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TorpedoesIn service
Antisubmarine torpedo
Mark 44 torpedo is a antisubmarine torpedo originating in United States. It was built by General Electric Naval Ordnance Station Forest Park American Machine and Foundry.
United StatesAntisubmarine torpedo
United States
1957-1967 (with United States Navy )
See Operators
Naval Ordnance Test Station Pasadena General Electric
1953
General Electric Naval Ordnance Station Forest Park American Machine and Foundry
Mark 44 Mod 1
432 pounds (196 kg)
8.2 feet (2.5 m)
12.75 inches (32.4 cm)
123 metres per second (400 ft/s)
123 metres (135 yd)
Mk 101 Mod 0, HBX -3
75 pounds (34 kg)
Mk 19 type Mod 12 contact exploder
Electric 30 horsepower (22 kW)
3.4 miles (5.5 km)
1,000 feet (300 m)
30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Helix search
Destroyers and aircraft
432 lbs
3.4 miles
30 knots
30 hp electric motor driven by seawater battery
Argentina
Australia
Brazil
Canada
Chile
Colombia
France
West Germany
Greece
Indonesia
Iran
Italy
Japan
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Pakistan
Peru
Philippines
Portugal
South Korea
South Africa
Spain
Thailand
United States
The Mark 44 torpedo is a now -obsolete air-launched and ship-launched lightweight torpedo manufactured in the United States, and under licence in Canada, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom, with 10,500 being produced for U.S.
After several evaluations the EX-2B was selected and designated the Mark 44 Mod 0. After some fine tuning of the design, an enhanced version the Mark 44 Mod 1 entered United States service in 1956. However shortly after the torpedo entered service it became apparent that newer Soviet submarines were both faster and deeper diving, and could potentially both outrun and out-dive the Mk.44 which was designed to attack targets with a maximum speed of only 17 knots. To address this an operational requirement was issued in 1960 resulting in the acceptance into service of the Mk.46 torpedo in 1963, when it began to replace the Mk.44 in U.S. service.
A South African package offered an extensive upgrade, replacing the warhead with a 45 kilogram shaped charge device capable of penetrating 40 millimeters of steel behind a 1.5 meter water filled double hull. The package also included a comprehensive digital electronics upgrade tripling the target acquisition range to 1,000 meters in ideal conditions, and containing a number of counter-counter measures along with a variety of attack modes.
The Mark 44 is a modular design, consisting of four main sections. The blunt nose contains the active sonar seeker with the 75-pound (34 kg) high-explosive warhead immediately behind it. The second section contains the guidance and gyroscopes. The third contains the 24 kilowatt seawater battery which uses silver chloride and magnesium electrodes with seawater acting as the electrolyte. Finally is the propulsion section which houses the electric motor, four rectangular control fins and two contra-rotating propellers.
The vacuum tube-based guidance system is more sophisticated than earlier torpedoes, using pre-launch settings enabling an initial search depth of 50, 150, 250, 450, 650 or 900 feet (15, 46, 76, 137, 198 or 274 m) as well as a search floor at 150, 250, 450, 650 or 900 feet (46, 76, 137, 198 or 274 m) as well as a maximum dive/climb angle of 4.5, 6 or 7 degrees. On impacting the water the torpedo either runs out for 1,000 yards (910 m) or performs a dive at a 30-degree angle to the search depth. After completing this it may perform a flat turn and begins a helical search pattern proceeding up or down until it hits either the minimum depth of 50 yards (46 m) or the search floor. When it hits either top or bottom, it performs a flat turn and begins to execute the search in reverse. It continues executing this search until it either finds a target or exhausts its six-minute endurance.
Length: 8.2 feet
Length: 8.2 feet
Diameter: 12.75 inches
Diameter: 12.75 inches
Range: 3.4 miles
Speed: 30 knots
Propulsion: 30 hp electric motor driven by seawater battery
Mark 44 torpedo United States 324 mm lightweight torpedo Mk 44 mod 1 Lupo -class AB-212ASW ASH-3D
Reference text from Wikipedia contributors, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.
True scale
Sourced dimensions beside a 1.75 m human reference.
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Points represent sourced observations, including revisions. Revisions on the same effective date are not separate inventory events. Ranges appear in the table and are not plotted as exact points.
| Observation / report period | Value | Source | Claim state |
|---|---|---|---|
| 28 Sept 2026 | 0.324 m | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| 28 Sept 2026 | 0.324 m | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| 28 Sept 2026 | 0.32385 m | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| 28 Sept 2026 | 0.324 m | Wikipedia contributors | approved |
Mark 44 torpedo equipment records. Variants, orders and quantities are shown as reported in each inventory source; coverage is incomplete.
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