Fastest torpedo
Last updated: January 7, 2020 at 2:14 am
260 knots (483 km/h / 300 mph) — Shkval (squall) supercavitating rocket-propelled torpedo (Russia). The Shkval produces an envelope of supercavitating bubbles preventing the surface of the torpedo from coming into contact with water thus reducing drag and friction. Maximum launch depth: 100 m (328 ft). The fastest known NATO torpedo is the Spearfish (UK) at 75 knots (138 kph / 86 mph), however the German Navy is reportedly developing a supercavitating torpedo, the Barracuda, that is faster than the Russian Shkval. In March 2006, the Islamic Republic of Iran reported that it had tested a Shkval-like torpedo called Hoot (whale), capable of speeds reaching 360 km/h (225 mph).
The allure of supercavitating torpedoes. Naval Technology. 19 June 2017.
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Jeffrey Gallant is the Editor-in-Chief and Records Keeper of the Diving Almanac. He is also a contributing editor of DIVER Magazine, and the scientific director of the Greenland Shark and Elasmobranch Education and Research Group (GEERG). Jeffrey started diving in 1982.
