2 ms·
US submarine effectiveness in the early part of the war was largely nil because the US torpedoes failed to work properly. This wasn't fixed until 1943, so there
by jcranmer 5y ago
US submarine effectiveness in the early part of the war was largely nil because the US torpedoes failed to work properly. This wasn't fixed until 1943, so there's a decent chance that even if the submarine facilities had been damaged, they would have been repaired before the US submarines got effective torpedoes anyways.
- Arrath 5y agoThis is a good point. Some of the stories around the early war torpedos almost belie belief. "On 24 December 1941, during a war patrol, Commander Tyrell D. Jacobs in Sargo fired eight torpedoes at two different ships with no results. When two additional merchantmen came in view, Jacobs took extra care to set up his torpedo shots. He pursued the targets for fifty-seven minutes and made certain the TDC bearings matched perfectly before firing two torpedoes at each ship from an average range of 1,000 yd (910 m). The shots should have hit, but all failed to explode. A few days after he discovered the torpedoes were running too deep, and corrected the problem, Jacobs detected a big, slow tanker. Again, his approach was meticulous, firing one torpedo at a close range of 1,200 yd (1,100 m). It missed. Exasperated, Jacobs broke radio silence to question the Mark 14's reliability." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_14_torpedo#Problems https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_14_torpedo#Problems