A spar torpedo is a weapon consisting of a bomb placed at the end of a long pole, or spar, and attached to a boat. The weapon is used by running the end of the spar into the enemy ship. Spar torpedoes were often equipped with a barbed spear at the end, so it would stick to wooden hulls. A fuze could then be used to detonate it. The bayonet, still used in war as both knife and spearpoint. ... Massive ordinance air-burst bomb. ... Lobster boat A boat is a watercraft, usually smaller than most ships. ... A tree trunk as found at the Veluwe, The Netherlands Wood derives from woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs. ... A hull is the body or frame of a ship or boat. ... In an explosive device, a fuze or fuse is the part of the device that causes it to function. ...

The extremely close range required to use spar torpedoes was a major limitation. The perfection of the self propelled torpedo rendered the spar torpedo obsolete. It was used in the second half of the 19th century. A torpedo in Rail terminology refers to a small explosive device strapped to the top of the rail to alert an approaching train of immediate danger ahead. ...

The most famous use of a spar torpedo was on the Confederate submarine Hunley, which managed to sink the Union screw sloop USS Housatonic in 1864, although the Hunley was lost. For other meanings of confederate and confederacy, see confederacy (disambiguation) National Motto Deo Vindice (Latin: Under God our Vindicator) Official language English de facto nationwide Various European and Native American languages regionally Capital Montgomery, Alabama February 4, 1861–May 29, 1861 Richmond, Virginia May 29, 1861–April 9, 1865 Largest... CSS H. L. Hunley was a submarine of the Confederate States Navy that demonstrated both the advantages and the dangers of undersea warfare. ... USS Housatonic was a screw sloop-of-war of the United States Navy, named for one of the rivers of New England which rises in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, and flows southward into Connecticut before emptying into Long Island Sound a little east of Bridgeport, Connecticut. ... CSS H. L. Hunley was a submarine of the Confederate States Navy that demonstrated both the advantages and the dangers of undersea warfare. ...

On October 27, 1864, Lieutenant Cushing employed a spar torpedo to sink the Confederate armor-clad ram Albemarle. Because the Confederate navy was tiny, the sinking of the Albemarle was the Union navy's only successful sinking of a Confederate vessel by torpedo. Lieutenant Cushing employed a spar torpedo designed by John Lay. William Barker Cushing (4 November 1842–17 December 1874) was an officer in the United States Navy, best known for sinking the Confederate ironclad CSS Albemarle during a daring nighttime raid on October 27, 1864, a feat for which he received the Thanks of Congress. ... John Louis Lay (1832-1899) was an American inventor of the spar torpedo. ...

Spar torpedoes were also used on small wooden launches in the late 19th century, although they were not very useful weapons. The locomotive torpedo (what we think of today as a torpedo) replaced the spar torpedo as a weapon for submarines and small boats in the 1870s. A torpedo in Rail terminology refers to a small explosive device strapped to the top of the rail to alert an approaching train of immediate danger ahead. ... USS Los Angeles A submarine is a specialized watercraft that can operate underwater. ...