"Anti-torpedoe nets on ships" Topic

It is my understanding that some Capital ships in WWI utilized torpedoe nets. When did this practice end and, possibly, why did it end? Also, did any navy in WW2 use them?

Thanks in advance!

Here is a great site with info on the use and reasons for the decline of the use of torpedo nets.
link

"Advances in torpedo technology soon rendered nets obsolete and with no hope of stopping a hit attention turned to minimising the out come of a hit – hence the torpedo bulge compartmentalisation for large ships. In fact the first proposals for improved internal sub division to minimise the effect of torpedo attack had been made in 1884 – only a few years after the nets themselves were introduced.

Although nets disappeared from ships heavier static nets continued to be used to protect anchorage's from submarine and torpedo attack throughout both WW1 and WW2 most famous being the 3-tiered nets that protected the TIRPITZ and nearly thwarted the X-Craft attack. The RN policy of using nets to protect anchorage's continued into the late 50's when the last dedicated net layer was paid off."

It appears they were mainly used for defense mainly against not airborne torpedoes but submarine launched ones. Robert

If I remember right, torpedo nets around capital ships were were used in harbors were the possibility of torpedo plane, submarine, or midget submarine attack were high. The best example of this type of defense in action I can think of is the German battleship Tirpitz in Norway, during the later part of WWII.

Ships in more secure harbors (I.E. Continental USA) were more likely not to use torpedo net around individual ships, instead they would have depend on the harbors own defenses(mine, sub-nets, and shore guns) for protection.

Torpedo nets were carried on the sides of many capital ships at the outbreak of WW1. You can see the poles from which they were rigged in many photos from 1914 (they are the diagonal poles stuck on the sides. They were removed for a number of reasons, not least because ina few cases the nets became dislodged through accidental or action damage and fouled the ships propellers.

Everything you want to know about them is here :)

link

Thats were I quoted and link from in my OP David LOL. Robert

I once read that anti-torpedo nets were welcomed by old-school ship captains, because they needed something on ironclads to take the place of rigging sails as a drill to keep the crew sharp. Several mentions of "record times" in the linked article above show that this was serious business.

While capital ships may not have used them in WW2, British merchantmen were sometimes equipped with the Admiralty Net Defence system.

All the best,

John.