Quote:
Originally Posted by Barleyman
Yes, it gives you an another perspective on how things were. Americans had, no doubt about it, superior boats, but the weapons were miserable. Doubly so for Britons, Tigertrash in 80s, ugh. Soviets on the other hand had noisy deaf subs but had torpedoes that could actually kill the opponents, if a) they could hear them b) the torpedo could acquire.
As far as I understood from some online reference, USN was well aware of Mk 37 problems but didn't want to upgrade it because it might have gotten the Mk48 project cancelled outright if there was something that was not quite as dire.
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From the little information available it sounds like the MK37c was a backup option in case the cold war turned hot and the MK48 program failed or took to long. The Navy needed quick and cheap way to get a better torpedo. Of course by the 70's even a 36-38 knot torpedo speed was basically useless at that point.