Military Launches

[cyberbadger]

Look at this military launch with a shield and spar torpedo! Supposedly from the iron clad time period.



The drawing is from this video at 5 minutes and 50 seconds
The Torpedos of WWII Documentary


-CB

[Lopez Mike]

I shoot a mortar mounted on the front of my boat and it is just on the edge of being insane. I load it up with a half a pound of FFFF black powder and the concussion and recoil is more than unpleasant. I cannot imagine what it must have been like to be that close to a serious explosion.

Or did any of those boats actually get used and/or was it a no return operation?

[Kelly Anderson]

Yes and yes.

This is from Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_B._Cushing :
"It was Cushing's daring plan and its successful execution against the Confederacy's ironclad ram CSS Albemarle that defined his military career. The powerful ironclad dominated the Roanoke River and the approaches to Plymouth through the summer of 1864. By autumn, the U.S. government decided that the situation should be studied to determine if something could be done. The U.S. Navy considered various ways to destroy Albemarle, including two daring plans submitted by Lieutenant Cushing. They finally approved one of his plans and authorized him to locate two small steam launches that might be fitted with spar torpedoes. Cushing discovered two 30-foot (9.1 m) picket boats under construction in New York and acquired them for his mission.[citation needed] On each he mounted a 12-pound Dahlgren howitzer and a 14-foot (4.3 m) spar projecting into the water from its bow. One of the boats was lost at sea during the voyage from New York to Norfolk, Virginia, but the other arrived safely with its crew of seven officers and men at the mouth of the Roanoke. There, the steam launch's spar was fitted with a lanyard-detonated torpedo.

On the night of October 27–27, 1864, Cushing and his men began working their way upriver. A small cutter accompanied them, its crew having the task of preventing interference by the Confederate sentries stationed on a schooner anchored to the wreck of "Southfield." When both boats, under the cover of darkness, slipped past the schooner undetected, Cushing decided to use all 22 of his men and the element of surprise to capture Albemarle.[7]

As they approached the Confederate docks, their luck turned and they were spotted in the dark. They came under heavy sentry fire from both the shore and aboard Albemarle. As they closed with Albemarle, they quickly discovered she was defended against approach by floating log booms. The logs, however, had been in the water for many months and were covered with heavy slime. The steam launch rode up and then over them without difficulty. When her spar was fully against the ironclad's hull, Cushing stood up in the bow and detonated the torpedo's explosive charge.[8]

The explosion threw everyone aboard the steam launch into the water. Recovering quickly, Cushing stripped off his uniform and swam to shore, where he hid until daylight. That afternoon, having avoided detection by Confederate search parties, he stole a small skiff and quietly paddled down-river to rejoin the Union forces at the river's mouth. Of the other men in Cushing's boat, one escaped, two were drowned, and eleven were captured.[8]

Cushing's daring commando raid blew a hole in Albemarle's hull at the waterline "big enough to drive a wagon in." She sank immediately in the six feet of water below her keel, settling into the heavy bottom mud, leaving the upper armored casemate mostly dry and the ironclad's large Stainless Banner battle ensign flying from its flag staff, where it was eventually captured as a Union prize.[8][9]"

Carl Kriegeskotte directed a documentary of the mission for the History Channel using his own launch as well as Dave Thorpe's. Photo from collection of Kent Lacey

77867882.jpg (124.03 KiB) Viewed 11761 times

[Lopez Mike]

Well, not quite a suicide mission but close to it! To blow a big hole in the ship and not be torn apart yourself says a great deal about the resilience of human flesh. Not for me!

I was taught in the army to let the other guy die for his beliefs.

[cyberbadger]

I believe Fred has some sort of cannon, or was planning, maybe rumor...

Thanks for the info Kelly.

It struck me - I wonder how often in history they don't mention someone loosing their hearing from weapons and contraptions like the spar torpedo!

-CB

[Lopez Mike]

Permanent hearing loss from a single incident like that is relatively uncommon. Damage from single incidents is usually limited to the ear drum and can heal. Longer term loss is usually due to longer term abuse. Industrial exposure and the like. The inner ear (cochlea?) has little 'hairs' that wither and die from long term abuse.

My father shot target pistol for much of his life and seldom used any sort of protection. His hearing ended up almost gone, especially in his right ear which was towards the pistol.

I have built cannon for film use. Theses are often fake in that they are not all metal. They are (I hope!) never fired with any sort of projectile thus the pressures are much reduced. A typical request is for a 2.5 to 4 inch bore naval gun. I buy a hunk of Shelby tubing with very good dimensional control and metallurgy. Weld on a breach and muzzle and a support ring for trunnions and fill in the rest with solid wood. Looks great and weighs a quarter as much. Very appreciated by the prop people.

The thing lacking is strong recoil. If this is deemed important I tap in a gas port near the breach and feed the combustion gasses to a hidden cylinder very much like a gas operated assault rifle. The piston rod engages a very strong cleat in the deck or, as likely, the floor of the set. With some additives to the black powder for smoke and visible flames and the gun slamming back, they get their money's worth. Oddly enough, they care little about the sound as this is dubbed in!

And they paid well. Important.

[Bob Cleek]

What's overlooked in the discussion of spar torpedoes is that the intended way they were supposed to work was that they were attached to the wooden hulled ships, either by some sort of barbed "dart," or by a screw attached to the torpedo and turned by the spar so it screwed the charge into the wooden hull. The spar would then be detached by pulling it away from the attached charge. Both of these attachment techniques were intended to be accomplished silently, but discovery was a constant risk. Once attached, the crew were supposed to back the launch off a safe distance, trailing lanyard as they went, and when far enough off, they were to pull the lanyard and detonate the charge. Given the stress and tension of attaching the torpedo and, often, getting out of range of small arms fire from aboard the ship, it's no wonder that a lot of these spar torpedoes were detonated somewhat too close for the attackers' comfort!

[Lopez Mike]

Ha! Typical system worked out by the research guys and probably not tried out in advance.

I love stories where the punch line is, "What could go wrong?"

[cyberbadger]

I love stories where the punch line is, "What could go wrong?"

I like to remind people that Murphy is always patiently sitting in the corner even if you can't see him. He watches eagerly for his turn and has no hesitation to jump in when he finds a reason that something shouldn't work.

-CB