Wilhelmshaven's harbor routine magnifies damage

The damage estimate depends as much on shipboard readiness as on the number of torpedoes. High Seas Fleet crews often slept ashore in harbor, while maintenance left compartments open and reduced the number of people available for immediate damage control. The photographs examined show anti-torpedo nets stowed against the ships, although nets were probably deployed on other occasions. Stowing them would also help ships get to sea quickly. With open doors and too few hands to close them, a couple of hits could sink a ship that would be harder to destroy when closed up at sea. In the scenario, 25 hits could mean 10 to 12 ships lost, while 45 could disable or sink almost the whole force present at Wilhelmshaven. The larger estimate concerns the ships actually in that harbor, and depends on catching them in the vulnerable condition described.