Sinking vessels in rought weather.

Originally Posted by Pants

Pistol

The device to detonate the warhead was the pistol. There were two types, magnetic and contact pistol. Most torpedoes had both types and the captain could select a combination of magnetic, contact or both, prior to launching the weapon.

Is that true of the Germans? I've read that in US torpedoes one could not select type, and when they started to realize where the problem might lie torpedo chiefs actually had to physically remove and disable the magnetic pistol. Made for a lot of trouble.