Article on U.S. dud torpedos

[bookworm_020]

Found this article about U.S. dud torpedoes,

http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/1592/ustorp2.htm

This is a good one about the trials, errors and fixes with all the torpedoes used in the war

http://www.geocities.com/thomasdclayjr/Torpedoes.html

This lists the top brass, as well as the top scorers, well worth the read!

http://www.geocities.com/thomasdclayjr/Submariners.html

This one lists operations carried out, and gives some interesting figures, as well as a run down of japanese anti-submarine forces

http://www.geocities.com/thomasdclayjr/Operations.html

And a couple of others,

http://www.geocities.com/thomasdclayjr/Technology.html
http://www.geocities.com/thomasdclayjr/Submarines
http://www.geocities.com/thomasdclayjr/Results.html

[Schatten]

Good stuff there. :up:

This one particuliarly made me shake my head:

Labels shipped tied to Mk XIV torpedoes read "Parts not compatible with sea water."

Ummm...riiiiiiight. And they still thought there was something wrong with the captains?

[Torplexed]

This one particuliarly made me shake my head:

Labels shipped tied to Mk XIV torpedoes read "Parts not compatible with sea water."
Ummm...riiiiiiight. And they still thought there was something wrong with the captains?
There should have been a label slapped on the door of the Torpedo Bureau.

"Contents within not compatible with victory at sea." ;)

[bookworm_020]

IT was the bit about what happened to the first electric torpedoes made by westinghouse that had me shaking my head.

In June 1942, the first test models were shipped to the only test facility at the time, NTS Newport within 15 weeks of starting the project (http://www.geocities.com/thomasdclayjr/#_edn57). They sat there out in the weather with no testing or even care given by NTS. Suffering from severe NIH Syndrome, NTS Newport held up this torpedo from reaching the frontlines by obstrucionism at every turn.

Delivered in May 1942 for testing, the Mk XVIII prototypes did not get wet by salt water till June 1943. This required the shanghaiing of Lapon for a test bed since Newport would not cooperate. (http://www.geocities.com/thomasdclayjr/#_edn59) September found the first few on war patrols out of Pearl Harbor.

When the first report of problems appeared for the electic topredos what did whestinghouse do?? Fix it!!

The Mk XVIII when first fielded was a direct copy of the German G9e. It ran at 30 knots and left no wake (http://www.geocities.com/thomasdclayjr/#_edn61). The original Mk XVIII model had performance problems. Sea water temperature effected the battery?s chemical reaction rate. The time since the last battery charge also showed to be a problem. (http://www.geocities.com/thomasdclayjr/#_edn62) But since the Mk XVIII was a Westinghouse product, not an NTS Newport heirloom, request for changes went through quickly and easily. Excide changed to a salt water battery which improved the electric power and reduced weight. By this time, even BuOrd was cooperative

Got to love it!

[Schatten]

Yeah it's amazing that anything got done on the torpedo situation at all with the amount of fingerpointing and beauracratic infighting that happened over the whole deal. Although it makes you really wonder why that sort of thing was allowed to happen in the first place too.

Just imagine what would have happened if the US boats would have had working torpedos in '42 instead of having to deal with ones that didn't work, or circumventing rules which would be cause for disciplinary action by juryrigging some so they did work. The tonnage would have been impressive indeed I think.

[Threadfin]

[quote=Schatten]

There should have been a label slapped on the door of the Torpedo Bureau.

"Contents within not compatible with victory at sea."

Good one :up:

[cmdrk]

Yeah it's amazing that anything got done on the torpedo situation at all with the amount of fingerpointing and beauracratic infighting that happened over the whole deal. Although it makes you really wonder why that sort of thing was allowed to happen in the first place too.

It's a good thing that kind of stuff doesn't happen in the Pentagon today.:rotfl:

[Schatten]

[quote]
It's a good thing that kind of stuff doesn't happen in the Pentagon today.:rotfl:

Oh it does, but fortunately we're past the "components not compatable with salt water" phase...I think we're up to the "do not get wet" phase with the JSF.

:damn:

[Sailor Steve]

^^^^^
:rotfl:

[Schatten]

I swear that Chevy Chase really is selling weapons to the government sometimes. Deal of the Century is where I got the "do not get wet" bit from too. :lol:

[Sailor Steve]

Actually I was laughing because it looks to me that you missed the fact that cmdrk was being sarcastic.

[Schatten]

Nope, didn't miss it at all since I'm one of the most sarcastic people alive. I was just spinning off it because you can never have too many Deal of the Century references ya know.

And I still do think Chevy Chase does sell most of the weapons to the DoD.

[peterloo]

Cannot imagine there are so much Bernards in US Navy in WWII... He got kicked in Sept. 1943, when all fishes worked as supposed

[bookworm_020]

Cannot imagine there are so much Bernards in US Navy in WWII... He got kicked in Sept. 1943, when all fishes worked as supposed

No, he got promoted to HQ!!!

[Sailor Steve]

Nope, didn't miss it at all since I'm one of the most sarcastic people alive. I was just spinning off it because you can never have too many Deal of the Century references ya know.

And I still do think Chevy Chase does sell most of the weapons to the DoD.
Gotcha. I take it all back.

Cannot imagine there are so much Bernards in US Navy in WWII... He got kicked in Sept. 1943, when all fishes worked as supposed
I'm afraid that Bernard, like Murphy, will always be with us.

[JSF]

Just a thought........I am of the opinion after all these years that poor torpedo performance was just an extention of the poor attitude of labor unions along the east coast. I just finished reading an article where the workers of EB would not incorporate new features or improvements in design while building a new construction sub. Consequently, these newly constructed subs would then have to be taken to another shipyard where the latest improvements could then be added.

To read that New Port would not even evaluate torpedo performance of those torpedos they built muchless look at anothe torpedo produced by another company only serves to reenforce this idea. Two different companies....same union mentality

Just my opinion and observations and I know this may spark some controversy some 60 odds years later....but what else could explain this appearent lack of regard for the higher authority (NAVY) and greater good of the country thru thier unwillingness to attempt to provide or contruct the very best towards the war effort. It just seems they treated these contracts as just another job...You could either take it or leave it!......

Just thinking outside the box here.