Originally Posted by
tdracer
What's worse was that the torpedoes that the TBDs were using were crap - routinely either detonating when they hit the water, or turning off course. So not only were the torpedo squadrons unlikely to return, they were unlikely to do any real damage. In a sense, being decoys to allow the dive bombers to attack relatively unmolested was the best they could have hoped for.
Truly courageous young men.
U.S. submariners in WWII found themselves in the identical situation as their torpedoes were ineffective in the early 1940s. The USN spectacularly dropped the ball on torpedo development entering WWII.
I also recommend the Kleiss and Parshall books.