homing torpedo

[PFK]

I am on a secondary objective to photo carriers in Manila Harbour. I am approaching from the coast when 3 passenger liners come along no escort! So I fire 2 torpedoes at each forgetting that tube 1 has one of these small homing torpedoes loaded ( first saw it end of last patrol must try this) suddenly huge bang and after torpedo room is destroyed and bulkhead breached. I search frantically no enemy. Then it dawns on me ,I was on the surface moving 14 knots I surmise the homing torpedo homed on me!

So I'm thinking what are those homing torpedoes for? , should you be going very slow if you use them. Also in real life could you open a torpedo tube and fire at flank speed

[Nisgeis]

I believe the guidelines were to launch them from 199 feet, the torpedo would then make its way up to it's operating depth (it being unable to get back down to 199 feet). You could in real life open a torpedo tube and fire at flank speed, but it would make the torpedo tumble, making it go stupid.

Try putting them in your stern tubes and fire them when a destroyer is circling you.

[Webster]

never use it when surfaced and never have engines running anything over ahead standard or you make too much noise and risk it coming after you. just to be safe i go to silent running when using them on nearby ships and try not to use them on a group of ships if you want a certain target. there is nothing worse than firing at a BB in a task force only to have it turn and lock onto one of the escorts instead.

[SteamWake]

I dont know about the 199 feet thing. Seems kind of deep or too close... whatever.

I do know that when you launch one you want to make sure your making less 'noise' than your intended target. If you are and it misses said target chances are its going to target you. I believe it even tells you this in the description text of the weapon.

Lastley the main use for those types of torpedoes is to attack the pesky destroyers as already mentioned. Its fairly easy to hit a merchant doing 8 knots in a straight line. DD's steaming at 12 knots and constantly changing courses is another matter.

Keep better track of your munitions sailor :arrgh!: :rock:

[PFK]

thanks I felt they might have been for use when cornered by destroyers

[Rockin Robbins]

Yes, 199 feet was the recommended minimum depth for deployment of a Cutie. And they were designed for use against escorts. Chances are that Battleship up there is going more than the 10 knot max of the Cutie and you have no chance of hitting him anyway. Even escorts dropping depth charges are most of the time moving faster than 10 knots. So Cuties are a limited opportunity destroyer.

Now if their speed was 20 knots, like the German model, we'd be talking about a SERIOUS escort killer.:huh:

[SteamWake]

Hrm... dont think the game will let you open the torp doors that deep :hmm:

[Diopos]

Hrm... dont think the game will let you open the torp doors that deep :hmm:

Me thinks too. The torp doors or any kind of door in general! :doh:

[kylesplanet]

The game only allows you to open doors down to 99ft but like RR said, in RL, 199 was the preferred depth.

[Seminole]

Can I ask when these homing torpedos become available?

I've made it to November '43 and only had Mk 10,14,18, and 23s. :-?

[Diopos]

It's a Xmas present! :yep:

[LukeFF]

Chances are that Battleship up there is going more than the 10 knot max of the Cutie and you have no chance of hitting him anyway.

You are absolutely wasting your time using it against any warship larger than a destroyer. Good grief, it's a modified-anti submarine torpedo with a small payload. Do you really think it's going to do anything against a battleship? :rotfl:

[Nisgeis]

There is a description of the special mission where the cuties were tested is here:

http://www.usshawkbill.com/366/366patro.htm

Scroll right down to the bottom to read it. The only detail I found strange was the description of the dimension of the cutie being half the normal diameter.

I came across this page a while ago whilst looking for info about USS Lagarto and Hatsutaka, the sinking of which is also on that page and is a fascinating read.

[LukeFF]

Nice story there. I like this one, also about the Mark 27, when it was in testing at Keyport:

And he {Edmund Simanowicz} tells of the "obnoxious, Navy-baiting" owner of a local marina:

"Every time we set up to shoot, he'd come and race around the range. We couldn't stop him in his [high performance speedboat], and he would just laugh at us.

So one day we fired a Mark-27, and here he comes again, laughing. The retrieval boat tried to stop him, but he was too fast. He skimmed across and then came zigzagging back, and all of a sudden here comes the torpedo on the surface after him. He swerved away from it, turned up his engine, and suddenly the torpedo [porpoised] and jumped right over the end of his boat. Scared the hell out of him, it did, so he turned and headed for his dock with the torpedo on his rear end, about 50 yards behind. Now, all he had to do was shut down the motor and he would have been safe, because the torpedo was acoustically active. But he kept gunning it, you see. He got going so fast he hit the beach at the Bangor ammo depot and went ass over teakettle, the torpedo behind him.

The funny thing about it, when it ended, there was a Marine standing there who arrested him and took him to the brig, broken arm and all."

:rotfl:

[Robedslv]

You are absolutely wasting your time using it against any warship larger than a destroyer. Good grief, it's a modified-anti submarine torpedo with a small payload. Do you really think it's going to do anything against a battleship? :rotfl:


Luke, I just came across this thread today 'cause I wanted to know more about these Cuties. I was curious after using them on a Maya heavy cruiser. I shot THREE of them with a 5 deg spread at approximately 1200 ft range. I immediately bolted outta there to 300 ft deep and flank speed, then switched to silent running before the DDs reached the area. While diving, I heard the torpedoes impacting the Maya, all three of them in series. About eight minutes later, the Maya sank.
Just for the hell of it, I switched to the camera view: the fish hit the stern of the Maya at different angles, but all of them around the same area, very close to the props. Probably homing on the noise of the props at 12 kts.
Soooooooooooo..... tell me: what's up with the "small payload"??? It worked nicely for me, just three of them Cuties, slow but effective... Maybe lucky shots? :D

[Stealhead]

The Mk.27 Cuties had only 95lbs of torpex in real life my friend they where really only meant to be used as a defencive weapon aginst escourts like DE and DDs (obviously with thin hulls) the Cuties where based on an air dropped "mine" called the Mk.24 FIDO that ahd pretty good succes aginst German U-boats so they added some plywood fins to the back and it became the Mk.27. Id say you got very lucky getting a Ca with just 3. By the way putting a spread on ahoming torpedo is rather pointless it will only follow the heading for the 200 or so yards it takes for the thing to arm then it will go where ever it hears the loudest noise that could have been you never fire a cutie and then go to ahead full are you trying to kill yourself? You got very very very lucky.

[LukeFF]

Soooooooooooo..... tell me: what's up with the "small payload"??? It worked nicely for me, just three of them Cuties, slow but effective... Maybe lucky shots? :D

If you're using the stock damage model (which is a complete joke), then it's entirely possible to sink a heavy cruiser with 3 Mark 27s. Like the others have wrote here, the idea behind the Mark 27 was to blow off the rudder or stern of a slow-moving escort, thus rendering him impotent to hunt you. In reality the Mark 27 had about a 33% hit rate.

[eljeffo41]

I wonder how the Captains actually felt about the cutie?Basically 33% means 2 out of 3 times used it missed!

[Stealhead]

In Fluckeys book "Thunder Below" he used a cutie to kill a small merchat ship the name of the chapter is 'Oh you Cutie!" so I think since most of the time when a boat used one and it worked it most likely saved thier lives(most of the time the cutie hits where aginst DDs or DEs) they liked them they had to know do to the advanced techonolgy that they did not always work but the way they attack a target is useful it is really a niche weapon very useful in a few situations if your a good skipper you will know what they are its like a scaple while a regular torpedo is a battle ax.

[kptn_kaiserhof]

yes i use them all the time but mine are modified to go 20kts 3000 impulse