Mark 14 Torpedo
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The Mark 14 torpedo was the U.S. Navy's most common submarine-launched torpedo of World War II. Although this weapon was plagued with many problems which crippled its performance at the beginning of the war, and was largely supplanted by the Mark 18 electric torpedo in the war's final months, the Mark 14 played a large part in the devastating blow that the US submarine force dealt to the Japanese naval and merchant marine forces during World War II.
It was designed in 1930 to replace the Mark 10 in the new "fleet boat" subs, and although the same diameter, it was longer and therefore incompatible with older submarines' torpedo tubes. (20.5ft (6.25m) versus 15.25 ft (4.65m))
[edit] General characteristics of the Mk-14 Torpedo
- Primary Function: Anti-ship torpedo for submarines
- Power Plant: Wet-heater combustion / steam turbine engine with compressed air tank
- Length: 20 ft 6 inches (6.25 m)
- Weight: 3,280 lb (1,487.8 kg)
- Diameter: 21 in (533 mm)
- Range / Speed:
- Low speed: 9,000 yards at 31 knots (8.23km at 57.41 km/hr)
- High speed: 4,500 yards at 46 knots (4.12km at 85.19 km/hr)
- Guidance System: Gyroscope
- Warhead: 643 lbs (291.7kg) of Torpex
- Date Deployed: 1931
- Date Withdrawn from service: 1975-1980
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[edit] Sources
- Roscoe, Theodore. Pig Boats: The True Story of the Fighting Submariners of World War II. Bantam, 1967.
- http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WTUS_WWII.htm
