The first successful torpedo attack in warfare occurred
during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878. On January 26, 1878, off Batum on
the Black Sea, the Russian torpedo boat Constantine fired two torpedoes at a
range of some 80 yards to sink the Ottoman patrol boat Intikbah in Batum
Harbor.
Russia, one of the principal builders of torpedo boats, also
turned to the procurement of destroyers. Between 1899 and 1902, the Russians
contracted for seven classes of destroyers that numbered 44 vessels. Only two
of these, however, were indigenous Russian designs. The majority of Russia’s
first destroyers were built in British, French, and German yards to the designs
of private shipyards in the respective countries. The majority of these craft
were fast but limited in range in the same way as destroyers of other
countries. An ex- ample is Pruitki, known more commonly as Sokol, designed by
the private British firm Yarrow. At the time of its completion in 1895, this
vessel was one of the fastest with a maximum speed of 30.2 knots. This craft
employed weaponry similar to British vessels, but it was also equipped with a
ram in the bow to run down opposing vessels. Russian-built destroyers were
slower, averaging around 26 knots. They were marked by the inclusion of
mine-laying machinery, which was a feature that would become common to many
domestically constructed Russian destroyers in subsequent years. This rep-
resents a belief shared by some other powers in the expansion of roles for
destroyers in war. In Russian naval circles, they could not only be used in the
traditional context of defense against torpedo boats and the newer idea of
launching torpedo attacks; they could also be employed as minelayers.
6. GELENDJIK torpedo boat (1884)
8. No17 torpedo boats (1886 – 1888)
The larger Russian boats are described individually below, but except for the first one they were preceded by a large number of small boats In the Russo-Turkish War of 1877 / 1878 most of the boats used spar or towing torpedoes, and only Tchesma, which had a tube rigged under the keel , and the Sinop, which discharged her torpedo from a raft secured alongside , employed Whiteheads. None of the boats used in this war appears to have been longer than 68ft and most were considerably smaller, but in 1877 the construction of 100 Yarrow-designed boats was begun by the Russian yards in the Baltic. These boats were 75ft oa by 10ft 6in and displaced 24 5t, with a speed of 17kts and engines of 200-220ihp. They could be transferred between the Baltic and Black Sea by rail. Some had a single 15in TT but most were originally armed with spar torpedoes and/or the fired torpedo, a in diameter weapon propelled to about 200ft by a gunpowder launching charge. None was actually built by Yarrow though four sets of machinery were supplied by them, and of the Russian yards the Baltic Works and Baird were the principal builders. All the above 100 boats seem to have been launched in 1877 or 1878 and another 15 boats of different designs but of similar size had been acquired by the end of 1880, mostly from Schichau. Very few small boats were added subsequently, except for ten 90ft, 37t boats from Nixon of New Jersey in 1905. These were powered by two 300hp petrol engines to give 20kts and had a 12in training TT, but were found to be unsuitable for the Russian Navy.
A list of 1896 shows 98 small torpedo boats still in use, of
which 55 apparently had 1-15in TT and the rest spars, and in 1906, discounting
the above petrol-engined boats , these figures had fallen to 74 and 44.
The above small torpedo boats were originally named, but in
about 1887 they were given numbers from 51, actually 46, to 100 for boats with
Whiteheads and 101 upwards for spar torpedo boats. In April 1895 these numbers
were changed to 1 to 100, apparently without relevance to the former number. At
the same time the larger boats except the first, Vsruio, were allocated numbers
from 101 if in the Baltic, and from 251 if in the Black Sea. The Vladivostock
boats retained their names for a time, but were then numbered 201 to 211 while
212-223 were given to the Baltic boats launched in 1901 / 1902. The last of all.
the Lastochka was not numbered.
Note on official classification. First small ships with a mine or torpedo — (pole mines or Whitehead torpedoes) — appeared in the Russian Navy in 1877 during the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878). They were classified “minnyi kater”, “минный катер” (“mine/torpedo launch”). One large seagoing ship, the Vzryv (“Взрыв”, 1877, 160 tons) with torpedo armament was originally called “minnoye sudno”, “минное судно” (“mine/torpedo vessel”). A large series of 133 20-30-ton ships followed in 1878; they were classified “minonoska”, “minonosnaya lodka”, “миноноска” (literally, “mine/torpedo boat”). It usually translates as “torpedo boat, 2nd class”. Then came torpedo ships, which Russia had built or bought since 1880 and classified as “minonosets”, “миноносец” (literally, “mine/torpedo carrier”). This designation includes relatively large ships. It therefore translates into English as either “torpedo boat 1st class” or “destroyer” depending on a displacement of more or less than 200 tons. Starting in 1907 and still used today, all sufficiently large torpedo armed ships are classified as EM (ЭМ), “eskadrennyi minonosets”, “эскадренный миноносец” (literally, “squadron torpedo carrier”), which usually translates as “destroyer”.
Torpedo Boat
The modern torpedo boat was developed in the last quarter of
the nineteenth century as a stealth weapon to deliver the increasingly swift,
accurate, and long-range torpedoes. It was attractive to nations with small
navies as an affordable weapon that would enable them to overcome some of the
advantages of the large naval powers. The Jeune École of France also embraced
it. Ironically, Great Britain, the world’s dominant sea power, developed the
first modern torpedo boat, the Lightning, in 1876. She was originally armed
with small arms and a spar torpedo, which was an explosive charge mounted on
the end of a wooded spar at the bow. In 1879 the Lightning was modified to
carry the compressed-air, self-propelled Whitehead torpedo.
Torpedo boat development may be divided into four phases.
The first extends from the 1870s to World War I. During those years, torpedo
boats advanced in size and speed, increasing from 20 to 160 tons, 70 to 170
feet, and 13 to 30 knots. Armament changed from spar and towed explosive
charges to self-propelled torpedoes. Small torpedo boats with 6-to-10-man crews
came into being to patrol rivers and harbors or be carried on battleships or
cruisers. Oceangoing defensive boats with 20-to-30-man crews patrolled coastal
waters. Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Germany, Japan, and the United States
all built or purchased torpedo boats. Russia, having to defend long coastlines,
built over 115 by 1880. The small vessels could be moved by rail from the
Baltic to the Black Sea as conditions might warrant. France, which embraced the
torpedo boat as an offensive weapon, built 32 coastal and 24 seagoing torpedo
boats by 1901. The numbers were fewer for Italy, Japan, Germany, and the United
States.
As longer-range boats and torpedoes appeared in the early
twentieth century, battleships and cruisers carried for their protection
steel-mesh torpedo nets that could be dropped when anchored at night. Soon the
larger “torpedo boat destroyer” appeared for use in anti-torpedo boat
and antisubmarine warfare.
The second phase of torpedo boat development covered the
years from World War I to the early 1930s, and saw a decline in the number of
boats. In that period, Italy and the Soviet Union maintained the greatest
number of torpedo boats.
Torpedo boats proved unsuitable for the long and distant
antisubmarine patrols of World War I. The torpedo boat destroyer was better
suited for that task. It had increased in size and capability to become,
simply, a “destroyer.” Destroyers were more effective in screening
squadrons of large warships or escorting convoys of merchant ships long
distances through submarine-infested waters.
The destroyer’s focus was antisubmarine warfare. For the
task of harbor protection and coastal patrol, vessels such as the American 110
subchasers and 200 Eagle boats developed. The end of this period saw the
appearance of the aircraft carrier with numerous torpedo planes. Aircraft
delivery of the torpedo was more effective than by torpedo boat.
The third phase, from the mid-1930s through World War II,
marked a return of the torpedo boat. Improved fuels and gasoline engines
increased speeds up to 42 knots. Machine guns augmented their offensive
capabilities. The world economic depression also led governments to look more
favorably at vessels of reduced cost and smaller crews. As Adolf Hitler rearmed
Germany, the German navy developed small, fast S-boats, and Great Britain,
Italy, and Sweden responded in kind. The United States also developed
prototypes, as the prospect of fighting Japan in the islands of the Pacific and
the need to prepare the Philippines to defend its coming independence made the
torpedo boat an increasingly attractive weapon.
World War II torpedo boats of the United States and Great
Britain were 60-80′ in length and armed with up to four machine guns, as many
as eight depth charges, two to four torpedoes, a mortar, and crews of up to 17
men. Germany’s S-boat, known as the E-boat by the Allies, was larger-up to 114′
in length with two torpedo tubes built into its hull, and room for two spare
torpedoes. Italian boats were generally smaller, around 60′ in length, and
carried fewer machine guns. The Japanese, with a far-flung empire to protect,
built gunboats and subchasers of greater range and fewer torpedo boats.
World War II movies in the United States and Britain
rekindled the popular fascination with the torpedo boat that had been evidenced
at the turn of the century. However, U. S. Navy postwar evaluation found that
the boats were useful but not cost-effective. In any case, the navy’s focus was
on vessels more appropriate for the atomic age, such as supercarriers and
submarines.
In phase four, the post-World War II period, the torpedo
boat’s principal function was taken on by helicopters or larger ships using
rocket-assisted launching systems. Torpedo boats became gunboats. They appeared
in the Vietnam War as fast, 80-foot PTF boats (Fast Patrol Boats) with 19-man
crews and armed with machine guns and a mortar. Smaller craft were developed
for river warfare, such as the 50-foot ASPBs (Assault Support Patrol Boats),
which carried six-man crews and were armed with a howitzer and two grenade
launchers.
One hundred years after its first appearance, the torpedo
boat had come full circle and once again was a vessel carrying men firing guns
and capable of hurling explosives through the air, although this time it had no
submerged, self-propelled torpedoes.
Whitehead Torpedo
First successful self-propelled torpedo. Invented by Robert
Whitehead in 1866, the Whitehead torpedo established operating principles and
design standards for underwater missiles and had a lasting influence on warship
design and naval tactics.
The first examples of the torpedo, built between 1866 and
1868 by Whitehead at Fiume, Austria, were powered by a single propeller driven
by a specially designed engine that derived its force from a compressed-air
tank. The torpedo was controlled by long fins fitted with small trim tabs that
were adjusted by hand before launch. A hydrostatic valve provided additional
stability and kept the torpedo on a straight course in the water. This simple
steering mechanism did not regulate the cruising depth of the torpedo, however,
and the device’s accuracy was affected by its proclivity to
“porpoise”(i. e., alternately breaching the water and resubmerging
while traveling along an erratic course).
Whitehead overcame this problem with a pendulum mechanism
that stabilized the running depth of the torpedo, a feature to which he
referred as “The Secret.” In 1869 Whitehead successfully demonstrated
his improved torpedo at Fiume to Austrian naval officers who rewarded his
ingenuity with a purchase contract. After a series of trials in England, the
British licensed the manufacturing rights to the torpedo in 1871. Within a few
years, the Whitehead torpedo had been purchased by many of the world’ s navies.
Whitehead had envisioned his torpedo as a harbor defense
weapon, but the invention evolved into something much more versatile, inspiring
the development of fast-attack torpedo boats, high-speed torpedo destroyers,
and submarines. On 26 January 1878, the Russian torpedo boat Constantine,
working under cover of darkness, fired a Whitehead torpedo to sink the Turkish
steamer Intikbah in Batum harbor. The effectiveness of the device was further
proved on 23 April 1891 during the Chilean civil war when the torpedo gunboat
Almirante Lynch sank the Chilean ironclad Blanco Encalda with a Whitehead
torpedo at a range of 100 yards. Torpedoes made certain established naval
tactics, such as ramming, obsolete, as captains endeavored to keep their ships
out of torpedo range during battles.
The balance of power on the seas shifted in favor of small
and stealthy vessels capable of closing the distance on larger, less
maneuverable ships as the Whitehead torpedo evolved into a more menacing
weapon. Subsequent improvements included the introduction of counter-rotating
propellers, an improved air tank capable of holding a more powerful
compressed-air charge, a more efficient three-cylinder engine, and, in 1895, a
gyroscopic stabilizer fitted with an intermediary servo that could hold the
torpedo on a truer course for longer distances. By 1900 the Whitehead torpedo
had a range of nearly a half mile and could attain a speed of 29 knots. Many of
the innovations that attended the success of Whitehead’s compressed-air torpedo
remained in use until the middle of the twentieth century.
