Compressed air The Whitehead torpedo of 1866, the first successful self-propelled torpedo, used compressed air as its energy source. The air was stored at pressures of up to and fed to a piston engine that turned a single propeller at about 100 rpm. It could travel about at an average speed of . The speed and range of later models were improved by increasing the pressure of the stored air. In 1906 Whitehead built torpedoes that could cover nearly at an average speed of .
Compressed air The Whitehead torpedo of 1866, the first successful self-propelled torpedo, used compressed air as its energy source. The air was stored at pressures of up to and fed to a piston engine that turned a single propeller at about 100 rpm. It could travel about at an average speed of . The speed and range of later models were improved by increasing the pressure of the stored air. In 1906 Whitehead built torpedoes that could cover nearly at an average speed of .