• HappycamperNZ@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      My first response was its a firefighting thing where the mag could be flooded to protect them.

      But now you actually asked the question I could actually be full of shit.

      • espentan@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        It’s used in tanks, too. Or was, at least, with the Sherman being a famous example.

        • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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          4 months ago

          Huh.

          In that case this isn’t as dumb as OP probably thought when they drew it. If your ammo cooks off in 40 or 50C, you have bigger problems. The only thing I’d worry about is what the shells leach into the water.

          • upto60percentoff@kbin.run
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            4 months ago

            Heavy metals that will be absorbed into your skin over a long enough time frame, gradually giving you the sub-dermal armor augmentation from Deus Ex

    • Tar_Alcaran@sh.itjust.works
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      4 months ago

      It used to be, but not in the sense that the shells are in a pool of water. They had containers of water in between the ammo, so that in the case of a hit on the ammo rack, it would soak the ammo and hopefully not turn the tank into a quickbake oven.

      Whether or not it worked, or if just moving the ammo out of the line of fire was what helped is up for debate. Modern tanks use faster burning charges, so soaking them probably wouldn’t work anyway, so they have blowout panels instead.