A photograph shows sailors loading a torpedo aboard a destroyer. The weapon's weight made the evolution physically difficult, while its relative delicacy required specialist handling. The image gives a practical sense of the labor behind a destroyer's offensive armament. The book covers September 1939 to June 1940, concentrating on the destroyer's first nine months of war.
Chapter · 23:46-25:33
Handling destroyer torpedoes at sea
Photographs and an account limited to the first nine months of war show the physical demands of loading torpedoes aboard small combatants.