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To: Cheapskate
aw I wasn't aware that the american torp problem had been repaired

To some degree...it wasn't fixed properly during WW-2,
especially in the various Destroyer classes which fired the 21" Mark 15's.
article excerpt:

Criticism of the destroyer launched Mk.15 is almost nonexistent. This is strange because the principal differences between the Mk.14 and the Mk.15 were in the size of the warhead, the fuel load, three speed vice two speed and slightly slower high speed, 45.0 k vice 46.3 k. One might speculate that it is even more difficult to distinguish misses from duds in a high speed destroyer attack than it is in a more measured submarine attack. The Mk.15 did, in fact suffer from the same defects and they were rectified in essentially the same way that those of the Mk.14 were. The Mk.13 was a slower speed torpedo so it did not have the contact exploder problem and it used the Mk.4 exploder which did not have the magnetic influence feature.

The Impact Exploder

Once the depth problem had been fixed and the magnetic influence feature of the Mk.6 exploder deactivated, it came the turn of the impact exploder to demonstrate its merit. Unfortunately the initial result was a plethora of duds, solid hits on targets without warhead detonations14. This problem was suspected earlier, but it was not until the other two problems had been eliminated that there was unequivocal evidence of a problem with the impact exploder. This difficulty was a further frustration for the operating forces, but fortunately it was quickly diagnosed. The key to the problem was again the increased speed of Mk.1415. The impact portion of the Mk.6 exploder was exactly the same as that which had been used in the Mk.4 and Mk.5 exploders. The Mk.4 worked entirely satisfactorily in the 33.5 knot Mk.13 torpedo. What was overlooked was that in going from 33.5 knots to 46.3 knots the inertial forces involved in striking the target at normal incidence were almost doubled. These greatly increased inertial forces were sufficient to bend the vertical pins that guided the firing pin block. The displacement was sometimes enough to cause the firing pins to miss the percussion caps, resulting in a dud.

***************************************************

The Westinghouse Mark 18 electrical torpedo went into service in submarines during 1943.
The drawback on the 18 was its speed...which was half of what a Mark14/15 could achieve.

The standard wet/heater torpedo had a 17%+ higher hit rate on Merchant ships than the Mark 18.

The Fletcher class DD's of WW-2 had 2 torpedo launchers... fore and aft of the second funnel stack.

Several Fletchers came apart violently from secondary internal explosions after kamikaze impacts.
Too much ordinance when coupled with 5 inch mounts and 40 mm tubs..plus ammo lockers....and the DD's boilers.

Fletchers were tough....but their were key frames ...which if failed from pressure wave or heat spelled doom for the plucky can.

Some destroyer crews who witnessed other cans erupting hundreds of ft into the air off Okinawa,were tenative to sleep inside their ships after.
Officers on these DD's had a difficult time getting them back below decks....and mitigating tensions.

300 posted on 04/15/2005 4:12:17 PM PDT by Light Speed
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To: Light Speed

I've read as much WWII navy stuff as I could get my hands & the amount of new knowledge I can pick up on FR still amazes me.


304 posted on 04/15/2005 5:24:29 PM PDT by skeeter ("What's to talk about? It's illegal." S Bono)
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