The self-propelled Whitehead torpedo made a small vessel capable of opening a fatal hole below a much larger ship's waterline. Jeune École advocates used that possibility to argue that battleships and traditional battle lines had become obsolete. Small craft promised decisive naval power without the expense of a balanced fleet. An example from the Roman civil wars contrasts Octavian's mixed fleet with Antony's concentration of larger ships. The argument favors a mixed force, with the qualification that poor command can prevent its different elements from cooperating. Jackie Fisher's flotilla-defence model supplies the British compromise: submarines, torpedo craft, and destroyers guard bases while cruisers and a battle fleet remain available. France's attempt to pursue the small-craft idea in purer form leads into the quick-firing-gun response.
Notable Point · 1:14-5:51
The Whitehead torpedo tests the balanced-fleet idea
The Whitehead torpedo and Jeune École promise that small craft can replace costly battle fleets, but the historical answer is usually a mixed force of large and small ships.