Torpedo

A torpedo is a self-propelled underwater weapon, launched above or below the water's surface, that carries an explosive warhead intended to detonate on or near contact with its target. The English engineer Robert Whitehead built the first effective self-propelled torpedo in 1866 at the Stabilimento Tecnico di Fiume, a factory he managed in Fiume, and presented it to the Austrian Imperial Naval commission on December 21, 1866. The invention transformed naval warfare by letting small, fast vessels threaten even the most powerful battleships, driving the development of torpedo boats, torpedo boat destroyers and eventually submarines as major classes of warship.