Dolphins find 130-year-old torpedo off San Diego
This was after Farragut’s time, so we’re talking about a torpedo as we think of them today.
The U.S. Navy doesn’t yet exactly know how a 130-year-old brass torpedo got to the bottom of the Pacific off the coast of San Diego, but they have a couple of dolphins to thank for rediscovering the rare weapon.
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[T]he trainers sent a dolphin down to look for the pre-positioned target objects. The dolphin dove down, came back up — and gave the trainers a signal they didn’t expect. “It had found something where we knew something shouldn’t be,” Fallin said.
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The 11-foot-long (3.4-meter-long) torpedo was developed by Lt. Cmdr. John A. Howell between 1870 and 1889. The Navy says it was driven by a 132-pound (60-kilogram) flywheel that was spun up to 10,000 rpm prior to launch. It had a range of 400 yards, a speed of 25 knots, and a warhead filled with 100 pounds of gun cotton.
“It was the first torpedo that could be released into the ocean and follow a track,” Harris said. “Considering that it was made before electricity was provided to U.S. households, it was pretty sophisticated for its time.”
Only 50 of the Howell torpedoes were built, and the only other one we know of is on display at the Naval Undersea Museum in Keyport, WA.
Neat! Wikipedia page on the Howell Torpedo , complete with different pictures.
Somebody’s earned their mackerel!
Indeed, they did!
I didn’t think to look up the Wiki page on the torpedo. Thanks for the link.
I’ll have to see if I can convince the SO we need to go down to Keyport. As an Army vet, I don’t know how interested she is in Naval warfare. Maybe I can suggest we go down to Port Townsend to look at Victorian houses, and ‘Oh, by the way…’
lieu
May 21, 2013, 5:07pm
4
That’s far too beautiful to be used as a weapon.
It’s a steampunk torpedo.
Who’s a good dolphin? Whooooo’s a good dolphin? Yes, YOU are!
