 Senior Navy and Bureau of Ordnance officers never questioned why half a dozen torpedoes , released so close to the Japanese carriers , produced no results . The Japanese combat air patrol , flying Mitsubishi A6M2 Zeros made short work of the unescorted , slow , under @-@ armed TBDs . A few TBDs managed to get within a few ship @-@ lengths range of their targets before dropping their torpedoes — close enough to be able to strafe the enemy ships and force the Japanese carriers to make sharp evasive maneuvers — but all of their torpedoes either missed or failed to explode . The abysmal performance of American torpedoes in the early months of the war became a scandal . Torpedo after torpedo either missed by running directly under the target , prematurely exploded , or struck targets with textbook right angle hits ( sometimes with an audible clang ) and failed to explode . 
