| Torpedo Ram |
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The torpedo ram concept came about at a time when the self-propelled torpedo, pioneered by Robert Whitehead , had only just been created. The earliest self-propelled torpedoes were obviously very powerful weapons, but were very short-ranged and capable of reaching speeds of less than 10 Knots , making them useless against anything but stationary targets. Another result of this was that for a time there was much confusion in naval circles about how best to employ the torpedo. During the 1870s a large number of proposals emerged for torpedo-carrying warships. The torpedo ram, like most of the early torpedo-carrying warship designs, was intended to attack enemy warships while they were still at anchor in harbor. The torpedo ram's low profile and high speed were to make discovery and interception harder, as was the commonly stated intent for their attacks to take place at night. Once it reached the harbor, the torpedo ram was to smash its way through any seaward harbor defenses and make straight for the ships lying at anchor, firing its torpedoes before they could get underway. Once this was done, the torpedo ram would exit the harbor and make a high-speed escape to waiting friendly forces. It soon became clear that this proposition was not an incredibly practical one. Because of this, torpedo rams were never particularly popular, and the design was largely abandoned by the end of the 19th Century as other, more practical classes of torpedo-carrying warships emerged. Only a handful were built. The best remembered examples of the type were the aforementions ''Polyphemus'' and the United States Navy's USS ''Intrepid'' . Neither saw a great deal active service and they were mostly used for torpedo trials, although ''Polyphemus'' did demonstrate the potential damage she could inflict when she was used to demolish a harbor jetty via ramming. While never popular with the naval services that created them, the torpedo ram can be said to have caught public attention in a manner which far exceeded its utility as a concept for a fighting ship. The heroic HMS ''Thunder Child'' in H. G. Wells 's science-fiction classic '' The War Of The Worlds '' was a torpedo ram, and she destroyed two Martian Tripods ''see'' Sacrifice Of Thunder Child . It has been suggested by some that, in view of the limited military value the torpedo ram demonstrated, Wells's immortalization of the type in what would become a literary classic was the torpedo ram's greatest achievement. |
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