The Mark 46 torpedo is the backbone of the United States Navy's lightweight anti-submarine warfare torpedo inventory and is the NATO standard. These aerial torpedoes are designed to attack high-performance submarines. In 1989, an improvement program for the Mod 5 to the Mod 5A and Mod 5A(S) increased its shallow-water performance. The Mark 46 was initially developed as REsearch TORpedo Concept I, one of several weapons recommended for implementation by Project Nobska, a 1956 summer study on submarine warfare.
The Mark 50 torpedo is a U.S. Navy advanced lightweight torpedo for use against fast, deep-diving submarines. The Mk 50 can be launched from all anti-submarine aircraft and from torpedo tubes aboard surface combatant ships. The Mk 50 was intended to replace the Mk 46 as the fleet's lightweight torpedo. Instead the Mark 46 will be replaced with the Mark 54 LHT.
Type 53 is the common name for a family of 53 cm torpedoes manufactured in Russia, starting with the 53-27 torpedo and continuing to the modern UGST (Fizik-1).
The G7e or more appropriately the G7e/T2, G7e/T3, and G7e/T4 Falke torpedoes were, with the exception of the T4 model, the standard torpedoes for Germany during World War II. All of the G7e models shared standardized dimensions for all German torpedoes designed for use by U-boats during World War II, they measured 53.3 cm (21 inches) in diameter, 7.16 m in length, and carried a Schießwolle 36 warhead of 280 kg. All were powered by 100 hp (75 kW) electric motors and lead-acid batteries which needed constant maintenance to maintain their reliability. Additionally, the batteries of these torpedoes needed to be preheated to a temperature of 30 °C (85 °F) to operate with maximum speed and range, though generally this was a non-issue as U-boats had the element of surprise and often had the advantage of firing the first shot.
The Mark 45 anti-submarine torpedo, a.k.a. ASTOR, was a submarine-launched wire-guided nuclear torpedo designed by the United States Navy for use against high-speed, deep-diving, enemy submarines. This was one of several weapons recommended for implementation by Project Nobska, a 1956 summer study on submarine warfare. The 19-inch (480 mm)-diameter torpedo was fitted with a W34 nuclear warhead. The need to maintain direct control over the warhead meant that a wire connection had to be maintained between the torpedo and submarine until detonation. Wire guidance systems were piggybacked onto this cable, and the torpedo had no homing capability. The design was completed in 1960, and 600 torpedoes were built between 1963 and 1976, when ASTOR was replaced by the Mark 48 torpedo.
The Mark 30 torpedo was a British 18-inch air dropped anti-submarine passive acoustic homing torpedo. The torpedo was air dropped from the Hawker-Siddeley Nimrod and Avro Shackleton aircraft.
The Mark 24 mine is an air-dropped passive acoustic homing anti-submarine torpedo used by the United States during the Second World War. It entered service in March 1943 and remained in use with the US Navy until 1948. Approximately 4,000 torpedoes were produced, with 204 ultimately being deployed during the war. As a result of its use, 37 Axis submarines were sunk and a further 18 were damaged. The torpedo was also supplied to the British and Canadian forces. The deceptive name of "Mark 24 Mine" was deliberately chosen for security purposes, to conceal the true nature of the weapon.
The Mark 37 torpedo is a torpedo with electrical propulsion, developed for the US Navy after World War II. It entered service with the US Navy in the early 1950s, with over 3,300 produced. It was phased out of service with the US Navy during the 1970s, and the stockpiles were sold to foreign navies.
The Mark 34 torpedo was a United States torpedo developed that entered service in 1948. It was an improved version of the Mark 24 FIDO passive acoustic homing torpedo developed during World War II for launch from fixed-wing aircraft. The principal differences from the Mark 24 were the use of two propulsion batteries, which could be used in parallel while the torpedo was searching for a target to provide greater endurance and in series to provide greater speed in attack mode.
Yu-5 (鱼-5) torpedo is the first wire-guided torpedo developed by China. It is an ASW torpedo designed for conventional diesel-electric submarines. It is often erroneously referred as the Chinese copy of Soviet TEST-71 torpedo, which is incorrect as the Soviet torpedo was developed in 1971 and its successor TEST-71MKE was developed in 1977, at the worst time of Sino-Soviet split. With Yu-5 entering Chinese service in 1989, it was simply impossible to acquire any technologies of Soviet TEST-71 torpedo, which was not purchased by China until 1993, four years after the Yu-5 torpedo had already entered service. However, like all modern Chinese military hardware, the Yu-5 is not a product of indigenous development, and is instead based largely upon previous Soviet and American designs, with much of the propulsion system being derived from the American Mark 46 lightweight torpedo.
Yu-6 (鱼-6) torpedo is the Chinese counterpart of the US Mark 48 torpedo, and it is the first domestic Chinese torpedo designed to counter both surface ships and submarines from the very start. Guidance can be by wire, active and passive homing, or wake homing. Domestic Chinese sources have claimed that the Yu-6 torpedo is in the same class as the Mk 48 Mod. 4 torpedo, and it is believed to have been cloned from a captured sample, but official information on the Yu-6 torpedo is limited.
The Mark 21 torpedo, designated Mark 21 Mod 0 was a passive acoustic homing torpedo designed in 1943 by Westinghouse Electric Corporation. The Mark 21 successfully passed launching tests in 1943, however, due to difficulties encountered by Westinghouse, the project was abandoned after a few development models had been built.
The Mark 21 Mod 2 torpedo, was a passive acoustic homing variant of the Mark 13 torpedo. It used the widely-used Mark 13 torpedo as a basis, with the addition of passive acoustic homing developed by Bell Labs.
The Mark 28 torpedo was a submarine-launched, acoustic homing torpedo designed by Westinghouse Electric in 1944 for the United States Navy. The torpedo used all-electric controls. Service use of the Mark 28 ended after the introduction of the Mark 37 torpedo.
The Mark 29 torpedo was a submarine-launched, acoustic torpedo designed by Westinghouse Electric in 1945 for the United States Navy. It used the same acoustic system as the Mark 28 torpedo but was faster, operated at various depths, had an external depth setter, and could run as either a straight or a homing torpedo. The Mod 1 variant had two speeds, a remote-setting variable enabler and an anti-circular run device.
The Mark 30 mine was an aircraft-launched, antisubmarine torpedo developed by the Brush Development Company during World War II. It was developed as a backup for the Mark 24 mine due to apprehensions regarding the Mark 24's acoustic steering. Three prototypes of the Mark 30 were built and tested in 1943; results were satisfactory. Production of the Mark 30 was never undertaken due to the success of the Mark 24 mine's acoustic steering.
The Mark 31 torpedo was a destroyer-launched acoustic torpedo developed by the Harvard and Pennsylvania State universities during World War II. A modification of the Mark 18 electric torpedo, it was conceived as an interim weapon to be used in the Pacific War until a new high-speed acoustic torpedo could be developed for the United States Navy.
The Mark 32 torpedo was the first active acoustic antisubmarine homing torpedo in United States Navy service. The Mark 32 was withdrawn from service use with the introduction of the Mark 43 torpedo.
The Mark 33 torpedo was the first passive acoustic antisurface ship/antisubmarine homing torpedo intended for the United States Navy to employ a cast aluminum shell. It featured two speeds – high and low, and was meant to be launched from submarines and aircraft.
