1988–present (ADCAP)
171-456: The Mark 48 and its improved Advanced Capability ( ADCAP ) variant are American heavyweight submarine-launched torpedoes . They were designed to sink deep-diving nuclear-powered submarines and high-performance surface ships. The Mark 48 was initially developed as REsearch TORpedo Concept II ( RETORC II ), one of several weapons recommended for implementation by Project Nobska , a 1956 summer study on submarine warfare . The Mk-48 torpedo
342-414: A differential gear to twin contra-rotating propellers. If one drum was rotated faster than the other, then the rudder was activated. The other ends of the wires were connected to steam-powered winding engines, which were arranged so that speeds could be varied within fine limits, giving sensitive steering control for the torpedo. The torpedo attained a speed of 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) using
513-478: A "torpedo" is an underwater self-propelled explosive, but historically, the term also applied to primitive naval mines and spar torpedoes . These were used on an ad hoc basis during the early modern period up to the late 19th century. In the early 17th century, the Dutchman Cornelius Drebbel , in the employ of King James I of England , invented the spar torpedo; he attached explosives to the end of
684-744: A European combat system linked to American weapons, and desires to increase the political and military ties between Australia and the United States resulted in the cancellation of the tender program in July 2001 and the decision to enter a joint development program with the United States, with a formal agreement signed on 10 September 2001 at the Pentagon. The replacement program received Australian government approval in September 2002. The second combat system development program proceeded with far fewer problems, and took
855-516: A Mod 7 version was test fired in 2008 in Exercise RIMPAC . The inventory of the U.S. Navy in 2001 was 1,046 Mk-48 torpedoes. In 2017 Lockheed's production was approximately 50 per year. The Mk-48 torpedo is designed to be launched from submarine torpedo tubes. The weapon is carried by all U.S. Navy submarines, including Ohio -class ballistic missile submarines and Seawolf -, Los Angeles -, and Virginia -class attack submarines . It
1026-431: A batch of 50 as torpedo production at home and Rijeka could not meet demand. By World War I, Whitehead's torpedo remained a worldwide success, and his company was able to maintain a monopoly on torpedo production. By that point, his torpedo had grown to a diameter of 18 inches with a maximum speed of 30.5 knots (56.5 km/h; 35.1 mph) with a warhead weighing 170 pounds (77 kg). Whitehead faced competition from
1197-731: A beam affixed to one of his submarines. These were used (to little effect) during the English expeditions to La Rochelle in 1626. The first use of a torpedo by a submarine was in 1775, by the American Turtle , which attempted to lay a bomb with a timed fuse on the hull of HMS Eagle during the American Revolutionary War , but failed in the attempt. In the early 1800s, the American inventor Robert Fulton , while in France, "conceived
1368-624: A demonstration in late 1869, and in 1870 a batch of torpedoes was ordered. In 1871, the British Admiralty paid Whitehead £ 15,000 for certain of his developments and production started at the Royal Laboratories in Woolwich the following year. In the 1880s, a British committee, informed by hydrodynamicist Dr. R. E. Froude , conducted comparative tests and determined that a blunt nose, contrary to prior assumptions, did not hinder speed: in fact,
1539-604: A depth just beneath the ship, relying on a magnetic exploder to activate at the appropriate time. Germany, Britain, and the U.S. independently devised ways to do this; German and American torpedoes, however, suffered problems with their depth-keeping mechanisms, coupled with faults in magnetic pistols shared by all designs. Inadequate testing had failed to reveal the effect of the Earth's magnetic field on ships and exploder mechanisms, which resulted in premature detonation. The Kriegsmarine and Royal Navy promptly identified and eliminated
1710-524: A factory at St Tropez in 1890 that exported torpedoes to Brazil, The Netherlands, Turkey, and Greece. Whitehead purchased rights to the gyroscope of Ludwig Obry in 1888 but it was not sufficiently accurate, so in 1890 he purchased a better design to improve control of his designs, which came to be called the "Devil's Device". The firm of L. Schwartzkopff in Germany also produced torpedoes and exported them to Russia, Japan, and Spain. In 1885, Britain ordered
1881-599: A new design to replace the RAN's Oberon -class submarines began in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Proposals were received from seven companies; two were selected for a funded study to determine the winning design, which was announced in mid-1987. The submarines, enlarged versions of Swedish shipbuilder Kockums ' Västergötland class and originally referred to as the Type 471, were constructed between 1990 and 2003 in South Australia by
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#17330928768792052-462: A night-time approach so that the target ship would be less able to defend itself. Fiske determined that the notional torpedo bomber should descend rapidly in a sharp spiral to evade enemy guns, then when about 10 to 20 feet (3 to 6 m) above the water the aircraft would straighten its flight long enough to line up with the torpedo's intended path. The aircraft would release the torpedo at a distance of 1,500 to 2,000 yards (1,400 to 1,800 m) from
2223-484: A number which was revised to between four and eight boats by the start of 1983, and later settled on the acquisition of six submarines, with the option to order two more. The development of the submarine commenced in May 1983, when the government released a request for tender and approached seven of the world's nine diesel-electric submarine manufacturers for submissions. The submissions would be narrowed down to two based on
2394-472: A pair of 24.5-inch torpedoes from her port-side tube and claimed one hit. According to Ludovic Kennedy , "if true, [this is] the only instance in history of one battleship torpedoing another". The Royal Navy continued the development of oxygen-enriched air torpedoes with the 21 in. Mk. VII of the 1920s designed for the County-class cruisers although once again these were converted to run on normal air at
2565-595: A pro-Kockums bias, investigations into perceived coaching of IDL/HDW representatives in the questions to be asked at an ALP Caucus briefing session on the project, and public emphasis on security incidents in both Sweden and West Germany. These incidents either lacked supporting evidence or were proven false, and were the result of the Liberal Party attempting to discredit the Labor government, or pro-British politicians and organisations who believed both submarines were inferior to
2736-580: A production facility at the Royal Naval Torpedo Factory, Greenock , in 1910. These are now closed. Whitehead opened a new factory adjacent to Portland Harbour , England, in 1890, which continued making torpedoes until the end of World War II . Because orders from the RN were not as large as expected, torpedoes were mostly exported. A series of devices was produced at Rijeka, with diameters from 14 in (36 cm) upward. The largest Whitehead torpedo
2907-627: A radio guidance system for Allied torpedoes, it intended to use frequency-hopping technology to defeat the threat of jamming by the Axis powers . As radio guidance had been abandoned some years earlier, it was not pursued. Although the US Navy never adopted the technology, it did, in the 1960s, investigate various spread-spectrum techniques. Spread-spectrum techniques are incorporated into Bluetooth technology and are similar to methods used in legacy versions of Wi-Fi . This work led to their induction into
3078-451: A self-propelled underwater explosive device. While the 19th-century battleship had evolved primarily with a view to engagements between armored warships with large-caliber guns , the invention and refinement of torpedoes from the 1860s onwards allowed small torpedo boats and other lighter surface vessels , submarines / submersibles , even improvised fishing boats or frogmen , and later light aircraft , to destroy large ships without
3249-537: A success against an Austrian-Hungarian squadron , sinking the battleship SMS Szent István with two torpedoes. The Royal Navy had been experimenting with ways to further increase the range of torpedoes during World War 1 using pure oxygen instead of compressed air, this work ultimately leading to the development of the oxygen-enriched air 24.5 in. Mk. I intended originally for the G3-class battlecruisers and N3 class battleships of 1921, both being cancelled due to
3420-473: A system with a distributed architecture , despite the absence of an accepted definition for ' distributed computing ' at that time, and had to show the cost of programming the software in Ada , although they could offer additional cost breakdowns for other programming languages. By May 1985, three months behind schedule, the review board narrowed the tenders down to two contenders in each group: IKL/HDW and Kockums for
3591-595: A torpedo against the Ottoman cruiser "Medjidieh". The end of the Russo-Japanese War fuelled new theories, and the idea of dropping lightweight torpedoes from aircraft was conceived in the early 1910s by Bradley A. Fiske , an officer in the United States Navy . Awarded a patent in 1912, Fiske worked out the mechanics of carrying and releasing the aerial torpedo from a bomber , and defined tactics that included
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#17330928768793762-584: A tubular device, designed to run underwater on its own, and powered by compressed air. The result was a submarine weapon, the Minenschiff (mine ship), the first modern self-propelled torpedo, officially presented to the Austrian Imperial Naval commission on 21 December 1866. The first trials were not successful as the weapon was unable to maintain a course at a steady depth. After much work, Whitehead introduced his "secret" in 1868 which overcame this. It
3933-443: A variety of reasons. Most failures were attributed to the fifteen-tank diesel fuel system: the tanks were designed to fill with salt water as they were emptied to maintain neutral buoyancy , but water would regularly enter the engines due to a combination of poor design, gravity separation of the fuel and water being insufficient, and operator error resulting from poor training. Problems were also caused by bacterial contamination of
4104-483: A white board, the aerofoil issue with the Dorsal – Sail conning tower structure showing that the aspect ratio (span (height) to chord (width)) was too short and that severe turbulence / cavitation would be generated by such a design. This was demonstrated again on the white board using aircraft aerofoil wing shapes as a basis for the discussion. That the turbulence / cavitation generated would, by natural rearward flow, move down
4275-526: A wider frequency band, taking advantage of broadband signal processing techniques to greatly improve search, acquisition, and attack effectiveness. This version is much more resistant to enemy countermeasures. On July 25, 2008 a MK 48 Mod 7 CBASS torpedo fired by an Australian Collins -class submarine, HMAS Waller , successfully sank a test target during the Rim of the Pacific 2008 ( RIMPAC ) exercises. In 2015
4446-501: A wire 1.0 millimetre (0.04 in) in diameter but later this was changed to 1.8 mm (0.07 in) to increase the speed to 27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph). The torpedo was fitted with elevators controlled by a depth-keeping mechanism, and the fore and aft rudders operated by the differential between the drums. Brennan traveled to Britain, where the Admiralty examined the torpedo and found it unsuitable for shipboard use. However,
4617-427: Is also used on Canadian, Australian, and Dutch submarines . Mk-48 and Mk-48 ADCAP torpedoes can be guided from a submarine by wires attached to the torpedo. They can also use their own active or passive sensors to execute programmed target search, acquisition, and attack procedures. The torpedo is designed to detonate under the keel of a surface ship, breaking the keel and destroying its structural integrity. In
4788-512: Is still in limited service in the 21st century. The improved Mark VIII** was used in two particularly notable incidents; on 6 February 1945 the only intentional wartime sinking of one submarine by another while both were submerged took place when HMS Venturer sank the German submarine U-864 with four Mark VIII** torpedoes and on 2 May 1982 when the Royal Navy submarine HMS Conqueror sank
4959-559: The Anzac -class frigate project a few years later. The Australian Submarine Corporation construction facility was established on previously undeveloped land on the bank of the Port River , at Osborne, South Australia . Work on the site began on 29 June 1987, and it was opened in November 1989. South Australia was selected as the site of the construction facility based on the proposed location of
5130-651: The Attack class . On 15 September 2021, in the face of growing delays and cost increases, the Australian government announced the cancellation of the contract with Naval Group, and that the replacement will be a nuclear-powered submarine fleet made in partnership with the United Kingdom and the United States . The proposal for a new type of submarine to replace the Oberon class of diesel-electric submarines began in July 1978, when
5301-399: The "fast track" program , Dechaineux and Sheean were fitted with the old Rockwell combat system, which was enhanced by the addition of sub-systems developed during the early 1980s for the Oberon -class mid-life upgrade and commercial off-the-shelf components. Even with the enhanced system, it was believed that the capabilities of the fast track Collins boats was at best equivalent to
Mark 48 torpedo - Misplaced Pages Continue
5472-537: The 1996 federal election , and Beazley became Leader of the Opposition . During the mid-1990s, it was recommended on several occasions that the submarine project be abandoned, and the completed submarines and incomplete hulls be broken up for scrap. Following the McIntosh-Prescott Report , which indicated the long-term faults with the class that still required solving, successful efforts were made to bring
5643-466: The American Civil War , the term torpedo was used for what is today called a contact mine , floating on or below the water surface using an air-filled demijohn or similar flotation device. These devices were very primitive and apt to prematurely explode. They would be detonated on contact with the ship or after a set time, although electrical detonators were also occasionally used. USS Cairo
5814-551: The Australasian region, that they be equipped with a combat system advanced enough to promote a long service life, that appropriate and sustainable infrastructure be established in Australia to construct the boats, then provide maintenance and technical support for their operational lifespan, and that the submarines were capable of peacetime and emergency operations in addition to their hunter-killer role. Ten submarines were envisioned,
5985-646: The Australian Industry Development Corporation to create the Australian Submarine Corporation . During the study, various accusations of foul play by or unsuitability of both submarine designers were made by Australian politicians and the media. These included claims that the centre-left Australian Labor Party (ALP) and the Swedish Social Democratic Party , both in power at the time, would lead to
6156-521: The Australian Labor Party and several trade unions. The proposal was accepted by the defence operational requirements committee in August 1978, and the project was given the procurement designation of SEA 1114. Approval for the development phase of the project was given in the 1981–82 federal budget. The RAN had four main requirements: that the submarines were tailored to operating conditions in
6327-444: The Australian Submarine Corporation (ASC). The submarines have been the subject of many incidents and technical problems since the design phase, including accusations of foul play and bias during the design selection, improper handling of design changes during construction, major capability deficiencies in the first submarines, and ongoing technical problems throughout the early life of the class. These problems have been compounded by
6498-573: The Battle of Tsushima , Admiral Rozhestvensky 's flagship , the battleship Knyaz Suvorov , had been gunned to a wreck by Admiral Tōgō 's 12-inch gunned battleline . With the Russians sunk and scattering, Tōgō prepared for pursuit, and while doing so ordered his torpedo boat destroyers (TBDs) (mostly referred to as just destroyers in most written accounts) to finish off the Russian battleship. Knyaz Suvorov
6669-609: The Battle of the Atlantic and the Pacific War. Torpedo boats, such as MTBs , PT boats , or S-boats , enabled the relatively small but fast craft to carry enough firepower, in theory, to destroy a larger ship, though this rarely occurred in practice. The largest warship sunk by torpedoes from small craft in World War II was the British cruiser Manchester , sunk by Italian MAS boats on
6840-561: The Battle of the North Cape in December 1943, torpedo hits from British destroyers Savage and Saumarez slowed the German battleship Scharnhorst enough for the British battleship Duke of York to catch and sink her, and in May 1945 the British 26th Destroyer Flotilla (coincidentally led by Saumarez again) ambushed and sank Japanese heavy cruiser Haguro . During World War II , Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil developed
7011-569: The British Empire for more than fifteen years. The Royal Navy frigate HMS Shah was the first naval vessel to fire a self-propelled torpedo in anger during the Battle of Pacocha against rebel Peruvian ironclad Huáscar on 29 May 1877. The Peruvian ship successfully outran the device. On 16 January 1878, the Turkish steamer Intibah became the first vessel to be sunk by self-propelled torpedoes, launched from torpedo boats operating from
Mark 48 torpedo - Misplaced Pages Continue
7182-579: The CSIRO and an unofficial advisor to Moore, and John Prescott, a former BHP director, to investigate the project, uncover the problems with the submarines, and suggest ways of solving them. The Report to the Minister for Defence on the Collins class submarine and related matters (commonly referred to as the McIntosh-Prescott Report ) was compiled in ten weeks, and released on 1 June 1999. This report concluded that
7353-459: The Collins class was incapable of performing at the required level for military operations. Although the report highlighted several elements of the submarine design that performed to or beyond expectations, and acknowledged that many of the publicised problems had been or were in the process of being fixed, it presented the propulsion system, combat system, and excessive noise as ongoing problems across
7524-527: The Collins combat system, to Boeing . Boeing attempted to produce a workable combat system, but believed that this could only be done if the changes in technology were accounted for in a contract alteration, which the RAN and the Australian Government initially refused to do. Boeing then requested assistance from Raytheon , and after further negotiations with the Government resulted in a reduction of
7695-530: The First Sino-Japanese War in 1894. At this time torpedo attacks were still very close range and very dangerous to the attackers. Several western sources reported that the Qing dynasty Imperial Chinese military, under the direction of Li Hongzhang , acquired electric torpedoes, which they deployed in numerous waterways, along with fortresses and numerous other modern military weapons acquired by China. At
7866-613: The National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014. Because of improved submarine strength and speed, torpedoes had to be given improved warheads and better motors. During the Cold War torpedoes were an important asset with the advent of nuclear-powered submarines , which did not have to surface often, particularly those carrying strategic nuclear missiles . Collins-class submarine The Collins -class submarines are Australian-built diesel-electric submarines operated by
8037-404: The Oberon class was machinery noise transmitted through the hull; this was successfully avoided during construction of the Collins class by mounting machinery on platforms isolated from the hull. Noise testing during 1996 and 1997 found that the hydrodynamic noise signature—the noise made by a submarine passing through the water—was excessive, particularly at high speed. The shape of the hull
8208-610: The Oberon s. Lockheed Martin , Thales , STN Atlas , and Raytheon were approached to provide tenders to design and assemble a new combat system for the submarines, with all four submitting proposals during early 2000. In May 2000, after the DSTO tested operational versions of the proposed combat software packages, the Lockheed and Thales tenders were eliminated, despite the Thales proposal being rated better than Raytheon's. After indepth testing of
8379-540: The Royal Australian Navy (RAN). The Collins class takes its name from Australian Vice Admiral John Augustine Collins ; each of the six submarines is named after significant RAN personnel who distinguished themselves in action during World War II . The six vessels were the first submarines built in Australia, prompting widespread improvements in Australian industry and delivering a sovereign (Australian controlled) sustainment/maintenance capability. Planning for
8550-620: The Tientsin Arsenal in 1876, the Chinese developed the capacity to manufacture these "electric torpedoes" on their own. Although a form of Chinese art, the Nianhua , depict such torpedoes being used against Russian ships during the Boxer Rebellion , whether they were actually used in battle against them is undocumented and unknown. The Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) was the first great war of
8721-724: The War Office proved more amenable, and in early August 1881, a special Royal Engineer committee was instructed to inspect the torpedo at Chatham and report back directly to the Secretary of State for War, Hugh Childers . The report strongly recommended that an improved model be built at government expense. In 1883 an agreement was reached between the Brennan Torpedo Company and the government. The newly appointed Inspector-General of Fortifications in England, Sir Andrew Clarke , appreciated
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#17330928768798892-618: The War of 1812 broke out, the Royal Navy established a blockade of the East Coast of the United States . During the war, American forces unsuccessfully attempted to destroy the British ship of the line HMS Ramillies while it was lying at anchor in New London, Connecticut 's harbor with torpedoes launched from small boats. This prompted the captain of Ramillies , Sir Thomas Hardy, 1st Baronet , to warn
9063-529: The Washington Naval Treaty . Initially, the Imperial Japanese Navy purchased Whitehead or Schwartzkopf torpedoes but by 1917, like the Royal Navy, they were conducting experiments with pure oxygen instead of compressed air. Because of explosions they abandoned the experiments but resumed them in 1926 and by 1933 had a working torpedo. They also used conventional wet heater torpedoes. In
9234-404: The fin , and the rear of the submarine, focused the displaced water into two turbulent streams; when the seven propeller blades hit these streams, the propeller's vibration was increased, causing cavitation. These problems were fixed by modifying the casing of the submarine with fiberglass fairings. During trials of the first submarines, the propulsion system was found to be prone to failure for
9405-496: The inter-war years , financial stringency caused nearly all navies to skimp on testing their torpedoes. Only the British and Japanese had fully tested new technologies for torpedoes (in particular the Type 93 , nicknamed Long Lance postwar by the US official historian Samuel E. Morison ) at the start of World War II. Unreliable torpedoes caused many problems for the American submarine force in
9576-536: The 20th century. During the war the Imperial Russian and Imperial Japanese navies launched nearly 300 torpedoes at each other, all of them of the "self-propelled automotive" type. The deployment of these new underwater weapons resulted in one battleship, two armored cruisers, and two destroyers being sunk in action, with the remainder of the roughly 80 warships being sunk by the more conventional methods of gunfire, mines, and scuttling . On 27 May 1905, during
9747-459: The A$ 1.17 billion allocated to the fast track program, only A$ 143 million was required to fix problems where the submarines did not correspond with the original contract: the rest was used to update components that were technologically obsolete and make changes to the submarines beyond the contract specifications. When the fast track program is factored in, the Collins class cost just under 20% more than
9918-443: The ASC facility in April 2001 for a year-long maintenance docking, multiple welding defects were found in the bow and escape tower sections of the submarine (the two sections constructed by Kockums), while almost no problems were found in the welding of the four Australian-built sections. Repairing these welds quadrupled the time Collins spent in dock. The noise made by the submarines, which compromised their ability to stay hidden,
10089-453: The American Lieutenant Commander John A. Howell , whose design , driven by a flywheel , was simpler and cheaper. It was produced from 1885 to 1895, and it ran straight, leaving no wake. A Torpedo Test Station was set up in Rhode Island in 1870. The Howell torpedo was the only United States Navy model until an American company, Bliss and Williams secured manufacturing rights to produce Whitehead torpedoes. These were put into service for
10260-454: The Americans to cease using this "cruel and unheard-of warfare" or he would "order every house near the shore to be destroyed". The fact that Hardy had been previously so lenient and considerate to the Americans led them to abandon such attempts with immediate effect. Torpedoes were used by the Russian Empire during the Crimean War in 1855 against British warships in the Gulf of Finland . They used an early form of chemical detonator. During
10431-525: The Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano with two Mark VIII** torpedoes during the Falklands War . This is the only sinking of a surface ship by a nuclear-powered submarine in wartime and the second (of three) sinkings of a surface ship by any submarine since the end of World War II). The other two sinkings were of the Indian frigate INS Khukri and the South Korean corvette ROKS Cheonan . Many classes of surface ships, submarines, and aircraft were armed with torpedoes. Naval strategy at
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#173309287687910602-423: The Australian Government over the nature of problems, their causes, and who was responsible for solving them. Media reporting of the problems during the mid-1990s was often negative and exaggerated, creating poor public perception. This was aided by politicians, who used the shortcomings to politically attack the Labor Party and Kim Beazley, particularly after Labor was defeated by the Liberal-National Coalition in
10773-459: The Australian Industry Development Corporation, with some of Kockums' shares then sold to James Hardie Industries to maintain an Australian majority ownership of the company. On 5 April 2000, the shares in ASC held by Kockums were bought out and the company was nationalised , despite a trend at the time to privatise government-owned companies. At the end of 2003, a contract to maintain the Collins class worth $ 3.5 billion over 25 years
10944-458: The British government to employ his 'catamaran' against the French. An April 1804 torpedo attack on French ships anchored at Boulogne, and a follow-up attack in October, produced several explosions but no significant damage and the weapon was abandoned. Fulton carried out a demonstration for the US government on 20 July 1807, destroying a vessel in New York's harbor. Further development languished as Fulton focused on his "steam-boat matters". After
11115-405: The French engineering firm Jeumont-Schneider . The contract for construction of six submarines was signed on 3 June and valued at A$ 3.9 billion in 1986 prices, with allowances for inflation and the changing value of the Australian dollar. The submarine acquisition project was at the time the most expensive project ever undertaken by the Australian Defence Force , but was unseated from this title by
11286-470: The IKL/HDW Type 2000 was the best design offered, the Walrus class was rated as 'fair', while Kockums' and Vickers' proposals were considered 'marginal' contenders. However, none of the tenders completely matched the desired RAN specifications, and the two proposals selected would have to be redesigned during the funded study. The combat data system was procured separately to the submarine design; 14 companies were identified as capable of providing what
11457-420: The RAN director of submarine policy prepared a paper detailing the need to start considering a replacement for the ageing Oberon s. The paper also raised the suggestion that the majority of the submarines be constructed in Australia and that the number of submarines be increased beyond the six Oberon s. Building the submarines in Australia was initially met with reactions predicting an impossible task because of
11628-415: The RAN until 27 July 1996; eighteen months behind schedule, because of several delays and problems, most relating to the provision and installation of the combat data system software. Collins was not approved for operational deployments until 2000. The other five submarines were scheduled for completion at 12-month intervals. However, the series of defects and problems encountered during sea trials of
11799-511: The RAN wanted full penetration welding, but had not made this clear; delays in delivering the steel plates to Kockums resulted in rushed work and a resulting drop in quality. Kockums engineers proposed that the section be kept in Sweden for repairs, but to minimise delays it was accepted as-is, with repairs attempted at ASC during full assembly of the first boat. Kockums sent welders and inspection technicians to ASC in order to assist in undertaking these repairs. However, when Collins returned to
11970-403: The RAN wanted, from which eight were approached in January 1983 with a separate request for tender. Five responded: a consortium led by Rockwell International of the United States, Plessey of the United Kingdom, Signaal of the Netherlands, Sintra Alcatel of France, and a collaboration between the German Krupp Atlas Elektronik and the British Ferranti . Each tender was required to offer
12141-484: The RAN: in service with another navy, well tested, and with all the problems solved before they entered Australian hands. The RAN began to realise that as the parent navy for the class, they had a greater responsibility than normal in ensuring that the boats were at an operational standard. During assembly of Collins ' bow and escape tower sections in Sweden, multiple defects in the hull welding were discovered. Different reasons were given by different parties for
12312-466: The Swedish company was dissatisfied with the Australian actions; the dispatch of the propellers was one of the points of contention in the company's legal action in the mid-2000s against the Australian government over ownership of the intellectual property rights to the submarine's design. Other propulsion problems included excessive motor vibrations at certain speeds which damaged various components (which
12483-567: The Type ;471 bid, and outcries from the IKL and HDW groups, which questioned the validity of the recalculations and if the Australian evaluators had the experience to do this correctly. Analysis of the two combat system proposals saw Signaal fall out of favour with the tender reviewers. This was primarily attributed to a cost-reducing re-design late in the process: the changes were not fully documented because of time constraints. Supporting documentation
12654-603: The U.S. Navy in 1892. Five varieties were produced, all 18-inch diameter. The Royal Navy introduced the Brotherhood wet heater engine in 1907 with the 18 in. Mk. VII & VII* which greatly increased the speed and/or range over compressed air engines and wet heater type engines became the standard in many major navies up to and during the Second World War. Ships of the line were superseded by ironclads , large steam-powered ships with heavy gun armament and heavy armor, in
12825-668: The USN announced plans to restart production and seek a more modular design. Lockheed Martin is to upgrade existing Mark 48s to include a new guidance-control system known as the Common Broadband Advanced Sonar System (CBASS), in addition to improving propulsion and resistance to electronic countermeasures . Starting in 2003, the US Navy began the Stealth Torpedo Enhancement Program which aims to upgrade
12996-499: The USN twenty-one months into the Pacific War. British submarines used torpedoes to interdict the Axis supply shipping to North Africa , while Fleet Air Arm Swordfish sank three Italian battleships at Taranto by a torpedo and (after a mistaken, but abortive, attack on Sheffield ) scored one crucial hit in the hunt for the German battleship Bismarck . Large tonnages of merchant shipping were sunk by submarines with torpedoes in both
13167-637: The Vickers Type 2400 offering. The Dibb Report on the state of the Australian Defence Force was released in March 1986; it included advice that if the submarine project cost increased too much, the boats' capabilities should be scaled back to save money. Around the same time, Federal Treasurer Paul Keating began efforts to tighten fiscal policy and cut government spending across all portfolios. Consequently, despite his enthusiastic support for
13338-451: The appropriate quality control certifications for Defence projects, but by 1998 this had increased to over 1,500. Although the acquisition project organisers originally planned for the first submarine to be constructed overseas, the Cabinet decided as part of the project's approval that all six submarines would be built in Australia; the increases in construction time and cost from not building
13509-402: The autopilot (which aboard Collins was nicknamed 'Sven') was found to be better at maintaining depth during snorting than most helmsmen. However, problems with the combat system, excessive noise, and engine breakdowns were recurring and appeared across the entire class. These and other shortcomings were often made harder to solve by disagreements between Kockums, ASC, Rockwell, the RAN, and
13680-487: The battery compartment exhaust fans were noise-creating factors found and eliminated during studies by the DSTO. In March 2010, the Department of Defence revealed that the generators in five of the submarines were flawed and had to be replaced. The three generators aboard each of the five submarines are to be replaced in the submarines as they come in for their next maintenance docking . The periscopes had two problems,
13851-467: The blunt nose provided a speed advantage of approximately one knot compared to the traditional pointed nose design. This discovery allowed for larger explosive payloads and increased air storage for propulsion without compromising speed. In 1893, RN torpedo production was transferred to the Royal Gun Factory . The British later established a Torpedo Experimental Establishment at HMS Vernon and
14022-445: The capability of the existing Mk 48 design by implementing alternative fuel sources including electric fuel cells, and a "swim out" capability, a capability that allows a torpedo to leave the tube under its own power without using a torpedo tube's noisier compressed air launch system. The program is ongoing, with many details yet classified. Torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below
14193-421: The class. After identifying the combat system as the central problem, McIntosh and Prescott recommended that it be scrapped entirely and replaced with a system based on commercially available equipment and software. They also claimed that these problems were caused by poor design and manufacture; inappropriate design requirements; deficiencies in the structure of the contract, particularly with regards to modifying
14364-433: The combat system, although this meant that Singer Librascope, which had prior experience in creating submarine combat systems, was reduced to a minor role in the project. Other major problems with the system, to which most of the later difficulties were attributed, were that the original concept was beyond the technology of the day, and that the system architecture required by the RAN was both overly ambitious and flawed. This
14535-408: The complete system had been delivered. Sea trials of Collins were unable to commence until Release 1.5 of the combat system software was delivered; because of ongoing delays in the provision of the software, the early phases of the trials were completed using stand-alone equipment By March 1994, the combat system had become the major area of concern for the submarine project: assembly of the system
14706-440: The concepts presented in the initial proposals. As part of this process, the two submarine designers were required to establish a consortium with at least 50% Australian ownership: IKL/HDW joined with Eglo Engineering to form Australian Marine Systems , while Kockums (which had originally planned to work with Eglo) became part of a joint venture with the Australian branch of Chicago Bridge & Iron , Wormald International , and
14877-705: The construction of the first purpose-built operational torpedo aircraft, the Short Type 184 , built-in 1915. An order for ten aircraft was placed, and 936 aircraft were built by ten different British aircraft companies during the First World War . The two prototype aircraft were embarked upon HMS Ben-my-Chree , which sailed for the Aegean on 21 March 1915 to take part in the Gallipoli campaign . On 12 August 1915 one of these, piloted by Flight Commander Charles Edmonds ,
15048-432: The contract cost. As of the launch of the first submarine, the project cost had increased from A$ 3.892 billion in 1986 dollars to A$ 4.989 billion in 1993 dollars, which corresponded to the rate of inflation during that period. By 2006, A$ 5.071 billion had been spent to build the submarines (excluding the fast track program); after taking inflation into account, the project had run less than A$ 40 million over contract. Of
15219-408: The contract to meet changing requirements; and problems between the various parties involved in the construction of the submarines, with a lack of overall direction and conflicts of interest causing avoidable hostility and uncooperativeness. Despite the report being promoted by the government as 'ground-breaking', many people involved with the Collins -class project later claimed that large sections of
15390-469: The diesel fuel, which, along with the salt water, would cause the fuel pumps to rust and other components to seize. The fuel-related issues were solved by installing coalescers , improving training and operational procedures, and adding biocides to the fuel. Propeller shaft seals were a significant problem on Collins and Farncomb . Although designed to allow for a leak of 10 litres (2.2 imp gal; 2.6 US gal) per hour, during trials it
15561-402: The dorsal fin and create a more streamlined integration of the dorsal to flat upper Hull deck section. and 2) To 'fill in' the hollow section of hull aft of the bow curvature. Both these could be achieved with Carbon Fibre or Fibreglass covers as no load bearing strength would be required. Subsequent studies by the DSTO showed that the submarine's hull shape, particularly the redesigned sonar dome,
15732-567: The early years of the war, primarily in the Pacific Theater . One possible exception to the pre-war neglect of torpedo development was the 45-cm caliber, 1931-premiered Japanese Type 91 torpedo , the sole aerial torpedo ( Koku Gyorai ) developed and brought into service by the Japanese Empire before the war. The Type 91 had an advanced PID controller and jettisonable, wooden Kyoban aerial stabilizing surfaces which released upon entering
15903-593: The engine, which makes this torpedo more difficult to detect for a potential target. The Mk48 Mod 7 Common Broadband Advanced Sonar System (CBASS) torpedo is optimized for both the deep and littoral waters and has advanced counter-countermeasure capabilities. The MK48 ADCAP Mod 7 (CBASS) torpedo is the result of a Joint Development Program with the Royal Australian Navy and reached Initial Operational Capability in 2006. The modular Mod 7 variant increases sonar bandwidth, enabling it to transmit and receive pings over
16074-423: The event of a miss, it can circle back for another attempt. The swashplate piston engine is fueled by Otto fuel II , a monopropellant which combusts to drive the engine. The thrust is generated by a propulsor assembly. The torpedo's seeker has an active electronically steered "pinger" (2D phased array sonar) that helps avoid having to maneuver as it approaches the target. Unconfirmed reports indicate that
16245-498: The facility and promises by the State Government to help minimise any problems caused by workers' unions. The state's bid was aided by careful promotion to both Kockums and IKL/HDW during early in the project, and problems with the other states' proposals: Tasmania and Western Australia lacked the necessary industrial base, New South Wales could not decide on the location of the construction facility, Victoria's proposed site
16416-403: The factory was exporting torpedoes to ten other countries. The torpedo was powered by compressed air and had an explosive charge of gun-cotton . Whitehead went on to develop more efficient devices, demonstrating torpedoes capable of 18 knots (33 km/h) in 1876, 24 knots (44 km/h) in 1886, and, finally, 30 knots (56 km/h) in 1890. Royal Navy (RN) representatives visited Rijeka for
16587-402: The first of which was shared with the other masts. They were not streamlined; raising a periscope while moving would create enough drag and turbulence to shake the entire submarine. As with many elements of the submarine, there were disagreements as to who was responsible for the problem. It was solved by modifying the masts to redirect the water flow around them (for example, a spiral wrap
16758-477: The first practical guided missile was patented by Louis Brennan , an emigre to Australia, in 1877. It was designed to run at a consistent depth of 12 feet (3.7 m), and was fitted with an indicator mast that just broke the surface of the water. At night the mast had a small light, only visible from the rear. Two steel drums were mounted one behind the other inside the torpedo, each carrying several thousand yards of high-tensile steel wire. The drums connected via
16929-483: The first self-propelled torpedo. Torpedo-like weapons were first proposed many centuries before they were successfully developed. For example, in 1275, Arab engineer Hasan al-Rammah – who worked as a military scientist for the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt – wrote that it might be possible to create a projectile resembling "an egg", which propelled itself through water, whilst carrying "fire". In modern language,
17100-422: The first two submarines in late 1996, before completely re-designed seals were fitted to the boats in late 1997, solving the problem. The propellers themselves were also found to be poorly manufactured, having been shaped by hand, with at least one cast at the wrong pitch . This was rectified by using a five-axis milling machine for future shaping work and replacing the miscast propeller. The material used for
17271-403: The funded study, when Singer Librascope and Thomson CSF , who were partnering with Rockwell to develop the combat system, refused to release their intellectual property or their software code for Rockwell to sell. It was proposed that Computer Sciences of Australia, a division of Computer Sciences Corporation and a minor partner in the consortium, take over the role of writing the software for
17442-470: The head as on other submarines, requiring the optical path to be routed around these components. The periscopes were gradually improved, and were no longer a problem by the time the fast track submarines entered service. Despite the public focus on the various physical issues with the boats, the major problem with the submarines was the development of the Rockwell combat system. The problems had started during
17613-530: The idea of destroying ships by introducing floating mines under their bottoms in submarine boats". He employed the term "torpedo" for the explosive charges with which he outfitted his submarine Nautilus . However, both the French and the Dutch governments were uninterested in the submarine. Fulton then concentrated on developing the torpedo-like weapon independent of a submarine deployment, and in 1804 succeeded in convincing
17784-411: The inability of the RAN to retain sufficient personnel to operate the submarines—by 2008, only three could be manned, and between 2009 and 2012, on average two or fewer were fully operational. The resulting negative press has led to a poor public perception of the Collins class. After 20 years of service issues, the boats have finally provided high availability to the RAN since 2016. The Collins class
17955-494: The lead ship in the winning designer's home shipyard was considered to be offset by the additional experience provided to Australian industries. Even so, two sections of the first submarine were constructed by Kockums' shipyard in Malmo, Sweden . By the end of 1990, Chicago Bridge & Iron and Wormald International had both sold their shares in ASC. The shares were bought up by Kockums and
18126-451: The mid 19th century. Ultimately this line of development led to the dreadnought category of all-big-gun battleships, starting with HMS Dreadnought . Although these ships were incredibly powerful, the new weight of armor slowed them down, and the huge guns needed to penetrate that armor fired at very slow rates. The development of torpedoes allowed for the possibility that small and fast vessels could credibly threaten if not sink even
18297-422: The most powerful battleships. While such attacks would carry enormous risks to the attacking boats and their crews (which would likely need to expose themselves to artillery fire which their small vessels were not designed to withstand) this was offset by the ability to construct large numbers of small vessels far more quickly and for a much lower unit cost compared to a capital ship. The first boat designed to fire
18468-449: The need of large guns, though sometimes at the risk of being hit by longer-range artillery fire. Modern torpedoes are classified variously as lightweight or heavyweight; straight-running, autonomous homers, and wire-guided types. They can be launched from a variety of platforms. In modern warfare, a submarine-launched torpedo is almost certain to hit its target; the best defense is a counterattack using another torpedo. The word torpedo
18639-402: The new Mk48 Mod 7 torpedo but was hampered by changes to the maintenance cycle. The system can receive new software releases and hardware can be upgraded with new versions of the system regularly released with the version operated by a boat dependent on its full cycle docking schedule. Several newspaper articles and commentators have incorrectly claimed that the project ran significantly over
18810-423: The night of 12/13 August 1942 during Operation Pedestal . Destroyers of all navies were also armed with torpedoes to attack larger ships. In the Battle off Samar , destroyer torpedoes from the escorts of the American task force "Taffy 3" showed effectiveness at defeating armor. Damage and confusion caused by torpedo attacks were instrumental in beating back a superior Japanese force of battleships and cruisers. In
18981-473: The other boats. Referred to as the "fast track" or "get well" program, the program also included solving the problems preventing various parties from cooperating fully, and improving the negative media coverage and public perception of the class by responding to criticism and providing more information to reporters. The Collins -class submarines experienced a wide range of problems during their construction and early service life. Many of these were attributed to
19152-545: The plans of the Salvacoste ("Coastsaver"), a floating weapon driven by ropes from the land that had been dismissed by the naval authorities due to the impractical steering and propulsion mechanisms. In 1866, Whitehead invented the first effective self-propelled torpedo, the eponymous Whitehead torpedo , the first modern torpedo. French and German inventions followed closely, and the term torpedo came to describe self-propelled projectiles that traveled under or on water. By 1900,
19323-419: The poor state of the Australian shipbuilding industry, and Australian industry in general, although campaigning by several figures in Australian industry who thought it could be done came to the attention of those spearheading the project to design the Oberon -class replacement, and led to the view that it was both possible and feasible. The campaign to build submarines in Australia was also met with support from
19494-625: The problems. In the United States Navy (USN), there was an extended wrangle over the problems plaguing the Mark 14 torpedo (and its Mark 6 exploder ). Cursory trials had allowed bad designs to enter service. Both the Navy Bureau of Ordnance and the United States Congress were too busy protecting their interests to correct the errors, and fully functioning torpedoes only became available to
19665-487: The problems: To speed production, Kockums employed welders who were not qualified to work on high strength steels; the Qualified Welding Procedures developed by Kockums for these steels were not followed in production; the steel alloy used for the hull required different welding techniques to those normally used by Kockums; the Swedish navy always requested partial penetration welds for their submarines, while
19836-585: The project 70% of the construction and 45% of the software preparation had been completed by Australian-owned companies. Work was sub-contracted out to 426 companies across twelve countries, plus numerous sub-sub-contractors. In many cases, components for the first submarine were constructed by companies outside Australia, while those for the following five boats were replicated by an Australian-owned partner or subsidiary. The project prompted major increases in quality control standards across Australian industries: in 1980, only 35 Australian companies possessed
20007-463: The project as a means to improve Australia's defence and industrial capabilities, Minister for Defence Kim Beazley advised the project heads that he would not be able to secure Cabinet approval for construction of the submarines if the predicted cost "started with a 4 [A$ 4 billion]". The four tenders resulting from the study were submitted during October and November 1986. Although the IKL/HDW design
20178-423: The propeller at certain speeds, was the other main noisemaker. Cavitation had not been a problem with earlier Swedish submarine designs or during early testing of the Type 471 design, but the propeller had to be redesigned late in the process to provide more power, and like the redesigned hull, was not retested. During the year 2000, an unusual meeting took place with a next door neighbor (Francis 'Frank' Smith) of
20349-531: The propellers was also found to be weaker than expected, developing fatigue cracks after only a few years of use. Instead of going to Kockums, which had started to go into decline after the end of the Cold War, the submarine project office sent the propeller to the United States Navy for redesigning. Despite the Americans fixing the problems with the propeller design, resulting in significant performance improvements,
20520-416: The proposed American weapons system. On 9 May, the Australian cabinet approved the selections for the funded studies and decided that six submarines would be built, with the option for two more, all in Australia. The companies were granted funding for project definition studies, from which the final selections would be made. Liaison teams were sent to each of the four companies to observe the development of
20691-464: The provided information, with these undergoing a funded study to determine the winning design. Tendering companies had to demonstrate how Australian industries would be incorporated into the project, and that they were willing to establish an Australia-based consortium to construct the submarines. All seven companies responded by the end of the year: the combined submissions totalling four tonnes (9,000 lb) of paper. The review board concluded that
20862-410: The rear upper surface deck of the hull and be drawn into the propeller. He was also able to demonstrate that the design of the bow section would not pass a flow test for generated turbulence / cavitation, with the change in shape from circular bow section to long hull, being ill-conceived. He made several recommendations during the lecture that would be cost-effective and possible. 1) To lengthen and taper
21033-618: The remaining systems and observations of the systems in action, the German STN Atlas ISUS 90-55 aboard an Israeli Dolphin -class submarine and the American Raytheon CCS Mk2 aboard a USN Los Angeles -class submarine , it was decided that the STN Atlas system was the best for the class. However, political pressure from both the United States and Australia, questions about the security problems and possible leaks involved with
21204-399: The report could have been copied from reports previously submitted by the RAN or ASC. The report, along with the planned December 2000 decommissioning of the final Oberon -class submarine, Otama , prompted the establishment of an A$ 1 billion program to bring the fourth and fifth submarines ( Dechaineux and Sheean ) up to operational standards, then retrofit the modifications to
21375-430: The required number of personnel. It was found that the problem could be temporarily alleviated by running the propeller in reverse for 100 revolutions, pulling the seal back into alignment, although a permanent solution could initially not be found, as ASC refused to accept responsibility for the problem, and the original manufacturer of the seals had closed down. New suppliers were found, with modified seals fitted to
21546-420: The requirements, although evaluators found that the figures failed by only narrow margins, and believed that these were conservative. The evaluation team recalculated the capability statistics for both submarines to a common baseline, portraying the predicted Australian operating conditions, which generally saw Kockums' figures revised upwards, and those from IKL/HDW downwards. This resulted in growing support for
21717-493: The self-propelled Whitehead torpedo was HMS Lightning , completed in 1877. The French Navy followed suit in 1878 with Torpilleur No 1 , launched in 1878 though she had been ordered in 1875. The first torpedo boats were built at the shipyards of Sir John Thornycroft and gained recognition for their effectiveness. At the same time, inventors were working on building a guided torpedo. Prototypes were built by John Ericsson , John Louis Lay , and Victor von Scheliha, but
21888-428: The start of World War II. Around this time too the Royal Navy were perfecting the Brotherhood burner cycle engine which offered a performance as good as the oxygen-enriched air engine but without the issues arising from the oxygen equipment and which was first used in the extremely successful and long-lived 21 in. Mk. VIII torpedo of 1925. This torpedo served throughout WW II (with 3,732 being fired by September 1944) and
22059-407: The submarine would appear complete in photographs of the launching ceremony. Within weeks of the launch, Collins was removed from the water, and it was not until June 1994 that the submarine was completed. Progress on the other five submarines was delayed by the extra effort required to meet Collins ' launching date and the subsequent work to complete her. Collins was not commissioned into
22230-548: The submarine, Rockwell and Signaal for the combat system. The Walrus and Type 2400 submarine designs were considered to be too expensive to manufacture because of inefficient building practices, while the combat data system tenders had been narrowed down by unjustified development risk in the Plessey and Krupp/Ferranti proposals, and the dual problems in the Sintra Alcatel tender of excessive power usage and incompatibility with
22401-408: The submarines (particularly Collins ) resulted in the repeated diversion of resources from those still under construction, adding to delays. Consequently, delivery of the submarines ran significantly behind schedule; submarines were presented to the RAN between 21 and 41 months late, and the entire class was not cleared for full operational service until March 2004, a year after the last boat
22572-430: The submarines being a new, untested design, and were successfully addressed as they were discovered. Most systems and features worked with few or no problems, while the boats' maximum speed, manoeuvrability, and low-speed submerged endurance were found to exceed specifications. The ship control system, which during development had been marked as a major potential problem, functioned beyond positive expectation: for example,
22743-474: The submarines to operational standard. As part of this, a public relations plan was implemented to provide up-to-date information on the submarines to the media, to improve the public perception of the class by providing factual information on the status of the project and responding to queries and incidents. This same period saw the dispelling of the idea, widely held within the RAN, that the Collins -class boats would be like any other vessel previously ordered by
22914-436: The system capabilities, the companies were able to stabilise the system and deliver Release 2.0 at the end of 1999. Boeing sold its naval systems division to Raytheon in May 2000, making the latter company solely responsible for completion of the combat system. After this, the submarine project began investigating ideas for a new combat system. Because there was not enough time to evaluate the replacement system to include it in
23085-558: The tactical and fire control components from the CCS Mk2 system, and the sonar interface component from the fast track program. The system is the AN/BYG-1 that was developed for the new USN Virginia -class submarine and has since be retrofitted to the whole USN fleet. The first of class installation was Waller in 2008 and the final installation was Collins in 2018. The program was to be completed by 2010 in conjunction with modifications for
23256-502: The target. Fiske reported in 1915 that, using this method, enemy fleets could be attacked within their harbors if there was enough room for the torpedo track. Meanwhile, the Royal Naval Air Service began actively experimenting with this possibility. The first successful aerial torpedo drop was performed by Gordon Bell in 1914 – dropping a Whitehead torpedo from a Short S.64 seaplane . The success of these experiments led to
23427-643: The tender Velikiy Knyaz Konstantin under the command of Stepan Osipovich Makarov during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78 . In another early use of the torpedo, during the War of the Pacific , the Peruvian ironclad Huáscar commanded by captain Miguel Grau attacked the Chilean corvette Abtao on 28 August 1879 at Antofagasta with a self-propelled Lay torpedo only to have it reverse course. The ship Huascar
23598-435: The term no longer included mines and booby-traps as the navies of the world added submarines, torpedo boats and torpedo boat destroyers to their fleets. Whitehead was unable to improve the machine substantially, since the clockwork motor, attached ropes, and surface attack mode all contributed to a slow and cumbersome weapon. However, he kept considering the problem after the contract had finished, and eventually developed
23769-633: The then HMAS Stirling Naval Base commander. He was an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (originally trained at Government Aircraft Factories Fisherman's bend) who had been aware of the fluid dynamics issues of the Collins class for some time, purely by interest and observation on television. After a lengthy discussion, he was invited to discuss and demonstrate where possible, his observations at the Stirling Naval Base with Navy and Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) staff who were there at that time as part of an investigative group. He showed on
23940-537: The time was to use torpedoes, launched from submarines or warships, against enemy warships in a fleet action on the high seas. There were concerns torpedoes would be ineffective against warships' heavy armor; an answer to this was to detonate torpedoes underneath a ship, badly damaging its keel and the other structural members in the hull, commonly called "breaking its back". This was demonstrated by magnetic influence mines in World War I. The torpedo would be set to run at
24111-490: The torpedo's sensors can monitor surrounding electrical and magnetic fields. This may refer to the electromagnetic coils on the warhead (at least from 1977 to 1981), used to sense the metallic mass of the ship's hull and detonate at the proper stand-off distance. The torpedo has been the subject of continued improvement over its service lifetime. In the 1990s, a Mod 6 variant of the ADCAP provided much improved noise isolation for
24282-406: The torpedo. Tests were run to ensure that the weapon could keep up with the developments and the weapon was modified with improved acoustics and electronics. The new version of the weapon, also known as Mk-48 Mod 5, was extensively tested and production started in 1985, with entry into service in 1988. From then on, various upgrades have been added to the torpedo. As of 2012 Mk-48 Mod 6 was in service;
24453-556: The tug. Without the weight of the torpedo Dacre was able to take off and return to Ben-My-Chree . Torpedoes were widely used in World War I , both against shipping and against submarines. Germany disrupted the supply lines to Britain largely by use of submarine torpedoes, though submarines also extensively used guns. Britain and its allies also used torpedoes throughout the war. U-boats themselves were often targeted, twenty being sunk by torpedo. Two Royal Italian Navy torpedo boats scored
24624-572: The value of the torpedo and in spring 1883 an experimental station was established at Garrison Point Fort , Sheerness , on the River Medway , and a workshop for Brennan was set up at the Chatham Barracks , the home of the Royal Engineers. Between 1883 and 1885 the Royal Engineers held trials and in 1886 the torpedo was recommended for adoption as a harbor defense torpedo. It was used throughout
24795-448: The water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such a device was called an automotive, automobile, locomotive, or fish torpedo; colloquially a fish . The term torpedo originally applied to a variety of devices, most of which would today be called mines . From about 1900, torpedo has been used strictly to designate
24966-476: The water, making it a formidable anti-ship weapon; Nazi Germany considered manufacturing it as the Luftorpedo LT 850 after August 1942 . The Royal Navy's 24.5-inch oxygen-enriched air torpedo saw service in the two Nelson class battleships although by World War II the use of enriched oxygen had been discontinued due to safety concerns. In the final phase of the action against Bismarck , Rodney fired
25137-536: The weapon was apt to cause as much harm to its user as to its target. Rear Admiral David Farragut 's famous/apocryphal command during the Battle of Mobile Bay in 1864, " Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead! " refers to a minefield laid at Mobile, Alabama . On 26 May 1877, during the Romanian War of Independence , the Romanian spar torpedo boat Rândunica attacked and sank the Ottoman river monitor Seyfi . This
25308-493: Was 18 in (46 cm) in diameter and 19 ft (5.8 m) long, made of polished steel or phosphor bronze , with a 200-pound (91 kg) gun-cotton warhead. It was propelled by a three-cylinder Brotherhood radial engine, using compressed air at around 1,300 psi (9.0 MPa ) and driving two contra-rotating propellers, and was designed to self-regulate its course and depth as far as possible. By 1881, nearly 1,500 torpedoes had been produced. Whitehead also opened
25479-514: Was a mechanism consisting of a hydrostatic valve and pendulum that caused the torpedo's hydroplanes to be adjusted to maintain a preset depth. After the Austrian government decided to invest in the invention, Whitehead started the first torpedo factory in Rijeka. In 1870, he improved the devices to travel up to approximately 1,000 yards (910 m) at a speed of up to 6 knots (11 km/h), and by 1881
25650-501: Was almost nine months behind schedule, and at least 20% of the software had not been compiled. The combat system continued to be a problem during the next few years, with progressive drops offering little improvements in performance over the previous version, and the completion date of Release 2—the designation for the full contractual realisation of the combat system software—was continually postponed. In 1996, Rockwell sold its military and aerospace division, including responsibility for
25821-412: Was another major problem with the design. In the original requisition, the RAN guidelines for the noise signature of the new submarines were vague; for example, asking that they be "twice as quiet" as the Oberon s. Expectations and operational requirements also changed between the 1987 contract signing and when the submarines began operating in the late 1990s. The major element of the noise signature for
25992-432: Was attributed to the removal of a flywheel and to corrosion caused by the fuel problems), and excessive fuel consumption in Collins at high speed (found to be caused by manufacturing problems with the turbines and turbochargers). The propulsion system was also found to be a secondary source of noise: poor design of the exhaust mufflers , weight-saving measures in the generator mountings, and an incorrect voltage supply to
26163-469: Was awarded to ASC. As of April 1996, the option to order the seventh and eighth submarines was still under consideration, but was looked on unfavourably by the Department of Defence at the time, as the additional cost would require the diversion of funding from the Australian Army and Royal Australian Air Force , resulting in an imbalance in the capabilities of the Australian Defence Force. The option
26334-559: Was cancelled outright by late 2001. The first submarine, HMAS Collins , was laid down in February 1990. Collins ' launch was originally planned for 1994, but was later set for 28 August 1993. Although launched on schedule, she was not complete: the design of the submarine had not been finalised, important internal pipes and fittings were not installed, the components of the combat system had yet to be delivered, and some hull sections were actually sheets of timber painted black so
26505-476: Was commissioned. These delays forced the RAN to keep several Oberon -class submarines and the submarine base HMAS Platypus in service beyond their planned decommissioning dates. Following his appointment as Minister for Defence following the 1998 federal election , John Moore decided that the only way to solve the various problems of the Collins class was for an independent report to be prepared on them. He appointed Malcolm McIntosh, chief executive of
26676-430: Was compounded by the rate of advancement in computer technology: equipment had to be designed from scratch and custom manufactured at the start of the project, but by the time these were installed, they were obsolete compared to commercially available hardware and software. Australian Submarine Corporation was made responsible for the delivery of the Rockwell combat system, but had little ability to enforce this. Rockwell
26847-414: Was contracted to deliver the combat system by 9 September 1993, but was unlikely to do so. ASC's management board voted to issue a default notice to Rockwell as the American company had defaulted on the contract, but was ordered by the Department of Defence to retract the default notice and accept gradual delivery of partially completed versions of the combat system—referred to as 'releases' and 'drops'—until
27018-505: Was designed at the end of the 1960s to keep up with the advances in Soviet submarine technology. Operational since 1972, it replaced the Mk-37 , Mk-14 and Mk-16 torpedoes as the principal weapon of U.S. Navy submarines. With the entry into service of the new Soviet Alfa-class submarine in 1977, the decision was made to accelerate the ADCAP program, which would bring significant modifications to
27189-463: Was expected to be retired about 2026, however, the 2016 Defence White Paper extended this into the 2030s. The Collins class life will now be extended and will receive an unplanned capability upgrade, including sonar and communications. The initial replacement for the Collins class was to be a conventionally-powered version of the Barracuda -class SSN proposed by Naval Group of France , dubbed
27360-527: Was first used as a name for electric rays (in the order Torpediniformes ), which in turn comes from the Latin word torpēdō ("lethargy" or "sluggishness"). In naval usage, the American inventor David Bushnell was reported to have first used the term as the name of a submarine of his own design, the "American Turtle or Torpedo." This usage likely inspired Robert Fulton 's use of the term to describe his stationary mines , and later Robert Whitehead 's naming of
27531-441: Was fixed around the head of each periscope). The periscopes also had problems with their optics: periscope users reported difficulty in refocusing after changing magnification, duplication of images, and bands across the field of vision. These problems were attributed to RAN demands that the optical view be the first exposed when a periscope was raised above the water, instead of placing the infrared sensor and single-pulse radar at
27702-461: Was found that the seals would regularly misalign and allow hundreds of litres per hour into the boat—during one deep diving test the flow rate was measured at approximately 1,000 litres (220 imp gal; 260 US gal) a minute. ASC claimed that solving these problems could be done by manually adjusting the seals as the submarine dived and rose, but this would have required a sailor dedicated solely to that task, affecting efforts to minimise
27873-500: Was further criticised by the reviewers for being vaguely worded and not using milspec terminology and standards. In addition, the system proposed by Rockwell appeared to have greater performance capabilities, and would be cheaper to implement. On 18 May 1987, the Australian Cabinet approved the final design: Kockums' Type 471 submarine, fitted with the Rockwell combat system and Diesel-Electric propulsion units provided by
28044-451: Was poorly sited, and building in Liberal -led Queensland would have been politically unwise for the project when Labor was in power both federally and in all other states. Each submarine was constructed in six sections, each consisting of several sub-sections. One of the main criteria of the project was that Australian industries contribute to at least 60% of the work; by the conclusion of
28215-445: Was rated highest during the initial inspection, the evaluation team found that the German proposal was less attractive than previously thought. Although IKL/HDW claimed that their boat could meet the RAN's performance requirements, the evaluators concluded from the information provided that doing so would require the deactivation of all non-essential and some essential systems. Conversely, Kockums' proposal conceded that they did not meet
28386-541: Was saved when an officer jumped overboard to divert it. The Chilean ironclad Blanco Encalada was sunk on 23 April 1891 by a self-propelled torpedo from the Almirante Lynch , during the Chilean Civil War of 1891 , becoming the first ironclad warship sunk by this weapon. The Chinese turret ship Dingyuan was purportedly hit and disabled by a torpedo after numerous attacks by Japanese torpedo boats during
28557-484: Was set upon by 17 torpedo-firing warships, ten of which were destroyers and four torpedo boats. Twenty-one torpedoes were launched at the pre-dreadnought , and three struck home, one fired from the destroyer Murasame and two from torpedo boats No. 72 and No. 75 . The flagship slipped under the waves shortly thereafter, taking over 900 men with her to the bottom. On December 9, 1912, the Greek submarine "Dolphin" launched
28728-471: Was the first aircraft in the world to attack an enemy ship with an air-launched torpedo. On 17 August 1915 Flight Commander Edmonds torpedoed and sank an Ottoman transport ship a few miles north of the Dardanelles. His formation colleague, Flight Lieutenant G B Dacre, was forced to land on the water owing to engine trouble but, seeing an enemy tug close by, taxied up to it and released his torpedo, sinking
28899-518: Was the first instance in history when a torpedo boat sank its targets without also sinking. A prototype of the self-propelled torpedo was created on a commission placed by Giovanni Luppis , an Austro-Hungarian naval officer from Rijeka (modern-day Croatia ), at the time a port city of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and Robert Whitehead , an English engineer who was the manager of a town factory. In 1864, Luppis presented Whitehead with
29070-472: Was the first warship to be sunk in 1862 by an electrically-detonated mine. Spar torpedoes were also used; an explosive device was mounted at the end of a spar up to 30 feet (9.1 m) long projecting forward underwater from the bow of the attacking vessel, which would then ram the opponent with the explosives. These were used by the Confederate submarine H. L. Hunley to sink USS Housatonic although
29241-548: Was the main cause: although a scale model of the design had been tested during the funded study and was found to have a minimal signature, the hull shape was changed after the contract was signed, primarily by a 2-metre (6.6 ft) lengthening of the submarine and a redesign of the bow dome to accommodate the larger-than-expected main sonar and reduce its blind spot (the baffles ). The design had not been retested, as who would pay for this could not be agreed on. Propeller cavitation , caused by water flow over control surfaces onto
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