The chances that single rather small British aerial torpedo would sink Gneisenau were therefor nil. The German WW1 battlecruiser Lutzow took in 7000 tons of water while still going underway, and she sank by the time her screws were out of the water.

When Gneisanau's sistership Scharnhorst was sunk, she took no less than 14 much larger 533mm torpedoes, apart from considerable shelling. Gneisenau took in 3000 tons of water as a result of attack - nowwhere near critical, to give you some idea Bismarck took in 2000 tons in the forecastle when a hit from Prince of Wales pierced her plating, and could still maintain about 28 knots, despite similar listing then she took 3 more similar torpedo hits, and apart from the (fateful) disabling of the rudder, nothing happened. The claim that she was almost sunk is still silly. Huge strike radius plus ASV radar for location of targets is tough to beat. Put a torpedo under each wing as good as those used by Japan and it might have been the best torpedo bomber of the war. produced 739 PB4Y maritime patrol bombers (i.e. Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Any aircraft with a well trained crew and armed with Japanese aerial torpedoes would be dangerous.

By the time of Pearl Harbor IJN torpedo bombers could launch at maximum aircraft speed, giving them the best possible chance for survival vs defending AA fire. Launch speed of 400 knots.ģ00 knots is pretty fast for a WWII era torpedo bomber. Japan put serious resources behind development of their 45cm aerial torpedo.ġ942. Especially the ability to drop from higher altitudes and at higher speeds. I think crew training and torpedo quality were more imporant then the aircraft itself.

World war 2 navy torpedo planes