Editing Torpedo (section)

===Aerial torpedo===
[[File:1915 Aerial torpedo.jpg|thumb|right|upright|In 1915, Rear Admiral [[Bradley A. Fiske]] conceived of the [[aerial torpedo]].]]

The end of the Russo-Japanese War fueled new theories, and the idea of dropping lightweight torpedoes from aircraft was conceived in the early 1910s by [[Bradley A. Fiske]], an officer in the [[United States Navy]].<ref name="Hopkins">Hopkins, Albert Allis. ''The Scientific American War Book: The Mechanism and Technique of War'', Chapter XLV: Aerial Torpedoes and Torpedo Mines. Munn & Company, Incorporated, 1915</ref> Awarded a patent in 1912,<ref>{{US patent reference|number=1032394|y=1912|m=07|d=16|inventor=Bradley A. Fiske|title=Method of and apparatus for delivering submarine torpedoes from airships}}</ref><ref name="Hart">Hart, Albert Bushnell. ''Harper's pictorial library of the world war, Volume 4''. Harper, 1920, p. 335.</ref> Fiske worked out the mechanics of carrying and releasing the [[aerial torpedo]] from a [[bomber]], and defined tactics that included a night-time approach so that the target ship would be less able to defend itself. Fiske determined that the notional [[torpedo bomber]] should descend rapidly in a sharp spiral to evade enemy guns, then when about {{convert|10|to|20|ft|0}} above the water, the aircraft would straighten its flight long enough to line up with the torpedo's intended path. The aircraft would release the torpedo at a distance of {{convert|1500|to|2000|yd|-2}} from the target.<ref name=Hopkins/> Fiske reported in 1915 that, using this method, enemy fleets could be attacked within their harbors if there was enough room for the torpedo track.<ref>{{cite web |work=The New York Times |date=23 July 1915 |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B00E6D71038E633A25750C2A9619C946496D6CF |title=Torpedo Boat That Flies. Admiral Fiske Invents a Craft to Attack Fleets in Harbors |access-date=29 September 2009}}</ref>

Meanwhile, the [[Royal Naval Air Service]] began actively experimenting with this possibility. The first successful aerial torpedo drop was performed by Gordon Bell in 1914 – dropping a Whitehead torpedo from a [[Short Brothers|Short S.64]] [[seaplane]]. The success of these experiments led to the construction of the first purpose-built operational torpedo aircraft, the [[Short Type 184]], built-in 1915.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6z7quhWS-BoC|title=Aircraft Carriers: A History of Carrier Aviation and Its Influence on World Events, Volume II: 1946–2006 |first=Norman |last=Polmar|year=2008|publisher=Potomac Books, Inc. |location=Washington, D.C. |page=16 |isbn=978-1-57488-665-8}}</ref>

[[File: Short 184.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Short Type 184]] was the first torpedo aircraft when built-in 1915.]]
An order for ten aircraft was placed, and 936 aircraft were built by ten different British aircraft companies during the [[First World War]]. The two prototype aircraft were embarked upon {{HMS|Ben-my-Chree}}, which sailed for the [[Aegean Sea|Aegean]] on 21 March 1915 to take part in the [[Gallipoli campaign]].<ref>{{cite book|first=C. H. |last=Barnes |title=Shorts Aircraft Since 1900 |location=London |publisher=Putnam|year=1967|page=113 |oclc=463063844}}</ref> On 12 August 1915 one of these, piloted by [[Flight Commander]] [[Charles H. K. Edmonds|Charles Edmonds]], was the first aircraft in the world to attack an enemy ship with an air-launched torpedo.<ref name="Guinness" >{{cite book|title=Guinness Book of Air Facts and Feats|edition=3rd|year=1977 |publisher=Book Club Associates |location=London |oclc=11494729 |quote=The first air attack using a torpedo dropped by an airplane was carried out by Flight Commander Charles H. K. Edmonds, flying a Short 184 seaplane from ''Ben-my-Chree'' on 12 August 1915, against a 5,000-ton Turkish supply ship in the [[Sea of Marmara]]. Although the enemy ship was hit and sunk, the captain of a British submarine claimed to have fired a torpedo simultaneously and sunk the ship. It was further stated that the British submarine E14 had attacked and immobilized the ship four days earlier.}}</ref>

On 17 August 1915 Flight Commander Edmonds torpedoed and sank an Ottoman transport ship a few miles north of the Dardanelles. His formation colleague, [[Flight Lieutenant]] G B Dacre, was forced to land on the water owing to engine trouble but, seeing an enemy [[tug]] close by, taxied up to it and released his torpedo, sinking the tug. Without the weight of the torpedo, Dacre was able to take off and return to ''Ben-My-Chree''.<ref>{{cite web |last=Bruce |first=J. M. |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1956/1956%20-%201835.html |title=The Short Seaplanes: Historic Military Aircraft No. 14: Part 3 |work=[[Flight International|Flight]] |date=28 December 1956 |pages=1000}}</ref>