The submerged tubes carried by small cruisers mattered beyond commerce raiding. A cruiser could not trade gunfire evenly with a battleship, but a torpedo offered at least a chance to damage or deter a much larger opponent. The weapon might fail and did not make the smaller ship likely to win. It still gave cruisers and smaller warships a sensible asymmetrical armament against heavier opponents.
Notable Point · 1:05:52-1:06:20
Torpedoes gave cruisers an offset weapon
A torpedo could not make a small cruiser equal to a battleship, but it gave the smaller ship a credible last-resort threat.