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We deeply regret to announce the death of Maciek "SnakeDoc" Florek, the author of the Torpedo Vorhaltrechner Project. He passed away on 2nd August 2017, after a long illness.
He was working the Torpedo Vorhaltrechner project until the very end, and the July updates are the final ones. The website of the project will be maintained indefinitely.
The goal of the Torpedo Vorhaltrechner Project is to describe the development of the torpedo fire control systems used on submarines. The project evolved from an attempt to create a description of the German torpedo data computer that was manufactured by the Siemens Company and used on German U-Boats, known as a Torpedo Vorhaltrechner. Many incomplete and often inconsistent descriptions of this device can be found in books and on the Internet .
During my research into this equipment I discovered the full scope of the torpedo fire control problem. For that reason, aside from a description of the German torpedo data computer, this project includes descriptions of similar American, British and Japanese devices as well as the history of the development of such systems - from the beginning of the torpedo weapon’s existence to modern times.
This site was created with the help of Ken Dunn.
"Knowledge not shared is knowledge wasted"
If you have got any suggestions or comments about this website, feel free to contact us.
What's new on this site:
19 July 2017
added the demo that presents the Lut setting panel and the setting of the Lut pattern-running torpedoes
18 July 2017
added the article that describes the fire control of the Lut pattern-running torpedoes
17 July 2017
added the demo that presents the Fat setting gear and the setting of the Fat pattern-running torpedoes
16 July 2017
added the article that describes the fire control of the Fat pattern-running torpedoes
12 November 2016
added the article that describes the stabilized azimuth line (Germ. Feste Linie im Raum) component
8 October 2016
added the article that presents the malfunctions of the torpedo fire control systems described in the War Diaries
4 July 2016
added the article commenting the torpedo attacks in "The Boat" novel and in the movie adaptation
20 May 2016
added the article describing the modifications and versions of the T. Vh. Re. S3 torpedo calculator
5 May 2016
added the article with videos, that present the torpedo launching procedures
24 March 2016
added the article describing the aiming the torpedoes with the periscope and attacking with fixed gyro-angle
16 February 2016
added the translation of the exerpts from the Handbook of the U-Boat commander M.Dv.906 (Handbuch für U-Bootskommandanten) related to the torpedo attacks
16 November 2015
added the translation of the torpedo launching procedures M.Dv.416/3 Torpedo-Schießvorschrift für U-Boote
3 June 2015
added the simulation of the torpedo calculator T. Vh. Re. S3
11 May 2015
added four articles describing the torpedo calculator T. Vh. Re. S3
31 January 2015
added article describing the torpedo fire control system used on German U-Boats
10 January 2015
added article presenting basic components of the fire control calculators
28 December 2014
added article presenting development of torpedo fire control systems for the Kriegsmarine
28 November 2014
added article presenting the submarine external torpedo tubes
6 November 2014
added article presenting the torpedo calculating discs
16 October 2014
added article presenting the problem related with aiming of the gyro-angled torpedoes
15 September 2014
added article describing the torpedo attacks performed by German U-Boats during World War I
19 August 2014
added article describing the influence of the target course estimation errors on the probability of torpedo hit
9 August 2014
added article describing the methods of acquiring data needed for performing torpedo attack