Torpedo tail section ID.

[Dronic69]

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Dug through my old Firepower museum pics and found these. Got me to thinking about how many torpedo tails there are laying on the bottom of the ocean.

Hi Slick,

I'm pretty certain that you kindly sent a couple of pics of this one a while ago, but can't find the one with the corresponding display description, which from memory indicated that it was ~WW1 period (incorrect)

The reason why this photo was of interest confirmed that all major sections of a Whitehead /Schwartzkopf torpedoes were stamped with their serial number (including the pistol) - as clearly shown.
"1274" can be observed on the tail and even on the counter-rotating props.

If it is a Whitehead Fiume manufactured torpedo, then it was part of a batch of 5 for Germany (1273-1277) and delivered in 1882.
Cheers
Drew

 

[Slick]

The placard pic is between pics 1 & 2, the 4th pic is a few before in the group from the RN Sub Museum. I'm not sure the one you posted is the one I took. I visited the Firepower museum on the same day so can't be sure what's what or where. It was nearly 7 years ago. A long time in old guy years.

 

[Dronic69]

What is interesting re this torpedo, is that the Explosion Museum has the previous serial numbered torpedo in their storage area (#1273), in which I was very fortunate enough to be "invited in" to inspect.

In fact the storage areas were more interesting than the Museum itself.............

Cheers
Drew

 

[Natter]

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Dug through my old Firepower museum pics and found these. Got me to thinking about how many torpedo tails there are laying on the bottom of the ocean.

Old topic, but any chance you recall which museum IMG_2188 (2).jpg was taken..? The tail belongs to either a RDaN T1T or a RNoN T1 mod 1 torpedo that someone seems to have made an unsuccesful attempt to revert back to original Kriegsmarine G7a/TI)...

 

[Slick]

Old topic, but any chance you recall which museum IMG_2188 (2).jpg was taken..? The tail belongs to either a RDaN T1T or a RNoN T1 mod 1 torpedo that someone seems to have made an unsuccesful attempt to revert back to original Kriegsmarine G7a/TI)...

Those would have been taken at the (now closed?) Firepower museum. Also, IMG 2188, could have been from the German mini-sub at IWM. That was a long time ago, so can't be sure without looking through 1068 pics from that UK trip.

 

[Natter]

Those would have been taken at the (now closed?) Firepower museum. Also, IMG 2188, could have been from the German mini-sub at IWM. That was a long time ago, so can't be sure without looking through 1068 pics from that UK trip.

Thanks. The Royal Artillery Museum would be a strange place to find torpedoes though, and it's not the IWM Biber for sure.
I'm maintaining a list of all surviving german WW2 torpedoes, and this one is unknown to me (seems to be painted in silver as well). Obviously still some items to locate out there...

 

[Slick]

OK. Finally got the UK trip photos re-downloaded(long story).
I originally stated the Firepower museum for the 2188 pic. I meant - EXPLOSION museum. Which was wrong, anyway.
The torp tail in question (pic 2188) was at the SUBMARINE WEAPONS GALLERY. There was a sub there and then a building with lots of sub stuff. Don't recall the museum name. Hit all the ord type museums I could find whilst there, so it was a blur/overwhelming.

 

[Natter]

I originally stated the Firepower museum for the 2188 pic. I meant - EXPLOSION museum. Which was wrong, anyway.

Many thanks. We're presumable talking about The National Museum of the Royal Navy/ Explosion Museum of Naval Firepower then, which makes much more sense.

The nearby Royal Navy Submarine Museum at Gosport had an ex-RNoN T1 mod 1 torpedo in their collection, and I wonder if this might be the same item (if so, they obviously has refurbished it and tried reversing it back to Kriegsmarine G7a(TI) status in recent years).