Tesla was doing it even earlier than that. The Navy turned down the original concept for the torpedo and self-guided boat from Tesla.
Just so. My maternal grandda was employed for a while with the E. W. Bliss company that produced the Whitehead Steam Torpeado, first developed just after the American Civil War. Bliss provided the warheads and bodies for some of Tesla's versions, which moved on- not surprisingly- to electric propulsion.
By the end of Tesla's life, the follow-on versions were in service sinking ships, but not by the US Navy. The German G7e *Falke* torpedo was among the tools that the German navy's U-boat arm pout to effective, deadly use.