“The spar-torpedo is the dagger which a determined man plunges into the body of an enemy who does not protect himself with a coat of mail; the Whitehead torpedo is the bullet which, easy to discharge from afar, kills the enemy in its path.”—Lieut. C. Arnault.
Although twenty-five Federal vessels are known to have been sunk and destroyed, and nine others more or less injured by various kinds of torpedoes during the great war of secession, the many objections to the employment of the spar-torpedo were only too evident. The necessarily close proximity of the craft attacking and the ship attacked, resulted in some cases in the destruction of the former as well as the latter, and inventive minds therefore set to work to devise a submarine weapon which could be discharged at the enemy from a distance. The result was the automobile fish torpedo, an instrument of warfare which is to be found in every navy, and the sole armament of the modern submarine boat.
In a history of under-water warfare, a description of the Whitehead torpedo, which is in reality a crewless submarine boat, must find a place, but a word may be said beforehand respecting the difference between the “Mine” and the “Torpedo.”
The mine is a stationary charge of explosive contained in a case moored beneath the surface of the water. The torpedo is a case of explosive, which by some means or other is provided with the power of aggression, either on or below the surface. The mine awaits the enemy, in fine, whilst the torpedo goes to seek him. Into the details of Submarine Mining it is not proposed to enter here.
Torpedoes are divided into two classes—(1) Uncontrollable. (2) Controllable. Class I. comprises Projectile, Rocket, Drifting, and Automobile torpedoes; the last named are now practically the only kind of uncontrollable torpedo employed. In nearly all navies the “Whitehead” is the type adopted; the German uses the “Schwartzkopff,” which differs only from the former in that it is made of phosphor-bronze instead of steel. Controllable torpedoes comprise Spar, Towing, Dirigible, Locomotive and Automobile. Great Britain has adopted the Brennan locomotive torpedo for coast defence only, and she still retains the spar-torpedo, although it is doubtful if it would ever be used in a naval engagement.
The Whitehead Torpedo.
Somewhere about the year 1860 an officer of the Austrian Marine Artillery devised plans for the construction of a surface screw boat or fire-ship, to be propelled either by a steam or hot-air engine, or by clockwork, to be steered from the shore by means of long tiller ropes, and to carry in its fore part a large charge of gun-cotton, the explosion of which was effected by means of a pistol in communication with a movable blade at the bow, and with one vertical and two horizontal spars, so that if any of these arrangements came into contact with the object aimed at the pistol was fired and the charge exploded.[[8]] On the death of this officer, which took place before he had time to put his ideas into practice, the pen drawings came into the possession of Captain Lupuis, an officer of the Austrian navy. During the sixties Captain Lupuis carried out a series of experiments with a view of discovering a means of propelling a floating torpedo along the surface of the water and directing it by means of ropes and guiding lines. The forward end of the torpedo was to be charged with explosive, and on coming in contact with a vessel it would be exploded by the automatic firing of a pistol. The motive power was to be either steam or clockwork. The Austrian Government, before whom he laid his plans, told him that they could not consider them until he discovered some reliable form of motor and a better method of steering. In the year 1864 Captain Lupuis sought the advice and assistance of a Mr. Whitehead, at the time manager to an engine manufacturing company at Fiume, and the result was that the latter invented the famous locomotive torpedo that bears his name.
[8]. A picture of this—the original idea for a locomotive torpedo—appears in the twenty-ninth volume of the Journal of the Royal United Service Institution.
The first Whitehead fish torpedo was produced in 1866, but it was a very much less terrible engine of destruction than it is to-day. It was built of steel, was 14 inches in diameter, 16 inches at the fins, and weighed 300 lbs. Its explosive charge was 18 lbs. of dynamite. The motive power was compressed air charged to a pressure of about 700 lbs. to the square inch, and the air chamber was made of ordinary boiler plates. The speed was only six knots for a short distance. Mr. Whitehead’s design was a great improvement on Captain Lupuis’s. It ran beneath the waves, it was independent of outside aid when once started, and its motive power was superior both to steam and clockwork. Still it was by no means a perfectly reliable weapon, and its great fault was that it failed to keep a uniform depth in the water.
By 1868 Mr. Whitehead had invented the “Balance” Chamber, which has since proved a very effective means of controlling the depth of the torpedo. In 1868 a committee of Austrian naval officers experimented with two Whiteheads whose dimensions were as follows:—