The Japanese made the most of their torpedoes. They had one called the “Long Lance”. They could stand off up to 24 miles and let them loose. We never really had an answer for them.
We lost a dozen ships at Iron Bottom Sound off Guadalcanal to these Long Lance torpedoes.
https://nationalinterest.org/feature/japans-super-torpedo-was-the-hypersonic-missile-wwii-15541
“But the Japanese opted for a pure oxygen-based system (inspired by an earlier British design) that could send the Long Lance out to twelve miles at a speed of 48 knots, or an incredible 24 miles—about the same range as a battleship’s gun—at a speed of 36 knots. The Long Lance also didn’t leave telltale bubbles on the surface to warn enemy ships a torpedo was approaching.”
Makes you wonder how they lost so bad at Leyte Gulf with a weapon like that Long Lance
For the most part Jap weapons sucked but when they did it right they had a winner. The knee mortar for one, it was devastating. Nip 18 inch naval guns were shockingly powerful.
Indeed - we're fortunate that their naval doctrine regarding use of submarines was a bit on the timid side. They could've hurt us much worse if that doctrine had continued to evolve and become more aggressive.
IIRC, the Long Lance was harder to spot in the water, too, because it left a less visible wake than most other torpedoes of the era.
The oxygen-fueled Long Lance was also deadly to the Japanese destroyer & cruiser crews that carried them. If an allied strike aircraft managed a significant hit near the torpedo launcher or the hanger containing the re-loads... b-bye!
It wasn’t uncommon for torpedo equipped surface combatants to simply dump their torpedoes over the side if they were expecting air attack. The USN knew this and it’s the chief reason US cruisers were not equipped with torpedoes.
Yes, they did.
The Douglas TBD Devastator was ineffectual at Midway not just because it was a first-generation monoplane torpedo bomber - the Nakajima B5N Kate was not very much faster (228 MPH top versus 206 MPH top: both much slower than opposing fighters) - but because its torpedo was slow and erratic.
The Grumman TBF Avenger and Martin B-26 Marauder were also ineffectual due to the inferior American torpedoes.