Has there ever been a recorded case of a tank attacking or sinking a ship?

by marmadukeESQ
backgrinder

Yes. The main gun on a tank is as big as the main gun on a smaller naval vessel, and has enough punch to get through a steel hull pretty easily (most naval vessels sacrifice armor for speed, and there are plenty of records of aircraft sinking small ships with only cannon or machine gun fire). The main difficulty for a tank is getting within range of a vessel, which means finding on on a river, in harbor, or right up on shore.

One Canadian Regiment, the Duke of Connaught's Own, has a ships bell in their mess from one such incident. They managed to catch 4 German ships in a harbor in the Netherlands in WW2 and sunk three before they could escape. They keep one of the ships bells in their mess.