Whitehead Torpedo Works was a company established in the 19th century byRobert Whitehead that developed theWhitehead torpedo. It grew from its initial location atFiume toWyke Regis and toLivorno, but the former two plants closed by the end of World War II. The Italian branch maintained the name Whitehead for a long time into the late 20th century, and still exists asLeonardo Sistemi di Difesa as of 2024[update].[1]
Robert Whitehead worked for a metal foundry in the city ofFiume (todayRijeka,Croatia), andbecame its manager in 1856, and changed its name toStabilimento Tecnico di Fiume (STF). STF produced marine steam boilers and engines, including for theAustro-Hungarian Navy. The invention of theself-propelled torpedo happened at that company, but it was not profitable and the company went bankrupt in 1873.
The Whitehead company,Torpedo-Fabrik von Robert Whitehead, was founded in 1875 and would produce for the first torpedoes sold all around the world.
In 1890 Whitehead opened a UK manufacturing and test site inPortland Harbour, Dorset.[2]
In 1905 the factory changed its name toTorpedo Fabrik Whitehead & Co. Gesellschaft and before his death, Whitehead sold his shares package toVickersArmstrong Whitworth.
In 1915, the company established a submarine subsidiary, the Ungarische Unterseebotsbau AG (known by its acronymUBAG;lit. 'Hungarian Submarine Building Corporation'), in Fiume and Linz.[3][4]SM U-XX,SM U-XXI,SM U-XXII andSM U-XXIII Type diesel-electric submarines were produced by the UBAG Corporation in Fiume.[5][6]
TheWyke Regis factory continued to operate as a major anti-submarine and torpedo warfare centre in both the First and Second World Wars. It became Vickers Armstrong, Wellworthys and finally AE Piston Products. The site later became a housing estate.[when?]
At the end of World War I the Fiume factory was in economic crisis and in 1924, when theTreaty of Rome was signed and Fiume passed to Italy, Giuseppe Orlando, one of the owners of theCantiere navale fratelli Orlando ofLivorno, purchased the company. Whitehead Torpedo, as it became known then, started producing motorcycles and then torpedoes in their Livorno subsidiarySocietà Moto Fides.
With the end of World War II the Fiume factory closed and merged withMoto Fides forming theWhitehead Moto Fides Stabilimenti Meccanici Riuniti on 31 July 1945.[7] TheWhitehead Moto Fides continued the production of torpedoes in their Italian locations, and was renamed several times since, currentlyLeonardo Sistemi di Difesa.
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