When surface torpedoes stopped being decisive

When did surface-launched torpedoes cease to be viable anti-surface weapons?

World War II was their last major period of viability; missiles quickly displaced them afterward.

World War II was the last major period in which a surface ship could expect torpedoes to decide an anti-ship engagement. Some 1950s vessels retained them, but an attacker still had to approach dangerously close to achieve a reliable hit. A target already listening for submarines could also hear an incoming torpedo and react. Longer-ranged gunnery eroded the tactic before anti-ship missiles offered a much safer stand-off attack. The weapon did not vanish immediately, but it ceased to be the surface fleet's primary answer to another ship.