Technology and Operations
This forum is for discussing technological & operational matters pertaining to U-boats.
Re: Torpedo Launching
Posted by:
Ken Dunn
()
Date: October 28, 2003 02:36PM
Hi Robert,
Thanks for the additional info.
As to the noise issue, it was just a guess. Sound travels a good distance underwater and could be picked up by the enemy. Never having heard a torpedo being fired I wasn't sure how much other noise was actually involved.
The other things inside a U-boat that increased the pressure have been discussed on the forum in the past and I thought the compressors were mentioned along with a number of other items. My bad for not looking it up before commenting on it.
The conning tower hatch "popping" open from the pressure difference is a fairly common scenario in a number of books I have read and in one case the person opening the hatch was pulled half way out when the hatch flew open although perhaps there was a problem (damage from being depth charged etc.) that let more high pressure into the boat than you would have from just firing all of the torpedoes.
I am quite familiar with "popping" your ears to equalize the pressure (by swallowing or by pinching off the nose and gently blowing it) as I am a scuba diver however I also know that if you are congested or have a cold the eustation (spelling?) tube can shut trapping the (higher pressure) air and causing the ear drum to rupture or at least flex more than it should when the outside pressure is reduced rapidly. This type of injury did happen to U-boat personnel from time to time. Of course the worst ear injuries were caused when the schnorchel was introduced but they happened before that time too. Perhaps the pressure differential was greater in U-boats than in the American subs you served in. It is also possible that the procedure for getting on the bridge in a hurry during combat did
not include opening the hatch slowly as you would in peacetime. U-boat men also tended to have a lot of ear infections perhaps making them more likely to have a problem with the pressure difference.
I presume that the "mine ejector" (whatever that was) was used because the normal mechanism to launch the torpedo failed and that's why the torpedo was running hot in the tube in the first place. This was an actual account of a problem not conjecture.
Regards,
Ken Dunn
Thanks for the additional info.
As to the noise issue, it was just a guess. Sound travels a good distance underwater and could be picked up by the enemy. Never having heard a torpedo being fired I wasn't sure how much other noise was actually involved.
The other things inside a U-boat that increased the pressure have been discussed on the forum in the past and I thought the compressors were mentioned along with a number of other items. My bad for not looking it up before commenting on it.
The conning tower hatch "popping" open from the pressure difference is a fairly common scenario in a number of books I have read and in one case the person opening the hatch was pulled half way out when the hatch flew open although perhaps there was a problem (damage from being depth charged etc.) that let more high pressure into the boat than you would have from just firing all of the torpedoes.
I am quite familiar with "popping" your ears to equalize the pressure (by swallowing or by pinching off the nose and gently blowing it) as I am a scuba diver however I also know that if you are congested or have a cold the eustation (spelling?) tube can shut trapping the (higher pressure) air and causing the ear drum to rupture or at least flex more than it should when the outside pressure is reduced rapidly. This type of injury did happen to U-boat personnel from time to time. Of course the worst ear injuries were caused when the schnorchel was introduced but they happened before that time too. Perhaps the pressure differential was greater in U-boats than in the American subs you served in. It is also possible that the procedure for getting on the bridge in a hurry during combat did
not include opening the hatch slowly as you would in peacetime. U-boat men also tended to have a lot of ear infections perhaps making them more likely to have a problem with the pressure difference.
I presume that the "mine ejector" (whatever that was) was used because the normal mechanism to launch the torpedo failed and that's why the torpedo was running hot in the tube in the first place. This was an actual account of a problem not conjecture.
Regards,
Ken Dunn
