Mark 16 torpedo
Country of origin
United States
United States
ManufacturerNaval Undersea Warfare Center
The Mark 16 torpedo was a redesign of the United States Navy's standard Mark 14 torpedo in use during World War II. It incorporated war-tested improvements into a weapon designed to be used in unmodified United States fleet submarines. Due to high unit cost and the Mark 14's unreliability issues being solved by mid-1943, they were never put into mass production.
Following WWII, limited numbers of the weapon were produced. The weapon was considered the United States' standard anti-shipping torpedo for twenty years; despite significant numbers of Mark 14 torpedoes left over from wartime production. This hydrogen peroxide propelled, 21-inch (53 cm) torpedo was 20 feet 6 inches (6.25 m) long and weighed 2.0 short tons (1,800 kg).
The Mod 0 warhead contained 1,260 pounds (570 kg) of Torpex (TPX) explosive and at the time was the most powerful conventional submarine torpedo warhead in the world. The TPX explosive in use by the US Navy during WWII was about 75% more powerful by weight (7,405 J/g) than the Japanese Type 95 and Type 97 torpedo explosives (4,370 J/g). As a result, it was even more powerful than the late war "Mod.3" variant of the Type 93 "Long Lance" torpedo; which used 780 kg...
Following WWII, limited numbers of the weapon were produced. The weapon was considered the United States' standard anti-shipping torpedo for twenty years; despite significant numbers of Mark 14 torpedoes left over from wartime production. This hydrogen peroxide propelled, 21-inch (53 cm) torpedo was 20 feet 6 inches (6.25 m) long and weighed 2.0 short tons (1,800 kg).
The Mod 0 warhead contained 1,260 pounds (570 kg) of Torpex (TPX) explosive and at the time was the most powerful conventional submarine torpedo warhead in the world. The TPX explosive in use by the US Navy during WWII was about 75% more powerful by weight (7,405 J/g) than the Japanese Type 95 and Type 97 torpedo explosives (4,370 J/g). As a result, it was even more powerful than the late war "Mod.3" variant of the Type 93 "Long Lance" torpedo; which used 780 kg...
