Quote:
Originally Posted by LukeFF
Bzzt! Wrong! It is documented in a couple of Salmon/Sargo class boats where torpedoes from the aft deck storage were moved to the forward torpedo room.
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Okay, let's slow down a little here. Externally (deck) mounted torpedo tubes of any sort were very rare in USN submarines. Aft facing tubes were even rarer. They were well intentioned attempts at increasing firepower, but the submarine crews came to heartily dislike the tubes for a couple of reasons:
- Once the tubes were loaded in port, the fish could not be withdrawn at sea for maintenance. With Mk 14 fish failing at alarming rates, the Torpedomen were keenly interested in ensuring that the fish were perfectly maintained. Torpedoes were "routined" as often as time permitted.
- Torpedoes contained inside these deck tubes were very vulnerable to depth charge damage. Nautilus had one fish in a deck tube damaged during a depth charge attack at the Battle of Midway and it started a "hot run", i.e. the torpedo engine running inside the closed tube. This is an extraordinarily dangerous situation.
- Once shot, the external tubes could not be reloaded at sea and thus were a one shot deal until the boat returned to port.
The following boats had two externally mounted
forward firing tubes located in the superstructure forward of the diving planes: Narwhal, Nautilus, Porpoise, Pike, Tarpon, Pickerel, Permit, and Stingray. These tubes were not part of the original design and were added after the war commenced. In the case of Stingray, the tubes were removed before the end of the war. In addition, Narwhal and Nautilus were fitted with four non-firing stowage tubes under the raised forward gun deck. Using deck mounted davits and handling gear, these fish could
in theory be withdrawn from these tubes, moved forward, and struck below to the forward torpedo room.
The following boats had two externally mounted
aft firing tubes added during the war: Argonaut, Narwhal, and Nautilus. Note: Nautilus' tubes were mounted under the aft gun deck and angled outward, Argonaut and Narwhal had theirs mounted next to each other at the very aft end of the superstructure. Narwhal and Nautilus also had four non-firing stowage tubes mounted under the aft deck gun platform as part of their original design. Narwhal retained her aft stowage tubes, Nautilus had two of hers converted to firing tubes as noted above. Dolphin had two external stowage tubes on her aft deck as well.
No other Fleet Boat had aft mounted external tubes of any sort! Luke, I do not mean to call you out, but I would have to see your references that show that Salmon/Sargo boats had aft deck stowage tubes. With a very high degree of certainty I can say that they did not.
As for transferring torpedoes from the forward torpedo room to the aft torpedo room or vice-versa: it wasn't done. Internally it was impossible. Fish loaded forward had the warheads facing forward. How do you turn a 21 foot long, 2000 pound torpedo around
inside a submarine, then move it all the way aft to the aft tubes? On the Darter we actually tried this as a gag on a new guy. We had him running all over the ship gathering gear for moving a torpedo from forward to aft, getting permission from the CO, etc. all the while snickering under our breath. After about an hour of making an a** of himself he finally caught on and realized it was impossible.
Doing this evolution topside is, in theory, possible but still faced tremendous problems in handling. Both the forward and aft loading hatches would have to be open with the loading skids raised. Getting the weapon up to the deck and back down into the room is not the problem. But again you have to turn the weapon and somehow find a method to move the 2000 pound, 21 foot long torpedo almost 300 feet, around the conning tower fairwater, all the time on a pitching, rolling, slippery deck. From personal experience I can tell you it would take about an hour just to rig the rooms, skids, and the handling gear. Actually moving the torpedo (assuming it could be done) would take at least an hour under optimal conditions. Two hours on the surface unable to submerge in enemy held waters just to move one torpedo? It is not worth the effort. Just turn the boat and point the needed tube in the right direction. A lot easier.
The external stowage tubes on the Narwhal, Nautilus, and Dolphin were a good idea in peacetime, but transferring torpedoes from these tubes to below faced many of the same problems that I outlined above and in practice proved to be a very bad idea. That is why it wasn't repeated in the later fleet boats. Once again in theory it was possible to maintain the torpedoes stowed in these tubes, but do you really want to try this very delicate work on a wet, pitching, rolling, slippery deck in enemy waters?