Bliss-Leavitt torpedo

Bliss-Leavitt torpedo
Bliss-Leavitt 21-inch Mark 8 torpedoes intended for USS Farragut DD-300 and USS Thompson DD-305 ca. 1925
Type	Anti-surface ship torpedo
Place of origin	United States
Service history
In service	1904–1945
Used by	United States Navy
Wars	World War II
Production history
Designer	Frank McDowell Leavitt
Designed	1904–1915
Manufacturer	E. W. Bliss Company
Variants	Bliss-Leavitt Mk 1 Bliss-Leavitt Mk 2 Bliss-Leavitt Mk 3 Bliss-Leavitt Mk 4 Bliss-Leavitt Mk 6 Bliss-Leavitt Mk 7 Bliss-Leavitt Mk 8 Bliss-Leavitt Mk 9
Specifications
Weight	1500 lbs (Mk1)
Length	197 inches (Mk1)
Diameter	21 inches (Mk1)
Effective firing range	4000 yards (Mk1)
Warhead	wet guncotton (Mk1)
Warhead weight	200 lbs
Detonation mechanism	War Nose Mk 1, contact
Engine	Turbine
Speed	27 knots (Mk1)
Guidance system	gyroscope
Launch platform	battleships, torpedo boats, cruisers, destroyers and submarines

The Bliss-Leavitt torpedo was a torpedo designed by Frank McDowell Leavitt and manufactured by the E. W. Bliss Company of Brooklyn, New York. It was put into service by the United States Navy in 1904 and variants of the design would remain in its inventory until the end of World War II.

The E. W. Bliss Company secured manufacturing rights to the Whitehead torpedo in 1892 and thereafter supplied the US Navy with this weapon. In 1904, an engineer with E. W. Bliss, Frank M. Leavitt, designed a torpedo with a "single-stage vertical turbine engine" that utilized compressed air preheated by alcohol. This design became the Bliss-Leavitt Mark 1 torpedo, the first non-Whitehead design after the Howell torpedo.

The Mark 1 had a tendency to roll, affecting its directional stability. This was remedied by Navy Lieutenant Gregory C. Davison who proposed a two-stage turbine design that drove contra-rotating propellers. This cancelled the torque effect of the single-stage design, improving directional stability. All Bliss-Leavitt variants after the Mark 1 would carry this design feature.

E. W. Bliss ceased production of the Bliss-Leavitt torpedo during the 1920s after the completion of the Mark 9 project.

Previous torpedoes were powered by radial engines powered by compressed air. Leavitt's idea was to use steam turbines to drive the torpedo. In 1904 Leavitt designed a new class of torpedoes, manufactured by his employer the E. W. Bliss Company. The first model of the inventor's new torpedo was called the Bliss-Leavitt Mark 1. The weapon was powered by a single-stage, vertical turbine engine, fueled by alcohol used to heat the air before entering the engine.