Very true - and that was in October of '44 - more than a year after all issues were identified and fixed.

plus the magnetic exploders where all hand crafted for each individuel torpedo and there for parts could not be swopet easaly if thay where found to be folty, also the magnettic exploders where also "configured" for the magnetic feald at the torpedo factorys and thay where not alowed to "ajust" them any where from the factory's to theme hitting the targets, which wood have corsed a huge ammount of the prematures that where incounted after fireing.

Well i used to plot, plot, plot and use my calculator to set up near perfect 90 deg hits in SH3. I liked to believe it helped in minimizing duds, but if you dont like doing all that in SH4 you may be in luck. US torps actually had problems initially if you did impact the torp at or near 90 degs...so those not so perfect impact angles should come in handy now.

One thing I'm going to miss jumping from SHIII to IV is the better German torpedoes.

I was wondering if anyone knew when during the war (or IF for that matter) American torpedoes went "wakeless." It' s a big advantage to not have a streaming wake of bubbles leading a destroyer back to me.

Torpedoes will be the number one hardest aspect for me to get used to switching to IV, especially now NOT trying to hit a target at 90 degrees. It's why I'm studying up on angle recognition now (see sepparate thread).

From here:

http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/...12/rising.html

Yes, the Americans did start experimenting with electric torpedoes in late 1943.

As for the 90 degree thing, one of the hardest points to recreate historically is the fact that US skippers WERE trained to shoot at exactly 90 degrees, and they had no idea that that was part of the problem. After Admiral Lockwood and then the Torpedo Test Facility ran tests by dropping them directly onto concrete test pads, they started designing a new impact pistol, but also advised sub skippers to not shoot at 90 degrees. The skippers had a real problem with that order, as it went against all their previous training.

So if you want to be realistic you'll have to force yourself to keep shooting at 90 degrees until the end of 1943. Good luck!:rotfl:

This issue sounds like quite a quandary. :doh: I know I've been trained and ingrained by SHIII to fire as close to 90 degrees as I can when using impact pistols! :hmm:

I found an interesting article concerning US torpedoes. Below is a link to that article. The article recaps the different torpedoes and discusses all the problems that plagued the early commanders in the Pacific (1941 to late 1943). Of particular note I found two keys items:

1. The TDC device was designed for the Mark 14 and later model torpedoes and the TDC was only fitted in Fleet boats (the S class was too small for a TDC).

2. S boats only carried Mark 10 torpedoes (this type only used a contact exploder).

http://www.fleetsubmarine.com/torpedoes.html

So, perhaps when playing Silent Hunter 4 in a early campaign a person may have a easier time engaging and sinking the enemy by using the old S boats (using the old Mark 10 torpedo with a contact exploder), instead of a Fleet boat that has the TDC and defective Mark 14 torpedoes.