Threads like these tend to concentrate on SAMs. However, the RNs post-war record on torpedoes was not exactly stellar. E.g. the Mk 25 Tigerfish is the best known example.
But, the heavyweight ASW torpedoes for surface ships were so bad that they were taken out of service in the early 1960s. The ships that had been completed or refitted with the 21" tubes to fire had them removed and later classes such as the Counties, Leanders & Tribals (which were designed to have 6 of them) weren't completed with them.
Therefore, British surface warships didn't have an ASW torpedo until the late 1970s when they began to be fitted with tubes for 12.75in lightweight torpedoes. Therefore, for about 15 years their main anti-submarine weapon was the Limbo mortar. Yes, the County class had Wessex helicopters carrying ASW torpedoes; yes, many frigates had the Wasp, which came into service in the middle 1960s; yes the Type 82 had Ikara; and yes, 8 Leanders were fitted with Ikara from the early 1970s. But it still looks like a huge gap in the RN's ASW capability from the early 1960s to the late 1970s.
Could anything have been done to avoid that? Use as much hindsight as you like, but bonus points will be avoided if it could have been done without hindsight. E.g. could the 21" heavyweight torpedoes been made to perform adequately?
