Torpedo

The inventor of the torpedo, the weapon designed to be used in the water to hit the desired object and explode, is the Croatian innovator Ivan Vukić.

Ivan Vukić was born at the beginning of the 19th century in a respectable family with a long maritime tradition. He is also known by the Latin version of his name - Giovanni Lupis. After completing the Nautical School in Rijeka, he studied at the Maritime Military Academy of the Austrian Navy in Venice. Upon completing the successful career of Captain Frigate in the Austro-Hungarian Army, he devotes himself to the development of the idea of a weapon that could defend the coast at a distance. Vukic has designed a ship full of explosives that is managed from the coast by rope and driven into an enemy ship. As he lacked technical and financial resources to develop his project to commercial use, he partnered with British engineer Robert Whitehead. Soon, Whitehead improved the existing prototype and inaugurated the Torpedo factory in Rijeka. The factory thrived and shortly exported torpedoes all over the world, and production licenses were also sold. The Rijeka factory Torpedo, although in financial problems since 1990, played an important role in the Homeland War when it designed and made lightweight armoured vehicles used for the defence of Croatia.

The production of torpedo turned submarines into important weapons in both World Wars. Torpedoes have become more precise, faster and more destructive. Today there are many types of torpedoes - depending on how they run and whether how they are guided, and Vukić's so called "rescuer of the shore" is considered their predecessor. For the creation of the prototype of the torpedo, Ivan Vukić was honoured with the Order of the Iron Crown and was awarded the noble title of the Knight - von Rammer.