Mark 15 Torpedo Tube

Mark 15 Torpedo Tube. . This Mark 15 quintuple torpedo tube is from the USS Foote (DD-511), a Fletcher class destroyer. The tube has five barrels each firing a 21 inch torpedo. Each torpedo weighed 3841 pounds, including the 1234 pound warhead. The torpedo had a range of 15,000 yards at 26.5 knots, 10,000 yards at 33.5 knots or 6,000 yards at 45 knots., The round housing on top of the tube is a blast shield for the protection of personnel from the blast of adjacent guns. , During World War II, United States Navy destroyers and destroyer escorts armed with torpedoes all carried trainable tubes. Trainable tubes required large clear deck areas, and in all ships retaining torpedoes they were mounted topside on the ship's centerline. From this location torpedoes could be fired on either side of the ship. , Torpedo tubes serve the following purposes: , 1. House and protect the torpedo (including heating in cold weather) until the instant of firing. , 2. Provide means for setting torpedo gyro angle, running depth, and, where required, torpedo speed as necessary, up to the instant of firing. , 3. Expel the torpedo with sufficient force to clear the firing ship and with such velocity and direction that it will remain on its firing course until its engine develops enough power for self-propulsion. , 4. As expulsion starts, trigger the torpedo so as to start its engine and gyro. , Captions , Lower Right: "...an excellently executed night torpedo attack by sections of three destroyers each." , - Admiral Kincaid, Preliminary Action Report following the Battle of Surigao Strait, 25 October 1944.