woodtraps

I served on diesel submarines during the Vietnam war back in the 1960's. On occasion we would be ordered to Hunters Point Naval Shipyard for a refit. sometimes work would be done on the torpedo tubes and after the work was done the torpedo tube woul be test fired using a floating dummy torpedo. The tube after it was loaded would be charged with 5 to 10 pounds of air and the tube would be made ready to fire and shortly after testing the tube was fired. The dummy torpedo would travel at the most 50 feet from the submarine and be picked up and returned back to the sub and the process would be repeated again on the other tubes.
On one of the tests someone made a mistake and put a full 600 pound impulse charge on a tube that was to be tested. The tube was made ready and fired. the torpedo leaped from the torpedo tube and skipped across the water and nearly scuttled a ferry boat that was in transit to Oakland. I don't know when the event happened but the myth was in circulation when I was at the shipyard in 1965.
These torpedos were on the average were 21 inches in diameter and a little over 20 feet long. The dummy torpedos looked like the real ones except they were painted blue and hollow just like a long cylinder with tail fins.
Was this incident true or not.

 out of  found this valuable. Do you find this valuable?    

• Post reply

Show Last Reply