Q&A ยท 43:47-44:49

Battleship ramming and submarines

The answer places proposed R-class ramming within a wider battleship tactic against surfaced submarines.

Question

How often did R-class battleships ram enemy vessels, and what was their most unusual attempt?

Short answer

The panel cannot identify a successful R-class ram, but notes that battleships routinely tried to ram submarines caught near the surface and that HMS Dreadnought famously sank one that way.

Notes

Battleships sometimes tried to ram submarines caught close to the surface because their deep draft could strike a boat before it completed a dive. That was a practical response to a fleeting contact, not a return to ram tactics against an enemy battle line. The panel cannot identify an R-class success, although members of the class apparently made attempts. HMS Dreadnought supplies the famous comparison: the battleship's only confirmed combat kill was a submarine destroyed by ramming.