The Mark 14 torpedo was troublesome for American submariners during the early days of World War II.
Here s What You Need to Know: Dozens of patrols were wasted, hundreds of American lives lost, and important enemy targets missed.
Lieutenant Dan Daspit, captain of the U.S. submarine Tinosa could not believe his luck. Framed neatly in the periscope eyepiece was a sitting duck. The 19,250-ton Japanese tanker Tonan Maru No. 3 was all alone, dead in the water. Tinosa was on her second war patrol, having left Midway atoll on July 7, 1943. For a week she had been prowling along the Japanese sea routes between Borneo and Truk. On the afternoon of July 24, Daspit spotted a thin trail of gray funnel smoke on the horizon. Remaining submerged, he set up a textbook approach and fired four Mark 14 torpedoes at the ship, which was making only 10 knots. Every one of his “fish” ran true. Thirty seconds later, the sonarman heard the repeated thumps of the torpedoes striking the hull, but no exp