The Bliss-Leavitt Mark 7 torpedo was a

Bliss-Leavitt torpedo The Bliss-Leavitt torpedo was a torpedo designed by Frank McDowell Leavitt and manufactured by the E. W. Bliss Company of Brooklyn, New York. It was put into service by the United States Navy in 1904 and variants of the design would remain in it ...

developed and produced by the

E. W. Bliss Company The E. W. Bliss Company is a manufacturer of machine tools founded by Eliphalet Williams Bliss. The company was based in Brooklyn, New York and is now based in Hastings, Michigan as BCN Technical Services. BCN is owned by Schuler Group. History ...

and the

Naval Torpedo Station The Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) is the United States Navy's full-spectrum research, development, test and evaluation, engineering and fleet support center for submarines, autonomous underwater systems, and offensive and defensive weapons ...

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, ...

in 1911.

History

The Mark 7 was a major step in the evolution of the modern torpedo. This innovative design featured the use of

steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

, generated from water sprayed into the combustion pot along with the

fuel A fuel is any material that can be made to react with other substances so that it releases energy as thermal energy or to be used for work. The concept was originally applied solely to those materials capable of releasing chemical energy but ...

. The resulting mixture dramatically boosted the efficiency of the torpedo, leading to markedly improved performance. The Mark 7 torpedo was issued to the US Navy fleet in 1912 and remained in service through

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. This torpedo was also experimented on as an aircraft-launched weapon in the early 1920s. It was used on submarines of the K, L, M, N and O classes. It was also used on seven submarines of the R Class (R-21 through R-27) which were decommissioned in 1924 and 1925. After 1925, the only class of US Navy submarines armed with 18-inch torpedoes was the O Class. Seven O boats, out of an original 16, were in commission during World War II. During the war, all of the O boats were stationed at the

New London Submarine Base Naval Submarine Base New London is the primary United States Navy East Coast submarine base, also known as the "Home of the Submarine Force." It is located in Groton, Connecticut directly across the Thames River from its namesake city of New Lo ...

and served as training platforms. The service of the Mark 7 torpedo ended when the last O boat was decommissioned in September 1945. Aircraft-dropped Mark 7 torpedo

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bliss-Leavitt Mark 7 torpedo Aerial torpedoes Torpedoes of the United States Bliss-Leavitt torpedoes

History

See also

References