Gunnery, torpedoes, and the creation of HMS Vernon

Fisher turned his technical interests into institutions: HMS Excellent for gunnery and the separate HMS Vernon establishment for torpedo work. He wrote and circulated proposals, then spent years ensuring that the torpedo school was fully established. A visit to the new German base at Wilhelmshaven prompted work on electrical torpedoes intended to attack ships inside such a harbor. There he met King William I, Bismarck, and Moltke, whose attention suggests that Fisher had already made an impression on Prussian leaders. Across these projects, Fisher repeatedly argued that the Admiralty needed direct control over the guns, torpedoes, and munitions on which naval fighting depended.