Type A Kō-hyōteki
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Torpedoes
The Nakajima B5N2 torpedo bomber (Kanjyo Kougeki-ki, or "kanko," later nicknamed "Kate" by the Allies) carried the Type 91 Mod 2 torpedo during the Pearl Harbor attack. This torpedo carried the Type 97 warhead with an explosive charge of 452 lbs. equivalent TNT. By contrast, the special submarines carried two Type 97 torpedoes with an explosive charge of at least 796 lbs. The number most cited in reference books is 772 lbs., but I was not able to determine the primary source for that number. Instead, I used as a reference the physical and chemical analysis performed by the US Naval Powder Factory at Indian Head, Maryland, on the two torpedo warheads removed from Ensign Sakamaki's I-24tou. That analysis reported that the explosive material in one warhead was 796 lbs.; the other, 786 lbs. and that was by weight alone. In addition, the report noted that the explosive material was a 60/40 Hexa-TNT mix (hexanitrodiphenylamine and trinitrotoluene), which generally increases the explosive power of pure TN
