American Electric Torps Derived from Germans

[Schnee]

I thought I read somewhere (Silent Victory) that during the "Roll of the Kettle Drums" campaign the Germans mounted on the eastern seaboard in '42 one of their electrics went astray and wound up (undetonated) on a Virginia beach.

From this torp, the Americans did some reverse engineering and came up with the Mark 18. Can't begrudge US forces, afterall the Germans weren't in a position to call a cop over copyright infringement :arrgh!:

Or was it "a bit of that / a bit of homegrown effort that developed the '18?

[Ivan Putski]

Mk 18`s were based on the German G7e electric torps captured in 1943, they were improved and entered service in 1944. They were slower than the U.S. Mk 14`s, but did`nt leave a telltail wake.

[Sailor Steve]

Don't know about one running up on shore, but it was indeed based on captured German G7es. The British Mk XI was designed in 1942; the Americans had theirs designed in 1943. Neither was in service until 1944.
http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WTBR_WWII.htm
http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WTUS_WWII.htm

[Raptor1]

Last I heard they were rather faulty as well...

[LukeFF]

Mk 18`s were based on the German G7e electric torps captured in 1943, they were improved and entered service in 1944. They were slower than the U.S. Mk 14`s, but did`nt leave a telltail wake.

Correction: they entered service in September 1943.

[Sailor Steve]

Mk 18`s were based on the German G7e electric torps captured in 1943, they were improved and entered service in 1944. They were slower than the U.S. Mk 14`s, but did`nt leave a telltail wake.

Correction: they entered service in September 1943.
Source? Everything I could find just says 1944. None of them even gives a month.

[LukeFF]

Source? Everything I could find just says 1944. None of them even gives a month.

Hellions of the Deep, page 145:

In September 1943 the first Mark-18 for combat left Pearl Harbor, with the first confirmed kill occurring the next month. The use of Mark-18s increased from 30 percent in 1944 to 65 percent in the war's last six months, and as the war ended, boats were patrolling with only a quarter of their torpedoes steam driven, the rest of them electric.

Somewhere I've read of which boat it was that took the first Mark 18s out on patrol (it was early in the month), but I can't find it right now.

[Sailor Steve]

Thanks.:sunny: