While we are at sinking ships, let me thank our modders, how well they made sinkings
It's just mind blowing how well flooding is modeled. Let's say I hit a ship on the starboard side around the bow
She starts listing to starboard and starts sinking very slowly. Then as the deck and the forecastle get underwater, the sinking speeds up a bit, not by much but it's noticeable. As the water reaches the superstructure or the bridge (depending on the design of the ship) the ship begins her plunge, the list corrects itself and the sinking speeds up by a lot. Then as the stern is about to submerge, the remaining air pockets fight against the force of the ship pulling it down so it slows down or the stern stays up for one or two minutes before the air pockets rupture and the ship takes her final plunge towards the bottom
This thing took 3 hours and 23 minutes to sink (my all time record)
It took about 3 hours and 10 mins for the forecastle to submerge, then barely over 10 minutes until it disappeared under the waves