Good Evening all,
There was a recent interesting event around March /April this year where a scuba diver explorer found an unknown object, which appeared to be a bomb in approx 5m of water under a wharf in Malta...................
The object was reported to the local Malta EOD team, who recovery the object, removed the blocks of TNT and rendered it inert- it was later identified as a German 21" KA torpedo warhead and was discovered in its now disintegrated shipping container.
The diver who discovered it was a gentleman named David Mallard who researches a number of interesting underwater archaeological finds during his trips to Malta including a 3,000 year stone wheel and a motorized landing craft that was specifically designed for the landing /campaign at Gallipoli, known as the "X-Lighters (X-127)" - check out David's website:
http://xlighter.org/index.html
The accompanying photos provide a self- explanatory tour of the KA torpedo head discovery, recovery and clean up.
The presence of the 5cm x 3cm plate is further evidence that the KA head was found in its shipping container, as it describes the content of the box with the additional parts that were kept with the ka-head. All the screws for mounting the head to the torpedo, as well as the necessary parts for making the torpedo ready for a warshot - whether it's a G7a or a G7e type torpedo:
================================================================
• Längschrauben: The screws for mounting the head to the airtank (G7a) or batterycompartment (G7e)
• Verschlussschraube: The lockingscrew for the plug in front of the airtank on the G7a (type 1210 exersiceheads would get air from the airtank through this hole).
• Schmelzsicherung: A steelplug to replace the leadplug in the overheating-safety of the pipes for the propulsion-gas from the heater to the cylindervalves of the engine in the G7a (the plug would melt, leading the gas to a shutofff-valve for the fuel in the speedregulator).
• Bruchplatte: A small disc of copper to replace the thin membrane-disc in the fillingplug for the waterchamber in the G7a (if the pressure rose in the waterchamber this would expand until being punctured by a sharp screw thus venting out the pressure of the waterchamber to prevent the chamber blowing up).
• Batterisicherung: Used for shorting out a safety-device protecting the battery in the G7e torpedo.
=================================================================
The 21" (533.4 mm) was the standard WW2 German torpedo and according to Kriegsmarine regulations, the Ka head was used on the following torpedoes:
• G7a(TI)
• G7a(TI Fat I)
• G7a(TI Lut I)
• G7a(TI Lut II)
• G7e(TII)
• G7e(TII Fat II)
• G7e(TX)
Special thanks goes to BOCN member "Natter" for the brass plague text translations and greatly assisting with KA identification and background information
Enjoy!
Cheers
Drew
BTW -
"Nr 13975" is the Ka-warhead serial number and from what we can gather <33> appears to a quality /inspection code.
There was a recent interesting event around March /April this year where a scuba diver explorer found an unknown object, which appeared to be a bomb in approx 5m of water under a wharf in Malta...................
The object was reported to the local Malta EOD team, who recovery the object, removed the blocks of TNT and rendered it inert- it was later identified as a German 21" KA torpedo warhead and was discovered in its now disintegrated shipping container.
The diver who discovered it was a gentleman named David Mallard who researches a number of interesting underwater archaeological finds during his trips to Malta including a 3,000 year stone wheel and a motorized landing craft that was specifically designed for the landing /campaign at Gallipoli, known as the "X-Lighters (X-127)" - check out David's website:
http://xlighter.org/index.html
The accompanying photos provide a self- explanatory tour of the KA torpedo head discovery, recovery and clean up.
The presence of the 5cm x 3cm plate is further evidence that the KA head was found in its shipping container, as it describes the content of the box with the additional parts that were kept with the ka-head. All the screws for mounting the head to the torpedo, as well as the necessary parts for making the torpedo ready for a warshot - whether it's a G7a or a G7e type torpedo:
================================================================
• Längschrauben: The screws for mounting the head to the airtank (G7a) or batterycompartment (G7e)
• Verschlussschraube: The lockingscrew for the plug in front of the airtank on the G7a (type 1210 exersiceheads would get air from the airtank through this hole).
• Schmelzsicherung: A steelplug to replace the leadplug in the overheating-safety of the pipes for the propulsion-gas from the heater to the cylindervalves of the engine in the G7a (the plug would melt, leading the gas to a shutofff-valve for the fuel in the speedregulator).
• Bruchplatte: A small disc of copper to replace the thin membrane-disc in the fillingplug for the waterchamber in the G7a (if the pressure rose in the waterchamber this would expand until being punctured by a sharp screw thus venting out the pressure of the waterchamber to prevent the chamber blowing up).
• Batterisicherung: Used for shorting out a safety-device protecting the battery in the G7e torpedo.
=================================================================
The 21" (533.4 mm) was the standard WW2 German torpedo and according to Kriegsmarine regulations, the Ka head was used on the following torpedoes:
• G7a(TI)
• G7a(TI Fat I)
• G7a(TI Lut I)
• G7a(TI Lut II)
• G7e(TII)
• G7e(TII Fat II)
• G7e(TX)
Special thanks goes to BOCN member "Natter" for the brass plague text translations and greatly assisting with KA identification and background information
Enjoy!
Cheers
Drew
BTW -
"Nr 13975" is the Ka-warhead serial number and from what we can gather <33> appears to a quality /inspection code.
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Bottom-plate of transport-container-1.jpg301.2 KB · Views: 48
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German KA Head Torpedo-1 .jpg89.4 KB · Views: 62
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German KA Head Torpedo-4 .jpg154.4 KB · Views: 55
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German KA Head Torpedo-9.jpg182.5 KB · Views: 52
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German KA Head Torpedo-10.jpg154.6 KB · Views: 55
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Transport-container for warhead_1a.jpg293.3 KB · Views: 65
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