4 ms·

Not intentionally.

• corrral 4y ago
  My recollection from Cussler's version of the story was that the detachable torpedo on their bow (the idea was to ram a pointy torpedo on the bow of the sub into the enemy ship, detach, then it blows up on a delay so the sub could escape, IIRC) got stuck and didn't detach properly.
  • robonerd 4y ago
    Historically, torpedoes were bombs on the end of sticks that you'd ram the enemy with, but these were generally not intended to be suicide weapons (the stick was for safety.) Self-propelled torpedoes came later, and the original bomb-on-a-stick sort of torpedo may now be called "spar torpedoes."
  • zardo 4y ago
    All that's known for sure (since it was found and raised a few years ago) is that it was close enough to the explosion for the shockwave to kill the crew, but far enough away to not damage the sub itself.