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Old 03-03-17, 10:31 AM   #1
l02turner
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Default Jap Torpedos and Jap Aircraft Opns

I have 3 questions.
First, the Japanese long Lance Torpedo was said to be the best in the world back in WW2. It had a ranhe of 20 mi if I recall correctly. How did they get such a great range from them?
Second; the Japanaes Carrier flight operations were reported as being very much faster than the US when it came to take-offs and forming up. They were said to be able to form up 150 or more planes for an attack (before we sank most of their carriers) in less than 30 minutes - something that took similar US Carrier Ops as much as an hour to several hours to achieve. Anyone know how they did that so fast?
Finally, relating to SH - the torpedo doesn't seem as powerful (destruction-wise) as the real life fish were. A single fish could sink a medium Jap Destroyer I believe but the game requires 2 or more fish to guarantee a sinking. Or is it my imagination and poor targeting?
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Old 03-03-17, 11:40 AM   #2
Rockin Robbins
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The Long Lance, carried on surface ships only, was the Japanese Type 93 torpedo. It got its range of 20,000 meters from using pure oxygen, not air for the combustion. Air is 78% nitrogen, which reduces the amount of oxygen available for propulsion and leaves a trail of bubbles behind the torpedo.

However the torpedo used on Japanese submarines was the Type 95, the Long Lance's little brother. It only sported a range of 9000 meters at 49 knots, 12,000 yards at 45 knots.

Our Mark 14 had a top speed of 46 knots and range of 4500 yards or 9000 yards at 31 knots. Explosive power of American and Japanese submarine torpedoes was similar. American torpedoes had a lesser weight of a superior explosive.

Now, what does that all mean? At a range of 9000 meters, the Japanese Sub torpedo (Type 95) could wander plus or minus 170 meters or 557 feet, for a total error envelope of over 1000' at that range. That means the torpedo probably would miss any single ship it was fired at, even with a perfect setup, which is impossible at that range unless you have radar.

So basically, what you're looking at is awesome numbers that meant nothing at all: no advantage whatever for the Japanese torpedoes used on their subs vs ours. Sure they had 3 knots more speed and a lot more range but a submarine couldn't carry enough torpedoes to make such foolishness as shooting from 9000 yards, and the expected wandering of the torpedo from the intended track made that doubly a foolish tactic.
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Old 03-03-17, 02:10 PM   #3
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... unless, of course, you happened to wander into their path of travel... The USN had a difficult time comprehending a torpedo run as long as the Long Lance, and it's probably a good thing too, else they would have been too cautious in some surface actions that they did reasonably well in...
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Old 03-05-17, 04:19 PM   #4
l02turner
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Default re: Jap Torpedos and Jap Aircraft Opns

Thanks for the comments! Great answers. BTW, as an extension to my questions, which torpedo did the aircraft carry?
TIA

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Old 03-05-17, 09:55 PM   #5
Zero Niner
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Quote:
Originally Posted by l02turner View Post
Thanks for the comments! Great answers. BTW, as an extension to my questions, which torpedo did the aircraft carry? Was it the same torpedo the whole was long?
TIA
The Type 91,a variant of which was used at Pearl Harbor.
The Type 92, which was electrical, never made it past trials.
The Type 94, based on the ship based Type 93 ("Long Lance"), but apparently it was too heavy and unwieldy and never used operationally.

Yes, so it looks like the Type 91 was used throughout the war and was never replaced in the battlefield.
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Old 07-31-19, 06:42 PM   #6
izzy1960
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Howdy and G'day.
I am responding to your second question regarding the quickness of IJN in putting the planes together faster than the American counterpart.
Just a thought...
At the point of Midway, Japan and and the Imperial Japanese Navy have been at war for nearly 5 years. There is plenty of time to work out the kinks where as the US was in the war 8 months or so. Same holds true regarding the planes and tactics. Unfortunately for them their thoughts of armor were of low priority. Something to think about. It would be interesting to compare the time at beginning of the war to say 1944.
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