User talk:WegianWarrior/MWR

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Brennan Torpedo was the world's first guided missile. Patented by Louis Brennan in 1877, it worked by two propellers that were spun by rapidly pulling out wires from drums wound inside the torpedo. Differential speed on the wires connected to the shore station allowed the torpedo to be guided to its target, up to 2,000 yards away. It was operational between 1890 and 1906.

After initial trials near Melbourne, Australia, an experimental station was established in the UK at Garrison Point Fort on the River Thames. Operational stations were established in the UK at Cliffe Fort, Fort Albert on the Isle of Wight and Plymouth. Other stations included Fort Camden in Cork, Ireland, and Lei Yue Mun Fort in Hong Kong.

The only remaining original Brennan Torpedo is exhibited at the Royal Engineers Museum in Chatham, Kent.

Contents

[edit] Background

- Short summary of torpedo development up until the Brennan. Link to

[edit] Development

- Development of the Brennan. Remember citations.

[edit] Technical details

- Summary of the important technical details. Stress that the Brennan in modern terms would be a weapon system, since the torpedo could not be used whtout the specialiced launchgear, and the launch gear was useless for otehr torpedoes.

[edit] Torpedo

The Brennan torpedo uniqe in several respects, and the various mechanical components differed in important ways from the coresponding components found in the more common Whitehead torpedo. The main reasons for this seems to be both the different conditions faced by the torpedoes - rail launched vs tube launced - as well as the fact that the Brennan torpedo was externaly powered and as such had more power avilable than the Whitehead torpedo of the day.

  • The torpedo itself was roughtly 6,70 meter (22 feet long), had a service weight of roughtly one tonn. It was elliptical in cross section, tapered to each end from an parrallel center section. Rubbers were fitted to both the bow and the stern, while moveable planes to control the depth was fitted to the bow only. In the stern was mounted a pair of contra rotating propellars, and the wires that powered the torpedo exited through the hollw, inner proppller shaft.
  • The warhead containeda charge of 99 kg (220 lbs) of wet cuncotton, fired by a inertia pistol located in the compartment behind the warhead.
  • A mast was mounted on top of the torpedo to allow the operator to follow the course of the torpedo and adjust it as needed. For daylight launches the mast carried a flag, and for launching in darkness an electric light was mounted, shaded so it could only be seen from the rear of the torpedo. The use of a mast was reported to slow the torpedo down with about four knots.

[edit] Launch gear

- Details on the steam powered winches and launch trolleys. Pay attention to how strearing was achived.

[edit] Launch sites

- Built and planned sites. Remember linkage where possible.

[edit] Operational history

- Include results achived in tests.

[edit] References and notes


[edit] External links

[[Category:Torpedoes]] [[Category:Victorian Age weapons]] [[Category:Weapons of the United Kingdom]]