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 Author  Topic: Tube launched torpedo MK's?
alross2

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of alross2   Send Email To alross2 Posted on: Mar 2, 2012 - 11:16am
From: Jolie, E.W. A Brief History of U.S. Navy Torpedo Development. (Newport, RI: Naval Underwater Systems Center). 1978





The full document is here: http://www.history.navy.mil/museums/keyport/html/index.htm

Al


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Jeff D

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Jeff D   Send Email To Jeff D Posted on: Mar 2, 2012 - 11:22am
Will, Frank, here's a shot from At Close Quarters showing a tube being loaded. Although shown here as being simple cradles with the crane doing the lifting, they look like they could have rollers and lifts as Frank said:





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Donald Shannon

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Donald Shannon  Posted on: Mar 2, 2012 - 11:24am
Yes Gene I agree with the notion that they wanted to use up the older inventory of Mark-8 torpedoes early on in WWII. I also believe that the type of torpedoes that were stockpiled in a certain location would also dictate who got what types as you will still see Higgins PT's in the Mediterranean theater as late as 1944 with torpedo tubes. I also think that the Higgins boats with the air-compressed tubes were more likely to retain their tubes longer verses/ the Elco powder charge tubes, with the danger of giving your location away with the powder flash. Also with the lend lease I would imagine they sent a lot of Mark-8 torpedoes over to Europe. Later in the war in the pacific theater you see the conversion of tubes to racks quickly and a better supply of Mark-13 torpedoes.

On a side note: In typical PT Boat field adaptation fashion I do recall seeing either a Mark-8 or Mark-14 in a torpedo roll off rack on an 80 foot Elco somewhere in the Pacific.

FYI the following references from:
The Devil's Device Robert Whitehead and the History of the Torpedo by Edwyn Gray
Naval Institute Press

The Mark-8 torpedo was a 1913 design.

The Mark-13 torpedo was a 1938 design intended for aircraft.

The Mark-14 torpedo was a 1938 design. It was the main submarine weapon in 1941, but faults in the Mk-VI magnetic exploder made it unreliable. In service some 40 years after successful modifications.


Donald Shannon

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Jeff D

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Jeff D   Send Email To Jeff D Posted on: Mar 2, 2012 - 11:34am
I found this interesting, a huge image showing U.S. torpedo development: http://www.kbismarck.org/photos/ustorpdev.jpg



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Jeff D

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Jeff D   Send Email To Jeff D Posted on: Mar 2, 2012 - 11:49am
Hey Don, At Close Quarters also has this shot of a Mark VIII being launched from a roll off rack:





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alross2

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of alross2   Send Email To alross2 Posted on: Mar 2, 2012 - 12:04pm
Nope - MK13. Note the length of the warhead in relation to the flask body.


Al


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Donald Shannon

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Donald Shannon  Posted on: Mar 2, 2012 - 12:21pm
Thanks Al and Jeff great website info/ images on the torpedoes.

Jeff on the image in " At Close Quarters" that's a mistake in At Close Quarters under the photo, that is actually a Mark XIII or Mark 13 aircraft torpedo. It is listed correctly in the illustrations index at the beginning of the book. I never noticed the mistake in the book until now it is in both the old and the new reprint.


Donald Shannon

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Jeff D

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Jeff D   Send Email To Jeff D Posted on: Mar 2, 2012 - 12:26pm
Doh, thanks guys.

You were right Frank, the cradles can be used to roll the torpedos in. Note the height adjusters:









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Donald Shannon

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Donald Shannon  Posted on: Mar 2, 2012 - 12:28pm
Jeff I made the same mistake it is correct in At Close Quarters just have to read the entire caption. It is a Mark XIII Aircraft torpedo though.

Donald Shannon

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Jeff D

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Jeff D   Send Email To Jeff D Posted on: Mar 2, 2012 - 12:50pm
Well shoot, you're right. It says Mark XIII plain as day. I've confused the two in the past but this time it was poor caption reading.



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