JD>DS> Thermite is Aluminum?  I don't think so.  The Aluminum may get hot and
JD>DS> melt just from the conversion of energy, but I don't think that it 
would
JD>DS> *FLASH* like an incenderary round.  An incenderary round has a 
magnesium
JD>DS> alloy type of core and will flash/burn on impact, very much like that
JD>DS> of a depleted uranium round (but without as much destructive force and
JD>DS> no radiation).  What you maybe thinking of is a White Phosphours (WP)
JD>DS> round.  That is a WP core with an aluminum jacket.  When the 
rojectile
JD>DS> impacts an object, the jacket either breaks up or peels open exposing
JD>DS> the WP which will begin burning as soon as it's exposed to the air.
JD>Back during the Falklands conflict between the Brits and the Argentines,
JD>one of the Brits newest destroyers got center punched by an exocet. The
JD>impact and explosion set the "latest, hi-tech, *aluminum*, superstructure
JD>on fire. The fire raged with such intensity that the ship was lost. Now
JD>thermite ain't made of aluminum, but aluminum and magnesium are very close
JD>to one another on the old periodic table and have similar properties. If
JD>you can get the Al burning, your going to have a dickens of a time putting
JD>it out. Needless to say, the Admiralty rethought their ideas on destroyer
JD>construction and went back to making their cans out of "tin".
The ship in question (HMS Antilope) did NOT suffer burning of the
aluminium superstructure, although that was stated as a "fact" at the
time.  Most of the damage to Antilope was due to the rocket motor, which
continued to burn after impact.  Melting of some aluminium
bulkheads contributed to the failure of the damage control systems to
function as they were supposed to function.
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