Japanese torpedoes
Posted by:
kurt
()
Date: December 09, 2000 11:07PM
<HTML>The Japanese were generally considered to have the \'best\' torpedo, or at least a very advanced torpedo, in the Type 95 sub torpedo. This is very similar to the Type 93 \'long lance\' torpedo used by surface ships.
The Type 95 was a 21\" steam torpedo, but used liquid oxygen, not air, for propulsion, giving it far more power and range. It could go 9km (about 6 miles) at 49 knots, several times as far as what air driven steam torpedoes of other nations could do.
However, it was very rare for a sub fired torpedo to strike anything at long range, and anything beyond a few thousand yards was tactically useless.
More important, the type 95 carried a 900lb warhead, about twice the size of early US torpedoes. (Since most of the volume of steam torpedo is really a compressed air tank, I presume the use of more compact liquid oxygen instead of air allowed for a larger warhead.)
In Boyd and Yoshida\'s \"The Japanese Submarine Force and WWII\" a Japanese officer is quoted as saying that Japanese torpedoes tended to go deep, up to 100ft, for the first few hundred yards of their run. Since they were designed for battle in the open ocean this was not seen as important. It would be a handicap fighting in shallow waters, as US subs often did.
The major thing about Japanese torpedoes is that they reliably ran in the direction they were sent, at the depth they were set to, and actually exploded when they hit something (with twice the warhead). That was something of a rarety in torpedoes in WWII.
As for greatest torpedo, I think we need to think of whether the later electric torpedoes deserve that title....</HTML>
The Type 95 was a 21\" steam torpedo, but used liquid oxygen, not air, for propulsion, giving it far more power and range. It could go 9km (about 6 miles) at 49 knots, several times as far as what air driven steam torpedoes of other nations could do.
However, it was very rare for a sub fired torpedo to strike anything at long range, and anything beyond a few thousand yards was tactically useless.
More important, the type 95 carried a 900lb warhead, about twice the size of early US torpedoes. (Since most of the volume of steam torpedo is really a compressed air tank, I presume the use of more compact liquid oxygen instead of air allowed for a larger warhead.)
In Boyd and Yoshida\'s \"The Japanese Submarine Force and WWII\" a Japanese officer is quoted as saying that Japanese torpedoes tended to go deep, up to 100ft, for the first few hundred yards of their run. Since they were designed for battle in the open ocean this was not seen as important. It would be a handicap fighting in shallow waters, as US subs often did.
The major thing about Japanese torpedoes is that they reliably ran in the direction they were sent, at the depth they were set to, and actually exploded when they hit something (with twice the warhead). That was something of a rarety in torpedoes in WWII.
As for greatest torpedo, I think we need to think of whether the later electric torpedoes deserve that title....</HTML>
| Subject | Written By | Posted |
|---|---|---|
torpedos
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tony | 12/07/2000 07:54PM |
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RE: torpedos
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Craig McLean | 12/07/2000 10:31PM |
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RE: Japanese honor code and subs
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kurt | 12/09/2000 11:30PM |
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RE: Japanese honor code and subs
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Roy Prince | 12/10/2000 12:36AM |
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RE: Japanese honor code and subs
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Steve Cooper | 12/11/2000 01:00PM |
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RE: Japanese honor code and subs
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kurt | 12/12/2000 03:15AM |
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RE: torpedos
|
kpp | 12/07/2000 11:00PM |
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RE: torpedos failures..?
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Joe Brennan | 12/08/2000 02:21AM |
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RE: torpedos failures..?
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John R. | 12/08/2000 02:17PM |
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RE: torpedo failures..?
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j harvey | 12/08/2000 05:51PM |
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RE: torpedo failures..?
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John R. | 12/08/2000 06:03PM |
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RE: torpedo failures..?
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jharvey | 12/08/2000 07:22PM |
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RE: torpedo failures..?
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John R. | 12/08/2000 08:25PM |
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RE: Torpedo Exploder Mods
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Don Baker | 12/08/2000 07:52PM |
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RE: Torpedo Exploder Mods
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John R. | 12/08/2000 08:29PM |
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RE: torpedo failures..?
|
John | 12/09/2000 05:50PM |
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RE: torpedo failures..?
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kurt | 12/09/2000 10:51PM |
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Japanese torpedoes
|
kurt | 12/09/2000 11:07PM |