[Shadriss]

A couple observations from another US Submariner on this subject:

1) I've seen numbers from a number of classes of sub pulled up as reference points. This makes little sense, as the weapons and procedures are going to vary from class to class. It may well take a very short time on a NOVEMBER or KILO... this has nothing to do with the LOS ANGELES or SEAWOLF. By country, sure... compare away, as the weapons and tech were, in essence, developed by the same people. But just because country A can reload very quickly, it does not follow that country B can.

2) That said, Shipkiller1 has given accurate times for US ships, both for in-port replenishment and at-sea tube loading.

In port, once the team hits it's stride, you can move a weapon from the pier to in-the-room in about 25 to 30 minutes... but other restrictions keep us from getting more than two down in an hour, and depending on how many you are shipping/unshipping that day, it can very well take all day, or even two in the case of a full room load.

At sea, one of the factors not talked about (although halfway mentioned) is the effect of clearing the tube before it's reload. The flex hose that Shipkiller mentioned has to be cleared, which has it's own procedure, to keep it from damaging the torpedo tube doors. The tube has to be drained, opened, inspected for damage, which takes time. The hydraulics that move the weapon are not set to "Speedy Gonzales" speeds... it's a slow and deliberate speed designed to not damage the weapon or the tube, and allow the reload team the time they need to perform other inspections as the weapon is loaded. 15 minutes is a good team on that weapon... more often, I'd say that it's closer to 20.

"Oh, but in combat, you'd go faster!" No... not if you are smart, for all the reason Shipkiller already mentioned. The mantra is, "Slow is smooth, smooth is fast." Or to put it another way, "If you didn't have time to do it right the first time, what makes you think you have time to do it a second time?"

It may be slower... but in all honestly, outside of a ASUW engagement against multiple ships at once, if you need more than four ADCAPS, you have a bunch of other problems anyhow.