Sinking of HMAS Torrens

[techlogi7]

MK-48's are now obsolete. Look at the damage they can cause.

[Gollie53]

bazurix, the reason we find it hard to be real is because she was our home and she was our mother

[Gollie53]

Hey rag5206, see what happens when you quit working too early? You find yourself in areas you know nothing about, putting shit on young people who are still working. You going to be a teacher, or an arsehole who knows about the mansons.

[Gollie53]

KG84C If you are wondering, I was an ABROEW

[Gollie53]

Ha ha twinstu50 is telling the truth. I, ultimately, was the sailor who got him onboard Torrens. He also took me up the bush doing RAAF stuff as well. I can vouch for him. I was on Torrens twice. 82-85 and 86-88. I also joined up with the guy who eventually set up the torpedo shoot. Hey, twinstu50, did you grow up on a farm?

[zillsburyy]

@bazurix you bet your ass!

[The30calboy]

One word... Overpowered Torpedo

[wesmovies]

it broke in half, DAM TITANIC ALL OVER AGAIN

[KME023]

isn't it a crazy world when you can serve on the Torrens and the sub that sank her!

[jabirujoe]

Some bloke from the Torrens busted my leg in a friendly soccer match in Singapore in 1976 Did both the tib and the fib......It was at Dieppe Barracks home of 1RNZIR at the time......still got the bump to prove it........ No hard feelings mate......I mean you came to see me in hospital anyways........that's sport.......

[stockcar269s]

aha, so thats what happened to the Torrens, I remember doing wheelies and skids out on the oggy when i served on the Waikato when i was in the RNZN with that ship (along with Derwent,Parramatta etc etc), they were pretty good ships back in their day, Our last 3 leanders Waikato, Canterbury and Wellington (ex HMS Bachannte) kida went the same way (scuttled for bubbleheads), Southland (ex HMS Dido) got sold to Chile, Rothesay class frigates Otago and Taranaki sold for scrap

[KG84C]

They looked like warships, unlike todays gay looking FFH's with some (NOT ALL) not so smart or motivated crew.

[twinstu50]

@KG84C

Fuck yeah!.

I was RAAF, (Sigint). I did ten days on Torrens, Exercise Fishing Eddy, Feb '87. It was the fleet work-up (?) after the christmas break, I think.

You Pussers had a particular name for it that I forget.

(bloody Navy piss-tanks!).

I was EWO, about ten feet below the waterline.

I imagined that the torpedo was gunna hit just in front of my face, fuck!, I shit bricks every time anything rattled the hull in front of me!.

Yair, I know, it's funny now.

Good times!.

[KG84C]

@twinstu50 RAAF on a DE, that's one of the rarer combo's, but that's cool, we are all on same team.

Possibly "Fleet Concentration Period (FCP)" is the overall term you were after, though today no thanks to the commo Labour government, FCP's are a non event, no ships, and probably same lack of support for RAAF fying serials.

Have seen Army RBS-70 on them after they removed Seacat SAM (Labor again).

Did u c DERWENT after they tested a STANDARD warhead in Cockburn Sound ?

[twinstu50]

@KG84C Yair, that's it - FCP.

We went from G.I. to Jervis Bay, did some gunnery practice, I listened out for divers sent out to plant 'stickys' on our hull. The Greenies were big on conservation then, and having a moan about us shooting holes in the real-estate, I recorded our Captain and another Captain,via radio, fixing up the bullshit story the Navy was going to give to the press.

I told my chief that if I could hear him, so could anyone else. The shit hit the fan after that!.



[twinstu50]

@KG84C

Fuck yeah!.

I was RAAF Sigint, 78-91.

I did ten days on Torrens, early Feb '87.

It was the fleet work-up (?) after the christmas break, I think.

You Pussers had a particular name for it that I forget.

(bloody Navy piss-tanks!).

I was in the EWO, about ten feet below the waterline, stbd side, I imagined that the torpedo was gunna hit  in front of my face, fuck!, I shit bricks every time I heard 'a noise'!.

Yair, I know, - it's funny now.

Dead set, You do it hard.

[KG84C]

Hey Furls ya nyuk nyuk Ex Torrens, where are ya?

[kdraper2007]

when targeting a surface ship the torpedo doesn't strike the ship directly, it explodes underneath causing a huge bubble under the middle (midships) of the ship, gravity pulls down on the middle of the hull while the ends are still supported by water breaking the hull in two.

[andwhat99]

damn

the ship bends up and down after being hit !

christ

[daftevader01]

Of course it's real.....as it says in the comments it was sunk to make an artificial reef after being decommisioned.

[Hickmaann90]

@daftevader01

You´ re right, and the aussie Navy use tihs to test the new Mark-48 torpedo.

[hackerhell900]

I'd hate to be on that ship.

[seabrooke22]

I did hate being on that ship! :-) Served on her for 2 years. Long time ago now but in her day, a submarine would not have had a chance to get close enough without being the one getting chased. I can't say I enjoyed my time on Torrens but damn, she was a great sub hunter.

[adorbjune96]

you where on the ship?

[seabrooke22]

Not when that video was made :-) I did serve on her previously from 1981 - 1983

[adorbjune96]

what was so bad about the ship?

[seabrooke22]

The ship itself was exceptional. She was, fast, stable, well built (of course) and was a higly capable unit with a professional crew that could do pretty much anything asked of them. The issue was the atmosphere on board. Her ship's number was 53 and for many years she was known as "Stalag 53". In the early 80's the standard joke was that we had to be careful not to trip over the morale it was so low. I know that some really loved it onboard. Most looked forward to their next posting. Cheers.

[adorbjune96]

so the crew was good but it was the ambiance of the ship that made it so bad buts some people liked being on it

[Alfrunk]

Did you died?

[Boweavel]

@seabrooke22 My dad served on DE 48 and others , sonar operator/ coxwain,

[Loyroy2020]

2 types of boats submarines and targets

[QL25WLR1]

lol

[quelium]

don't u mean Surface Vessels and Targets?

[sclinds]

I used to have lunch (SCRAN) on the Torrens back in 82, as we would all swap ships at lunch time. I was on the Melbourne (Carrier) at the time but the Torrens was (Arguably)one of the cleanest and profesionally crewed ships in the RAN fleet during that time. Always sad to see them go.

[darkerphantom]

My dad served on that ship as a junior salor, it brought back alot of memories on that day.

[GenaralNONSENSE]

I just saw somthin on discovery channel and they said it could have been a methane airbubble..idk

[Jerram89]

accept for the fact that I actually know the guy who fired that torpedo...His name is Forbes (what a name!)

[Matanjun]

It Open every hatch (door) for easy sink. So May look like blown apart like movie

[ryger3351]

Same effect as a small German WW-II Oyster Mine detonated in shallow water. But we (the world governments) have since designed warheads that deliver the same shock effect in deep water.

[pega57]

Death row just for ships

[darkmasterchief78]

thats my dad's ship, he served on it for a year or so before it was sunk, and before that the Torrens sister ship HMAS Derwent, they used a little bit of C4 on the ship not much.

[seabrooke22]

No C4 or any other additional explosive was used on Torrens. The whole process was the result of the Mk48 torpedo. The use of C4 is a myth.

[azlmsc]

Modern torpedoes like the Mk-48 are designed to detonate below a surface vessel for maximum damage. Against submarines, these torpedoes can also use a contact detonator depending on the tactical situation.

BTW, this was an older version of the Mk-48. The Mk-48 ADCAP is even more lethal. You certainly want to be on the giving end of this weapon rather than the receiving end.

[gomms]

yeh, too bad the entire thing sucked for australia, the collins class submarine was the biggest military blunder purchase ever. our government was ashamed of it.

it was just a media stunt to make the sub's look good, too bad everyone knew the truth.

[GTMouse]

You don't know anything mate, the collins class is a highly leathal & very effective platform.

One of the best military spending ever.

If your after a blunder, then try the joint strike fighter over the f22 raptor.

[Jerram89]

got that right - I've actually met the guy who 'fired' this torpedo - his first name is Forbes and he's a Commander in the RAN.

[rag5206]

@GTMouse Yes but how r we going to PAY for replacement sub we should have got a licence agreement to export Oz made subs. We should be partnering up with Sweden to share military development cost maybe make Gripens in Oz. Our economy is in big shit $6 billion a yr interest on govt debt. Military people DONT understand ecomonics just want TOYS. Smart countries export more then minerals i.e Sweden Saab, Volvo, Scania, missles, aircraft etc

[twinstu50]

@rag5206 AS YOUR MOTHER SAID A LONG TIME AGO, ....STOP WAFFLING!.

[twinstu50]

@twinstu50

Yep, fair enough!.

Who are you, Ben?.

[rag5206]

@twinstu50 I take it your a military person didn't Henry Kissinger call u guys DUMB ANIMALS? We employed an ex sub Admiral (involved with Collins selection) He was a DOPE he got his rank through the Masonic Lodge. What I am saying is correct Oz needs a balanced economy manufacturing,farming, tech & minerals.We import twice as much manufactured products as we export. Hope u enjoy working until 70 until u get a pension. I retired at 52yrs thanks to seeing the value of investing exports.

[dksmoley]

@GTMouse

I was talking to a Navy friend the other day and he says the Collins class are junk, everyone in the service hates them. Apparently they're great at going down but struggle with coming back up, a few of them have a habitt of getting stuck on the bottom lol.

[azlmsc]

The Mk-48 used to sink this ship was fired from about 20 nautical miles away from an Australian submarine. It exploded a few meters beneath the keel of the ship. The shock wave and explosion lifted the (2700 metric ton) ship out of the water and broke the keel. As you can see, this made one ship into two halves.

[readytosnap]

It looks more like an underwater explosion, like an anti ship mine...

[RetSquid]

Modern torpedos go under the ship, blow up and break the keel.

[sundown1234]

there was a fair amount of c4 used also

[kmomega007]

weight* and torpedo's