Quote:
Originally Posted by TorpX
Ok, I don't know why people are assuming my comments about the Mk. 18 are based on ignorance, and that I've never read anything about torpedoes before. I'll just state that that is not the case.
|
Sorry. I didn't mean to sound condescending. The truth is that
I haven't read all that much about torpedoes myself, and sometimes when I come across something that seems obvious to me I tend to forget that it may or may not even be true, much less "obvious" to someone who may know more than I do.
Quote:
|
I'm not sure who wanted the wakeless torpedo. Certainly, many liked the idea, but it is not clear to me that there was any pre-existing yearning, much less need, for such.
|
Upon closer reading of the Wiki article I linked, the "they" who wanted the electric torpedo seems to have been Admiral King, period. He may not have been the only one, which is why I wrote "seems to be".
Quote:
|
The problems written about, seemed to come as a rude surprise, and I question whether either the Navy or it's skippers, would have accepted the electric torpedo, if they had known of the disadvantages that came with it.
|
Probably not. To quote the article:
Quote:
|
The first submarines to use Mark 18s (still not perfected) were Eugene Sands' Spearfish and Mush Morton's Wahoo in September 1943. Wahoo disappeared, and Sands "experienced enough torpedo problems to drive an ordinary man berserk": one sank, one broached and ran wild, three fishtailed at launch and hit the outer doors before disappearing, and seven missed astern. His results, as described by his squadron commander, "Gin" Styer, in a masterpiece of understatement, "were disappointing".
|
Quote:
I think most of the impetus for the Mk. 18 came from the extraordinary frustration with the Mk. 14, and perhaps, a certain amount of German-envy. (I'm talking about the common, prejudiced idea that any German weapon/technology was superior to the Allied counterpart.) If you have been stuck depending on a defective tool (whatever the reasons), you would naturally be looking around for something else to try.
Of course, that is just my opinion. I'm sure others will disagree.
|
Others possibly, but not me. That makes as much sense as anything I've heard.