1889: The Tyrell Water Ray

The Royal Navy was extremely concerned at the philosophy of the 'Jeune Ecole' and the French Navy's increased investment in aquanef as a means of reducing the odds against Britain's mighty surface fleet, fortunately British inventor Wilfred Wallace Tyrell invented a ray that allowed surface viewers to see underwater as clearly as a searchlight cuts through the air.

Tyrell's father, Sir Wilfred Tyrell, was one of the Junior Lords of the Admiralty and arranged for a prototype to be fitted to H.M.S. Scorcher for a series of trials on the Solent. Fortunately the Scorcher was on station when the French aquanef Le Vengeur attacked H.M.S. Phyliss in an unprovoked terror attack in 1889 and managed to hunt down and force the rogue French attacker to the surface, capturing the piratical crew and aquanef (which was subsequently fitted with an underwater version of the ray and served in the Royal Navy against the French in the Great War of 1890-91).

1890: Escadrille de Goubets

The French Empire were constantly looking at ways to tip the balance of power when it came to the old enemy England and influenced by the doctrines of the 'Jeune Ecole' embraced innovative ideas for indirect attacks. Claude Goubet's two man aquanef was one such innovation and the French Navy built Escardilles (squadrons) of these small craft to invest enemy harbours, mine them and sink enemy vessels.

Highly successful during the Great War of 1890-1, the Goubets (named after their designer) wreaked havoc in the Channel ports although the Royal Navy's use of the Tyrrell Ray to seek out the underwater menace did allow destroyers and torpedo boats some success in combating the Goubet squadrons.