Bliss - Leavitt torpedo The Bliss - Leavitt torpedo was a torpedo designed by Frank McDowell Leavitt and manufactured by the E . W . Bliss Company of Brooklyn , New York . It was put into service by the United States Navy in 1904 and variants of the design would remain in its inventory until the end of World War II . History . The E . W . Bliss Company secured manufacturing rights to the Whitehead torpedo in 1892 and thereafter supplied the US Navy with this weapon . In 1904 , an engineer with E . W . Bliss , Frank M . Leavitt , designed a torpedo with a " single - stage vertical turbine engine " that utilized compressed air preheated by alcohol . This design became the Bliss - Leavitt Mark 1 torpedo , the first non - Whitehead design after the Howell torpedo . The Mark 1 had a tendency to roll , affecting its directional stability . This was remedied by Navy Lieutenant Gregory Davison who proposed a two - stage turbine design that drove counter - rotating propellers . This cancelled the torque effect of the single - stage design , improving directional stability . All Bliss - Leavitt variants after the Mark 1 would carry this design feature . E . W . Bliss ceased production of the Bliss - Leavitt torpedo during the 1920s after the completion of the Mark 9 project . Design . Previous torpedoes were powered by radial engines powered by compressed air . Leavitt ' s idea was to use steam turbines to drive the torpedo . In 1904 Leavitt designed a new class of torpedoes , manufactured by his employer the E . W . Bliss Company . The first model of the inventor ' s new torpedo was called the Bliss - Leavitt Mark 1 . The weapon was powered by a single - stage , vertical turbine engine , fueled by alcohol used to heat the air before entering the engine . The design was seen as groundbreaking in the armaments race . " New , Deadlier Torpedo , " headlined " The New York Times " in a front - page story on the development . " Missiles Equipped with Turbine Engines the Navy ' s Latest Acquisition " . In the story that followed , The Times noted that " the United States Government is supplying its Navy with a new engine of destruction which will be a deadly step in the evolution of modern warfare . . . The new invention is known as the Bliss - Leavitt torpedo . " The new devices , the newspaper noted , would cost the government $ 4 , 000 - to - $ 6 , 000 apiece . The design was revolutionary , but not without problems . The single - stage turbine engine drove a single propeller , which had a tendency to develop unbalanced torque and thus to roll in the water , throwing off its accuracy . The manufacturer and its inventor Leavitt corrected the problem in subsequent models of the Bliss - Leavitt torpedo by using a twin - turbine engine driving twin propellers , thus steadying the armament ' s waterborne trajectory . The Bliss - Leavitt Mark 2 and Mark 3 models of the weapon incorporated improvements to the design by Lt . Gregory Davison of the United States Navy . Ultimately , the Brooklyn manufacturing company introduced a Bliss - Leavitt Mark 4 model , an 18 - inch torpedo used in the torpedo boats and submarine s of the era . The E . W . Bliss Company had long enjoyed a close relationship with the United States Navy , acting as the virtual sole supplier of torpedoes to the service . But an English competitor emerged , Whitehead , and the competition between the two firms subsequently drove torpedo technology forward , resulting in a flurry of new models following the turn of the twentieth century . In short order the E . W . Bliss Company turned out its Mark 6 model , which used horizontal turbines and could be launched above - water ( but with limited range of 2 , 000 yards ) . A subsequent Mark 7 was the next great leap of technology , utilizing a water spray into the engine ' s combustion chamber to create a steam - powered torpedo . Significance . " In 1912 , the E . W . Bliss Company produced its finest torpedo to date , the Bliss - Leavitt Mark 7 , " writes Anthony Newpower in his authoritative " Iron Men and Tin Fish " . " This innovative design featured the use of steam , generated from water sprayed into the combustion pot along with the fuel . The resulting mixture dramatically boosted the efficiency of the torpedo , leading to markedly improved performance . " The Bliss - Leavitt Mark 7 was so cutting - edge that its design changed the face of naval warfare . Building on inventor Frank M . Leavitt ' s initial design , and incorporating his later improvements , the Mark 7 had a range of 6 , 000 yards at a brisk clip of 35 knots . The torpedo carried 326 pounds of TNT or TPX explosive . The Bliss - Leavitt Mark 7 was introduced into the United States Navy Fleet in 1912 , and the design proved so resilient and far - sighted that it remained in use for an unprecedented 33 years – up to and including service in World War II . ( During the Second World War , the Mark 7 was used to arm reactivated World War I destroyers still carrying 18 - inch torpedo tubes . Also pressed into service during the conflict was the last model of the Bliss - Leavitt , the Mark 9 , and the first US torpedoes to be designed totally within the Navy without industry collaboration , the Mk 11 and Mk 12 ) . The Navy considered the new weapon so essential to its arsenal that it sued in federal court in 1913 to prevent the E . W . Bliss Company from revealing any details of its manufacture to foreign countries . In its petition asking an injunction preventing company officials from telling British officials the technical details of the revolutionary torpedo , Assistant United States Attorney General Malcolm A . Coles told a U . S . District Court Judge that the court must " protect the right arm of the nation ' s defense " – the Navy – by granting a U . S . Government request for an injunction preventing Bliss from revealing the technical specifications of the weapon to a British company . During the First World War , most United States Navy ships were still functioning chiefly as anti - submarine escorts , and the use of torpedoes as offensive weapons was limited . On May 21 , 1917 , the destroyer USS " Ericsson " reportedly fired a single torpedo at a German U - Boat .