Mark 32 torpedo

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Mark 32 torpedo

Mark 32 torpedo diagram.jpg

Diagram of the Mark 32 torpedo
Type Acoustic torpedo [1]
Place of origin United States
Service history
In service 1950-1955 [1]
Used by United States Navy
Production history
Designer General Electric [1]
Ordnance Research Laboratory, Pennsylvania State University
Designed 1950 [1]
Manufacturer Philco [1]
Naval Ordnance Station Forest Park
Leeds and Northrup
No. built 3300 [1]
Specifications
Weight 700 pounds [1]
Length 83 inches [1]
Diameter 19 inches with 25.4-inch fins [1]
Effective firing range 9600 yards [1]
(24-minute search duration)
Warhead Mk 32 Mod 1, HBX [1]
Warhead weight 107 pounds [1]
Detonation
mechanism
 Mk 19 Mods 4 and 11 contact exploder [1]
Engine Electric [1]
Speed 12 knots [1]
Guidance
system
 Helix search [1]
Launch
platform
 Destroyers and aircraft [1]

The Mark 32 torpedo was the first active acoustic antisubmarine homing torpedo in United States Navy service. [1] The Mark 32 was withdrawn from service use with the introduction of the Mark 43 torpedo.

Acoustic torpedo

An acoustic torpedo is a torpedo that aims itself by listening for characteristic sounds of its target or by searching for it using sonar. Acoustic torpedoes are usually designed for medium-range use, and often fired from a submarine.

United States Navy Naval warfare branch of the United States Armed Forces

The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most capable navy in the world and it has been estimated that in terms of tonnage of its active battle fleet alone, it is larger than the next 13 navies combined, which includes 11 U.S. allies or partner nations. with the highest combined battle fleet tonnage and the world's largest aircraft carrier fleet, with eleven in service, and two new carriers under construction. With 319,421 personnel on active duty and 99,616 in the Ready Reserve, the Navy is the third largest of the service branches. It has 282 deployable combat vessels and more than 3,700 operational aircraft as of March 2018, making it the second-largest air force in the world, after the United States Air Force.

Mark 43 torpedo 10" light-weight anti-submarine torpedo

The 10" Mark 43 torpedo was the first and smallest of the United States Navy light-weight anti-submarine torpedoes. This electrically propelled 10-inch (25-cm) torpedo was 92 inches long and weighed 265 pounds (120 kg). Described as "a submersible guided missile", the torpedo was designed for air or surface launch. The Mod 0 configuration was designed for launch from helicopters or fixed-wing aircraft, and the Mod 1 configuration was for helicopters only. Both were electrically driven and deep-diving, but had relatively short range. They were classified as obsolete in the 1960s.

Ten were manufactured by Leeds and Northrup, Philadelphia during War II, and about 3,300 were manufactured by a combination of the Philco Corporation, Philadelphia, and the Naval Ordnance Plant, Forest Park, Illinois. [1]

Philco was a pioneer in battery, radio, and television production. In North America, it is the Philco brand owned by Philips. In other markets, it is the Philco International brand owned by Electrolux.

Naval Ordnance Station Forest Park (NOSF) was in Forest Park, Illinois. It was founded during World War II (1942-1945) as Naval Ordnance Plant Forest Park (NOPF). The Forest Park Station was instrumental in building torpedoes for the Navy, employing up to 6,500 workers and producing 19,000 torpedoes. Torpedo production was halted in 1945 and research and development was performed until the main plant was shuttered and converted into a mall in 1971. The remaining facilities were turned into a Naval Reserve Center until it was finally closed in April 2007.

Forest Park, Illinois Village in Illinois, United States

Forest Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, United States. The population was 14,167 at the 2010 census. The Forest Park terminal on the CTA Blue Line is the line's western terminus, located on the Eisenhower Expressway at Des Plaines Avenue.

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<i>Gearing</i>-class destroyer Class of American destroyers

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Mark 54 Lightweight Torpedo torpedo

The Mark 54 Lightweight Torpedo is a standard 12.75 inch (324 mm) anti-submarine warfare (ASW) torpedo used by the United States Navy.

Sting Ray (torpedo) torpedo

The Sting Ray torpedo is a current British acoustic homing light-weight torpedo (LWT) manufactured by GEC-Marconi, who were later bought out by BAE Systems. It entered service in 1983.

Mark 44 torpedo US light-weight anti-submarine torpedo

The Mark 44 torpedo is a now-obsolete air-launched and ship-launched lightweight torpedo manufactured in the United States, and under licence in Canada, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom, with 10,500 being produced for U.S. service. It was superseded by the Mark 46 torpedo, beginning in the late 1960s. The Royal Australian Navy, however, continued to use it alongside its successor for a number of years, because the Mark 44 was thought to have superior performance in certain shallow-water conditions.

Mark 32 Surface Vessel Torpedo Tubes torpedo launching system designed for the United States Navy

The Mark 32 Surface Vessel Torpedo Tubes system is a torpedo launching system designed for the United States Navy. The Mark 32 has been the standard anti-submarine torpedo launching system aboard United States Navy surface vessels since its introduction in 1960, and is in use aboard the warships of several other navies.

Howell torpedo early type of U.S. Navy torpedo

The Howell Automobile Torpedo was the first self-propelled torpedo produced in quantity by the United States Navy, which referred to it as the Howell Mark I torpedo. It was conceived by Lieutenant Commander John A. Howell, United States Navy, in 1870, using a 60 kg (130 lb) flywheel spun at a very high speed to store energy and drive propellers.

Aerial torpedo naval torpedo designed to be launched by aircraft or helicopters

An aerial torpedo, airborne torpedo or air-dropped torpedo is a naval weapon, a torpedo, that an aircraft—fixed-wing aircraft or helicopter—drops in the water, after which the weapon propels itself to the target. First used in World War I, air-dropped torpedoes were used extensively in World War II, and remain in limited use. Aerial torpedoes are generally smaller and lighter than submarine- and surface-launched torpedoes.

Mark 14 torpedo

The Mark 14 torpedo was the United States Navy's standard submarine-launched anti-ship torpedo of World War II. This weapon was plagued with many problems which crippled its performance early in the war. It was supplemented by the Mark 18 electric torpedo in the last two years of the war. Nonetheless, the Mark 14 played a major role in the devastating blow U.S. Navy submarines dealt to the Japanese naval and merchant marine forces during the Pacific War.

Mark 18 torpedo

The Mark 18 torpedo was an electric torpedo used by the United States Navy during World War II. The Mark 18 was the first electric storage battery torpedo manufactured for the US Navy and it was designed primarily for use as a submarine-launched torpedo.

There have been a number of 18-inch torpedoes in service with the United Kingdom.

There have been several British 21-inch (533 mm) diameter torpedoes used by the Royal Navy since their first development just before the First World War.

The Mark 10 torpedo was a torpedo put into use by the United States in 1915. It was derived from the Mark 9 aircraft torpedo converted to submarine use. It was used as the primary torpedo in the R- and S-class submarines. It used alcohol-water steam turbine propulsion. It was succeeded by the problematic Mark 14 torpedo, but remained in service in S-boats & fleet submarines through the Pacific War. The Mark 10 featured the largest warhead of any U.S. torpedo developed at that time. Stockpiles of Mark 10 Mod 3 torpedoes were used extensively during the first part of World War II due to short supply of the newer and longer (246 in Mark 14s, with some fleet submarines carrying a mixture of both types on patrol.

Bliss-Leavitt torpedo

The Bliss-Leavitt torpedo was a torpedo designed by Frank McDowell Leavitt and manufactured by the E. W. Bliss Company of Brooklyn, New York. It was put into service by the United States Navy in 1904 and variants of the design would remain in its inventory until the end of World War II.

The Whitehead Mark 1 torpedo was the first Whitehead torpedo adopted by the United States Navy for use in an anti-surface ship role after the E. W. Bliss Company of Brooklyn, New York secured manufacturing rights in 1892. The US Navy made an initial acquisition of 100 Mark 1s, which, by the time they entered American service, were faster, had longer range and carried a larger warhead than Robert Whitehead's earlier models.

Whitehead Mark 3 torpedo

The Whitehead Mark 3 torpedo was a Whitehead torpedo adopted by the United States Navy for use in an anti-surface ship role after the E. W. Bliss Company of Brooklyn, New York secured manufacturing rights in 1892.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Jolie, E.W. (15 September 1978). "A Brief History of US Navy Torpedo Development: Torpedo Mine Mk32" . Retrieved 21 June 2013.

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