"Sinking pre-dreadnoughts" Topic

I have been usuing some very simple rules for Predreadnought naval battles by Bob Cordery to fight actions around the Tripoli conflict between the Italians & the French. So far, so good & we are happy with the rules for the most part. However, we do seem to have a large number of ships being sunk even though the rules specify sailing to safety when Critical Damage is reached. I can't easily find info on typical ship casualties for this period but I'm betting we are well above average in our games. Anyone have any sources that could help or thoughts from other rules?
Appreciate it.
Jae

Have a look at the Russo-Japanese naval war and the earlier Sino-Japanese war.

You could try looking at the older armoured cruiser and pre-dreadnoughts that took part in Jutland – the British cruisers squadrons and the German 2nd battle squadron. Campbell's "Jutland: an analysis of the fighting" might have something useful. Otherwise the Russo-Japanese War might help, though there seems less detailed information about damage.

It should be difficult to sink them by gunfire but any underwater attack, torpedoes or mines, should see them popping off to visit Davy Jones. In the RJW you'll see ships beaten down to combat ineffectiveness usuallt (not always) surrendering if they cant escape or sunk by torpedo boats.

Tsushima and Coronel immediately come to mind as particularly bloody encounters. A few years ago a friend and I fought a Russo-Japanese campaign using "Quickfire" rules from WarTimesJournal; not very complex rules but some bookkeeping required to record accumulating damage. Lighter ships were pretty vulnerable, but the pre-Dreads could soak up a lot of damage without sinking.