Technology and Operations
This forum is for discussing technological & operational matters pertaining to U-boats.
Moving out of the way
Posted by:
Nathan Greenfield
()
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?
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?
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 |