Magnetic exploder questions

[Osmium Steele]

Originally Posted by TorpX

I don't have detailed info about the German pistols, but everything I've read about torpedos indicates that none of the magnetic exploders were reliable. The British, Germans and U.S. all tried to use them and ultimately gave up on them.

Yes and no. The allies halted their use. The germans, with a 2 year head start on the research, developed a much more reliable combination magnetic/impact exploder which entered service in Dec '42.

ref. http://www.uboat.net/history/torpedo_crisis.htm

Originally Posted by TorpX

It seems like people expect to get easy and reliable sinkings with a single torpedo. This is not realistic, IMO.

Again ref: the above article:

"Later into the war, in an analysis of torpedo performance in the period January-June 1942 (Paukenschlag and the apex of U-boat activity in American waters - the richest single harvest of the whole war), it was estimated that only 40% of the ships had been sunk by a single torpedo during that period, while the rest had either required two or more, or had escaped after one or multiple hits. In light of the more than two million tons of shipping actually sunk (a third were tankers), it is easy to imagine what could have been the outcome had the U-boats been armed with the weapon they really needed."

40% seems about right, in a purely anecdotal sense, from my experience.
Small/coastal merchants, passenger/cargo, some medium cargo etc. I take regularly with a sinlge fish. Sometimes combined with a few rounds from the deck gun. With the improved exploder, and acoustic torpedo post Dec '42, I'd expect a higher success rate per fish.

At that point, of course, the problem becomes obtaining a reliable solution with the increase in technological innovation and quality of Allied ASW.