, rather than to a strong likelyhood of such a hit ocurring. POW had one of the deepest belts but still suffered a below the belt hit. I agree with those whom have the opinion that the IJN under water hit concept was more of an aberation, and that this type of hit ocurring consistently is unlikely. The sea water impares the progress and stability of the shell, and consumes most of its energy. With Bismarck even if it just passes just below the lower edge of the belt, a shell must travel through more than ten meters of sea water (at short battle ranges). At shallow angles of fall, as would be the case of short ranges, a shell normally must traverse through a lot of sea water before it can pierce the hull below the belt. It's not likely to happen unless several vairables come to together in combination. But this only occurs at particular speeds (Pugleise's studies indicated around 30 knots for battleships) and only at a particular spot. The wake or wave form can form a trough just before midships reducing the amount of water that a shell must traverse though to get below the belt.
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