Talk:533mm Quintuple Torpedo Mount (Initial Model)/@comment-31786686-20181228073934/@comment-174.0.49.60-20190125061344

Remember, at the time they were testing the Mark 15 torpedo (along with its sub-launched Mk14 and air-dropped Mk16 siblings), the US Navy was still under the budget restrictions caused by the Great Depression. Development started in 1931 and the Mk15 was first deployed in 1938. Torpedoes are expensive, so they did a poor job of testing, making assumptions that in retrospect were faulty.

The Wikipedia page on the Mark 14, while focused on the sub-launched version, goes into much detail about the torpedo controversy. It should come as no surprise that the submariners, with torpedoes as their primary weapon, discovered the problems earlier than the surface crews.