A type VIIc U-boat, U-352 patrolled the American coast line in the Spring of 1942. She did not have any success before being discovered by the Coast Guard ship USCG Icarus (WPC-110) southeast of Cape Hatteras. 352 actually got off the first shot, but the torpedo went wide and exploded prematurely. Icarus closed the distance and fired off five depth charges in a diamond pattern. The resulting explosions critically damaged 352 and forced her to the surface. Icarus immediately opened up on the submarine with her 3-inch gun and machine-guns. Already taking on water, the submarine went down for the final time. Before the boat went down, thirty-three of her crew jumped into the water. Icarus rescued and captured them all.
A close up of the pareidolia inside the museum's German torpedo warhead. |
This artifact is a favorite among HRNM docents because what can been see inside the warhead. Years of oxidation and corrosion has created a white pattern of what looks like a face. While this may be no more than a pareidolia, some think they are seeing a ghost. Come see for yourself!
2 comments:
The HND (hexanitrodiphenylamine)at 8% of total warhead explosive is not a booster. It is a desensitizer, rendering TNT insensitive enough that the charge will not be detonated by small arms or even by some autocannon explosive rounds.
Germans used a kilo of pelletized picric acid as the booster in sea mines loaded with the same explosive as this torpedo (Schießwolle 36), I don't have any data on boosters for this torpedo warhead-
See this reference for more on early formulations of insensitive military HE:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/prep.201680373/pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjHs-yf3tDfAhWIUt8KHSKnDsgQFjACegQICRAB&usg=AOvVaw3IkiVmM5ylGx23ynVz-wrw
The Pistol (ie detonating mechanism) for this type Ka or Kb warhead would be Pi1 or Pi2 (later renamed TZ2).
They all used a boostercharge of 300g Pentrite set off by two or four standard detonator capsules, either by mecanical or electrical activation (some variants of the pistols used a combination; ie two mechanical and two electrical detonators).
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