Aiming Torpedoes, part 1/2

In World War I, the navies of the world had a great many torpedoes in their surface fleets (and submarines, too). These potent weapons had to be fired at moving targets. How did the men know where to aim them and when to fire them?
Every navy had its own solutions to this problem. For the early portion of World War I (at least), the Royal Navy used aiming/calculating devices they called "Torpedo Directors". These gadgets helped turn a hypothesis of the enemy's speed and heading (obtained by observation) into an angle of aim. They were clever devices and represented a way-point on the human scale of calculation and machine-assisted problem solving.
The video depicts a simulation I created in 2004-2005. There is much more available at dreadnoughtproj...

[@steventhehistorian]

This is so cool! Your simulation would be a great tool for teaching geometry and pre-calc, although any teacher who used it in a classroom would probably never survive the media fallout.

[@scuddles1914]

i am very thrilled you made this video. for decades i have wondered (really ! ) how they did it. i may never have an opportunity , even in commuter traffic, to torpedo a deserving enemy, but knowing how is Great !

[@agwhitaker]

I understand that the Admiralty has always taken a very dim view on the sinking of one of your own ships.

[@SanketPatil001]

Thanks for making this video..explain it really well !

[@MrYugantar]

thank you for the video sir

[@stevebroadbent5080]

That was indeed fascinating, as it is something I've wondered about for a good while. IIRC modern submarine launched torpedoes are wire guided. Seems tricky, but likely also a lot safer as it ought reduce the risk of turn backs. Just speculation - I'm an aviator not a sailor.

[@jamesburlingens.ccpousnr5748]

negligent discharge sir your fired.

[@bwright3943]

I never really cared about geometry and shit until now lol

[@demos113]

Nicely done. 🙂

[@matrox]

Graphics from the 1950s, but still a good video.

[@TonyLovell]

Basically. I did this around 2003 using the old Wildtangent 3D visualizer plugin within a browser window. Ugly, yes?!

[@pooperscooper8791]

12:30 classic “whoops”

[@TonyLovell]

My bad! ;)

[@forrestgreene1139]

Woops!

[@AVERYhornyMrDinosaur]

you must either be a woman or a teacher.. because i don't understand anything either a woman or a teacher says. also, theres a game called "uboat" that you could use if you wanted a fancier submarine sim, but it doesnt have that thing in it. thats what i need the math for, i want to understand how to make my torpedos hit more, and i can't go relying on tools like this that i dont have.

[@sunofabeach9424]

you have a fucking sattelite map in uboat what else do you need

[@AVERYhornyMrDinosaur]

@@sunofabeach9424 your a satellite map. and there's stuff to be done to shoot a torpedo. I've since figured it out and also figured out how LUT guidance works and made a video on it (since I was the only person on all of KZbin who figured it out, i did my duty and served the community) I made the comment a year or so before when i was trying to learn the game. I have since won the war for Germany with a single submarine.