World War I torpedo fear returned in the PT era

Torpedoes were a defining threat in World War I because a relatively small weapon could flood or disable a much larger ship. In this account of Jutland, Admiral Jellicoe turned away because a massed torpedo attack created a mathematical risk that the Grand Fleet could not evade every weapon. A torpedo opened the hull to seawater and attacked the part of a ship that mattered most for sinking it. The weapon's giant-killer reputation associated small boats with underdogs, though major powers such as Britain also embraced them. This legacy explains why major navies returned to fast torpedo craft before the next war, even after earlier boats had evolved into destroyers.