TMO - What's the % of dud/defective torps 1942? - Page 2

groomsie · 02-17-09, 10:19 AM

Continuing my patrol referenced earlier in this thread, last night I had a great set-up on a Medium Modern Composite, range ~ 600 yards in med-rough seas. This is June 1942. I fired 3 Mk14s, and you guessed it 3 duds. Fired the 4th from the bow, dud as well. By now the target is alert and maneuvering, firing at my periscope as I turn to bring aft to bear. I fire 2 aft torpedoes, hitting with 1 but it is yet another dud (I watched this one hit and it appeared that despite the angle being ~ 45 back from targets port beam (that is on port quarter) it was running so low it deflected off the curve of the underside of the target hull)). I had heard another merchant coming from the East (I'm maybe 50 miles west of Rabaul) so I break off to reload and reset.
Another medium modern composite. Similar set-up, but I start out with stern tubes. Again, similar outcomes (except by this time I have an aircraft come out to investigate and chase me under). I eventually surface and sink the second merchant with gunfire, now in process of chasing down the first merchant for a sunset attack that I plan to set up.
So, right now the tally is 15 total torpedoes fired, 12 hits, but of these 11 were duds. I'm running an 80% "hit" rate, but a 91% dud rate for those hits. Feels a bit high but certainly there are stories of subs in RL that experienced that or worse...

Seems right now I just need to survive until the torpedoes are improved.

groomsie · 02-18-09, 10:33 AM

So finished my patrol last night, chasing down that merchant and getting into attack position ahead of him at sunset, range ~ 500 yards. Fired all 4 stern tubes (figuring if I'm lucky 1 goes off), 2 contact, 2 magnetic. All 4 hit and went off, target destroyed. Figures, wasted 2 torps I figure.
Sonar then detects another merchant approaching from the east, a little observation and I realize he's also coming right at me, so I set up for a bow shot, range ~ 600 yards. I fire the remaining 3 bow torpedoes at the medium old composite and--you guessed it--all 3 hit and exploded. Again, at least 1 torp wasted (with more reliable torps at that range I'd fire just 1 for a small or medium and then depending on how much of a hurry I'm in and/or how the target is faring, will fire another torp, finish with deck gun, or just wait...).
So, overall for the patrol out of 22 torpedoes, had 3 misses, 19 on target but 11 defective (either outright duds or ran under target--no prematures though), 8 worked (my first and last 7 for the patrol): 86% on target, 42% of those on target functioned as intended (or at least inflicted damage).

02-17-09, 10:19 AM	#16
groomsie Electrician's Mate Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Stoughton, WI Posts: 140 Downloads: 50 Uploads: 0	Flurry of Failures!! Argh!!! Continuing my patrol referenced earlier in this thread, last night I had a great set-up on a Medium Modern Composite, range ~ 600 yards in med-rough seas. This is June 1942. I fired 3 Mk14s, and you guessed it 3 duds. Fired the 4th from the bow, dud as well. By now the target is alert and maneuvering, firing at my periscope as I turn to bring aft to bear. I fire 2 aft torpedoes, hitting with 1 but it is yet another dud (I watched this one hit and it appeared that despite the angle being ~ 45 back from targets port beam (that is on port quarter) it was running so low it deflected off the curve of the underside of the target hull)). I had heard another merchant coming from the East (I'm maybe 50 miles west of Rabaul) so I break off to reload and reset. Another medium modern composite. Similar set-up, but I start out with stern tubes. Again, similar outcomes (except by this time I have an aircraft come out to investigate and chase me under). I eventually surface and sink the second merchant with gunfire, now in process of chasing down the first merchant for a sunset attack that I plan to set up. So, right now the tally is 15 total torpedoes fired, 12 hits, but of these 11 were duds. I'm running an 80% "hit" rate, but a 91% dud rate for those hits. Feels a bit high but certainly there are stories of subs in RL that experienced that or worse... Seems right now I just need to survive until the torpedoes are improved.

02-18-09, 10:33 AM	#17
groomsie Electrician's Mate Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Stoughton, WI Posts: 140 Downloads: 50 Uploads: 0	And then things even out a bit... So finished my patrol last night, chasing down that merchant and getting into attack position ahead of him at sunset, range ~ 500 yards. Fired all 4 stern tubes (figuring if I'm lucky 1 goes off), 2 contact, 2 magnetic. All 4 hit and went off, target destroyed. Figures, wasted 2 torps I figure. Sonar then detects another merchant approaching from the east, a little observation and I realize he's also coming right at me, so I set up for a bow shot, range ~ 600 yards. I fire the remaining 3 bow torpedoes at the medium old composite and--you guessed it--all 3 hit and exploded. Again, at least 1 torp wasted (with more reliable torps at that range I'd fire just 1 for a small or medium and then depending on how much of a hurry I'm in and/or how the target is faring, will fire another torp, finish with deck gun, or just wait...). So, overall for the patrol out of 22 torpedoes, had 3 misses, 19 on target but 11 defective (either outright duds or ran under target--no prematures though), 8 worked (my first and last 7 for the patrol): 86% on target, 42% of those on target functioned as intended (or at least inflicted damage).