JohnDLittlefield
Sergeant
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2016
26 March 1865, J. B. Fairchild of the USS Henry James proposes a self-propelled torpedo. I wonder if this particular design came to fruition?
There was a USS Henry Janes, a schooner purchased for the mortar flotilla for the attack on New Orleans. She also bombarded Vicksburg as part of Farragut's 1862 expedition, something I hadn't heard of until I wikied her just now, and later served with the blockading squadrons on the Gulf and Atlantic coasts.
Fascinating! I'm familiar with the torpedoes (mines) used in the Yazoo during the war, but I never realized a self-propelled torpedo was ever proposed.26 March 1865, J. B. Fairchild of the USS Henry James proposes a self-propelled torpedo. I wonder if this particular design came to fruition?
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Fascinating! I'm familiar with the torpedoes (mines) used in the Yazoo during the war, but I never realized a self-propelled torpedo was ever proposed.
they were anything but landlocked thenCaptain Giovanni Luppis of the Austrian navy - there was such a thing back then - was working on self-propelled torpedos in the 1850s; the concept was ultimately perfected by British engineer Robert Whitehead, working at Fiume on the Adriatic, in the 1860s. I wonder if their work was widely known? As we know from the Civil War, there was nothing like modern security in that era.
Nothing in Sleeman (1880) or any of the books I have checked thus farSeems that she may be that ship exactly. The "Dictionary of American naval fighting ships" have no "Henry JaMes". Unfortunately, no data about her crew and J. B. Fairchild. I was unable to found any data about his torpedo also.
P.S. Maybe ""Torpedoes and Torpedo Warfare" by C. W. Sleeman" have something on this matter...
Quite interesting!
Hm... what was the USS "Henry James"? Can't remember this ship. Maybe "Henry Janes", the steam schooner?
This is the same principal as the "manta" surface skimming rocket device from the 1300-1400s in the middle east. Recently a history show on cable actually built one and tested it - it worked! But a big scary for the exposed operator.Well, there were even one that was tested...
http://civilwartalk.com/threads/e-b-hunts-sea-miner-rocket-torpedo.123826/
Rocket-propelled one, to be precise.
And, in 1863, mr. Mills Candler from NY proposed tethered-controlled rocket-propelled guided torpedo:
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Concur. Lest we forget, back then it was the Austro-Hungarian Empire with access to the Adriatic Sea. The Austro-Hungarian Navy was among the first to use triple gun turret on a battleship. There's a famous clip now on YouTube of one of the ships rolling over after being torpedoed.they were anything but landlocked then
I wonder if the proposed design was a small boat with a steam engine? Think Bogart's African Queen.
Concur. Lest we forget, back then it was the Austro-Hungarian Empire with access to the Adriatic Sea. The Austro-Hungarian Navy was among the first to use triple gun turret on a battleship. There's a famous clip now on YouTube of one of the ships rolling over after being torpedoed.