Type 91 torpedo
Encyclopedia
The Type 91 was an aerial torpedo
of the Imperial Japanese Navy
which was designed to be launched from an aircraft. It was used in the naval battles of carrier task forces in World War II
.
The Type 91 aerial torpedo rev.2 won the admiration of the world. This torpedo had two unique characteristics:
This system made it possible to release the Type 91 not only at a cruising speed of 180 knots (or 333 km/h, 207 mile/h) at an altitude of 20 m (66 ft) in a shallow water military port, but also in a power-glide torpedo-bombing run, at the Nakajima B5N2
's maximum speed of 204 knots (or 378 km/h, 234 mile/h), into choppy waves of a rather heavy sea.
The Type 91 torpedo
had 450 mm (17¾ in) diameter. There were five models of body design and five models of warhead design put into service, with warheads from 213.5 kg to 526.0 kg (or 470.7 lb to 1160 lb) of high explosive 149.5 kg to 420.0 kg (or 329.6 lb to 925.9 lb), and effective ranges from 2,000 m to 1,500 m (or 2,187 yd to 1,640 yd) at 42 knots (or 77.8 km/h, 48.3 mile/h).
The Type 91 torpedo was the only one practical aerial torpedo of the Imperial Japan. So it was also known as the Koku Gyorai, or aerial torpedo. Surface warships and submarines used other types of torpedo, namely the Type 93
and Type 95
respectively, while the Type 97 torpedo
was designed for use by midget submarine
s.
The later, heavier models had decreased their range, but this was not an operational problem as close launching was necessary for accuracy in any case. There were two versions in the Type 91 warhead rev.3. Type 91 warhead rev.3 and rev.3_rev. were differing in their supporting maximum launch speeds.
Type 94 aerial version oxygen torpedo
was heavy and unwieldy, so the plan was abandoned.
Yokosuka air arsenal was once developing 2 tons large aerial torpedo for 4-engine land-based attack aircraft G8N
, started in spring, 1944. It was called Shisei Gyorai M (Trial model torpedo M), or 2 tons torpedo in short. That torpedo was some enlarged version of type 91 aerial torpedo, its diameter was 53.3 cm (or 21 in), the length was 7.10 m (or 23 ft 4¼ in), the total weight was 2,070 kg (or 4,564 lb), and the high explosive weight would be 750 kg (or 1,653 lb).
But the Type 91 aerial torpedo project members did not regard it as a series of Type 91 aerial torpedo. It would have been the largest aerial torpedo in the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Force, but the concept of an operation plan of outranged torpedo bombing run itself had already been an outdated dream plan, that torpedo remained uncompleted work. This G8N
or the 18th trial model 4-engine bomber was called "Type 18 prototype land-based attack aircraft".
A page with statistics on the various World War II Japanese torpedoes, including size, size of warhead, speed, dates of introduction and use, range, and speed, is given in the external links.
The development project team at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal
of Ko-Hon or Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service
reasoned that the maximum range of any aerial torpedo could be less than 2,000m (or 2,187 yd, 1.8 nautical mile). When aircraft launches a torpedo in running speed 40 knots, the targeted ship steaming in 30 knots would surely turn hard to maneuver around. It is mandatory for torpedo-bomber pilot attacking, or running into the target as close as possible.
by late August 1941 but felt uncertain about their chances of success.
unit of the carrier Akagi
was the first to receive ten samples of the new rev.2 torpedo in August 1941. It was a marked improvement, allowing an approach in excess of 160 knots (or approx. 300 km/h, 185 mile/h) and at 20 m (66 ft) altitude.
Immediately all the torpedo units changed to the first tactic, the gears and flaps are retracted in the wings and flew in faster speed at higher altitude .
In the morning of the Coral Sea
, on May 8, 1942, B5N torpedo-bomber units of The 5th Air Flotilla penetrated the American defenses at 0910[JST], swooped to USS Lexington (CV-2)
and USS Yorktown (CV-5)
. USS Yorktown CV-5 was attacked by four B5N2s in one unit of Zuikaku
(Lucky Crane), led by squadron leader Lt Cmdr Shimazaki, and averted all four torpedoes. Large USS Lexington CV-2 was attacked by 3 units of total fourteen B5N2s, and was struck by the last two torpedoes to port. The Lt Sato unit of Zuikaku attacked first, followed by the Lt Iwamura unit, and the last was the Lt Ichihara unit of Shokaku
(Flying Crane), in the crane wings attack formation. Those B5Ns were approaching to the ship in the full speed over 204 knots (or 378 km/h, 235 mile/h) faster that known torpedo-bomber aircraft should. Captain Frederick Carl Sherman in the bridge of CV-2 watched a B5N shot down with the torpedo near the ship. He saw that the tail section of the torpedo was covered with box-like attachment. He reported that he had found the reason why the B5N2s could launch Type 91 aerial torpedo at such high speed.
Ginga at Yokosuka arsenal, veered water entry because of a the crack in a screw blade. The minimum release height was also limited at 40 m (131 ft) in high speed run. If it were released lower than 30 m (98 ft) in the high speed, it might skip on the water surface.
Army Air Force pilot, Major Hideo Sakamoto established the fast torpedo-bombing tactic, with his Ki-67
twin-engine bomber aircraft having good maneuverability, at Yokosuka Naval airbase in January 1944. He found the releasing parameters of the tactic after 300 tests. The Imperial Japanese Navy Air Force authorized it. A Ki-67 with 1 tons torpedo starts steep dive at altitude 1,500m (approx. 5,000 ft) to the water level and launches the torpedo in two styles.
Skilled aviators had their own tactics to survive, skidding
right and left with varying speed (180 knots to 70 knots) at less than 10 meter high in the midst of water splashes of AA gunfires, to avoid a curtain of intense AA barrage controlled by Fire Control System onboard USS warships.
A photo (broken link) shows the typical tactic of torpedo bombing, a B6N2 Tenzan in torpedo bombing attack of USS Yorktown (CV-10)
. The original series of photos shows the sequential right and left side-skidding tactic of the crew. In this second photo, the B6N2 is skidding to its left, or toward the right in the photo, and the flak shell explodes its right, or off the left in the picture. It was coming up to counterattack offshore Truk islands, in the evening of February 17, 1944. It was one of four B6N Tenzan of a torpedo squadron in 2nd A.G or 582 A.G. Two out of four of them made water landing on their way back and the crews were rescued, and the other two, returned their base safely. Original photo is PD, the Property of US Government.
Captain Fumio Aiko was assigned in charge of promoting the development project of Type 91 aerial torpedo since 1931. Capt F. Aiko concentrated human resources
to make aerial torpedo, ordered to analyze the cause and to make anti-rolling controller. He is very proud of Type 91 aerial torpedo as his great achievement. Rear Admiral Naruse and his group members once in naval air arsenal were developing the series of Type 91 aerial torpedoes.
, an operating division of the Ministry of the Navy of Imperial Japanese government, which had the primary responsibility for naval weapon system, had their own plan and their own project for Japanese aerial torpedo. In their plan, a bovine big flying boat was to carry heavy Type 93 oxygen torpedoes, to launch it at long range, and to turn back safely. Soon proved that it was an unrealistic desk plan. Kan-Pon confidentially developed their own Type 94 aerial torpedo, or aerial type of Type 93 oxygen torpedo. Their original challenge of the latest type of giant H6K Type 97 Large Flying Boat, Mavis
was just accomplished the test flight successfully in 1934.
They even ordered to stop production of Type 91 torpedo, which significantly delayed the development schedule based on Type 91. That made the project members of Yokosuka Naval Arsenal
being baffled.
Type 91 aerial torpedo of earlier revision had a frail body.
It was revised as the revision 2 by reinforced the frail body structure, in 1938.
control system of early days. Type 91 already had a shed-off type wooden tail plates as aerodynamic stabilizer. But the running out problem merged as aircraft speed going up from 130 to 180 knots.
Before the anti-rolling controller was introduced, the early revision of Type 91 aerial torpedo had a serious problem as other aerial torpedoes had in those days. Roughly released in high speed, it even made double-roll in the air. When it dove into the swelling waves of the heavy sea, it got spinning moment at the hard impact on water entry. It was veering the running direction, going down to stick to the bottom of the shallow basin of a port, crashing at the depth limits 100m by the water pressure, jumping out of the water, skipping water surface, or even running backwards. Only the real razor aviators could make the sure torpedo-bombing run in the calm sea.
Tumbled torpedo runs out of control. Though the gyrocompass and the depth meter works well, the torpedo cannot control the running direction by tail rudders unless they are in the neutral position at first. Once the torpedo rolls, the horizontal and vertical rudders lose their positions, or even upside down, result in runaway.
Engineers and scientists of the project, led by Lieutenant Hirota (rank at that time), drew one conclusion from their years of tests and numerical analyses, in 1939. Since the spec. of launch speed of aircraft was increased from 130knots to 180knots and faster, any aerial torpedo needed certain type of anti-rolling system with not only damping stabilizer function but also acceleration controlling function, otherwise the torpedo would be falling into unstable-state. The idea of acceleration-control, or countersteering function was thought of as impossible in those days. Two years passed.
The breakthrough on aerial torpedo design was made with the anti-rolling controller invented first by Iyeda, Assistant Manager of arsenal workmen, in spring 1941.
Ten days later, while the test of Iyeda system was in practice, Naval Engineer Noma invented another system, and it was put into final test in August 1941. It functions all the same with different mechanism. During the prototype tests, the Noma's system found out the better for having less time lags in response, so that the Noma system was adopted for production type of Type 91 aerial torpedo.
It looked merely a tiny mechanical air valve object controlling small roll rudders on both sides in the aft of the torpedo, was really the innovation of the torpedo technology world. It was the breakthrough for aerial torpedo. Type 91 rev.2 aerial torpedo first made it possible to use in the high seas.
The anti-rolling controller is actually a steering controller to stabilize the rolling motion of the torpedo by roll rudders on both sides. The roll rudders work within angler range +/-22.5 degrees, twisting in ailerons manner.
When a torpedo is rolling or rolls to some degree, the anti-rolling controller twists those rudders in the counter-rolling direction.
When a torpedo is rolling back to its neutral position of 0 degree, the controller sense it and switches roll rudders in the opposite direction to break angular velocity of torpedo rolling back, or countersteering
. They naval engineers called this operation as countersteer as they modeled it to steer a ship.
It enabled to keep Type 91 rev.2 aerial torpedo running under the water no deeper than 20 meter (65.6 ft). Actually the cutting-edge pilots of torpedo-bomber squadrons in Dai Ichi Koku Sentai or The 1st Air Flotilla of the carrier strike force were able to launch their torpedo so as to sink in the water depth no more than 10 meter (32.8 ft) after water entry.
Anti-rolling controller made aircraft possible to torpedo-bomb not only warships anchorage in shallow military port but also warships steam in chopped waves of heavy sea in full speed.
, aerial torpedoes of the latest version in World War II, which were left at some South West Pacific bases in early 1942. The US Navy
aerial torpedo, Mark 13 torpedo
was found at Puerto de Cavite, the military port in Philippine. Fleet Air Arm
aerial torpedoes of the Royal Navy
were found at the base Kota Bharu
, northeastern Malaysia, close to the Thai
border.
There were none like Type 91 aerial torpedo rev.2. They were disappointed with the work of their rivals, because those were as if they had few intention to deal seriously with the development of aerial torpedo technology. The US Navy had the aerial torpedo having a little changes for loading in aircraft, but looked almost the same as their known big Mark 13 ship torpedo. The Royal Navy had their traditional type aerial torpedo, which had been originally designed by White Head Company in 1925.
The detonator is unlocked after running certain distance under the water.
When a torpedo hits a warship, the inertial collision of the aft mass in the warhead thrusting forward and ignites the highly explosive. Unless otherwise the ignition of the inner mass, the highly explosive will not explode. A 20mm explosive cannon shellfire gone through the warhead cannot ignite the locked highly explosive in warhead.
The warhead has T shaped strip parts to reinforce the internal-lower portion of the front shell against the heavy impact on water entry. For the production model, the warhead section needs five reinforced strip bands on the front-bottom of the inner shell, lap welded in a shape of cut lower half star, or the superpose of the letter T and the letter Λ, instead. The warhead also has two tiny stitch lines aligned on the front-top of the shell to enhance the explosion. The latest version had two hooks on the nose.
Type 91 aerial torpedo is to be launched by aircraft power gliding from high in the sky. The aerial torpedo, released at altitude 100m, is falling in speed nearly Mach
0.5 on water entries, and receives over 100G
at the hard impact on the water surface.
The air chamber is a cylinder of thin shell made by alloy of nickel chromium-molybdenum steel. This tough steel alloy was originally developed for steel armor plate of battleship. The chamber is charged with highly compressed normal air at 175 - 215 atm
(2,500 - 3,000 psi
), which burns fuel oil to produce driving power. It loses the pressure down to around 50 atm (710 psi) while running 2,000 m (6,600 ft) under the water.
Front float section has a pure water tank, a fuel oil tank and a depth meter.
The depth meter is placed at the inner bottom of the section to detect the water depth level. It detects the displacement level of the water depth and controls the tail horizontal rudders (or elevators
) proportionally, so that the torpedo keeps level running under the water.
This section is constructed free to coming in the water to help a cooling system of the engine in the torpedo.
It has a starter, a Chowaki or pressure regulator
, a wet-heat chamber, a main engine, and a horizontal rudder controller.
The starter starts controllers, one for vertical tail rudders, and another for roll rudders for anti-rolling in both side wing rudders, with horizontal tail rudders being locked at uppermost position, while the torpedo falls down to the water surface. It starts the main engine to propel when the torpedo hits the water. A thick bolt is stuck through the starter during loaded in aircraft as the lock. The bolt is pulled out from the torpedo when it is released. The bolt remains underneath the fuselage of aircraft.
The pressure regulator is called as Chowaki or harmonizing system for the engine, it actually is a two-stage pressure regulator with twin pressure-tunable regulation valves. It steps down the pressure of compressed air at 215 - 50 atm (3,000 - 711 psi) in the air chamber to the constant high-pressure air at 10 atm (142 psi). While the air pressure is declining as the torpedo is running under the water, the pressure regulator feeds the constant high-pressure air to the engine intake aspirator and keeps the constant running speed in 43 knots (or 80 km/h, 50 mile/h).
The wet-heat chamber is made by heat resistant steel. Type 91 aerial torpedoes use wet-heater engine like almost all other torpedoes in World War II. The general wet heater burning method drastically improved the combustion efficiency of torpedo engines. It burns the mixed gas of fuel oil and the high-pressure air with spraying pure water in the wet-heat block to produce burning steam gas fed to the engine. The high-pressure fuel oil gas is burning at a temperature 800 degrees C (1,500 degF). The sprayed pure water mists into the combustion gas, which produces vapor explosion, results in completely gasified fuel oil combustion.
The main engine is an 8-cylinder single-row radial piston engine
.
The horizontal tail rudder controller is operated by the rod connection mechanism from the depth meter in the front float section.
A single drive shaft is going through the section to the tail. This rear float section has a machine oil tank, a rudder controller, an anti-rolling controller, and roll rudders on both sides.
The machine oil tank is center-mounted in the rear float section.
The rudder controller is a general gyrocompass
controlled system, which is steering vertical rudders to keep the longitudinal axis of the torpedo in the sensed direction straight. Both the vertical rudder controller and the anti-rolling controller had their own gyroscope
, which is to start rotating when the torpedo is released from aircraft. Each gyro has dual ring support mechanisms to move freely.
The stabilizer or anti-rolling controller is a mechanical control system, whose control design needs numerical analysis
of physical mathematics theory to fit stability. A spinning gyroscope of control system senses the tilt degree of roll, and then the controller is centering the roll of the torpedo.
The anti-rolling controller with the gyroscope can steer roll-rudders on both sides in angle range of +/- 22.5 ° . When the torpedo tilted, the anti-rolling controller steers roll-rudders (or aileron
s) in twisting ailerons manner to produce counter-rolling moment.
When the torpedo tilted over 10 degree and is rolling back the angle toward the neutral center position, the tiny mechanical system in the control air valve works. When it rolls back within the tilt angle 10 degree, the controller now countersteers roll rudders switching back to the reverse angles to break the counter-rolling moment, and to prevent overshoot. The torpedo rolls over the neutral center position and keeps rolling to some degree. The torpedo then stops in opposite tilt at certain degree, and starts rolling back the angle toward the neutral center position. Then the controller senses the angle tilted and countersteers roll-rudders to break the moment. It is rolling over the neutral center position then stops at certain degree, vice versa, like an air cushion is bouncing and settled to the floor. The movement continues but damps to neutral the rolling angle within 2.0 to 3.6 second in the air.
In the test, the system working was observed and proved by the developed high-speed movie film, the top-view shot of the falling torpedo tested, taken from the bomb bay. The anti-rolling system also proved the controller functions effectively under the water surface by the running result after the water entry.
s) are put on both sides of the torpedo, being steered to produce counter-rolling moment. Each rudder is a small 8 cm2 size square metal wing.
Each roll rudder has been covered with a temporal wooden extended wing of 12 × 20 cm2 (4¾in × 7⅞in), tighten with six aluminum sharing pins on both side-edges (three pins each) to get enough aerodynamic force in the air, that is to be shed and broken off when the torpedo gets the hard impact from the water surface on water entry. The remained original metal roll rudders are steering in the water running to converge the rolling movement arisen on water entry.
There are bevel gears driving coaxial contra-rotating double 4 blades screws to propel torpedo running straight under the water. Tail section has vertical and horizontal stabilizer fins in cross. Each fin has a controlling rudder in aft. Horizontal fins and rudders or elevators have wide span in longitudinal direction and work proportionally, while vertical fins are small, and rudders have very short span.
and Nakajima B6N
. In the case for twin-engine land-based torpedo-bombers G3M
, G4M
, P1Y
, and Ki-67
, the torpedo wears another type of aerodynamic wooden stabilizer plates covering tail fins in cross to extend their tail length in the air, which is less in drag resistance loss but needs more clearance heights in the bomb bay underneath the fuselage. In the case of land-based torpedo-bomber aircraft, a plate is needed to be set inside the bomb bay to groom the airflow, because the vortex coming in the bomb bay gives the turbulence behavior to the torpedo released.
A torpedo is released at a speed greater than 160 knots (or 300 km/h, 184 mph) in the air and then follows a parabolic path free-falling to the water. The aerodynamically designed wooden plates stabilize the up-and-down motion of the torpedo in the air keeping it aligned to the diving course. The wooden plates are shed as the torpedo hits the water, and the elevators or horizontal rudders set farthest forward lift the nose of the torpedo after water entry to start level running. The structure is simple and works well. The wooden head cap had been used before the anti-rolling controller system was introduced.
are coaxial contra-rotating double screw, with 4 propeller blades each.
Each screw is wrought from a cube steel alloy mass into bold cross shape and punched through the center. Hammering punches of 1 tons and 3 tons shape 4 blades.
Propel section is compactly-designed so that the front screw and the rear screw are put in 5 mm close to each other. A trouble happened in 1943, when a P1Y tested the torpedo released at altitude 100 m in high-speed power gliding. That torpedo veered the running direction. The hard impact on water entry made a front blade get cracked by the hit of a rear blade. The project members shared the recognition on the importance of annealing, quench hardening, and normalizing process of the screw blades, and so was done.
In the first annealing
process, the metal is left in the oven at 700 °C (or 1,300 °F) for 2 hours then slowly cooled in lime powder. The metal is hammered out and machined in the shape of screw. Then the screw is put in the quench hardening
process, kept at 850 °C (or 1,560 °F) for 1.5 hours, and is cooled in oil. In the last thermal normalizing process, the screw is put in 180 °C (or 356 °F) hot oil for 2 hours, then is left cooling in the air.
The structure of the anti-rolling controller is a set of gyro-controlled air valve system to steer the roll rudders on both sides of a torpedo.
The anti-rolling controller is composed with a gyroscope, a main controller, and an output booster. The most significant part is the main controller.
senses the rolling tilt degree in real-time. It inputs push-pull control operation force to a pilot valve, sliding it inside the main controller to switch two output valves exclusively to the rudders.
It steers and countersteers those roll rudders. It steers the rolling-rudders with detecting the tilted degree of the torpedo rolling by the control of pilot valve. It countersteers those roll rudders when the torpedo is rolling back to neutral position, which results in detecting the acceleration of the rolling angular velocity derivative with respect to time.
----
The torpedo motion equation is the set of simultaneous ordinary differential equations, which is to model pitch motion of airborne aerial torpedo as follows.
Aerial torpedo
The aerial torpedo, airborne torpedo or air-dropped torpedo is a naval weapon, the torpedo, designed to be dropped into water from an aircraft after which it propels itself to the target. First used in World War I, air-dropped torpedoes were used extensively in World War II, and remain in limited...
of the Imperial Japanese Navy
Imperial Japanese Navy
The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...
which was designed to be launched from an aircraft. It was used in the naval battles of carrier task forces in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
The Type 91 aerial torpedo rev.2 won the admiration of the world. This torpedo had two unique characteristics:
- Wooden attachments (developed in 1936) on the tail fins, acting as aerodynamic stabilizers, which were to shed away on water entry.
- An angular acceleration control system (PID controllerPID controllerA proportional–integral–derivative controller is a generic control loop feedback mechanism widely used in industrial control systems – a PID is the most commonly used feedback controller. A PID controller calculates an "error" value as the difference between a measured process variable and a...
) to control rolling movements, which was highly advanced and the biggest breakthrough in aerial torpedo development in 1941.
This system made it possible to release the Type 91 not only at a cruising speed of 180 knots (or 333 km/h, 207 mile/h) at an altitude of 20 m (66 ft) in a shallow water military port, but also in a power-glide torpedo-bombing run, at the Nakajima B5N2
Nakajima B5N
|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Bridgwater, H.C. and Peter Scott. Combat Colours Number 4: Pearl Harbor and Beyond, December 1941 to May 1942. Luton, Bedfordshire, UK: Guideline Publications, 2001. ISBN 0-9539040-6-7....
's maximum speed of 204 knots (or 378 km/h, 234 mile/h), into choppy waves of a rather heavy sea.
The Type 91 torpedo
Torpedo
The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...
had 450 mm (17¾ in) diameter. There were five models of body design and five models of warhead design put into service, with warheads from 213.5 kg to 526.0 kg (or 470.7 lb to 1160 lb) of high explosive 149.5 kg to 420.0 kg (or 329.6 lb to 925.9 lb), and effective ranges from 2,000 m to 1,500 m (or 2,187 yd to 1,640 yd) at 42 knots (or 77.8 km/h, 48.3 mile/h).
The Type 91 torpedo was the only one practical aerial torpedo of the Imperial Japan. So it was also known as the Koku Gyorai, or aerial torpedo. Surface warships and submarines used other types of torpedo, namely the Type 93
Type 93 torpedo
The Type 93 was a -diameter torpedo of the Imperial Japanese Navy , launched from surface ships. It is commonly referred to as the Long Lance by most modern English-language naval historians, a nickname given it after the war by Samuel E. Morison, the chief historian of the U.S...
and Type 95
Type 95 torpedo
The Type 95 torpedo was a torpedo of the Imperial Japanese Navy.It was based on the formidable Type 93 torpedo but had a smaller warhead, shorter range and a smaller diameter...
respectively, while the Type 97 torpedo
Type 97 torpedo
The Type 97 was a diameter torpedo used by the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. Intended for use with Japan's Ko-hyoteki class midget submarines, the torpedo was based on the Type 93 "Long Lance" used by larger Japanese submarines, but redesigned to meet the smaller physical dimensions...
was designed for use by midget submarine
Midget submarine
A midget submarine is any submarine under 150 tons, typically operated by a crew of one or two but sometimes up to 6 or 8, with little or no on-board living accommodation...
s.
Technical Specifications of Type 91 Aerial Torpedoes
Here is the list of the series of Type 91 aerial torpedoes, production models.| Item | - |
|---|---|
| High explosive | 204 kg (449.7 lb) |
| Speed | 42 knots (48.33 mile/h) |
| Range | 2,000 meter (2,187 yard) |
| Diameter | 45 cm (17¾ inch) |
| Weight | 838 kg (1,847 lb) |
| Length | 5.427 meter (17.81 ft) |
| Engine | 200 hp, wet-heater type, 8-cylinder radial engine |
List of Variation
| Main body | Warhead | High explosive (kg) | Speed (knots) | Range (m) | Total Length (m) | Diameter (m) | Total Weight (kg) | Head Length (m) | Head Weight (kg) | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type91 | Type91 | 149.5 | 42 | 2,000 | 5.270 | 0.45 | 784 | 0.958 | 213.5 | - |
| Rev.1 | Rev.1 | 149.5 | 42 | 2,000 | 5.270 | 0.45 | 784 | 0.958 | 213.5 | Supported shedding wooden tail plates in 1936 |
| Rev.2 | Rev.2 | 204.0 | 42 | 2,000 | 5.470 | 0.45 | 838 | 1.158 | 276.5 | Body reinforced in 1938, anti-rolling controller in 1941 |
| Rev.3 | Rev.3 | 235.0 | 42 | 2,000 | 5.270 | 0.45 | 848 | 1.460 | 323.6 | - |
| Rev.3 | Rev.3_rev. | 235.0 | 42 | 2,000 | 5.270 | 0.45 | 848 | 1.460 | 323.6 | Reinforced warhead |
| Rev.5 | Rev.3_rev. | 235.0 | 41 | 1,500 | 5.270 | 0.45 | 848 | 1.460 | 323.6 | Precision forging and stainless cast steel in body |
| Rev.5 | Rev.7 | 420.0 | 41 | 1,500 | 5.710 | 0.45 | 1080 | 1.900 | 526.0 | Warhead designed to break bilge |
The later, heavier models had decreased their range, but this was not an operational problem as close launching was necessary for accuracy in any case. There were two versions in the Type 91 warhead rev.3. Type 91 warhead rev.3 and rev.3_rev. were differing in their supporting maximum launch speeds.
Other Japanese aerial torpedoes
Type 92 battery-driven aerial torpedo was merely a trial model and no more.Type 94 aerial version oxygen torpedo
Type 93 torpedo
The Type 93 was a -diameter torpedo of the Imperial Japanese Navy , launched from surface ships. It is commonly referred to as the Long Lance by most modern English-language naval historians, a nickname given it after the war by Samuel E. Morison, the chief historian of the U.S...
was heavy and unwieldy, so the plan was abandoned.
Yokosuka air arsenal was once developing 2 tons large aerial torpedo for 4-engine land-based attack aircraft G8N
Nakajima G8N
|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Collier, Basil. Japanese Aircraft of World War II. New York: Mayflower Books, 1979. ISBN 0-8317-5137-1....
, started in spring, 1944. It was called Shisei Gyorai M (Trial model torpedo M), or 2 tons torpedo in short. That torpedo was some enlarged version of type 91 aerial torpedo, its diameter was 53.3 cm (or 21 in), the length was 7.10 m (or 23 ft 4¼ in), the total weight was 2,070 kg (or 4,564 lb), and the high explosive weight would be 750 kg (or 1,653 lb).
But the Type 91 aerial torpedo project members did not regard it as a series of Type 91 aerial torpedo. It would have been the largest aerial torpedo in the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Force, but the concept of an operation plan of outranged torpedo bombing run itself had already been an outdated dream plan, that torpedo remained uncompleted work. This G8N
Nakajima G8N
|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Collier, Basil. Japanese Aircraft of World War II. New York: Mayflower Books, 1979. ISBN 0-8317-5137-1....
or the 18th trial model 4-engine bomber was called "Type 18 prototype land-based attack aircraft".
A page with statistics on the various World War II Japanese torpedoes, including size, size of warhead, speed, dates of introduction and use, range, and speed, is given in the external links.
Tactics of Type 91 Aerial Torpedo Bombing
The original Type 91 aerial torpedo entered service in 1931, corresponding to the year 2,591 of the Imperial Japanese calendar, leading to its model designation. This was the beginning of a protracted developing process toward a true aerial torpedo culminating in 1941.Classic tactic
The first revision of the Type 91 aerial torpedo needed to be launched carefully, with the airspeed not exceeding 130 knots (or 240 km/h, 150 mile/h) and at an altitude no higher than 30 m (98 ft), with slower airspeeds resulting in better precision. This 'classic' approach was actually easier to carry out in obsolete biplanes or planes with fixed landing gears, whereas the modern, fast Nakajima B5N as used by the IJN carrier strike force's 1st Air Flotilla was not an easy plane to handle at these slow airspeeds.The development project team at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal
Yokosuka Naval Arsenal
was one of four principal naval shipyards owned and operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy, and was located at Yokosuka city, Kanagawa prefecture on Tokyo Bay, south of Yokohama...
of Ko-Hon or Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service
Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service
The Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service was the air arm of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II, the organization was responsible for the operation of naval aircraft and the conduct of aerial warfare in the Pacific War.It was controlled by the Navy Staff of the Imperial Japanese Navy and...
reasoned that the maximum range of any aerial torpedo could be less than 2,000m (or 2,187 yd, 1.8 nautical mile). When aircraft launches a torpedo in running speed 40 knots, the targeted ship steaming in 30 knots would surely turn hard to maneuver around. It is mandatory for torpedo-bomber pilot attacking, or running into the target as close as possible.
The second tactic
Another approach, called the second tactic, was developed for torpedo-bombing runs in shallow water ports. Here, the aircraft was supposed to fly in at an even slower 100 knots (or 185 km/h, 115 mile/h) and at an altitude of 10 m (32.8 ft) in the midst of intense AA fire. The only way to do this in a B5N2 was to lower the landing gear and flaps to increase drag and lift. The aviators of torpedo-bombing units trained this in the shallow waters of Kagoshima BayKagoshima Bay
is a deep inlet on the coast of Japan.Kagoshima Bay is on the south coast of the island of Kyūshū. The port city of Kagoshima and its well-protected harbor lie on the bays western coast....
by late August 1941 but felt uncertain about their chances of success.
The first tactic
The torpedo-bomberTorpedo bomber
A torpedo bomber is a bomber aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with aerial torpedoes which could also carry out conventional bombings. Torpedo bombers existed almost exclusively prior to and during World War II when they were an important element in many famous battles, notably the...
unit of the carrier Akagi
Japanese aircraft carrier Akagi
Akagi was an aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy , originally begun as an . She was converted while still under construction to an aircraft carrier under the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty...
was the first to receive ten samples of the new rev.2 torpedo in August 1941. It was a marked improvement, allowing an approach in excess of 160 knots (or approx. 300 km/h, 185 mile/h) and at 20 m (66 ft) altitude.
Immediately all the torpedo units changed to the first tactic, the gears and flaps are retracted in the wings and flew in faster speed at higher altitude .
- A torpedo released at a range of 800 meters (875 yd) from the target at a speed of 300 km/h, at height of 60 meters (196 ft), would dive into the water entry point 290 meters ahead in 324 km/h, at an entry angle of 22 degrees, after 3.5 seconds. That torpedo runs under the water for 500 meter, and hits the target after 21 second.
- A torpedo released at a range of 620 meters (678 yd) from the target at a speed of 300 km/h (185 mile/h), at height of 10 meters (33 ft), would dive into the water entry point 120 meter (130 yd) ahead in 304 km/h (190 mile/h), in entry angle of 9.5 degrees, after 1.4 seconds. The torpedo will then run under the water for 500 meters (547 yd), and hitting the target after 21 seconds.
In the morning of the Coral Sea
Battle of the Coral Sea
The Battle of the Coral Sea, fought from 4–8 May 1942, was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II between the Imperial Japanese Navy and Allied naval and air forces from the United States and Australia. The battle was the first fleet action in which aircraft carriers engaged...
, on May 8, 1942, B5N torpedo-bomber units of The 5th Air Flotilla penetrated the American defenses at 0910[JST], swooped to USS Lexington (CV-2)
USS Lexington (CV-2)
USS Lexington , nicknamed the "Gray Lady" or "Lady Lex," was an early aircraft carrier of the United States Navy. She was the lead ship of the , though her sister ship was commissioned a month earlier...
and USS Yorktown (CV-5)
USS Yorktown (CV-5)
was an aircraft carrier commissioned in the United States Navy from 1937 until she was sunk at the Battle of Midway in June 1942. She was named after the Battle of Yorktown in 1781 and the lead ship of the Yorktown class which was designed after lessons learned from operations with the large...
. USS Yorktown CV-5 was attacked by four B5N2s in one unit of Zuikaku
Japanese aircraft carrier Zuikaku
Zuikaku was a Shōkaku-class aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Her complement of aircraft took part in the attack on Pearl Harbor that formally brought the United States into the Pacific War, and she fought in several of the most important naval battles of the war, finally being sunk...
(Lucky Crane), led by squadron leader Lt Cmdr Shimazaki, and averted all four torpedoes. Large USS Lexington CV-2 was attacked by 3 units of total fourteen B5N2s, and was struck by the last two torpedoes to port. The Lt Sato unit of Zuikaku attacked first, followed by the Lt Iwamura unit, and the last was the Lt Ichihara unit of Shokaku
Japanese aircraft carrier Shokaku
Shōkaku was an aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy, the lead ship of her class. Along with her sister ship , she took part in several key naval battles during the Pacific War, including the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands...
(Flying Crane), in the crane wings attack formation. Those B5Ns were approaching to the ship in the full speed over 204 knots (or 378 km/h, 235 mile/h) faster that known torpedo-bomber aircraft should. Captain Frederick Carl Sherman in the bridge of CV-2 watched a B5N shot down with the torpedo near the ship. He saw that the tail section of the torpedo was covered with box-like attachment. He reported that he had found the reason why the B5N2s could launch Type 91 aerial torpedo at such high speed.
Fast torpedo-bombing tactic
As for a high speed torpedo bombing run in 300 knots (or 556 km/h, 345 mile/h), the maximum altitude for release was limited at 300 – 350 m (984 - 1,148 ft). The strength of contra-rotating propeller limited launch height . A torpedo, tested at 100 m in very high speed from P1Y land-based attackerYokosuka P1Y
|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Francillon, Ph.D., René J. Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War. London: Putnam 7 Company Ltd., 1970. ISBN 0-370-00033-1 ....
Ginga at Yokosuka arsenal, veered water entry because of a the crack in a screw blade. The minimum release height was also limited at 40 m (131 ft) in high speed run. If it were released lower than 30 m (98 ft) in the high speed, it might skip on the water surface.
Army Air Force pilot, Major Hideo Sakamoto established the fast torpedo-bombing tactic, with his Ki-67
Mitsubishi Ki-67
The Mitsubishi Ki-67 Hiryū was a twin-engine medium bomber produced by Mitsubishi and used by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force in World War II. Its Army designation was "Type 4 Heavy Bomber" .-Design:The Ki-67 was the result of a 1941 Japanese army specification for a successor to the Nakajima...
twin-engine bomber aircraft having good maneuverability, at Yokosuka Naval airbase in January 1944. He found the releasing parameters of the tactic after 300 tests. The Imperial Japanese Navy Air Force authorized it. A Ki-67 with 1 tons torpedo starts steep dive at altitude 1,500m (approx. 5,000 ft) to the water level and launches the torpedo in two styles.
- Launch in speed range 370–460 km/h, at 30-120m high (or speed 200-248knots (230-285mile/h) at altitude 98–394 ft)
- Launch in speed range 460–560 km/h at 50-120m high (or speed 248-302knots (285-348mile/h) at altitude 164–394 ft)
Skidding right and left
Tactics were needed because the KIA or killed in action rate of aviators in torpedo bombing squadrons was high, 30 - 50% in the beginning of World War II. In the late stage of the Pacific War, the rate was up to 90 % and 100 % in a daytime operation.Skilled aviators had their own tactics to survive, skidding
Slip (aerodynamic)
A slip is an aerodynamic state where an aircraft is moving somewhat sideways as well as forward relative to the oncoming airflow. In other words, for a conventional aircraft, the nose will not be pointing directly into the relative wind .A slip is also a piloting maneuver where the pilot...
right and left with varying speed (180 knots to 70 knots) at less than 10 meter high in the midst of water splashes of AA gunfires, to avoid a curtain of intense AA barrage controlled by Fire Control System onboard USS warships.
A photo (broken link) shows the typical tactic of torpedo bombing, a B6N2 Tenzan in torpedo bombing attack of USS Yorktown (CV-10)
USS Yorktown (CV-10)
USS Yorktown is one of 24 s built during World War II for the United States Navy. She is named after the Battle of Yorktown of the American Revolutionary War, and is the fourth U.S. Navy ship to bear the name...
. The original series of photos shows the sequential right and left side-skidding tactic of the crew. In this second photo, the B6N2 is skidding to its left, or toward the right in the photo, and the flak shell explodes its right, or off the left in the picture. It was coming up to counterattack offshore Truk islands, in the evening of February 17, 1944. It was one of four B6N Tenzan of a torpedo squadron in 2nd A.G or 582 A.G. Two out of four of them made water landing on their way back and the crews were rescued, and the other two, returned their base safely. Original photo is PD, the Property of US Government.
Type 91 Aerial Torpedo History
- Chronological Table
- 1931 Type 91 aerial torpedo is into service, start production.
- 1936 Revision 1. Self-detachable wooden plates are introduced.
- 1937 Launch-tests at 500m and 1,000m with wooden damper.
- 1939 Revision 2 starts production. The sinking level after water entry becomes big problem.
- 1941 Revision 2 cleared the test of shallow water launching by introduction of anti-rolling controller. Battle of Pearl HarborAttack on Pearl HarborThe attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
, Battle of offshore Malay. - 1941 Revision 3 starts production.
- 1942 Battle of Indian OceanIndian Ocean raidThe Indian Ocean raid was a naval sortie by the Fast Carrier Strike Force of the Imperial Japanese Navy from 31 March-10 April 1942 against Allied shipping and bases in the Indian Ocean. It was an early engagement of the Pacific campaign of World War II...
, Battle of the Coral SeaBattle of the Coral SeaThe Battle of the Coral Sea, fought from 4–8 May 1942, was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II between the Imperial Japanese Navy and Allied naval and air forces from the United States and Australia. The battle was the first fleet action in which aircraft carriers engaged...
, Battle of MidwayBattle of MidwayThe Battle of Midway is widely regarded as the most important naval battle of the Pacific Campaign of World War II. Between 4 and 7 June 1942, approximately one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea and six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States Navy decisively defeated...
, Battle of the Santa Cruz IslandsBattle of the Santa Cruz IslandsThe Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, 26 October 1942, sometimes referred to as the Battle of Santa Cruz or in Japanese sources as the , was the fourth carrier battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II and the fourth major naval engagement fought between the United States Navy and the Imperial...
. - 1943 Revision 5 starts production.
- 1944 Battle of offshore the Marianas IslandsBattle of the Philippine SeaThe Battle of the Philippine Sea was a decisive naval battle of World War II which effectively eliminated the Imperial Japanese Navy's ability to conduct large-scale carrier actions. It took place during the United States' amphibious invasion of the Mariana Islands during the Pacific War...
, Aerial Battle of offshore FormosaAerial Battle of Taiwan-OkinawaThe Aerial Battle of the Taiwan Seas took place between October 12 and 16, 1944, off the eastern coast of the island of Taiwan, and was fought by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service and the approaching Task Force 38 of the United States Third Fleet and was one of a series of Air raids on Japan...
.
Scientists and engineers developing aerial torpedo
Ninety One Association includes Rear Admiral Naruse, Lt Cmdr Haruo Hirota, Lt Cmdr Makoto Kodaira (Matsunawa), Naval assistant manager Iyeta, Naval engineer Noma, Naval engineer Moritoshi Maeda, Lieutenant Hidehiko Ichikawa, and Teruyuki Kawada, university student as naval apprentice.Captain Fumio Aiko was assigned in charge of promoting the development project of Type 91 aerial torpedo since 1931. Capt F. Aiko concentrated human resources
Human resources
Human resources is a term used to describe the individuals who make up the workforce of an organization, although it is also applied in labor economics to, for example, business sectors or even whole nations...
to make aerial torpedo, ordered to analyze the cause and to make anti-rolling controller. He is very proud of Type 91 aerial torpedo as his great achievement. Rear Admiral Naruse and his group members once in naval air arsenal were developing the series of Type 91 aerial torpedoes.
Delay of the development
In the beginning of 1934, Kan-Pon or Imperial Japanese Navy Technical DepartmentImperial Japanese Navy Technical Department
The was the externally operating division of the Ministry of the Navy of Japan responsible for the administration of naval vessel construction. From 1923 onward, it took on the role of a research institution for the research and development of naval technologies and engineering...
, an operating division of the Ministry of the Navy of Imperial Japanese government, which had the primary responsibility for naval weapon system, had their own plan and their own project for Japanese aerial torpedo. In their plan, a bovine big flying boat was to carry heavy Type 93 oxygen torpedoes, to launch it at long range, and to turn back safely. Soon proved that it was an unrealistic desk plan. Kan-Pon confidentially developed their own Type 94 aerial torpedo, or aerial type of Type 93 oxygen torpedo. Their original challenge of the latest type of giant H6K Type 97 Large Flying Boat, Mavis
Kawanishi H6K
|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Doubilet, David. "The Flying Boat". Sport Diver Magazine. Volume 15, Number 8, September 2007.* Francillon, Ph.D., René J. Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War. Annapolis, Maryland, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1995.* Green, William. Warplanes of the Second...
was just accomplished the test flight successfully in 1934.
They even ordered to stop production of Type 91 torpedo, which significantly delayed the development schedule based on Type 91. That made the project members of Yokosuka Naval Arsenal
Yokosuka Naval Arsenal
was one of four principal naval shipyards owned and operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy, and was located at Yokosuka city, Kanagawa prefecture on Tokyo Bay, south of Yokohama...
being baffled.
Introduction of Wooden Tail Stabilizers
The project revised Type 91 aerial torpedoes, as the revision 1 supporting wooden tail plates, taken off on water entry, in 1936. The team demonstrated the launching tests of Type 91 aerial torpedoes wearing wooden shock-damper objects at altitude 500m (1,640 ft) and 1,000m (3,281 ft) in the following year, 1937. The project came up again and resumed the development of Type 91 aerial torpedo.Type 91 aerial torpedo of earlier revision had a frail body.
It was revised as the revision 2 by reinforced the frail body structure, in 1938.
Introduction of Anti-Rolling Controller
Type 91 aerial torpedoes won the admiration by the anti-rolling controller with accelerationAcceleration
In physics, acceleration is the rate of change of velocity with time. In one dimension, acceleration is the rate at which something speeds up or slows down. However, since velocity is a vector, acceleration describes the rate of change of both the magnitude and the direction of velocity. ...
control system of early days. Type 91 already had a shed-off type wooden tail plates as aerodynamic stabilizer. But the running out problem merged as aircraft speed going up from 130 to 180 knots.
Before the anti-rolling controller was introduced, the early revision of Type 91 aerial torpedo had a serious problem as other aerial torpedoes had in those days. Roughly released in high speed, it even made double-roll in the air. When it dove into the swelling waves of the heavy sea, it got spinning moment at the hard impact on water entry. It was veering the running direction, going down to stick to the bottom of the shallow basin of a port, crashing at the depth limits 100m by the water pressure, jumping out of the water, skipping water surface, or even running backwards. Only the real razor aviators could make the sure torpedo-bombing run in the calm sea.
Tumbled torpedo runs out of control. Though the gyrocompass and the depth meter works well, the torpedo cannot control the running direction by tail rudders unless they are in the neutral position at first. Once the torpedo rolls, the horizontal and vertical rudders lose their positions, or even upside down, result in runaway.
Engineers and scientists of the project, led by Lieutenant Hirota (rank at that time), drew one conclusion from their years of tests and numerical analyses, in 1939. Since the spec. of launch speed of aircraft was increased from 130knots to 180knots and faster, any aerial torpedo needed certain type of anti-rolling system with not only damping stabilizer function but also acceleration controlling function, otherwise the torpedo would be falling into unstable-state. The idea of acceleration-control, or countersteering function was thought of as impossible in those days. Two years passed.
The breakthrough on aerial torpedo design was made with the anti-rolling controller invented first by Iyeda, Assistant Manager of arsenal workmen, in spring 1941.
Ten days later, while the test of Iyeda system was in practice, Naval Engineer Noma invented another system, and it was put into final test in August 1941. It functions all the same with different mechanism. During the prototype tests, the Noma's system found out the better for having less time lags in response, so that the Noma system was adopted for production type of Type 91 aerial torpedo.
It looked merely a tiny mechanical air valve object controlling small roll rudders on both sides in the aft of the torpedo, was really the innovation of the torpedo technology world. It was the breakthrough for aerial torpedo. Type 91 rev.2 aerial torpedo first made it possible to use in the high seas.
The anti-rolling controller is actually a steering controller to stabilize the rolling motion of the torpedo by roll rudders on both sides. The roll rudders work within angler range +/-22.5 degrees, twisting in ailerons manner.
When a torpedo is rolling or rolls to some degree, the anti-rolling controller twists those rudders in the counter-rolling direction.
When a torpedo is rolling back to its neutral position of 0 degree, the controller sense it and switches roll rudders in the opposite direction to break angular velocity of torpedo rolling back, or countersteering
Countersteering
Countersteering is the technique used by single-track vehicle operators, such as cyclists and motorcyclists, to initiate a turn toward a given direction by momentarily steering counter to the desired direction...
. They naval engineers called this operation as countersteer as they modeled it to steer a ship.
It enabled to keep Type 91 rev.2 aerial torpedo running under the water no deeper than 20 meter (65.6 ft). Actually the cutting-edge pilots of torpedo-bomber squadrons in Dai Ichi Koku Sentai or The 1st Air Flotilla of the carrier strike force were able to launch their torpedo so as to sink in the water depth no more than 10 meter (32.8 ft) after water entry.
Anti-rolling controller made aircraft possible to torpedo-bomb not only warships anchorage in shallow military port but also warships steam in chopped waves of heavy sea in full speed.
Increment of the explosive weight
The anti-rolling controller also made Type 91 aerial torpedo possible carrying heavier warhead section. Type 91 warhead and Type 91 rev.1 warhead, each weighs 213.5 kg (470.7 lb) with high explosive 149.5 kg (329.6 lb) only, but warhead rev.2 weighs 276 kg (595.2 lb) with high explosive 204 kg (449.7 lb). Warhead rev.7, which is for twin-engine bomber, weighs 526 kg (1160 lb) with high explosive 420 kg (925.9 lb). It was so designed to pierce the reinforced tough armor plates the latest USS warships developed during World War II.Aerial torpedo technology of the Allies
Engineers and scientists of the Imperial Japanese Navy got a chance to inspect the torpedo technology of the AlliesAllies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
, aerial torpedoes of the latest version in World War II, which were left at some South West Pacific bases in early 1942. The US Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
aerial torpedo, Mark 13 torpedo
Mark 13 torpedo
The Bliss-Leavitt Mark 13 torpedo was the U.S. Navy's most common aerial torpedo of World War II. It was designed with unusually squat dimensions for its type: diameter was and length . In the water, the Mark 13 could reach a speed of for up to . The Mark 13 ran slower than the Mark 14 torpedo...
was found at Puerto de Cavite, the military port in Philippine. Fleet Air Arm
Fleet Air Arm
The Fleet Air Arm is the branch of the British Royal Navy responsible for the operation of naval aircraft. The Fleet Air Arm currently operates the AgustaWestland Merlin, Westland Sea King and Westland Lynx helicopters...
aerial torpedoes of the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
were found at the base Kota Bharu
Kota Bharu
Kota Bharu is a city in Malaysia, is the state capital and Royal City of Kelantan. It is also the name of the territory in which Kota Bharu City is situated. The name means 'new city' or 'new castle/fort' in Malay. Kota Bharu is situated in the northeastern part of Peninsular Malaysia, and lies...
, northeastern Malaysia, close to the Thai
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
border.
There were none like Type 91 aerial torpedo rev.2. They were disappointed with the work of their rivals, because those were as if they had few intention to deal seriously with the development of aerial torpedo technology. The US Navy had the aerial torpedo having a little changes for loading in aircraft, but looked almost the same as their known big Mark 13 ship torpedo. The Royal Navy had their traditional type aerial torpedo, which had been originally designed by White Head Company in 1925.
The structure of Type 91 aerial torpedo rev.2
Type 91 aerial torpedo is the first aerial torpedo, which is able to use practically in ocean. The scientific approach consistent with experimental evidence was adopted to lead development.Warhead
Length = 1,460 mm (57⅝in)The detonator is unlocked after running certain distance under the water.
When a torpedo hits a warship, the inertial collision of the aft mass in the warhead thrusting forward and ignites the highly explosive. Unless otherwise the ignition of the inner mass, the highly explosive will not explode. A 20mm explosive cannon shellfire gone through the warhead cannot ignite the locked highly explosive in warhead.
The warhead has T shaped strip parts to reinforce the internal-lower portion of the front shell against the heavy impact on water entry. For the production model, the warhead section needs five reinforced strip bands on the front-bottom of the inner shell, lap welded in a shape of cut lower half star, or the superpose of the letter T and the letter Λ, instead. The warhead also has two tiny stitch lines aligned on the front-top of the shell to enhance the explosion. The latest version had two hooks on the nose.
Type 91 aerial torpedo is to be launched by aircraft power gliding from high in the sky. The aerial torpedo, released at altitude 100m, is falling in speed nearly Mach
Mach number
Mach number is the speed of an object moving through air, or any other fluid substance, divided by the speed of sound as it is in that substance for its particular physical conditions, including those of temperature and pressure...
0.5 on water entries, and receives over 100G
Gravitational acceleration
In physics, gravitational acceleration is the acceleration on an object caused by gravity. Neglecting friction such as air resistance, all small bodies accelerate in a gravitational field at the same rate relative to the center of mass....
at the hard impact on the water surface.
Air chamber
L = 1,068 mm (42⅛in)The air chamber is a cylinder of thin shell made by alloy of nickel chromium-molybdenum steel. This tough steel alloy was originally developed for steel armor plate of battleship. The chamber is charged with highly compressed normal air at 175 - 215 atm
Atmosphere (unit)
The standard atmosphere is an international reference pressure defined as 101325 Pa and formerly used as unit of pressure. For practical purposes it has been replaced by the bar which is 105 Pa...
(2,500 - 3,000 psi
Pounds per square inch
The pound per square inch or, more accurately, pound-force per square inch is a unit of pressure or of stress based on avoirdupois units...
), which burns fuel oil to produce driving power. It loses the pressure down to around 50 atm (710 psi) while running 2,000 m (6,600 ft) under the water.
Front float
L = 733 mm (28⅞in)Front float section has a pure water tank, a fuel oil tank and a depth meter.
The depth meter is placed at the inner bottom of the section to detect the water depth level. It detects the displacement level of the water depth and controls the tail horizontal rudders (or elevators
Elevator (aircraft)
Elevators are flight control surfaces, usually at the rear of an aircraft, which control the aircraft's orientation by changing the pitch of the aircraft, and so also the angle of attack of the wing. In simplified terms, they make the aircraft nose-up or nose-down...
) proportionally, so that the torpedo keeps level running under the water.
Engine room
L = 427 mm (16⅞in)This section is constructed free to coming in the water to help a cooling system of the engine in the torpedo.
It has a starter, a Chowaki or pressure regulator
Pressure regulator
A pressure regulator is a valve that automatically cuts off the flow of a liquid or gas at a certain pressure. Regulators are used to allow high-pressure fluid supply lines or tanks to be reduced to safe and/or usable pressures for various applications....
, a wet-heat chamber, a main engine, and a horizontal rudder controller.
The starter starts controllers, one for vertical tail rudders, and another for roll rudders for anti-rolling in both side wing rudders, with horizontal tail rudders being locked at uppermost position, while the torpedo falls down to the water surface. It starts the main engine to propel when the torpedo hits the water. A thick bolt is stuck through the starter during loaded in aircraft as the lock. The bolt is pulled out from the torpedo when it is released. The bolt remains underneath the fuselage of aircraft.
The pressure regulator is called as Chowaki or harmonizing system for the engine, it actually is a two-stage pressure regulator with twin pressure-tunable regulation valves. It steps down the pressure of compressed air at 215 - 50 atm (3,000 - 711 psi) in the air chamber to the constant high-pressure air at 10 atm (142 psi). While the air pressure is declining as the torpedo is running under the water, the pressure regulator feeds the constant high-pressure air to the engine intake aspirator and keeps the constant running speed in 43 knots (or 80 km/h, 50 mile/h).
The wet-heat chamber is made by heat resistant steel. Type 91 aerial torpedoes use wet-heater engine like almost all other torpedoes in World War II. The general wet heater burning method drastically improved the combustion efficiency of torpedo engines. It burns the mixed gas of fuel oil and the high-pressure air with spraying pure water in the wet-heat block to produce burning steam gas fed to the engine. The high-pressure fuel oil gas is burning at a temperature 800 degrees C (1,500 degF). The sprayed pure water mists into the combustion gas, which produces vapor explosion, results in completely gasified fuel oil combustion.
The main engine is an 8-cylinder single-row radial piston engine
Reciprocating engine
A reciprocating engine, also often known as a piston engine, is a heat engine that uses one or more reciprocating pistons to convert pressure into a rotating motion. This article describes the common features of all types...
.
The horizontal tail rudder controller is operated by the rod connection mechanism from the depth meter in the front float section.
Rear float
L = 1,002 mm (39½in)A single drive shaft is going through the section to the tail. This rear float section has a machine oil tank, a rudder controller, an anti-rolling controller, and roll rudders on both sides.
The machine oil tank is center-mounted in the rear float section.
The rudder controller is a general gyrocompass
Gyrocompass
A gyrocompass is a type of non-magnetic compass which bases on a fast-spinning disc and rotation of our planet to automatically find geographical direction...
controlled system, which is steering vertical rudders to keep the longitudinal axis of the torpedo in the sensed direction straight. Both the vertical rudder controller and the anti-rolling controller had their own gyroscope
Gyroscope
A gyroscope is a device for measuring or maintaining orientation, based on the principles of angular momentum. In essence, a mechanical gyroscope is a spinning wheel or disk whose axle is free to take any orientation...
, which is to start rotating when the torpedo is released from aircraft. Each gyro has dual ring support mechanisms to move freely.
Anti-rolling controller
Numerical analysis
Numerical analysis is the study of algorithms that use numerical approximation for the problems of mathematical analysis ....
of physical mathematics theory to fit stability. A spinning gyroscope of control system senses the tilt degree of roll, and then the controller is centering the roll of the torpedo.
The anti-rolling controller with the gyroscope can steer roll-rudders on both sides in angle range of +/- 22.5 ° . When the torpedo tilted, the anti-rolling controller steers roll-rudders (or aileron
Aileron
Ailerons are hinged flight control surfaces attached to the trailing edge of the wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. The ailerons are used to control the aircraft in roll, which results in a change in heading due to the tilting of the lift vector...
s) in twisting ailerons manner to produce counter-rolling moment.
When the torpedo tilted over 10 degree and is rolling back the angle toward the neutral center position, the tiny mechanical system in the control air valve works. When it rolls back within the tilt angle 10 degree, the controller now countersteers roll rudders switching back to the reverse angles to break the counter-rolling moment, and to prevent overshoot. The torpedo rolls over the neutral center position and keeps rolling to some degree. The torpedo then stops in opposite tilt at certain degree, and starts rolling back the angle toward the neutral center position. Then the controller senses the angle tilted and countersteers roll-rudders to break the moment. It is rolling over the neutral center position then stops at certain degree, vice versa, like an air cushion is bouncing and settled to the floor. The movement continues but damps to neutral the rolling angle within 2.0 to 3.6 second in the air.
In the test, the system working was observed and proved by the developed high-speed movie film, the top-view shot of the falling torpedo tested, taken from the bomb bay. The anti-rolling system also proved the controller functions effectively under the water surface by the running result after the water entry.
Roll rudders
Stabilizing rudder, or roll rudders (or aileronAileron
Ailerons are hinged flight control surfaces attached to the trailing edge of the wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. The ailerons are used to control the aircraft in roll, which results in a change in heading due to the tilting of the lift vector...
s) are put on both sides of the torpedo, being steered to produce counter-rolling moment. Each rudder is a small 8 cm2 size square metal wing.
Each roll rudder has been covered with a temporal wooden extended wing of 12 × 20 cm2 (4¾in × 7⅞in), tighten with six aluminum sharing pins on both side-edges (three pins each) to get enough aerodynamic force in the air, that is to be shed and broken off when the torpedo gets the hard impact from the water surface on water entry. The remained original metal roll rudders are steering in the water running to converge the rolling movement arisen on water entry.
Tail section and twin screws
L = 530 mm (to the tip end of propelling screw hub) (20⅞in)There are bevel gears driving coaxial contra-rotating double 4 blades screws to propel torpedo running straight under the water. Tail section has vertical and horizontal stabilizer fins in cross. Each fin has a controlling rudder in aft. Horizontal fins and rudders or elevators have wide span in longitudinal direction and work proportionally, while vertical fins are small, and rudders have very short span.
Shed off aerodynamic wooden stabilizer plates
Tail fins are covered with Kyoban or aerodynamic wooden stabilizer plates. They were introduced in 1936. It is shed off by the impact on water entry. This aerodynamic wooden stabilizer plates in the tail are in the shape of box cover for single-engine carrier-based torpedo-bombers Nakajima B5NNakajima B5N
|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Bridgwater, H.C. and Peter Scott. Combat Colours Number 4: Pearl Harbor and Beyond, December 1941 to May 1942. Luton, Bedfordshire, UK: Guideline Publications, 2001. ISBN 0-9539040-6-7....
and Nakajima B6N
Nakajima B6N
The Nakajima B6N Tenzan was the Imperial Japanese Navy's standard carrier-borne torpedo bomber during the final years of World War II and the successor to the B5N "Kate"...
. In the case for twin-engine land-based torpedo-bombers G3M
Mitsubishi G3M
The Mitsubishi G3M was a Japanese bomber used during World War II.-Design and development:...
, G4M
Mitsubishi G4M
The Mitsubishi G4M 一式陸上攻撃機, 一式陸攻 Isshiki rikujō kōgeki ki, Isshikirikkō was the main twin-engine, land-based bomber used by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service in World War II. The Allies gave the G4M the reporting name Betty...
, P1Y
Yokosuka P1Y
|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Francillon, Ph.D., René J. Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War. London: Putnam 7 Company Ltd., 1970. ISBN 0-370-00033-1 ....
, and Ki-67
Mitsubishi Ki-67
The Mitsubishi Ki-67 Hiryū was a twin-engine medium bomber produced by Mitsubishi and used by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force in World War II. Its Army designation was "Type 4 Heavy Bomber" .-Design:The Ki-67 was the result of a 1941 Japanese army specification for a successor to the Nakajima...
, the torpedo wears another type of aerodynamic wooden stabilizer plates covering tail fins in cross to extend their tail length in the air, which is less in drag resistance loss but needs more clearance heights in the bomb bay underneath the fuselage. In the case of land-based torpedo-bomber aircraft, a plate is needed to be set inside the bomb bay to groom the airflow, because the vortex coming in the bomb bay gives the turbulence behavior to the torpedo released.
A torpedo is released at a speed greater than 160 knots (or 300 km/h, 184 mph) in the air and then follows a parabolic path free-falling to the water. The aerodynamically designed wooden plates stabilize the up-and-down motion of the torpedo in the air keeping it aligned to the diving course. The wooden plates are shed as the torpedo hits the water, and the elevators or horizontal rudders set farthest forward lift the nose of the torpedo after water entry to start level running. The structure is simple and works well. The wooden head cap had been used before the anti-rolling controller system was introduced.
Screws
ScrewsPropeller
A propeller is a type of fan that transmits power by converting rotational motion into thrust. A pressure difference is produced between the forward and rear surfaces of the airfoil-shaped blade, and a fluid is accelerated behind the blade. Propeller dynamics can be modeled by both Bernoulli's...
are coaxial contra-rotating double screw, with 4 propeller blades each.
Each screw is wrought from a cube steel alloy mass into bold cross shape and punched through the center. Hammering punches of 1 tons and 3 tons shape 4 blades.
Propel section is compactly-designed so that the front screw and the rear screw are put in 5 mm close to each other. A trouble happened in 1943, when a P1Y tested the torpedo released at altitude 100 m in high-speed power gliding. That torpedo veered the running direction. The hard impact on water entry made a front blade get cracked by the hit of a rear blade. The project members shared the recognition on the importance of annealing, quench hardening, and normalizing process of the screw blades, and so was done.
In the first annealing
Annealing (metallurgy)
Annealing, in metallurgy and materials science, is a heat treatment wherein a material is altered, causing changes in its properties such as strength and hardness. It is a process that produces conditions by heating to above the recrystallization temperature, maintaining a suitable temperature, and...
process, the metal is left in the oven at 700 °C (or 1,300 °F) for 2 hours then slowly cooled in lime powder. The metal is hammered out and machined in the shape of screw. Then the screw is put in the quench hardening
Quench
In materials science, quenching is the rapid cooling of a workpiece to obtain certain material properties. It prevents low-temperature processes, such as phase transformations, from occurring by only providing a narrow window of time in which the reaction is both thermodynamically favorable and...
process, kept at 850 °C (or 1,560 °F) for 1.5 hours, and is cooled in oil. In the last thermal normalizing process, the screw is put in 180 °C (or 356 °F) hot oil for 2 hours, then is left cooling in the air.
- Material: SK chromium-molybdenum alloy steel
- Process: Hammer out.
Rudder steering means
- 1. Full steering system
- Vertical rudder system steers rudders tri-stated to full-right / neutral / full-left as the gyroscope senses. Type 91 aerial torpedo has long time constant period with respect to the longitudinal axis turn moment in the water.
- 2. Proportional steering system
- Horizontal rudder system elevates the angle of rudders proportional to the angle of displacement the depth meter detect. Type 91 aerial torpedo has medium time constant period in longitudinal axis lift moment under the water.
- 3. Angular velocity steering system
- Anti-rolling controller system steers both roll rudders tri-stated to full-up / neutral / full-down in twisting aileron manner. When the controller detect the rolling is coming back to the center position, the system countersteers roll rudders in opposite direction. This system uses countersteering function so as to dump unstable rolling oscillation movement. Type 91 aerial torpedoes has fast period in approx. 0.5 sec time constant in rolling moment.
Structure of Anti-Rolling Controller
- Haruo Hirota, Naval Lieutenant Commander
- Makoto Kodaira, Naval Lieutenant
The structure of the anti-rolling controller is a set of gyro-controlled air valve system to steer the roll rudders on both sides of a torpedo.
The anti-rolling controller is composed with a gyroscope, a main controller, and an output booster. The most significant part is the main controller.
Gyroscope
The gyroscopeGyroscope
A gyroscope is a device for measuring or maintaining orientation, based on the principles of angular momentum. In essence, a mechanical gyroscope is a spinning wheel or disk whose axle is free to take any orientation...
senses the rolling tilt degree in real-time. It inputs push-pull control operation force to a pilot valve, sliding it inside the main controller to switch two output valves exclusively to the rudders.
Main Controller
The main controller controls two output air valves exclusively to steer roll rudders.It steers and countersteers those roll rudders. It steers the rolling-rudders with detecting the tilted degree of the torpedo rolling by the control of pilot valve. It countersteers those roll rudders when the torpedo is rolling back to neutral position, which results in detecting the acceleration of the rolling angular velocity derivative with respect to time.
Output Booster
The output booster or auxiliary valve has two inlets and two outlets ports. The output booster is working as a pair of air shutoff valves. It is connected in cascade to two output ports of the main anti-rolling controller, switches on and off directly the two powerful high pressure controlling air flows one for clockwise twist and the other for counter clockwise twist of roll rudders, exclusively to each other. It is so as to save the main controller system and to ensure proper operation under the heavy impact condition.Sequential operation steps in aerial torpedo bombing
- A release button is switched on in the cockpit.
- Cartridge is ignited to cut a loading wire band. Torpedo is released and wire is falling freely.
- The torpedo is falling and the safety bolt is pulled out. It starts gyroscopes of both the vertical rudder controller and the anti-rolling controller.
- Vertical rudders are kept in straight direction.
- Horizontal rudders (or elevators) are locked in uppermost position to prepare the water entry.
- Roll rudders start steering by the anti-rolling controller.
- ---Water Entry---
- Hard impact to the water surface breaks off wooden air wing covers of side roll rudders and tail aerodynamic stabilizer plates or box.
- Doubly rotate screws are unlocked at propel block.
- Propel engine starts cool idling while running. (Engine starts rotating with high-pressure air only.)
- Brakes on horizontal rudders (or elevators) are released. Depth meter starts working.
- Water pressure after the entry downs a plate to start firing combustion chamber of the engine.
- Propel wet-heater engine starts hot running by burning fuel air gas, mixed with sprayed water.
- Safety lock in the warhead is released while running.
- High explosive explodes on the hit of the target.
----
Theory: Aerial torpedo motion equation
Rear Admiral Shoji Naruse explained in his class as follows.The torpedo motion equation is the set of simultaneous ordinary differential equations, which is to model pitch motion of airborne aerial torpedo as follows.
- Eq.1: Falling velocity of the torpedo equation
- Eq.2: Horizontal vector velocity of the torpedo mass equation
- Eq.3: Vertical vector velocity of the torpedo equation
- Eq.4: Vertical vector acceleration of the torpedo mass equation
- Eq.5: Angular velocity equation with respect to time
- Eq.6: Angular velocity differential equation with respect to time
-
- where constant 57.3 of Eq.6 is the coefficient from 1 (radian) = 57.2958°
b V ω of Eq.6 is the damping moment, where b is defined as;
Since the angular moment of a torpedo here is the lifting movement as follows;
-
- V : The velocity of the torpedo
- VH : The horizontal axis velocity of the torpedo
- VZ : The vertical axis velocity of the torpedo
- φ : The moving vector angle of the torpedo in reference to horizontal axis
- θ : The posture angle of the torpedo in reference to the horizontal axis
- α : The internal angle between φ and θ, which is equal to the lift angle of tail fins of the torpedo
- W : Weight of the torpedo
- g : Acceleration of gravity, 9.8 m/sec2
- I : Inertia coefficient with respect to lift moment at the gravity center of the torpedo
- ω : Lifting angular velocity (radian)
- D : Drag moment of force
- L : Lift moment of force
- M : Roll moment of force around the longitudial axis of the torpedo
- ρ : Air density
- S : Cross-section area of the torpedo
- l : Total length of the torpedo
- lH : The length between the gravity center and the center of lift moment of tail fins of the torpedo
The value lH is measured in wind-tunnel test,
as drag moment of force coefficient differences between the torpedoes with and without box type attachment of wooden tail stabilizer plates;
where each coefficient is defined as;
- CnH = CXH sin α + CZH cos α
- CtH = CXH cos α + CZH sin α
-
- CX : Drag moment of force coefficient D / (1/2 ρ V2 S)
- CZ : Lift moment of force coefficient L / (1/2 ρ V2 S)
- Cmg : Roll moment of force coefficient around the gravity center of the torpedo M / (1/2 ρ V2 l)
- CXH : Drag moment of force coefficient of tail stabilizer box of torpedo
- CZH : Lift moment of force coefficient of tail stabilizer box of torpedo
- CmgH : Roll moment of force coefficient around the gravity center of tail stabilizer box of the torpedo
Solving Eq.1 through Eq.4 with respect to movement under certain boundary conditionsBoundary value problemIn mathematics, in the field of differential equations, a boundary value problem is a differential equation together with a set of additional restraints, called the boundary conditions...
, we could derive the set of equations t, X, Z in definite integral equation form.
- where, λ = - tan φ, λ0 = - tan φ0, at time t = 0
Definite integralsIntegralIntegration is an important concept in mathematics and, together with its inverse, differentiation, is one of the two main operations in calculus...
can be numerically solved by Composite Simpson's ruleSimpson's ruleIn numerical analysis, Simpson's rule is a method for numerical integration, the numerical approximation of definite integrals. Specifically, it is the following approximation:...
in the ordinary differential equations field.
Lifting motion Eq.5 can be numerically solved by The common fourth-order Runge-Kutta method to get values of ω.
Lifting stability of Torpedo Eq.6 can be numerically solved by Exponential moving average method for exponential equations.
Practical equation for lift moment
Lieutenant Commander Hirota proved the practical torpedo motions by his equations.
In the pitching movement, tail stabilizer box has the function not only aligning the longitudinal axis of torpedo in the moving direction or the vector of the center gravity, but also damping the lifting movement or pitching oscillation. The latter effect is the change of lift moment with respect to the angular velocity of the center gravity as follows.
-
- ρ : Air density
- V : Speed of the torpedo (constant)
- C1 : Lift moment coefficient by one degree with respect to the airflow vector to the plates of the aerodynamic tail stabilizer
- b : The length between gravity center of torpedo and the lift moment center of the plates of the tail stabilizer
- S1 : Area sum of the horizontal plates of the tail stabilizer
- θ : Angle of the longitudinal axis of the torpedo to the vector of the center gravity, where the angle is in radian.
The 1st derivativeDerivativeIn calculus, a branch of mathematics, the derivative is a measure of how a function changes as its input changes. Loosely speaking, a derivative can be thought of as how much one quantity is changing in response to changes in some other quantity; for example, the derivative of the position of a...
of the lift angle with respect to time, 57.3 (b/V) (dθ/dt) is the key factor to damp the pitch movement. The characteristics to damp the pitching factor improved the airborne stability and the course of the torpedo.
Practical equation for roll moment
First, the roll moment equation is set, then it is simplified in 2nd derivative of θ with respect to t, as follows:
Here we set the initial conditions at t = 0 as dθ/dt = ω0, θ = 0 to analyze the angular movement on the top neutral point,
then we can simplify Eq.7 and Eq.8 as follows:
- where K and M are defined as follows:
- K = - (1/2) C2 ρ V2 S2 a
- M = (1/2) × 57.3 C1 S3 (b22 / 12 )ρ V
- and the symbols above are the constants and variables as follows:
- ρ : Air density
- V : Speed of the torpedo (constant)
- C2 : Lift coefficient of 22.5° with respect to the airflow vector to the side roll rudder plates
- a : The length between the aerodynamic centers of the lift moment force in two roll rudders
- S2 : The area of one roll rudder
- b2 : The width of the tail stabilizer
- C1 : Lift coefficient by one degree with respect to the airflow vector to the plates of the aerodynamic tail stabilizer
- S3 : Area sum of the plates of the tail stabilizer, where S3 / 4 is used in the case of box type aerodynamic tail stabilizer.
- I2 : Inertia coefficient with respect to lifting moment at the gravity center of the torpedo
- θ : Roll angle of the torpedo at a right angle with the longitudinal axis
In the practical iterative process in analyses, set certain angle value θ° to Eq.10 and gets value t. Put the value t to Eq.9 then we can get the angular velocity passing through the top neutral point.
Since numerical calculation analyses are plain and difficult to gain public understanding, Hirota made a very simple alternative qualitative explanation of Eq.7 for the countersteering theory to the outsiders of the project, then. It made sense to all by the characteristics of the equation with respect to roll angle, which was obtained through the results of his numerical analyses. Eq.7 represents the change of the rolling angular velocity of the torpedo, that is the 2nd order derivative of angle with respect to time.
The torpedo with anti-rolling controller can converge a big roll angle moment of the torpedo to the small to and fro rolling motion by the factor K and M of Eq.7. Anti-rolling controller can converge a big roll angle moment of the torpedo to the small to and fro rolling motion by changing K factor in the right hand side in Eq.7, which represents the roll moment produced by twisting the side roll rudders, as follows:
When the roll angle is over the range of +/-10 degree, the sign of the first term K factor in Eq.7 works always in positive to steer roll rudders. When the roll angle is coming back within the range of +/-10 degree, the first term K factor in Eq.7 changes the sign of value in negative to countersteer.
While the 2nd term M factor of right hand side in Eq.7, which represents the drag force of wooden tail stabilizer plates, always damps the rolling moment.
That is how Type 91 aerial torpedo can converge the rolling moment oscillation while falling in the air and running under the water.
At the beginning of the Pacific War, December 15, 1941
Ichikawa was called in Suiko-sha or the naval social clubhouse at Shiba-ku, Tokyo, Japan, on December 15, 1941. Ichikawa was a naval consign student or a university student majoring in science and engineer for naval officer candidate scholarship course. Naval Captain Jungo Rai, and Naval Commander Oku called him. Both were the authorities of Japanese torpedo engineering science and developing torpedoes. They just arrived Tokyo from abroad on the Pacific water route. When Ichikawa visited the clubhouse, they told him that they were surprised at Pacific War broke. They had already arrived offshore Japan, which scarcely saved them from being involved in the crisis.
Some Lieutenant Commander and Lieutenant there questioned Ichikawa, "What do you think of the war broke between US and Japan, Ichikawa?" Ichikawa answered, "Yes, we shall win, sir!" It was the day just after The Battle of Pearl HarborAttack on Pearl HarborThe attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
on the first day, The Battle of offshore Malay on the 2nd day of Pacific War.
His answer invited their derisive laughter.
"You are a green student majoring in engineer... Did not you learn the amounts of steel produced in Japan and United States of America in your school?"
"See? Rationally speaking, there is no way Japan can win. We shall stop this war soon anywhere on the way."
Ichikawa was in mute amazement, awakened to the reality by their words. Months later, when he heard the victory news of Battle of Singapore, patriotic crowd celebrating victories in streets made him blue. He deemed ridiculous whole the nation and media celebrating the victory.
It was the darkest ages for the world in the first half of 20th century. The imperialism was overwhelming the world to colonize the developing countries, to wash out and assimilate minorities as inferior races. The big powers were confronted or allied to seek their prosperities. Losers were occupied, lost their own sovereign authority and kingdom in East and West. The world was in kill-or-be-killed situation.
After the 2nd London Treaty, US NavyUnited States NavyThe United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
demonstrated its overwhelming lead to the world. The irresistible ascendancy was on Allied both the invincible armada, US NavyUnited States NavyThe United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
- the Great White Fleet steaming two-ocean, and the admirable Royal NavyRoyal NavyThe Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
- the Grand Fleet ruled the all waves conquering the world. The Imperial Japanese NavyImperial Japanese NavyThe Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...
was in the 3rd position in the world in 1930s, but the naval power of Japan was in far inferior position, much less than 6 against Allied 20. In 1940, the US Navy had launched 6 latest battleships and prepared for their commissions, and started constructing the fastest 6 battleships the world never seen. The US Navy also decided to construct 8 super class fleet aircraft carriers, which no one could ever imagine. By the Vinson-Trammell Act in 1934 and Two-Ocean Navy Act by Carl VinsonCarl VinsonCarl Vinson was a United States Representative from Georgia. He was a Democrat and the first person to serve for more than 50 years in the United States House of Representatives...
in 1940, the Imperial Japanese Navy was prospected being relegated and cast down to the bottom of the sea, within years.
Japan was a poor fishing and agricultural nation in a remote region. Fine silk fabric industry got fatal blow by the Great DepressionGreat DepressionThe Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. Imperial Japanese government was protected and failed to deal with the crises, lost the trust of the public. Dollar-yen exchange rate declined steeply from 2.0 yen in 1929 to 3.4 yen in 1940. The territory of Imperial Japan was large but most of the part was the sea.
Provision of the aerial torpedo technology to Germany
Germany approached Japan to transfer Japanese aerial torpedo technology and Type 91 aerial torpedoes. The Imperial Japanese Navy accepted that approach, and brought not only the technology but also a number of Type 91 aerial torpedoes to Germany in response.
Germany needed to know the aerial torpedo technology because the Italian battleship LittorioItalian battleship Littorio|-External links:...
was heavily damaged in the Battle of TarantoBattle of TarantoThe naval Battle of Taranto took place on the night of 11–12 November 1940 during the Second World War. The Royal Navy launched the first all-aircraft ship-to-ship naval attack in history, flying a small number of obsolescent biplane torpedo bombers from an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean Sea...
on November 11, 1940, and the German battleship BismarckGerman battleship BismarckBismarck was the first of two s built for the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. Named after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the primary force behind the German unification in 1871, the ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1936 and launched nearly three years later...
was hit by a single torpedo, which jammed its rudderRudderA rudder is a device used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft or other conveyance that moves through a medium . On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw and p-factor and is not the primary control used to turn the airplane...
and steering gear for hours on May 26, 1941. Germany also needed aerial torpedoes to attack the Allied transport ships steaming in the Mediterranean SeaMediterranean SeaThe Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
. It had previously imported Italian-made aerial torpedoes.
Kawatana Naval Arsenal: Firm of Type 91 aerial torpedo
Kawatana Naval Arsenal was the production firm of Type 91 aerial torpedo.
Type 91 aerial torpedo was first produced at Nagasaki Weapon Factory of Mitsubishi Heavy IndustriesMitsubishi Heavy Industries, or MHI, is a Japanese company. It is one of the core companies of Mitsubishi Group.-History:In 1870 Yataro Iwasaki, the founder of Mitsubishi took a lease of Government-owned Nagasaki Shipyard. He named it Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works, and started the shipbuilding business on a full scale...
in the beginning. Aerial torpedo was researched and developed at Yokosuka Naval ArsenalYokosuka Naval Arsenalwas one of four principal naval shipyards owned and operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy, and was located at Yokosuka city, Kanagawa prefecture on Tokyo Bay, south of Yokohama...
in Kanagawa PrefectureKanagawa Prefectureis a prefecture located in the southern Kantō region of Japan. The capital is Yokohama. Kanagawa is part of the Greater Tokyo Area.-History:The prefecture has some archaeological sites going back to the Jōmon period...
.
Later, Imperial Japanese Navy established two branch arsenals. One was Suzuka Naval Arsenal in Mie PrefectureMie Prefectureis a prefecture of Japan which is part of the Kansai regions on Honshū island. The capital is the city of Tsu.- History :Until the Meiji Restoration, Mie prefecture was known as Ise Province and Iga Province....
. Another was Kawatana Naval Arsenal, the branch of Sasebo Naval ArsenalSasebo Naval Arsenalwas one of four principal naval shipyards owned and operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy. -History:The Sasebo Naval District was established at Sasebo, Nagasaki in 1886, as the third of the naval districts responsible for the defense of the Japanese home islands. After the establishment of the...
in Nagasaki PrefectureNagasaki Prefectureis a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. The capital is the city of Nagasaki.- History :Nagasaki Prefecture was created by merging of the western half of the former province of Hizen with the island provinces of Tsushima and Iki...
. KawatanaKawatana, Nagasakiis a town located in Higashisonogi District, Nagasaki, Japan.As of January 1, 2009, the town has an estimated population of 14,760 and a density of 396 persons per km². The total area is 37.25 km²....
was specialized to torpedo production.
In 1945, a strange map of Japan, carried by aviators of United States Army Air ForcesUnited States Army Air ForcesThe United States Army Air Forces was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force....
, noted Kawatana Naval Arsenal as a beer factory. Kawatana Arsenal got no air raid. After the war was over, Kawatana could not help but refused the order of rendering beer by the occupied military force.
NagasakiNagasakiis the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Nagasaki was founded by the Portuguese in the second half of the 16th century on the site of a small fishing village, formerly part of Nishisonogi District...
City and Nagasaki Weapon Factory were perished from the face of the earth by Fat ManFat Man"Fat Man" is the codename for the atomic bomb that was detonated over Nagasaki, Japan, by the United States on August 9, 1945. It was the second of the only two nuclear weapons to be used in warfare to date , and its detonation caused the third man-made nuclear explosion. The name also refers more...
. Casualties and burned citizens were carried over to a small town, Kawatana by rail. Kawatana Naval Arsenal accommodated them all. All high school and junior-high girl students working at the arsenal nursed them. They have fresh memories of Kawatana with killed or burned casualties by Fat Man.
Postwar
The Imperial Japanese Navy was perished in 1945. Japan decleared the no-war commitment. The torpedo technology was prohibited by the war-renouncing ConstitutionConstitution of JapanThe is the fundamental law of Japan. It was enacted on 3 May, 1947 as a new constitution for postwar Japan.-Outline:The constitution provides for a parliamentary system of government and guarantees certain fundamental rights...
Article 9. A few scientists got job in some universities, most were working in nonpublic corporations in the chaos of postwar Japan.
About 15 years later, Type 91 aerial torpedo project members knew the industrial machineries imported from United States to Japan powered by proportional-integral-derivative control devicesPID controllerA proportional–integral–derivative controller is a generic control loop feedback mechanism widely used in industrial control systems – a PID is the most commonly used feedback controller. A PID controller calculates an "error" value as the difference between a measured process variable and a...
at last. They saw those machineries, which proclaimed "high-sounding" title, with mingled feelings.
Some dacades later, they called together at a historic inn named Yōshin-tei, Izu, Kanagawa-prefecture, Japan to establish a small association on January 16, 1978. They decided to raise money to make a tiny book Koku Gyorai Note, or Aerial Torpedo Notebook by private book service.
They selected Yuta Tanaka as the 1st chairman. He soon died in 1979, and the major member Toshimori Maeda, died too. Satoshi Suzuki was selected as the 2nd chairman to publish the private book.
Type 91 torpedoes were now displayed at Etajima school of Japan Maritime Self-DefenseNaval Academy EdashimaEtajima base in Etajima city, Hiroshima prefecture is located in the Etajima-cho government building and is the base of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force. Beside the housing the 1st Technical School and the Officer Candidates School, it is home to the local Kure Naval District, LCAC training...
(The Maritime Self Defense Force 1st Technical School) and Shimofusa Base. They had lost the roll rudders.
Type 91 torpedo retaining original form was once displayed at personal exhibition stand by a small wayside drive-inn cafe, named Yoroi-ya (armor house), in the pile of other dusty military junk parts the owner had, the engine of B6N2Nakajima B6NThe Nakajima B6N Tenzan was the Imperial Japanese Navy's standard carrier-borne torpedo bomber during the final years of World War II and the successor to the B5N "Kate"...
Tenzan, broken radio communication systems, used cups, and rusted mountain artilleries from the Imperial Japanese army and navy, in Hyogo prefecture, Japan, till 2005. The stand was closed in 2005 and the exhibited junk articles were sold to neighboring farmers or military collectors.
An excavated Type 91 aerial torpedo was preserved at Resource Museum in JGSDF Camp NahaNaha Airport-Incidents:* On December 1, 1994, Ramzi Yousef planted a bomb on Philippine Airlines Flight 434, with the intent of mass murder. The bomb exploded on the Boeing 747-283B en route from Cebu to Tokyo, killing one passenger...
, 1st Combined Brigade of The Western Army, JGSDFJapan Ground Self-Defense ForceThe , or JGSDF, is the army of Japan. The largest of the three services of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, the Ground Self-Defense Force operates under the command of the chief of the ground staff, based in the city of Ichigaya, Tokyo. The present chief of ground staff is General Yoshifumi Hibako...
, located in NahaNaha, Okinawais the capital city of the Japanese prefecture of Okinawa.Naha is a coastal city located on the East China Sea coast of the southern part of Okinawa Island, the largest of the Ryukyu Islands...
city, Okinawa, Japan. It is retaining the original form. It was picked up as an unexploded ordnanceUnexploded ordnanceUnexploded ordnance are explosive weapons that did not explode when they were employed and still pose a risk of detonation, potentially many decades after they were used or discarded.While "UXO" is widely and informally used, munitions and explosives of...
by a bomb-disposal Squadron of JGSDF.
A captured Type 91 aerial torpedo is displayed at the U. S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland. It rests on two supports flanking a pathway in a small park in front of the Academy's Dahlgren Hall. Displayed on the other side of the pathway is a Type 93 Japanese Long Lance ship-launched torpedo.
External links
