Naval Historywith Dr. Alex

Q&A · 2:18:10-2:18:36

What a Long Lance and Mark 14 swap reveals about doctrine

Swapping the weapons would hurt Japan immediately and give the United States a powerful torpedo that did not neatly match its existing tactics.

Imperial Japanese NavyMark 14 TorpedoNaval DoctrineSubmarine WarfareType 93 TorpedoUS Navy
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Question

What happens if Japan's Long Lance and the US Mark 14 torpedo are swapped at the start of the war?

Short answer

Japan loses the weapon its tactics were built around, while the United States gains a superb torpedo that initially exceeds the needs and assumptions of its doctrine.

Notes

Japan's Type 93 Long Lance was the product of years spent matching weapon performance to fleet doctrine, while the Mark 14's defects would undermine those carefully prepared tactics. The United States would gain an exceptional weapon, but its reach and power would exceed the assumptions embedded in American operating methods, showing that a better component is not automatically a ready-made doctrine.