The Bliss-Leavitt Mark 8 torpedo was the United States Navy's first 21-inch by 21-foot torpedo and was widely used in its torpedo boat force at the beginning of World War II. The torpedo was originally designed in 1911 by Frank McDowell Leavitt of the E. W. Bliss Company and entered full mass production in 1913 at the Naval Torpedo Station in Newport, Rhode Island. Under the Lend-Lease Act, about 600 Mark 8 torpedoes were issued to the United Kingdom for use with 50 destroyers it received under the same program.