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This steam driven Mark 14 torpedo was the mainstay of the submarine service in World War II until the advent of the wake-less Mark 18 electric torpedo in 1944.

Approximately 13,000 Mark 14 torpedoes were manufactured during the war and they are credited with sinking 4,000,000 tons of Japanese shipping.

The Mark 14 is propelled by an alcohol fired steam turbine that left a trail of exhaust bubbles in its wake. It has two speed settings. The high setting would yield forty-six knots with a range of 4,500 yards, and the low setting would produce thirty-one knots with a range of 9,000 yards. The weapon is 246 inches long, 21 inches in diameter and weighs over a ton and a half. The warhead contained 668 pounds of Torpex explosive and could be set to explode on contact of with a magnetic detonator that was designed to ignite while passing under a target. The vertical fins contain a rudder for controlling the pre-set course, and the horizontal fins control the depth. The two propellers are pitched in opposite directions and counter-rotate the torpedo from rotating during the run.

The Mark 14 was plagued with problems during the early years of the war. Skippers reported problems that included erratic runs, faulty depth control, defective magnetic exploders, premature explosions, and duds. It was not until almost two years after the attack on Pearl Harbor that all of the problems with the Mark 14 were solved and US submarines went into battle with a dependable weapon.