Talk:Cruiser submarine

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Surcouf torpedo tubes[edit]

There seems to be some question about the torpedo tube armament of the French submarine cruiser Surcouf. As cited in the August 2015 version of the article, page 157 of Navies of the Second World War by Henri le Masson indicates the ship carried twelve torpedo tubes:

"eight 21.7-inch (550mm--four fwd and 1x4 external aft--fourteen torpedoes), four 15.7-inch (400mm--1x4 external aft--eight torpedoes)"

User:Trekphiler and User:CombatWombat42 have sequentially changed the number of torpedo tubes to ten without changing the reference citation. I have no objection to changing the number of torpedo tubes if a more reliable reference is cited; but no alternative reference citation has been offered as a source for the revision. Thewellman (talk) 05:24, 1 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

This page says 10 (6 external). This page, backed up by Henri Le Messon (member of the French Marine Academy & author of the two-volume history of the French Navy), says she had 8 external tubes (2x4), apparently one each 55cm & 40cm (1x4 each). (I'm loathe to rely on a web source, myself.) So which is it? How many in the hull? TREKphiler any time you're ready, Uhura 05:38 & 05:45, 1 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  • I have another textbook reference (Kafka & Pepperburg's Warships of the World) indicating ten 21.7-inch tubes including 2 bow tubes, one rotating 4 tube mount forward of the conning tower and two tubes abaft the conning tower. Kafka & Pepperburg's description seems incomplete and confused about the 40-cm tubes, so I prefer le Masson as a source; but I'm willing to consider other references. A pair of external 21.7-inch tubes might have been removed at some point to improve metacentric height or to be cannibalized as a source of spare parts following loss of access to French shipyards. My problem with former edits was incorrect attribution of ten torpedo tubes to le Masson. Thewellman (talk) 14:51, 1 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]