From everything I read it was not as simple as an on off switch like in the game but they did have both a magnetic and contact detonator.The contact was intended as a backup but the magnetic keel shot was the desired shot at begin of war, because you could sink a large ship with one torpedo by busting the keel instead of hitting the side with 2-3 fish.The problem was many skippers had not idea their torpedos were exploding early because many had their scopes down as torpedos neared target since they were trained that way and only heard explosions, some counted these as hits. After a few months at war reports began to flow in that torpedos were exploding early, running too deep and were even possible duds when they impacted the side, but brass were not listening, skippers were blamed and some lost their commands.
Some Skippers chose to defy orders and as soon as en route to target, had the "magnetic features" of Mark 14 torpedos deactivated, this took care of prematures but torpedos were still running deep and duds were occuring and confirmed by some Skippers but the brass were still not listening.The problem dragged on throughout 1942 and into 43.After Admiral English died in a plane crash in early 43 and Admiral Lockwood took over, Lockwood began to listen to the complaints and finally ordered around June of 43 that the magnetic detonators be removed.Admiral Christie in Australia however did not allow this, either because he truly believed the top secret detonator he helped create was getting a bum rap or was just saving face and being stubborn, subs under his command based in Fremantle were not allowed to deactivate the magnetic detonators until begin of January 1944, but more skippers did so after hearing of the test results at Pearl Harbor and reactivated them when returning from patrol if any fish were left.Subs who began a patrol out of Pearl Harbor would have to reactivate magnetic features if they crossed into Christie's command and esp if they ended patrol Down Under.
With the depth keeping problem mostly solved and most of the magnetics deactivated, a new problem became apparent, the contact exploders were flawed also.The fish were hitting targets dead center and just bouncing off the side or pentrating without exploding, they were 'duds'.Lockwood ordered more tests and after some test firing on cliffs in Hawaii and some braved EOD men retrieved the unexploded torpedos, the figured out the firing pin was deformed on impact and thus the torpedo did not explode.They also found torpedos that hit at small angles were less likely to dud but those fired at large angles such as the desired 90 degree shot, were duds most of the time.The temporary fix was to tell all subs on patrol and departing for patrol to fire "glancing blows" New firing pins were constructed and put into torpedos and by September/October of 43, the main torpedo problems were solved although occasional problems occured throughout the war.
Now, told all that just as an FYI in case you didnt know.So not switching the detonators was not as easy as flipping a switch, they had to be pulled out, the nose taken off and fooled with and since dealing with explosives here, was prob tedious work that took long periods of time.Not historically accurate to just switch over.Personally I like to follow history as much as possible so just deal with the fauly torpedos in begin of war, its part of the challenge.
Also, in RL I do not believe sea state had much to do with the prematures.The magnetic detonator was considered so secret it was never tested way out in the Pacific where it was used, it was tested in an enclosed bay in the US.The earth's magnetic field is different where the detonator was actually used and this affected it.Also the torpedos often were too sensitive and detected a ships magnetic signature too early, which lead to close but premature explosions, that some skippers thought were hits but all they did were throw water geysers on the decks of their targets.
you seem to be striving for accuracy as well so yes leaving them on magnetic until June of 43 if playing out of Pearl is accurate.Later if out of Fremantle.Believe Brisbane boats went way of Pearl boats.Setting torpedos to run shallow as possible so contact part hits IS accurate, many begin to do this to counter the deep running problem.The thing about SH is you can fire torpedos set for 3 feet when seas are heavy and they dont broach or anything, in RL they did this.Call me anal but if heavy seas I set them 10-12 feet deep as if they would broach, just for the challenge.
Are you running TMO or stock SH?
In TMO prematures are a problem until April of 43 and then duds are until July or so, little off on dates but its all good.I believe the depth problem is fixed in late 42.Not sure about stock, havent played stock in sooo long.
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