Torpedo Timeline of Events

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Torpedo

The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...

Timeline of Events

1904

2.8.1904

Battle of Port Arthur: A surprise torpedo attack by the Japanese at Port Arthur, China starts the Russo-Japanese War.

1941

11.14.1941

World War II: The aircraft carrier HMS ''Ark Royal'' sinks due to torpedo damage from ''U-81'' sustained on November 13.

1943

1.30.1943

World War II: Second day of the Battle of Rennell Island. The USS Chicago is sunk and a U.S. destroyer is heavily damaged by Japanese torpedoes.

1944

10.25.1944

The USS ''Tang'' under Richard O'Kane (the top American submarine captain of World War II) is sunk by the ship's own malfunctioning torpedo.

1945

1.30.1945

World War II: The ''Wilhelm Gustloff'', overfilled with refugees, sinks in the Baltic Sea after being torpedoed by a Soviet submarine, leading to the deadliest known maritime disaster, killing approximately 9,000 people.