Торпеда Бреннана: первая управляемая ракета?

The Brennan torpedo was a torpedo patented by Irish born Australian inventor Louis Brennan in 1877. It was propelled by two contra rotating propellers that were spun by rapidly pulling out wires from drums wound inside the torpedo. Differential speed on the wires connected to the shore station allowed the torpedo to be guided to its target, up to away, at speeds of up to
The Brennan torpedo is often claimed as the world's first guided missile, but guided torpedoes invented by John Ericsson, John Louis Lay, and Victor von Scheliha all predate it; however, Brennan's torpedo was much simpler in its concept and worked over an acceptable range at a satisfactory speed so it might be more accurate to call it the world's first practical guided missile.

The Brennan torpedo was similar in appearance to more modern ones, apart from having a flattened oval cross section instead of a circular one. It was designed to run at a consistent depth of 12 feet (4 m), and was fitted with an indicator mast that just broke the surface of the water; at night the mast had a small light fitted which was only visible from the rear. Two steel drums were mounted one behind the other inside the torpedo, each carrying several thousands yards of high tensile steel wire. The drums were connected via a differential gear to twin contra rotating propellers. If one drum was rotated faster than the other, then the rudder was activated. The other ends of the wires were connected to steam powered winding engines, which were arranged so that speeds could be varied within fine limits, giving sensitive steering control for the torpedo. The torpedo attained a speed of using a wire in diameter but later this was changed to to increase the speed to The torpedo was fitted with elevators controlled by a depth keeping mechanism, and the fore and aft rudders operated by the differential between the drums. In operation, the torpedo's operator would be positioned on a 40 feet (12 m) high telescopic steel tower, which could be extended hydraulically. He was provided with a special pair of binoculars on which were mounted controls which could be used to electrically control the relative speeds of the twin winding engines. In this way he was able to follow the track of the torpedo and steer it with a great degree of accuracy. In tests carried out by the Admiralty the operator was able to hit a floating object at and was able to turn the torpedo through 180 degrees to hit a target from the off side.

Tomlinson states that in 1874 while watching a planing machine worked by a driving belt, Brennan stumbled on the paradox that it was possible to make a machine travel forward by pulling it backward. Beanse expands Brennan’s observation of the driving belt powering the planing machine was taut and the non driving side was slack. Brennan reasoned that if one dispensed with the non driving side it would be possible to transfer energy to a vehicle and power it from a static power source. The concept was to place a drum of fine wire in the vehicle in place of the belt. The wire was attached to an engine to wind it in, rotating the drum that then propelled the vehicle away from its start point. He demonstrated this by means of a cotton reel, with a pencil thrust through the hole in the centre. By resting the ends of this pencil on two books and unwinding the cotton by pulling it from underneath he caused the reel to roll forward, the harder he pulled the faster the cotton unwound and the quicker the reel travelled in the opposite direction. Brennan began making rough sketches of such a torpedo, and as the concept developed he sought the mathematical assistance of William Charles Kernot, a lecturer at Melbourne University. We have now completed or in progress 7 installations viz. Thames (Cliffe), Medway (Garrison Pt), Portsmouth (Cliff End/Fort Albert), Plymouth (Pier Cellars/Cawsand Bay), Cork Harbour (Fort Camden), Malta (Tigné and Ricasoli). Further sites proposed as funds become available at Plymouth (Bovisand), Milford Haven, Clyde, Forth, Falmouth, Hong Kong, Singapore and St Lucia. The first seven were completed but out of the other eight only the one at Hong Kong was completed. The plans for two installations at Dale Point and Great Castle Head, Milford Haven were drawn up but not carried out. Four Brennan installations were added to existing fortifications at Fort Albert on the Isle of Wight, Cliffe Fort on the Thames, Garrison Point at the entrance to The Medway and at Fort Ricasoli at the entrance to the Grand Harbour at Malta. With the exception of Ricasoli, the design of these was constrained by the existing structure and resulted in unique designs. In addition the ones at Fort Camden at Cork and Tigné at Malta together with proposed designs for Milford Haven followed a very similar layout while the Installations at Lei Yue Mun in Hong Kong and Pier Cellars at Plymouth were individual designs.

The installation at Fort Albert has been completely destroyed. That at Cliffe Fort partially exists, including a slipway and parts of a telescopic control tower. Parts of the installation at Garrison Point survive including the direction stations on the face of the fort and parts of the slipway supports. The complete installation at Pier Cellars still exists although it was greatly modified during later use for midget submarines. At Malta the Tigne installation was later converted for use as the boom defence station but the rooms still exist. At Fort Ricasoli the complex of buildings still exist and the slipway is mostly intact. At Lei Yue Mun the installation has been incorporated into a museum with a replica Brennan Torpedo on display. At Fort Camden most of the installation still exists but is derelict.

The only remaining original Brennan Torpedo is exhibited at the Royal Engineers Museum in Chatham, Kent. However, traces of the installation at Fort Camden in County Cork are visible to this day. The launching rails at Cliffe Fort in Kent are crossed by the public footpath and though heavily rusted are very easy to get close to. There is also a display at Lei Yue Mun Fort in Hong Kong which shows a replica Brennan Torpedo with the side cut away so the workings are visible.