I don't know for sure if this would work or if anyone has tried it personally... so here it is.. I understand that submerged torpedo tubes dont have very much range because of the torpedo having to travel through the water, If the torpedo tube had 2 air lines hooked to it, one to the side of the tube, in front of the torpedo and one behind the torpedo. if there was a valve that could first direct the co2 to the tube in front of the torpedo, so that a blast of air would come out before the torpedo fired, and then direct air the the tube behind the torpedo... in theory the first blast of air might disturb the water enough to allow the torpedo to have better velocity and distance when fired under water... sorry, im not the greatest at explaining things so hopefully you got it... any ideas? and has anyone already tried this?
I see what you are saying. However, I think it might work against you rather than help you. For this to work as you suggest, you would need to fire the torp while the CO2 from the front opening is still coming out - otherwise the water would just rush back in the tube again. But this would also mean that the CO2 from the front opening is exerting force on the front of the torpedo as well as on the water. So it might just slow things down.
You are thinking along the same lines as the supercavitating torpedo's that the russians fielded. the air in front of the round will dramatically reduce the drag forces while it is there (although if it is at significantly higher pressures than the surrounding water it will also apply a pressure back against the round costing you), however you need to generate that continuously at the leading edge of the round for it to be effective. A jet of CO2 will produce a mixed mess of particulate, droplet, and larger scale water and co2, not exactly what works for a supercavitating situation.
I have underwater torps on a Normandie battleship (French). It is big gun of course. I found they could penetrate 1/8" balsa at up to 6"-8". Point blank the airslug that came out with the rounds would implode sections of panels!
