Submarine

Torpedo Troubles

Torpedo Troubles

USS Bowfin (SS-287)

Diving Deeper

"…the unhappy saga of the Mark 14 torpedo and its Mark VI magnetic exploder is, perhaps, a perfect example of the mayhem that can be created when experts bury their heads in the sand and steadfastly refuse to face facts."

Edwin Gray, The Devil's Device: Robert Whitehead and the History of the Torpedo, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 1975, page 227.

"America entered the war with torpedoes far inferior to those of the enemy, and the fault lay squarely with the United States Bureau of Ordnance. It was ineffectual in research and development, inept in testing. It was inadequate in manufacturing, and feeble in its supervision of Newport. It was wanting in collegiality with the rest of the Navy, and it failed to trust those fighting under the Pacific surface."

Robert Gannon, Hellions of the Deep: The Development of American Torpedoes in World War II, Penn State Press, University Park, PA, 1996, page 202.

Warhead image

"That…desk-bound staffers refused to listen to suggestions and criticisms from those they had sent into combat with this weapon seems, in retrospect, incomprehensibly stubborn and stupid…. The torpedo scandal of the U.S. submarine force in World War II was one of the worst in the history of any kind of warfare."

Clay Blair, Jr., Silent Victory: The U.S. Submarine War Against Japan, Bantam Books, New York, 1975, pages 216 and 879.

Exploder image "Christie's submarines were having increased difficulty with prematures. Bowfin, whose record in sinking Japanese ships was outstanding, had eight prematures in one patrol. Nimitz sent a dispatch inquiring into the circumstances and Christie replied on 13 March (1944) that Bowfin's patrol was the end of a long effort to perfect the magnetic exploder and that no further experiment would be made by submarines on patrol. After that Southwest Pacific submarines also inactivated their magnetic exploders."

W. J. Holmes, Undersea Victory: The Influence of Submarine Operations on the War in the Pacific, Doubleday & Company, Garden City, NY, 1966, page 311.

For further on-line information, please refer to:

Frederick J. Milford's "The Great Torpedo Scandal, 1941-43", Part 2 of his series US NAVY TORPEDOES, first published in THE SUBMARINE REVIEW, a quarterly publication of the Naval Submarine League, P.O. Box 1146, Annandale, VA 22003-9146.

Douglas A. Shireman's "U.S. Torpedo Troubles", an article published in the February 1998 edition of WORLD WAR II magazine, published by Cowles History Group, Inc.

Mary Anne Cowell's and Edward C. Whitman's "Newport and Navy Torpedoes - An Enduring Legacy", an article in UNDERSEA WARFARE, The Official Magazine of the U.S. Submarine Force, Spring 2000 Vol. 2, No. 3.

Secrets of the Sub

The Very First Sub Ever

The First Submarine Ever

There were many countries around the world developing submarines in the 17th and 18th century both for wartime use and for commercial purposes. In the United States, we say the Turtle, developed by a Yale University professor, David Bushnell, was our first submarine. Designed to deliver an underwater mine with a timed fuse, it's original purpose was to break the blockade of the British Navy in New York harbor in 1776, during the War of Independence. Almost a hundred later the Confederate States Ship Hunley with a crew of nine men braved the waters of Charleston, South Carolina harbor to attack and sink the Union Ship USS Housitanic. The weapon used was a mine mounted on a spar jutting from the bow of the submarine. Again, the purpose was to break the blockade of a harbor but within 40 years, the United States started the submarine explosion with the Simon Lake, SS-1, in 1900 , designed as a scouting ship for America's emerging battle fleets. In less than 20 years, the first world war would see the island nation of Great Brritain brought to her knees by German commerce raiding submarines and submarines , large and small being developed by many nations.