PING: Gordon (was: The torpedo high jump...)

On Wed, 09 Jun 2004 18:56:49 -0400, Vince Brannigan wrote:

From time to time someone brings up the photo of a torpedo
streaking out of the water after a helicopter -- and discussion ensues.
That particular photo is a photoshop product, of course, but torpedos
can high jump.
I was looking over a seemingly authorative web page chronicling the
early history of the torpedo (up to WWI), and at the end it mentions a
few "oops" that happened at the Simonstown Naval Base in the early part of
the century. One of them was a torpedo experiencing an elevator malfunction
at 45 knots and shooting 40 feet into the air. The page says the record has
"since been exceeded" but doesn't give details.

I assume you are reporting an urban legend tongue planted firmly in cheek

(in order to get a torpedo to rise vertically it has to first dive to an
appropriate depth, stabilize itself in a near vertical orientation and
maintain that orientation while developing maximum vertical velocity.
simple horizontal velocity won't do it. doesn't sound like an elevator
malfunction

There's a thread you might want to have a look at in SMN...

--

-Jeff B.
yeff at erols dot com