SPAR TORPEDO FILM BECKONS QUESTIONS

comiso90

Cadet
Joined
Feb 20, 2017
Hello!

EDIT: The forum will not let me post the YouTube video because it thinks it's SPAM

My first post! I live in Charleston and I read, explore and clamor for as much information as I can. I hope you fine people can point me in the right direction and I resolve to contribute to your amazing forum.

I apologize if this has been discussed before. I did a search and it doesn't look like it.

I ran across this amazing footage of a spar torpedo being detonated and it's very easy to imagine the CSS David or the Hunley on the business end of this explosion.

Trying to find background information, I searched every corner of the Internet but I failed to find anything of value.

Specifically:
How large is this motor launch?
What depth was the torpedo?
Any diagrams of the torpedo?
Method of detonation?
Blackpowder?
Amount of explosive?
etc etc

I looked through Victorian Naval sites with no success.
Detailed archives on the filming would be ideal

At the very least, you have a very interesting film clip to ponder. In a perfect world, you can help point me towards a resource.

Thank you for welcoming me to your site
 
I just put Spar Torpedoes in the search box. You might find some of the post interesting if not exactly to your points.
Thank you. I did the same but I am curious about this clip. It can tell us a lot about how they were used in the Civil War.
 
Hello, @comiso90 , welcome to CivilWarTalk and the Naval War forum.

That is an outstanding video of a spar torpedo that has been making the rounds periodically. Unfortunately I doubt that it will be possible to determine the specifics of that particular weapon being tested. But it is similar in general features to the spar torpedoes used by David on the attack on New Ironsides, by H.L. Hunley in the attack on Housatonic, and Cushing's attack on CSS Albemarle.

The torpedo used by Hunley was larger than it had been previously, 120 pounds of black powder.when the submersible attack Housatonic in February 1864, that attack was influenced by the unsuccessful attack on New Ironsides a few months previously. That ship had not been sunk (although it was significantly damaged), and it appears that a determination was made both to increase the powder charge of the torpedo, and to detonate it at a lower depth. It turned out to be very effective, and reportedly blasted a huge section out of the starboard quarter of Housatonic.
 
Hello, @comiso90 , welcome to CivilWarTalk and the Naval War forum.

That is an outstanding video of a spar torpedo that has been making the rounds periodically. Unfortunately I doubt that it will be possible to determine the specifics of that particular weapon being tested. But it is similar in general features to the spar torpedoes used by David on the attack on New Ironsides, by H.L. Hunley in the attack on Housatonic, and Cushing's attack on CSS Albemarle.

The torpedo used by Hunley was larger than it had been previously, 120 pounds of black powder.when the submersible attack Housatonic in February 1864, that attack was influenced by the unsuccessful attack on New Ironsides a few months previously. That ship had not been sunk (although it was significantly damaged), and it appears that a determination was made both to increase the powder charge of the torpedo, and to detonate it at a lower depth. It turned out to be very effective, and reportedly blasted a huge section out of the starboard quarter of Housatonic.


Thank you. They don't know which torpedo was used on the Housatonic, the Lee, Singer or another device so the amount of black powder is in question.

"I doubt that it will be possible to determine the specifics of that particular weapon being tested."
Not from this video but there may be another resource that details the specifics and that is where I hope to gain insights. Diaries? Letters? Articles? RN archives?

There is a lot to be learned from this video and I still hope to find answers to my questions.
 
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Thank you. They don't know which torpedo was used on the Housatonic, the Lee, Singer or another device so the amount of black powder is in question.

"I doubt that it will be possible to determine the specifics of that particular weapon being tested."
Not from this video but there may be another resource that details the specifics and that is where I hope to gain insights. Diaries? Letters? Articles? RN archives?

There is a lot to be learned from this video and I still hope to find answers to my questions.
Sorry, I was going from memory. The Hunley team announced that they'd determined it was a 135 lb. torpedo in 2013. AFAIK that determination hasn't been revised.

http://www.postandcourier.com/archi...cle_ebecd2a4-9288-51c7-b6e2-5f26ade4090b.html

Re: the video, there may be some material out there but unless one knows the date of the test, it may be tough finding it. Also, given the later date of the filmed test, they might have used a more powerful explosive than black powder.
 
Thank you for that article. I hadn't seen that.

Yes, it won't be easy and there are lots of variables that may or may not help understanding but I won't know unless I try. It says in Youtube: A spar torpedo being fired in Bombketch lake, Portsmouth Harbour. C 1897 - Admiralty trials
 
What are the words at the bottom of the screen on the very first frame? 'West & Son'?

Does the spar 'pole' recoil in it's mount?

USS ALASKA
 
What are the words at the bottom of the screen on the very first frame? 'West & Son'?

Does the spar 'pole' recoil in it's mount?

USS ALASKA
That who the clip is curated by, Wessex Sound.

Looks like the spar is designed to absorb the shock.
 
Thinking about that recoil, were spars fired by a lanyard? I would imagine that if it were a percussion trigger, that recoil would break the arm of the lucky individual that got to fire it...

USS ALASKA
 
I thought Cushing's was lanyard fired.
Yes, there's an illustration of it somewheres here in CWT -- he pulled the laynard that released the torpedo to float up against the overhang of the hull, and either pulled a second lanyard to detonate it or it had a contact fuse. A relatively complex gizmo, IIRC.
 
Hello!

Well, I have said diagram of spar torpedo, supposedly used by the Unionist "Alpha" torpedo boat:

pic_3.jpg


Seems that this is exactly the thing:

Yes, there's an illustration of it somewheres here in CWT -- he pulled the laynard that released the torpedo to float up against the overhang of the hull, and either pulled a second lanyard to detonate it or it had a contact fuse. A relatively complex gizmo, IIRC.
 
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