What kind of ship? If the pursuing ship has turrets on both ends, turning quickly may not save you. Same with anything carrying missiles or torpedoes; the weapons themselves can be aimed almost automatically, and they move way faster than their target. They may miss by being out-manoeuvred, but there may be a second or third volley that does hit.
In case of pirate ships you see in cartoons: if you can pull off the manoeuvre before you get shot. Suppose you end up getting chased like this:
where the pirate ship behind you has its full broadside aimed at you. The broadside is where most of the guns are; with well-timed shots, every canon ball is going your way.
If the pursuer alters course instead of merely going forward behind you, they may fire during their turn as well:
despite the speed of your ship, not leaving you with a clean getaway. Depending on the relative speeds and the time to reload, the slower ship may get two shots at your ship while your canons are facing away.
If you manage to get behind the pursuer moving in the opposite direction, things look a lot better for you. However, if the pursuer has more range than you, they may just be able to complete their turn and still hit you.
(the bottom ship is the one fleeing in this scenario)
How successful this is depends on many factors, like the range of the attacker, where the weapons are on either ship, how close to the water line the ship can hit at the distance, and all kinds of other factors. Some massive galleys were beaten by getting snuck up on by small, low boats, that managed to get close enough that all the canons fired over the top of them while their canons hit straight near the water line.
The downside of the ocean (or the air, I suppose) is that there’s nowhere to hide, so while you’re vulnerable, you have to pull off your evasive manoeuvres to get away. You can use your nimble ship to get more and more distance between you and your pursuer to the point of them giving up, so it depends on how much canon fire you can make the pursuer waste and how driven they are to catch you. If there’s an aircraft carrier full of fighters ready to come after you, you’ll need to beat more than just one single plane.
And then when you’re getting into multiple planes/vessels fighting each other, probably with a few variations, things get even messier.
What kind of ship? If the pursuing ship has turrets on both ends, turning quickly may not save you. Same with anything carrying missiles or torpedoes; the weapons themselves can be aimed almost automatically, and they move way faster than their target. They may miss by being out-manoeuvred, but there may be a second or third volley that does hit.
In case of pirate ships you see in cartoons: if you can pull off the manoeuvre before you get shot. Suppose you end up getting chased like this:
If you turn like this:
you may just start turning away fast enough.
However, you will end up in a situation like this:
where the pirate ship behind you has its full broadside aimed at you. The broadside is where most of the guns are; with well-timed shots, every canon ball is going your way.
If the pursuer alters course instead of merely going forward behind you, they may fire during their turn as well:
despite the speed of your ship, not leaving you with a clean getaway. Depending on the relative speeds and the time to reload, the slower ship may get two shots at your ship while your canons are facing away.
If you manage to get behind the pursuer moving in the opposite direction, things look a lot better for you. However, if the pursuer has more range than you, they may just be able to complete their turn and still hit you.
(the bottom ship is the one fleeing in this scenario)
How successful this is depends on many factors, like the range of the attacker, where the weapons are on either ship, how close to the water line the ship can hit at the distance, and all kinds of other factors. Some massive galleys were beaten by getting snuck up on by small, low boats, that managed to get close enough that all the canons fired over the top of them while their canons hit straight near the water line.
The downside of the ocean (or the air, I suppose) is that there’s nowhere to hide, so while you’re vulnerable, you have to pull off your evasive manoeuvres to get away. You can use your nimble ship to get more and more distance between you and your pursuer to the point of them giving up, so it depends on how much canon fire you can make the pursuer waste and how driven they are to catch you. If there’s an aircraft carrier full of fighters ready to come after you, you’ll need to beat more than just one single plane.
And then when you’re getting into multiple planes/vessels fighting each other, probably with a few variations, things get even messier.
WOW, that’s so damned cool! Fantastic job