Re: Subject: Re: [OM] OT: Naval museums now (US WW2 Subs)

[Rand E]

Joe, what you say is true, but it only tells part of the story.  Being a 
former submariner, I have little sympathy with any organization that 
would put out a product like the torpedoes that we went into W.W.II 
with.  That being said, and being aware of quite a few of the details on 
this topic, it was primarily the fault of the pre-war politicians and 
their severe under funding the military (in general) that did not allow 
actual real life testing of these torpedoes.  The torpedoes in question 
actually went from drawing board to production and then issue to the 
fleet - no funding to do any testing.  This is also true of our recent 
administration in this country.
Joe Gwinn wrote:

> At 7:59 PM +0000 1/9/04, olympus-digest wrote:
>  
>
> > Date: Thu, 8 Jan 2004 21:52:00 -0700
> > From: "James N. McBride" <jnmcbr@xxxxxxx>
> > Subject: Re: [OM] OT: Naval museums now (UK SSNs)
> >
> > Early in W.W.II about half the US torpedoes failed to operate properly. One of
> > my uncles was a destroyer torpedo man and was taken off ship and sent to
> > Penn State University to work on this problem. They built a water tunnel
> > there (like an aircraft wind tunnel) to do torpedo development work. After
> > he left the Navy he stayed there and managed that facility until he died at
> > the ripe old age of 46. /jim
> >    
> For those that are interested in this, I read the story of the subs and their terrible 
> torpedoes in "Silent Victory" by Clay Blair.  It recounts the story of an 
> incompetent organization (the US Navy's then torpedo design and production apparat) 
> suffering the misfortune of being publically found out, along with the hideous costs 
> their incompetance imposed.
>
> There seems to be a March 2001 reissue of Silent Victory by one Clay Blair, 
> Jr., who I assume to be the son of the original author.  Silent Victory sold 
> many copies.
>
> Silent Victory is the story of the submarine war, mostly in the Pacific.  The 
> stuff about the torpedoes is a small part of the book.  As RandE said, subs 
> were it for about two years, and submariners were like RAF pilots in their 
> average survival time.
>
> Joe Gwinn
>
>  
>
> > <snip
> >
> > In World War II, the US Navy spent ~2% of its resources on submarines (all
> > diesel), and the submarines were responsible for 50% of tonnage sunk.  This
> > was in spite of the somewhat ramshackle nature of the then US submarine
> > fleet and especially their torpedeos.  (For instance, Japanese torpedeos had
> > about four times the range.)
> >
> >
> > <snip
> >    
>  

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