Editing Destroyer (section)

===Early designs===
[[File:Kotaka.jpg|thumb|The [[Imperial Japanese Navy]]'s ''Kotaka'' (1887)]]
An important development came with the construction of [[HMS TB 81 (1885)|HMS ''Swift'']] in 1884, later redesignated TB 81.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/torpedo_boats.htm |title=Torpedo Boats |publisher=Battleships-Cruisers.co.uk}}</ref> This was a large (137 ton) torpedo boat with four [[QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss|47&nbsp;mm quick-firing guns]] and three torpedo tubes. At {{convert|23.75|kn|lk=in}}, while still not fast enough to engage enemy torpedo boats reliably, the ship at least had the armament to deal with them.

Another forerunner of the torpedo-boat destroyer (TBD) was the Japanese torpedo boat<ref>Jentschura p. 126</ref> {{ship|Japanese warship|Kotaka||2}} (''Falcon''), built in 1885.<ref>{{cite book |last=Evans and Peattie |first=David C. and Mark R. |title=''Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887–1941'' |year=1997 |publisher=[[Naval Institute Press]] |location=Annapolis, Maryland  |isbn=978-0-87021-192-8}}</ref> Designed to Japanese specifications and ordered from the Isle of Dogs, London [[Yarrow shipyards|Yarrow shipyard]] in 1885, she was transported in parts to Japan, where she was assembled and launched in 1887. The {{convert|165|ft|m|adj=on}} long vessel was armed with four 1-pounder (37&nbsp;mm) quick-firing guns and six [[torpedo]] tubes, reached {{convert|19|knot|km/h}}, and at 203&nbsp;tons, was the largest torpedo boat built to date. In her trials in 1889, ''Kotaka'' demonstrated that she could exceed the role of coastal defense, and was capable of accompanying larger [[warship]]s on the high seas. The Yarrow shipyards, builder of the parts for ''Kotaka'', "considered Japan to have effectively invented the destroyer".<ref>{{cite book |last=Howe |first=Christopher |title=''The Origins of Japanese Trade Supremacy: Development and Technology in Asia from 1540 to the Pacific War'' |year=1996 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago, Illinois |isbn=978-0-226-35485-9}}</ref>

The German [[aviso]] {{SMS|Greif|1886|2}}, launched in 1886, was designed as a "''Torpedojäger''" (torpedo hunter), intended to screen the fleet against attacks by torpedo boats. The ship was significantly larger than torpedo boats of the period, displacing some {{cvt|2266|t|LT}}, with an armament of {{cvt|10.5|cm}} guns and {{cvt|3.7|cm}} [[Hotchkiss revolver cannon]].<ref>{{cite book| last1 = Hildebrand| first1 = Hans H.| last2 = Röhr| first2 = Albert| last3 = Steinmetz| first3 = Hans-Otto| year = 1993| title = Die Deutschen Kriegsschiffe: Biographien: ein Spiegel der Marinegeschichte von 1815 bis zur Gegenwart (Band 4)| trans-title=The German Warships: Biographies: A Reflection of Naval History from 1815 to the Present (Vol. 4)| language = de| publisher = Mundus Verlag| location = Ratingen| isbn = 978-3-7822-0382-1|name-list-style=amp|pages=17–18}}</ref>