Editing Torpedo (section)

===Invention of the modern torpedo===
[[File:Whitehead torpedo General Profile, The Whitehead Torpedo U.S.N.1898.jpg|thumb|upright=1.7|right|Whitehead torpedo's general profile: '''A'''. war-head '''B'''. air-flask. '''B{{`}}'''. immersion chamber '''C{{`}}'''. after-body '''C'''. engine room '''D'''. drain holes '''E'''. shaft tube '''F'''. steering-engine '''G'''. bevel gear box '''H'''. depth index '''I'''. tail '''K'''. charging and stop-valves '''L'''. locking-gear '''M'''. engine bed-plate '''P'''. primer case '''R'''. rudder '''S'''. steering-rod tube '''T'''. guide stud '''U'''. propellers '''V'''. valve-group '''W'''. war nose{{refn|The war nose consisted of a detonator, fuse, and protection mechanism which armed the fuse after the torpedo had traveled a short distance.}} '''Z'''. strengthening band]]

A prototype of the self-propelled torpedo was created on a commission placed by [[Giovanni Luppis]], an [[Austro-Hungarian Navy|Austro-Hungarian naval officer]] from [[Rijeka]] (modern-day [[Croatia]]), at the time a port city of the [[Austro-Hungarian Monarchy]] and [[Robert Whitehead (engineer)|Robert Whitehead]], an English engineer who was the manager of a town factory, ''Stabilimento Tecnico di Fiume'' (STF). In 1864, Luppis presented Whitehead with the plans of the ''[[Salvacoste]]'' ("Coastsaver"), a floating weapon driven by ropes from the land that had been dismissed by the naval authorities due to the impractical steering and propulsion mechanisms.

In 1866, Whitehead invented the first effective self-propelled torpedo, the eponymous [[Whitehead torpedo]], the first modern torpedo. French and German inventions followed closely, and the term ''torpedo'' came to describe self-propelled projectiles that traveled under or on water. By 1900, the term no longer included mines and booby-traps, as the navies of the world added submarines, [[torpedo boat]]s, and [[destroyer|torpedo boat destroyer]]s to their fleets.<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets|Gray|1975}}</ref><ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets|Epstein|2014}}</ref>

Whitehead was unable to improve the machine substantially, since the clockwork motor, attached ropes, and surface attack mode all contributed to a slow and cumbersome weapon. However, he kept considering the problem after the contract had finished, and eventually developed a tubular device, designed to run underwater on its own, and powered by compressed air. The result was a submarine weapon, the ''Minenschiff'' (mine ship), the first modern self-propelled torpedo, officially presented to the Austrian Imperial Naval commission on 21 December 1866.

The first trials were not successful, as the weapon was unable to maintain a course at a steady depth. After much work, Whitehead introduced his "secret" in 1868 which overcame this. It was a mechanism consisting of a [[Pendulum-and-hydrostat control|hydrostatic valve and pendulum]] that caused the torpedo's hydroplanes to be adjusted to maintain a preset depth.