Torpedo: Facts, List Of Torpedoes, and Resources

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What is a Torpedo?

The most common image that comes to mind when we think of a torpedo is a long metal tube-shaped container with tail-like fins to guide it through the water. Torpedoes have gone through a great deal of improvement in design and propulsion systems since they were first invented. The term “torpedo” has been around about 200 years with the first torpedoes appearing around the year 1800. The term “torpedo” originally included objects of war that we would today refer to as mines. The first self-propelled torpedo was designed in the 1860s by a man from Scotland named Robert Whitehead. A torpedo is a long metal cylinder with an explosive warhead, propelled through the water by an internal combustion engine or batteries. The word itself came from the name of a species of electric ray fish, taken because they are stiff looking and naturally produce an electric charge that they use to stun their prey.

What are the 3 Basic Types of Modern Torpedoes?

Straight running: which is a torpedo that is launched and continues in a straight path.

Autonomous homers: a torpedo with a homing system that guides it to its target.

Wire guided: are guided by wires from a station on a shoreline or from a boat.

There were problems with early torpedoes being reliable when it came to destroying their intended target, as they had yet to be perfected. Early designers also did not take into account the effects of the magnetic field of the earth, so many torpedoes used at that time detonated before reaching their target.

How do Torpedoes Work?

Since a torpedo is designed to run under the water, it must contain a propulsion system that either includes its own way to burn the fuel, which requires air to do so, or be propelled by a means that does not require air for combustion at all. The first torpedoes of the mid 1800s ran on compressed air. Air was compressed within a chamber inside the torpedo’s propulsion system to a very high pressure level which ran a piston type engine. This piston was then connected to a propeller which rotated at a high speed that created thrust to propel the torpedo through the water. When compressed air is taken to a higher temperature it has even more energy potential, when it is cold it has less. Inventors then came up with ways to heat the air to increase the torpedo’s speed and distance, thereby increasing its range, giving it the ability to be launched from a safer distance and reach targets that were further away. Kerosene was then added to the compressed air to achieve the higher temperature.

The next advancement in propulsion was to use pure compressed oxygen. Compressed air contains about 21% oxygen, 100% compressed oxygen is a much more powerful fuel. While very fast, the drawback of these torpedoes was that the ship that was carrying them was at a greater risk if it was attacked as these more powerful torpedoes could detonate while on board. Next were wire driven, shore based winches connected to wires which were wrapped around drums inside the torpedo housing, which when spun provided the power for propulsion. Another type of propulsion was the flywheels, an internal flywheel was wound up before the torpedo was placed in the water and lastly, battery powered torpedoes. The speed of a torpedo can be further increased when the phenomenon of supercavitation occurs. This is when a large bubble of gas occurs inside a liquid. Specifically designed propellers are employed on torpedoes to achieve these conditions.

The torpedo of today uses either a gas turbine engine, monopropellants which are stable chemical combinations that can be stored safely that react under certain controlled conditions, or the chemical sulfur hexafluoride in a gas form, which when sprayed over a block of lithium causes combustion which drives the torpedo.

List of Torpedoes

18 inch Mark VII
18 inch Mark V
18 inch Mark VI
18 inch Mark VII & VII*
18 inch Mark VIII
18 inch Mark XI
18 inch Mark XII
18 inch Mark XIV
18 inch Mark XV
Mark XVII
18 inch Mark 30
21 inch Mark I
21 inch Mark II
21 inch Mark IV
21 inch Mark V
21 inch Mark VII
21 inch Mark VIII
21 inch Mark X
21 inch Mark XI
21 inch Mark 12
21 inch Mark 20 Bidder
21 inch Mark 23 Grog
Mark 24 Mod 0 Tigerfish
Mark 24 Mod 1 Tigerfish
Mark 24(N) Tigerfish
Mark 24 Mod 2 Tigerfish )
24.5 inch Mark I
A-184
A244-S
Barracuda
Black Shark
Brennan torpedo
C35/91
C45/91
C/03
C/06
C/07
CAPTOR mine
DM1 Seeschlange
DM2A1 Seal
DM2A3
DM2A4 Seehecht
F5
F17
G/6
G7
G7a
H8
Howell torpedo
Kaiten manned torpedo
Kolibri
Mark 1 (Bliss-Leavitt)
Mark 2 (Bliss-Leavitt)
Mark 3 (Bliss-Leavitt)
Mark 4 (Bliss-Leavitt)
Mark 6 (Bliss-Leavitt)
Mark 6 (Bliss-Leavitt)
Mark 7 (Bliss-Leavitt)
Mark 8 (Bliss-Leavitt)
Mark 9 (Bliss-Leavitt)
Mark 10
Mark 11
Mark 12
Mark 13
Mark 14
Mark 15
Mark 16
Mark 17
Mark 18
Mark 21
Mark 24
Mark 27
Mark 28
Mark 32
Mark 33
Mark 34
Mark 35
Mark 36
Mark 37
Mark 39
Mark 43
Mark 44
Mark 45
Mark 46
Mark 48
Mark 50
Mark 54 LHT (Lightweight Hybrid Torpedo)
MGT-1
MU90 Impact
21 inch Mark 21 “Pentane”
RAT-52
SET-72
Spearfish
SST-3 Seal
SST-4 Seal
Sting Ray
SUT
TAN-12
TAV-15
Torped 61
Torped 613
Torped 62
Type 07 Vertical Launched ASROC
Type 45
Type 53
Type 65
Type 80 torpedo (G-RX1)
Type 89 torpedo (G-RX2)
Type 91 torpedo
Type 92 torpedo
Type 93 torpedo (Long Lances[3])
Type 95 torpedo
Type 97 torpedo
Type 97 Light Weight Torpedo (G-RX4)
USET-80
VA-111 Shkval
VTT-1 Strizh
Whitehead
Yu-5
Yu-6
Z13
Baek Sang Eo
Chung Sang Eo
Hong Sang Eo

Resources about Torpedoes

Information, facts and pictures about torpedoes

Torpedo Factory Art Center: A Local Legacy. What can you do with an old torpedo factory? In Alexandria, Virginia, on the banks of the Potomac River, a torpedo factory was turned into an arts center — the Torpedo Factory Art Center.

Department of Defense information about torpedoes

Resource by AnnaBelle

Annalise Kaylor is a freelance writer, editor, and consultant specializing in search engine optimized content for the web. As a writer, her work has appeared across the United States in print ads for Whirlpool, Maytag, Home Depot, and Lowe's, among others. As a consultant, she has worked primarily in the education sector, helping universities increase their web visibility and construct and implement social media strategy. Annalise is an avid reader, knitter, organic gardener and baker, as well as the author of the popular baking blog, Knead To Be Loaved. Annalise enjoys fly fishing, camping, and hiking.

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