Sinking of (hospital?) ship Armeniya by He 111

[Larry deZeng]

(Sigh) The shoe is on the other foot. I'm afraid I am going to have to ask a question.

Is it technically possible that one or both of the German aerial torpedoes launched on the Armenia detonated under the hull rather than against the hull? These were probably the LT 950 torpedo, which 6./KG 26 and 1./KG 28 were using at the time of the attack. Any opinions on this?

Thanks,

Larry deZ.

[igorrB]

I've also think about possibilities of explosion under the bottom - but i'm not familiar with principle of construction of torpedoes. Did it have magnetic detonator?
Also there is short report about torpedo using bu 5./KG 26 at August 1941 and from 18 torpedo launched only 2 hit target and exploded. All F5 of German origin - and report say they have malfunctions because rough airfield and shake during take-off. They wish to receive torpedoes of italian origin (report made at 2.9.41 for 1. SKL)

[VtwinVince]

Sounds like a fairly similar scenario to the Wilhelm Gustloff, except on that ship there were far more civilians.