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"The 'Howell' torpedo was an 14 or 18 inch torpedo, with an explosive payload of 100 or 180 lb respectively. Howell was built in the USA, and became the major torpedo of the American Navy for 20 years. Interestingly it was powered by a heavy flywheel, which was spun before launch and powered the torpedo while in the water. The flywheel spun at 12,000 RPM had enough power to drive the torpedo for 800 yards (~730m) at 30 knots (~56 km/h).

== Design ==

"The "Howell" had two main advantages, apart from its simplicity, over the previous whitehead torpedo. Unlike a torpedo powered by compressed air, it left no bubbletrail and therefore was much more harder to detect. Secondly it kept a straight course with the help of an gyroscopic system attached to the flywheel that compensated trim changes."

I completely rewrote. Trekphiler 13:35, 4 December 2005 (UTC)