A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. A ship /ʃɪp/ is a large vessel that floats on water Ships are generally distinguished from Boats based on size The modern torpedo (historically called an automotive automobile locomotive or fish torpedo is a self-propelled explosive Projectile weapon launched above or below The first designs rammed enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes, and later designs launched self-propelled Whitehead torpedoes. 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 modern torpedo (historically called an automotive automobile locomotive or fish torpedo is a self-propelled explosive Projectile weapon launched above or below They were created to counter battleships and other large, slow and heavily armed ships by speed and agility. A battleship is a large heavily armored Warship with a main battery consisting of the largest Calibre of Guns Battleships were

The torpedo as we know it was invented in 1860 by captain Giovanni Luppis (also known as Ivan Blaz Lupis) in the city of Rijeka, Croatia, then part of the former Austria-Hungary. Giovanni Biagio Luppis von Rammer ( Croatian Ivan Lupis) ( August 27, 1813 &ndash January 11, 1875) was an officer of the Rijeka (other Croatian dialects Rika and Reka, Reka Italian and Hungarian: Fiume, Sankt Veit am Pflaumb is Croatia (Hrvatska ˈxȓvatska officially the Republic of Croatia ( Republika Hrvatska) is a southern Central European country at the crossroads between It was first shown to the public in 1860; in 1866 he demonstrated his work together with Robert Whitehead. Robert Whitehead ( 3 January 1823 &ndash 14 November 1905) was an English engineer The first torpedo factory was built in Rijeka.

Contents 1 American Civil War 2 The era of self-propelled torpedoes 2.1 Late 19th century 2.2 Introduction of torpedo boat destroyers 2.3 Small torpedo craft 2.4 Fast attack craft today 3 See also 4 Selected torpedo boat histories 5 External references 6 Bibliography

American Civil War

The American Civil War saw a number of innovations in naval warfare, including the first torpedo boats, which carried spar torpedoes. Causes of the war See also Origins of the American Civil War, Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War The coexistence of a slave-owning South 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. In 1861 President Lincoln instituted a naval blockade of Southern ports, which crippled the South's efforts to obtain war materials from abroad. Abraham Lincoln (February 12 1809 &ndash April 15 1865 the sixteenth President of the United States, successfully led his country through its greatest internal The Union Blockade refers to the naval actions between 1861 and 1865 during the American Civil War, in which the Union Navy maintained a massive effort on the The South also lacked the means to construct a naval fleet capable of taking on the Union Navy. The Union Navy is the term commonly used to describe the United States Navy and its acts during the American Civil War. One strategy to counter the blockade saw the development of torpedo boats, small fast boats designed to attack the larger capital ships of the blockading fleet.

The David class of torpedo boats were steam powered with a partially enclosed hull. They were not true submarines but were semi-submersible; when ballasted, only the smokestack and few inches of the hull were above the water line. On a dark night, and burning smokeless anthracite coal, the torpedo boats were virtually invisible. Anthracite ( Greek Ανθρακίτης literally "a type of coal" from Anthrax, coal is a hard compact variety of mineral Coal that has a high The Davids were named after the story of David and Goliath. David, Arabic: داوود or داود dawud, "beloved" was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible Goliath ( גָּלְיָת, Standard Hebrew Golyat, Tiberian Hebrew Golyāṯ, Arabic: جالوت Jalut (Muslim The Midge and St. Patrick were David-class torpedo boats.

The CSS Squib and CSS Scorpion represented another class of torpedo boats that were also low built but had open decks and lacked the ballasting tanks found on the Davids.

The Confederate torpedo boats were armed with spar torpedoes. 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. This was a charge of powder in a waterproof case, mounted to the bow of the torpedo boat below the water line on a long spar. The torpedo boat attacked by ramming her intended target, which stuck the torpedo to the target ship by means of a barb on the front of the torpedo. The torpedo boat would back away to a safe distance and detonate the torpedo, usually by means of a long cord attached to a trigger.

In general, the Confederate torpedo boats were not very successful. Their low sides made them susceptible to swamping in high seas, and even to having their boiler fires extinguished by spray from their own torpedo explosions. Torpedo misfires (too early) and duds were common.

In 1864 Union Naval Lieutenant Cushing fitted a steam launch with a spar torpedo to attack the Confederate ironclad CSS Albermarle. Lieutenant (abbreviated Lt or Lieut) is a Military, Naval, Paramilitary, Fire service, Emergency medical services William Barker Cushing ( 4 November 1842 &ndash 17 December 1874) was an officer in the United States Navy, best known for sinking An ironclad was a steam-propelled Warship of the later 19th century protected by Iron or Steel armor plates See ''USS ''Albemarle and ''HMS ''Albemarle for other ships of the same name Also this year the Union launched the USS Spuyten Duyvil, a purpose-built craft with a number of technical innovations including variable ballast for attack operations and an extensible and reloadable torpedo placement spar. History Stromboli was designed by the Chief Engineer of the United States Navy Captain William W

The era of self-propelled torpedoes

The first European prototypes of a self-propelled torpedo were created by Giovanni Luppis an Austrian naval officer from Fiume (today Rijeka, Croatia), a port city of the Austrian Empire. In 1860, he 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.

Late 19th century

During the late 1800s, the line of battle ship developed into a large steam powered ship with heavy gun armament and heavy armour. A battleship is a large heavily armored Warship with a main battery consisting of the largest Calibre of Guns Battleships were Ultimately this line of development lead to the dreadnought all-big-gun battleship. Genesis Battleships of the era typically carried four large guns mounted fore and aft in twin turrets with a number of smaller-calibre guns ranged along the sides of the

But at the same time, the new weight of armour slowed them, and the huge guns needed to penetrate that armour fired at very slow rates. This allowed for the possibility of a small and fast ship that could attack the battleships, at a much lower cost. The introduction of the torpedo provided a weapon that could cripple, or sink, any battleship. The modern torpedo (historically called an automotive automobile locomotive or fish torpedo is a self-propelled explosive Projectile weapon launched above or below

The first boat designed to fire the self-propelled Whitehead torpedo was HMS Lightning, completed in 1877. The modern torpedo (historically called an automotive automobile locomotive or fish torpedo is a self-propelled explosive Projectile weapon launched above or below Sources Chesneau Roger and Eugène Kolesnik Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905. The French navy followed suit in 1878 with Torpeilleur No 1, launched in 1878 though she had been ordered in 1875. The Royal Norwegian Navy's HNoMS Rap—the name meaning 'fast'— was ordered from Thornycroft, England in 1873, but was not equipped with self-propelled torpedoes until 1879. The Royal Norwegian Navy (often abbreviated as RNoN) is the branch of the Norwegian Defence Force responsible for naval operations John I Thornycroft & Company Limited, usually known simply as Thornycroft was a British Shipbuilding firm started by John Isaac Thornycroft

The first recorded launch of torpedoes from a torpedo boat (which itself was launched from a tender) in an actual battle was by Russian admiral Stepan Makarov on January 16, 1877, who used self-propelled Whitehead's torpedoes against a Turkish armed ship Intibah during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78. History Construction Drazki was one of a series of six torpedo boats built for Bulgaria by the French Schneider et Cie works in Chalon-sur-Saône A ship's tender, usually referred to as a tender, is a Boat, or a larger ship used to service a Ship, generally by transporting people and/or supplies The Russian Empire ( Pre-reform Russian: Pоссійская Имперія Modern Russian: Российская Империя translit: Rossiyskaya Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks of the highest Naval officers Stepan Osipovich Makarov (Степа́н О́сипович Мака́ров &mdash) was a famous Russian Vice-admiral, a highly accomplished and decorated commander Events 27 BC - The title Augustus is bestowed upon Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian by the Roman Senate. Year 1877 ( MDCCCLXXVII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Robert Whitehead ( 3 January 1823 &ndash 14 November 1905) was an English engineer The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 had its origins in a rise in nationalism in the Balkans as well as in the Russian goal of recovering territorial losses it had suffered

In the late 19th century, many navies started to build torpedo boats 30 to 50 m in length, armed with up to three torpedo launchers and small guns. They were powered by steam engines and had a maximum speed of 20 to 30 knots (37 to 56 km/h). A steam engine is a Heat engine that performs Mechanical work using Steam as its Working fluid. They were relatively inexpensive and could be purchased in quantity, allowing mass attacks on fleets of larger ships. The loss of even a squadron of torpedo boats to enemy fire would be more than outweighed by the sinking of a capital ship.

Torpedo boats sank the British battleship HMS Goliath in 1915, the Austrian-Hungarian Wien in 1917 and Szent Istvan in 1918. Technical Characteristics HMS Goliath was laid down at Chatham Dockyard on 4 January 1897 and was launched on 23 March 1898 Building Szent István was laid down on January 29, 1912 at Ganz & Company's Danubius yard at Fiume, (the only large Hungarian shipyard

Introduction of torpedo boat destroyers

The introduction of the torpedo boat resulted in a flurry of activity in navies around the world, as smaller, quicker-firing guns were added to existing ships to ward off the new threat. Eventually an entirely new class of ships, the torpedo boat destroyer, was invented to counter them. The world's first torpedo boat destroyer, the Destructor, was invented by Capitan de Navio Fernando Villaamil. These ships, which, after the turn of the century, became known simply as destroyers, were just enlarged torpedo boats, with speed equal to the torpedo boats, but including heavier guns that could attack them before they were able to close on the main fleet. In naval terminology a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance Warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, Convoy

Destroyers became so much more useful, having better seaworthiness and greater capabilities than torpedo boats, that they eventually replaced most torpedo boats. However, the London Naval Treaty after World War I limited tonnage of warships, but placed no limits on ships of under 600 tons. The London Naval Treaty was an agreement between the United Kingdom, the Empire of Japan, France, Italy and the United States, signed The French, Italian, Japanese and German Navies developed torpedo boats around that displacement, 70 to 100 m long, armed with 2 or 3 guns of around 100 mm (4 in) and torpedo launchers. The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale ( National Navy) and often called La Royale ( The Royal Navy) is the maritime arm The Regia Marina ( Italian Royal Navy) dates from the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 after Italian unification. For Combined Fleet, please see that article For Carrier Striking Task Force, please see that article The Kriegsmarine (English "War navy" was the name of the German Navy between 1935 and 1945 during the Nazi regime superseding the For example the Royal Norwegian Navy Sleipner class destroyers were in fact of a torpedo boat size, while the Italian Spica class torpedo boat were in fact Destroyer escort sized. The Royal Norwegian Navy (often abbreviated as RNoN) is the branch of the Norwegian Defence Force responsible for naval operations Armament The armament within the class varied slightly Æger had the armament listed in the infobox to the right Ships A Destroyer Escort (DE is the classification for a small relatively slow Warship (when compared to first-rate Naval fleet vessels designed to be used to escort After World War II they were eventually subsumed into the revived Corvette classification. A corvette is a small maneuverable lightly armed Warship, originally smaller than a Frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft, although many

The Kriegsmarine torpedo boats were classified Torpedoboot with "T"-prefixed hull numbers. The Kriegsmarine (English "War navy" was the name of the German Navy between 1935 and 1945 during the Nazi regime superseding the The classes designed in the mid-1930s, such as the Torpedo boat type 35, had few guns, relying almost entirely upon their torpedoes. The Type 35 and Type 37 Torpedo boats were small Destroyers (German Flottentorpedoboot "Fleet Torpedo Boat" built for the Kriegsmarine This was found to be inadequate in combat, and the result was a "fleet torpedo boat" class (Flottentorpedoboot), which were significantly larger, up to 1,700 tons, being in fact small destroyers. The ships The ships were unnamed but numbered T22 to T36. See also German torpedoboats of World War II This class of German boats could be highly effective, as in the action in which the British cruiser HMS Charybdis was sunk off Brittany by a torpedo salvo launched by the Elbing class torpedo boats T23 and T27. History Charybdis' service was entirely during World War II when she gained the following Battle Honours Malta Convoys 1942 North The ships The ships were unnamed but numbered T22 to T36. See also German torpedoboats of World War II

Small torpedo craft

Before World War I steam torpedo boats which were larger and more heavily armed than hitherto were being used. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All The new internal combustion engine generated much more power for a given weight and size than steam engines, and allowed the development of a new class of small and fast boats. The internal combustion engine is an engine in which the Combustion of Fuel and an Oxidizer (typically air occurs in a confined space called a The powerful engines could make use of planing hull designs capable of much higher speed under appropriate sea conditions than displacement hulls. planing Boat 's hull skims across the surface of the Water rather than pushing through the water in the way a traditional Displacement hull

The result was a small torpedo boat 50 to 100 feet (15 to 30 m) in length with maximum speed 30 to 50 knots (56 to 93 km/h), carrying two to four torpedoes fired from simple fixed launchers and several machine guns. For other uses of the phrase see Machine Gun (disambiguation. Such torpedo boats remained useful through World War II. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including The Royal Navy (RN) Motor Torpedo Boats (MTBs), Kriegsmarine 'S-Boote' (Schnellboot or "fast-boat": British termed them E-boats), (Italian) M.A.S. The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore known as the Senior Service) Motor Torpedo Boat (MTB was the name given to fast Torpedo boats by the Royal Navy, the Royal Norwegian Navy, the Royal Canadian Navy and The Kriegsmarine (English "War navy" was the name of the German Navy between 1935 and 1945 during the Nazi regime superseding the History After the Treaty of Versailles most of Germany's military production was severely curtailed Motoscafo Armato Silurante ( Italian: "Torpedo Armed Motorboat" commonly abbreviated as MAS) was a class of fast torpedo armed vessel used by and M. S. and U.S. PT boats (standing for Patrol Torpedo) were all of this type. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the PT Boats were a variety of motor Torpedo boat ( Hull classification symbol "PT" for "Patrol Torpedo" a small fast vessel used by the

A classic fast torpedo boat action was the Channel Dash in February 1942 when German E-boats and destroyers defended the flotilla of Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Prinz Eugen and several smaller ships against RN MTBs. For the German armoured cruiser commissioned in 1907 see SMS Scharnhorst The sisters - Scharnhorst and Gneisenau The Construction She was laid down in February 1934 at Deutsche Werke Kiel. Early war The Prinz Eugen suffered repeated damage before deployment

By World War II torpedo boats were seriously hampered by higher fleet speeds; although they still had a speed advantage, they could only catch the larger ships by running at very high speeds over very short distances, as demonstrated in the Channel Dash. An even greater threat was the widespread arrival of patrol aircraft, which could hunt down torpedo boats long before they could engage their targets. A Maritime patrol aircraft, also simply patrol aircraft, or by the older term patrol bomber, is a Fixed-wing aircraft designed to operate for long

During World War II United States naval forces employed fast wooden PT boats in the South Pacific in a number of roles in addition to the originally envisioned one of torpedo attack. PT Boats were a variety of motor Torpedo boat ( Hull classification symbol "PT" for "Patrol Torpedo" a small fast vessel used by the PT boats performed reconnaissance, ferry, courier, search & rescue as well as attack and smoke screening duties. They took part in fleet actions and they worked in smaller groups and singly to harry enemy supply lines. Late in the Pacific War when large targets became scarce, many PT boats replaced two or all four of their torpedo tubes with additional guns for engaging enemy coastal supply boats and barges, isolating enemy-held islands from supply, reinforcement or evacuation. The Pacific War was the part of World War II —and preceding conflicts—that took place in the Pacific Ocean, its islands and in East Asia, between

The most significant military ship sunk by a torpedo boat during WWII was the cruiser HMS Manchester which was sunk by two Italian torpedo boat (M. Early war service Manchester was serving in the East Indies with the 4th Cruiser Squadron at the outbreak of war but was ordered home and arrived back Britain S. 16 e M. S. 21) in 1942.

Fast attack craft today

Boats similar to torpedo boats are still in use, but are armed with long-range anti-shipping missiles that can be used at ranges between 30 and 70 km. Anti-ship missiles are a Missile designed for use against Ships Most anti-ship missiles are of the Sea-skimming type and use a combination of This reduces the need for high speed chases and gives them much more room to operate in while approaching their targets.

Aircraft are a major threat, making the use of boats against any fleet with air cover very risky. The low height of the radar mast makes it difficult to acquire and lock onto a target while maintaining a safe distance. As a result fast attack craft are being replaced for use in naval combat by larger corvettes, which are able to carry radar-guided anti-aircraft missiles for self-defense, and helicopters for over-the-horizon targeting. A corvette is a small maneuverable lightly armed Warship, originally smaller than a Frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft, although many

Although torpedo boats have disappeared from the majority of the world's navies, they remained in use until relatively recently in a few specialised areas, most notably in the Baltic. The close confines of the Baltic and ground clutter effectively negated the range benefits of early ASMs. Anti-ship missiles are a Missile designed for use against Ships Most anti-ship missiles are of the Sea-skimming type and use a combination of Operating close to shore in conjunction with ground based air cover and radars, and in the case of the Norwegian navy hidden bases cut into Fjord sides, torpedo boats remained a cheap and viable deterrent to amphibious attack. A fjord or fiord (fjɔːd|fiːɔːd or fiːɔːd is a long narrow Inlet with steep sides created in a valley carved by glacial activity. Indeed this is still the operational model followed by the Chinese Navy with its Type 025 class torpedo boat for the protection of its coastal and estuarial waters. The People's Liberation Army Navy ( PLAN) ( Simplified Chinese: 中国人民解放军海军 Traditional Chinese: 中國人民解放軍海軍 Pinyin Operational doctrine In an era of the increasingly effective countermeasures against Anti-ship missiles the countermeasures against Torpedoes are relatively Brown-water navy is a term that originated in the United States Navy, referring to the small Gunboats and Patrol boats used in rivers

They are still used by many navies and coast guards to police their territorial waters against smugglers, particularly those smuggling narcotics and weapons to insurgents. Heavily armed fast boats, often with the assistance of maritime patrol aircraft, are needed for the interdiction and boarding of potentially armed hostile fast boats, often indistinguishable at a distance from legitimate coastal craft.

See also

• PT boats United States torpedo boats
• Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109
• Motor Torpedo Boat British torpedo boats
• Fairmile D motor torpedo boat British"Dog Boats"
• E-boat German Schnellboote
• German torpedoboats of World War II
• MAS (ships) Italian torpedo boats
• Drazki torpedo boat Bulgarian torpedo boat
• Torpedo ram
• Fast Attack Craft
• Offshore Patrol
• Destroyer
• Missile boat
• Submarine

Selected torpedo boat histories

• USS Hoyt (1863)
• USS Belle (1864)

External references

• Kriegsmarine torpedo boats
• Photos of the Elco PT Boat PT 617 in Fall River, MA
• Photos of the Higgins PT Boat PT 796 in Fall River, MA
• Photos of life on board a PT Boat in the Pacific in WWII by PT Boat Veteran Milt Donadt of PT-235

Bibliography

• R. PT Boats were a variety of motor Torpedo boat ( Hull classification symbol "PT" for "Patrol Torpedo" a small fast vessel used by the Specifications PT-109 belonged to the PT 103 class hundreds of which were completed between 1942 and 1945 by Elco. Motor Torpedo Boat (MTB was the name given to fast Torpedo boats by the Royal Navy, the Royal Norwegian Navy, the Royal Canadian Navy and Notes and references Lambert John Fairmile D Motor Torpedo Boat History After the Treaty of Versailles most of Germany's military production was severely curtailed German torpedoboats armed principally if not exclusively with torpedoes varied widely in size however they should not be confused with destroyers nor torpedo-armed motor torpedo boats Motoscafo Armato Silurante ( Italian: "Torpedo Armed Motorboat" commonly abbreviated as MAS) was a class of fast torpedo armed vessel used by History Construction Drazki was one of a series of six torpedo boats built for Bulgaria by the French Schneider et Cie works in Chalon-sur-Saône A torpedo ram is a type of Torpedo boat combining a ram with Torpedo tubes A Fast Attack Craft (FAC (Schnellboot is a small (100 to 400 Tonnes, fast (up to ca The Offshore Patrol ( Mosquito Fleet) was a rudimentary Navy, intended for inshore defenses only called for by the Philippine National Assembly in its In naval terminology a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance Warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, Convoy This is for the type of warship For other uses of Missile Boat, see Missile Boat (disambiguation A Missile Boat is a small craft armed A submarine is a Watercraft that can operate independently below water as distinct from a Submersible that has only limited underwater capability Fitting out as a dreaded torpedo boat Hoyt and steam tugs ''Belle'' and ''Martin'', fitted as Torpedo boats were dispatched by Rear Built in Philadelphia in 1864 Belle -- a screw tug completed at Philadelphia Pennsylvania, early in 1864 -- operated briefly at Boston Massachusetts Thomas Campbell, "Hunters of the Night: Confederate Torpedo Boats in the War Between the States" Burd Street Press, 2001.
• Anthony Preston, "Destroyers", Bison Books (London) 1977. ISBN 0-600-32955-0.
• "Spanish American War. " The Spanish American War Centennial Website. 2007. USS OLYMPIA. 4 Nov. -Dec. 2007 <http://www.spanamwar.com/index.htm>.

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