thank you all, i appreciate the insight.

Torpedo reload is capped at 50%, and the cap is ridiculously easy to hit (as in, 50's).
BVE will just let you shave off sailors, which does save some weight on your sub, which
in turn does help a little. Combined with skeletonizing your BO (which you should do in
any case), it can save you quite a bit of space, especially since you'll need it to keep
your Planesman and Sonarman topped up (don't know the caps for those, but they're
considerably higher).

BVE will only help them reload faster (or if they're capped, allow you to take off
rookies). The duds are inherent in how sub torps work (at this time, anyway).

BVE is always worth it!

-Fox