The torpedo, historically called a locomotive torpedo, is a self-propelled explosive projectile weapon, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater toward a target, and designed to detonate on contact or in proximity to a target. A projectile is any object sent through space by the application of a force. ...

A Mark 32 Mod 15 Surface Vessel Torpedo Tube (SVTT) fires a Mark 46 Mod 5 lightweight torpedo.

Torpedoes may be launched from submarines, surface ships, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, unmanned naval mines and naval fortresses. They are also used in conjunction with other weapons; the Mark 46 torpedo used by the United States becomes the warhead section of the ASROC (Anti-Submarine ROCket) and the CAPTOR mine uses a submerged sensor platform that releases a torpedo when a hostile contact is detected. Caption: 030224-N-8029P-001 Pacific Ocean (Feb. ... Caption: 030224-N-8029P-001 Pacific Ocean (Feb. ... Torpedo tubes of the French SNLE Redoutable A torpedo tube is a device for launching torpedoes in a horizontal direction. ... Alvin in 1978, a year after first exploring hydrothermal vents. ... Italian Full rigged ship Amerigo Vespucci in New York Harbor, 1976 A ship is a large watercraft capable of deep water navigation. ... A helicopter is an aircraft which is lifted and propelled by one or more horizontal rotors consisting of two or more rotor blades. ... Look up aircraft in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Polish wz. ... Fortifications (Latin fortis, strong, and facere, to make) are military constructions designed for defensive warfare. ... A French Lynx helicopter carrying a mk46 torpedo Designed to attack high-performance submarines, the Mark 46 torpedo is the backbone of the U.S. Navys lightweight ASW torpedo inventory, and is the current NATO standard. ... An older Matchbox ASROC launcher, phased out in the 1990s ASROC (for Anti-Submarine ROCket) is an urgent-attack, all-weather, all sea-conditions anti-submarine missile system, developed by the United States Navy, and installed on over 200 surface ships, generally cruisers and destroyers. ... A Soyuz rocket, at Baikanur launch pad. ... A captor mine is an American naval mine. ...

Etymology

A Torpedo Exercise in Plymouth.

The word torpedo comes from a genus of electric rays in the order Torpediniformes, which in turn comes from the Latin "torpere" (to stun). There is no physical resemblance between the ray and the mechanical torpedo. In naval usage, the term "torpedo" was used by Robert Fulton denoting a towed gunpowder charge used by his submarine Nautilus in 1800–1805 to demonstrate that it could sink warships. Download high resolution version (827x591, 58 KB)Old photo of torpedo exercise from the Navy and Army Illustrated. ... Download high resolution version (827x591, 58 KB)Old photo of torpedo exercise from the Navy and Army Illustrated. ... Families Narcinidae Torpedinidae hi Electric rays (order Torpediniformes) are fish that have a rounded body and a pair of organs capable of producing an electric discharge, which is used to stun or kill prey. ... Families Narcinidae Torpedinidae If you came here looking for information about a fictional energy weapon, see raygun. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... Robert Fulton Robert Fulton (November 14, 1765 – February 24, 1815) was a U.S. engineer and inventor, who was widely credited with developing the first steam-powered ship marked as a commercial success. ... Alvin in 1978, a year after first exploring hydrothermal vents. ... Nautilus was the first practical submarine, commissioned by Napoleon and designed by the American inventor Robert Fulton, then living in France. ...

The torpedo room of Argonaute, a Cold War-era French Diesel submarine.

Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2560x1920, 848 KB) Argonaute Copyright © 2006 David Monniaux File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Torpedo Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2560x1920, 848 KB) Argonaute Copyright © 2006 David Monniaux File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Torpedo Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera... The conning tower of Argonaute Argonaute (S636) is a submarine of Aréthuse class, launched on October 23, 1958 and decomissioned on July 31, 1982. ... For other uses, see Cold War (disambiguation). ... Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel (1858-1913), inventor of the diesel engine. ... Alvin in 1978, a year after first exploring hydrothermal vents. ...

History

Prior to the invention of the self-propelled naval torpedo, the term "torpedo" was applied to any number of different types of explosive devices, generally having the property of being secret or hidden, including devices we would today call booby traps, land mines and naval mines, among others. This article is about an antipersonnel trap designed for use against humans. ... “Minefield” redirects here. ... Polish wz. ...

The first torpedo was developed by Harun ar-Rammah Najm al-Din al-Ahdab in Syria in 1275. His works show illustrations of a torpedo running with a rocket system filled with explosive materials and having three firing points.^[1] Torpedoes were also later developed in Rijeka, Croatia. A Soyuz rocket, at Baikanur launch pad. ... Preparing C-4 explosive This article is concerned solely with chemical explosives. ... Rijeka (in local Croatian dialects Rika and Reka; Fiume in Italian and Hungarian. ...

Early naval "torpedoes"

Confederates sinking torpedoes in Charleston Harbor

Nordenfelt-class Ottoman submarine Abdülhamid (1886) was the first submarine in history to fire a torpedo while submerged under water. Two submarines of this class, Abdülhamid (1886) and Abdülmecid (1887) joined the Ottoman fleet. They were built in pieces by Des Vignes (Chertsey) and Vickers (Sheffield) in England, and assembled at the Taşkızak Naval Shipyard in Istanbul, Turkey.

Although the term "torpedo" was not coined until 1800, the early submarine Turtle attacked using an explosive very similar in intent and operation to Fulton's "torpedoes". Turtle dove under a British vessel and attach a bomb by means of an auger. The bomb was detonated by a timed fuse, probably a type of clockwork mechanism. In its only recorded attack, Turtle failed to penetrate the hull of HMS Eagle, which had been copper-plated to resist the action of shipworm. Image File history File linksMetadata Sinking_torpedoes. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Sinking_torpedoes. ... Image File history File links Ottoman_submarine_Abdulhamid_1886. ... Image File history File links Ottoman_submarine_Abdulhamid_1886. ... Thorsten Nordenfelt (1842-1920), Swedish inventor and industrialist. ... Alvin in 1978, a year after first exploring hydrothermal vents. ... Motto دولت ابد مدت Devlet-i Ebed-müddet (The Eternal State) Anthem Ottoman imperial anthem Borders in 1680, see: list of territories Capital Söğüt (1299–1326) Bursa (1326–65) Edirne (1365–1453) Constantinople (Ä°stanbul, 1453–1922) Language(s) Ottoman Turkish Government Monarchy Sultans  - 1281–1326 Osman I  - 1918–22 Mehmed VI... Vickers was a famous name in British engineering that existed through many companies from 1828 until 2004. ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem God Save the King (Queen) England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto) Government Constitutional monarchy  -  Queen Queen Elizabeth II  -  Prime Minister Tony Blair MP Unification  -  by Athelstan 967  Area... Istanbul (Turkish: , Greek: , historically Byzantium and later Constantinople; see other names) is Turkeys most populous city, and its cultural and financial center. ... A cross-section sketch of Bushnells Turtle. ... Shipworms are not in fact worms at all, but rather a peculiar variety of marine mollusk (Eulamellibranchiata). ...

The first usage of the term "torpedo" to refer to a naval explosive was by Fulton. This type of towed torpedo, fitted with one of several types of contact fuses, remained in use through the American Civil War. The Confederate submarine H. L. Hunley was originally designed to use this type. This article is becoming very long. ... Motto Deo Vindice (Latin: Under God, Our Vindicator) Anthem God Save the South (unofficial) Dixie (traditional) The Bonnie Blue Flag (popular) Capital Montgomery, Alabama (until May 29, 1861) Richmond, Virginia (May 29, 1861–April 2, 1865) Danville, Virginia (from April 3, 1865) Language(s) English (de facto) Government Republic President... H. L. Hunley was a submarine of the Confederate States Navy that demonstrated both the advantages and the dangers of undersea warfare. ...

During the American Civil War the term "torpedo" was used for what is today called a contact mine, floating on or below the water surface using an air-filled demijohn or similar flotation device. (As self-propelled torpedoes were developed the tethered variety became known as stationary torpedoes and later mines.) Several types of naval "torpedo" were developed and deployed, most often by the Confederates, who faced a severe disadvantage in more traditional warfare methods. Polish wz. ... A carboy is a glass vessel used in fermenting wine, mead and sometimes beer. ...

Civil War "torpedoes" floated freely on the surface or were tethered to the bottom using a line and a weight holding the mine just below the surface. They were detonated when struck by a ship, or after a set time, but were unreliable. These could be as much a danger to Confederate as to Union shipping, and were sometimes marked with flags that could be removed if Union attack was deemed imminent. Rivers mined with Confederate torpedoes were often cleared by Unionists placing captured Confederate soldiers with knowledge of the torpedoes' location in small boats ahead of the main fleet. In this map:  Union states prohibiting slavery  Union territories  Border states on the Union side which allowed slavery  Kansas, which entered and fought with the Union as a free state after the Bleeding Kansas crisis  The Confederacy  Confederate claimed and sometimes held territories During the American Civil War, the Union...

"Torpedoes" (mines) could also be detonated electrically by an operator on shore, so friendly vessels or low-value enemy vessels could be ignored while waiting for the capital ships to sail over them. However, the Confederacy was plagued by a chronic shortage of materials including platinum and copper wire and acid for batteries, and the wires had a tendency to break. General Name, Symbol, Number platinum, Pt, 77 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 10, 6, d Appearance grayish white Standard atomic weight 195. ...

Former United States Navy Commander Matthew Fontaine Maury, who served as a commander in the Confederate Navy, was probably the first to use torpedoes in America. Maury developed an underwater electrical "torpedo". The United States Navy, also known as the USN or the U.S. Navy, is a branch of the United States armed forces responsible for conducting naval operations. ... Matthew Fontaine Maury Matthew Fontaine Maury (January 14, 1806 – February 1, 1873), USN - American astronomer, astrophysicist, historian, oceanographer, meteorologist, cartographer, author, geologist, educator. ... Navy Department Seal The Confederate States Navy (CSN) was the naval branch of the Confederate States armed forces established by an act of the Confederate Congress on February 21, 1861 responsible for Confederate naval operations during the American Civil War. ...

David Farragut encountered tethered and floating contact mines in 1864 at the American Civil War Battle of Mobile Bay. After his leading ironclad, USS Tecumseh, was sunk by a tethered contact mine (torpedo), his vessels halted, afraid of hitting additional torpedoes. Inspiring his men to push forward, Farragut famously yelled, "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" Admiral David Glasgow Farragut Admiral David Glasgow Farragut David Glasgow Farragut (July 5, 1801 – August 14, 1870) was the senior officer of the U.S. Navy during the American Civil War. ... Combatants United States of America (U.S. Navy) Confederate States of America (Confederate States Navy) Commanders David Farragut (navy) Gordon Granger (army) Franklin Buchanan (navy) Dabney H. Maury (army) Strength 14 wooden ships (including 2 gunboats) 4 ironclad monitors 5,500 Land Force Three gunboats One ironclad Casualties 322 men... Ironclad warships, frequently shortened to just ironclads, were ships sheathed with thick iron plates for protection. ... The first USS Tecumseh was an iron-hulled, single-turret monitor in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. ...

The first torpedoes driven at specific targets were spar torpedoes; the explosive device was on the end of a spar up to 40 feet (12 m) long projecting forward underwater from the bow of the attacking vessel. When driven up against the enemy and detonated, a hole would be caused below the water line. Spar torpedoes were employed by the Confederate submarine Hunley and David-class torpedo boats, among others. However these torpedoes would be able to cause as much harm to their handlers as to their targets. 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. ... CSS H. L. Hunley was a submarine of the Confederate States Navy that demonstrated both the advantages and the dangers of undersea warfare. ... CSS David was built as a private venture by T. Stoney at Charleston, South Carolina in 1863, and put under the control of the Confederate States Navy. ...

Bombs and booby traps

Illustration of naval torpedoes moored to the river bottom (the predecessors of modern naval mines)

During the Civil War, the term "torpedo" was also used to refer to various types of bombs and booby traps. Confederate General Gabriel Rains deployed "sub-terra shells" or "land torpedoes", artillery shells with pressure fuses buried in the road by retreating Confederate forces to delay their pursuers. These were the forerunners of modern land mines. Union generals publicly deplored this conduct. Image File history File linksMetadata Western_torpedoes. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Western_torpedoes. ... Artillery with Gabion fortification Cannons on display at Fort Point Continental Artillery crew from the American Revolution Firing of an 18-pound gun, Louis-Philippe Crepin, (1772 – 1851) A forge-welded Iron Cannon in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu. ... A shell is a projectile, which, as opposed to a bullet, contains an explosive or other filling, though modern usage includes large solid projectiles previously termed shot (AP, APCR, APCNR, APDS, APFSDS and Proof shot). ... The use of water pressure - the Captain Cook Memorial Jet in Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra, Australia. ... In an explosive device, a fuse (or fuze) is the part of the device that causes it to function. ...

Confederate secret agent John Maxwell used a clockwork mechanism to detonate a large "horological torpedo" (time bomb) on August 9, 1864. The bomb was hidden in a box marked "candles" and placed aboard a barge containing Union ammunition—20,000–30,000 artillery shells and 75,000 rounds of small arms ammunition—that was moored at City Point, Virginia, on the James River. The explosion caused more than $2 million in damage and killed at least 43 people. John Maxwell was the name of many notable people including: John Maxwell (artist) (1905 – 1962), Scottish artist. ... August 9 is the 221st day of the year (222nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1864 (MDCCCLXIV) was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... Small arms captured in Fallujah, Iraq by the US Marine Corps in 2004 The term small arms generally describes any number of smaller infantry weapons, such as firearms that an individual soldier can carry. ... Waterfront at City Point, Virginia (now Hopewell) in 1865 City Point was a town in Prince George County, Virginia in the state of Virginia. ... The James River at Cartersville The James River in the U.S. state of Virginia is 547. ... ISO 4217 Code USD User(s) the United States, the British Indian Ocean Territory,[1] the British Virgin Islands, Cambodia, East Timor, Ecuador, El Salvador, Maldives the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, Panama, Turks and Caicos Islands, and the insular areas of the United States Inflation 2. ...

The coal torpedo was a bomb shaped like a lump of coal, to be hidden in coal piles used for fueling Union naval vessels. The bomb would be shoveled into the firebox along with the real coal, causing an explosion. Although the North referred to the device as the coal torpedo in newspaper articles, the Confederates referred to it as a "coal shell". A coal torpedo. ...

Self-propelled torpedoes

A torpedo dropped from a Sopwith Cuckoo during World War I.

Narrow miss by a German torpedo in WWI.

WWI Austrian battleship with torpedo nets.

From World War I, the word torpedoes was used only for self-propelled projectiles that travelled under or on water. Sopwith Cuckoo dropping a torpedo Source: [1]. Copyright expired due to age of photo. ... Sopwith Cuckoo dropping a torpedo Source: [1]. Copyright expired due to age of photo. ... The Sopwith Cuckoo was a bi-plane torpedo bomber used by the British Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS), and its sucessor organisation, the Royal Air Force (RAF). ... “The Great War ” redirects here. ... A narrow miss by a German torpedo in World War I This image was scanned from a public domain text by the Great War Primary Documents Archive and is made available by them for any purpose provided that they are credited and a link is given to the Photos of... A narrow miss by a German torpedo in World War I This image was scanned from a public domain text by the Great War Primary Documents Archive and is made available by them for any purpose provided that they are credited and a link is given to the Photos of... World War I Austrian battleship, showing torpedo nets This image was scanned from a public domain text by the Great War Primary Documents Archive and is made available by them for any purpose provided that they are credited and a link is given to the Photos of the Great War... World War I Austrian battleship, showing torpedo nets This image was scanned from a public domain text by the Great War Primary Documents Archive and is made available by them for any purpose provided that they are credited and a link is given to the Photos of the Great War... The firepower of a battleship demonstrated by USS Iowa A battleship is a large, heavily-armored warship with a main battery consisting of the largest caliber of guns. ...

Arabs are known to have what could be described as torpedoes as early as the 15th century. Records tell of a self-propelled pear shaped bomb with a spear at the front which embedded itself in the enemy ships and then blew up.[1]

The first prototypes of a self-propelled torpedo were created by I.F. Alexandrovskii, a Russian naval specialist and designer of submarines, and Giovanni Luppis, an Austrian naval officer (though ethnically Italian) from Fiume (today Rijeka, Croatia), a port city of the Austrian Empire. In 1865 Alexandrovskii offered his project of "self-propelled torpedo" to the Russian Naval Ministry. In 1860, Giovanni Luppis presented the salvacoste (coastsaver), a floating weapon, driven by ropes from the land. The project was not taken up by the Navy. Luppis knew Robert Whitehead, an English engineer who was the manager of a Fiume factory and in 1864 Luppis made a contract with him in order to perfect the invention. The result was a submarine weapon, the Minenschiff, the first real self-propelled torpedo, officially presented to the Imperial Naval commission on December 21, 1866. Giovanni Biagio Luppis von Rammer (1813-1875) Giovanni Biagio Luppis von Rammer (August 27, 1813 – January 11, 1875) was a navy officer from Fiume (today Rijeka, in Croatia) who had the idea of the first self-propelled torpedo. ... The Austro-Hungarian Navy was the naval force of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. ... Rijeka (Fiume in Italian and Hungarian; Rijeka and Fiume both mean river) is the principal seaport of Croatia, located on the Kvarner Bay, an inlet of the Adriatic Sea. ... Rijeka (in local Croatian dialects Rika and Reka; Fiume in Italian and Hungarian. ... Anthem: Volkshymne (Peoples Anthem) Capital Vienna Language(s) German Religion Roman Catholic Government Monarchy History  - Established 1804  - Disestablished 1867 Flag of the Habsburg Monarchy The Crown of the Austrian Emperor The Austrian Empire (German: ) was an empire centred on what is modern day Austria that officially lasted from 1804... Russian Navy Jack Russian Navy Ensign The Imperial Russian Navy refers to the Navy of Imperial Russia, before the Soviet Union. ... Robert Whitehead (January 3, 1823 - November 14, 1905), British engineer. ... Motto  2(French) God and my right Anthem God Save the Queen 3 United Kingdom() – on the European continent() – in the European Union() [] Capital London Largest conurbation (population) Greater London Urban Area Official languages English (de facto)4 Government  -  Monarch Elizabeth II  -  Prime Minister Tony Blair Formation  -  Acts of Union... December 21 is the 355th day of the year (356th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1866 (MDCCCLXVI) is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ...

After the government decided to invest in the invention, Whitehead started the first torpedo factory in Fiume. In 1870, they improved the devices to travel up to approximately 1,000 yards (914 m) at a speed of up to six knots, and by 1881 the factory was exporting its torpedoes to ten other countries. The torpedo was powered by compressed air and had an explosive charge of gloxyline or gun-cotton. Whitehead went on to develop more efficient devices, demonstrating torpedoes capable of 18 knots (1876), 24 knots (1886) and finally 30 knots (1890). A knot is a non SI unit of speed equal to one nautical mile per hour. ... Nitrocellulose (Cellulose nitrate, guncotton) is a highly flammable compound formed by nitrating cellulose (e. ...

In 1877 the British Admiralty paid him £15,000 for certain of his developments and he opened a new factory near Portland harbour in 1891. The largest Whitehead torpedo was 18 inches (457 mm) in diameter and 19 feet (5.8 m) long, made of polished steel or phosphor-bronze, with a 200 lb (90 kg) gun-cotton warhead. It was propelled by two propellers driven by a three-cylinder Brotherhood compressed-air engine, using air compressed to around 1,300 lb/in² (approx 90 atmospheres). The torpedo was designed to self-regulate its course and depth as far as possible. Flag of the Lord High Admiral The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy. ... ISO 4217 Code GBP User(s) United Kingdom, Crown Dependencies Inflation 2. ... Two RIBs at Castletown, Portland Harbour Portland Harbour is located beside the Isle of Portland, off Dorset, on the south coast of England. ...

Whitehead faced competition from the American Lieutenant Commander John A. Howell, whose own design, driven by flywheel, was simpler and cheaper. Whitehead purchased rights to the gyroscope in 1890 (ironically from Howell) to improve control of his designs, which came to be called the "Devil's device". In the Royal Navy, United States Navy and United States Coast Guard, a lieutenant commander (lieutenant-commander or Lt Cdr in the RN) is a commissioned officer superior to a lieutenant and inferior to a commander. ... John Adams Howell (1840-1918) was an American naval officer whose career included combat duty in the Civil War. ... The Howell Automobile Torpedo was the first self-propelled (locomotive) torpedo in USN service. ... Spoked flywheel Flywheel from stationary engine. ... A gyroscope For other uses, see Gyroscope (disambiguation). ...

On 16 January 1877, the Turkish steamer Intibah became the first vessel to be sunk by torpedoes, launched from torpedo boats operating from the tender Velikiy Knyaz Konstantin under the command of Stepan Osipovich Makarov during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78. January 16 is the 16th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1877 (MDCCCLXXVII) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Velikiy Knyaz Konstantin (Russian: Великий князь Константин) was a name of the Russian Navy torpedo boat tender named after the Grand Duke (Velikiy Kniaz) Konstantin of Russia, used in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78. ... Stepan Osipovich Makarov (Russian: Степа́н О́сипович Мака́ров) (January 8, 1848/1849 — March 31, 1904) was a famous Russian vice-admiral, a highly accomplished and decorated commander of the... The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 had its origins in the Russian goal of gaining access to the Mediterranean Sea and dominating Constantinople (Istanbul) and the adjacent Turkish Straits. ...

In another early use of the torpedo, Blanco Encalada was sunk by a torpedo from the gunboat Almirante Lynch, during the Chilean Civil War on April 23, 1891. The Almirante Lynch was a destroyer in service with the Chilean Navy during World War I and World War II. The Lynch was the sister ship to the Almirante Condell in a class of six British built ships. ... The Chilean Civil War of 1891 was an armed conflict between forces supporting Congress and forces supporting the sitting President, José Manuel Balmaceda. ... April 23 is the 113th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (114th in leap years). ... Year 1891 (MDCCCXCI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ...

By this time the torpedo boat had gained recognition for its effectiveness, and the first torpedo boat destroyers (usually called simply destroyers) were built to counter it. Torpedoes were also used to equip gunboats making them torpedo gunboats, of around 1,000 tons displacement. A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to launch torpedoes at larger surface ships. ... USS McFaul (DDG-74) In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet or battle group and defend them against smaller, short-range but powerful attackers (originally torpedo boats, later submarines and aircraft). ... A gunboat is literally a boat carrying one or more guns. ... Torpedo gunboats were a form of gunboat that were equipped with torpedoes, then a relatively new invention. ...

Around 1897, Nikola Tesla patented a remote controlled boat and later demonstrated the feasibility of radio-guided torpedoes to the United States military, but they were not adopted until the 1960s. Nikola Tesla (1856-1943)[1] was a world-renowned Serbian inventor, physicist, mechanical engineer and electrical engineer. ... A television remote control A DVD player remote control A remote control is an electronic device used for the remote operation of a machine. ... A boat is a watercraft designed to float on, and provide transport over, water. ...

Later, torpedoes were given (homing) guidance systems. A guidance system is a device or group of devices used to navigate a ship, aircraft, missile, rocket, satellite, or other craft. ...

In the inter-war years tight budgets caused nearly all navies to skimp on testing their torpedoes. As a result, only the Japanese had fully-tested torpedoes at the start of the Second World War. All classes of ship, including submarines, and aircraft were armed with torpedoes. The Type 93 was a 610 mm (24 inch) diameter torpedo of the Imperial Japanese Navy. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

Naval strategy at the time was to use torpedoes, launched from submarines or warships, to attack enemy warships in a fleet action on the high seas. Targeting enemy merchant shipping was prohibited by rules of war. There was concern torpedoes would be ineffective against warships' heavy armor; an answer to this was to detonate torpedoes underneath a ship, breaking its back. This had been demonstrated by magnetic influence mines in World War I: the shock wave of an explosion under a ship is well propagated by the water and is very destructive. The torpedo is set to run beneath the ship, and the magnetic exploder to activate at the correct time. Germany, Britain, and the U.S. had independently devised ways to do this; German and American torpedoes, however, suffered problems with their depth-keeping mechanisms, coupled with faults in magnetic pistols shared by all designs. The two parts of the laws of war (or Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC)): Law concerning acceptable practices while engaged in war, like the Geneva Conventions, is called jus in bello; while law concerning allowable justifications for armed force is called jus ad bellum. ... “The Great War ” redirects here. ... Magnetic pistol is the term for the means by which the fuse on a torpedo or naval mine detects its target and then detonates. ...

Inadequate testing had failed to reveal the effect of the earth's magnetic field on ships and exploder mechanisms, which resulted in premature detonation. The Kriegsmarine and the Royal Navy promptly identified and eliminated the problems. In the United States Navy (USN) there was an extended wrangle over the issue. The magnetic pistol problems had concealed a deeper design flaw: the mechanical firing pin moved perpendicular to the torpedo's path, and its weight caused it to drag in its cylinder upon impact.^[2]. Cursory trials had allowed bad designs to enter service. Both the Navy and Congress were too busy protecting their own interests to correct the errors; fully-functioning torpedoes only became available to the USN twenty-one months into the Pacific War.^[3] The Kriegsmarine (or War Navy) was the name of the German Navy between 1935 and 1945, during the Nazi regime, superseding the Reichsmarine. ... The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore the Senior Service). ... Look up Congress in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For the Harry Turtledove alternate history series novel, see Pacific War (Harry Turtledove). ...

Propulsion

Compressed air

This first, successful, self-propelled torpedo of 1866 used compressed air as its energy source. The air was stored at pressures of up to 2.55 MPa and fed to a piston engine which turned a single propeller at about 100 rpm. It was able to travel about 180 m (200yd) at an average speed of 6.5 knots (12 km/h). The speed and range of later models was enhanced by increasing the pressure of the stored air. In 1906 Whitehead built torpedoes which were able to travel nearly 1000 m (1100yd) at an average speed of 35kt (64 km/h). Table of Pneumaticks, 1728 Cyclopaedia This article is about the tool. ... The pascal (symbol: Pa) is the SI derived unit of pressure or stress (also: Youngs modulus and tensile strength). ... Components of a typical, four stroke cycle, DOHC piston engine. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, r/min, or min-1) is a unit of frequency, commonly used to measure rotational speed, in particular in the case of rotation around a fixed axis. ... A knot is a unit of speed abbreviated kt or kn. ...

At higher pressures the cooling experienced by the air as it expanded in the engine caused icing problems (see adiabatic cooling). This was remedied by heating the air with seawater before it was fed to the engine. Unexpectedly, this increased engine performance further, because the air expanded even more after heating. In thermodynamics, an adiabatic process is a process in which no heat is transferred to or from working fluid. ...

Heated torpedoes

This led to the idea of injecting a liquid fuel, like kerosene, into the air and igniting it. In this manner the air is heated up more and expands even further, and the burned propellant adds more gas to drive the engine. Construction of such heated torpedoes started around 1904. Kerosene or paraffin oil (British English, not to be confused with the waxy solid also called paraffin wax or just paraffin) is a colorless flammable hydrocarbon liquid. ...

Wet-heater

A further enhancement was the use of water to cool the combustion chamber. This not only solved heating problems so that more fuel could be burnt, but also allowed additional power to be generated by feeding the resulting steam into the engine together with the combustion products. Torpedoes with such a propulsion system became known as wet heaters while heated torpedoes without steam generation were, retrospectively, called dry heaters. Most torpedoes used in World War I and World War II were wet-heaters. A combustion chamber is part of an engine in which fuel is burned. ... A combustion reaction taking place in a igniting match Combustion or burning is a complex sequence of exothermic chemical reactions between a fuel and an oxidant accompanied by the production of heat or both heat and light in the form of either a glow or flames. ... “The Great War ” redirects here. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

Compressed oxygen

The amount of fuel that can be burnt by a torpedo engine is limited by the amount of oxygen it can carry. Since compressed air contains only about 21% of oxygen, engineers in Japan developed the Type 93 torpedo (nicknamed long lance postwar by historian Samuel E. Morison) for destroyers in the 1930s, which used pure oxygen instead of compressed air and had an unmatched performance in World War II. General Name, Symbol, Number oxygen, O, 8 Chemical series nonmetals, chalcogens Group, Period, Block 16, 2, p Appearance colorless (gas) very pale blue (liquid) Standard atomic weight 15. ... Layers of Atmosphere - not to scale (NOAA)[3] Earths atmosphere is a layer of gases surrounding the planet Earth and retained by the Earths gravity. ... The Type 93 was a 610 mm (24 inch) diameter torpedo of the Imperial Japanese Navy. ... Rear Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison, USNR (July 9, 1887 - May 15, 1976) was an American historian, notable for producing both authoritative scholarship and highly readable, an ability recognized with two Pulitzer Prizes. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

Steam

A derivative of the compressed-air torpedo was the steam torpedo. Developed by Vickers Ltd, it mixed alcohol (first ethanol, later methanol) with compressed air in the combustion chamber, producing "steam". This increased speed, but produced a visible wake.^[4] Functional group of an alcohol molecule. ... Grain alcohol redirects here. ... Methanol, also known as methyl alcohol, carbinol, wood alcohol, wood naptha or wood spirits, is a chemical compound with chemical formula CH3OH. It is the simplest alcohol, and is a light, volatile, colourless, flammable, poisonous liquid with a distinctive odor that is somewhat milder and sweeter than ethanol (ethyl alcohol). ... A wake is the region of turbulence immediately to the rear of a solid body caused by the flow of air or water around the body. ...

Wire driven

The Brennan Torpedo had two wires wound around drums inside the torpedo. A shore based steam powered winch pulled the wires which spun the drums and drove the propeller. Such systems had been in use for coastal defence of the British homeland and colonies from 1887 to 1903. Speed was about 25 knots for over 2,400 m. The Brennan Torpedo was the worlds first guided missile. ... Modern self-tailing winch on a sailing boat. ... Coastal defenses are objects and engineering techniques used to defend coasts against erosion and flooding. ...

Flywheel

The Howell torpedo used by the US Navy in the late 1800s featured a heavy flywheel which had to be spun up before launch. It was able to travel about 750 m at an average speed of 30knts. The Howell torpedo had the advantage of not leaving a trail of bubbles behind it, unlike compressed air torpedoes. This gave the target vessel less chance to detect and evade the torpedo, and avoided giving away the attacker's position. The Howell Automobile Torpedo was the first self-propelled (locomotive) torpedo in USN service. ... The United States Navy (USN) is the branch of the United States armed forces responsible for naval operations. ... Spoked flywheel Flywheel from stationary engine. ...

Electric propulsion

Electric propulsion systems also avoided tell-tale bubbles. John Ericsson invented an electrically propelled torpedo in 1873; it was powered via a cable from an external power source, as batteries of the time had insufficient capacity. John Ericsson (1803-1889) This article is about John Ericsson, the Swedish and American inventor. ... Four double-A (AA) rechargeable cells A Duracell AA alkaline cell In science and technology, a galvanic cell is an electrochemical cell that stores chemical energy and makes it available in an electrical form, and a battery is a string of two or more cells in series. ...

Germany introduced the first battery-powered torpedo shortly before World War II, the G7e. It was slower and had shorter range than the conventional G7a, but was wakeless and much cheaper. Its lead-acid rechargeable battery was sensitive to shock, required frequent maintenance before use, and required preheating for best performance. The experimental G7ep, an enhancement of the G7e, used primary cells. The G7e or more appropriately the G7e/T2, G7e/T3, and G7e/T4 Falke torpedos were, with the exception of the T4 model, the standard torpedos for Germany during WWII. All of the G7e models shared standardized dimensions for all German torpedos designed for use by U-Boats during WWII... The G7a or G7a/T1 torpedo was the standard issue torpedo for Germany during the early years of WWII. The torpedo was of standard German specifications for all U-Boat torpedos of the war at 54cm (21in) in diameter, 7. ... Lead-acid batteries, invented in 1859 by French physicist Gaston Planté, are the oldest type of galvanic cell battery. ... It has been suggested that secondary cell be merged into this article or section. ... A primary cell is any kind of electrolytic cell in which the electrochemical reaction of interest is not reversible. ...

Modern electric torpedoes such as the Mark 24 Tigerfish or DM2 series commonly use silver oxide batteries which need no maintenance, allowing torpedoes to be stored for years without losing performance. Tigerfish torpedo The Mk 24 Tigerfish torpedo is a heavy Acoustic homing torpedo used by the Royal Navy for several years. ... A Silver-oxide battery, also known as a silver-zinc battery, is a primary cell (although it may be used as a secondary cell with an open circuit potential of 1. ...

Modern propulsion systems

Modern torpedoes utilize a variety of drive mechanisms that include gas turbines (the British Spearfish torpedo), monopropellants and sulphur hexafluoride gas sprayed over a block of solid lithium. Some torpedoes, such as the Russian VA-111 Shkval or the German Barracuda, use supercavitation to increase their speed to over 200 knots (370 km/h); compare the speed of the Mark 46 torpedo, which does not use supercavitation, of about 28 knots (32 mi/h, 52 km/h). The Spearfish torpedo is the heavy Acoustic homing torpedo used by the submarines of the Royal Navy. ... A (usually liquid) rocket propellant that can be used by itself, without the need for a second component. ... General Name, Symbol, Number lithium, Li, 3 Chemical series alkali metals Group, Period, Block 1, 2, s Appearance silvery white/grey Atomic mass 6. ... Artists impression of a Shkval torpedo. ... Supercavitation is the use of cavitation effects to create a large bubble of gas inside a liquid, allowing an object to travel at great speed through the liquid by being wholly enveloped by the bubble. ... A French Lynx helicopter carrying a mk46 torpedo Designed to attack high-performance submarines, the Mark 46 torpedo is the backbone of the U.S. Navys lightweight ASW torpedo inventory, and is the current NATO standard. ...

Torpedo classes and diameters

Torpedo tube aboard the French submarine Argonaute

Torpedoes are launched several ways: Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2560x1920, 1736 KB) Argonaute Copyright © 2006 David Monniaux File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Torpedo Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2560x1920, 1736 KB) Argonaute Copyright © 2006 David Monniaux File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Torpedo Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera...

• Many torpedo boats such as the U.S. WW2 PT boats launch from a deck-mounted "drop collar".
• From a torpedo tube mounted either in a trainable deck mount (common in destroyers), or fixed above or below the waterline of a surface vessel (as in cruisers, battleships, and armed merchant cruisers), or aboard a submarine.
• From shackles aboard low-flying aircraft or helicopters.
• As the final stage of a compound rocket or ramjet powered munition (sometimes called an assisted torpedo).

Many navies have two weights of torpedoes: A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to launch torpedoes at larger surface ships. ... PT boats in line astern. ... Torpedo tubes of the French SNLE Redoutable A torpedo tube is a device for launching torpedoes in a horizontal direction. ... USS McFaul (DDG-74) In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet or battle group and defend them against smaller, short-range but powerful attackers (originally torpedo boats, later submarines and aircraft). ... USS Port Royal (CG-73), a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser (really an uprated guided missile destroyer), launched in 1992. ... The firepower of a battleship demonstrated by USS Iowa A battleship is a large, heavily-armored warship with a main battery consisting of the largest caliber of guns. ... Auxiliary cruisers were merchant ships taken over for conversion into a vessel armed with cruiser-size guns, and employed either for convoy protection against true cruisers, or for commerce-raiding missions, where its appearance was used to trick merchant ships into approaching. ... Alvin in 1978, a year after first exploring hydrothermal vents. ... A torpedo bomber is a bomber aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with torpedoes, but they could also carry out conventional bombings. ... A helicopter is an aircraft which is lifted and propelled by one or more horizontal rotors consisting of two or more rotor blades. ... A Soyuz rocket, at Baikanur launch pad. ... A ramjet, sometimes referred to as a stovepipe jet, is a type of jet engine. ...

• A light torpedo used primarily as a close attack weapon, particularly by aircraft.
• A heavy torpedo used primarily as a standoff weapon, particularly by submerged submarines.

In the case of deck or tube launched torpedoes, the diameter of the torpedo is obviously a key factor in determining the suitability of a particular torpedo to a tube or launcher, similar to the caliber of the gun. The size is not quite as critical as for a gun barrel, but diameter has become the most common way of classifying torpedoes. The word calibre (British English) or caliber (American English) designates the interior diameter of a tube or the exterior diameter of a wire or rod. ...

Test firing of the Mark 48 torpedo by the Australian Navy on HMAS Torrens

Length, weight, and other factors also contribute to compatibility. In the case of aircraft launched torpedoes, the key factors are weight, provision of suitable attachment points, and launch speed. Assisted torpedoes are the most recent development in torpedo design, and are normally engineered as an integrated package. Versions for aircraft and assisted launching have sometimes been based on deck or tube launched versions, and there has been at least one case of a submarine torpedo tube being designed to fire an aircraft torpedo. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1600x1032, 508 KB) Mark 48 torpedo testing. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1600x1032, 508 KB) Mark 48 torpedo testing. ... Testing of the Mark 48: The Australian Collins class submarine, HMAS Farncomb, fired a Mark 48 torpedo at the 28-year-old destroyer escort Torrens. ... A Mark 48 torpedo fired by the Farncomb destroyed the Torrens in a test The second HMAS Torrens (DE-53) was a River class destroyer escort laid down by the Cockatoo Docks and Engineering Company Propriety Limited at Sydney in New South Wales on 18 August 1965, launched on 28...

As in all munition design, there is a compromise between standardisation, which simplifies manufacture and logistics, and specialisation, which may make the weapon significantly more effective. Small improvements in either logistics or effectiveness can translate into enormous operational advantages. Munition is often defined as a synonyn for ammunition. ... Look up Logistics in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Some common torpedo diameters (using the most common designation, metric or inch, and listed in increasing order of size):

• 12.75 inch (approximately 324 mm) is the most common size for light torpedoes.
• 16 inch (406 mm) was the size of the earliest specialised Soviet ASW torpedoes. 16 inch torpedo tubes were fitted to Soviet Hotel, Echo and early Delta class submarines, often in addition to 21 inch tubes.
• 450 mm (17.7 inch) was the standard size for light torpedoes of the Imperial Japanese Navy. This size is sometimes referred to as 18 inches.
• 21 inch (533 mm) is the most common size for heavy torpedoes, including:
  • Allied torpedoes of the Second World War.
  • Some torpedoes of the Imperial Japanese Navy.
  • Torpedoes of the Kriegsmarine
  • NATO torpedoes.
  • Some Soviet and Russian torpedoes, including the current ASW models.
• 24 inch (610 mm) torpedoes were used by the Imperial Japanese Navy, most famously the deck launched Type 93 torpedo ('Long Lance'), also some Kaiten kamikaze torpedoes.
• 650 mm (approximately 25.6 inches) is the largest torpedo diameter used by the Russian navy, see Type 65 torpedo. Adaptors are used to fire 533 mm (21 inch) munitions from 650 mm tubes.

Even larger sizes of torpedo tube, including 660 mm (26 inches), 30 inch (762 mm) and 36 inch (about 914 mm), have been installed on some nuclear submarines. These tubes are designed to be capable of firing large diameter munitions such as cruise missiles, as well as the standard 21 inch heavy torpedo. See torpedo tube. Anti-submarine warfare is a term referring to warfare directed against submarines. ... Development of the Project 658 Hotel class nuclear powered ballistic missile submarine, designed to carry the D-2 launch system and R-13 missiles, was approved on August 26, 1956. ... Echo II class submarine Echo class is the NATO reporting name assigned to the submarines created by six projects of the Soviet Navy. ... It has been suggested that Delta I class submarine, Delta II class submarine and Delta III class submarine be merged into this article or section. ... The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) (: 大日本帝國海軍 Shinjitai: 大日本帝国海軍   or 日本海軍 Nippon Kaigun), officially Navy of Empire of Greater Japan, also known as the Japanese Navy or Combined Fleet was the Navy of Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japans constitutional renunciation of the use of force... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... The Kriegsmarine (or War Navy) was the name of the German Navy between 1935 and 1945, during the Nazi regime, superseding the Reichsmarine. ... NATO 2002 Summit in Prague. ... Soviet redirects here. ... The Type 93 was a 610 mm (24 inch) diameter torpedo of the Imperial Japanese Navy. ... The Kaiten (Japanese:回天, translated Change the World or Reverse the Destiny) was a torpedo modified as a suicide weapon, and used by the Imperial Japanese Navy in the final stages of the Second World War. ... Type 65 is a torpedo manufactured in Russia. ... A Taurus KEPD 350 cruise missile of the Luftwaffe A cruise missile is a guided missile which uses a lifting wing and most often a jet propulsion system to allow sustained flight. ... Torpedo tubes of the French SNLE Redoutable A torpedo tube is a device for launching torpedoes in a horizontal direction. ...

Torpedoes used by various navies

A French Lynx helicopter carrying a mk46 torpedo

A Malafon torpedo-carrier missile, a weapon of the 1960s

Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... The AgustaWestland Lynx is a helicopter designed by AgustaWestland (formerly Westland Aircraft) and jointly produced with Aérospatiale, first flying on 21 March 1971 as the Westland WG.13. ... A French Lynx helicopter carrying a mk46 torpedo Designed to attack high-performance submarines, the Mark 46 torpedo is the backbone of the U.S. Navys lightweight ASW torpedo inventory, and is the current NATO standard. ... Image File history File links Maille-Braize-14. ... Image File history File links Maille-Braize-14. ...

German Navy

Modern German Navy: German frigate Karlsruhe rescuing shipwrecked people off the coast of Somalia while participating in the international anti-terror operation ENDURING FREEDOM, April 2005 The Laboe Naval Memorial for sailors who lost their lives at sea during the World Wars and while on duty at sea and U 995 Modern Air...

• DM2A4 heavyweight torpedo
• DM2A3 heavyweight torpedo
• MU 90 lightweight impact torpedo
• Mark 46 torpedo
• Barracuda supercavitating torpedo (under development)

The torpedoes used by the WWII Kriegsmarine included: DM2A4 is a new heavyweight torpedo developed by STA Atlas Elektronik, as a further update of DM2 (Deutsches Modell 2) torpedo which was released in 1976. ... The MU90/IMPACT is an advanced lightweight anti-submarine torpedo used by navies of France, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Australia and Poland. ... A French Lynx helicopter carrying a mk46 torpedo Designed to attack high-performance submarines, the Mark 46 torpedo is the backbone of the U.S. Navys lightweight ASW torpedo inventory, and is the current NATO standard. ... The Kriegsmarine (or War Navy) was the name of the German Navy between 1935 and 1945, during the Nazi regime, superseding the Reichsmarine. ...