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British Underwater Ordnance

Dreamk

Well-Known Member
Can someone upload a copy of the PART III - BRITISH UNDERWATER ORDNANCE of the Mine Disposal Handbook, 1945.
I am especially interested in the British Torpedo chart (Table 1) and warhead chard (Table 2) from chapter 3 - British Torpedoes, and the Mine Chart (Table 1) from Chapter 1 - British influence mines.
Thanks!
 
Torpedo and warheads

Attached you find both of the torpedo references you asked for. The one about the influence mines, I don't have in this book but if you tell what you need, maybe I can find it in another reference...

Cheers,


Stef

Seite-3.jpgSeite-4.jpg
 
Thanks Diver - I am mainly looking for data about air-dropped torpedoes (MkXIV above all, that equipped the Vildebeest squadrons in the Far East at the start of ww2, and was deeply hated by its pilots due to the complexity of its gear system) and air dropped mines - I'm still looking for data about weight and explosive charge of of the A mark X and A mark XI air-dropped mines.
 
I found a picture from a A Mk X mine and some data about it: A Mk X mine: Contact (and probably Acoustic) moored mine - Filled with 100 lbs of high explosives Length: 208.3cm (82"), Diameter: 39.4cm (1' 3 1/2") - the picture shows a practice version - Cleared for production at the end of 1945 (but very few were made) - the mine is exposed at "Explosion!" museum of Naval Firepower, situated on the Gosport side of Portsmouth Harbour, Hampshire, UK

A_Mk_X_(1).jpg
Cheers,
Stef
 
Can someone upload the pages of the manual regarding naval mine Mark XIV (Mark XV, XVI and XVII) which is from page 15 to 21?
I am looking for any available information,diagram etc,
regarding the mine Mark XVI with it's sinker MK XVI,
which were laid by the Grampus/Porpoise submarines.
Also the if there is a diagram how these mooring mines were deployed/planted.
The only thing i could find was this

http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a017318.pdf

in page 37 where the planting of the mark 6 mine can be seen.

lastly i am looking for any information/diagram of the rail launching system of the Grampus/Porpoise class

Thanks in advance.
 
Has anyone located Part III Chapter 3 - British Torpedoes?

Especially after the Type 3 Exploder (p.21)

Any photos /diagrams would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Cheers
Drew
 
That part has stil CONFIDENTIAL on it. And that for a book from 1945

:neutral:
 
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You lost me?........... How can half a book still be "CONFIDENTIAL" and not the other half?

The IWM has a 20 odd page pamphlet /booklet on the Type 3 Impact pistol, which is great if one lived in London - last correspondence indicated a delay of 16 weeks to obtain a scanned copy pre-Coronia 19 era - so that worst than "CONFIDENTIAL" now!

Arrghhh
 
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Here is an interesting article:

https://www.academia.edu/11649683/Torpedo_Exploder_Mechanisms_of_World_War_II

Apart from "highlighting" the late war successful USN Exploder MK mechanisms & development (rather than the earlier failures - read the original acceptance criteria!!!), the author brings to one's attention stating that many official US Navy documents of WW2 vintage have mixed SECRET, CLASSIFIED, CONFIDENTIAL & RESTRICTED components.

What was the original purpose behind having a "mixed" classification document?
and how did that realistically work?

For example, would I assume that only people with SECRET clearance could even access the document to start with? And they could only discuss say RESTRICTED components with people with RESTRICTED clearance etc?

Why not just have the whole document stamped "SECRET"?

There's probably a simple explanation for it.................

Thanks
Cheers
Drew
 

Attachments

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If I remember rightly, EOD Publications were mixed, with some data/sections being Unclassified (U), while other portions being either Confidential (C), or Secret (S), with the data/sections marked as such while the overall publication was the the highest security rating. The portions being (U) could be verbally disseminated or photo copied for informational (such as training) purposes to those personnel without or with unknown security ratings. Cheers, Bruce.
 
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