can’t have past participle

In the English Grammar Profile, C1 point 188 in the category of MODALITY is defined as:

PAST NEGATIVE, ‘can’t’ or ‘cannot have’ + ‘-ed’ to make deductions.

It means that if we cannot have fired those torpedoes, someone else did.

listen

A search in iWeb:

1 CA N’T HAVE HELPED 61

  The New York Times

Emma Thompson Can’t Live Without Hannah Gadsby and Potato Scones

” It was my dad’s favorite food, which can’t have helped because he died of heart disease… 

Nov 8, 2019

2 CA N’T HAVE FAILED 53
3 CA N’T HAVE ESCAPED 46
4 CA N’T HAVE GONE 39
5 CA N’T HAVE MISSED 37
6 CA N’T HAVE HURT 33
7 CA N’T HAVE HAPPENED 19
8 CA N’T HAVE CHANGED 17
9 CA N’T HAVE MADE 17