18. A Weapon That Was Approved Despite a 50% Test Failure Rate
Unlike earlier American torpedoes which detonated on impact with a target ship’s hull, the Mark 14 Torpedo had an advanced magnetic detonator. It was supposed to set off the torpedo’s explosive charge directly beneath the enemy’s keel and break its back – fatal damage to any ship. The concept was good since it meant that a single Mark 14 would theoretically suffice to sink an enemy ship, regardless of its size. By contrast, earlier designs often required multiple torpedo hits on various spots in an enemy’s ship’s hull in order to hole and sink it.
Unfortunately, the Mark 14 was designed at the height of the Great Depression, when money and military budgets were exceptionally tight. Between frugality and secrecy, no live tests of the Mark 14 were conducted. The magnetic detonator it was to use and upon which great hopes rested, had been live tested only twice on older torpedoes in the 1920s, and in one of the two tests, the detonator had failed to go off. A 50% test failure rate did not give the US Navy pause and prompt it to conduct additional tests.
