LETTERS

MK 16 AND MK 23 TORPEDOES

2 August 1996

1. No Mk 16 torpedoes were outloaded on war patrol against Japan during WWII.
2. The Mark 23 was a high speed only version of the Mk 14, not the Mk 24. It was used interchangeably with the Mk 14-3A during the last 18 months of wwn. For example, my own personal records show that two of the 14 torpedoes that I fired during the sixth war pattol of POGY (SS 266) were Mark 23s. One of them sank the 1-183 off the Bungo Suido in late April 1944

The reason the Mk 23 was produced, and used in large numbers, was because experience bad proved that the low speed feature of the Mk 14 was totally useless:

• To get hits, you needed to have a torpedo run of 2000 yards or less
• Use of low speed almost guaranteed detection and evasion.

Very truly yours,
Rear Admiral Ralph M. Metcalf, USN(Ret.)
14150 Douglass Lane
Sara1oga, Ct 95070

This concerns a recent article in the July REVIEW, pp. 94-99, Post WWII Torpedoes 1945-1959. Your facts concerning the Mk 16 and Mk 23 torpedoes are wrong

An Offer by LING’s Museum

I am proud to offer a special contest to your subscribers. The New Jersey Naval and Maritime Museum is starting the construction phase of our new museum. We have designed the exterior of the building but saved the interior displays for the public to design. We want to know what they want to see.

As a representative of the Board of Trustees, I would like to offer free lifetime admission to the museum and USS LING (SS 297) for anybody that enters this contest. We did not want a contest where there is only one winner. When it comes to preserving history, we are all winners. All we ask is that all designs stay within one story in height and that the displays include the following motifs:

a. Naval History of New Jersey: ex. Washington crossing Delaware, Hindenburgh, etc.
b. Maritime History of New Jersey: ex. Port Authority, Troop embarkation of WWI and II, etc.
c. New Jersey Aquatic Life and Environment: ex. fresh and saltwater animals and surroundings, etc.
d. Famous New Jersey Sailors and Ships: ex. Admiral Bull Halsey, USS NEW JERSEY
e. John Holland and Submarine History: ex. USS LING, design, and development, etc.
f. Native and early New Jersey resident’s use of the water: ex. Lenepe Indians, Dutch and English settlers, etc.

Please have all entries sent to: New Jersey Naval and Maritime Museum, P.O. Box 395, Hackensack, NI 07601-0395. Please call me if you have any questions about this contest (201) 328-3458. All entries must be received by December 15, 1996 to be eligible.

Sincerely,
RJ. Pelkgrino
Director, Public Relations and Acquisitions

A FREMANTLE MEMORIAL

July 3, 1996

Under the heading Submarine Memorials/Museums, NSL may care to log a submarine project soon to get underway down under. Associate Professor John Penrose of Australia’s Curtin University terms the ambitious project “Maritime History Display, Incorporating a Submarine”. His words are found in the forward to Lynne Cairns’ text Fremantle’s Secret Fleets, published in 1995.

On a recent Space Available trip down under, I visited the area at South Wharf, Swan River, Fremantle, West Australia.

The nearby Maritime Museum, among other maritime artifacts, displays a hugh bronze plate inscribed with all the U.S. boat names that ever put to sea out of Fremantle, I was advised that any questions re,arding the above construction should be directed to: Mr. Peter Horobin MBE, Level 33, AIDC Tower, 201 Kent Street, Sydney N.S.W. 2000, Australia. Phone (02) 235-5023 or (041) 991-4964, Fax (02) 251-4440.

M.F. Schaffer

NAVAL WAR COLLEGE AND SUBMARINE STUDIES

As you requested, here is the list of the holders of the Naval War College’s Charles A. Lockwood Chair or Submarine Warfare:

You may receive a correction or two on the dates but don’t believe it if you hear from the War College since their records are in error (they don’t list me as a holder).

Sincerely,
Robert B. Connelly
C.APT, USN(Ret.)
169 America Way
Jamestown, RI 02835

A NEW TORPEOD BOOK

Tom Pellick suggested that I send you a note regarding my new book, Hellions of the Dee,p: The Development of Torpedoes,, in World War II, which has just been published by Penn State Press.

Hellions of The Deep tells the dramatic story of bow Navy planners threw aside the careful procedures of peacetime science and initiated radical research to win the war. Numerous interviews were conducted over a 20 year period with scientists, engineers, physicists, submarine skippers, and Navy bureaucrats, all involved in the development of advanced weapons technology.

Dr. Harvey M. Sapolsky of MIT said about the book, “The U.S. Navy’s failure to provide its submarines with effective
torpedoes was one of the great near disasters of the Second World War. Gannon offers us a finely crafted, thoroughly informative study of the failure and the successful technical effort to develop winning weapons for the fleet.”

It can be ordered from Penn State Press, (800) 326-9180, (Fax (814) 863-1408), 820 N. University Drive, University Park PA 16802. The cost is $28.50, and is a Military Book Club Alternate Selection. If you ask for the RG96 discount, the price will be reduced by 20 percent.

Robert Gannon