Technology and Operations  
This forum is for discussing technological & operational matters pertaining to U-boats. 
Moving out of the way
Date: January 01, 2002 02:56PM

The hearing of a torpedo by hydrophone (or the seeing of it's wake) raises a question.

According to what I've read torpedoes ran at something like 30 knots and were usually fired from between 800 to 2000 yards. Let's call it a mile. At 30 knots, a torpedo would travel that distance in something under a minute (less, obviously, if closer). Now many histories tell us that corvettes, destroyers and merchantmen, some travelling quite slow, of course, were able to avoid torpedoes once they were seen. My question is how? The math doesn't seem to make sense -- since turning a ship, even one moving at 20 or 25 knots is not a quick event.
Am I missing something in the equation?

Options: ReplyQuote


Subject Written By Posted
Torpedo-detection Gabriel 12/31/2001 05:23PM
Re: Torpedo-detection J.T. McDaniel 12/31/2001 11:31PM
Re: Torpedo-detection Gabriel 01/01/2002 12:25PM
Moving out of the way Nathan Greenfield 01/01/2002 02:56PM
Re: Moving out of the way J.T. McDaniel 01/01/2002 04:47PM
Re: Moving out of the way Ken Dunn 01/03/2002 07:47PM
Re: Torpedo-detection kurt 01/09/2002 01:09PM
Re: Torpedo-detection sniper 01/16/2002 02:34PM


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