The battle demonstration quickly exposes the vulnerability beneath a destroyer's funnels. Machinery spaces can occupy most of the hull's breadth and extend from keel toward deck, forming cavernous compartments at the ship's center. Flooding or a torpedo hit there can therefore remove propulsion and admit enough water to sink the ship where an opponent is already likely to aim. The in-game subdivision display understates this real structural weakness, one that even larger Daring-class and modern ships cannot entirely eliminate.
Chapter · 34:29-37:25
Engine spaces form a destroyer's central Achilles' heel
A simulated destroyer loss leads to a lesson on large machinery compartments, flooding, and the limits of small-hull survivability.