Torpedo ram
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A torpedo ram is a type of torpedo boat combining a ram with torpedo tubes. Incorporating design elements from the cruiser and the monitor, it was intended to provide small and inexpensive weapon syst
The torpedo ram HMS Polyphemus
The 1874 USS Intrepid in dry dock, note the torpedo projection device at her forefoot
HMS Polyphemus (1881)
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The third HMS Polyphemus was a Royal Navy torpedo ram, serving from 1881 until 1903. A shallow-draft, fast, low-profile vessel, she was designed to penetrate enemy harbours at speed and sink anchored
Torpedo ram
…detonated by ramming a target. Later designs used tube-launched self-propelled torpedoes, but retained the concept of ramming, resulting in designs like HMS Polyphemus, which had five torpedo tubes, two each port and starboard and one mounted in the center of her reinforced ram bow. The torpedo ram concept came about…
HMS Polyphemus
The layout of Polyphemus as depicted in Brasseys Naval Annual 1888
HMS Polyphemus' ram and bow rudders. A torpedo tube ran down the centre of the ram.