[PSUBS-MAILIST] A bit of history....

[Coalbunny <coalbunny@vcn.com>]

FYI- A torpedo used to be the term for what we now call a sea mine (as
well as for explosive booby traps).  So when Admiral Farragut said "Damn
the torpedos! Full speed ahead!" in Mobile Bay in 1864, he was ordering
his helmsman to steer directly into a minefield at top speed.  Just
before WWI, the self-propelled torpedo was introduced, later shortened
to just torpedo.  The torpedo is originally named after the torpedo ray,
a ray with the same defense mechanism as an eletric eel.
Carl

-- 
 "With the first link, the chain is forged.  The first speech censured,
the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied....chains us all
irrevocably.  The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we are all
damaged."  -- Capt. Picard, STNG