Sunk by a dud

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Originally Posted by donut

Additional suggestion:Torpedo's do not bounce off thin hulled merchants,if they do not detonate on impact,they punch a hole in the hull,and go off on time out,end of run time,if set to impact.(Real life) Set to magnetic torp.might dent chine,& deflect off in rough seas though,or run under,for a miss

I'm not saying you're wrong, but I've not read any reports of an unexploded torpedo punching through the hull. Must have happened sometimes I suppose.

More common in the reading I've done is the air flask rupturing. The dud torpedo broke apart as the result of the impact, and it would appear like a low order detonation, but was just the torpedo rupturing. One of the V-boats for instance had this happen at Midway when she fired on a carrier, Kaga? The flask was then used as a life preserver by the carrier's crew, meaning this attack did more to save the Japanese than to harm them.