Torpedo mechanics

 Torpedoes in World of Warships are going to be a major thing. See - torpedoes are the great equalizer of naval warfare. Trust me on that - battleships sink just as easy as carriers and destroyers after a good hit or two. Considering the ranges of World of Warships, learning proper torpedo mechanics is vital. As an avid Silent hunter fan I obviously don't expect the same amount of detail from Wargaming, but I hope they will at least make them believable.

Torpedoes on warships are generally kept in launcher bays and fired in salvoes. Here's a modern one to give you example. Nothing is safe from them and no amount of armour will protect your ship.

The torpedo can be used in a variety of ways - offense, defense and literally blocking enemy maneuvers.
Up close is where its really deadly. A 1-2 good hits can hit or cripple severely a ship of any size - and destroyers and cruisers generally have more launch tubes than a submarine. Not to mention more reloads.
Against a slow moving fat target - a salvo with a narrow spread will send him to the bottom in no time. Keep in mind that torpedoes are slow. Slower than arty shells. Sooo getting in and firing them is fine - but you might die before you get out.

 Against a fast mover a wide spread will help you counter any evasive maneuver. A destroyer or a light cruiser might be able to dodge your attack completely! Destroyers at flank speed are almost as fast as torpedoes, even faster than some models!

In real life - there were two ways for torpedoes to detonate - magnetic and contact. In early war detonators were quite faulty too. I doubt Wargaming will give them that much distinction or introduce dud torpedoes - imagine the outcry. If you think ghost shells are bad, imagine ghost torpedoes. Just to describe it - contact is obvious - detonator touches ship - torpedo goes boom. Magnetic ones are meant to pass just under the ship, detect the hull and then detonate. The shockwave will then literally lift the ship up and cause it to break like an egg.

Contact torpedoes are more reliable to cause damage, but its less severe than the instant kills from the gif above. The obvious result is a very large penetration below the water line that will cause flooding in the damaged compartment. It will slow down a ship and might cause it to sink too but a second and third hit in other areas will be needed to flood enough sectors.

At long range hitting something is not so easy. Bear in mind - torpedoes have various ranges but 3-4 km is usually the top. That is a lot less than even secondary and tertiary battleship turrets. Not to mention that fired at max range - torpedoes will take a couple of minutes to reach their targets - even a battleship will be able to react on time. Still - you can force the enemy fleet to change course to avoid your salvo and sail where you want them. How you'd use that tactical information is up to you.

Ok - so much about torpedo offense - how about defense? Only proper protection is to dodge. Torpedoes with contact detonators can bounce off ships at high impact angles just as shells, but whether that will be introduced in the game we don't know. You can use islands to your advantage or rely on speed and maneuvers. A DD or light cruiser can dodge torpedoes even at short ranges if you see them on time. Short ranges would be 1000 meters... A battleship or carrier? Not so much. Still you could try to do something about it - best option is to either turn towards the torpedoes or away from them. Thus you present a very small target and if you are sailing away - you could escape their max range before they reach you...If its a long range shot that is. Of course there is nothing you can do against a short range salvo, except try to minimize damage. Change speed- a full stop and going reverse will scramble enemy aim. Of course - your best protection is not allowing the enemy a chance to launch his tubes. 

Carrier based aviation is another thing altogether. Torpedo bombers must fly level, and close to the water to launch their payload, unlike dive bombers like the Stuka or the Val. When using carrier aviation - your best bet would be to combine bombs and torpedoes and attack simultaneously - enemy AA will be divided and more of your planes have a chance to score a hit.

That would be all about torpedoes until we see them in action.