The word torpedo was first used as a name for electric rays (in the order Torpediniformes), which in turn comes from the Latin word torpēdō ("lethargy" or "sluggishness"). In naval usage, the American inventor David Bushnell was … 展开

Torpedo-like weapons were first proposed many centuries before they were successfully developed. For example, in 1275, engineer Hasan al-Rammah – who worked as a military scientist for the Mamluk Sultanate of … 展开

The Whitehead torpedo of 1866, the first successful self-propelled torpedo, used compressed air as its energy source. The air was stored at pressures of up to 2.55 MPa (370 psi) and fed to a piston engine that turned a single … 展开

Torpedoes may be aimed at the target and fired unguided, similarly to a traditional artillery shell, or they may be guided onto the target. They may be guided autonomously towards the target by some procedure, e.g., … 展开