4 ms·
if the torpedo misses, how would the warhead get triggered if not from impact? would there be a timer instead and be primed X seconds after launch?
by saiya-jin 10y ago
if the torpedo misses, how would the warhead get triggered if not from impact? would there be a timer instead and be primed X seconds after launch?
- ptaipale 10y agoThere's a lot of human ingenuity applied in deciding when and how to blow things up. Munition can be timed, or use some sort of proximity sensing, etc. Even artillery grenades, hurled out in great numbers, have such technology (and have had since WWII); for a nuclear torpedo, even a radar-operated fuze or at least a magnetic sensor would make sense.
- vonmoltke 10y agoWhile there isn't much public information about the Type 53-58 (the Soviet torpedo in question), it was probably a straight-runner with a range of 11nm - 13nm. It was also intended for area effect, not direct impact. Considering these parameters, it was probably fused to trigger the warhead at the end of its run, i.e. when the engine ran out of fuel. It may have had a timer or "run to detonation" feature instead, but as I said public information is scant.
- undersuit 10y ago>11nm - 13nm Nautical Miles? I guess it's ok that an Imperial symbol clobbers a metric symbol when they are trillion magnitudes different.
- mikeash 10y agoYes, nm is a common abbreviation for nautical miles in cases where they're used. And thankfully it is unusual to encounter a situation where you can't tell which one was intended.