The operational logic behind the Type III fit may have been the need to face surface raiders on long ocean routes or in the Far East. A Hunt in those waters might meet a cruiser-like opponent that it could not defeat with 4-inch guns. Admiral Graf Spee provides a model for the kind of breakout planners may have feared, making torpedoes an understandable attempt to give the escort some counter-threat. Even so, two tubes lacked the salvo volume needed for a credible attack. The requirement made sense, but the design response was inadequate.
Notable Point · 1:06:05-1:06:40
Why designers still wanted torpedoes on Type III Hunts
The best argument for Type III torpedoes was fear of renewed German surface-raider attacks and possible oceanic or Far Eastern deployments, although two tubes remained a weak answer.