US' WWII torpedo development suffered from spending cuts in Defense; which otherwise, would have shortened the war considerably. US' WWI torpedoes were actually better.
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During World War II, Momsen served as Commander, Submarine Squadron 2 (ComSubRon 2) and Commander, Submarine Squadron 4 (ComSubRon 4). While Momsen was ComSubRon 2 in the U.S. Pacific Fleet, captains under his command reported their Mark 14 torpedoes were not functioning properly. When fired from the preferred perpendicular angle of impact, the torpedoes did not always explode.
However, when fired to hit at acute angles, the torpedoes usually exploded. When officers of Momsen's own squadron complained, he decided to find out why. He took torpedoes to the shallow waters and sheer cliffs of the Hawaiian Island of Kahoolawe and fired until he got a dud. Then, risking his own life, he dove into the water to find the unexploded torpedo.
With help, he recovered the dangerous live torpedo and brought it on board.
A small problem with the firing pin inside the primer cap of the warhead was causing the duds: it was becoming crushed, rather than firing the warhead.
Momsen was an interesting man, he had a storied Naval career.
I can recommend. The Terrible Hours: The Greatest Submarine Rescue In History
Japanese WWII torpedoes are still viable weapons even by today’s standards.
All these things were all financed by the same people, but you’re right. After I think it was 1942, US torpedoes got a lot better.
US' WWII torpedo development suffered from spending cuts in Defense; which otherwise, would have shortened the war considerably. US' WWI torpedoes were actually better.
Problems with the warhead triggering mechanism aside (a bit “if”), the US torpedoes suffered from a lack of imagination in design.The earliest compressed air torpedoes simply used the mechanical energy stored in the compressed air to power the propeller. That was deemed unsatisfactory because the pressure in the the air tank dropped rapidly because the temperature dropped with the drop in pressure. To compensate for that effect, they added fuel and burned it in the compressed air. And that was the basic design of the US Navy torpedo (and, AFAIK, that of the rest of the world other than Japan) at the start of WWII.
The Japanese did the logical thing and viewed the problem as one of generating the maximum volume of gas at the maximum pressure, from a system which fit inside a torpedo tube. When you look at it that way, you realize that pure oxygen is five times as chemically energetic as the same volume of air at the same pressure. The USN called the Japanese torpedo the “Long Lance” but the Japanese name for it translated into English as the “oxygen torpedo.”
I assume that the Japanese would have used a relatively dilute mixture of alcohol as the fuel in their oxygen torpedo,so that the temperature of the combustion gas going into the turbine would not promptly melt the turbine . . .