Rijeka, Croatia: where the world’s first torpedo was born – a historic sensation
When we think of sunny Rijeka (then known as Fiume ) on the Adriatic, holiday images usually come to mind. But in the second half of the 19th century, this city in the Austro-Hungarian Empire was the “Silicon Valley” of naval technology. A weapon was forged here that would change naval warfare forever: the self-propelled torpedo.
The dreamer: the “coast saver”
It all began in the early 1860s with Giovanni Luppis (Ivan Lupis), a retired frigate captain of the Austrian navy from Rijeka. Luppis was concerned about defending the coastline against enemy ships. His idea was the Salvacoste (coast saver).
The concept was simple but inadequate: a small, unmanned boat filled with explosives, to be steered from land via long ropes. It floated on the surface of the water, as the following sketch shows:
The problems were obvious: the ropes got tangled, and the boat was easy for the enemy to see and destroy.
The engineer: Robert Whitehead
Luppis realised that he needed technical help. In 1864 he turned to Robert Whitehead, a brilliant British engineer who ran the engineering works Stabilimento Tecnico Fiumano in Rijeka. Whitehead looked at the plans and made a radical decision: to be successful, the weapon had to go below the waterline. He called his new project the “mine ship”.
After two years of intensive work, Whitehead presented the first working prototype to the Austrian naval commission in 1866. It was made of steel, cigar-shaped and driven by an engine powered by compressed air.
The heart of Whitehead’s invention was a revolutionary depth-control device that became known as “the secret”: a combination of a hydrostatic plate and a pendulum that kept the torpedo at a constant depth.
Technical data of the first model (1866)
The first working Whitehead torpedo was an impressive technical achievement for its time:
- Length: approx. 3.35 metres
- Diameter: 35,5 cm
- Weight: 136 kg
- Explosive charge: 8 kg guncotton
- Propulsion: a 2-cylinder compressed-air engine
- Speed: approx. 6–7 knots (approx. 11–13 km/h)
- Range: approx. 200 metres
The world’s first torpedo factory in Rijeka
In 1875 Whitehead founded the “Whitehead & Co. torpedo factory” in Rijeka. The city became the centre of the global arms industry. Thousands of test shots were fired from a special launch ramp into the Kvarner Bay to perfect the weapon.
This historical photo shows such a test launch from the ramp in Rijeka, with the factory in the background.
The impact on the First World War
The invention from Rijeka revolutionised naval warfare. By the First World War (1914–1918), the torpedo had become the navy’s main weapon. Its effects were dramatic:
- Rise of the submarine: The torpedo turned the submarine from a curiosity into one of the deadliest weapons of the war. German U-boats used torpedoes with devastating effect against Allied merchant and warships.
- The end of invulnerability: Huge, expensive battleships were no longer safe. A single, relatively cheap torpedo could sink a mighty warship, as shown by the sinking of the British HMS Pathfinder in 1914 by the German submarine U-21 – the first sinking of a warship by a submarine using a torpedo.
- New tactics: The threat of torpedoes forced fleets to develop new tactics, such as zigzag sailing and the use of escort ships (destroyers) for anti-submarine defence.
The collaboration of a Croatian officer and a British engineer on the Adriatic coast changed the balance of power on the world’s oceans forever and left a lasting legacy in military history.
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