Shape charge development

Single-sentence reference — shaped charges cutting through 14 inches, 36 inches of solid steel. Used to contextualize why heavy armor plate is no longer a defensive priority.

In fact, it's such a real problem that back 20, 25 years ago when we still had battleships, there was a sailor down in Puerto Rico on the battleship who had another seaman — his lover — jilt him. To spite him, he set off one of the 16-inch shells inside the turret. Boom. The turret goes jumping up in the air, and the Navy wanted to repair it. The armor plate is 14 inches thick, and back around 1980, no one knew how to repair our 14-inch-thick armor plate. The last 14-inch-thick armor plate we welded was around 1947. That was the last battleship we built with heavy armor. Today a shaped charge goes right through 14 inches, boom — right through 36 inches, I've seen it. A shaped charge would cut right through 36 inches of solid steel. But back in World War II they had 14-inch, 16-inch-thick armor plate, all welded with stick electrodes.