| John the Greater | 10 Jul 2015 10:34 a.m. PST |
I am writing a paper on James Tomb and I was wondering what resources might be available out there regarding torpedoes and torpedo technology of the 1860's. I have a copy of Engineer in Gray, but I am sure there must be more out there. All help gratefully accepted. |
 ColCampbell  | 10 Jul 2015 10:57 a.m. PST |
Since you are so close, maybe you should bop over to the National Archives and see what they have. Jim |
| ChrisBBB | 10 Jul 2015 11:02 a.m. PST |
A couple of decades later than you want, but maybe a useful anecdote for you anyway, and still one of my favourite military trivia quiz questions:
- what nationality was the first armoured warship to be sunk by a powered torpedo?
- And for a bonus point, what nationality was the vessel that sank her? (If this isn't helpful, please excuse the digression.) Chris
link
bloodybigbattles.blogspot.co.uk Bloody Big BATTLES! |
| TKindred | 10 Jul 2015 11:05 a.m. PST |
Are you using the term torpedo in the 1860's definition, as in land mine or sea mine? |
GildasFacit  | 10 Jul 2015 11:33 a.m. PST |
No practical automotive torpedo until 1866 – though those were mostly experimental. Production got more effective after 1868 and they were available to any navy from that point onwards. Spar torpedoes date back to late 17th C at least – basically an explosive charge on the end of a long stick carried in a small boat. Usually detonated against the underwater hull. Contact detonators were certainly used in the ACW and seem to date back to at least the Crimean war, possibly earlier. Mines were, as has already been noted, called torpedoes at the time of the ACW and could be detonated by electricity from onshore or even by contact (most attempts at this were not that successful). |
 War Artisan | 10 Jul 2015 11:37 a.m. PST |
I found Milton Perry's "Infernal Machines" to be both entertaining and informative: link |
| David Manley | 10 Jul 2015 11:44 a.m. PST |
ChrisBBB Chilean, and
Chilean Blanco Encalada, sunk during the Chilean Civil War Another honourable torpedo mention in the Pacific would be the Lay torpedo, the world's first wire guided torpedo. Used in an attack on shipping by the Peruvean ironclad Huascar at Antofagasta, the weapon turned around and headed back towards the Huascar and was only diverted by a sailor who dived in to push it out of the way. Almirante Grau was so disgusted with the performance of his "wonder weapon" that he had them taken ashore and buried in the cemetary at Iquique! |
| David Manley | 10 Jul 2015 12:01 p.m. PST |
As far as references are concerned, try "Nineteenth Century Torpedoes and Their Inventors" by Edwin Gray |
| John the Greater | 10 Jul 2015 1:00 p.m. PST |
Are you using the term torpedo in the 1860's definition, as in land mine or sea mine? Yes, exactly. In this case sea mines. Tomb was a Confederate naval officer. |
| ChrisBBB | 10 Jul 2015 3:34 p.m. PST |
Well done David! I knew TMP wouldn't let me down. Award yourself a notional pastel de choclo. Thanks for the Huascar story too! Chris |
| TKindred | 10 Jul 2015 5:18 p.m. PST |
John, Have you seen this?
link
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| John the Greater | 11 Jul 2015 12:45 p.m. PST |
Thank you all for the pointers. It looks like Amazon is about to get a few more of my hard-won dollars! |
| tsofian | 12 Jul 2015 3:19 p.m. PST |
I found Gray's book to be very much biased for Whitehead devices and against all others. His discussion of the Brennan for example is quite dismissive. It is one of the few books to cover the topic though |
paints brigs for the British fleet.
