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This is the place to discuss general issues related to the U-boat war or the war at sea in WWII. 
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RE: torpedos
Posted by: Craig McLean ()
Date: December 07, 2000 10:31PM

<HTML>Very good question about quality, etc., of torps in the war! By the way, Yanks called them \"fish\" quite often, Germans \"eels\" I believe...I\'d be curious what the Japanese used as slang for a torpedo??

Anyway, no answer by me on reliability throughout the stages of the war, but thought this might be of interest....

A Professor Ramsey at Kansas State University told me once, that Americans and Germans rightfully decided to target cargo/merchant ships rather than warships as the backbones of Japan and England (both island nations) in order. Japanese doctrine, however, was for their subs to go after Allied warships...as more \"honorable\" targets.

In a very small, simple nutshell...stategic bombing of German and Japanese industrial targets did not bring either of those countries to their knees. Armies in the field had to be defeated to win the war. But the war at sea was different. Merchant shipping was indeed the best target for subs and U-boats...and their impact was felt by both the Allies in the Atlantic and by the Japanese in the Pacific. I\'m not very \"up\" on the war in the Pacific, but my general understanding is that Japanese shipping suffered grevious losses, especially to American subs there.

So that is a general discussion of strategy....which still leaves the good question about the torpedoes that had to do the work....

Best,
Craig

(By the way....today is National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day [for Dec. 7, 1941] in the US..!!)</HTML>

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Subject Written By Posted
torpedos tony 12/07/2000 07:54PM
RE: torpedos Craig McLean 12/07/2000 10:31PM
RE: Japanese honor code and subs kurt 12/09/2000 11:30PM
RE: Japanese honor code and subs Roy Prince 12/10/2000 12:36AM
RE: Japanese honor code and subs Steve Cooper 12/11/2000 01:00PM
RE: Japanese honor code and subs kurt 12/12/2000 03:15AM
RE: torpedos kpp 12/07/2000 11:00PM
RE: torpedos failures..? Joe Brennan 12/08/2000 02:21AM
RE: torpedos failures..? John R. 12/08/2000 02:17PM
RE: torpedo failures..? j harvey 12/08/2000 05:51PM
RE: torpedo failures..? John R. 12/08/2000 06:03PM
RE: torpedo failures..? jharvey 12/08/2000 07:22PM
RE: torpedo failures..? John R. 12/08/2000 08:25PM
RE: Torpedo Exploder Mods Don Baker 12/08/2000 07:52PM
RE: Torpedo Exploder Mods John R. 12/08/2000 08:29PM
RE: torpedo failures..? John 12/09/2000 05:50PM
RE: torpedo failures..? kurt 12/09/2000 10:51PM
Japanese torpedoes kurt 12/09/2000 11:07PM


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