Torpedo's Influence On American Warfare

It was 40 years until the United States was introduced to the naval vessel known as the destroyer. It began in 1866 when Captain Giovanni Luppis of the Austrian Navy had invented the self-propelled torpedo which changed sea warfare forever. With the invention of these torpedoes combined with small cheap speed boats known as torpedo boats caused real trouble for the larger combat vessels known as battleships. Torpedo boats did this by either overwhelming them with their sheer numbers combined with their tremendous speed and maneuverability which was proven during the Chilean war. Since the invention of the torpedo boats there was a clear call for the creation of small warships that could defend the larger battleships from this little terrors of the sea. There was a development of several prototypes by many European countries in the late 1800's of this small warship but it wasn't until 1892 when Rear Admiral Jackie Fisher of the British Royal Navy ordered the creation of a water boiler powered vessel with …show more content…
According to the Destroyer History Foundation "They carried two 18-inch torpedoes and two 3-inch rapid fire guns. All were coal fired and used reciprocating machinery, with four stacks, a conning tower forward, a raised or turtleback fo’c’s’le, a flat-bottomed stern and a length-to-beam ratio of more than 10:1." (Destroyer History Foundation 1). They had four classes of this style of destroyer the Bainbridge, Hopkins, Lawrence, and Truxtan Class. The United States went through an experimental period beginning to try to prefect the most effective destroyer class trying out multiple private builders and weapon configurations. It was not until 1902 when they decided to adopt USS Bainbridge (DD 1) to become the first destroyer commissioned into the U.S. Navy that displaced was 250 feet, 420 tons, and a speed of 29