The most dreaded malfunction was the “circular run,” when a weapon’s rudder jammed and caused it to turn back, fully armed, toward the submarine that had fired it. Several U.S. submarines experienced this horrifying mishap, and escaped narrowly by diving or maneuvering evasively on the surface. Two boats were known to have been destroyed by their own torpedoes, because someone on the crew survived to tell the tale. It stands to reason that others were sunk in the same manner, with the loss of all hands, but posterity can only wonder.
