TORPEDO 



5843 



TORQUEMADA 



boat not a vessel of the present submarine 

 type, however, but a globular affair, holding 

 one man, and intended only as a device to put 

 the operator in close proximity to the vessel to 

 which the torpedo was to be attached. It was 

 a clumsy expedient, and very dangerous. 



The first of the modern torpedoes intended 

 to be projected through the water carried no 

 engine. They were tapered wooden contriv- 

 ances with an explosive head, and were shot at 

 their target at not over one-fourth mile. This 

 early weapon called for small, fleet vessels 

 which could get close to the enemy without 

 detection, and the torpedo boat of the last 

 quarter of the nineteenth century was called 

 into existence. In maneuvering for position 

 from which to strike it was expected that one 

 or more of these boats would be destroyed by 

 gunfire before one of them could launch a tor- 

 pedo which would find its mark. 



The torpedo-boat destroyer was evolved to 

 cope with the torpedo boat; this was also a 

 small vessel, speedier than the torpedo boat, 

 and it performed good service in keeping the 

 latter away from large vessels of a fleet. The 

 destroyers also carried torpedoes, which they 

 could use effectively against the torpedo boats. 

 To-day both classes of vessels are obsolete, for 

 the submarine, with its effective mechanical 

 torpedo, has come and has demonstrated its 

 power; so long as it can run submerged no class 

 of vessels can subdue it. Its most effective foe 

 is a fleet, staunch vessel of light weight called 

 a "submarine chaser," which can speed over the 

 water at forty miles an hour and deliver a shot 

 at a submarine before the latter can submerge 

 beyond the danger line. 



The present Whitehead torpedo was invented 

 by an English engineer of that name, soon after 

 the American War of Secession. E.D.F. 



Consult Armstrong's Torpedoes and Torpedo 

 Vessels (1910). 



TORPEDO, or ELEC'TRIC RAY, a fish of 

 the ray family, found in warm seas, so called 

 because it can discharge electricity from spe- 

 cial organs lying in the head and gill region. 

 Its body is flat and broad, dark above and 

 white below, and ends in a slender tail. The 

 torpedo uses its strange power to kill small 

 fish for food; in a full-grown, healthy fish the 

 current is powerful enough to disable a man. 

 After discharging electricity the fish is tem- 

 porarily exhausted, and needs rest and nourish- 

 ment before it can repeat the act. How the 

 electric organs become charged is unknown. 

 See ELECTRICAL FISH. 



TORPEDO BOAT, a vessel equipped to make 

 the torpedo its principal weapon of attack. 

 The object of such a vessel in warfare is swiftly 

 to approach the slower battleship, deliver a tor- 

 pedo attack and escape, if possible. Torpedo 

 boats have been rendered of less value than 

 they formerly possessed because of the per- 

 fection of the submarine and of their successor, 

 the torpedo-boat destroyer. They are made 

 entirely of steel, with light plates of one-six- 

 teenth to three-eighths inch in thickness, and 

 for defense rely principally on the speed 

 with which they can run away from their ene- 

 mies. The main object of the torpedo boat is 

 to get near enough to discharge its torpedoes 

 under cover of fog, storm or night, and retire 

 before it can be reached by the big guns of the 

 enemy's ships, which would sink it almost in- 

 stantly. Torpedo boats are fitted with one, 

 two, and sometimes four tubes or guns from 

 which torpedos may be fired, and these tubes 

 are arranged so that discharge may be made in 

 any direction. Being specially constructed for 

 the purpose and too light to carry protective 

 armor of great weight, the torpedo boat carries 

 its coal in such a manner as to afford added 

 protection to the vital parts of the vessel. Such 

 a vessel requires from 150 to 240 men to navi- 

 gate and operate it. 



The introduction of torpedo boats was fol- 

 lowed by torpedo-boat destroyers, whose duty 

 it was by their still greater speed and strength 

 to pursue and capture or destroy the torpedo 

 boats before they could deliver their attacks. 

 Their ability to do this also proved their own 

 fitness to deliver torpedo attacks, and the 

 building of torpedo boats practically ceased. 

 Many hundreds of them are yet in commission 

 in the navies of the world. See TORPEDO. 



TORQUEMADA, tohr kamah'thah, TOMAS DE 

 (1420-1498), an inquisitor-general of Spain. He 

 was born at Valladolid, and became a friar 

 preacher in the Dominican convent in that city. 

 For twenty-two years he held the priorship of 

 the convent at Segovia, and was confessor to 

 Isabella, afterward queen of Spain. In 1479 the 

 Inquisition was established in Spain; Torque- 

 mada was made assistant to the inquisitors, and 

 in 1483 inquisitor-general over all Spanish pos- 

 sessions. 



Not only for religious reasons, but for po- 

 litical considerations, also, he was extremely 

 zealous, for he felt that the suppression of here- 

 tics was the only way to bring about the po- 

 litical unity of Spain. He was inquisitor-general 

 for fifteen years, and during that time sen- 



