What's a "Passthrough belt hit" ?

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More of a "military" question : I do understand the words, and what a passthrough SS hit is (the shell flies right through the SS, usual for big AP shells at close range/flat trajectory, it happened also in ground armor combat) but can't imagine how a shell can pass through a ship's belt nor didn't recall having ever read anything on that ??!

[asnrobert]

During the battle off Samar, the Japanese BBs and CAs fired mostly AP rounds at the escort carriers and destroyers, and many of the rounds literally entered one side of a ship and left through the other side without exploding. Hope this answers your question.

[admiralscheer1916]

I believe the shell fired from the Prince Of Wales that entered and exited the bow the Bismarck would count as a "passthrough belt hit" in game terms. While the armour belt of the Bismarck didn't extend to the bow, I believe that in the game any hit scored on the sides of a ship (ie. not the deck or superstructure) is termed a "belt hit".

R. Scheer

[Warship NWS]

A belt hit is any vertical impact point below the SS and a deck hit is any horizontal hit below the SS.