Posted on 08/27/2019 10:49:11 AM PDT by robowombat
Sunk by her own torpedo.
Fired four at a Japanese destroyer. One ran low, two bounced off without exploding. The fourth circled back and took of her periscope.
(According to Wikipedia)
Robowombat - Thank you for posting this article about finding the wreck of the WW2 US submarine Grunion.
In memory of those who sail beneath the sea.
And see this article robowombat also posted with photographs of the wreck of the USS Grunion:
US Navy torpedos were super bad through about the first half of WWII, or even longer.
Many problems, and the Navy brass refused to believe numerous reports of malfunctions and misfires from captains in the fleet. Navy thought they weren’t trying hard enough.
Among other things, they had a tendency to cruse deeper than the depth they were set for, thereby missing targets by shooting underneath them. But that wasn’t the only problem.
Thank you for the ping and links. Much appreciated
US torpedoes were very prone to malfunction of hitting their targets and not exploding or running wild and the technical problems were not solved till 1944....Japanese torpedoes were the best in the world.
Japanese surface action tactics were built around their torpedoes not their guns!
That was because the IJN was willing to expend lots of torpedo’s in test firings at various size target hulks, different ranges etc. to perfect the weapon. The U.S.,on the other hand, was very reluctant to waste expensive torpedoes for testing.
The poorly-written article raised more questions, so I ultimately found this
https://www.quartoknows.com/blog/quartodrives/hidden-warships-the-uss-grunion-submarine
I “NEVER” reference wikiliberal.
Just sayin’.
Legendary Commander Charles B. “Swede” Momsen is credited for fighting the true enemy at home those years: Bureaucracy.
Some things never change.
EVERY WW2 movie always indicates successful torpedoes .... some miss, but the ones that hit explode.
Why did we name a U.S. Navy sub after a fish that beaches itself to spawn and deliver its eggs?
“On Eternal Patrol”
We were building a LOT of submarines, and they all had to be named after some type of fish.
That was the Navy scheme for naming ships in those days.
Battleships after states, hence West Virginia, Iowa, Heavy cruisers after large cities such as Los Angeles, Baltimore, subs after fish, Tang, Tautog, Grunion. Aircraft carriers were originally named after Revolutionary war ships or battles such as Yorktown, Saratoga, Bonhomme Richard.
Each of the many types of ships in the Navy had their own naming criteria.
As a. Kid i went with my folks up to Ventura County in the middle of the night and captured a 5 gallon bucket full
Back then you could drink beer, have bonfires and sleep on the beach
Certain it is not that way today
Even back then the LA. County sheriffs were no fun
What an incredible story of collecting from all across the nation and even part of the world. Remarkable that one son had the resources to mount such an expedition.
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