So basically until I get to late 1943 I should be trying for hits at greater than 90 degrees.

I had another few goes again at the sub school sink the warship mission, I do it frequently to check I'm doing things right, and I tried with low speed and magnetic detonators and I repeatedly hit with all 4 torpedoes I fired at once. I think only once did I get one explode prematurely.


Although I've not tried it with contact detonators and obviously the enemy ship has far more time to spot your torpedoes...


So in game terms I think perhaps at least one other solution could be to use low speed on the torpedoes, seems to have worked for me in that sub school mission at least, I'm going to try to put it into practice on my 3rd career mission and see how I get on.

Yes, that is true, but Lockwood really didn't know this before he had the drop tests conducted, which was well into the war. Prior to that, all he could really be sure of, is that sometimes they functioned as intended, and sometimes they didn't. The nature of the problem was unknown.



The drop tests, where concrete filled warheads with Mk. 6 exploders were dropped on steel plates, were simple and easy to do. BuOrd could have done them before the outbreak of war, without destroying a single torpedo, but did not. It was a tragedy, really.
[I realize, you probably already know most of this.]

Another wrinkle that occurred to me, is that a torpedo warhead being dropped on a steel plate is not the same as one hitting a ship's hull. One dropped on a thick steel plate will be subjected to the full force of the impact (only reduced by the angle of the plate), whereas, one hitting a ships hull may dent or even burst through the hull plates, and suffer a less violent impact. This may account for the seemingly random results obtained by the Mk. 6. [I read one account of a German torpedo bursting through the side of a hull, skidding along the bottom, before smashing it's way out the other side; so this is not just speculation on my part.]

I think, no matter what tactics you decide to use, you will have to reckon on using more torpedoes for every ship sunk. Adjusting speeds or gaming angles may give you more detonations, but will likely also get you more misses, as well. This is like a hitter in baseball that swings for the outfield every time. He gets a lot of home runs, but also strikes out a lot. There isn't rally a good substitute for a properly functioning torpedo (Lockwood's request for a giant book hook, aside.:03:).

There are several instances where torpedoes went through the hull of Japanese ships without exploding.

================

Because of this logistics fiasco, veteran submariner and historian Paul Schratz said he "was only one of many frustrated submariners who thought it a violation of New Mexico scenery to test the A-bomb at Alamagordo when the naval torpedo station was available."

:fff:

:har:

Yes, there is no doubt the torpedo establishment let the Navy down, big time.