One Torpedo, One Ship?

[Frederf]

I've heard that an "under the keel" shot was good for causing many leaks at riveted panel borders all over the ship which were hard to repair before maybe a long duration sinking. Is this true?

[Hartmann]

well, usually the explossion blast broke the keel and the ship splits in two after the up and down movement.

[Bubblehead1980]

when keel shots were made, they worked well.Problem was with US fish most of the time their magnetic detonators were active they were faulty and detonated prematurely and they also ran 10-12 feet deep on average for a long time.However, they figured out they were running deep and fixed that and some skippers made keel shots with great effect.Magnetic detonators remained terribly unreliable and were finally deactivated, going back to contact only.

The game(SH 4) reflects RL pretty well in sense a large merchant that may take 3 or 4 solid hits with contact detonators to sink can be taken out with 1 or 2 keel shots.As far as German fish go , I know they had problems with their magnetic detonators, not sure if they ran deep.Many times 1 fish blowing up 5 feet below the keel amidships was/is enough to sink it.

[Rockin Robbins]

Originally Posted by Bubblehead1980

I remember watching a 5 part series via youtube a week or so ago about U boats, very good show.I remember one "Ace" was said to use one torpedo for one ship....were German torpedos the powerful? Would this work in U boat game? Im a fleetboat guy so U boat stuff is still mostly an unknown arena.Not starting the discussion but hoping DRM is dropped so I will buy SH 5

That's funny, both Eugene Fluckey and Dick O'Kane said the same thing. That didn't mean it really worked that way all the time. American and German torpedoes were comparable in explosive power. They should be since the American torpedo was a copy of the German ones, faults and all.

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by Hartmann

well, usually the explossion blast broke the keel and the ship splits in two after the up and down movement.

I'm gonna assume that's a 'yes' on major leakage.

[Platapus]

Concerning the effectiveness of the under the keel shot:

In a letter from BuShips chief, Vice Admiral E.L. Cochrane to Blandy [BurOrd chief] regarding the most effective depth at which to achieve torpedo hits, Cochrane took the opportunity to comment on the supposed advantage magnetic influence explosions beneath a ship's keel:

"Except for ships fitted with torpedo protections systems, the Bureau [BuShips] is unable to see any great advantage in obtaining non-contact hits under the bottom" *

The Bureau of Ships housed the Navy's foremost ship designers and naval architects. The BuShips' engineers studied torpedo damage on scores of ships, including those of foreign navies. For them to conclude that the MK. 6 magnetic feature offered no advantage over contact exploders (except on large capital ships) was a devastating revelation to BuOrd, who cited the effect of magnetic influence explosions in defense of charges levied against the MK 6 by the operational submariners.

Newpower, A (2006) Iron Men and Tin Fish London: Praeger Security International p. 147

* Citation for Cochrane quote:

Letter from Vice Admiral E. L. Cochrane to Blandy, 26 March 1943, RG 38, Correspondence of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, National Archives

[Rockin Robbins]

Originally Posted by Hartmann

In shV it´s not a problem, you can always use the increase explossive power hability of the weapons officer.

perhaps firing a modified torpedo with doble amount of explossive or two tied with duct tape...

There you go! Use the arcade game feature! What part of the word "simulation" got lost here?

[Sailor Steve]

I don't know. The duct-tape idea seems like a good one. But only if we can see the torpedo crew actually doing it.