Evening star., 1952-11-11
SUBMARINE:
By comdr. Edword l. Beach, U. S. N.
CHAPTER III.
SeaWOlf.

Without exaggeration, the eff.
fectiveness of our submarine force
was approximately Is per cent of
what it should have been in the
early days of the war. In the
Asiatic Fleet, until its final diSSo-
luton. the percentage of failure
was nearly 100 per cent.
There is no question in the mind
Of any Submariner today that if
the submarines Of that ill-fated
fleet had had the percentage of
successes that was achieved later,
the outcome Of the battles of Cor
regidor and the Java Sea. and
possibly the whole Asiatic Pacific
campaign, might have been much
different.
It was not long before subma-
rinerS knew the answer. Faulty
torpedoesl Our submarines were
being sent to war with defective
weapons.
Time after time, in the early
days of the war, our submarine
shippers reported that their tor
pedoeS were not running where
they were aimed; were not ex-
ploding when they got there; were
going of impotently before they
arrived; or were running in cir
cles, with consequent danger to
the firing ship.
Letter after letter was sent to
the Navy'S Bureau of Ordnance
and to the Naval Torpedo Station
at Newport. Rhode Island. plead
ing that something be done.
But the deSk-bound moguls in
Washington and Newport. from
their deep knowledge and great
experience, were sure they knew
the answer. Fire-control errors in
the excitement of combat, or
sheer lack of competent technique
could only be responsible for the
misses. The torpedo, a mechanical
marvel of perfection. obviously
could go only where it was aimed.
Q.E.D., It must have been i'm
properly aimed, "and don't COM
plain about faulty torpedoes un-
til you can prove the rightful
blame does not lie with your own
personnel"
So wrote the men responsible /
for development Of our torpedoes. /
Sincere and Hard Working.
Submariners are sincere and
Woodworking lot of men. That is
one of their innate characteristics.
fostered by careful selection and
training. Blandly accused of in
efficiency and carelessness, they
redoubled their efforts to make |
successful attacks. Torpedo after
torpedo was fired under ideal cir
cumstances. More often than not
the only reward was the blank
futility of mo explosions"
The story of defective torpedoesI
is a sordid one. and it is part of
the tale of the Seawolf.
Her battle with defective tor
pedoes began on March 81 and
April /, 1912. when she engaged
three Japanese cruisers of Christ
mas Island. For two days her skip
per, 1t. Com. Frederick B. Warder,
remained in the area. almost
the entire time under search and
attack, and delivered three delib-
crate, well-planned topedo attacks
upon three different japanese
cruisers.
Already furious, as were all his
fellows. with unexplainable tor
pedo misses" skipper Freddie
made all his attacks from such
shorterange that failure to hit was
nearly as impossible as 1t was in
excusable. In two cases the target
screws were definitely heard to
stop after the torpedo explosions,
and all indications were that at
the very least all three must have
been damaged.
So Warder reported sinking or
damaging three cruisers. But since
they had been fairly well ident-
flied, it soon became known that
all three ships were still very much
in action.
A high-ranking Japanese naval