Torpedo belt

In theory this belt would absorb the explosions from torpedoes, or any naval artillery shells that struck below the waterline, and thus minimize internal damage to the ship itself.

The German Imperial High Seas Fleet introduced torpedo bulkheads with the armored cruiser Blücher and the simultaneous battleships of the Nassau class since 1908.

The outbreak of World War I increased the urgency to devise an effective torpedo defense system (TDS), thus the British Director of Naval Construction introduced the anti-torpedo bulge.

Most battleships built after World War I had sophisticated and complex side-protection systems, as illustrated by the cross sectional drawing of Tirpitz and HMS King George V (41).

It was not until 1922, in the wake of the Washington Naval Treaty that curtailed ship weights and with the introduction of the British Nelson-class battleships, that a true layered torpedo belt was introduced.

A warship can be seriously damaged underwater not only by torpedoes, but also by heavy naval artillery shells that plunge into the ocean very close to the targeted ship.