For the early development of the torpedo in Great Britain and the United States, I strongly recommend Kate Epstein's Torpedo: Inventing the Military-Industrial Complex in the United States and Great Britain. Its examination of the interactions of government and private industry in an entirely new field of technology is fascinating.
More importantly, she spent a huge amount time in the Admiralty archives, and she brought the receipts. The Introduction alone tears apart the fraudulent scholarship of some very well-known names. And no, it's not "revisionist" when you quote an archival document and give the exact reference.