Evening star., 1943-04-24
Nv IRA WOLFERT.

BY lhA WOLFEhI.
1t. LdrSen's detail from NdDy
Torpedo Squadron 8 flies neD
planes from Norfolk, Va, to Hon
olulu. All but one plane are lost
in successful defense OF MidDdy
Island and reorganiSed squadron
aipes marines helping hand at
Guadalcdnal. Torpedo planes 90
to meet 80-ship Jap fleet Without
fighter support.
CHAPTER 10.
The way the Navy wants 1t. lot
OF arithmetic goes into a torpedo
bombing. There is the arithmetic
of the attack, worked out in yards,
feet, inches and split seconds, and
the arithmetic of the defense,
worked out the same way, in equally
split seconds.
The primary objective Of the tor
pedo plane is to get a torpedo into
a ship. A torpedo not only hits
harder than a 1000 pound bomb.
It not only hits where the ship can
least afford to take it, on the line
Davy Jones pay off on. But 1t also
gathers the sea up to help it in
its work of destruction.
A bomb cannot be aimed at the
heart of a ship. 1t can get to 1t
only with luck. But torpedo is
aimed for the heart and gets no.
where but into the heart and bursts
there with all the explosive and
conclusive force of a 2,000-pound
bomb and all the fire of a 1000
pound bomb and then 1t always has
water rushing in on its heels to
compound the injury done. It's a
devil all right, real, regular devil,
working with fire and birthstone
and floods
So that's the major part OF the
lob, to get the torpedo in. But
torpedo plane is expensive and, as
Its crew gains battle experience, is
not quickly replaced. No plane is
ever better than its crew and you
can't turn out torpedo crews with
q Jig or on the home front. A man
cannot learn what he has been
taught until he gets into battle.
That's where the secondary objec-
tive of the torpedo plane comes in.
The primary objective is to stay
alive long enough to get the torpedo
in. The secondary objective is to
come away safely so that the Navy
will have the use Of you again.
For all it's bulk and terrible de-
structive power-power enough to
take ship by the back and break
1t like a dry bone-the aerial tor
pedo is cranky and temperamental
Once it is dropped from the plane,
1t is on its own. 1t runs under its
own power with a propeller of its
own, the propeller winding up the
internal machine and cooking it.
Unless it's been dropped right, with
an eye for waves, wind, height and
distance, the torpedo may kick up
its heels on It's solo run and work
itself right out of the picture.
Difficult Figuring.
The torpedo pilot has to give that
factor No priority In his mind.
He has to come in very low over
the water, to make the drop not too
exciting for the torpedo. and has
to keep his plane at just the right
keel and has to drop at just the
right moment A target that main
tains even altitude and even keel
is the answer to an anti-aircraft
gunner's prayer.
Then the pilot has to reckon on
the vexing fact that his torpedo
is only little faster than warship.
The advantage in speed is actually
no advantage at all because a tor
pedo cannot maneuver and a war
ship can. In fact, as airplanes have
discovered, warship under steam
at sea can be as exasperating as
mercury on the fiat of the hand,
where the best the torpedo will do,
when its temperament has been
salved by the proper handling in
the factory, during shipment, from
the plane, from shackles, from wind
and from water, is run straight.
So the pilot not only has to come
in very low. but he has to go in
real close, close enough practically
to get his paint blistered by by
the heat of the guns muzzles. That
way, the torpedo's run is short and
the warship has less time to use its
talent for maneuvering.
It has been reckoned that the
normal reaction time for one of
those vigorous young Navy men is
one-tenth of a second. That Is, it
takes about one-tenth of a second
for him to do what he has to do
after he sees what it is. The enemy,
it's safe to say, has the same reac-
ton time. He is a vigorous Young
man, too, and great many of those
Japs are quite some men. Anyway,
when you're up against them, it's
wiser to figure on their being quite
some men.
Up to Reflexes.
These petulant little fractions
enter into the thing, too. For, once
the torpedo plane launches itself
into battle, it's all reflex from then
on. It's reflex on the plane and
on the ship the plane is trying to
hit. There is no time for any other
reaction. If a mans ref1eXes jam
up in an action like that, it's the
last thing they ever will do.
The arithmetic of the reflex
gives it all to the warship in dodg-
ing a torpedo and, If that were all
there was to it, there would be no
point in sending torpedo plane in.
But the torpedo pilot feints and
maneuvers before he drops. He
tries to trick the ship into maneuv-
ering into its own grave and. since
he cannot aim at where the ship
Is but where he thinks it will be
when his torpedo gets there. he has
a fair chance of doing it. At least,
he has better chance -han if the
thing were decided entirely by the
arithmetic of reflex.
However. outmaneuvering the tor
pedo Is only the last shot in the
warship's locker. 1t can do num-
ber of other things before it is
reduced to the desperation of hav-
ing to get out of the way. Usually,