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CHAPTER 15
TORPEDO: THE HISTORY AND EVOLUTION OF A KILLING MACHINE
(Excerpted from an unpublished manuscript [pages 91–95] and
reprinted by permission of the author, Retired Master Chief Sonar
Technician David M. Hardy, USN)
Following the American Revolution, naval tacticians in many countries
began to see the torpedo’s promise as a weapon. The torpedo still lacked a
viable delivery system, but its destructive potential was nothing short of
astounding.
Over the course of the next several decades, two basic design
philosophies emerged. Floating torpedoes (by far the most common) were
designed to drift on, or slightly below, the surface of the water until they
came into contact with the hull of an enemy ship. Today, these so-called
floating torpedoes would be classified as mines, but in the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries, the word torpedo was understood to include nearly
any form of waterborne explosive device. During the American Civil
War, when Union Admiral David Farragut shouted his famous line,
“Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!” he was referring to mines.
Spar torpedoes were second in popularity and effectiveness to floating
torpedoes. A spar torpedo consisted of an explosive charge mounted on a
wooden pole (or spar) and lashed to the bow of a small boat. Rigged to
project several yards out in front of the bow, the spar torpedo was designed
to be rammed directly against the hull of the target vessel. The resulting
explosion, only a few yards from the attacking boat, would almost
certainly result in damage to the torpedo boat or its crew. Understandably,
spar torpedoes were unpopular weapons, and they saw very little
application in combat before they fell out of use altogether.
Destructive capacity notwithstanding, the lack of a reliable delivery
system severely limited the effectiveness of both spar and floating torpedo
designs. It would take a major technological breakthrough to change that.
The breakthrough finally came in 1866, when a British-born naval
engineer named Robert Whitehead built the first self-propelled torpedo.
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