point, his torpedo had grown to a diameter of 18 inches with a maximum speed of with a warhead weighing . Whitehead faced competition from the American Lieutenant Commander John A. Howell, whose design, driven by a flywheel, was simpler and cheaper. It was produced from 1885 to 1895, and it ran straight, leaving no wake. A Torpedo Test Station was set up in Rhode Island in 1870. The Howell torpedo was the only United States Navy model until Whitehead torpedoes produced by Bliss and Williams entered service in 1894. Five varieties were produced, all 18-inch diameter. The United States Navy started using the Whitehead torpedo in 1892 after an American company, E.W. Bliss, secured manufacturing rights. The Royal Navy introduced the Brotherhood wet heater engine in 1907 with the 18 in. Mk. VII & VII* which greatly increased the speed and/or range over compressed air engines and wet heater type engines became the standard in many major navies up to and during the Second World War. Torpedo boats and guidance systems Ships of the line were superseded by ironclads, large steam-powered ships with heavy gun armament and heavy armor, in the mid 19th century. Ultimately this line of development led to the dreadnought category of all-big-gun battleships, starting with . Although these ships were incredibly powerful, the new weight of armor slowed them down, and the huge guns needed to penetrate that armor fired at very slow rates. This allowed for the possibility of a small and fast ship that could attack the battleships, at a much lower cost. The introduction of the torpedo provided a weapon that could cripple, or sink, any battleship. The first boat designed to fire the self-propelled Whitehead torpedo was , completed in 1877. The French Navy followed suit in 1878 with , launched in 1878 though she had been ordered in 1875. The first torpedo boats were built at the shipyards of Sir John Thornycroft and gained recognition for their effectiveness. At the same time, inventors were working on building a guided torpedo. Prototypes were built by John Ericsson, John Louis Lay, and Victor von Scheliha, but the first practical guided missile was patented by Louis Brennan, an emigre to Australia, in 1877. It was designed to run at a consistent depth of , and was fitted with an indicator mast that just broke the surface of the water. At night the mast