The Whitehead Mark 5 torpedo was a

Whitehead torpedo The Whitehead torpedo was the first self-propelled or "locomotive" torpedo ever developed. It was perfected in 1866 by Robert Whitehead from a rough design conceived by Giovanni Luppis of the Austro-Hungarian Navy in Fiume. It was driven by a th ...

adopted by the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

for use in an anti-surface ship role in 1910. The Mark 5 was the first torpedo to be manufactured by a foreign company, the Whitehead facility in the

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, and in 1908, by 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, ...

. It was also the first torpedo to allow the firing ship to vary its speed and range.

Characteristics

The Mark 5 was a "hot-running" (powered by heated air) torpedo, as opposed to previous Whitehead designs, which were "cold-running". It was similar in performance to the

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 ...

es of that era. Around 500 units were produced by the Naval Torpedo Station and

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. The Mark 5 had variable speed; at a high speed of 40 knots, it had a range of 1000 yards. A low speed of 27 knots allowed the weapon a range of 4000 yards; at medium speed of 36 knots, its range was 2000 yards. This variable speed was set before loading the torpedo in its

tube Tube or tubes may refer to: * ''Tube'' (2003 film), a 2003 Korean film * ''The Tube'' (TV series), a music related TV series by Channel 4 in the United Kingdom * "Tubes" (Peter Dale), performer on the Soccer AM television show * Tube (band), a ...

by adjusting the reducing valve. The Mark 5 was, however, overshadowed by the increasing efficiency and range of

es. In 1922, all torpedoes prior to the

Bliss-Leavitt Mark 7 torpedo The Bliss-Leavitt Mark 7 torpedo was a Bliss-Leavitt torpedo developed and produced by the E. W. Bliss Company and the Naval Torpedo Station in Newport, Rhode Island in 1911. History The Mark 7 was a major step in the evolution of the modern torp ...

in the US Navy's inventory were condemned in favor of more modern versions. The Mark 5 was launched from

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of se ...

s and other small ships.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitehead Mark 5 torpedo Torpedoes Torpedoes of the United States Unmanned underwater vehicles Whitehead torpedoes

Characteristics

See also

References