name one battleship or destroyer that was sunk from .50 caliber machine gun fire alone.
ack-ack
First off, I didnt say alone did I? Secondly, remember this, not every comment people make is a) always literal or b) without subtext.
My comment was not merely making the point that a battleship or destroyers have been sunk that way. I was making the point that much bigger targets have been taken down that way. Shipping of all types have been destroyed by strafing. And in most, maybe in all cases, the bullets alone did not destroy the target. A magazine hit, or fuel hit could have been the reason for all of them. I don't know and it is irrelevant, the bullet did it's job.
Now add that to the fact that hundreds possibly thousands of war ships were attacked with bombs and strafing attacks and in many cases it's likely that no one will ever know what exactly was the most decisive damage made to any sunken ship.
The Tuskegee Airmen attacked a destroyer with strafing and apparently someone gave them credit for sinking it, but there is some debate. The ship didn't sink immediately and they did not claim that it had. It was later that someone connected the sinking to the attack.
And lastly, how many times did a ship take damage from guns and not get sunk but returned to port or scuttled and never used again? Do you know?