Alex Clarke recalls conversations with Royal Navy and Royal Canadian Navy destroyer personnel about torpedo-storage positions on ships officially lacking reload provision. An example of seven torpedoes reportedly fired from a single five-tube launcher, with a gap between launches, raises the possibility of spare weapons. Recollections and firing totals support this inference; the load of any particular JW 51B escort remains unestablished. Crews could adapt ammunition allowances, light weapons, and torpedo stowage to the threats they expected to face. Official armament figures therefore need care when reconstructing a ship's wartime fit.
Notable Point · 1:29:54-1:31:33
Official armament lists could miss wartime crew modifications
Crew recollections and firing totals raise questions about spare torpedoes aboard destroyers whose official specifications did not provide for reloads.