I need some info for a short story. If a person were to suddenly end up unexpectedly on the deck of a WWII era warship, probably a Destroyer or similar type ship, what kind of items on the deck might be utilized as a weapon in a hand to hand fight?
I’m not a WWII sailor but my guess is you wouldn’t find anything loose on the deck of a naval ship. Any item left loose on deck is too likely to be lost over the side.
There might be a hook for retrieving men overboard/debris and or a fire axe.
Declan
Maybe a large shackle, or a chain?
I tried to find an image but my thought would be more towards possibly some firefighting gear - hose or nozzle. Maybe an axe? But all would be at least behind glass.
Fire Axe, low velocity fog nozzle (fire fighting), fire hose with a high velocity nozzle. Maybe a battle lantern.
A life raft strapped down.
If you have time life boat with supplies in it.
This thread really needs to be titled “WWII ship deck Thunderdome.”
I figured this, but also I’m guessing there must be things that need to be kept handy, maybe lashed down or fastened down, but not too difficult to get at in an emergency.
Will you post the story here once you get your answer?
How about potatoes? During the sea battles off Guadacanal (1942) an American destroyer approached a Japanese submarine with the intention of ramming it. The CO changed his mind and found his ship pretty much alongside the Japanese boat. Caught the Japanese totally surprised. In fact the sub’s sailors were lounging on the deck. They ships were so close our destroyer couldn’t lower her 5" guns enough to hit the sub. To buy some time to create some distance the destroyer’s sailors started heaving potatoes at the sub. Thinking they were hand grenades, the Japanese sailors scattered in all directions, to include away from its deck gun. This bought some time/distance/range for our ship to sink the sub. Need be, I’ll get the name of the ship.
Not sure if I can use that, but it’s a fantastic story and I’ll remember it! Thanks for the colorful story!
I hadn’t planned to. It’s Marvel fan fic over on AO3. I enjoy my little writing hobby, but it’s not great literature. :o
The incident to which I refer is detailed in “The Conquering Tide” by Ian Toll.