Did a capital ship ever hit anything with a torpedo?
score:22
In the Battle of Savo Island the Japanese cruisers repeatedly hit US and Australian ships with torpedoes. There was only 1 destroyer present versus 7 cruisers, and it is likely that most if not all of the torpedo hits that sunk 3 cruisers and led to another being scuttled were from the cruisers. Certainly the US Navy credited to them.
Also: The British heavy cruiser Dorsetshire is credited with torpedo hits on the German battleship Bismarck that provided the final damage that sunk the vessel.
Upvote:0
US Cruisers used their Torpedos in many actions. Because they fought closer in ship to ship actions. Usually battleships were stationed for bombardment of beaches during landing operations.In a recent naval paper In fact, the US. Marine service as stated that unless the Navy comes up with a ship able to shell beaches the marines may not ever try another amphibious landing of a contested beach again as there are no ships that would be able to meet the requirements of artillery support of the Marines. Something to think about when the mission of the Marines is to put boots on the shore. We no longer have the ability to support that mission with current ships. One of the reasons that 2 of the Iowa class BB's were still on the Navy list until 2006!
Upvote:7
The Rodney actually fired torpedoes at the Bismarck during their battle, but missed. The torpedoes carried by Rodney & Nelson (a very unusual class of BB - all 3 primary turrets were fore and none were aft, they were the first to be designed specifically for the Naval Treaty limitaations, and they were the last battleships to be armed with torpedoes at all) actually had a range of around 16,000 meters.
Most other examples will be Japanese. In addition to the aforementioned Savo Island, there is also the Battle of the Java Sea, where most of the torpedo damage was from the Japanese DDs & CLs while their 2 heavy cruisers used their 8 inch guns, but those 2 did launch a spread that sunk two Dutch light cruisers (including the Allied Admiral's flagship, killing Adm. Doorman) during the battle.
Upvote:15
In researching the HMS Dorsetshire I came across a reference to "The Ship That Sank Herself" which lead to an article on ships that torpedoed themselves which includes the British light cruiser HMS Trinidad.
HMS Trinidad was taking part in Arctic convoy duty in 1942 when she engaged the German destroyer Z-26. Although she sank the destroyer, one of the four torpedoes launched by Trinidad had a faulty gyro mechanism (possibly having been affected by the icy waters), causing that torpedo to make a circular run and strike the Trinidad. 32 men were killed.
It's not a capital ship under my definition, but I'm including it anyway because it's my question. :P
It also mentions a book I'll look into "Torpedo: The Complete History of the World's Most Revolutionary Weapon" whose title is a bit of forgivable hyperbole.
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