The First Destroyers (ShipShape) - Tapa dura

The Torpedo Boat Destroyers (TBDs) of the the 1890s - the first destroyers - were among the most glamorous naval vessels ever built. With their remarkable speed and their initial deployment against the Royal Navy's traditional enemy, the French, they caught the public imagination like no other ships of the period. During the late Victorian era one of the most significant naval developments was the invention of the "locomotive torpedo". Small boats were developed to use it, particularly by the French. These torpedo boats as they were known, were an obvious danger to the British battlefleet and something was needed to counter them. The Torpedo Boat Destroyers, built by Thornycroft and Yarrow in the early 1890s, were the Royal Navy's answer. Drawing on Admiralty documents and plans ,this work contains data on the early development of these vessels up to the River class of 1900.