CSS David’s spar-torpedo attack

CSS David was a torpedo boat about fifty feet long with a crew of four, built to carry a spar-mounted explosive against an enemy hull. On the night of 5 October 1863, she approached New Ironsides and detonated the charge against the ironclad's side. A "torpedo" in this setting was a mine carried on a spar, rather than a later self-propelled Whitehead weapon. The attacker had to deliver it at contact range and remain close to the blast. Water thrown up by the explosion ran down David's smokestack and extinguished the fire. The weapon could therefore disable its operator as easily as the intended target.