HMS Lightning turns the torpedo into a boat-delivered weapon

Early capital ships could carry torpedoes on launching trolleys, but gun ranges, ship movement, and firing geometry made delivery awkward in battle. HMS Lightning answered the more basic question of how to bring a torpedo close enough to its target to be useful. She carried one weapon ready in her launch tube and two spares, making the delivery platform as important as the weapon itself. At one point, those three weapons represented roughly three months of Woolwich production. A tactically promising boat therefore depended on a very shallow munitions supply that could not quickly replace a full combat expenditure.