Hi all,
Completely OT with this but help is needed, and hopefully someone on the
list knows the answer to these questions,
WW1 era Dreadnoughts and cruisers have submerged torpedo tubes. A typical
arrangement (according to my copy of Janes 1919) is one in the bow, one in the
stern and one on each broadside. My questions are:
1) In what direction did the broadside tubes point? Did they point forwards,
backwards or to the sides? 2)Additionally, what were the reload times on these
tubes? 3) What was the effective range, with the appropiate speed setting, of
torpedoes in WW1?
I can't seem to find the answer to these questions in my collection of WW1
naval warfare books. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
[quoted original message omitted]
> 1) In what direction did the broadside tubes point? Did they point
Haven't found a ref yet, but I'm fairly certain I recall one of the few shots
taken at Jutland appear to be to the side from a broadside tube. All diagrams
show round exit holes, too.
The_Beast
> 3) What was the effective range, with the appropiate speed setting, of
At http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWtorpedo.htm:
"Torpedoes in 1914 carried a contact-triggered explosive warhead and had
a range of 10,000 metres and could travel at 41 knots. However, their ideal
range was about a kilometre because they tended to be inaccurate over longer
distances. "
I'm assuming the usual great improvements over the course of the war,
though some of the comments in your below-cited page cast some doubts...
> However I have found this site which may be of interest:
Still haven't found definitive answers, but the tables refer to Campbell's
'Jutland: An Analysis of the Fighting'. I'll give it a browse when I get home.
Also the Jane's reprints to see if there's anything in them.
The_Beast
[quoted original message omitted]
> From: ~ On Behalf Of matt tope
> WW1 era Dreadnoughts and cruisers have submerged torpedo tubes.
The following responses are from Navwar's Steam & Steel system
for pre-Dreadnoughts, but there was still plenty of equipment
from that era floating around the first part of the war. Your Janes will tell
you that many of the crusiers and larger ships
got shot of their tubes mid-war.
> 1) In what direction did the broadside tubes point? Did they
Always played them as fixed mounts pointing directly to beam. Arc of fire very
narrow, depending on exact ruleset used.
> 2) Additionally, what were the reload times on these tubes?
Damn slow, one shot per game.
> 3) What was the effective range, with the appropiate speed
S&S quotes 5,300 yards for post-1900 17.7 and 18" fish over two
four-minute turns. In practice, don't expect miracles unless
the range is under 1,000 yards and the target is doing less than 5 knots.
All of my books show directly to the beam. Torpedo's on BB's proved useless so
were eliminated on the first refit after the war generally.
I would ignore them for game purposes.
Wargamers will have BB's acting like PT Boats if you let them.
Hi all,
Thanks guys for the help with this one. I think it will be best if I ignore
torpedoes on the large cruisers and capitals, and just stick with
the big guns. However the info you have been able to find for me will be
of great use in sorting out torpedoes for the guys who really need them,
the CL's, DD and TB's.
Thanks again,
Regards,
From: "CS Renegade" <njg@csrenegade.demon.co.uk>
BTW there's a whole heap of interesting naval stuff at
http://www.warships1.com/index_tech/
e.g.
[quoted original message omitted]
> A bit more irrelevant trivia about this (From Voss,
Even the Bismarck was finished off by torpedoes from the CA Dorsetshire
(surface mounts) and of course the Bismarck didn't carry torpedos.
As a side point, there is good evidence that the Hood did not blowup due to a
magazine hit but instead was sunk by a hit in the torpedo room (which was
above the armored belt) which caused multiple torpedoes to detonate which
shattered the keel. This was a known problem and the debates about removing
the torpedoes from the Hood had been going on since the 20's.