Mark 24 Tigerfish

Mark 24 Tigerfish

The Mk 24 Tigerfish torpedo was a heavyweight acoustic homing torpedo used by the Royal Navy (RN) for several years. The early Mod0 and Mod1 variants were unreliable and unsuccessful, but were issued to the RN even though they failed Fleet Weapon Acceptance. Reliability was significantly improved in the Mod2 variant as a result of the Consolidation Programme which addressed the complete weapon system i.e. the on-board fire control system (TCSS10 and DCB) and the Mk24 torpedo. The Consolidation Programme was initiated following the torpedo's reliability failures during the Falklands War. It was headed by Marconi Underwater Systems Limited as Prime Contractor with Ferranti Computer Systems Ltd and Gresham Lion as major sub-contractors. Tigerfish was eventually replaced in-service by the much more capable Spearfish torpedo.

It was fitted with both active and passive sonar and could be remotely controlled through a thin wire which connected it to the launching submarine. Wire guidance permits a torpedo to be launched on-first-warning, i.e. when a target is first detected at long range. This permits the torpedo the time needed to close the range while target course and speed is being updated by the submarine's superior sensors and transmitted 'down-the-wire'. The torpedo can also be re-assigned to another target or recalled. Typically, wire-guided torpedoes run at high speed to close the range (the approach speed) and slow down to minimise self-generated noise interference with on-board sensors during the attack phase (the attack speed).