Journal of the Royal Naval Scientific Service. Volume 27, Number 2 ...

Torpedo History: Kirby 79
retirement in order that submarines were not
sent on missions with only a few weapons. As
it was, the submarines often went on missions
with less than a full load or had to await the
arrival of a returning submarine in order to
transfer from it its unused stock.
At the outbreak of war the reserve of torpedoes
in the United States amounted to only
a few hundred with a production rate of only
60 per month. Rapid expansion of production
produced a gain over the expenditure rate by
the end of 1942. During the period of the war
up to the end of 1942 no less than 2,010 had
been used compared with 2,382 manufactured
and the crisis was over.
In Britain the production rate at the start
of hostilities was about 80 per month which
just about balanced the rate of expenditure.
Because of the large number of torpedo types
pressed into service at the start of the war it
was inevitable that shortages should occur
with some types. Production was rapidly
increased to a figure of 440 per month by the
end of 1942. Up to the same time a total of
2,308 weapons had been expended so that the
initial shortage was soon brought under control.
A few words may be pertinent here on the
manufacture of torpedoes during World War
II. In Britain the main sources were the Royal
Naval Torpedo Factory, Greenock and the
Weymouth factory of Robert Whitehead
(owned in fact by Vickers, Armstrong Ltd.,
since before the first World War). Further
supplies were built by the Caton Engineering
Company—mostly aircraft torpedoes of 18 in.
diameter. With the 50 or so destroyers handed
over to the Royal Navy in 1940 came a supply
of Bliss torpedoes for use from the deck
tubes. Add a few French weapons and we find
quite an assorted armoury. Despite these many
variations and the various old weapons forced
into service in the early days of the war it is
found that the greatest expenditure was by
far with the 21 in. Mark VIII and the 18 in.
Mark XII. The following table summarises
the torpedo expenditure rates up towards the
end of 1944. When analysed by date' 20) it is
found that three distinct peaks occur in the
expenditure rate. These correspond closely
with the North Africa campaign (December
1942), Sicily and Italy (Summer 1943) and
France (1944).
The Bliss weapons listed were manufactured
to British plans—Whitworth threads included
—in order to meet demand. The 24} in.
FIG. 29. An exercise in reticulation !
weapons were enriched air " specials " fitted
to Rodney and Nelson. They were used from
submerged bow tubes and were converted to
natural air on the outbreak of war. The above
two ships were fitted out in 1927 and they
were indeed the last capital British warships to
be fitted with torpedo tubes.
Torpedo production in the United States
during the First World War was concentrated
largely at the Bliss-Leavitt works and at the
long established Naval Torpedo Station, Rhode
Island. In 1919 the torpedo assembly plant was
completed at Alexandria, Va., with a planned
output of up to 3,000 weapons per annum.
This factory appears to have been closed
however by the 1920's but reopened when war
threatened to engulf the United States in
1940. The weapons of the Second World War
were made :il Newport and Alexandria. The
Bliss Company had reverted between the ware
to its original production line of canning
machinery products but the name still carried
on as a symbol of that company's great
achievements in the field of tomedo deve'ooment.
During the Second World War the Bliss
firm returned to the torpedo world and, as we