How long does it REALLY take to reload torpedo tubes?

Steiger · 06-26-17, 05:56 PM

I'm wondering how long reloads really took, and were multiple tubes reloaded at once? In the game in takes ~30 seconds, and that doesn't feel right. I know we've got tons of IRL mariners on here who would know something like this.

shipkiller1 · 06-26-17, 06:05 PM

15 to 30 minutes.

Steiger · 06-26-17, 06:36 PM

Can more than 1 tube reload at once?

shipkiller1 · 06-26-17, 06:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steiger

Can more than 1 tube reload at once?

Yes

Due to personnel requirements and physical space limitations only two tubes at one time.

ChaosDuck7 · 06-26-17, 07:04 PM

Hopefully this will be changed in the game then to reflect accurate real life reloading limitations?

PL_Harpoon · 06-26-17, 07:11 PM

Well, we can't reload the game to load torpedoes in pairs but we can modify game files to so that the total time of loading two torpedoes is the same. It would still mean 10x as much as what's now (I think in all sims reload time is much shorter than that).

BTW, shipkiller1 - 2 torpedoes at once means one on port side and one on starboard, or can both be loaded at once on the same side?

Shadow · 06-26-17, 07:29 PM

It'd be an interesting twist, but it'd really slow things down.

You'd fire your four tubes and then evade all counterattacks and disappear for 15-30 minutes up to a whole hour to launch another all-out strike.

Out of curiosity, why does it take that long? Aren't there automatic (ish) loading mechanisms to get torpedoes from the magazine and into the tube? I suppose the torps are pretty damn well secured within the former.

ChaosDuck7 · 06-26-17, 07:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shadow

It'd be an interesting twist, but it'd really slow things down.

You'd fire your four tubes and then evade all counterattacks and disappear for 15-30 minutes up to a whole hour to launch another all-out strike.

Out of curiosity, why does it take that long? Aren't there automatic (ish) loading mechanisms to get torpedoes from the magazine and into the tube? I suppose the torps are pretty damn well secured within the former.

Thats what time compression is for

Shadow · 06-26-17, 07:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChaosDuck7

Thats what time compression is for

And therein lies a gameplay issue: what's the point in adding this specific bit of realism if you'll time-compress it away?

Steiger · 06-26-17, 09:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shadow

And therein lies a gameplay issue: what's the point in adding this specific bit of realism if you'll time-compress it away?

It takes away the tactical advantage of being able to spam the sea full of torpedoes.

MadMike · 06-27-17, 12:30 AM

A USN WWII vet who served on Gato class boats told me they could manually reload a tube in five minutes (provided the boat was straight and level). Modern sub reload times are also rather quick, due to automation.

Julhelm · 06-27-17, 01:52 AM

These boats have power reloading and can reload quickly. November could reload 8 tubes in 15. Type XXI could reload it's 6 tubes even faster in 10 minutes. A fair assumption is that newer boats are capable of better performance.

MaDef · 06-27-17, 09:29 AM

came across this tidbit of info:

Quote:

Reloading torpedoes is a rather long process which, in the case of a 688 class submarine, involves dismounting part of the interior floor space to assemble a ramp mechanism on the deck so that weapons can be lowered on a slide to the torpedo room and placed on their respective racks. The entire process of reloading a full weapons load is reputed to take some 12 hours.

Full Article

PL_Harpoon · 06-27-17, 11:00 AM

It seems to me like the author of the article might mistake reloading torpedoes with refitting at port.
I couldn't find any more info on the whole process of reloading a torpedo so I did some other research.
First, there's this picture, which shows what's been written in the article (the floor being removed from decks). But it clearly shows refitting at port.

Then, as you can see from cut-away pictures, all torpedoes are stored right behind the torpedo tubes:

Then there's this picture:

You can also see here that all torpedo mounts are on rails so they can freely move left and right. But is there enough room for the system to select the right weapon mount?
Looking at those pictures it looks like they're mounted on 2 rails. That makes 10 mounts on each rail. Considering that each torpedo has 533mm in diameter, and they are stacked very closed to each other (like those supports in the last picture) that gives us about width of about 5.4 meters (with some safety margin). Now, the boat is about 10m wide. I don't know how thick the hull is, but let's just say that the thickness plus the fact that tubes are slightly below the widest point on the hull will leave us with 8m of space. I think that is enough room for at least two of some sort of temp compartments to store mounts that "gets in the way" of selected weapon. Or they are just removed from the rail (the last picture shows a gap between rails). So it seems that if the selected mount is the closest to the tube it just slides in. If not (for ex. the closest is Mk48 and you want a Harpoon) it takes longer, because all torps placed before the wanted mount need to be removed from the rail. Perhaps that thing might take a while , unless there is some automated system that can stored unwanted mounts for the time of reload. In any case, this shouldn't take hours like the article sugested.

Barkhorn1x · 06-27-17, 11:08 AM

That article sounds crazy as the 688 and 688i were improvements on earlier classes but, boy, sure doesn't sound like it! Nuts to think that you have to partially take the deck apart to reload. That simply makes no sense. And the pics above point to a more efficient/automated system.

I'd like to hear from some former crew mates like Jive Turkey for confirmation here.

06-26-17, 05:56 PM	#1
Steiger Planesman Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 187 Downloads: 20 Uploads: 0	How long does it REALLY take to reload torpedo tubes? I'm wondering how long reloads really took, and were multiple tubes reloaded at once? In the game in takes ~30 seconds, and that doesn't feel right. I know we've got tons of IRL mariners on here who would know something like this. __________________

06-26-17, 06:36 PM	#3
Steiger Planesman Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 187 Downloads: 20 Uploads: 0	Can more than 1 tube reload at once? __________________

06-26-17, 07:29 PM	#7
Shadow Torpedoman Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Buenos Aires Posts: 112 Downloads: 10 Uploads: 2	It'd be an interesting twist, but it'd really slow things down. You'd fire your four tubes and then evade all counterattacks and disappear for 15-30 minutes up to a whole hour to launch another all-out strike. Out of curiosity, why does it take that long? Aren't there automatic (ish) loading mechanisms to get torpedoes from the magazine and into the tube? I suppose the torps are pretty damn well secured within the former. __________________ Shadow's Cold Waters mods (JSGME-friendly) = Longer Campaigns: Marathon Edition = 500-yard MAD range

06-26-17, 06:05 PM	#2
shipkiller1 Electrician's Mate Join Date: Jun 2017 Posts: 136 Downloads: 5 Uploads: 0	15 to 30 minutes.

06-26-17, 07:04 PM	#5
ChaosDuck7 Loader Join Date: Jul 2012 Posts: 87 Downloads: 107 Uploads: 0	Hopefully this will be changed in the game then to reflect accurate real life reloading limitations?

06-26-17, 07:11 PM	#6
PL_Harpoon Engineer Join Date: Sep 2016 Posts: 210 Downloads: 21 Uploads: 4	Well, we can't reload the game to load torpedoes in pairs but we can modify game files to so that the total time of loading two torpedoes is the same. It would still mean 10x as much as what's now (I think in all sims reload time is much shorter than that). BTW, shipkiller1 - 2 torpedoes at once means one on port side and one on starboard, or can both be loaded at once on the same side?

06-27-17, 12:30 AM	#11
MadMike Watch Officer Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 342 Downloads: 241 Uploads: 0	A USN WWII vet who served on Gato class boats told me they could manually reload a tube in five minutes (provided the boat was straight and level). Modern sub reload times are also rather quick, due to automation.

06-27-17, 01:52 AM	#12
Julhelm Seasoned Skipper Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: The Icy North Posts: 693 Downloads: 189 Uploads: 0	These boats have power reloading and can reload quickly. November could reload 8 tubes in 15. Type XXI could reload it's 6 tubes even faster in 10 minutes. A fair assumption is that newer boats are capable of better performance.

06-27-17, 11:00 AM	#14
PL_Harpoon Engineer Join Date: Sep 2016 Posts: 210 Downloads: 21 Uploads: 4	It seems to me like the author of the article might mistake reloading torpedoes with refitting at port. I couldn't find any more info on the whole process of reloading a torpedo so I did some other research. First, there's this picture, which shows what's been written in the article (the floor being removed from decks). But it clearly shows refitting at port. Then, as you can see from cut-away pictures, all torpedoes are stored right behind the torpedo tubes: Then there's this picture: You can also see here that all torpedo mounts are on rails so they can freely move left and right. But is there enough room for the system to select the right weapon mount? Looking at those pictures it looks like they're mounted on 2 rails. That makes 10 mounts on each rail. Considering that each torpedo has 533mm in diameter, and they are stacked very closed to each other (like those supports in the last picture) that gives us about width of about 5.4 meters (with some safety margin). Now, the boat is about 10m wide. I don't know how thick the hull is, but let's just say that the thickness plus the fact that tubes are slightly below the widest point on the hull will leave us with 8m of space. I think that is enough room for at least two of some sort of temp compartments to store mounts that "gets in the way" of selected weapon. Or they are just removed from the rail (the last picture shows a gap between rails). So it seems that if the selected mount is the closest to the tube it just slides in. If not (for ex. the closest is Mk48 and you want a Harpoon) it takes longer, because all torps placed before the wanted mount need to be removed from the rail. Perhaps that thing might take a while , unless there is some automated system that can stored unwanted mounts for the time of reload. In any case, this shouldn't take hours like the article sugested.

06-27-17, 11:08 AM	#15
Barkhorn1x Captain Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Davie, FL Grid DM 23 Posts: 544 Downloads: 60 Uploads: 0	That article sounds crazy as the 688 and 688i were improvements on earlier classes but, boy, sure doesn't sound like it! Nuts to think that you have to partially take the deck apart to reload. That simply makes no sense. And the pics above point to a more efficient/automated system. I'd like to hear from some former crew mates like Jive Turkey for confirmation here.