NOVA Online | Hitler's Lost Sub

Sink the Ship

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Fire a Torpedo
by Rick Groleau

The mission of a World War II submarine was usually pretty straightforward: seek out and destroy enemy vessels. To carry out the mission, the submarine relied on the automobile torpedo, a 3,000-pound, 18-foot-long, self-propelled missile consisting of 3,000 precision-built parts.*

How a Torpedo Works reveals the inner workings of a torpedo and how a gyroscope and pendulum control its path through the water.

Firing Procedure puts you in the role of skipper in a Gato-class U.S. submarine and explains, step by step, what you need to do to aim your torpedo at an enemy ship.

Sink the Ship lets you be the specialist in a submarine's torpedo room who is in charge of setting torpedo gyroscopes.

    How a Torpedo Works
    Firing Procedure
    Sink the Ship
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* This is a description of the Mark 14, a U.S.-built torpedo used during WWII. An automobile torpedo is a torpedo that is self propelled.

This feature written with the help of John Fakan, PhD; Skipper, USS Cod.

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