Mark-18
| Mark-18 | |
|---|---|
| General Information | |
| Designation: | Torpedo Mark 18 |
| Country of origin: | United States |
| Manufacturer: | Westinghouse Electric |
| Working time: | 1944-1950 |
| Technical specifications | |
| Length: | 20 feet 5 in (6.228 meters) |
| Diameter: | 21 in (533 mm) |
| Combat weight: | 3154 pounds (1430 kg) |
| Drive: | Electric motor and accumulator |
| Speed: | 29 knots (54 km / h) |
| Range: | 4000 yards (3656 meters) |
| Furnishing | |
| Warhead: | 575 lbs (260.8 kg) Torpex |
| Target location: | No |
| Ignition device: |
Contact igniter |
| Weapon platform: | |
| Lists on the subject | |
The Torpedo Mark 18 is an American weapon from World War II based on captured German G7e torpedoes. Its advantages were the running without the emission of gas bubbles (as would be emitted, for example, by a torpedo powered by compressed air) and the fact that only around 70% of the working hours were required to manufacture a torpedo powered by an internal combustion engine. A particular disadvantage was the lack of a protection system against circulators, which has been proven to lead to the loss of the USS Tang and possibly other units of the Navy.
Due to some technical inadequacies, namely a top speed of 29 knots that is too low compared to the Mark 14 and Mark 16 torpedoes , the dependence of the battery power on the water temperature and the need to pull the torpedoes out of the tubes regularly in order to recharge them, became the weapon was retired as early as 1950, but at the end of the Second World War 65% of all torpedoes shot down by US submarines were of the Mark 18 type. The torpedo tubes also had to be adapted for the use of this weapon, as they are significantly faster than steam-powered torpedoes (such as the Mark 14 ) accelerated and there was a risk of damage to the weapon and the guardrails in the barrel.
Technical specifications
- Electrically powered torpedo
- Maximum range 3656 meters at a top speed of 29 knots
- 53.3 centimeters in diameter, 6.223 meters in length and 1430 kilograms in weight.
- Warhead of 261 kilograms Torpex
- Start of development in 1943, commissioning in 1944
- first operational use in November 1944
Web links
- United States of America torpedoes of World War II ( English ) Navweaps.com. August 13, 2009. Retrieved October 25, 2009.
- ORDNANCE PAMPHLET No. 946, US NAVY TORPEDO MARK 18 (ELECTRIC) ( English ) on April 15, 1943. Accessed on November 3 in 2009.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Submarine Casualties Booklet 1966 ( en , PDF) Naval submarine medical center Groton Connecticut, Submarine medical research lab. P. 261, below. Retrieved November 3, 2009: "The submarine sank after being hit by one of its own torpedoes circling after an attack on the surface off Formosa in October 1944."