It was to the submarine force that I looked to carry the load. “When I assumed command of the Pacific Fleet on 31 December 1941, our submarines were already operating against the enemy, the only units of the fleet that could come to grips with the Japanese for months to come. Nimitz was put in command and later commented: Nimitz also conducted experiments in 1939 with underway refueling of large ships which would prove a key element in the Navy’s success in the war to come. Nimitz, who had been a Naval Officer since 1908. The fleet had been upgraded in many ways including a change from gasoline to diesel engines (more efficient and reliable) and much of these improvements can be attributed to submarine commander Chester W.

Navy Chief of Staff ordered commanders to “execute unrestricted air and submarine warfare against Japan”, authorizing submarines in the Pacific to attack and sink any warship, commercial vessel or passenger ship flying the Japanese flag without warning. The long-held Navy doctrine that merchant ships were secondary targets, as agreed to in the London Naval Treaty of WWI was now disregarded in response to the Japanese sneak attack. By the end of the Pacific war in August of 1945 the Pearl Harbor Submarine Base had overhauled 15,644 torpedos of which 5,185 were fired in combat with a total of 1,860 hits. One of the most successful battle submarines, the USS Tang, eventually was sunk by her own torpedo which circled around and struck the boat on October 24th, 1944.Īlong with the Navy Torpedo Stations, the US manufacturing companies were able fix the problems while ramping up torpedo production and by 1943 the submarine fleet began to inflict heavy Japanese losses in warships and merchant shipping throughout the Pacific. Instead the torpedo ran in a large circle and sometimes returned to strike the firing ship. It tended to run “circular”, failing to straighten its run on its prescribed gyro-angle setting.The contact exploder often failed to fire the warhead.The magnetic exploder often caused premature firing.It tended to run about 10 feet (3.0 m) deeper than set.During 1942 only 2000 torpedos were built by all three Navy Torpedo Stations despite the main weapon, the Mark 14 steam driven torpedo and the Mark 18 electric torpedo, having four major flaws. Bliss Company, Precision Manufacturing Co and Westinghouse Electric Company (who developed a new electric torpedo). The Navy contracted civilian manufacturers that included the American Can Company, Pontiac Motor Company, International Harvester, E.W. However throughout 1942 these complicated weapons would only bring these factories combined torpedo production to 23 per day. While Keyport was being built the Newport and Alexandria factories with 3000 workers went to 3 shifts operating 7 days a week 24 hours a day. Production facilities were expanded to include three Navy factories in Newport Rhode Island, Keyport Washington and Alexandria Virginia.

The weapons had a complicated design incorporating propulsion, a gyroscope and a magnetic detonator. In the fall of 1941 it was determined that the Navy would need to produce 50 torpedos per day to wage an effective war campaign in the Pacific. submarine fleet had also become better suited for longer patrols than the Germans or Japanese due to amenities such as air conditioning (which German U-boats lacked) and water distilleries. Navy built large submarines with relatively fast cruise speeds, long range capabilities and heavy armaments of torpedos and deck guns.

It was used to determine torpedo launch angles on moving ships and would prove to be a lethal advantage.ĭuring this time the U.S. The Torpedo Data Computer, or TDC, was a top secret device developed before the war. By 1938 submarine design and technology had advanced to including one of the first computers ever made. During the 1930’s torpedo fire control, which involved the tracking of ships, aiming the boat, determining launch angles and distance calculations, were all done by looking through the periscope and guesstimating range and speed. to expand its fleet of Naval ships, including submarines, in the Pacific. By the 1930’s Japanese aggressions in Asia after WWI spurned the U.S.

Submarine museum