http://www.10news.com/news/key-role-for-world-war-ii-machinist-mate-12032014 Quick little anecdotal story of importance... Never knew... Oops...should have been placed in the Pacific Naval Conflict. My apologies.
That was excellent! Although US subs sank 52% of all Japanese shipping, it would have been a lot more had they had good torpedoes for the first 18 months of the war. I think that it was Capt "Mush" Morton aboard the USS Wahoo who discovered that the torpedoes would explode every time if they hit the ship on an angle versus straight into the hull. The USS Tang, with Capt Dick O'Kane (Morton's former Exec) was sunk off the China coast when her last torpedo circled back and hit her on the surface. Several other subs also may have been lost that way as well.
Did I miss the explanation somewhere.? I know nothing about what snaps off a torpedo, but.....what did the change from (i guess it was steel) to aluminum do exactly.? Thank You
Yeah you missed it in the beginning of the article IIRC, the heavier steel firing pin generated to much friction on impact, friction the spring action could not overcome, and bound up in the guides. The lighter aluminum firing pin generated less friction and did not bind up in the guides.
Yeah...Jesus.....talk about Keep It Simple Stupid. Didn't they have problems with those for months and months.? Of coarse, could very well have been a few different problems at the same time.
Something like 18-20 months. Roughly the same for the Germans...Although, the Germans had fixed their problems right around the time the Americans were beginning to first experience theirs. But, yes, it was several problems at the same time. First, the depth control problem had to be fixed...the American torpedoes were running 8-11 feet deeper than set. It was figured that this was why the magnetic detonator was not working properly. The quick fix was to set the torpedo to run shallower than normal, until corrected torpedoes could be manufactured. Once the depth setting problem was found and corrected in late '42, this brought to light the flaws in the magnetic detonator. While the Americans were attacking this problem, analysis of Atlantic merchant losses revealed that the merchies, not compartmented near as well as warships, were more vulnerable to broadside contact hits. Thus Admiral Lockwood abandoned the magnetic detonator altogether(as an aside, his SoWestPac counterpart Admiral Ralph Christie, who essentially designed the Mark 6, refused to believe that his magnetic exploder was at fault, and would continue to have his sub skippers use it until order to desist early in '44). With the abandonment of the magnetic exploder in mid '43, the faulty contact exploder was finally revealed. A good write up: http://www.historynet.com/us-torpedo-troubles-during-world-war-ii.htm
I think we [ Marine Barracks PH ] did a ceremony for Christie....or he attended....must've been late 85 or 86..he died 87?..I thought he did a 'review' or went by
Ah.....OK.....thanks for the info. Man.....torpedo design is a complex issue.....but you hate to see how some of the Sub Captains were (initially) accused of being the problem. Not the first (or last) time for that SNAFU. The military is nothing, if not a Giant Bureaucracy.
now that you mention that, obviously the crews knew the set up and fish settings were correct?? captain not to blame??? the captain set the marks with the scope, the TDC computed the angles etc, .....I used to read sub action for hours, at night..no PCs back then...the captains did use different tactics....but the fish set up [ fish depth, TDC, etc was done by the crew, no?
One sub, forget the name but it was not the famous Wahoo, conducted an improptu experiment when her first shots immobilized but did not sink a large Japanese ship, IIRC a whale factory ship in use as a tanker. The skipper fired 11 or 13 torpedos, one a time, from various angles, and observed the results, most of which involved the torpedo failing to detonate. Tullibee was also sunk by a circling torpedo according to her one survivor.
Your thinking of the USS Tinosa, under the command of Lt. Commander Lawrence "Dan" Daspit, which fired 15 torpedoes, in the span of two days, at the Tonan Maru No.3. Her 2nd War Patrol begins on pg 44, and the combat in question begins on pg 46. http://issuu.com/hnsa/docs/ss-283_tinosa_part1
