When a group of enthusiasts, “torpedoists”, met at the City Museum of Rijeka in 2007 in favourable circumstances, first torpedoes and their instruments, parts and tools started arriving.
This exhibition our first actual step towards a museum collection and the future museum of the industrial and technical heritage in Rijeka, which was mentioned a few times in the recent years, but only now it has been taken into serious consideration.
Our approach to torpedo research is based on fascination with technical achievements and particular progress in Rijeka at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. Because of torpedo, Rijeka became known throughout the world.
Many technical innovations were introduced in the torpedo factory and many new instruments were invented and tested for the first time. No less fascinating is the fact that that early acoustic and aerodynamics research was conducted in this factory and that the breaking of the sound barrier was proven here.
The help for this exhibition came from many assistants of different profiles and interests and cooperative museums and other institutions.
We are very grateful to everyone who diligently and with great enthusiasm volunteered to make this exhibition happen.
Ervin Dubrović
(Andrea Lodovico Adamich)
(1766.–1828.)
Adamić was a harbinger of modernization in Rijeka. He gained his technical knowledge in a Viennese school. In 1811 he bought a steam saw used for cutting oak logs in the Deptford shipyard (Greenwich) in London. In 1821 he suggested to Chancellor Metternich a steamship line running from Rijeka to Boka kotorska. Together with his son Primo, in 1823 he designed a chain suspension bridge over Rječina, and in 1825 he lobbied for the construction of the railway from Rijeka to Pest.
(1794.–1866.)
One of the founders of the Fonderia metalli (Foundry, 1854), but above all a merchant and ship owner who inherited an already thriving family business and invested large amounts of money in the production of oak staves in the forests of Slavonia. He is best known as a founder of “elite tourism” – he built the villa Angiolina (1844) in Opatija, and his guests there included the Empress Maria Anna, Ban Josip Jelačić and Field Marshal Nugent. Scarpa was also one of the first supporters of modernization and factories – he cooperated on the establishing of the gas plant and steam mill. He also lobbied for the construction of the road to Šentpeter (Pivka) and the railway.
(1797.–1881.)
After grammar school he ran away from home because the family wanted him to become a priest. He went to London and then to Cuba. It is believed that he was the one who brought the inventor of torpedo, Robert Whitehead, to Rijeka, just as he had brought Walter Crafton Smith, the founder of the Paper mill before him. Matcovich visited the USA and wrote about it in the Ilirske narodne novine. He had many occupations and he was one of the most fervent supporters of modernization.
(1798.–1893.; 1833.-1888.)
He was among the founders and shareholders of the Fonderia metalli (1854) and one of its deputy chairmen, founder and chairman of the Bank of Rijeka and chairman of the Municipal savings bank. At first he was a naval captain and ship owner, then wood merchant, exporting wood from Gorski kotar and Croatian inland to foreign countries. He was a prominent public figure and he supported the construction of the railway.
(1799.–1860.)
He fist came to Rijeka as the agent of the English paper mill Brown, Smith & Cie, for which he acquired raw material – old rags. He bought Adamić’s manufacture (1827) and together with his partner, he developed it into the most modern paper mill in the Monarchy, winning medals and rewards since 1835. In 1833 he bought a steam engine and employed a hundred workers. He was one of the shareholders of Fonderia metalli.
(oko 1793.–1876.)
He came to Rijeka in 1828 and together with Walter Crafton Smith he established the Paper mill. He contributed to other businesses too, and was a shareholder in a few firms in Rijeka – Fonderia metalli, mill in Žakalj, Chemical factory and others. At the beginning of 1840s he was joined by his nephew Henry/Enrico, the future owner of the Mill, who spent almost seventy years working there.
(1822.–1912.)
Nephew of the owner of the Paper mill. He moved from Paris in 1840s and worked in his uncle’s (and later, from 1876, his own) mill for seventy years. He was included in many other businesses – he was the chairman of the Chemical factory (Stabilimento di prodotti chimici) and chairman of the Banca di credito fiumano. One of the first shareholders of the Stabilimento tecnico fiumano.
(1824.–1903.)
Grandson of Andrija Ljudevit Adamić and engineering officer, he requested retirement in 1860s and returned to Rijeka. For years he advocated the construction of the railway and looked forward to the construction of the Suez canal. He connected Giovanni Luppis with Whitehead and was ready to participate in the future “coast guard” trade, which was supposed to bring him one tenth of the profits. As a long-standing Mayor of Rijeka, he became the symbol of its progress.
(1815.–1875.)
Frigate captain who in the winter of 1860, during the long and uncomfortable patrol of the outer, southern side of the Kvarner islands on frigate Bellona, invented the “coast guard”. It was a boat filled with explosive, propelled by clockwork mechanism. It would be steered from the coast by means of bridles. The boat would be directed at the enemy and explode on contact. The idea was never tested for real, but it was a base for the future torpedo.
(1823.–1905.)
Born in the area of the earliest European industrialization, Bolton near Manchester, which was filled with cotton mills and engine factories. He gained significant technical education and moved to the continent – first to Marseille, then Milan, Vienna, Trieste and Rijeka. Upon his arrival, he became the director of the Foundry (later Stabilimento tecnico fiumano) and then Torpedofabrik Whitehead & Comp (1875). The invention of torpedo (1866) enabled the fast development of the factory and brought Whitehead world fame.
(1854.–1902.)
As a twelve-year-old boy he already participated in the invention of torpedo (1866). He graduated from the Technical college in Zurich and joined his father’s factory, where he was the head engineer for more than 20 years. At the end of the 1880s he participated in the physical experiments (acoustics and gas dynamics) at the Whitehead factory. At the beginning of 1890s he worked on his own gyroscope and its engine, which was supposed to maintain the direction of the torpedo.
(1842.–1904.)
Whitehead’s son-in-law and one of the closest associates, partner and director of the Torpedofabrik. At first he was a naval officer who fought at the Battle of Vis (1866). In the autumn of 1867 he participated in the testing of torpedo. He was the commander of the gunboat Gemsa, which was turned into the first torpedo boat in the world. At that time, he met Whitehead’s daughter, ended his naval career, married Miss Whitehead and started working in the factory.
(1836.–1906.)
Precise mechanic, one of the Whitehead’s closest associates for many years. He came to the Stabilimento tecnico fiumano in 1860s at worked on the development of the torpedo from the beginning. He had a share in the profits, which brought him a large fortune.
He was the most prominent representative of the highly qualified technicians torpedo factory was famous for.
(1836.–1916.)
Austrian physicist and philosopher of science, a major influence on logical positivism.
His most famous theory is the breaking of the sound barrier, which he proved mathematically but could not test. It was experimentally proven in 1866 by his co-workers, researchers from Rijeka, Salcher and Riegler, who conducted the research in the Whitehead factory.
(1848.–1928.)
Professor and physics and mechanics textbook writer at the Marineakademie (Naval academy) in Rijeka. At Ernst Mach’s suggestion, he and his associates joined in 1866 the acoustics and gas dynamics research. Salcher and his associate recorded the shock wave at the breaking of the sound barrier and gained recognition. They published their work in the Works of the Royal Academy in Vienna.
Teacher and headmaster of the Hungarian grammar school in Rijeka, a keen photographer and important associate in acoustic research in Whitehead’s factory laboratory. Together with Ernst Mach and Peter Salcher he won several awards for the photographs of the shock wave and the breaking of the sound barrier (May 1886). He was the first president of the first photo club in Rijeka – photo section of the Natural science club (established on 9 January 1897).
(1855.–1926.)
The Orlando family, shipbuilders from Genoa, became prominent in the second half of the 19th century and moved to Livorno, where they also had a shipyard, and soon they were leading a strong steel conglomerate. Giuseppe, a marine engineer, first took over the Danubius shipyard, and then the struggling Torpedofabrik Whitehead Aktiengesellschaft, which in 1924 changed its name to Stabilimenti Whitehead Società di Esercizio Anonima.
(1862.–1933.)
After his brother’s death, Luigi Senior, together with Giuseppe’s son, Luigi Junior, took over the torpedo factory. From the collapsing factory with 300 workers in 1924, Luigi, together with his nephew, Admiral Arturo Ciano developed Silurificio Whitehead into a big industry employing around 1200 workers before WWII. One of the greatest contributions in this period was the development of the aerial torpedo.
(1932.)
Mechanical engineer who graduated from the Technical Faculty in Rijeka. He worked in Torpedo from 1951 to 1975. He worked on perfecting several torpedo instruments, the most important of which was an instrument added to gyroscope to prevent the rotation of the aerial torpedo around a horizontal axis.
The “coast guard” was invented between 1860 and 1864 as a boat filled with explosive, first moved by means of sails and later a clockwork mechanism. It was supposed to be steered from the coast by two bridles, and would explode on contact with the enemy ship. Explosive was situated in the front part, and the mechanism which moved the propeller was in the back part.
The rudder was unusual, made of 3 parts: the front part parallel with the axis of the boat was immovable, the back part, made of two moving flaps was supposed to enable an “ergonomic” way of steering. The ignition was induced by “rods” and the “mast” connected by wires. The “coast guard” was never tested.
Torpedo was invented in 1866 as a result of developing a boat-shaped vessel. All the early naval mines were floating on the surface of the sea. When Robert Fulton, the inventor of the submarine, used the term “torpedo” at the beginning of the 19th century, he had a vision of the large, submerged steel fish.
The first Whitehead’s torpedo looked like a big tuna. It had a pointy head and tail – which was a characteristic of all the future torpedoes until it was discovered that a round head moves faster and easier through water. The first Whitehead’s round head series was produced in 1896.
Torpedo from the first series delivered to the Austrian navy had a calibre (diameter) of 35,5 cm, it was 3,56 m meters long, it carried 18 kg of explosive, its range was 200 m and its speed was 6 kn. Naval committee which evaluated Whitehead’s invention thought at first that it was only capable of destroying immovable objects – bridges and anchored ships.
One of the oldest models. The more interesting back part is preserved. Torpedo at that time still had just one propeller.
Early torpedoes can be recognized by the characteristic circular protection around the propeller, which the later models lost.
This torpedo is a proof that the design of torpedo had not changed significantly for several decades. It is one of the last models with the older, pointed version of the head and tail. At the end of the century Whitehead started producing torpedoes with round heads. Tests of both variants showed that round-head torpedo was 1 kn faster than the pointed one.
Used for tearing the protective net around ships. When the ships started using steel nets, other ways of penetrating were introduced. In 1909 Whitehead factory produced warheads with strong steel knives which would activate the explosive on contact with the net and shoot forward with enough force to cut it.
Robert Whitehead’s son John tried to develop his own gyroscope in mid 1890s. At the same time, he worked on an engine which would enable gyroscopic regulation of direction. He was encouraged by Adams Howell’s work on the maintenance of the course of the torpedo.
Whitehead tried to develop a torpedo with greater reach than the Americans, but with the same inertness qualities. He built the 3-cylinder engine into a large flywheel which should have enabled great rotation, but the experiment did not succeed – there were many complicated parts and problems with friction, and it was never used.
In order to increase the efficiency of the engine – to get more strength with the same amount of compressed air – the factory in Rijeka tried to increase the number of cylinders in the radial engine. They did manage to get higher power efficiency, but it was much more complicated for production and it was abandoned after testing.
First engine Whitehead used for torpedo was a little steam engine with oscillating cylinders produced in his factory. But this engine could not achieve the desired speed. In 1870s he used Brotherhood’s 3-cylinder radial engine which he gradually improved. The factory later used 4-cylindre engine of the same type, but in the years before WWI they could not fulfil the demand for faster torpedoes with more explosive.
Brotherhood’s 4-cylinder engine with shaft and propellers recovered from the sea around Vis by the Special Police and donated to the City Museum of Rijeka. The engine, together with the torpedo, probably sank in WWII. Sixty years in the sea did not cause much damage.
This engine was out of date at that time, since it was made before WWI, when Whitehead was already producing stronger and more efficient 2-cylinder engines.
This depth regulator, made in 1885, is among the unused prototypes. It came to the Maritime and History Museum of the Croatian Littoral in the 1960s, together with most of the objects from the Torpedo factory museum, which held many prototypes and other factory rarities. Like other experimental instruments, this one had never been used.
All important characteristics of torpedo were improved during the 100 years of its production.
Between the late 1860s and 1960s, the factory in Rijeka produced more than thirty models, which differed in calibre, length, quantity of explosive, speed and range. Various navies around the world were delivered around twenty thousand torpedoes.
The last models form the Rijeka factory, which were first produced before WWI and developed later, were the 450 mm and 533 mm calibre. The smaller model was 5,7 m long, it had 200 kg of explosive, its speed was 43,7 kn at 2000 m and 27,5 kn at 8000 m. The bigger one was 7,2 m long, it had 260 kg of explosive, its speed was 50 kn at 4000 m and 30 kn at 12000 m.
In the 1930s aerial 450 mm calibre torpedoes were made. Since then, torpedo can be fired from under the sea, at the sea level and from the height of 100 m.
Important progress in the power and speed of the engine happened in 1909 when Whitehead’s factory, instead of producing engines with cylinders vertical to the torpedo axis started producing a horizontal slightly slanted engine with two bigger cylinders with greater volume and power. The so-called slanted 2-cylinder engine got its final shape in the 1920s and kept it until the end of production in Rijeka, in 1960s.
Before the WWI a heater was added to the engine – it heated the compressed air, increasing its volume and it produced steam which also increased the volume of the air entering the cylinders and affected the speed and reach of the torpedo.
Until the beginning of the 20th century, cold compressed air was the only fuel for the Whitehead’s torpedo. Afterwards, a heater that heated the air and increased its volume – and torpedo’s speed and range – was added. Even later, steam, heated by the paraffin, was added, further increasing the speed and range.
Whitehead’s great progress in comparison with Luppis’s concept of boat was the immersion of the torpedo. That required a special device, which was long thought of as a miracle, and he called it his “secret”. To protect it from the competition, he refused to patent it.
Its function was to maintain a constant, pre-arranged depth, which was achieved with hydrostatic vessel that directed horizontal rudders. Whitehead’s “secret”, with few additions, remained almost unchanged until 1950s.
First acceptable device for directing the torpedo with gyroscope was patented in 1894 by Lodovico (Ludwig) Obry from Trieste, a former employee of Whitehead’s. Obry was the first to solve many problems: how to get the gyroscope to start rotating in as little time as possible, how to direct the vertical rudders and maintain the fast rotation of the rotor. Obry immediately offered his gyroscope to Whitehead, but he refused it, explaining that he was close to constructing his own device. However, his son John did not succeed in developing his own model, so on 25 January 1897 he accepted Obry’s. The gyroscope’s spring was winded manually and released at the moment of application, causing rotation and inertion effect. Afterwards, its movement was induced by the same compressed air that fuelled the torpedo engine.
Igniters on the first and a few next torpedoes functioned according to a simple mechanical principle and were situated at the front of the torpedo: when it hit the enemy ship, the igniter ignited automatically.
Because of accidents happening during firing, damaging the torpedo carrier, a more sophisticated igniters were made. Some were not situated on the head and some had reliable fuses which prevented the explosion near the point of firing.
Before the delivery of each torpedo, it underwent test launching, during which its movement was recorded with depth indicator, which had a built-in printer that showed depth oscillations and possible emerging.
The data was written on a roll of paper. It had a clockwork mechanism or blades on the outside of the torpedo that rotated as it moved through water and rolled the paper.
Depth indicator was built in the test heads of torpedoes.
A target device from a torpedo boat for launching torpedoes 45 / b, was made in the Torpedo factory. This device first determines the torpedo’s speed, the target’s speed and the firing angle, and then both targets must be brought in line with the target.
Launch tubes were produced from the very beginning of torpedo production.
The first barrel was installed in the world’s first torpedo boat, the former Gemse gunboat, from which underwater test launches were carried out in 1867 in front of the torpedo factory. A tube for the surface launch of larger caliber torpedoes was also made for this torpedo boat.
The above-ground launch tube with a movable base, used to compress 450 mm diameter torpedoes from the Torpedo factory’s launch station using compressed air, was used to test the speed, range and regularity of their movement.
First launching station was built in the 1870s. It was a wooden house on stilts with a wooden bridge. Later it got a high lookout for monitoring the test launches.
New station, built of reinforced concrete, was made in 1930, and in 1934 it was added a “catapult” for aerial torpedoes. Every torpedo was tested before the delivery, in front of the naval commissions from various countries.
The model exhibited here shows the 1930s station, renovated after WWII.
The foundry was founded in the lively industrial climate at the beginning of the 1850s, but it did not work well until 1858, when an English engineer Robert Whitehead came from Trieste and started producing big ship engines for the Austrian Navy.
Frigate captain, Giovanni Biagio Luppis (Ivan Vukić or Vukičević) came up with the idea of the “coast guard“, an explosive boat for the defence of the coast, which he unsuccessfully offered to the Ministry of War in Vienna.
Captain Luppis joined with the engineer Robert Whitehead, the director of Stabilimento tecnico fiumano in an attempt to develop the new weapon. The man who connected them was the retired lieutenant colonel and the future mayor Giovanni Ciotta, who participated in the project as the manager.
In 1865 Whitehead already gave up Luppis’s concept and started from scratch – instead of exploding boat, he developed an explosive “fish” which looked like tuna and moved under the surface. Torpedo was first called the “mine-ship” (Minenschiff) and it was presented to the Austrian Navy committee on 20 December 1866.
At the Paris World’s Fair, Whitehead presented an engine he built for the Erzherzog Ferdinand Max ship, which fought at the Battle of Vis. He was also awarded in Paris in 1899 and 1900.
Among Whitehead’s greatest inventions was the depth regulator which keeps the torpedo at a constant depth. It was developed in the 1870s and did not change much by the mid-20th century. Whitehead called it “my secret” and did not even want to patent it for fear of uncovering.
In September and October of 1870 more than a hundred torpedoes were launched. Their average speed was 7 kn and their reach 500 m. At the beginning, the Ministry of War technical committee thought them adequate only for destroying unmoving targets.
The Navy workshops in Woolwich started producing torpedoes with two propellers. They used Whitehead’s concession, and they had a deal to share new innovations. In Rijeka, two counter-rotating propellers enabled better maintenance of the course.
Robert Whitehead bought, together with his son-in-law, Stabilimento tecnico Fiumano and he renamed it Torpedofabrik Whitehead & Comp.
Instead of his own two-cylinder steam engines, Whitehead started using Brotherhood’s three-cylinder radial engine, which he improved in his factory. It raised the speed of the torpedo significantly.
Representatives of governments and navies of many countries came to Rijeka. At one dinner at Whitehead’s, there were representatives of 18 countries who spoke in 8 languages, and some of their countries were at war at the time.
At that time, cast iron was gradually phased out and steel was increasingly introduced.
Whitehead sold torpedoes to many countries: 254 to England, 250 to Russia, 218 to France, 203 to Germany, 100 to Austria-Hungary, 83 to Denmark and 70 to Italy. Other buyers were Argentina, Belgium, Greece, Portugal and others.
Factory sells another 78 torpedoes to other countries that have smaller orders.
Whitehead increased the calibre of the torpedo from 356 and 381 mm to 450 mm and soon to 533 mm.
This also increased the air reservoir, which enabled greater speed and reach. Because of the high pressure, air reservoirs were built of steel.
The USA bought Whitehead’s concession rights on torpedoes fuelled by cold compressed air.
A branch office in Weymouth was established, along with the one in Newport, USA. Others, like Schwarzkopf, the biggest competitor in Rijeka, produced the same torpedoes, with or without the concession.
Ludovico Obry from Trieste developed and patented his own gyroscope for directing the torpedo. Obry at first worked at Stabilimento tecnico Triestino and then, from 1883 to 1885 in Whitehead’s factory in Rijeka. His invention was developed further by the end of the century – a mechanic called Czerny improved it and adjusted it for incorporation into torpedo.
The factory in Rijeka became a joint stock company Torpedo Fabrik Whitehead und Co Aktiengeselschaft. At the court in Rijeka, it was registered in English, Italian and Hungarian. Georg Hoyos’s son Edgar became the managing director.
The production of 533 calibre torpedo – which was already being produced in Woolwich – began in Rijeka.
When they added burning paraffin, at the range of 4000 m the speed of the torpedo rose to 26 kn.
A completely new engine was produced, with two slanted cylinders, and the star-shaped engine was abandoned.
Orlando family from Livorno took over the Torpedofabrik and turned it into Silurificio Whitehead. The Ciano family, a powerful family which gave two ministers and two admirals, also from Livorno, had an important role as well. Admiral Arturo Ciano was important in Rijeka’s factory management.
First launching station in the world with a catapult for aerial torpedo was built, and test flights were also made above the bay of Rijeka. Torpedo is fired in low flight, 50 to 100 m above ground, at the speed of 200 km/h.
Demolished factory got a new name, Jadran, but at the end of 1947 it was renamed after Yugoslav politician Aleksandar Ranković. In 1953 it became the Engine Factory Torpedo. The post-war production of torpedoes lasted for 20 years, but it was kept secret – all we know is that approximately 350 torpedoes were made. The range of the TZR 533 mm torpedo was 12 km and its speed was 40 kn.
A hundred years after the first experiments, the factory stopped producing torpedoes.
It continued making engines, from the small Aran to the large ship engines. It also produced tractor and lorry engines until the 1990s.
The basic idea of the exhibition Torpedo of Rijeka – first in the world is contained in the medium of sea/water, in which our object of interest moved.
The exhibition is divided into three parts:
The interior is wrapped in transparent materials which suggest the atmosphere of the sea and deep sea beds, entwined with the photographs, torpedoes and other exhibits in video presentations specially prepared for this exhibition. The complete atmosphere of the “factory under the sea” is supplemented by the specially prepared sounds and delicate lightning.
Everything is arranged in space with the minimum use of museum equipment, in order to emphasize the atmosphere of the floating sea bottom.
Klaudio Cetina
TORPEDO OF RIJEKA – FIRST IN THE WORLD
26 November 2010 – 7 September 2011
Authors of catalogue and exhibition
Dinko Zorović
Goran Pernjek
Ervin Dubrović
Design of catalogue and exhibition
Klaudio Cetina
Suradnica u pripremi
Jasna Milinković
Proof-reading and language advising (Croatian)
Gordana Ožbolt
Photographs
Željko Stojanović
Curator of Technical collection
Mladen Grgurić
Assistants in technical realization of the exhibition and video presentations
Bojan Kukuljan
Mirna Kutleša
Assistant in graphic design
Željana Dubrović
Technical arrangement
Safet Baštrakaj- Ri Bauen, Anto Kovačević, Nikola Milinković, Albert Perčić, Textum Dekor, Rijeka
Preparation of exhibits
Marija Lazanja Dušević
Design of models
Goran Pernjek, Safet Baštrakaj, Josip Gabrić, Luciano Keber, Alen Višnić – Arka bravarija, Viškovo, Željko Žic,
Translation into English
Jelena Dunato
Public relations
Sabrina Žigo
Print
Zambelli, Rijeka, November 2010
Ivan Babić, Jadranko Batinić, Marijan Čelić, Saša Dmitrović, Dalibor Fak, Josip Gabrić, Nikša Grgurev, Goran Hope, Thomas Ilming, Ivan Jambor, Marinko Kardum, Helmut Lackner, Stjepan Lozo, Marinko Marjanović, Marino Micich, Bernardin Modrić – Istra film, Robert Mohović, Ivo Mileusnić, Tomislav Pečarić, Benito Petrucci, Davor Purić, Mirko Rupert, Josip Seršić, Željko Skomeršić, Miljenko Smokvina, Mate Šekelja, Zdenko Vidov, Hrvoje Vlahov
State Archives in Rijeka; Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna; Croatian Maritime Museum Split; National and University Library, Zagreb; Faculty of Maritime Studies in Rijeka; Maritime and Historical Museum of the Croatian Littoral Rijeka; History Museum of Istria, Pula; Society of Studi Fiumani – Archive of the Historical Museum of Fiume, Rome; University Library of Rijeka; Technical Museum, Vienna; Military Museum of the Ministry of Defense, Zagreb; WASS- Whitehead Alenia Subacquei Systems, Livorno.
City of Rijeka
Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia
Primorsko Goranska county
INA oil industry d.d., Zagreb
Croatian Navy
Special Police of the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia
