WI: Torpedoes and Armour-Piercing Shells Delayed or Butterflied Away?

Historically the middle decades of the nineteenth century were a period of flux in naval tactics, as the advent of gun-proof ironclads led naval commanders to search for some new method of defeating enemy ships. In the end this situation was resolved by the invention of the armour-piercing shell and of the torpedo, which meant that vessels were once again able to destroy each other at a distance. Say, though, that these inventions were butterflied away, or at least delayed by a few decades relative to their discovery IOTL. How would naval tactics have developed in their absence? A lot of people at the time expected the ram to become the dominant weapon, although most modern historians seem sceptical as to their efficiency. Maybe boarding enemy vessels would become the main tactic?
 

Delta Force

Banned
I take it you mean the self-propelled torpedo? In that case, the spar torpedo might remain more prominent.

As for defeating ironclad armor, there were two approaches. One involved simply using the heaviest cannon possible to try to punch through in one shot, while another involved using several cannons with higher rates of fire to try to weaken the armor and eventually punch through. I read a book on naval armament and tactics from the ironclad era which defined one of those methods are being typical of the Royal Navy and the other of being typical of the United States Navy, but I forget which was which.
 
I take it you mean the self-propelled torpedo? In that case, the spar torpedo might remain more prominent.

As for defeating ironclad armor, there were two approaches. One involved simply using the heaviest cannon possible to try to punch through in one shot, while another involved using several cannons with higher rates of fire to try to weaken the armor and eventually punch through. I read a book on naval armament and tactics from the ironclad era which defined one of those methods are being typical of the Royal Navy and the other of being typical of the United States Navy, but I forget which was which.

Hmm, more spar torpedoes could be interesting... Presumably then you'd see navies including more small ships to keep the torpedoes away from their capital vessels.

As for the anti-ironclad cannons, I suppose those tactics make sense. Do you have any idea, though, whether they'd still be effective in the absence of armour-piercing shot? I'd guess not, but I'm not really an expert on such matters.
 
I consider underware torpedoes as the inevitable development of spar torpedo boats.

I mean I like the idea of advancing naval technology as much as the next man but I don't think it should be giving you an underwear torpedo.


The reason the ram and spar torpedoes were abandoned even though it was very popular post ACW was because it became a suicidal tactic, especially with the ever increasing strength of naval guns. I think the development of the self-propelled torpedo could probably be nerfed for a few years but despite some enthusiasm and continued production the ram and spar torpedo were pretty dead.
 
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