The Catamaran torpedo was an unmanned British naval weapon developed by the American inventor Robert Fulton during the Napoleonic Wars. Designed as a floating naval mine operated on a clockwork timer, they were expensive and complex machines that carried 40 barrels of gunpowder. However due to a lack of adequate steering they were inaccurate and on the two occassions they were deployed achived little, succeeding only in the destuction of a small péniche and its 14 crew off Boulogne on 2 October 1804. After a second attempt at Calais on 8 December 1804 achieved nothing, the catamarans were dropped from naval service amid protest both in Britain and France.
Design edit
In 1804, British Prime Minister William Pitt engaged the American inventor Robert Fulton to work at Plymouth Dockyard to produce experimental explosive naval equipment. One design that Fulton submitted was for a torpedo prototype known as a "catamaran".
The catamaran shell was formed from a wooden chest 21 feet (6.4 m) long and 3.3 feet (1.0 m) wide, with a flat top and bottom and wedge-shaped ends. The chest was lined with lead to make it water-proof, and was then filled with 40 barrels of gunpowder and other comestible material. Triggering the weapon was a clockwork mechanism armed by removing a peg. This started the timer, which could last between six and ten minutes, at which point the gunpowder was detonated by a flintlock. The devices were ballasted so that the top edge was level with the water surface and were then cauked, covered with canvass and tarred. Each device carried grapples that were designed to catch on mooring ropes of anchored ships. In total the devices each weighed 2 long tons ([convert: unknown unit]).
At the time, there was no method of propelling or steering vessels without a human crew, and so the only way to deliver the weapon was by attaching it to the rear of a boat and towing it in the direction of the enemy. Unlike later spar torpedoes, it was not possible to attach the catamaran to the side or bow of the boat.
Deployment edit
The catamaran torpedo was first deployed at a raid on Boulogne in October 1804, under the command of Vice-Admiral Lord Keith. Intended to be used against 150 small coastal vessels anchored in Boulogne harbour, alongside fireships and other incendiary devices, five or six catamarans were released by their boats, detonating between 01:00 and 03:00 on the morning of 6 October. The results were unsatisfactory: only one catamaran had had any effect whatsoever, and that had still failed to strike an anchored ship. Instead, a small péniche patrolling the harbour had snagged the device and the French crew was investigating the catamaran when it exploded, destroying their vessel and killed all 14 men aboard.
This failed attack had two negative consequences for the Royal Navy. Firstly, protests from both France and Britain attended the use of this "barbaric" weapon, while on a tactical level the discovery of the device before it had been properly tested allowed the French to develop means to protect their anchored ships with chain booms across their harbour mouths. On 8 December 1804 the catamarans were used again, in an effort under Captain Sir Home Riggs Popham to destroy a small fort named Fort Rouge built on piles in Calais harbour. Two catamarans were deployed, but neither struck the fort and one failed to explode entirely.
With the failure of this second attempt, the catamaran torpedo was retired. Fulton did not continue in British service for long, returning to the United States in 1806 after the failure of his devices, brought about largely due to poor deployment and lack of indepedent propulsion.