Mark 14 Torpedo

The Mark 14 torpedo was the United States Navy's standard submarine-launched anti-ship torpedo of World War II.

This weapon was plagued with many problems which crippled its performance early in the war, and was supplemented by the Mark 18 electric torpedo in the last 2 years of the war. Nonetheless, the Mark 14 played a major role in the devastating blow US Navy submarines dealt to the Japanese naval and merchant marine forces during the Pacific War.

By the end of World War II, the Mark 14 torpedo was a reliable weapon which remained in service for almost 40 years in the US Navy, and even longer with other navies.

Mark 14 Torpedo in News From the Front
The New Yorker ran an article about the Mark 14, calming it was the US Navy's answer to Jane Russell, an expensive Bust. The article complained about the torpedo's lack of guidance and inability to sink what it hits. It also attack the Roosevelt administration over lack of testing and it's choice of the design which had been rejected by the Kriegsmarine.