Light Weight Torpedo damage

US started using shaped charges on the Mark 50 Barracuda torpedo in service in 1981. It was in response to double hulled Soviet subs, titanium built or not. Meant to incapacitate and render them ineffective by punching holes in them, since the warhead on a small torpedo is too small to kill them.

I knew it! Ever since I was like 10 yrs old and learned what shaped charges were I thought about torpedoes carrying them! I've always had a sneaking suspicion that I definitely wasn't the only one whom had thought of it!

The 688 and 726 classes had less than inch of HY80, HY100. Don't know the thickness of the Virginia, but I doubt it's 3 inches. That's THICCC.

Aaron Amick

it's a shaped charge to overcome the light warhead.

Andrew MacDougall

Looks oddly similar to the effect of an APFSDS round against a tank armour, I'd have expected it to be more of a buckling/cracking effect. Very interesting!

Simon Clark

3"? I seriously doubt that. That would weigh way too much over the entire surface area of a sub.

Andrew MacDougall

The first plate? I do wish that they had put some reference scale in the photo. The first plate might be from a late WWII sub. The Virginia Class has a hull thickness of 3", And it is of HY100 .. 100K psi Yield strength. And yeah, being an ex-combat engineer .. sure does look like a shape charge. For sure, an interesting display. Hope your move is going well Aaron.

That only works on the Typhoons.

Andrew MacDougall

Russian subs be like "only a flesh wound comrade, lets move to the starboard side pressure hull and operate the sub from there"

Looks like a shaped charge.

Andrew MacDougall

MU90 seems to be their current lightweight torpedo. That doesn't guarentee that it was the model that did the damage from the photo of course.

What model of torpedo was it?

Robert

The spall damage on that second plate looks like something I would not want on my face or other sensitive equipment.

I know nothing about the damage needed to put a sub out of combat, is penetration what is sought? Could be an idea of a topic for you to cover.

Double hulls, ballast tanks, sonar, etc. It makes sense if I think about it.

pin_die

I am guessing, that the reduction in effect isn't negligible in larger depths, that then necessitates the large damage potential we see here. Also you don't just want to puncture a hole in an enemy Submarine, but achieve at least a mission kill.

Raven Coldheart