Thorsten Nordenfelt Thorsten Nordenfelt ( 1842 - 1920 ) , was a Swedish inventor and industrialist . Nordenfelt was born in Örby outside Kinna , Sweden , the son of a colonel . The surname was and is often spelt Nordenfeldt , though Thorsten and his brothers always spelt it Nordenfelt , and the 1881 Census shows it as Nordenfelt . The family home in that year was Leinster Lodge on the Uxbridge Road , Paddington in west London . Thorsten worked for a Swedish company in London from 1862 to 1866 and migrated to England in 1867 when he married Emma Stansfeld Grundy . Thorsten Nordenfelt and his brother - in - law started a small business to trade Swedish steel for British rails in 1887 . Later on he founded " Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company , ltd " to develop a machine - gun designed by Helge Palmcrantz that would be referred to as the Nordenfelt gun . His company also designed a range of anti - torpedoboat guns in calibres from 37 to 57 mm , that were produced in Erith , Kent , Stockholm and Spain . Under pressure from Rothschild and Vickers his company merged with Maxim ' s in 1888 to form The Maxim Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company . After a personal bankruptcy Nordenfelt was forced out of the Nordenfelt - Maxim company in 1890 and left England for France , where his new company , Société Nordenfelt , designed the eccentric screw breech used on the French 75 . Legal action followed ( " Nordenfelt v Maxim , Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Co Ltd " ) over a non - compete clause Nordenfelt had signed . In 1903 he returned to Sweden and retired . The public house known as Nordenfelt Tavern at 181 Erith Road , Erith was built to the design of Jonathan G . Ensor ( 1852 / 3 - 19 ? ? ) , architect for brewer Watney Combe & Reid , in 1902 and is named after the firm whose workers frequented the bars in Edwardian times . Submarines . Discussions between Thorsten Nordenfelt and the English reverend George Garrett led to the production of a series of steam powered submarines . The first was the " Nordenfelt I " , a 56 tonne , 19 . 5 metre long vessel similar to Garret ' s ill - fated " Resurgam " ( 1879 ) , with a range of 240 kilometres and armed with a single torpedo and a 25 . 4 mm machine gun . It was manufactured by Bolinders in Stockholm in 1884 - 1885 . Like the " Resurgam " , it operated on the surface using a 100 HP steam engine with a maximum speed of 9 kn , then it shut down its engine to dive . She was purchased by the Greek Government and was delivered to Salamis Naval Base in 1886 . Following the acceptance tests , she was never used again by the Hellenic Navy and was scrapped in 1901 . Nordenfelt then built the " Nordenfelt II " ( " Abdülhamid " ) in 1886 and " Nordenfelt III " ( " Abdülmecid " ) in 1887 , a pair of 30 metre long submarines with twin torpedo tubes , for the Ottoman Navy . " Abdülhamid " became the first submarine in history to fire a torpedo while submerged under water . Nordenfelt ' s efforts culminated in 1887 with the " Nordenfelt IV " which had twin motors and twin torpedoes . It was sold to the Russians , but proved unstable and ran aground off Jutland ; when the Russians refused to pay for it , it was scrapped . " Abdülhamid " and " Abdülmecid " were found by Germany in Istanbul in 1914 . The submarines were briefly considered for use in harbour defence but it was found that their hulls were too badly corroded .