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UMI® UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY Redefining the Naval Seascape: The Emergence of the Torpedo Boat by Joseph Zeller A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF STRATEGIC STUDIES Centre for Military and Strategic Studies CALGARY, ALBERTA SEPTEMBER, 2009 © Joseph Zeller 2009 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et •***• Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 OttawaONK1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-54452-5 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-54452-5 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par Nnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. 1+1 Canada Abstract My thesis examines the evolution and impact of motor torpedo boats. The process began in 1869 with Whitehead's invention of autonomous torpedoes. The device quickly became entwined with its carriers, tiny 'torpedo boats', and here began a revolution that altered the naval seascape. Armed with these small and inexpensive vessels, navies could destroy even the most powerful national treasure, the battleship. The capacity for weaker ships and weaker navies to successfully oppose and destroy larger powers had never before existed. This new potential had considerable impact in the international arena. Coastal defence, commerce warfare, division of land and sea operations, and design and functionality of other ships changed. By World War I, every nation coveted torpedo boats, for both offensive use and for protection against the torpedo's deadly potential. Then leading naval thinkers weighed in with differing opinions. My thesis examines these opinions and the torpedo boat's enormous impact. n Acknowledgements I acknowledge with gratitude and appreciation the help and support of my family, friends, colleagues and mentors throughout this process. I thank Dr. Holger H. Herwig for supervising me during the Military and Strategic Studies graduate program. He has been generous in sharing both his time and experience, offering help and insights that challenged me to explore new ideas and define my own ideas with greater clarity and substance. Faculty, staff and fellow students at University of Calgary's Centre for Military and Strategic Studies have been instrumental in aiding this endeavour - thank you. Thanks to Dr. Michael Epkenhans and Dr. John Ferris and my committee members, Dr. Joerg Denzinger and Dr. Rob Huebert, for taking the time to edit and comment on my efforts. Their feedback has helped craft this into a far better thesis than it otherwise would have been. I would also like to recognize the importance of the Department of History at Wilfrid Laurier University, particularly Dr. Roger Sarty and Dr. Joyce Lorimer, in encouraging my study of the past and helping me develop the tools that I have relied upon to investigate it. Finally, words alone are insufficient to express the debt owed to my parents, grandparents, and siblings, who have supported my endeavour with great enthusiasm and ability. in Table of Contents Abstract ii Acknowledgements iii Table of Contents iv CHAPTER 1: TERMS AND DEFINITIONS 1 CHAPTER 2: INTRODUCTION 3 CHAPTER 3: BACKGROUND 17 CHAPTER 4: GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE TORPEDO'S EMERGENCE 36 The Early Years 38 Austria, to 1880 40 Britain, to 1880 41 France, to 1880 44 Italy, to 1880 48 Other countries, to 1880 49 1880 on 51 Russia 58 Germany 64 Conclusion 67 CHAPTER 5: THE TORPEDO BOAT'S IMPACT ON THE NAVAL SEASCAPE 69 Aube 70 Mahan 78 Tirpitz 85 Fisher 90 Conclusion 101 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION 102 BIBLIOGRAPHY 105 iv 1 Chapter 1: Terms and Definitions This thesis deals with the development of the motor torpedo boat. It defines this vessel as a torpedo-armed craft under a certain tonnage and armed with autonomous fish torpedoes.1 In the 1800s, the early coastal torpedo craft rarely displaced more than 100 tons and ocean-going torpedo boats and destroyers were often about 500 tons in standard displacement. By the end of the time period dealt with in these pages, by World War I, these figures had about doubled. By comparison battleships tended to be about ten times larger, averaging over 10,000 tons in the 1890s and often exceeding 20,000 tons by World War I.3 The inclusion of destroyers in this thesis as a form of torpedo boat was a decision not taken lightly, as the term 'motor torpedo boat' has traditionally been used to include only coastal vessels of a far smaller nature. However, during the formative development of the destroyer from the coast-bound motor torpedo boat, differentiating lines were very much blurred. Moreover, limiting the definition to coastal vessels fails to encompass all appropriate vessels, as many small coastal torpedo craft have been pressed into service on the high seas at various times of need. Also, the destroyer has demonstrated some of the most persuasive and quantifiable examples of the torpedo- armed small craft's potential 1 Autonomous fish torpedoes are torpedoes with self-contained propulsion and explosive capacity which, for the purposes of this thesis, begin with Whitehead's torpedo dating from 1869. 2 D. K. Brown and Robert Gardiner, Eclipse of the Big Gun : Warships, 1906-45, Conway's History of the Ship (London: Conway Maritime P., 1992).p.81 and 93 3 James L. George, History of Warships : From Ancient Times to the Twenty-First Century (London: Constable, 1999, 1998).p.l09 2 and has, therefore, formed an important cornerstone in the torpedo boat's intellectual and physical development and use within the maritime arena. Submarines and torpedo-armed aircraft have been largely omitted in this thesis because their history is relatively well documented and because they constitute a radical departure in design and potential. Although arguably conceptually derived from the torpedo boat, they quickly diverged into new areas of unique growth and potential. 3 Chapter 2: Introduction In the latter-half of the nineteenth century, the torpedo boat revolutionized naval warfare, causing a large upheaval among naval thinking. Large vessels had dominated the naval arena since time immemorial but for the first time this domination was contested by tiny, light and fast ships armed with one of the newest technological marvels, the Whitehead torpedo. Some contemporaries likened it to competition between "the microbe and the giant".4 These men showed remarkable foresight as this was a perfect analogy for the development and eventual domination by the torpedo boat. It was very much like a virus that infected the whole ocean. The torpedo boat started modestly, competing for dominance in the field of tiny severely restricted coastal defence vessels, co-opting their designs for its own replication. It quickly grew to the limit of its new environment and motor torpedo boats swarmed the coastal water of every nation from Europe to the Far East. Torpedo craft then began to evolve and change as they attempted to encroach upon the harsher but more plentiful oceanic waters. Many attempts failed but a few designs showed promise at surviving in this new environment. Some of these designs used a host vessel to carry the torpedo boats across the waves in order that they might threaten foreign coasts. Other boats simply grew in size and strength until they could 4 Theodore Ropp, The Development of a Modern Navy : French Naval Policy 1871-1904 (Annapolis: Naval Institute, 1987).p. 137 4 survive unsupported. Even the giant battleships were not immune to the infection. Some were co-opted by the new weapon system, becoming torpedo craft themselves, while others cowered from the torpedo boats behind defences of nets, mines and barricades. By the dawn of the twentieth century, the 'microbe' dominated naval affairs, successfully having 'infected' all of its competitors. The few remaining giant battleships persisted only because they had themselves acquired the protection of their own class of torpedo boat designed solely to protect the lumbering dinosaurs from other torpedo craft. Later efforts in battleship design and the continuing evolution of small and accurate quick firing guns may have temporarily succeeded in eclipsing the torpedo boat during the early twentieth century. However, torpedo craft had enough remaining teeth even in World War I to force Jutland and its Grand Fleet, the greatest concentration of warships in the world, to turn away not once, but twice, from their pursuit of the fleeing German navy and finally to abandon that pursuit as night fell.