Although the Whitehead torpedo had formed part of the Royal Navy's equipment for some years it was not until 1886 that a fully charged one had been exploded in close contact with the hull of an ironclad. The Resolute was the corpus vile of a series of experiments conducted in Fareham Creek, Portsmouth, which culminated in a 16 in. Whitehead torpedo being placed in contact with the port side of the Resolute and then detonated. The result, however, fell very far short of what had been anticipated. The Resolute was slightly inclined by the force of the explosion, and then listed a little in the opposite direction. Beyond this and the upheaval of the water there was nothing to be seen by the spectators.