"Does anyone know ...." Topic

…. the weight of explosive that was carried in the spar torpedoes of the modified Casco class torpedo boats?

I want to game with one using 'Smoke on the Water' rules, and I need to categorise the torpedo as Light, Medium, Heavy or Super Heavy. As a guide, the Confederate Davids and the Spuyten Duyvil are rated as Medium, whilst the Atlanta has a Heavy torpedo.

Thanks in anticipation.

I don't know, but if you've the time to look through this
reference, you may find it:

link

Kind of a strange rule. Would it really matter how big a torpedo was over a minimum size? No ship of the war had water tight compartments or armor underwater, so any hit would be devastating. The largest ship hit was USS New Ironsides and it only survived as it's hull was just that strong. It still required quite a bit of repair work. The monitor USS Tecumseh went down in 25 seconds! Sailors on other ships said they could see the propellers still spinning as she rolled over. So, do the rules just rate how many extra seconds the crew has to abandon ship?

I suspect that it's a "gaming" issue rather than a "reality" issue.

Most naval rules ebnd up with a lot more ships sunk than would have happened in reality.

EJ, the rules take a fairly standard approach in that the bigger the bang the more damage that may be inflicted. Ships are given a number of Hull Damage Points determined by how large they are. A large ship could survive a small torpedo hit (certainly in terms of making it through to the end of the game), whilst a smaller ship (or indeed a large one) could go down instantly from a large torpedo hit. I take your point about whether or not the size of the torpedo matters, but since the game differentiates between the various sizes of torpedoes I want to get as much information about them as I can.

I have several sets of ACW naval rules and your reply has prompted me to look through them more closely. They all assume that torpedoes have the same effect no matter which craft or side is using them. One set even appears to suggest that they are assuming an explosive weight of 150lbs. Now I've managed to ascertain that the Spuyten Duyvil and the Confederate Davids had torpedo weights of 60lbs, and one source says that the one on the Atlanta was 147lbs So would the New Ironsides have fared worse had it been hit by a 147lb torpedo rather than a 60lb one, or would it have made no difference?

As I understand it monitors were especially vulnerable to flooding because they had virtually no freeboard and consequently very little reserve buoyancy. I have read that the Weehawken sank at anchor because water entered her through the anchor chain hawse pipe. In comparison a conventional ship might withstand a small torpedo hit either through its stronger construction (New Ironsides) or its greater reserve buoyancy.

Ed,thanks for that link. There's a lot of reading there!