Magnetic Detonator Range??

[Bubblehead1980]

Updating my torpedo mod, wondering if magnetic detonation range should be set higher than 2.0 meters, read some accounts where torpedo ran deep, possibly 10 feet and still exploding.Have not found any data on the depth, I remember the SH manual(useless basically) said 3-5 feet below keep torpedo should be set to explode.Any thoughts? Links I have missed.

[Bilge_Rat]

Hard to say because the U.S. never adequately tested the magnetic detonators either before or during the war so there is no actual hard data. We just have to rely of patrol reports.

We know that at the beginning of the war skippers were setting the torpedoes to run 10-20 feet below the keel, none exploded. Of course, torpedoes also had a depth keeping problem which could cause them to run 6-10 feet deeper than set, so all these torps might have been running 16+ feet under the keel.

6 feet/2 meters, which is what I think both RFB and TMO use, is probably the best estimate of the reliable maximum range.

[merc4ulfate]

Most issues with the detonators were the running depth putting them to far away not necessarily the magnetic range. I would not adjust the magnetic range and simply make the skippers adjust their depths to get them to function better. I would find that closer to a realistic scenario.

[Admiral Halsey]

I for one never try for a keel shot. I don't trust myself well enough to risk it.

[Bubblehead1980]

I for one never try for a keel shot. I don't trust myself well enough to risk it.


With my mod(esp the new version pending release) they are pretty impossible as they were during first part of war due to depth control issues.Once that is solved can pull them off, when they work, they are great.They might not seem to caught damage at first but they do, love it when take ship out with one torpedo or when work on a big target like a battleship, explode 2-4 torpedoes under a BB's keel, likely to take it out, minus the Yamato.

[Admiral Halsey]

With my mod(esp the new version pending release) they are pretty impossible as they were during first part of war due to depth control issues.Once that is solved can pull them off, when they work, they are great.They might not seem to caught damage at first but they do, love it when take ship out with one torpedo or when work on a big target like a battleship, explode 2-4 torpedoes under a BB's keel, likely to take it out, minus the Yamato.

I've never had to use more then three torps on a BB other then the Yamato/Musashi.

[TorpX]

You may as well just guess. Does anyone really know how the game models it? A battleship should have a much larger and stronger magnetic field than a small merchant, but does it?

[Bilge_Rat]

I was looking at this for another reason, found out the mag range in TMO is 2 meters, in RFB its only 1.5 meters.

I use the RFB dud file in my instal.

[merc4ulfate]

I find sinking a Battleship with three torpedoes very unrealistic. Now after saying that it did happen with as few as two.

The Kongo was the only Battleship sunk by a torpedo in the Pacific theater and was hit by two of three torpedoes fire by the USS Sealion.

From the Wiki:

On 20 November, they [ Yamato (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_battleship_Yamato), Nagato (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_battleship_Nagato) and the rest of the First Fleet] entered the Formosa Strait (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formosa_Strait). Shortly after midnight on 21 November, the submarine USS Sealion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Sealion_(SS-315)) made radar contact with the fleet at 44,000 yards. Maneuvering into position at 03:00, Sealion fired three stern torpedoes at Nagato and Kongō. One minute later, two torpedoes were seen to hit Kongō on the port side, while the third sank the destroyer Urakaze (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_destroyer_Urakaze) with all hands. The torpedoes flooded two of Kongō's boiler rooms, but she was still able to make 16 knots (18 mph). By 05:00, she had slowed to 11 kn (13 mph) and broken off from the rest of the fleet. At 05:20, she lost all power. Four minutes later, the blip indicating Kongō on Sealion's radar disappeared. Kongō sank in 350 feet (110 m) of water with the loss of 1,200 of her crew, including the commander of the Third Battleship Division and her captain. She was the only Japanese battleship sunk by submarine in the Second World War, and the last battleship sunk by submarine in history.

Her sinking was only one out of three battleship sinkings in World War II caused by a submarine attack, the two others were the British Revenge-class (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revenge-class_battleship) battleship HMS Royal Oak (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Royal_Oak_(08)) and the Queen Elizabeth-class (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Elizabeth-class_battleship) battleship HMS Barham (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Barham_(04)).

[Admiral Halsey]

I find sinking a Battleship with three torpedoes very unrealistic. Now after saying that it did happen with as few as two.

The Kongo was the only Battleship sunk by a torpedo in the Pacific theater and was hit by two of three torpedoes fire by the USS Sealion.

From the Wiki:

On 20 November, they [ Yamato (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_battleship_Yamato), Nagato (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_battleship_Nagato) and the rest of the First Fleet] entered the Formosa Strait (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formosa_Strait). Shortly after midnight on 21 November, the submarine USS Sealion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Sealion_(SS-315)) made radar contact with the fleet at 44,000 yards. Maneuvering into position at 03:00, Sealion fired three stern torpedoes at Nagato and Kongō. One minute later, two torpedoes were seen to hit Kongō on the port side, while the third sank the destroyer Urakaze (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_destroyer_Urakaze) with all hands. The torpedoes flooded two of Kongō's boiler rooms, but she was still able to make 16 knots (18 mph). By 05:00, she had slowed to 11 kn (13 mph) and broken off from the rest of the fleet. At 05:20, she lost all power. Four minutes later, the blip indicating Kongō on Sealion's radar disappeared. Kongō sank in 350 feet (110 m) of water with the loss of 1,200 of her crew, including the commander of the Third Battleship Division and her captain. She was the only Japanese battleship sunk by submarine in the Second World War, and the last battleship sunk by submarine in history.

Her sinking was only one out of three battleship sinkings in World War II caused by a submarine attack, the two others were the British Revenge-class (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revenge-class_battleship) battleship HMS Royal Oak (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Royal_Oak_(08)) and the Queen Elizabeth-class (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Elizabeth-class_battleship) battleship HMS Barham (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Barham_(04)).

Well considering that two of the three BB's sunk by submarine only needed two-three torps it seems realistic to me. Plus you have top remember that Japan's BB's were a bit top heavy.

[merc4ulfate]

It would have been interesting to see the results of one of the WW II Modern American Battleships at sea and underway of a torpedo strike. The americans used a good section of the hull for Torpedo blister protection. Being fully manned and battle ready is a far cry from the sitting duck at anchor stations of battleship row.

[Admiral Halsey]

It would have been interesting to see the results of one of the WW II Modern American Battleships at sea and underway of a torpedo strike. The americans used a good section of the hull for Torpedo blister protection. Being fully manned and battle ready is a far cry from the sitting duck at anchor stations of battleship row.

That would be interesting wouldn't it?

[TorpX]

It would have been interesting to see the results of one of the WW II Modern American Battleships at sea and underway of a torpedo strike. The americans used a good section of the hull for Torpedo blister protection. Being fully manned and battle ready is a far cry from the sitting duck at anchor stations of battleship row.
This is true.

Later classes of BB's would have thicker and more effective torpedo defense systems, so it is hard to generalize.

An older BB sinking 3 torpedoes dosen't seem particularly odd to me, but if it happens with the latest class of BB, I would find that unrealistic. We all know how difficult it was for the USN to sink the Yamato.

[Bilge_Rat]

I ran a lot of tests on sinking when I worked on my sinking mod.

All IJN BBs, except the Yamato class, can be sunk by 2-4 torpedoes. It is all a question of where you hit. 2 well placed torpedoes is usually enough. Remember that the damage caused by a torpedo is variable and all ships are broken down internally into various watertight compartments, which is why sometimes 2 is enough, sometimes you need 3-4.

The Yamato/Musashi are in a different class. I have never been able to sink one with less than 6 torpedoes, sometimes it can take as many as 10.