Bliss–Leavitt Mark 8 torpedo
Deployment difficulties
Deployment difficulties
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The Mark 8 had many technical difficulties with its design that would be a bane to the torpedomen who would use them. The first issue came with the process of simply launching the torpedo, which was fraught with its own set of difficulties. The [gyro](/wiki/Gyroscope "Gyroscope") in the torpedo was sensitive when it was first launched and it would need to be launched from an even [keel](/wiki/Keel "Keel"), otherwise the torpedo would lose stability when it hit the water. The other issue concerned the launching mechanism. The initial system was set with a [black powder](/wiki/Black_powder "Black powder") charge to push the torpedo out of the tube. This was a problem in the [South Pacific](/wiki/South_West_Pacific_theatre_of_World_War_II "South West Pacific theatre of World War II"), where the humid climate would cause these charges to misfire, sometimes not putting enough force behind the torpedo to fully eject it from the tube. One other risk of these misfires was what is called "hot running", where the torpedo would run in its tube. Though the [warhead](/wiki/Warhead "Warhead") could not detonate, the motor would overheat and explode without water to cool it, sending splinters across the deck. Another issue was that the tubes were heavily lubricated with oil and grease to ensure that the torpedo was smoothly launched from the tube. Sometimes during launch, the charge would ignite the lubricants in the tube causing a fire emitting black smoke that would reveal the location of the torpedo boat.

The torpedo lacked the explosive power of newer models. It carried less than  of TNT\-based explosives, which was far from a guaranteed ship kill. This frustrated many captains who, when hitting an enemy dead on, had the warhead detonate but not sink the target, and many targets escaped.
[thumb\|Bliss–Leavitt Mark 8 torpedo 1](/wiki/File:Bliss%E2%80%93Leavitt_Mark_8_torpedo_1.jpg "Bliss–Leavitt Mark 8 torpedo 1.jpg")
[thumb\|Bliss–Leavitt Mark 8 torpedo 2](/wiki/File:Bliss%E2%80%93Leavitt_Mark_8_torpedo_2.jpg "Bliss–Leavitt Mark 8 torpedo 2.jpg")


What was 'hot running' and how could it be dangerous?