I can't recall what conflict this was part of, nor the actual types of ships that were used here, but I want to say it was no later than WWII, as I think I recall the larger ship using shells that sailed over the enemy ship when the latter got close enough. Does anyone know about this sorta thing?
The closest to this that I'm aware is the case of HMS Spitfire at Jutland in 1916. At the battle, the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet engaged the German High Seas Fleet. After the battlefleets clashed, the Germans attempted to withdraw behind the Grand Fleet as night fell. Meanwhile, the RN's light forces were committed to find and harass the High Seas Fleet. This triggered a series of confused actions, with British destroyers making torpedo runs at German battleships cloaked in darkness. During these skirmishes, the German Pommern was hit by a torpedo and sunk, becoming the only battleship to sink during the battle. In one such engagement, a British destroyer squadron found itself at close range with the German battleline. The German battleship Nassau veered out of line to ram one, HMS Spitfire. Luckily for Spitfire, she was able to avoid Nassau's bow, instead scraping down her port side. During this, Nassau's forward 11in turrets attempted to fire on Spitfire. However, at this close range, the guns couldn't depress enough to hit her. This didn't mean Spitfire got away without a scratch - the blast from Nassau's guns had a tremendous effect on her lightly built superstructure, as can be seen in this image. The collision also damaged Nassau, with ~20 ft of her plating being stripped off as Spitfire passed (part of it remained aboard Spitfire, and was brought back to the UK with her). This was a freak occurrence, and definitely not a deliberate tactic, only occurring as it did during a confused night battle at much closer ranges than almost any other naval battle of the 20th Century.
Didn't the HMS speedy beat a bigger ship by getting under the fire of the cannons?
Heya, you might want to post this question in the Friday Free-for-All thread as well. That's a great place for little miscellany. :)
Good luck!
If I remember correctly ( I don't have the book here) during the Battle of Guadalcanal in mid November of 1942 a US destroyer got within dozens of yards of a Japanese ship so they couldn't depress their guns enough, meanwhile the US ship used it's 5" guns and machine gun fire to take the ship from fore to aft.
You're probably thinking of Thomas Cochrane in the HMS speedy fighting a Spanish frigate. Cochrane flew an American flag to trick the spanish, got in close then opened fire and was so close the spanish cannons would only fire over his brig.
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