[TorpX]

Originally Posted by merc4ulfate

They drop them from a crane not a cliff. The cliff test was done by a submarine who fired into the cliff to test for duds but not dropped from them.

If they would have kept the depth sensor where it was and moved the contact detonator 1/2 to 1 inch back away from the nose it would have helped greatly.

The Mk. 6 exploder wasn't fitted in the nose. It was back from the nose, on the bottom of the warhead. The problem wasn't that the mechanism was crushed in the impact, but rather the 'inertial forces' of the torpedo going from 46 kts. to 0, suddenly. The firing pin's axis of movement was vertical, and the abrupt deceleration caused the guide rods to bend or bind.