Earliest wire-guided munitions

What’s the earliest point at which you can develop and deploy effective wire-guided munitions? I’m talking about both missiles (rockets) and torpedoes.

Apparently, there was an American fellow who produced a wire-guided torpedo in the 1870s, but that torpedo’s only instance of combat usage seems to have ended badly. He later designed an improved version of that torpedo, but it doesn’t seem to have seen any action.

Thoughts?
 
What’s the earliest point at which you can develop and deploy effective wire-guided munitions? ..... torpedoes.
.....a wire-guided torpedo in the 1870s,
It will almost certainly be a wire guided coastal defence torpedo, as that would be the easiest to build?

From wiki "the first practical guided missile was patented by Louis Brennan, an emigre to Australia, in 1877." (and by "wire" it was actual differential cable tension on two wires not electrical signals!)
 
there was the German FL-boat of WWI https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FL-boat

my speculation for earlier guided munitions was for "little Fritz-X" an air launched bomb fashioned from SC-250. they schemed instead the larger Fritz-X https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_X approx. six times larger.

the actual Fritz-X had radio control, they only toyed with wire guidance as Allies jammed their weapons. my thought the smaller , wire guided munition could have been carried by more models of aircraft and been deployed earlier?
 
The Germans did develop the X-7 air-to-air guided missile in 1945 as well as a wire-guided anti-tank variant. And this is under wartime conditions.

If started prewar with time to get the system mature who knows...
 
The Germans were also developing a wire guided glide bomb in WW1. It was to consist of a torpedo inside a wire-guided glider dropped from a bomber. At the right position and altitude the torpedo would be dropped from the glider and then continue in the water against an enemy ship. Tracking the glider would be done with the aid of flares. If the work had somehow continued you could probably get a working torpedo glider in the early-mid 1920's. I'd say wire-guided bombs are probably technically feasible as soon as you have a suitable carrier aircraft/airship for a bomb, the right wire and an effective steering/electric guidance system for the bomb fins. So indeed early 20s to get something practical.
 
It will almost certainly be a wire guided coastal defence torpedo, as that would be the easiest to build?

From wiki "the first practical guided missile was patented by Louis Brennan, an emigre to Australia, in 1877." (and by "wire" it was actual differential cable tension on two wires not electrical signals!)
The Brennan torpedo actually entered service in 1885 and remained so until 1905, so 1877 was pretty much the earliest it could be built (barring earlier development of the underlying precision components in general).
It eventually became obsolete due to its short range and slow speed inherent to the mechanism.

As for the rocket-powered missiles, the earliest a simple MCLOS system could be made was probably in WWI or so with the Kettering Bug being further developed, in general as soon as electric motors and thin trailing wires could be built.
 
my speculation for earlier guided munitions was for "little Fritz-X" an air launched bomb fashioned from SC-250. they schemed instead the larger Fritz-X https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_X approx. six times larger.

the actual Fritz-X had radio control, they only toyed with wire guidance as Allies jammed their weapons. my thought the smaller , wire guided munition could have been carried by more models of aircraft and been deployed earlier?

meant to add the "little Fritz-X" would have been for the Condors to attack merchant ships, not that my speculation was they could sink BBs as the larger "real" Fritz-X did.

the advantage would be fewer bombs needed, as historically they had to "bracket" their target with several, also they could maintain level flight important in the (relatively) fragile Condor
 
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