Torpedoes in WWII ?

Was there any significant development to torpedoes in WWII ? Also, were there any significant differences in performance and quality between the nations using torpedoes in WWII ?

Thanks.

 

Well, the big development of course was acustic / homing torpedos.

the US & Germans (and UK?) started the war with pretty crummy torpedos which would often sink, or not fire.

Japan, and the infamous 'Long Lance' torpedos, led the way.

 

There was also the development of wakeless electric torpedos and magnetic triggers. A lot of these things were in development before the war but only reached technical maturity during the conflict.

The league table for torpedo quality for each nation at their respective start of war was I believe roughly as follows.

1) Japan (the mightly long lance)
2) Britain (I know we have all heard of some incidents but on the whole they solid but unremarkable)
3) Italy (I've never really heard much about them one way or the other so I assume they were at least okay)
4) Germany (torpedoes that were as buggy as hell unless they received alot of maint.)
5) USA (basic design was sound but for over a year they did damn near everything but sink enemy ships)

By the end of the war everyone had worked the kinks out of their torpedoes.

 

Italian torpedoes generally had pretty good speed but surprisingly small warheads. They suffered a bit from poor quality control, but not to any spectacular degree.
The use of new explosives made late-WWII torpedoes vastly more destructive than those from WWI. An Allied aerial torpedo in 1945 was about as powerful as a Long Lance in 1941.

 

I never knew. Was these actually used ? And who had them ?

 

Germany and America, both developed them.
I'm not sure who was first, but I know the German homing torpedos (nick-named 'kippers', I think) came as a nasty shock to the convoy sailors.

 

The Americans had an ASW torpedo called the Mk 24 "Mine" or simply Fido. This was air-dropped, and the kill rate was about 1 in 5, three times better than depth charges could manage. It entered service in summer 1943--before the German Zaunkonig but after the unsuccessful Falke.
The Mk 24 was developed into the Mk 27 for use by submarines against escort ships. The kill rate was somewhat better than with the Mk 24.
There were other American homing projects which resulted in limited or no wartime employment.
The Germans had a dozen or so projects, but the T5 Zaunkonig is the only one worth mentioning. It achieved a hit rate of 9% after its introduction in September 1943.

 

They did near everything but explode, which can be a definite disadvantage. Everything but the trigger mechanisms was solid, but that's like saying everything but the engine cooling systems was good on the early Panthers.

 

The US Navy torpedoes also tended to run 11 feet deeper than the depth to which they had been set. This resulted in many fish running underneath their targets. Some sub commanders tried setting the torpedoes to run at shallow depth, figuring that that might enable them to get a hit; the results were mixed. Also, the torps had a magnetic exploder setting which (in theory) would cause the fish to explode underneath the target, breaking its back. It was quickly discovered that the Earth's magnetic field caused torpedoes using the magnetic setting to explode prematurely.

The reason it took over 18 months to de-bug the American torpedoes is that the US Navy's Bureau of Ordnance flatly refused to admit that there was anything wrong with the torpedoes! And fought tooth and nail to avoid investigating the sub crew complaints, to boot!

 

The homing torpedoes were used by the germans against convoy escorts.
They homed in on the noise created by the shaft or propellers of the ships. The escorts countered this by tying a barrel that ommited the same kind of noises behind their destroyers. Basically this device was the forerunner of the dixie.

Interesting to note is the price of german torpedoes.

G7e (electric torpdoes) took 1707 manhours to make an cost 13500 Reichmarks.
G7a took 3730 manhours to make and cost 24000 RMs.
So if u ever wanted to buy a WW2 german torpedoe, i suggest u go for the G7e

The difficulties with torpedoes usually were because of faulty magnetic exploders. The germans had trouble with them in norway and the americans had trouble with them in the pacific

 

Are you sure about those man hour figures they seem incredibly high.

 

Yes Ricky, im definate about those figures.
Ive always taken an acute interest in the development of german submarines and I can gave u an interesting source for those figures.
World Almanac of World War 2 is a particularly good source on submarines.

Torpedoes in WorldWar2 were extremely costly contrary to popular belief.
Hence the numerous trawlers sunk by deck gun by submarines who loathed the idea of expending there precious torps on the trawlers.

 

*Ahem*
Yes Ebar!


However, yes, please tell us your source for that.
I always thought WW2 subs were loath to use torpedos on unarmed merchantmen owing to the low number of torpedoes each sub could carry.

Oh, and Hi Desertwolf, welcome aboard!

 

LoL, yeah sorry bout the mixup ricky and thanks !

As i said my source is

World Almanac of World War 2 by Brigadier Peter Young pg 372.

Indeed most subs had enough torps for only two to three spreads.

 

The day is coming when a targeting system as well as working out range will estimate the value of the target before giving you financial clearance to fire! :lol:

 

Indeed,
I wouldnt be surprised if it was upon us soon thanks to the taxpayers!

 

Designed by the US Congress, no doubt...

 

With some red tape laws all over the machine hehe

 

German torpedoes early in the war suffered from a long list problems:
premature explosions, circling, broaching, drifting off course, failure to keep depth and failure to detonate, either on contact or with the magnetic exploder.
On September 14, 1939 U-39 had two G7a torpedoes exlode prematurely when fired at the HMS Ark Royal from a range of 800 yards (point blank in sub terms).
In October 1939, U-56 attacked the Battleship Nelson with three topredoes, one missed, two hit and failed to explode. On board the Nelson that day were Winston Churchill, Admiral Forbes (CinC Home Fleet) and Admiral Dudley Pound, First Sea Lord.
During the Norwegian campaign the Germans estimated that faulty torpedoes cost them hits on one battleship, seven cruisers, seven destroyers, and five transports.
The problems weren't entirely corrected until 1942.

 

But when the torps were corrected! :kill:

The magnetic exploders were very faulty in norweigan waters due to the proximity of the northern magneticx field.