Circa 1917 (?) German Torpedo Bomber. ID Assistance Please. See attached.

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Beth61

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Apparently, this is a test. So, what might the whereabouts be, the aircraft, torpedo type and when? Many questions, eh?

Thanks.
 

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Torpedoes were slow at the time, slower than destroyers and barely faster than battlecruisers.

To get a good hit rate would have required to get REALLY close, machinegun range close. That's why .50cal machineguns were considered a serious air defence for ships during the 20's.

Torpedo bombing wasn't a sensible approach against warships at the time.

Meanwhile, "steam" torpedoes were very expensive, thus a rather poor choice against unarmed ships, too.


Guided glide bombs were tested by Germany during WWI, mostly from airships. (I wrote a little about that.) No doubt immature, but more interesting than torpedobombing IMO.
 
lastdingo said:
Torpedoes were slow at the time, slower than destroyers and barely faster than battlecruisers.
Click to expand...
It depends on the torpedo. 40kts to 4 or 5kyds was common for 21" torpedoes, but they were in general too heavy for aircraft, the British 18" Mk VIII**, which was used, could manage 35kts to 2.5kyds.

lastdingo said:
To get a good hit rate would have required to get REALLY close, machinegun range close. That's why .50cal machineguns were considered a serious air defence for ships during the 20's.
Click to expand...

1000m as a release distance was still being used into WWII by the really determined pilots.

Standard AA fit on US battleships was 2x 3" guns at the time, increasing to 4 by the end of the war and 8 during the 20s. The .50 wasn't adopted by the USN until the 30s, and was quickly abandoned after PH. The initial .50 is the M1919, so it simply wasn't around to threaten WWI German aircraft.

lastdingo said:
Torpedo bombing wasn't a sensible approach against warships at the time.
Click to expand...

The Royal Navy didn't agree when planning the Jade Harbour Raid, which would have seen 100 Sopwith Cuckoo torpedo bombers attack the High Seas Fleet at anchor in the Jade Bight during 1919 if the war had continued that long.
 
I do know that during the front end of World War TWO, US torpedoes were unreliable. Getting into the weeds of World War One (and earlier) torpedoes is an area of interest.
 
Beth61 said:
I do know that during the front end of World War TWO, US torpedoes were unreliable. Getting into the weeds of World War One (and earlier) torpedoes is an area of interest.
Click to expand...

When looking at early torpedo boats you should understand torpedoes were a kind of sniping, not a spread salvo kind of weapon up to WWI. Torpedo boats had to get really close to hit anything, and very little was hit at Jutland because torpedo propulsion was simply not good.

Two blog posts fo mine may be relevant to your interest:
https://defense-and-freedom.blogspot.com/2013/04/about-unguided-torpedoes.htmlhttps://defense-and-freedom.blogspot.com/2021/03/about-unguided-torpedoes-addendum.html
 
lastdingo said:
When looking at early torpedo boats you should understand torpedoes were a kind of sniping, not a spread salvo kind of weapon up to WWI.
Click to expand...
That's absolutely not the case for the RN battleline, and why they had submerged broadside torpedo launchers on the battleships. The plan was for a mass launch of "Browning shots"* at the opposing battleline. However there was a rapid increase in gun engagement range from the few thousand yards expected in the early 1900s to the 18,500 yards that Jutland opened at. Torpedo range fell behind, so there was never an opportunity for a Browning shot.

* From 'into the brown', firing at a flock of birds, rather than individuals. Nothing to do with John Moses Browning.
 
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lastdingo said:
You should look up the actual WWI torpedo performance figures.

http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WTBR_PreWWII.phphttp://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WTGER_PreWWII.phphttp://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WTFR_Main.php#Pre-World_War_II
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Unfortunately the Navweaps torpedo pages aren't anything like as comprehensive as their gun pages, and are worse for WWI than WWII, but they do confirm the performance figures for the 18" Mk VIII, with other highlights such as the 21" Mk II*** at 45kts for 4.5kyds, or 31kts for 10.75kyds. The German section completely fails to identify which torpedo was used by the German floatplane torpedo bombers (primarily Gotha WD14s, but there were also the Hansa Brandenburg GW and the Albatross W.5)
 
DWG said:
That's absolutely not the case for the RN battleline, and why they had submerged broadside torpedo launchers on the battleships. The plan was for a mass launch of "Browning shots"* at the opposing battleline. However there was a rapid increase in gun engagement range from the few thousand yards expected in the early 1900s to the 18,500 yards that Jutland opened at. Torpedo range fell behind, so there was never an opportunity for a Browning shot.

* From 'into the brown', firing at a flock of birds, rather than individuals. Nothing to do with John Moses Browning.
Click to expand...

I was writing about what they were. Only Long Lance was ever good enough for battleline torpedo spreads and only so under favourable conditions.

DWG said:
Unfortunately the Navweaps torpedo pages aren't anything like as comprehensive as their gun pages, and are worse for WWI than WWII, but they do confirm the performance figures for the 18" Mk VIII, with other highlights such as the 21" Mk II*** at 45kts for 4.5kyds, or 31kts for 10.75kyds. The German section completely fails to identify which torpedo was used by the German floatplane torpedo bombers (primarily Gotha WD14s, but there were also the Hansa Brandenburg GW and the Albatross W.5)
Click to expand...

Those were the figures of the latest torpedoes, not common parameters. German and French torpedoes didn't exceed 36 kts.
~18" torpedoes tended to be slower than new ~20"/21" torpedoes.
 

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