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Mark 44 torpedo: Difference between revisions

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| image = Mk44 torpedo Kanoya Museum.jpg
| image_size = 300
| caption = A Japanese built Mk44 torpedo at the [[Kanoya museumAir Base Museum]], Japan
| origin = United States
| type = [[Antisubmarine warfare|Antisubmarine]] [[torpedo]]<ref name="joliehist">{{cite web | last= Jolie | first = E.W. | title = A Brief History of US Navy Torpedo Development: Torpedo Mk44 | date = 15 September 1978 | url= http://www.maritime.org/doc/jolie/part2.htm | access-date = 24 June 2013}}</ref>
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The '''Mark 44 torpedo''' is a now-obsolete air-launched and ship-launched lightweight torpedo manufactured in the United States, and under licence in Canada, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom, with 10,500 being produced for U.S. service. It was superseded by the [[Mark 46 torpedo]], beginning in the late 1960s. The [[Royal Australian Navy]], however, continued to use it alongside its successor for a number of years, because the Mark 44 was thought to have superior performance in certain shallow-water conditions.
 
It has been deployed by many navies and air forces including the USN, [[Royal Navy]], [[Royal Australian Navy]] and the [[Royal Air Force]] from various launch vehicles. These include [[maritime patrol|long-range maritime patrol aircraft]], e.g. [[P-3 Orion]], RAF [[Hawker-Siddeley Nimrod|Nimrod]], [[Canadair Argus]], [[Light Airborne Multi-Purpose System|LAMPS]] and other [[Light Airborne Multi-Purpose System|embarked naval helicopters]], [[ASROC|ASROC missiles]], [[Ikara (missile)|Ikara missiles]].
 
==Development==
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The Mark 44 is a modular design, consisting of four main sections. The blunt nose contains the active sonar seeker with the 75-pound (34&nbsp;kg) high-explosive warhead immediately behind it. The second section contains the guidance and gyroscopes. The third contains the 24 kilowatt [[magnesium battery|seawater battery]] which uses [[silver chloride]] and [[magnesium]] electrodes with seawater acting as the electrolyte. Finally is the propulsion section which houses the electric motor, four rectangular control fins and two contra-rotating propellers.
 
The vacuum tube-based guidance system is more sophisticated than earlier torpedoes, using pre-launch settings enabling an initial search depth of {{convert|50|, |150|, |250|, |450|, |650 |or |900 feet|ft|m}} as well as a search floor at {{convert|150|, |250|, |450|, |650 |or |900 feet|ft|m}} as well as a maximum dive/climb angle of 4.5, 6 or 7 degrees. On impacting the water the torpedo either runs out for {{convert|1,000 yards|yd|m}} or performs a dive at a 30-degree angle to the search depth. After completing this it may perform a flat turn and begins a helical search pattern proceeding up or down until it hits either the minimum depth of {{convert|50 yards|yd|m}} or the search floor. When it hits either top or bottom, it performs a flat turn and begins to execute the search in reverse. It continues executing this search until it either finds a target or exhausts its six-minute endurance.
 
The guidance system could drive the active sonar at either a slow rate or a fast rate, which it used when the target drew near to obtain a precise proximity and rate of closure.
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*{{flag|Brazil}}
*{{flag|Canada}}
*{{flag|Chile}} <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.armada.cl/armada/unidades-navales/aviacion-naval/helicoptero/uh-57b-jet-ranger/2014-04-17/162308.html|title = UH-57B}}</ref>
*{{flag|Colombia}}
*{{flag|France}}
*{{flag|West Germany}}
*{{flag|Greece}}
*{{flag|Indonesia}}<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.indomiliter.com/jadi-koleksi-naval-museum-lantamal-vi-inilah-kemampuan-torpedo-ringan-general-electric-mk44/ |title=MK44 light torpedo become a collection in naval museum|date=21 June 2019}}</ref>
*{{flag|Iran}}
*{{flag|Italy}}
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