The earliest method of discharging Whitehead torpedoes from ships was by sliding them off a gun port ; this naturally caused inaccuracy of direction. Later the tor pedo was put in a skeleton frame opposite an aperture specially cut in the vessel's side and was pushed out by a ram pressing on its tail. Then the air gun was introduced and later the powder and cordite guns. In these the torpedo fits closely in a tube whose rear end can be closed by a gas-tight door. When it is desired to fire the torpedo, air or the gas from the powder or cordite charge is admitted to the rear end of the tube and blows the torpedo out. Above water tubes of these types are fitted in all torpedo-craft and many cruisers. The danger of the torpedo's head being de tonated, or air vessel burst, by hostile shell fire is accepted for these vessels. To avoid this danger systems of under water dis charge were devised. Right ahead or right astern fire offered little difficulty and was employed from the earliest days of torpedo development. The torpedo tube is secured to the stem or stern structure in which an orifice is formed. This orifice can be closed by a water-tight door and then the rear door can be opened and the torpedo placed in the tube. The rear door is then closed and the outer door opened. On firing, air pressure is admitted and blows the torpedo and water together out of the tube. Tubes in submarines are of this type. Without angled gyroscopes right ahead or right astern fire was of very limited value in large ships and consequently broadside discharge was required.
Owing to the comparatively slow speed of the torpedo it must be aimed at a point ahead of the ship attacked which will be reached by ship and torpedo after they have travelled a certain distance. In order to obtain a hit the speed and course of the attacked vessel must, therefore, be estimated correctly, also the speed of the torpedo must be regular and accurate within narrow limits. Owing to the difficulty of exact estimation it is usually considered that torpedo fire at a single ship free to alter course is only justified at short ranges and that long range attacks should be confined to cases where a group of ships forms the target. Prior to the World War of 1914-18 the occasions of torpedo attacks were few. On April 23, 1891 at dawn the Chilean insurgent battle ship "Blanco Encalada," 3,500 tons, was attacked while at anchor and was sunk by one torpedo fired from a Government torpedo gun boat. Again on April 5, 1894 the insurgent Brazilian battle
ship "Aquidaban" was sunk by one torpedo from a torpedo ves sel. In the Chino-Japanese war of 1895 Japanese torpedo boats twice attacked the Chinese ships lying in Wei-Hai-Wei harbour and sank four of them. In the Russo-Japanese war, the initial suc cess on February 8, 1904 was scored by Japan with a torpedo attack on the Russian ships at Port Arthur. Three ships were severely damaged although all were eventually repaired. After the battle of Tsushima, Japanese torpedo craft gave the coup-de grace to several partially disabled ships.
The advent of the submarine gave a new impetus to torpedo warfare as the submarine was the ideal carrier of this weapon owing to its ability to approach unseen within close range of its intended victim. If the victim is a slow ship the submarine has little difficulty in attaining the desired position but with fast mov ing vessels this becomes difficult and it is only when the ship is steaming more or less towards the submarine's initial position that the latter has much chance of success. The normal speed of the tramp cargo steamer rendered her peculiarly liable to attack in the World War of 1914-18, and of British merchant vessels some 1,381 were sunk by this weapon alone. The best defence against torpedo attack by submarine is high speed and a zig-zag course. (See also SUBMARINE CAMPAIGN.) At the battle of Jutland (q.v.) May 31, 1916, concentrated at tacks by groups of torpedo craft were delivered by both British and German fleets but comparatively few hits were obtained. During the night following the battle the British Twelfth Flo tilla, commanded by Captain A. J. B. Stirling, made a deliberate attack on the German Second Squadron and sank the pre-Dread nought battleship "Pommern." The British Fourth Flotilla fell in with German cruisers; the "Rostock" was torpedoed and in the confusion of the action the "Elbing" collided with a battleship.
Both "Rostock" and "Elbing" were later abandoned and sunk. A successful attack with torpedoes was carried out by British coastal motor boats upon the Bolshevist ships lying at Kronstadt in September 1919, four ships being hit. (A. H. W.)