It is indeed all very interesting and educational. I am one of many that probably owe our very existence to those rather fortunate torpedo failures! Although it is still open to debate as to how things may have developed had the early war torpedoes been perfect.
What is not established, so far, is the impact that high waves (the typical "North Atlantic Rollers") had on torpedo failure. It is true that, in the early days, BDU blamed the weather and even the Commanders themselves but it was subsequently decided that the cause was due to criminal negligence by the Torpedo Inspectorate, design defects and poor manufacture.
From the evidence available, I think it is reasonable to believe (although I would like to see hard evidence either way) that these German torpedoes were not significantly affected by weather and wave height especially when fired at close range. Another interesting fact that has emerged is that the fastest speed setting was used only when the weapon was launched from a fast surface craft (S-Boot) and the fact that these weapons were launched into the sea at high speeds (even from aircraft) tends to defeat the argument that "hitting a wave" would automatically result in failure.
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