“No information was given concerning the origin of this torpedo”: A Soviet Weapon at the Canadian War Museum
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25071/2561-5467.1255Keywords:
Korean War, Royal Canadian Navy, submarine warfare, military explosives, mine warfare, material history, Canadian War MuseumAbstract
Since 1960, the Canadian War Museum’s collection has included a Soviet torpedo whose history long remained obscure. Archival research has uncovered its 1951 transportation to Canada as part of a cargo of Soviet-made torpedoes and naval mines captured in North Korea, destined for analysis and training purposes. It has also revealed the intricacies and the implications of the technical analysis of the mines. This article examines the history of these weapons, and suggests some of the wider implications of their acquisition and analysis for the early Cold War Royal Canadian Navy, including potential areas for further research.
References
Alexander, Joseph H. “Fleet Operations in a Mobile War, September 1951-June 1951,” in The U.S. Navy in the Korean War, ed. Edward J. Marolda. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2007.
Appleman, Roy Edgar. South to the Naktong, North to the Yalu (June-November 1950): United States Army in the Korean War. Washington, DC: US Army Center of Military History, 1961.
Blanton, Steven Dwight. “A Study of the United States Navy's Minesweeping Efforts in the Korean War.” MA thesis, Texas Tech University, 1993.
Buell, Thomas B. Naval Leadership in Korea: The First Six Months. Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center, 2002.
Cagle, Malcolm W. and Frank A. Manson. The Sea War in Korea. Annapolis, MD: United States Naval Institute, 1957.
Cagle, Malcolm W. and Frank A. Manson. “Wonsan: The Battle of the Mines.” United States Naval Institute Proceedings 83:6 (June 1957). https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1957/june/wonsan-battle-mines
Canzona, Nicholas A. and Lynn Montross. U.S. Marine Operations in Korea, 1950-1953, Volume 3: The Chosin Reservoir Campaign. Washington, DC: United States Marine Corps, 1957.
“Don Loney.” Dippers Digest 7 (September 1991): 12. http://navydiver.ca/cnda-library
Douglas, W.A.B. et. al. A Blue Water Navy: The Official Operational History of the Royal Canadian Navy in the Second World War, 1943-1945, Volume 2, Part 2. St. Catharines, ON: Vanwell Publishing, 2007.
Field, James A. History of United States Naval Operations: Korea. Washington, DC: Department of the Navy, 1962.
Friedman, Norman. The Postwar Naval Revolution. London: Conway Maritime Press, 1986.
Karig, Walter, Malcolm W. Cagle, and Frank Manson. Battle Report: The War in Korea. New York: Rinehart and Company, 1952.
Lott, Arnold S. Most Dangerous Sea: A History of Mine Warfare, and an Account of U.S. Navy Mine Warfare Operations in World War II and Korea. Annapolis, MD: US Naval Institute Press, 1959.
McElroy, Paul. “The Mining of Wonsan Harbor, North Korea in 1950: Lessons for Today's Navy.” Marine Corps War College, Quantico, VA, 1999. https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/ADA529052
Melia, Tamara Moser. Damn the Torpedoes: A Short History of U.S. Naval Mine Countermeasures, 1777-1991. Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center, 1991.
Menarchik, Jason D. “North Korean Protective Mine Warfare: An Analysis of the Naval Minefields at Wonsan, Chinnampo and Hungnam during the Korean War.” Maxwell Air Force Base, AL: Air Command and Staff College, 2010. https://archive.org/details/DTIC_ADA539219
Porter, Samuel P. “In Dangerous Waters: Japan’s Forgotten Minesweeping Operations in the Korean War.” The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus 20, no. 17 (October 2022): 1, article ID 5741. https://apjjf.org/2022/17/porter
“Preserving the Past.” Crowsnest 5, no. 3 (January 1953): 6.
“Rod Petty & Bill Lawrence.” Dippers Digest 8 (December 1991): 3-4, 6, 8. http://navydiver.ca/cnda-library
Schnabel, James F. Policy and Direction: The First Year, United States Army in the Korean War. Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, 1972.
Thorgrimsson, Thor and E.C. Russell. Canadian Naval Operations in Korean Waters, 1950-1955. Ottawa: Naval Historical Section, 1965.
Zimmerman, David. Maritime Command Pacific: The Royal Canadian Navy’s West Coast Fleet in the Early Cold War. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2015. DOI: https://doi.org/10.59962/9780774830362-009

Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.