Evening All,
One of the reported WW2 ship's defense against a torpedo attack was to drop depth charges in-front of the incoming torpedo with the purpose of activating the Torpedo's Anti Countermining mechanism.
An anti-countermining mechanism was a mechanism within the torpedo pistol to detect the shock waves from a nearby exploding torpedo (i.e. salvo firing) in order to prevent premature detonation before reaching the target.
The intention of course was to time the depth charge to explode activating the torpedo's anti-countermining mechanism thereby striking the ship in a deactivated state before the impeller transverses far enough to re-activate the exploder.
The mechanism as in the case of the attached photo of the Japanese Type 2 Exploder, was a rubber diagram which flexed against strong spring pressure and a system of levers, resulting in a "safety wedge" preventing the firing of the exploder. The impeller then runs the wedge outwards again during the next 21 revolutions.
Sounds great in theory, however I'm curious how practical this was and did it ever worked against an incoming torpedo?
If anyone has any information on this, would be most interested.
Thanks
Cheers
Drew
One of the reported WW2 ship's defense against a torpedo attack was to drop depth charges in-front of the incoming torpedo with the purpose of activating the Torpedo's Anti Countermining mechanism.
An anti-countermining mechanism was a mechanism within the torpedo pistol to detect the shock waves from a nearby exploding torpedo (i.e. salvo firing) in order to prevent premature detonation before reaching the target.
The intention of course was to time the depth charge to explode activating the torpedo's anti-countermining mechanism thereby striking the ship in a deactivated state before the impeller transverses far enough to re-activate the exploder.
The mechanism as in the case of the attached photo of the Japanese Type 2 Exploder, was a rubber diagram which flexed against strong spring pressure and a system of levers, resulting in a "safety wedge" preventing the firing of the exploder. The impeller then runs the wedge outwards again during the next 21 revolutions.
Sounds great in theory, however I'm curious how practical this was and did it ever worked against an incoming torpedo?
If anyone has any information on this, would be most interested.
Thanks
Cheers
Drew
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