← Back to the front page

Mistakes That Helped Shape U.S. into What it Is Today

Khalid Elhassan October 16, 2019 34 min

20. Stubbornly Conservative Admirals Doomed Many American Submariners

Mark 14 Torpedo. Pacific War Online Encyclopedia

The Mark 14 Torpedo, designed in 1931, was the standard weapon of American submarines when the US entered WWII in 1941. Unlike earlier torpedoes which detonated on impact with a ship’s hull, the Mark 14 had an advanced magnetic detonator that was supposed to set off the explosive charge directly beneath the enemy’s keel and break its back – fatal damage to any ship.

The concept was good, as it meant that just one Mark 14 could sink an enemy ship, regardless of size, unlike its predecessors which frequently required multiple torpedoes. However, secrecy and frugality led to the live testing of only two torpedoes – and one of the two was a failure. A 50% failure rate did not prompt the Navy to conduct further testing, or stop it from approving the Mark 14 and issuing it to the US submarine fleet in 1938.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.