Design and Development
The early 1960s concept was to provide the Royal Navy with a British-built torpedo to replace the imported Mk 44 and Mk 46 US weapons. In the 1950s the Royal Navy was equipped with British designed and built Mk 30 air-dropped torpedoes. These were passive homing weapons which relied on detecting the noise from submarine targets. However, as submarine noise levels reduced, these weapons became ineffective. Nuclear submarines could easily outrun and outdive the Mk 30.
A design for a British Mk 31 torpedo, which would have used active echo-location sonar, failed to receive Government approval for production and US Mk 44 torpedoes were purchased for the Royal Navy in the 1960s. These were later replaced by US Mk 46 torpedoes.
Read more about this topic: Sting Ray Torpedo
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