Did all torps back in those days carry both systems? Magnetic and Impact pistols?

Originally Posted by magicsub i went to the museum and there was a huge big black torpedo and it had switches on it and i recognized them all!!! i tried to turn it on but the swithes did not want to move. this was in a australian war museum

Originally Posted by trongey I've wondered similar things about updating a solution. Did changing the solution on the TDC somehow transmit settings to a torpedo already in the tube? Or did it just provide the settings that someone would apply before loading the tube? Tony

Originally Posted by klh Quote: Originally Posted by trongey I've wondered similar things about updating a solution. Did changing the solution on the TDC somehow transmit settings to a torpedo already in the tube? Or did it just provide the settings that someone would apply before loading the tube? Tony Now this one I can answer. There were changes during the war, but for the most part, the TDC sent a signal for the gyro angle (and eventually other variables) to the torpedo while it was in the tube using a retractable spindle. This way the firing solution could be fed to the torpedo immediately prior to firing.

Originally Posted by Letum I know that the electric torps had to be preheated and prepared for at least half a hour before launch. The VII could not fire electric torps from the aft tube as it lacked the equipment needed to heat the torp's batteries. I am not sure if the same is true of the IX.

Originally Posted by Voyd Quote: Originally Posted by Letum I know that the electric torps had to be preheated and prepared for at least half a hour before launch. The VII could not fire electric torps from the aft tube as it lacked the equipment needed to heat the torp's batteries. I am not sure if the same is true of the IX. Technically, they didn't have to be heated. They could be launched, but would loose more than half of their range when running 'cold'.

Originally Posted by kurtz I've just been reading Hoyt's book on American submarines, these were plagued by unreliable magnetic pistols. Apparently some skippers disabled the magnetic pistols whilst they were on patrol, from this I surmise that this was not an easy switch job, yeah I know different torpedoes.

Originally Posted by trongey 4) Torps had a weird habit of turning 180deg if they breached in rough seas. At least one confirmed self-sinking. Tony

In an attempt to answer some of the enquiries posed above, I should like to quote at length an extract from "Blood, Toil, Tears and Folly" (Deighton, Harper Collins, 1993), which extract may shed some light on the technicalities concerning the use of torpedoes in WWII:

"... The whole purpose of submarines was to fire torpedoes. These big G7 - seven metres long - devices were no less complicated than the submarine itself, and, in some respects, exactly like them. They were treated with extraordinary care. Each torpedo arrived complete with a certificate to show that its delicate mechanisms had been tested by firing over a range. It had been transported in a specially designed railway wagon to avoid risk of it being jolted or shaken. One by one, with infinite concern, the 'eels' were loaded into the U-boat.... All through the voyage, each and every eel would be hung up in slings every few days so that the specialists could check its battery charge, pistols, propellors, bearings, hydroplanes, rudders, lubrication points and guidance system.

To make an attack, it was necessary to estimate the course and bearing of the target. Usually, the submarine was surfaced and the captain used the UZO (U-Boot-Zieloptik)...and from it the bearing, range and angle of the target was sent down to the Vorhaltrechner. This calculator sent the target details to the torpedo launch device, the Schuß-Empfänger, and right into the torpedoes, continuing to adjust the settings automatically as the U-boat moved its relative position. By means of these instruments the U-boat did not have to be heading for its target at the moment of launching its torpedo. The torpedo gyro mechanism would correct its heading after exiting the tube. Thus a 'fan' of shots, each on a slightly different bearing, could be fired without turning the boat. This device was coveted by British submarine skippers, who aimed their torpedoes by heading their submarines towards the target."

To go off the topic of this thread, though what I shall quote is certainly no less interesting, Deighton then describes the living conditions of German submariners:

"...There were no bathing facilities, and only one lavatory which could not be used when the submarine dived. When under attack, the lavatory might well be out of action for twenty-four hours. No one shaved and most didn't change even one article of clothing for the entire voyage. The stink of human bodies was mixed with those of oil and fuel. There was also the pervading smell of mould, for in the damp air everything, from bread to log books, went mouldy. The men - mostly young, for only young men could endure the hardship and the stress - were apt to douse themselves in Eau de Cologne to exchange one smell for another."


Mr. Deighton should have written Kölnischwasser instead of Eau de Cologne! And I don't think that His Majesty's Royal Navy submarine commanders would have taken it too lightly being called "skippers" either: "skippers" command tugs and fishing boats!

:hmm: