Did anyone ever move torpedoes from the after room to the forward room?

There was no way to carry a torpedo through our WW2 boats from the after torpedo room to the forward room. In addition to the problem of the weight of the weapon, over 3,000 pounds, it was too long to make it through some of the bends in the main passageway. As a result, the torpedo would have had to be pulled up from the after room, moved over the side onto rafts and then pulled forward. It then needed to be hauled up on deck and moved down into the forward room. It was not a simple process and there was little mechanical help.

It seems that this was considered a few times but may never have actually been done on an American boat. One issue was that they would be exposed on the surface in a combat area for much too long a time. You would have had many men on deck and in the rafts. Large hatches would be open for quite a while. One captain was considering moving torpedoes when his mind was changed by a sighting of an enemy aircraft. Fortunately, this was before any work had been done to try to move a torpedo.

As mentioned, another big issue was the size and weight of the torpedoes. Another skipper began the process of moving a torpedo. However, he soon saw how much work was going to required and changed his mind. A third captain wanted to move some torpedoes from the after room to the forward room, but his weapons officer simply told him “No”.