Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: minnesota_bound
Well, we didn't exactly do too well going into WWII - our torpedoes were garbage, we were putting troops into the Lee/Grant tanks, and the Brewster Buffalo was renowned, but not for the right thing. U.S. military procurement has a proud history of incompetence.

In other words, I agree with you.

35 posted on 12/31/2014 8:12:05 PM PST by Billthedrill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies ]


To: Billthedrill

Our WW2 MK 14 torpedoes were not garbage. They were 95% functional engineering successes that met all design specifications except three:

1. There were a small fraction of circular runs, which produced glancing blows to the launching submarine and sunk (if I remember correctly) two of our subs,

2. The depth setting was off by four feet, but only for warshot torpedoes and only because the explosives were heavier than the buoyant dummies used to retrieve practice shots in certification, causing torpedoes to pass too far under the targets to explode, and

3. The MK 14 magnetic exploders worked reliably at high latitudes, just not near the equator where most Pacific battles were fought. The contact exploders reused from the MK 13 torpedo were perfect and reliable at the slower relative speeds before the MK 14 torpedo. It was only at high speed and nearly 90-degree impact (the firing geometry submariners were told to use) that the contact exploders failed.

The sort of person who worships Obama as 95% successful would give the MK 14 the same high marks they give to socialism.


65 posted on 01/01/2015 4:28:07 AM PST by Pollster1 ("Shall not be infringed" is unambiguous.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson