On the 25th of May 1888 Captain H. Grenfell presented a paper on 'The position of the torpedo in naval warfare.' to a meeting of the United Services Institution in which he disputed the value of the torpedo as a weapon. He thought that the whole system of torpedoes and torpedo boats had been developed without sufficient questioning of the soundness of each step taken. He also questioned the relationship between results obtained during torpedo firings under practice conditions and during action, the optimum numbers of torpedoes per torpedo boat, whether cruisers and torpedo boat catchers should be armed with torpedoes, and whether the above water discharge of torpedoes was prudent.