The Devil's Device: the story of Robert Whitehead, inventor of the torpedo, by Edwyn Gray.

A more accurate subtitle would be The story of the Whitehead torpedo. It is a biography of Robert Whitehead, a simple man and brilliant engineer, and at the same time a biography of his most famous invention, the torpedo. Simply written, it is full of adoration for Whitehead, whose original torpedo design outlived all competitors.

Recommended to readers interested in naval history.

Long-range gunnery came about not by the choice of the gunnery experts but because the threat of the torpedo made close-range figthing too dangerous.