John Louis Lay

[2] He designed the spar torpedo which was used by Lieutenant William B. Cushing to destroy the Confederate ironclad ram CSS Albemarle at Plymouth, North Carolina, on October 27, 1864.

After the fall of Richmond in 1865, Lay was sent in advance of Admiral David D. Porter's fleet to remove obstructions from the James River.

[1] Lay resigned from the navy on May 22, 1865,[2] and was then employed by the Peruvians to fortify the harbor of Callao with fixed mines and suspended torpedoes, in order to prevent the Spanish fleet from entering.

Two cables were paid out from the torpedo to the controlling ship or shore station which allowed the operator to steer it by means of electrical signals.

On 28 August 1879 at Antofagasta the Peruvian ironclad Huáscar, while engaging shore batteries and the Chilean ships Abtao, Magallanes and Limarí, launched a Lay torpedo only to have it reverse course.