Ok guys, I'm 56 and can honestly say that I have seen just about every sub
movie made. In the movies about modern subs you see the torpedo miss it's
target and go on to explode harmlessly somewhere else. In the WWII movies you
see the Captain say "fire 1" and maybe even "fire 2". Then he's looking through
the periscope while someone times it. 10, 9, 8 ---1. Silence, "Damn, it
missed" or "Damn it's a dud". Ok, so where does it go if it misses? Never
though about it before.
I'd say it goes 'til it runs out of steam, hits something else (say, rocks,
an island, a dolphin) then sinks... much like the US torpedo tests that
*finally* proved to the higher-ups that our torpedos were defective. They
went, hit the rocks, and sank.
Ok so your saying torpedos don't float? In that case then maybe there are
thousands of torpedos laying on the bottom of the ocean? So whats the
percentage here? How many torpedo launches did it take to get a hit?
Armdcav asked concerning torpedos after a miss:
Don't remember the source either the "Silent Service" TV series or book my
uncle brought home with him from his time in subs...supposedly a sub in the
Pacific "sank" a truck on shore after the torpedo traveled under the ship
target.
Sounded good to me :-)
Rick Clark
I think that was 'Operation Petticoat". One of the Nurses hit the
'fire' button by mistake.
Woody
OXMOR> Armdcav asked concerning torpedos after a miss:
It depends on the torpedo to a some extent, but for the most part they run
out of fuel sink to the bottom and stay there. propulsive systems on
torpedoes vary, some ran on compressed gas, some electric etc etc. but
eventually they do run out of fuel. Some older types would no doubt detonate
when they hit bottom, most newer torpedoes can be detonated by remote if
they miss their target, largely to prevent their being recovered and
examined by unfriendlies. I have no doubt there are quite a lot of armed but
unexploded torpedoes on the sea floor. I am not 100% certain of this but I
think the Germans built a hydrostatic valve detonator into theirs which
detonated the device if it was in the water for 20 minutes or more after
firing. I know also that some later torpedoes would transform themselves
into anti-shipping mines if they missed their target.
That would have been unlikely considering the torp motors weren't designed
for multiple use (surprise, suprise) and that refuelling them with air (or
was it O2) and fuel was probably beyond the average U-Boots supplies.
Don't know about the pistols but most of the torp motors were basically 2
strokes of quite intricate complexity. Just ask Dr Felix Wankel who
developed the rotary engine, he spent a lot of war years designing torpedo
motors.
I'm no expert on torpedos or their motors but I wouldn't look forward to the
recovery of a armed torpedo............
FWIW I believe the U.S. Navy recovered an unexploded Japanese type 91
mod. 2 aerial torpedo left over from the Japanese attack off the floor
of Pearl Harbor in May of 1991. I believe they simply cut the warhead
off and dumped it in deep water rather than try to dis-arm it after all
these years.
Bill Shuey
OK, so they do/don't float. They can/ can't be a surface hazard. One sub
expended most of his torpedos with no (luck?). Shee. So how many torpedos (the
percetage if you know) were expended to get a hit?
In the book "The Golden Horseshoe" abour Otto Kretschmer and U-99 I am sure
there was one occasion where Kretschmer was running out of torpedoes and
hadn't been that successful - I think it was early 1940 - and he had the
torpedoes set to float after they had finished their run so that they could
be recovered and re-used.
I don;t know how common a practice this was, but I think it led to the
Germans realizing that they had a design flaw in their torpedoes (as well as
the magnetic pistols they were using).
Brian
...
This is a great idea!
Why not spread all over the ocean random mines, without even knowing
their exact placement? So if going through the ocean during war is not
enough exciting, now we have even more fun!
Smart, really smart!
Cheers
R.
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